Three topics big deal to libertarians

There are three topics which come up frequently in libertarian writings: guns, drugs, and national borders. The reason is those three areas are where the people of America seem willing to let government do the most damage to rightful liberty, just to punish other people.

All three are hot buttons for almost everyone, with people on each side screaming at those on the other.

It’s why those three topics keep coming up, not because I’m a broken record (does anyone still get the reference?).

None of those issues are legitimately subject to government meddling. No one can have the right or the “authority” to control them. None are listed by the U.S. Constitution as something government is allowed to interfere with, with one specifically placed beyond government’s reach; not that government obeys the Constitutional prohibition on gun “laws.”

Even if the Constitution permitted government to control guns, drugs, or national borders it still wouldn’t be right. No document can create a right or “authority” out of thin air. If you have no authority to do something, you can’t delegate that which you don’t have to someone else on your behalf. It’s simply not possible.

Even if you don’t care about those issues, you are being violated in their name.

In particular, drug prohibition is used to trample the liberty of everyone regardless of whether they ever considered using recreational drugs. Prohibition is used to justify making it inconvenient to relieve your own allergies. It is used as justification for punishing medical professionals who care when their patients are suffering needlessly. It is the excuse used to track you, kick in doors in the middle of the night, probe you, and to generally treat you as government property — which is what government employees believe you are.

The fact is, those topics matter. In everything, regardless of feelings I am always going to come down on the side of individual liberty and human rights; against those who seek to violate and control others.

It should be obvious those aren’t the only important issues related to liberty. The right to travel without being stopped and questioned by armed government employees is also critical, as is getting government out of medicine, education, and the economy. The proliferation of licensing, for everything from jobs to driving to self-defense tools, is another major problem.

These issues will continue to be important to those of us who value individual liberty. Respecting liberty will always remain the greatest responsibility.

Farwell’s Kent McManigal champions liberty. Contact him at:

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