As a libertarian, I’m often called a hypocrite for my personal views on the way I should live my life, because I don’t live libertarianism. But to me this is a very basic misunderstanding of what libertarianism is.
I was raised Mormon, and I consider that particular sect of Christianity to be the most libertarian brand of Christianity around. I know, Christianity doesn’t seem to go hand in hand with libertarianism does it? But it’s right there in the 11th article of faith: “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our [own]1conscience, and allow all men the same privilege[,] let them worship how, where, or what they may.” Crazy huh? To me this says it all. But let’s get a little deeper.
Let’s look back at the Libertarian National Convention in 2016. At that convention the wonderful characters that libertarianism had to offer were on full display. Represented in the crowd were folks with crazy hair-dos, piercings, and tattoos up the wazoo. We also had a dude strip naked in the middle of the show, and give us a wonderful preview of his tighty whiteys and some jelly rolls that would make Santa Claus cry. What could be more libertarian than just doing whatever you want?
Well, here’s where the problem lies. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Indeed, it’s often a conflation of the ideology with lifestyle to assume that you must act this way as a libertarian — that you must take libertarianism as an ideology and live it as a way of life, like a religion.
To me this is not what libertarianism is about; libertarianism is not a code of behavior, or a guide to how you should live your own life, but rather a lens through which you should view other people’s ways of life.
I was raised Mormon, and I consider that particular sect of Christianity to be the most libertarian brand of Christianity around. I know, Christianity doesn’t seem to go hand in hand with libertarianism does it? But it’s right there in the 11th article of faith: “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our [own]1conscience, and allow all men the same privilege[,] let them worship how, where, or what they may.” Crazy huh? To me this says it all. But let’s get a little deeper.
Let’s look back at the Libertarian National Convention in 2016. At that convention the wonderful characters that libertarianism had to offer were on full display. Represented in the crowd were folks with crazy hair-dos, piercings, and tattoos up the wazoo. We also had a dude strip naked in the middle of the show, and give us a wonderful preview of his tighty whiteys and some jelly rolls that would make Santa Claus cry. What could be more libertarian than just doing whatever you want?
Well, here’s where the problem lies. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Indeed, it’s often a conflation of the ideology with lifestyle to assume that you must act this way as a libertarian — that you must take libertarianism as an ideology and live it as a way of life, like a religion.
To me this is not what libertarianism is about; libertarianism is not a code of behavior, or a guide to how you should live your own life, but rather a lens through which you should view other people’s ways of life.
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