Jonahan.com

A leading economist interviewed on the Freakonomics podcast was asked what he'd do if he was elected President. It was pretty amazing to hear what he would do.

 

He said he would eliminate the minimum wage, stop the war on drugs, kill the Board of Education, get rid of all tariffs and legalize prostitution.

 

So an economist says that the best things for the country are also the same things that Ron Paul and Libertarians have been saying for years as well. Now while it's possible this economist has Libertarian leanings, it's still interesting to hear that what will work out economically is also the same as what Libertarians believe.

 

So the old school religious right tries to save us from ourselves and the liberal left believes that government intervention is the answer. Libertarians and economists believe that unshackling us from excessive central government and allowing us to make our own decisions is the answer. 

 

The Libertarian and economist ideals also mesh quite nicely with the precepts of Liberty laid out in the Constitution.

 

Note that we're only saying that we need to get rid of "excessive" federal government. Many people rip on Libertarians because they think no regulation and no armed forces is a bad thing. 

 

We don't want no regulation - of course some is needed. You don't want to stifle capitalism and you don't want it to run rampant. However, I think we can agree that corporations are getting away with about whatever they want lately as it is. 

 

Just look at the Wall Street bailouts, the golden parachutes for bank executives, the Madoff scandal, and of course oil companies doing almost anything they want. So perhaps we don't have the TYPE of regulation we need.

 

Rather than allowing them to lobby congress and get away with almost anything, perhaps we shouldn't allow any corporate money to go to congressmen, with stiff penalties to the congressmen - like expulsion.

 

As for the Libertarian ideal of non-intervention, we're not talking about a foreign policy where our armed forces just lay down their weapons. Nor are we talking about isolationism, where we don't get involved no matter what. No - instead how about we simply don't get involved in empire building.

 

Did you know that we have forces in over 150 countries around the world? We influence more nations that anyone on the planet. We install puppet dictators and pull them again if they get out of line. We give more money in both foreign aid and defense than any other country - and yet we're going broke.

 

Libertarians say, "scale it back". Bring them home but keep the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines well-funded and ready. Only send them out IF WE DECLARE WAR, not for police actions or fighting a verb like terrorism. This would allow us to spend more money on espionage and elite special forces units that would allow us to properly combat terrorism.

 

Ah but I digress, as Old Man Rantypants goes off on a thousand tangents. I don't mean to sound didactic, like "THIS IS WHAT WE SHOULD DO AND EVERYONE ELSE IS A DUMBASS", but I think I do see the big picture and want to share what I believe to be the truth.

 

What it really comes down to is voting ALL our elected officials out for a few cycles, and that would have them scared enough to do what we ask for finally. I also hope that more people wake up to the fact that our government was not meant to provide everything to everyone. It was meant to keep us free enough so we have the means to whatever we dream of. Liberty. It's in the root of the word Libertarian, and that's really all we want.