Liberty. Freedom. Property rights. Capitalism. Blah, blah, blah! I sound like a broken record, railing against the most basic government services that just about everyone else takes for granted. Sure, liberty is great and all, but why should it be held in such high esteem? There’s more to life than just liberty, you know. Things like love, charity, kindness, and compassion. Shouldn’t they factor into the equation somewhere?
Yes, actually, they should. And with a focus on liberty, they do. Liberty in and of itself may not be the ultimate goal for human existence. But keep in mind that libertarianism is only a political philosophy, not a complete system of personal virtue ethics. That is, it makes no attempt to define what our highest values should be, or how people should live their lives. It seeks only to define just law. And within the limits of the political realm, liberty is the highest achievable value. It is what enables us to obtain the other values that we need to lead full and satisfying lives.
Beyond the political realm, however, there are many other virtues that one should cultivate. Few people believe that an individual can lead a full life without kindness, compassion, or charity. Libertarians are no exception. We recognize that these values are critical, but we understand that they cannot be achieved through political means. They can only be secured by individuals acting of their own free will, and are developed, nurtured, and maintained by the many voluntary social institutions that exist beyond government. We understand that government is not merely incapable of securing these higher values, but is actually antithetic to them.
According to the Lockean theory that serves as our republic’s philosophical foundation, individuals form governments in order to protect themselves from aggression. Being free from the predations of others enables us to pursue whatever it is that we define as the good life. No one’s definition of the good life is the same as anyone else’s. It is only through liberty that we are able to determine for ourselves what we value most highly in this life, and it is only through liberty that we have the ability to pursue that which we believe will make us happy.
Other values such as love, faith, and charity are all important to live a full life. However, they must remain outside the sphere of government because government is force. Force can have no role in supporting these higher values, and force cannot possibly secure them for us. This is why any attempts by government to rectify moral shortcomings within society or to assist the less fortunate are doomed to failure. While it is certainly true that some people benefit from these programs, they do so only at the expense of others. This is not a formula for harmony, or peace, or love, or friendship, or fairness, or security. It is a formula for resentment, division, and selfishness.
It has been said that one of the great ironies of socialism is that it makes people very anti-social. When half our money is taken from us by force and given to someone else, it is only natural to resent not only the one who takes our money, but also the recipient – no matter how needy or deserving that person may be. If we were free to retain the fruits of our labor and make our own choices about whom we aid and in what manner, there would be no resentment. Instead, we would be filled with the satisfaction that comes from choosing to support a worthy cause or to help another person in need.
Libertarians regard liberty so highly because we understand that it is the condition that enables us to achieve the other values that make life worth living. It is the foundation of the peaceful society that is needed for each individual to pursue his dreams and to live according to his own values.
That is the most that anyone can realistically demand of government – to protect us against those who would do us harm. The rest is up to us. Whenever government grows beyond this narrowly defined role, it becomes the aggressor that it was created to prevent. It restricts our ability to be charitable. It sows division and resentment amongst us because it must necessarily set one group against the other. It destroys the very qualities we value most in a society.
