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csberryAs a libertarian with a lot of friends who are left-of-center, I'm frequently put in a position where I have to defend why my being a libertarian doesn't mean that I'm a selfish bastard. My biggest struggle with this is one of the icons of libertarianism - Ayn Rand. That woman did so much to illustrate the empowering aspect of minimizing governmental involvement and yet was a very...er, not-nice...author of melodramatic novels and screenplays who surrounded herself by a cult of followers that overlooked her hypocritical actions.
Thus, I found myself going into complete and utter mental distraction today when I read an article on CNN.com about Jesus vs Ayn Rand. For the most part, I agree that one cannot consider themselves a Christian and a firm believer in Rand's philosophy of objectivism. However, that is not to say that a Christian can't be a libertarian.
Libertarianism says that the best government is one that sticks to a few basic roles and otherwise leaves other matters to the marketplace and/or individual citizens (or to a more local government in the case of federal libertarianism). Libertarians do vary in how far is too far with deregulating business, but a minority go to the extreme as Rand advocated of complete government withdrawal from the marketplace. As Rand was forming her philosophy of objectivism, she added a motivation that isn't required in libertarianism - selfishness (as the article goes into detail about). It is that motivation that has always separated libertarianism from objectivism for me.
I believe that libertarianism isn't contradictory to my Christianity; instead it allows me to be a better Christian. Jesus wants us to love our neighbor and to help those in need. My friends on the left say that is done by everyone paying taxes and having government programs do those tasks. In that scenario, I feel we are no longer helping the poor, but paying someone else to do it for us. While I understand their intent, I feel that putting the responsibilities of loving our neighbor and helping the poor on our government is shunning our own individual commitments to God to do those things. I believe it is more spiritually rewarding to give to charities myself, to volunteer my time and materials to actively interact and experience what it is that the neighbors and the poor go through instead of sitting back and letting some government employee do it.
I believe that each citizen of our country would become less selfish and create a greater connection with our community by spending more time doing charitable work. But high taxes and some laws and regulations discourage that sort of individual charity. Cheap patriotism has stolen our sense of community in exchange for a government that assuages our guilt for not helping others by adding a program to address whatever concern a person might have. Whether that concern is being addressed by the government becomes how people define how much we care as individuals on those concerns. Paying taxes has become a penance for not helping people directly in our own lives.
When I see families that lose their homes in natural disasters or poor begging for handouts or read about an elderly person that died from lack of power during heatwaves or blizzards, I don't think, "The government needs to do something about it." Instead I think, "What can I do to help?" or "What can me and my community do to alleviate the suffering or solve a problem?" Is that thinking of mine selfish?
If you haven't done any charitable work lately (more than tossing a dollar in a bucket or donating the stuff you couldn't sell at your yard sale), please find some time to do something to help a charitable or non-profit organization in your area. Learn about homelessness by serving them food; handing out clothing; or assisting in educational, health, or morale- focused programs. Help the sick by visiting strangers in the hospital, assist organizations on creating and putting on fundraisers, or tell everyone you meet about the disease/illness/handicap of your choice and what they can do to help prevent that disease/illness/handicap from robbing people of happy lives. Experience what it is to address that problem and then share that feeling with others so they, too, may get a greater understanding of the rewards of charity. I wish Ayn Rand had that kind of experience.
Thus, I found myself going into complete and utter mental distraction today when I read an article on CNN.com about Jesus vs Ayn Rand. For the most part, I agree that one cannot consider themselves a Christian and a firm believer in Rand's philosophy of objectivism. However, that is not to say that a Christian can't be a libertarian.
Libertarianism says that the best government is one that sticks to a few basic roles and otherwise leaves other matters to the marketplace and/or individual citizens (or to a more local government in the case of federal libertarianism). Libertarians do vary in how far is too far with deregulating business, but a minority go to the extreme as Rand advocated of complete government withdrawal from the marketplace. As Rand was forming her philosophy of objectivism, she added a motivation that isn't required in libertarianism - selfishness (as the article goes into detail about). It is that motivation that has always separated libertarianism from objectivism for me.
I believe that libertarianism isn't contradictory to my Christianity; instead it allows me to be a better Christian. Jesus wants us to love our neighbor and to help those in need. My friends on the left say that is done by everyone paying taxes and having government programs do those tasks. In that scenario, I feel we are no longer helping the poor, but paying someone else to do it for us. While I understand their intent, I feel that putting the responsibilities of loving our neighbor and helping the poor on our government is shunning our own individual commitments to God to do those things. I believe it is more spiritually rewarding to give to charities myself, to volunteer my time and materials to actively interact and experience what it is that the neighbors and the poor go through instead of sitting back and letting some government employee do it.
I believe that each citizen of our country would become less selfish and create a greater connection with our community by spending more time doing charitable work. But high taxes and some laws and regulations discourage that sort of individual charity. Cheap patriotism has stolen our sense of community in exchange for a government that assuages our guilt for not helping others by adding a program to address whatever concern a person might have. Whether that concern is being addressed by the government becomes how people define how much we care as individuals on those concerns. Paying taxes has become a penance for not helping people directly in our own lives.
When I see families that lose their homes in natural disasters or poor begging for handouts or read about an elderly person that died from lack of power during heatwaves or blizzards, I don't think, "The government needs to do something about it." Instead I think, "What can I do to help?" or "What can me and my community do to alleviate the suffering or solve a problem?" Is that thinking of mine selfish?
If you haven't done any charitable work lately (more than tossing a dollar in a bucket or donating the stuff you couldn't sell at your yard sale), please find some time to do something to help a charitable or non-profit organization in your area. Learn about homelessness by serving them food; handing out clothing; or assisting in educational, health, or morale- focused programs. Help the sick by visiting strangers in the hospital, assist organizations on creating and putting on fundraisers, or tell everyone you meet about the disease/illness/handicap of your choice and what they can do to help prevent that disease/illness/handicap from robbing people of happy lives. Experience what it is to address that problem and then share that feeling with others so they, too, may get a greater understanding of the rewards of charity. I wish Ayn Rand had that kind of experience.
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no subject
Date: 2011-06-29 11:18 pm (UTC)This is well thought-out and well said, even if I am a heathen traitor pinko liberal hippie commie.
I appreciate you taking the time to explain something that could be easily dismissed in broad brush generalizations.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-29 11:39 pm (UTC)Which is hilarious, when you think about it.
Here we go again . . .
Date: 2011-06-30 03:56 pm (UTC)We could go on and on for days about Rand, Objectivism, and all the political, ethical, and economic consequences thereof (including her rejection of altruism-as-forced-duty), as well as her vehement opposition to Immanuel Kant's assertion that the only truly virtuous act is an act where one receives absolutely nothing in return, including the warm-and-fuzzies. But I digress.
For the record, Rand did not really care for the Libertarian Party, and was irked by its co-opting her image as the its philosophical symbol. Also, Rand did give to, and work for, charitable organizations in her day, and she never denigrated those who did. She did not, however, ignore the reasons why such work was deemed necessary; indeed, she pointed out that it was of utmost importance to know why the work was necessary in order to make one's contribution more effective, rather than just placing a psychological Band-Aid on the problem.
Re: Here we go again . . .
Date: 2011-07-01 02:07 pm (UTC)That said, she didn't do herself favors in interviews. She had a penchant for extreme statements that were sometimes softened a bit when she went further into explaining that thought. However, she's provided lots of quotable fodder for her detractors and sometimes her followers can unintentionally besmirch her with their own hyperbolic defense.
I had a period of strong curiosity about Rand in the late 90's as I explored libertarian thought more. As part of that, I would take advantage of opportunities to try to find Randian guests to have on the air. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these Ayn proxies did far more to convince me and our audience that they were off the deep end than convince anyone of her line of reasoning. And we are talking about a right-wing talk show, so we are dealing with an audience that was open to her philosophy.