I have often wondered, "Where are all the former Libertarians?" Well, I was delighted to come across tale of one on the School Sucks podcast. In the highly recommended episode Brett goes word-by-word though a Salon.com article titled, "Confessions of a former Libertarian: My personal, psychological and intellectual epiphany." I opened the article immediately upon arriving home from my daily commute. Even though Brett went through the article in great detail, I couldn't wait to read it with my own eyes, thinking that there had to be some substance that I missed by just listening to it. I was greatly disappointed. In spite of the title there was no description of an intellectual epiphany within the article. The author describes how the logical consistency of libertarianism made him feel good and allowed him to win arguments, but how, over time, the fact that he and his friends didn't feel that the ideology allowed him to act compassionately led to his conversion to "unremarkable liberalism."
I see. It's a simple matter of feelings over mind, so let's work through the illogical progression. I used to think that no one had the right the initiate the use of force against others. But this didn't sit well with me. What if some people don't have everything that I think they need, after all? Other people can provide it for them. Why shouldn't they be forced? Viola! I have a right to force A to give to B what i think B needs, because by God, that's the compassionate way to live!
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