I second that emotion!

You know, for a bag of bolts, and metal, that Phil guy is pretty sharp!

Those freedom lovers who put liberty before all, to a fault. Sometimes they miss the fact that while the ideas Libertarianism promotes are very worthy and worthwhile, practicality just gets in the way.

While it is true that most people are virtuous, moral and well meaning. Some are mean, amoral, or just downright evil and can’t be trusted.  It is the latter that governments are invented to protect us from. Sometimes I think that most dyed-in-the-wool Libertarians forget this.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of Libertarianism, I think it is at the core of the founding principles and of Conservatism. I also think it must be tempered with common sense. I’ve said before at the other blog that I believe the founders meant to limit the Federal Government to affairs of the nation as a whole. It has no place in our personal lives. Yes, I believe the income tax, social security and medicare/aide and the Seventeenth Amendment should all be repealed in due time. I know that most Libertarians would agree with me on this.

Where we get sideways though, is the issue of where the state and local governments have jurisdiction. A Libertarian friend once told me that even state or local government should have no place in your personal life. If this is the Libertarian’s belief, then they are wrong.

The Tenth Amendment lays it out with clarity that cannot be ignored.

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Go and read the entire piece, it is well worth it. I would add one thing I am sure Phil would agree with. That is that all governments, State, local, etc. should restrain themselves from passing unneeded laws, that encroach into the personal lives of the people. In other words, to paraphrase Jefferson, the government should make laws preventing people from harming one another, and stay out of their lives otherwise.

Anytime government attempts to become our nanny, it erodes our natural rights in my opinion. We are intended to be free, and any efforts that restrict that natural condition are, to me, an abomination.

Of course, this is why the people should stay vigilant and jealous of their rights, and not just on national issues. Often our liberties are stripped away by overzealous city or county governments. We must be wary of their tendencies to move from our servants to our masters.