The older I’ve gotten, the more socially libertarian I’ve become. The more set in my ways I get, the more I resent any institutional imposition upon my will, so long as I’m not hurting anybody else. I’ve come to the conclusion that for some ethical and moral issues, the less government involvemet (ideally, meaning none), the better. Drugs, sex, religion; I just want Washington right out of it.
I’d vote Libertarian at this point, except that fiscally, I think they go too far. If our nation is to have any integrity, some amount of Federal funds must be brought to bear on national problems, and the idea of reducing the Federal Govt. to little more than the office of the Postmaster General strikes me as a ludicrous invitation for anarchic chaos on a national scale. We need highways, railroads, a military, basic health care standards, law enforcement, education, and so forth. The free-market utopian idea that private interests and small grass-roots movements can adequately cover the necessary bases strikes me as hoplessly naive; about as naive as Marxism, really, going to another extreme. Human nature simply won’t change quickly enough to allow this frontier mantality to work on the scale of societies. I know some will vehemently disagree, but I’m highly, highly skeptical of the full Libertarian ethos.
But again, in some ways, the Libertarians and I are very much in accord. Is there, within that movement, a more fiscally moderate school of thought? If not, are there other parties with a more realistic ethos? I suppose one could try work within the Two-Party system, but I’ve gone beyond the end of my rope with both the Dems and the Pubs. Neither can seem to resist ethical meddling on the grandest scales with individual choices, and even when one or the other swings in a direction I favor, I’m plagued with the knowledge the pendulum will just swing back again as soon as the political tides turn. I don’t want a different ethical tack out of Washington, when it comes to various personal choices. I want them out entirely, and to be silent on such issues. Dems and Pubs alike fail miserably in this regard, and I can no longer see any point in supporting them.
So what else is out there? Any less-than-whacko Libertarian approaches?