Why I’m Getting More Libertarian Every Day

America seems to want more government, but it needs less.

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The National Debt Clock on 43rd Street in New York City. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images.)

Back when I was in college, I had a conversation with a car salesman that helped change my life. My friend had come into some money (he got his real estate license while still in school and had just made his first big sale), so he did the responsible thing and immediately decided to go car shopping. 

We piled into my 1985 Chevy Nova and drove to a car dealer. His first target was a brand-new Mazda RX-7, so he picked the most expensive model on the lot and asked the (obviously skeptical) salesperson if we could test-drive it. Reluctantly he gave us the keys, and we took off. 

It was a glorious moment, and my friend was sold. He wanted the car, and he wanted it now. He pulled back in, handed the salesman the keys, and said, “I want it.” The salesman took the keys, looked at my friend for a good long while, and said these immortal words: 

“Son, there’s a difference between wants and needs. You want this car. You don’t need it. You might want to think more about what you need.”

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  1. Mike.Amundson.76

    How is it possible to dislike someone you have never met (re poll that D don’t like R and R don’t like D)? Maybe the poll should first ask do you know any R or D then ask if you like them?
    I can understand appeal of small government libertarian. Shrinking government includes taking something away from someone. Not growing spending on existing programs is presented as a take away. Politicians get elected by giving away things (other people’s $), not by reducing funding to special interests. There is something about human nature and being unhappy with something taken away versus being content having never known about it.

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  2. Endofunctor

    Good article. However, banning CRT in (public) schools is not government overreach. The overreach is the fact that government has such a large role in education in the first place. Granting the government control over education (or over health care for that matter) means that the government necessarily must set standards and make value judgements.

    Anyone bothered by laws banning CRT in the classroom or by the so-called "Don't Say Gay" law ought to become an advocate for private schooling.

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    1. Nathanielgilbert

      We should get rid of public schools. They aren't actually a "public good" in an economic sense. Letting the free market provide education would reduce power of those trying to use the state to indoctrinate.

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    2. Mirabelle Schnocklevan

      So no more public school?

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  3. Marlaberkow

    The Cook County State’s Attorney race in 2020 included a Libertarian, and they gained 6.6% of the vote. I voted Libertarian in that race.

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  4. Avatar photo
    Ajax81613

    When it comes to decision-making, usually reason and emotion are involved. I've found that with conservatives, there's definitely more emotion. Less reason. They are more impressed by people running around shouting, and screaming their team's cheers (currently mostly about how desperate they are not to be "woke" because they are more comfortable remaining asleep). Republican leaders rail about all the grievances their people feel, and that is sufficient. Liberals, to be sure, also appreciate some yelling and screaming, but also aren't happy unless they get action. Conservatives, the yelling is often enough. Trump yelled about plenty he never did anything about (prescription drug prices, the woke, the ever-popular "infrastructure!" in a crowded room of construction workers), but the yelling was enough. Reagan yelled a bunch about being anti-abortion then did exactly zero about it. He gave one speech about it early on then dropped it. But the one speech was enough. No action required. Quite easily duped. The current yelling reminds me of something someone recently said, maybe on here, that the people that are most proud to be "politically correct" are usually also incorrect ethically, morally and grammatically.

    David is guilty only of thinking too much and too well for a political party that doesn't value logic, fact or reason, but rather emotion and a bunch of yelling and screaming to indicate that they mean it, even if they never do anything about it.

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  5. Holifield.A17

    I remember Charles Krauthammer pondering aloud whether we would be the first civilization in the history of mankind to figure out how to move beyond the apex and not implode. It is my opinion that David is discovering the path to achieve that.

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  6. R. James

    Because it's the next stop in French's drift to the Left.

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  7. Pishposh

    I believe that government should only be involved in an issue when their is sufficiently broad agreement on the part of the populace that government should be involved, that a detailed plan can and has been developed, that the plan has been well vetted and is broadly understood, that the goal is something that is actually possible to accomplish by government, and that we are willing to appropriate and apply the resources actually necessary to do it to include allowing enough time to actually see and measure the results. By this standard we are sorely lacking.

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  8. Teridemarco67

    Well said, thank you

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  9. Elderdxc

    Ok then.

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  10. DTruitt

    It's politics ... it waxes and wanes ... people never change ... and libertarianism is useful only as a restraining influence, not as a governing philosophy, since the core of libertarianism is anarchy.

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