An Hour on Liberty and Political Power

"The probation of the flesh has many purposes, but none greater than learning to use power righteously, and none more difficult or more dangerous or beset with as many traps and snares for the soul. He must learn to stay his hand, never to trespass on another's agency, no matter how much wiser he may believe his vision to be or how much greater his own light. He may see the path far ahead and every precipice that hovers on the lip of the abyss, every morass that would suck a man into its bowels and consume him utterly. He may plead and teach, exhort and implore, yet he must not rob another of his right to choose for himself, good or ill."

This quote reminds me of many things...

A parent who wants her child to excel in school, go to college, select the 'right' major, and make smart life choices.

A protester who wants to impose her moral values upon a distressed woman.

A country that wants to 'help' another country to become a democracy, via strategic application of force.

It also got me thinking about all the ways in which free will is impinged upon by the philosophies of the two major political parties. Granted, to not impinge upon free will at all would result in anarchy, but what happens if we try to build a political philosophy from scratch, based on the premise that power should be minimally applied by a governing body, and then those in power should act from the desire to maximize individual freedoms? Oh, that's what happens.

[Brief Aside: I normally fall into the category of persons who can reasonably be called 'politically ignorant'. This scares me, as I think politics shouldn't be something you think about once a year or, heaven forbid, every four years. I hate thinking in sound bytes, and I am equally disgusted with being talked to in sound bytes. Unfortunately, I often use this disgust as a way to write-off politics as a deeply-flawed endeavor in which I can hope to have next-to-no impact and am therefore justified in largely ignoring. In a perfect world, I would find the impetus and drive to become politically aware and active, starting at a local level. I'm currently reading, and am inspired by, The Audacity of Hope. (The preceding statement should not in any way be construed as endorsement of a particular person, ticket, or party.) In a less-than-perfect world though, I'll devote an hour to writing a blog post about a particular topic and hopefully educating myself a little in the process.]

But back to what I was saying... A party that advocates individual responsibility, and opposes unnecessary impingement upon free will?! How did I not know about this? How do I know nothing about the Libertarian Party beyond what I believe that I can infer from a word that sounds remarkably like 'liberty'? How have I made it through four presidential elections with no more than a passing awareness of any third, fourth or fifth political party? My knowledge of third parties is appalling.

Googling various words (such as 'effectiveness') in combination with 'Libertarian Party' shows that the Libertarian Party has reached the point where some people want to reform it in order to appeal to larger percentage of voters. Its collective history is also available in wiki format. My predilection for comparative analysis though met with less-than-satisfying google results.

Believe it or not, my hour on this topic is up. I guess I spent more time reading than writing. And while I am by no means now a confirmed Libertarian, I think I have resolved to try to find an active Libertarian with whom to strike up a conversation...