April 7th, 2009

So I have a friend who dabbles in Libertarianism. He isn't actively trying to recruit me (or anyone else) but I think he sees the distinct advantage in such political thinking. He'd probably like it if I did too. I like to read the articles and information he sends me. I often agree with what he has to say, though I sometimes think Libertarianism is a little bit pie-in-the-sky.

Human nature must be accounted for in all cases. See Dan Quinn's Ishmael for some ideas about that.

In any case, I found a quiz online that sort of thumbnail pigeon-holes your political leanings in more than the simple (and inadequate) line with left-wing on one side and right-wing on the other. There is still the left and right, but now also a Libertarian "up" and a Totalitarian "down". I honestly think you could benefit from taking the test yourself, just to see where your own ideas lie. Here it is:

http://www.theadvocates.org/quizp/index.html

What I discovered when I took the test is that I fell in the very middle of left-wing and right-wing (no surprise there) but I also was heavily into the Libertarian side. Wow ... politically centrist but definitely more in the "personal freedoms" bent. I don't like the idea of big controlling, fine-issuing, bylaw-enforcing monolithic governments, and instead favour personal freedoms (even where said freedoms mean some people will die with a needle still stuck in their arms and those singletons who don't work will starve). I was more than a little surprised by that, actually. I always thought that I was about middle of the road between personal freedoms and government control. But apparently not!

And yet, I think Libertarianism is still a bit simple in regards to human behaviour. (Note the wording of that: Not overly simple, just a bit simple; and not for long.)

I believe that as long as any system of government (or non-government) fails to assume the worst in human behaviour, it is doomed to be messy, wasteful, painful, or possibly deadly.

There are few absolutes in my little blindered world, but one that I can positively ascribe to is this: Any system, no matter its scale, that relies on a statement that begins with the equivalent of, "People will just have to ... " will ultimately turn ugly. Better to build in the assumption that people will do wrong sometimes—or won't do right other times—and be prepared for it, than trying to retrofit a bunch of rules onto it after initial implementation.

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