Being a Libertarian

"In their cover story for Politics, Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie assuage nervous libertarian voters by promising them that a more glorious future awaits us all, regardless of who takes control of the White House, the Congress or even the Supreme Court this fall. Cultural libertarianism, after all, is a growing force in America."
The full article can be downloaded as a pdf here.

Essentially, the article claims that the American people (specifically the younger generation) are moving toward a more Libertarian outlook on social issues and culture. As Welch and Gillespie point out in their article, we are becoming more and more accustomed to individualized service and choice in our social and economic lives. We're a very "have it your way-would you like your decaf frappuccino made with soy?" type of society. Netflix. iPod. Internet shopping. Blogger, and it doesn't stop there. The power of choice is an undeniable force in contemporary American society. The "next generation" prides itself on being a cohort of free minds.
To the Libertarian minority, this sounds wonderful, but it also begs the question: Why don't more people get it? Why are we backing candidates that are, at the root of everything, trying to limit our freedom and rights with ideas that are older and more tired than John McCain himself? McCain spews ideas reminiscent of ". . .Teddy Roosevelt’s century-old ideas about national, and international, greatness. . . " and the campaign finance legislation bearing his name is a "spectacular affront to the first amendment's guarantee of free political speech." Hillary Clinton's platform seems strangely Great Society. Mike Huckabee wanted to create public weight loss regimens and argued against the teaching of evolution in schools! And he actually won primaries! And as good looking and charismatic as he may be, Gillespie and Welch point out that it seems Barack Obama's true calling is repackaging JFK speeches from the 60s.
Why are these our choices for President? Because people are afraid to step outside the box. We've made "Liberal" and "Conservative" into four letter words for each opposing side and people are afraid to stand in the middle. Libertarians are categorized as " extreme conservative" which is a phrase that makes anyone under 25 shake in their boots. In actuality Libertarians stand for a lot of very "liberal" ideas: open immigration, civil liberties, women's rights, gay marriage and non-interventionist foreign policy. On the flip side, just as no "Liberal" wants to side with anything tied to the word "conservative," you'd be hard pressed to find any self proclaimed "conservative" standing near anything vaguely Blue. In reality, Libertarians are pro-gun rights, free trade and limited government. Isn't there something here for everybody? In a country founded on compromise, I find it strange that our population is so unwilling to do so.
Why don't more people understand that limiting the rights and choices of other people comes back to haunt you? I don't know. Why anyone would be so consumed with taking something away from a peer is beyond me. Does it really matter if gays get married? Does it affect "straight" people? No. If we have free trade with friendly countries and allow our own companies to do business globally, will the world fall apart? No. But if the "right" manages to do away with the gay marriage issue for good, someone will retaliate. If the "left" disbands trade agreements, someone will retaliate. Does is seem obvious that we'd all be better off if the government stayed out of our metaphoric hair? I think so. Why don't more people my age agree with me? Sheep!