Plum Crazy

It's official. I no longer consider myself a libertarian, small "l" or other. The more libertarians I find myself in contact with over the Internet, the more I realize that I really don't have much in common with them.

One thing I have believed since I was in college is that people should pay for the things from which they benefit. We all benefit from having an educated populace. We all benefit from not having significant portions of the population living in extreme poverty. Those two things are conducive to a large middle class, which, in turn, is conducive to political stability and continuing prosperity. If anyone doubts that, they should simply look at countries where there is a vast gulf between the wealthy and the poor. Look at the crime rates. Look at the political instability, frequently addressed through the imposition of a dictatorship. I'm sure that the vast majority of people in this country would agree that lower crime rates are more optimal than higher ones, and that democratic forms of government (in which I include federal and parliamentary republics) are more optimal than totalitarian ones.

Since we all benefit from having an educated populace that doesn't have significant numbers of people living in extreme poverty, and I believe that we should pay for the things from which we benefit, it only follows that I would believe that we should pay for educating children and having a social safety net. In a country as large and geographically disperse as this one, I must confess that I believe the most effective way to pay for those things is through taxation. Yes, I believe we should have publicly-funded education. Yes, I believe we should have a government-provided social safety net. There was a time when I didn't believe the latter. But no more. I'm just not a libertarian any longer. At least not one like the majority I come in contact with.

I haven't changed my views on everything. I still believe in a flat tax. I still believe that the government shouldn't be intruding in the choices of consenting adults. I still believe that drugs should be legalized, use-taxed, legal-aged, and restricted to times when one isn't operating a vehicle or performing some other task when being high could harm another (like surgery). I still believe that parents are primarily responsible for making sure their kids are raised properly.* But since so many libertarians I run across these days are taking the line that they shouldn't have to pay to educate your kids, because they aren't getting any benefit from that, I disassociate myself with them. I'll gladly pay taxes to educate your kids and to make sure that people aren't living in extreme poverty. I like the benefits too much to give them up.

This only leaves the question of which third party candidate I'm voting for in November. Well, I didn't say I was becoming a Democrat, you know.

*Actually, I've never met anyone who explicitly believes otherwise. However, I do think that people who want to censor entertainment for everyone because it might not be good for children are effectively believing otherwise.