I am a Libertarian because I believe that freedom represents the only sustainable model for a large, complex, and diverse society. Historically, from the Roman Empire to the old Soviet Union, civilizations propped up by compulsion or prohibition eventually collapse under their own weight or under the unmet demands of people who want to live as they choose.

Libertarians believe that every person has rights laid out in our constitution and that government’s proper role is to secure those rights. Others believe that governments is actually the holder of rights and that they can grant or withdraw them as they wish. If you believe that government should have the smallest possible role in your private life and the smallest possible role in your finances, you are a Libertarian.

If you believe people should only be limited by their mind, body, and talent, you are a Libertarian. If you believe that building a truly compassionate society cannot by definition involve the use of government coercion, you are a Libertarian.

I am a Libertarian because it is a philosophy that recognizes humanness and compassionately allows us to exist in our best form. I see the power and beauty that exists by simply acknowledging that the individual knows what is best for them. That the government is best that governs least. That laws that unnecessarily restrict others almost always have unintended consequences. That history proves our desire for liberty is always at odds with the temptation of collectivism and that this requires every generation to remind the next about the tyranny and destruction that comes when society decides that comfort is more important than freedom. I understand that ‘coercion’ is not ‘compassion’ and cannot result in ‘better’. I am a Libertarian because it allows us to be the best human society we can be and creates the environment that allows others to be at their best.

I reject the establishment’s 2-party ultimatum: choose either economic or personal freedom, but not both. I want all my freedom.