Hope Libertarians Can Believe In

As a believer in libertarianism, I understand that it can be difficult. That people sometimes just don’t care. That some perhaps choose not to see the world as I believe it is. But I see absolutely no reason, whatsoever, to be pessimistic. None. I look at history. I look at what’s happened.

Imagine five hundred years ago, it was not thought people could rule themselves. Self-government? Hah! We need the divine right of Kings. Yet we know this didn’t last. Starting with the Magna Carta, leading to the Declaration of Independence, we established the idea of natural law, of “unalienable rights.” Among them “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Just imagine this: an entire nation founded on principles – the principles of liberty. A nation that I believe has been, and still is, the greatest on earth. Coincidence?

And how could we forget, that at the same time economist Adam Smith was laying the foundations for not only the most prosperous, but the most liberating set of economic philosophy ever devised by man.

Of course these things don’t come easy. Less than a century later Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels laid the foundation of a promise. Alas, this promise resulted in perhaps two world wars and the death of millions through mass deprevation and genocide. Yet these ideas failed. And they failed because they were not on the right side of history: that of liberty, and that of justice.

I look at the last half century, and see the steps we have taken as a people towards ending the ignorance and immorality that is codified segregation. I see the gains the criminally accused have made from the right every man, woman, and child has to an attorney to the growing uneasiness with capital punishment. I see places like Denver, CO ending the prohibition on marijuana. I see the right of a woman to have control of her body protected by the highest authority in the land, the Supreme Court. I have seen this same court rule that individual possession of fire arms is a constitutional right, and I expect soon we will see this same court rule it unconstitutional to deny homosexual couples the right to marry, as has already been done in states like Massachusetts.

Human history can be viewed as nothing but a process of liberalization. I am thankful for the timeless works of von Mises, Rothbard, Hayek and countless others, several of whose works are available in our school library. I’m thankful there is a place where I can go and talk with like-minded individuals about liberty, and I’m thankful this place is just one small chapter of a nation-wide movement.

While every step we take may not be one forward, the marathon our forefathers have run is. Libertarianism is the future because it offers the consistency that people are looking for. It is a flame that burns in us. It burns so strongly that our ancestors fought for it. They died for it. And most of all they simply believed in it. This is why libertarianism cannot, and will not, die. Never again will that spirit of liberty be lost, never will it die. That is why I am optimistic for our future.