The left doesn’t want people to have the liberty of not having health insurance they neither want or need. Meanwhile, every year of ObamaCare saw fewer and fewer health insurance providers participating in the program, because it turns out it’s impossible to make a profit footing the bill for people who refuse to take care of themselves.

The right doesn’t want people to have the liberty of contracting with another or to participate in the market without the interference of the government. Tariffs on foreign goods dilute the buying power of consumers, diminish demand for producers, and strain trade relationships with foreign powers, hurting everyone involved.

When you look at our country today, it really seems like Americans really can’t leave each other alone. Almost no matter what you may or may not do in your public or private life, there is someone out to force you to conform to their preferred morality framework. So exactly why is liberty so unpopular in America?

It ultimately boils down to the simple fact that people prefer justice over liberty. Now, they’ll say “justice”, but it rarely justice that people are interested in. They just don’t want to call it what it really is. The socialists talk about “social justice“, but it’s really just envy. The nationalist talk about “criminal justice“, but it’s really just bigotry.

Justice is just a pretty word that is easier to sell to themselves, and that’s what politics ultimately has always been about: selling pleasant lies to cover up for ugly prejudices. Unfortunately, that’s not going to change any time soon, and that’s just a basic truth of human nature. So what’s the best way to arrange society given this fact?

Well, if you don’t like socialist dogma, then the best defense is having a government that simply lacks the tools the socialists need to impose their bad ideas. If you don’t like nationalist dogma, then the best defense also just so happens to be having a government that simply lacks the tools the nationalist need to impose their bad ideas.

See how it works? The entire point of limited government with few enumerated powers is that it keeps the worst impulses of human natures from invading the public sphere by denying the fertile ground inherent in a powerful state. This is why both socialists and nationalists have always whined about our Constitution.

Remember when Obama complained how the Bill of Rights only contains “negative rights“. Remember when Trump complained about how the Constitution is “archaic” and constraining? Followed to its unambiguous enumerated powers, the Constitution doesn’t provide the handholds tyrants need to impose tyranny.

That’s a good thing, and it’s why we need to get back to the point where Americans at least tolerate liberty if for no other reason than selfishness. Defending liberty of everyone remains the best means of defending liberty for one’s self.

Liberty is For The Win!