Why True Conservatism And Libertarianism Are Natural Allies: Restoring Honor And Shrinking Government

Some libertarians watched the Beck rally with skepticism and more than a little loathing. The God thing is just too much. Reason’s Nick Gillespies’ bemused reporting from the Mall made me smile.

Libertarians have looked for small government and fiscally responsible candidates, and they seem alarmed that many of the folks who preach this religion also preach Jesus. It doesn’t seem so weird to me.

Conservative Christians, going back to the Puritans, believed and lived a brisk dose of self-reliance. That is, when you rely on yourself, you don’t have to steal from someone else to live.

America’s founding fathers knew what living on the dole looked like–he was called a King. Now, America is awash in sea of petty tyrants. Every big business, big bank, and politician, not to mention the home owners over their heads, people living on credit, or generations just plain sucking off the government expect someone to bail them out. They live like kings. They are the new kings. They live large and create a system different in structure but similar in outcome to a monarchy: one class of citizens lives off another. One class is entitled, aggrieved and determined to take the producers’ money–by force of redistribution if necessary.

It’s amoral. It is also fundamentally contradictory to libertarian policies. See the connection?

******

Conclusion:

Conservatives and libertarians have much in common. Libertarians need to get over their God issue and actually see their friends in the conservative movement. They need to see the Restoring Honor rally for what it is: a call for personal responsibility and living free as an individual (which means being free to live with consequences and not expect someone else to bail them out).

And conservatives need to ignore the libertarian drug and sex obsession and see the small government, fiscally responsible desires in the libertarian movement.

Of course, most Tea Partiers already do. The libertarian element there is strong. I’ve been to my share of the Tea Parties there’s always lots of yellow flags.

The small government strains coming from these two groups naturally work together. Both true conservatives and libertarians distrust big government in all its forms whether the party is Republican or Democrat.

Now, to push back the statist tide together.

For more, please go to LibertyPundits.net to read the entire post.

Share this!

Enjoy reading? Share it with your friends!