I’m not sure of the exact moment in my life when I could became a libertarian, but I can recall from an early age questioning why I should be prevented from engaging in voluntary activities that had no impact on anyone else, but were still technically “illegal”. Precocious, right?
I believe my story is similar to many other libertarians. As a young adult, I was already inclined to believe in the classical ideals of freedom and limited government. Those ideas put me into the “conservative” box, so, I viewed myself as a Republican. That being said, I never really agreed with many of the Republican party planks. I also realized that the federal government had gone far beyond its Constitutional mandates in size and scope. Therefore, to try and differentiate myself, I would tell people that I was a “Constitutionalist” (which I now realize would probably be referred to as a minarchist). I believed that the government should be limited in its powers and functions to those defined and given to it by the Constitution. What a *radical* idea to think that the role of the government was to do the things that it was designed to do – wasn’t that the framer’s intent?
I always aim to be a logical thinker, and I wanted deeply understand the rationale for the role of a limited government – so I started reading. As a bit of a history nerd, I began my deep dive into political philosophy with Thomas Jefferson. His writings solidified my view that it is not a government that holds power, but that the individual grants government its powers with the sole aim of defending the inherent, “God given” rights of the individual.
During the the 2008 election season I was first exposed to Dr. Ron Paul. I found myself drawn to his ideas and policies, and realized that they were right in line with the political philosophies I deeply believe in. My conviction in Austrian economics, allegiance to personal freedom and this new outlook all came together at this point, and I really started identifying myself as a libertarian. My support of Dr. Paul led me to the other great libertarian thinkers, and I began reading Thomas Woods, Murray Rothbard, and Fredrick Bastiat, to name a few.
I passionately believe that the government does not possess moral authority over any individual, and that all actions of the state are inherently coercive, immoral, and invalid. We, as individuals, all have inherent, natural and indelible rights that no individual or collective, regardless of how that collective tries to justify itself, has the authority to infringe upon.