Talk to People. They All Have An Inner Libertarian.

in politics •  8 years ago 

STORY TIME.
Don't worry, you'll love it.

I have a friend who is a public high school physics teacher. She regularly has interesting conversations with her kids (or overhears them) that have to do with politics or religion or ethics or whatever. Controversial topics.
As a teacher, she is strongly discouraged to give any hints towards her position on any of what they talk about. However, nothing is saying she cannot encourage productive dialogue on these topics after school.

So, she started something we've started calling "Controversy Club", where every Wednesday, I come into the school and hang out with a group of kids to talk about any controversial topic of their choosing. She brought me in because I'm allowed to give my opinion, of course. And I've been teaching in a non-school setting for years, so I know how to lead a discussion. Additionally, I've been studying these controversial topics for years, so I know how to play devil's advocate.
"Mrs. G" hangs out and listens, but never gives her opinion. The best part about controversy club is that people go in willing to change their mind. Or, at very least, willing to let his interlocutors speak.

Today, the conversation topics were legalization of drugs and taxpayer funded "free college". Most of the kids were somewhat moderate in their stance (legalize weed & maybe LSD... college should be cheaper, etc) and after helping them build up their arguments a bit, I challenged them with the fairly traditional libertarian talking points.

On drug legalization, I brought up the failure of the war on drugs, the fact that a free market in drugs would cause an increase in quality (less likely to be laced with something cuz that's bad business), and the classic 'who is the government to tell me what I can and can't do with my own body" argument.
Also, taxing it is bad because taxation is theft.

On free college, I gave them a brief economics argument and showed them why government intervention is why college costs are so high. And then I made the case for privatizing all schools to help increase quality, decrease price, and to potentially decrease what many considered to be 'institutional racism' by allowing actual school choice.
Also, taxation is theft.

These conversations lead to why government is inherently corrupt, why I am infinitely more likely to spend my money more efficiently than the government, why we don't necessarily need government for infrastructure, actual solutions to foreign relations other than a giant military, why the government has no reason to be anything other than an immoral monopoly, why fairness shouldn't be the ultimate goal, why being rich isn't inherently immoral, and why being unable to revoke consent from taxation means that it is theft.
We even talked about how property rights are determined if we ever start to colonize other planets.

It was an extremely productive conversation. I may have turned the couple of conservative students into libertarians, and I encouraged the liberal students to actually study economics (which they admitted to knowing virtually nothing about).

Moral of the story:
Talk to people. They all have an inner libertarian.
Just... gotta... squeeze it out.

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The libertarian philosophies have changed my world perspective. Its only been the last fews years since i discovered these ideas. That being said I wish I had this after school group offered to me in high school. Well gone.

I'm putting together a 52-week Austrian Economics study session hosted through the Mises Institute that will send you all the lectures, books, etc weekly through an email service. Are you interested?
(free!)

Sounds like my friend's mom who teaches high school science...she's ready to quit over Common Core. Just tickle it a little and they'll stick their little Libertarian head out!

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