This is a principle of healthy relationships and of humanity at large. Online social media would be a much friendlier place if this principle were more widely applied!
In an effort to live this principle in the political space, I've often asked people questions about their views and beliefs, especially when contrary to my own. I've found I much prefer discussion to debate and understanding to competition. Not that I don't have some of the competitive edge in me, but I value understanding much, much more.
As I've considered various political views, my own have drifted further and further toward libertarianism. The views themselves I will likely include in other posts; at the moment, I'm more interested in exploring why my views have gone that direction.
One of my great fears in life is being in the wrong. I... hate it. And yet, it's not like I'm unfamiliar with the experience.
Still, this has driven me to seeking logical and philosophical soundness in my ideas and views. Politically speaking, libertarianism holds a lot of appeal here; namely, it's consistent.
It seems that most Republicans and Democrats (and often Independents), whether they consider themselves conservative, liberal, or moderate, seem to struggle with consistency. This is most pronounced in the two major parties.
Politicians today are pressured to adapt their views for so many things, be it public opinion, party solidarity, campaign funding, lobbying, other remunerations some above board, some not, and on and on. It's widely accepted that politicians largely yield to all these pressures and more. It seems a moral failing to me that we, as a people, elect and re-elect such politicians.
Libertarianism is different--it's consistent. Now, to be clear, I'm not talking about the Libertarian party. I'm talking about libertarianism (lower case 'l') as a philosophy.
It's tempting at the moment to explore the principles of libertarianism, but to stay true to the focus of this post, I'll try to only touch on them lightly. Actually, this last sentence holds the key to why I think libertarianism is consistent: it's not based on opinions and facts around issues, it's based on principles.
The principles that frame libertarian ideas are principles like non-aggression, agency, individual sovereignty, and the proper role of government.
When people discuss (or debate) political views, they often come up with "but then what about x-y-z?" When I tried to discuss the views I grew up with (classical Republican, so-called conservative), I found it hard to navigate without internal indicators going off saying "that's not quite a true representation of things."
When I first watched Republican debates with Ron Paul, I didn't yet agree with his ideas, but I was drawn to him because he obviously did not play the games that other politicians did. He was clear, and he was consistent. I'd laugh because, even though I didn't agree, I thought he made the other candidates look like laughing stocks! (Amusing considering many considered him the laughing stock. I now think that was a deliberately orchestrated tactic as it was the only one available to Republican party leaders who didn't like him.)
All this caused me much pause and reflection. As I heard more libertarian-type arguments in my discussions and listening, I found myself drawn to their consistency. After a time, I began to argue their point of view for the sake of testing out their ideas. As I did, I found my arguments more and more persuasive because I didn't have any of those alarm bells going off! The viewpoints (I wouldn't claim them as mine yet at that time) came out sound, time after time. I had concerns come up sometimes, some "but what about this situation?" type ideas, but with some thought, I was each time able to find a sound conclusion within libertarian ideas. By sound, I mean logically consistent.
Since then, I've studied more and have much yet to learn. Yet I've experienced enough to feel confident in saying that libertarian principles of government are morally, ethically, and logically sound.
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