Glibertarians.com 2017 Archive

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  • How can a Christian be a libertarian? Against Blue Laws and Gambling or Porn bans.

    Grüezi mitenand. It is good to be back into the libertarian discussion arena.

    In some libertarian discussion, one can find suspicion, if not out right hostility, to Christianity. Not necessarily hostility to it as a faith, mind you, but as a source of ….inspiration for meddling in other’s affairs.

    The easiest examples are Blue Laws – especially those aimed at alcohol sales on Sunday and their ilk. Other simple fingers to point are the crusading against pornography or gambling. You can rightfully hear the question “How can Christians be libertarian if they can’t even stop themselves from using the Law to dictate their vision of morality?”

    My answer to that is… THEY ARE DOING CHRISTIANITY WRONG.

    Being a Christian means you should behave certain ways, not force others to behave that way. That is the way of the Taliban, chopping off hands of women who wear nail polish or beating men who don’t have a long enough beard. As a Christian, you are supposed to persuade, be an example, teach the willing and pray for everyone. Many of the lessons of Scripture are recognizing real faith and virtue vs rote, faithless observance of forms. If you think gambling is immoral, then don’t gamble. Go ahead and persuade people that gambling can lead to all sorts of problems. But if you find yourself in front of the zoning commission arguing against a casino being built in your town, knock it off.

    Even with the admonition found in Genesis

    [5] And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.
    [6] Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

    a Christian can remain libertarian on capital punishment. While I favor the existence of capital punishment – I am not blind to the abuses the State can, and does, perpetuate. Its one thing to execute the no doubt guilty John Wayne Gacy – it is another to try and shove Corey Maye into the grave.

    So, my fellow libertarians, I would ask that you give Christians the benefit of the doubt. But if they advocate the use of the power of the temporal State to fashion an end to their moral liking….then let them have it!

  • The March for “Science”

    There’s an old joke amongst progressives (which is not entirely untrue!) about the right wingers demanding that the government keep its hands off their Medicare and Social Security. Folks as old as I am will remember the clever-ish Vietnam-era slogan “Fighting for peace is like fucking for chastity.” What is less amusing to me as a scientist is the other side of that coin, which has been beautifully reified by the nascent “March for Science.” Yes, hanging on to the recent Women’s March like an infected appendix dangling from a shit-filled intestine is the oh-so-earnest March for Science in which “scientists” will descend on DC en masse demanding that the government keep their hands off grant funding (i.e, “shut up and keep giving me the money”) and remove any work restrictions from scientists on the public payroll. Their website and twitter feed has been quite amusing, in a sick sort of way. “There are certain things that we accept as facts with no alternatives.” Yeah, that’s science all right. Ditto the demand for scientists to guide “public policy,” at which we are no more competent than actors, plumbers, or stevedores.

    The organizing committee seems to be dominated by students largely drawn from fringe areas, and all working on the taxpayer dime. The demands all have to do with keeping the taxpayer money pipeline flowing and job security for government-employed scientists. At the same time, their claim is that they want to prevent “the politicization of science.” Which didn’t seem to be an issue when Team Blue had their hands on the money-tap…

    Fun fact: currently, about 2/3 of all science research is privately funded. Perhaps if one sincerely wanted politics out of science, the march might be demanding the end of government grants, government-paid scientists, and the notion of a government “science policy.” If you’re a good scientist, there’s plenty of private sector opportunity and support. But that might be a scary thing, and there’s no outsize public sector benefits or tenure or public sector unions. Just meritocracy. Produce quality work or hit the road.

    In the words of the great Governor William J. LePetomane, “We’ve gotta protect our phony baloney jobs!”