Make no mistake about it: tonight’s presidential debate between President Biden and former President Trump is simply about power. Who is going to wield the reins of power over the welfare-regulatory-warfare state? Will it be Biden and the Democrats or will it be Trump and the Republicans? Which ones will wield the power to tax, regulate, control, direct, command, conscript, sacrifice, torture, or assassinate us? Equally important, which ones will wield the power to give us tax-funded welfare largess, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, educational grants, subsidies, bailouts, and all the rest of the welfare-warfare state benefits.
From a libertarian standpoint, it won’t make any difference whether it’s Biden or Trump who wins the presidency. That’s because it is the welfare-state system, the regulatory-state system, and the warfare-state system, not Biden and Trump, that are the problem. It’s the system that destroys freedom, not the people who manage the system, that is the problem.
In order to achieve freedom, it is necessary to dismantle infringements on freedom, not reform them and not get “better” people into public office to manage them.
To achieve the dismantling of infringements on freedom, it is necessary to continually make the case for dismantling infringements on freedom — that is, the case for freedom, genuine freedom. That’s the only way to ever arrive at a critical mass of people who are willing to dismantle infringements on freedom. If all that we libertarians do is make the case for getting “better” people in office to better manage the serfdom system or if all we do is make the case for reforming or improving the serfdom system, we end up acquiescing to the welfare-state, regulatory-state, and warfare-state serfdom under which we live, even if we convince ourselves that we are, in fact, “advancing liberty.”
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The discomforting fact is that many libertarians have come to accept the serfdom under which we live. They have given up, even if they don’t admit it. They have come to accept the fact that the welfare-state, regulatory-state, warfare state way of life has become a permanent part of our governmental structure. That’s why some of them get so very excited when Trump or Biden throws them a pre-election bone in the hope of purchasing their support.
Many libertarians, for example, have come to accept Social Security and Medicare, the two crown jewels of American welfare-state socialism that both Trump and Biden also support. They have settled for making the case for reform or “gradually” phasing out these socialist programs over the next 20 years or so.
They have come to accept school vouchers, a socialist educational reform measure long favored by Republicans.
They have come to accept the public (i.e., government) school system, a longtime socialist program favored by both Democrats and Republicans.
They have come to accept the Pentagon and the massive military-intelligence complex that it represents, which are the root of America’s foreign wars.
They have come to accept “decriminalization” of drugs or other drug-war reforms rather than the full legalization of drugs.
They have come to accept the reform, rather than the termination, of governmental regulatory agencies, including ones relating to healthcare.
And, of course, they have come to support America’s Republican-Democrat socialist system of immigration controls and the immigration police state that comes with it, not to mention the destruction of life and liberty that is an inherent part of such immigration socialism.
How can getting “better” people into the welfare state, regulatory state, and warfare state bring us freedom, even when they throw libertarians pre-election bones? It can’t. How can supporting reforms of the welfare state, regulatory state, and warfare state bring us freedom? It can’t. Only dismantling a system that destroys our freedom can bring us freedom. And that means steadfastly and unwaveringly making the case for freedom, with the aim of reaching the critical mass of people that can bring a paradigm shift toward freedom to our land.