Libertarian Thought

1. Libertarian Thought Libertarian principles are presented as upholding liberty as a fundamental concept. Unfortunately, their thirst for freedom breaks down very quickly when examined. They claim to advocate freedom of choice, and seek limited government. These are all good things, and conservatives share these beliefs. However, libertarians reject capitalism and the private ownership of property. What could be more opposed to liberty than the idea that individuals cannot own the fruit of their efforts. Who do the libertarians say does own the property? Their answer is the “government.” They may frame it as “communal property” that is owned by everyone, but in fact, someone will form a large group of followers, and they will take control. That’s some “limited government”, isn’t it? How silly! How do decisions get made when “everyone” has a voice? The answer is “mob rule”, and the mob with the loudest voices, or the greatest number of armed members, will be making the decisions. Naturally, the winning mob will make decisions that favor themselves; the others will be left out, effectively without any voice at all. That’s what happened in the French Revolution, and France hasn’t been the same since. Eventually, a dictator will appear, it’shuman nature, and he will control everything “on behalf of his mob.” Napoleon was the natural consequence of the French Revolution, and his “mob” were the French troops, allies, and civilians, with a death toll of 1,800,000 [wikipedia] from all causes. That’s a very high price to pay for a political theory that promises “liberty” and “freedom.”

2. Conservative Thought The question of libertarian vs conservative could not be clearer. Conservative thought begins with the fundamental principles of freedom as stated in our Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The question of libertarian vs conservative could not be clearer. These ideals were carried through to our Constitution: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Our Founding Fathers wanted our Federal Government to have just enough power to provide the essential functions of a sovereign Nation. They did this by providing a list of “authorities” that would be granted to the Federal Government. These “authorities” are called the “Enumerated Powers”, and they’re listed in the Constitution, Article 1, Section 8. Per our 10th Amendment, each item listed is reserved for the Federal Government; everything else is the responsibility of the individual States or the citizens themselves. The other Amendments to our Constitution – there are a total of 27 Amendments - list the rights that we, as citizens, have, or limitations on our Federal Government. The Federal Government is responsible for assuring that these rights are available to all citizens. Many of these rights apply to non-citizens as well. Progressive Thought Progressivism is a political reform movement that advocates governmental changes that control changes in our American society due to technology growth, very large corporations, and corruption in politics. Much of this is due to the development of new and previously unheard-of technological advances. The manufacture of steel, high speed rail transportation, electricity for domestic and industrial use, aviation, motor vehicles, energy production by oil, coal, hydro-electricity, and so on are good examples of the extreme technological growth that we’re speaking of here. The production and use of these technological advances had the natural consequence of creating the largest manufacturing and production companies in history. This led to major shifts in employment, where the mega-companies had not dozens of employees, but tens of thousands of employees, and more. One of the other significant results was the labor movement. Companies required an enormous number of employees, and were so spread out that a particular employer would provide housing, shopping and other facilities for their employees. This allowed them to have a virtual monopoly on the nearby labor force.

3. With a captive employee base, companies paid little attention to the needs of their employees. Pay rates were minimized, workplace safety was virtually ignored, and working hours were horrendous. It’s no wonder that the labor movement was created, and unions worked to improve all of these factors. Ever willing to capitalize on any perceived opportunity, legislative elements of the Federal Government stepped in to “help.” As always, this provided an opportunity for government to extend beyond its Constitutional boundaries. The result was the progressive vs conservative battle to solve these problems. This battle continues even today, with the Democratic Party waving the progressive flag, while the Republican Party waves the conservative flag. Conservative Thought Conservatives do not deny that there were many very significant issues to deal with. In keeping with the 10th Amendment, and the Commerce Clause in Article 1, Section 8, Claus 3, conservatives believe that these issues should have been dealt with on a state-by-state basis. Unfortunately, activists in Congress and the Supreme Court have, from time to time, decided that the actions of an employer within a State are covered by the above Clause, which reads “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes”

4. In Federalist #11, authored by Alexander Hamilton under the pen name “Publius”, the Commerce Clause states that trade between foreign countries and the individual states must be under the same set of rules. Essentially, according to Hamilton, the Federal Government has the responsibility of setting terms of trade between the states and foreign countries. How that translates into Federal lawmaking of labor practices, employee wages and benefits, and medical care is something that I’m sure Mr. Hamilton would take exception to. This is just one aspect of the progressive vs conservative debate. Today, we have our President setting trade tariffs that apply throughout the Country. His actions in this matter are certainly within the Hamiltonian interpretation of the Commerce clause, and serve to provide trade balance between us and a world full of trading partners.