Everyone is born liberal. As a child, we live in an idealized world where we get whatever we desire. The child isn't required to fend for itself, so it develops a superiority complex. A child wants something delivered to them immediately, damn the consequences- and the kicker is that the child is offering nothing in return. Children just want the the world to be a better place, and they usually depend on their parents to do that for them.
When I was a liberal, I wanted the government to solve many of my problems. I thought the federal government was the best fit for the job of helping its citizens since corporations find little profit in relieving human suffering. But then I realized that the government isn't very good at helping people - in fact, it's ugly and slow and requires a lot of paperwork (and I really hate paperwork).
So even though I wasn't thrilled with being a liberal, I couldn't bring myself to ever vote Republican. I believed in freedom of speech and letting people do whatever they wanted as long as they didn't hurt me or rob me. I preferred peace over war. These differences seemed irreconcilable.
2. Republican
Then something awful happened- slowly but surely, the Democrats seemed to be completely disbanding the free market system which made America so powerful. For what reasons, I may never know. The Republicans seemed, at the very least, to have some sort of sane fiscal policy for the country. It didn't include single-payer universal health care and it actually spoke of lessening regulations on free trade and tax cuts.
And not only that, Democrats were lobbying congress to pass a law requiring "Parental Advisory" stickers on every music album that a panel of out-of-touch dorks deemed "explicit." So if the only good thing about the Democratic party, namely their policy of social liberalism, was being eroded, I thought I might as well jump ship and at least prevent the other half of my paycheck from disappearing.
3. Anarcho-capitalist
It's right after you become so disillusioned with both parties that you decided that you can't, in any good conscience, subscribe to either party and still look at yourself in the mirror every morning. So you reject them both, equally. Both are incompetent, and both do little more than bicker, which is good because it slows down the amount of crappy resolutions being passed every year, anyway.
You reason the only solution for mankind is to abolish government once an for all. Let's let the Market be the solution to all of our problems, Ayn Rand was right all along! You're obtuse sense of moral righteousness becomes so disjointed you may even call the tax system, "institutionalized slavery." Much like the liberals you now hate, you have yet to understand the need for gradual reform.
4. Libertarian
At this final stage of political enlightenment, you realize the good in which each group is trying to do. You see why the liberals are liberals - they are good intentioned, but they just don't know the most effective means of implementation. You see why the conservatives are conservative - they like the way a laissez-faire economic system work, but they are blind to the hypocrisy of using government to solve 'social ills.' And finally, you see why the anarcho-capitalists are the way they are- they want almost zero government intervention and blindly trust the Market when clearly the market has its limitations.
Being a libertarian is a great place to be. Like the enlightenment monks you are the lily flower of politics. You are attached to the water, but you are also above the water and not concerned with the day-to-day currents of Washington - you realize it's an illusion.
The above work is the opinion of the author, and not necessarily that of the Prometheus Institute
