Senator Paul and Libertarians vs. Conservatives

Brace yourselves for what are admittedly very broad generalizations before reading this.

Republican Presidential candidate Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) stood on the Fox Business News/GOP debate stage Tuesday night and, as primarily a libertarian, presumed to tell Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) what is or is not "conservative." So, much like his father before him, Senator Paul gives us a good opportunity to explore the differences between libertarians and conservatives.

As a conservative and not a libertarian, my understanding is libertarians are primarily fiscal conservatives and social liberals who eschew so-called "victimless crimes" and are somewhat military and foreign policy isolationists.

Conservatives, on the other hand, primarily believe government has a somewhat more robust constitutional role to play in society in order to preserve "the general welfare," are fiscal conservatives and believe America must project military power in a very dangerous 21st Century world (not to be confused with neo-conservatives who believe in using our military to "spread democracy" and nation build).

Now in my conservative opinion, why are conservatives right in this debate and libertarians wrong? The short answer is American history; the proof is in our past juxtaposed against our present.

America has always had laws against so-called victimless crimes. We were founded on the Judeo-Christian ethos and always had laws against sodomy, adultery, cohabitation and blue laws forbidding certain commerce on Sunday and those laws never ran afoul of our Constitution until the mid-20th Century. And, America became the greatest, strongest, freest, richest, most innovative and benevolent nation in the history of the world while we had those laws.

The Judeo-Christian ethos with all of its so-called victimless crimes helps build and support the traditional family structure and the history of all Western Civilization proves that structure builds strong communities and societies. Now that's "the general welfare!"

We began to reject our Judeo-Christian founding in the 1950s and the rejection really picked up steam in the 1960s. I don't think you can argue with a straight face that we are not far worse for that rejection.

Our continued liberalization of society has degraded our traditional family structure through no-fault divorces, abortion, the removal of God and attendant morality from society and government; the whole "if it feels good - do it," "you can't judge me" and "to each his own" society has led to a dramatically increased number of single parents; a loss of personal shame, discipline and self respect allowing for an intense coarsening of our culture.    

People sometimes tell me that it's none of my business because none of it affects me; I don't have a vagina or I'm not gay and I don't have to shop on Sunday if that's not my thing. But that's not true at all. Just look around at the increased cost to taxpayers, of which I am one, due to all the state and federal government programs needed to care for our new victim culture, unwed mothers and fathers, kids raised in broken homes and so much more.

It negatively impacts me because it has all led to the degradation of the society in which I live and it steals the fruits of my labor in order to support the fallout. It negatively impacts "the general welfare" of our society and that negatively impacts my family and me in very real ways.  

Take Sandra Fluke for one example; she was the college student who famously testified before a congressional committee and demanded "free" birth control because "the pill" is apparently so expensive. That attitude is a direct result of the increased liberalization of our society since the 1960s and that cost will come out of my paycheck.

If you think about it, driving without a driver's license and even driving while intoxicated are "victimless" crimes. Sure, they have the potential to create victims but until or unless you hit another car they are victimless crimes. In fact, all traffic laws are victimless crimes until you have a crash. Poaching game out of season is another victimless crime.

I can give a hundred more examples but they would just bore you and those predisposed to reject my arguments will simply reject even more examples.

I do agree that our nation needed to make changes and fix a few things, things like our Jim Crow laws and institutionalized, systemic racism. There is always room for improvement; however, I believe that since the 1960s we threw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater and rejected the very foundations that made us great. The pendulum, as it were, swung way too far in the other direction as we became increasingly libertarian - liberal.

I believe that if you take an honest look at American History from our founding through today you will see that conservatives are right about so-called victimless crimes and libertarians are wrong.

And thus endeth today's lesson - today's political shot from the right.