Libertarians often miss (or willfully ignore) the fact that government & laws can create freedom, because they tend to think of freedom in a purely negative sense, as "the absence of restrictions". For example, I definitely have more freedom because government built roads and sidewalks and enforces the rules on how they're used that maximize freedom for everyone; or because government provides social services that keep some people who might inconvenience of hurt me from doing so which makes me freer to wander around and do what I want to, etc. A typical libertarian would never look at funding social services in this light, they only see "it forces me to pay tax money to help someone else" and therefore doesn't increase freedom.
"Less" government is a mostly meaningless concept because the very same law or amendment might mean "less" to some people and "more" to others. I don't think it's a helpful lens through which to view how these things actually affect the world, or oneself, anyway.
So, not knowing the specifics of most of these ballot questions, I still find myself extremely suspicious of mantispid's comment. Were I in Missouri and forced to vote on these questions right now without time to look into them further, with only that comment to go on, I'd probably vote the opposite of whatever mantispid suggests on any question where I couldn't figure out a strong reason to vote for or against from the question itself :)
"Less" government is a mostly meaningless concept because the very same law or amendment might mean "less" to some people and "more" to others. I don't think it's a helpful lens through which to view how these things actually affect the world, or oneself, anyway.
So, not knowing the specifics of most of these ballot questions, I still find myself extremely suspicious of mantispid's comment. Were I in Missouri and forced to vote on these questions right now without time to look into them further, with only that comment to go on, I'd probably vote the opposite of whatever mantispid suggests on any question where I couldn't figure out a strong reason to vote for or against from the question itself :)
Reply
Leave a comment