Q & A

Q: Why are you so negative?

A: I get this at least once a week if not once a day. For the record, I am not negative or a pessimist. I am a realist. Sometimes, this means I am positive when everyone around me is negative. This would apply to issues such as global warming, mad cow disease, killer asteroids, or what have you. OTOH, I am negative on such things as the government's ability to make meaningful social change, manage the economy, win the war on drugs, respect civil rights, etc.

It all depends on the issue with me. Generally, I find that the people who decry my "negativity" are shitheads who believe in religion, government, or love. Well, here's some positivity for you. You don't need any of these three things to be happy and enjoy life.

Q: How can you believe that we came from protoplasmic slime?

A: I must admit that it seems farfetched that we all evolved from a chance collision of organic compounds in a prehistoric primordial soup. OTOH, it seems far more plausible to me than a divine creator fashioning a man from mud and then plucking out his rib to fashion a piece of ass for that man. For all I know, we could have sprung from the feces of some alien who made a pit stop here before continuing on his journeys. I don't know. What I do know is that evolution is supported by all the evidence we have from the fossil record so far in addition to current evolution that occurs now with superbugs, AIDS, etc. No evidence exists for Genesis or any other religious myth. I go with the evidence.

Q: Why do you waste your time with that libertarian bullshit?

A: I get this from people who begrudgingly agree with my political philosophy but think it is a waste of time pursuing it. In other words, if you can't win, why play?

I agree that libertarian initiatives are DOA when it comes to the wider population. Ron Paul is the most successful libertarian politician ever, and he is virtually unknown among Republicans. Even when small government conservatives get elected, they abandon their principles in order to remain in office. Without a doubt, it is a gloomy outlook for freedom.

But there is hope on singular issues. I doubt that wholesale libertarianism will ever take root, but we have made some progress on issues such as drug legalization, gun rights, the draft, etc. I'll take whatever I can get. But these victories are few and far between.

Being a libertarian is an essential part of my philosophy of life which I have labelled "secular individualism"--a term coined by a guy named Vincent Cook. This philosophy of life is the core of what makes me happy. By being a libertarian, I am skeptical of the political ideologies of the Left and the Right. I don't feel a trace of guilt over burning fossil fuels or fornicating or what have you. I am not a slave to the "greater good," and I am able to laugh at a lot of stuff. Tyranny isn't just political but also psychological. I may not be able to escape the political tyranny, but I have already escaped the psychological tyranny. I don't live in fear or guilt, and it is precisely because I am a libertarian that I am able to do this. It is worth it.

Since my "conversion" to the libertarian mindset, I have enjoyed greater happiness and prosperity. I am more tolerant of others even if I think they have shit for brains. I am easier to get along with. I am a better and more pleasant person because I believe in to each his own. I want everyone to be free to do as they please as long as they don't harm other people. It is my dream that the rest of the USA will extend the same courtesy my way.

Posted in: