With the U.S. government toying with a major war with Russia, and coming off of the COVID tyranny, it seems that there isn’t much to be optimistic about for libertarians.
The U.S. empire grows. The federal budget grows. The national debt continues to grow at an astounding pace. Americans are suffering from consumer price inflation and lagging wages, while a major recession looks likely.
Yet, in spite of all this, there are many reasons for a libertarian to be optimistic.
Education Without the State
Homeschooling continues to grow at a rapid pace. And in most states, it isn’t that hard, legally speaking, to homeschool. The biggest hurdle is having a parent available to do it. The biggest obstacle put in place by government is the taxation and inflation that makes it hard for a family to get by on one income.
A Well-Armed Populace
The statistics aren’t really clear, but gun ownership is likely near an all-time high, at least in the last few generations. There are various reasons for people owning a gun, but for most non-criminals, the reason comes back to some sort of symbolism for freedom.
Vaccine Education
Just two years ago, we were under a major assault to take multiple COVID jabs. It was less than two years ago that government mandates entered the scene. In that amount of time, people have fought back and mostly won.
Even though a majority of people ended up getting jabbed (some through coercion), almost nobody is continuing with the boosters.
The really good news for liberty is that the excessive push by the authoritarians have radicalized people in the other direction. Many people have become skeptical of all vaccines. Some are choosing not to give any vaccines to their children only because of what has happened over the last couple of years.
In addition, it has led many people – Americans in particular – to question the entire medical establishment. If a doctor tells you to get a procedure done or to take a drug for something, more and more people aren’t just obediently listening. They at least question the advice and do some of their own research.
The Presidential Candidates
There are a lot of terrible presidential candidates. The good news is that the worst ones on the Republican side are getting almost no traction. They are polling somewhere near zero. This includes Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, and others. It is all of the really bad war hawks who are doing poorly.
Dave Smith may run on the Libertarian Party ticket. Tulsi Gabbard may run as an independent. RFK Jr. is stirring up trouble in the Democratic Party. Vivek Ramaswamy is at least talking about some interesting subjects.
You can find faults with any person. Aside from Dave Smith, there are many things a libertarian would have disagreements about with the other candidates. But at least many of them are questioning U.S. foreign policy and are going against some of the establishment narratives.
This means that there has been a mind shift in the American electorate. If people were the same as they were 20 years ago, we would be talking about Mike Pence or Nikki Haley going against Joe Biden or Gavin Newsom. Instead, we get some variation with RFK Jr., and even Trump and DeSantis.
Economic Optimism
This is admittedly a harder topic to be optimistic about. We are likely in for some hard times ahead. But in spite of the government (at all levels) spending almost half of our money and regulating us like crazy, the people acting in the marketplace still find a way to innovate and make the world go round.
The only way the budget will be cut in any significant way is through the laws of economics. What can’t go on has a tendency to stop, and that perfectly describes the growing federal budget and debt.
But one day when the federal government is finally rolled back, we could see a new prosperity that we can’t even imagine now. Imagine the entrepreneurship and innovation and new technology if the state is cut in half. We will be wealthier as a society that most wouldn’t think possible today.
A General Distrust
It is easy to hear people complain that we can no longer trust our media or our government officials. But that should be reason to celebrate.
It’s not like politicians and media pundits just started lying to us recently. This has been going on for all of recorded history. It is a great thing that people aren’t trusting what their political “leaders” are telling them.
It is also incredible that people are no longer holding the FBI and CIA in high esteem. They are no longer these heroic agencies battling evil in the eyes of many. They understand that these agencies are evil themselves, at least at the top. They see that these government agencies are working against the American people and not for them.
This general distrust in the establishment severely weakens the state. It might not be evident now, but it is there.
I believe it was Lew Rockwell that compared the state to a wounded wild animal. It is hurt and dying, but it will be flailing around and will hurt and kill some people in the process of dying.
We are not going to see an overnight dramatic change towards liberty. But the key to gaining long-term liberty is for the populace to distrust the state and to stop being so obedient to the state. That is happening now.