“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” ~ H. L. Mencken

After I became a full-fledged libertarian, but prior to 2007, I thought: If only we could get someone in front of the American people to present a good case for libertarianism.  I thought if enough people heard the message articulated, that it could change our society significantly.

I thought about this from my own experience.  We are often presented with just two choices: Republican or Democrat. Even if you aren’t a hardcore libertarian, shouldn’t you at least be able to be against war and against government-run healthcare at the same time?

I remember Harry Browne talking about how it is important to present yourself well and to be able to explain the benefits of liberty.  Even if you are not able to change a lot of people, you may be the first real libertarian someone encounters.  You may be able to change someone else’s mind.  And you never know whom that person might eventually reach. Maybe someone with a lot of fame or money will hear the message and then help to spread it far and wide.

I would think about rich and famous people who were possibly open minded enough that maybe they could be converted to libertarianism.  If some rich person became a libertarian and decided to spend their money on a presidential campaign, you never know what might happen after that.

Then, 2007 came. Ron Paul entered the presidential race on the Republican ticket, even though he had a mostly libertarian philosophy for a long time.  I was ecstatic when I heard he would be in the debates.  I thought, “Finally, the message will reach the people.”

I was not altogether wrong.  In retrospect, I don’t know that I could have asked for anything better during this time period. There are multiple times the number of libertarians today as there were prior to 2007.

I find it amusing when I hear libertarians despair about how few of us there are.  They think that liberty is lost because our numbers are so few.  They somehow fail to realize that the message of liberty is far greater today than perhaps ever before.  The sentiment for statism is strong as well, but at least there is an alternative to statism for those looking.

There must be something in the DNA of human beings that attracts certain people to liberty and others to statism.  The interesting thing about the Ron Paul campaigns (2007/ 2008 and 2011/ 2012) is that it just seemed to better draw the lines.

If anything, I thought maybe he would get many millions of people to lean towards libertarianism. Maybe he did that to a certain extent, but not as much as I would have thought.  I do consider the possibility that Ron Paul’s message made it possible for Donald Trump to get the Republican nomination with a softer (better) position on foreign policy.  Trump certainly didn’t have anything close to the message of Paul, but he did say that Bush lied us into war in Iraq.  If any candidate had said that in 2008, or even 2012, I don’t think the Republican nomination would have been possible.

The most interesting aspect of the Ron Paul campaigns is that he identified (and created) hardcore libertarians.  It’s not just that there was a slight shift towards liberty.  The million or so people who dedicated themselves to the Ron Paul cause became mostly hardcore.  In fact, there are many libertarians who say they got started by hearing Ron Paul in the debates, yet they now consider themselves more hardcore than Ron Paul himself.

People Enslave Themselves

I frequently say that the only way to get a more libertarian society in the long run is to change the hearts and minds of the people.  The state relies on the consent of the people.

You can hate certain politicians and complain about certain policies, but it doesn’t matter if you are still consenting to the corrupt system of the state ruling over us. Since there are enough people who believe we need big government to rule over us for our own protection, we get big government.  We are all enslaved to a certain extent by the large majority of people who grant their consent, whether it is explicitly or implicitly.

I consider myself compassionate towards other human beings.  I don’t want to see innocent people suffer.  I think about the people in foreign countries who suffer at the hands of U.S. government bombs.  I acknowledge the innocent people who die or have people close to them die.  I acknowledge the suffering.  I didn’t always do this when I was younger.  I had to think about this suffering to become staunchly anti war.

In the United States, I am also compassionate towards innocent people who suffer.  I am even somewhat sympathetic towards innocent people who suffer, even though they are suffering from policies that they helped promote.  There are people who cheer on bigger government and suffer from the very policies that they advocated, but they don’t even know it.  Worse, they continue to advocate for these harmful policies.

You can try to point this out to people, but they will typically just get defensive.  If anything, they will just double-down on promoting the bad policies.  Most people don’t want to admit they have been duped by others.  They would rather deny it and just keep getting duped.

It’s not even to say that these people are stupid.  They may just be stupid in this one aspect of life.  I have met many intelligent people who promote statism. They may even be brilliant in virtually every area of life except for this one.  They may be so intelligent that they think they know how to run other people’s lives better than the people themselves.

There are some people that just don’t know better.  I am sympathetic because they just don’t realize it.  I see them as suckers in this one particular area of life, but I have nothing against them other than this.  I am sympathetic even though they are helping to make my life harder.  I am sympathetic because I give them the benefit of the doubt that they are just ignorant in this one area.

The only problem is, times have changed.  Communication is cheaper and better today than ever before.  If you really want to know the truth, it is out there.  You just need a little bit of effort and a little bit of reason.

Ron Paul spelled out the message in 2007/ 2008, and again in 2011/ 2012.  That same message is available all over the web.  It is hard to plead ignorance in today’s world. You can be apathetic.  You can deny reality.  But you can’t just plead ignorance without taking any responsibility, especially if you are an older adult.

In this respect, I have a little less sympathy than before for those suffering from their own delusions. The message is out there, but a large majority of people still want to take the word of their slave masters over those of us trying to warn them that they are being duped.  They can’t take a little bit of effort to research different sides of a story.

While Mencken’s quote is funny, I did not believe that people deserve to get “good and hard” what they vote for or support.  People don’t deserve pain and suffering just because they were duped.  They are the victims.

I still don’t want to see innocent people suffer, but I am struggling with who is actually innocent. If all of this information is out there, and you refuse to open your eyes to the truth, maybe you do deserve to get it good and hard at some point.