Is Libertarianism true Conservatism?
May 28th, 2010 by Randy Toman
Libertarianism and the libertarian CATO Institute isolationist positioning of U.S. military is very compatible with the Obama administration. Both the CATO Institute and the Obama administration views would mirror each other when it comes to the military and what to do with it. (Foreign Policy)
Glenn Beck is attracted to Libertarianism and would even say he is infected by Libertarianism as the AIM Report May B 2010 issue said. The AIM Report goes on to say, “…it (Libertarianism) has some appeal, based mainly on its anti-government attitude on economic issues. In general, however, Libertarianism is known for as isolationist view in foreign policy, which benefits America’s enemies and adversaries.”
Libertarianism will be strange bed fellows (outside of economics) were they will be somewhat out of line with a true constitutionalist and Bible believing Christian. On issues of drugs, homosexual, prolife, God and religious rights there will be a mixed bag of positioning for the Libertarian.
Is the Libertarian a true conservative and will they be able too come together and/or work in some unified order? If you are talking about only issues effecting one situation then I would say yes of course you can come together and solve that problem. But if you are combining issues to were they make up a culture and/or a social order that is malfunctioning, Libertarianism will find itself out of order in some key area’s and at odds with the truth of Bible teaching. God will have no position in a right left so called truth of the Libertarian belief system.
The Christian will have problems eventually with the Libertarian only because both the progressive and the Libertarian will have no problem turning their allegiance off and on depending on the issue and their positioning, while the Christian through his Bible see the social order as a whole and something God has created and made to be right under His law. There is to be a right way and a wrong way, no lesser of two evils, whom will not be acceptable today and tomorrow maybe because the situation has shifted slightly and you find the lesser of two evils is then the correct position. Christians have a tough time guiding themselves through the on and off positioning of politics, while others do not see this problem as a problem, but more as opportunities, for gaining the upper hand as you hear progressives say, “Never leave a crisis go to waste”. Christians view that as something to be solved while others view it not for solution but advantage for gain.
God will not be mocked and as the Bible says; you are either for His Christ or you are against Him. That is why I have said there is going to be problems within the Republican Party and the TEA Party arena. There is, I believe, a large percentage of libertarian thinking and libertarianism within both groups and there is going to be a major fracturing as things deteriorate.
WE SHALL SEE—– if that is not going to be found true.
I understand and see the tension between the different factions within the Tea Party/9-12 movement. I’ve seen it years before on a smaller scale with a local group involved with a similar coalition.
Some of the leadership in the PA Libertarian Party were committed Christians back then and I did have the opportunity to ask them if they didn’t feel any conflict between the party positions and their faith.
They saw the freedom that allowed them to worship and live as they pleased as intrinsically the same as the freedom that they were espousing through libertarianism. To them the Leftist’s desire over your pocketbook was the same sort of evil as the Right’s wanting to dictate morality. In other words… everybody feels they have their own “sphere of freedom” that they will make a ruckus over if they feel it’s being violated while at the same time not giving a hoot if somebody else’s “ox is being gored”. This is the fatal flaw in freedom, not recognizing and defending your neighbor’s freedom because it’s not your area of concern. And thus the coalitions break down.
When I asked about specific issues like drugs the answer was, “Do people who are on drugs stop using them because they are illegal or because of a maturing (and often a religious awakening) on their part?” I knew the answer wasn’t the law, or else they wouldn’t have started in the first place. And the argument is the same for most of the so-called “victimless crimes”. What causes people to commit them is a spiritual disorder that the law cannot overcome.
This is almost parallel to what the apostle Paul tells us, the law does not save… it condemns. It is Christ that saves, and spiritual maturity that leads to morality.
When asked about abortion, of course there was the guarantee that a Libertarian government would not spend one dime of the public’s money on it. But then I was surprised to hear that if a majority in a Libertarian Party saw fit to acknowledge the humanity of the human fetus then all of the liberty’s in the Party platform would have to be extended to the unborn! In other words, the Libertarian Party needed more Christians in it!
I was not convinced to join the Party, but since that time I have considered myself libertarian-leaning. And hope to see a coalition of freedom loving individuals beat back the inroads made by the collectivists. We start at a disadvantage by being the individualists.