"That’s right! Our American ancestors stood for
principles that most conservatives today find anathema."
"Thus, when a conservative points out that all
countries in the world today, including the
United States, have failed to embrace
libertarianism (so far), he finds comfort in that
fact. Libertarians, on the other hand, find it
disappointing and shameful that the United States
is now like every other country in its embrace of statism."
Who Are the Impractical OnesConservatives or Libertarians?
by <http://fff.org/author/jacob-hornberger-2/>Jacob G. Hornberger May 17, 2013
As I indicated in yesterday’s blog post,
“<http://fff.org/2013/05/16/sharing-ideas-on-liberty-in-charleston/>Sharing
Ideas on Liberty in Charleston,” I led an
informal pre-discussion session prior to the main
program at the Charleston Meeting. The 15 or so
participants in the pre-event discussion session
were primarily conservative in philosophy but
there were a few libertarians. It was quite a
lively session, with lots of questions and
comments being made during the 45-minute session.
Among the questions directed at me were the
following: (1) What success have libertarians had
in getting their ideas accepted by the
mainstream? (2) Are there any countries in the
world that have adopted libertarian ideas?
In the context of the discussion, it was fairly
clear that the questions were in the form of a
critique, one that is often made about
libertarians and libertarianism that
libertarians are a marginal group with marginal
ideas that haven’t found acceptance within mainstream America.
I responded that there are no countries in the
world today that have adopted libertarianism. The
questioner no doubt felt that my answer was
buttressing the point he was making.
But then I pointed out that there was once a
society in which there was no welfare-warfare
state -- that is, no income tax, Social Security,
Medicare, Medicaid, public schooling, farm
subsidies, foreign aid, standing army, invasions,
occupations, CIA, torture, assassinations, coups,
support of dictatorships, embargoes, sanctions,
drug war, immigration controls, Federal Reserve,
fiat paper money, and the like.
I asked the audience if they knew what that
society was. Someone answered: You’re talking about the United States.
That’s right! Our American ancestors stood for
principles that most conservatives today find anathema.
The United States was once different from all
other countries precisely because Americans
embraced the principles enunciated above. That’s
what made our country different from all the
others. It’s what made the United States unique.
Thus, when a conservative points out that all
countries in the world today, including the
United States, have failed to embrace
libertarianism (so far), he finds comfort in that
fact. Libertarians, on the other hand, find it
disappointing and shameful that the United States
is now like every other country in its embrace of statism.
But there’s another related factor involved here.
Conservatives insinuate that libertarians are
wasting their time tilting at windmills with
their radical ideas. The notion is that
libertarians are simply impractical or even irrational.
But consider one of the burning issues of our
day, one that was a major topic of discussion at
the meeting in Charleston: healthcare. In fact,
many of the attendees in our pre-event discussion
session, the main event, and the late-night
dinner event were retired physicians, which made
the discussion quite interesting.
Everyone agrees that the healthcare system is in
severe crisis. Conservatives spend countless
hours debating, discussing, and arguing over how
to reform the system. “Obamacare is bad!” they
exclaim. “It needs to be repealed!” And then
they’ll proceed to argue over what healthcare reform needs to be adopted.
What’s wrong with that?
It is a futile endeavor! All those hours spent
discussing, debating, arguing, and coming up with
healthcare reform proposals are a total waste of time, energy, and money.
Why is that?
Medicare and Medicaid, along with occupational
licensure and regulation, are classic examples of
socialist and interventionist programs. It’s not
a coincidence that in socialist Cuba and
socialist North Korea, government-provided healthcare are core programs.
Why is that important?
Because socialism and interventionism are
inherently defective. They cannot be fixed, no matter what reform is adopted.
Suppose you put 1,000 top healthcare experts in
the world in a room, along with the 1,000 most
powerful computers at their disposal. Their task?
To come up with the best healthcare reform they could devise.
It wouldn’t make any difference. Even if they
unanimously approved of some healthcare reform,
it wouldn’t work. It would inevitably produce a
new crisis, just as every healthcare reform has
done since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid
in the 1960s. (The same holds true, of course,
for the decades-long war on drugs, war on
immigrants, and all other welfare-warfare state programs.)
In fact, that’s precisely what I said to the
late-night dinner group at the Charleston
Meeting. I told them that Medicare and Medicaid
were a giant cancer on the body politic and that
the only way to deal with cancer is to excise it
completely, not tinker with it or reform it.
What’s the libertarian answer to the ongoing
series of healthcare crises? Repeal Medicare and
Medicaid immediately, along with all
<http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/freedom-daily-classic-reprint-medical-licensure/>occupational
licensure and all healthcare regulations, along
with all the taxes that fund this gigantic
government boondoggle. Separate healthcare and
the state. Restore a free-market healthcare system to America.
There really is nothing else that will work.
Socialism and interventionism don’t work and are
inherently incapable of working. Freedom and free markets do work.
What do conservatives say about that? They say
that we libertarians are impractical and
irrational. They say that people will never
repeal Medicare and Medicaid and so we’re just
wasting our time calling for their repeal. Even
worse, many of them honestly believe that people
wouldn’t survive without Medicare and Medicaid
(and all other welfare-warfare state programs).
So, ask yourself: Who is the practical and
rationale person here? The person who spends
countless hours discussing, debating, and arguing
over reform proposals that cannot possibly
succeed? Or the person who stands for the only
thing that can succeed, notwithstanding the fact
that most people don’t yet realize that?
In answering those two questions, I did point out
that young people, especially at the college
level, are self-identifying as libertarians in
ever-increasing numbers. That’s not just because
they like the label. It’s because they are
reading Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek,
Frederic Bastiat, Murray Rothbard, Ayn Rand,
Leonard Read, Israel Kirzner, Milton Friedman, and other libertarian scholars.
These young people are achieving the same
“breakthrough” that characterizes other
libertarians. They’ve come to the realization
that America’s socialist healthcare system,
mainly because of Medicare and Medicaid, is
inherently defective, which means it cannot ever
be fixed no matter what reform is adopted.
Therefore, like the rest of us libertarians,
they’re not interested in wasting their time,
energy, and money trying to come up with reforms
or fixes to the healthcare system, as conservatives do.
And it doesn’t concern these young libertarians
that they are currently in the minority. They’re
self-identifying as libertarians because they
believe that freedom and free markets are morally
correct and economically beneficial to people.
And while the world has not yet embraced
libertarianism, these young libertarians, like us
older libertarians, are determined to change that.
The interesting thing is: What happens if enough
young people declare, “Enough is enough. We don’t
want socialism and interventionism (and
imperialism) anymore in this country” and older
Americans respond, “Tough. We like socialism and
interventionism (and imperialism). Get used to it”?
Well, I suppose that’s a discussion subject for another day!
http://fff.org/2013/05/17/who-are-the-impractical-ones-conservatives-or-libertarians/
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