I certainly hope this is true, but I wonder if people really understand what a truly libertarian government will require of us: personal responsibility, personal charity and sacrifice to help people in need, real tolerance of different views and lifestyles, and real participation in our governing bodies and democratic process. If we as a country suddenly embraced libertarianism, we can't deny that there will be a very real and painful period of adjustment for our citizens most in need. We can't ignore that fact even though, ultimately, (I believe) greater freedom means greater prosperity for all citizens. I do think we need radical change, but it's not going to be all sunshine and roses.
I think young people think of libertarianism as freedom to smoke weed and allow gay marriage, but it's really about the freedom to live your life and succeed or fail on your own. Our government has been in the "safety net" business for so long that too many people have grown accustomed to whatever safety net the government provides to them, be it specific tax credits/deductions or Social Security or goodness knows what else.
Where the author of this article totally loses me is in claiming that these young people are now all about libertarianism, but still want "universal" healthcare supposedly paid for by the federal government. (His argument that a universal health care system is a "libertarian approach" is laughable.) Do people really not understand that the federal government's money is the people's money? The government sells no goods, it generates no income other than what it collects from taxes. There is no such thing as "free health care". "Universal" health care is also a myth -- the people who can afford better care (i.e. those nasty, evil rich people) will always get better care than the people who cannot afford it. And why people can't understand and accept that is a complete mystery to me.
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