September 5, 2003
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS:
Christian and Libertarian (Vox Day, 9-1-2003, WorldNetDaily.com)
[...]"It's the law!" is not a moral argument. It is an argument based on the threat of force. Yesterday the law required one to return an escaped slave to his owner; tomorrow it will require one to have an implanted Social Security number when one simply wants to buy Cheerios at the supermarket. The law is not only "an ass," but in a secular society, its moral neutrality is the best for which one can hope. And the law is impossible to obey, even for the most servile citizen – no one truly knows the laws because no one reads them, not even the politicians who pass them!
Then there are those conservatives who simply do not have a real commitment to individual freedom. They believe that government power is like a light switch, to be switched on to enforce policies they favor – such as banning private development on scenic lands – but switched off in the case of policies they do not. This is optimistic lunacy, since the argument for limited government does not rest upon the notion that the government always does undesirable things, but on the idea that if it can, it eventually will.The same government that has the power to ban a private house on the beach also has the power to sell the beach to Wal-Mart or build a nuclear power plant on it. Since the Founding Fathers understood that a Marcus Aurelius was always followed by a Commodus, they tried to construct a system that would prevent either. Good central government, even when it exists, is a short-lived beast.
And Libertarianism is not inherently godless. In fact, it is the only political philosophy that is truly in accordance with Christianity. The Christian religion posits an all-powerful God who nevertheless permits humanity to turn its back on Him. This shows an extreme respect for free will and for the very sort of individual choice that is banned by Democrats and Republicans alike as they attempt to enforce their will upon the people through the power of government.
Godlessness, when applied to just about anything, has a way of amplifying its most negative aspects.
Just like Godfulness.
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at September 5, 2003 10:43 PM"it is the only political philosophy that is truly in accordance with Christianity"
A very ill-informed statement. The early church took a very existential view of government, and was designed to work in any system under the sun, authoritarian or no. Libertarianism is useful as a guiding principle, because people like freedom. However, with the rise of illiberal democracy, we ought to be getting a glimpse of the dangers of that. There is a good C.S. Lewis quote about it somewhere.
Posted by: Judd Heartsill at September 6, 2003 1:55 AMIf Libertarianism makes a virtue of selfishness, as the Randians hold, it is antithetical to Christianity. But wait. There is a way in which a Christian may be a Libertarian, and vice versa. Freedom--political, cultural and economic--allows room for virtue to exist. A free man in a free society is free to be charitable. The Christian message is not "Shove your gun in your neighbor's face, take all that HE has, and give it to the poor."
Posted by: Lou Gots at September 6, 2003 4:09 PM