(My Eastern New Mexico News column for August 19, 2020 https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/story/2020/08/19/voices/opinion-attempts-to-govern-irresponsible/166405.html)
There's a lot of irresponsibility and selfishness in the world around us. We can choose to not be part of it.
People who litter or dump their trash are childishly irresponsible.
People who leave shopping carts in parking spaces instead of making the small effort to put them in their corrals are showing self-centered irresponsibility and a lack of respect for others.
Another example of parking lot irresponsibility is the people who park on the yellow-striped zones. This is a violation of the lot owner's property rights; it's trespassing. I have a name for those zones and those who park in them, but it's not suited for polite conversation so I won't mention it here. I also have an idea for special "parking stickers" for the windshields of those who park there.
All this is to point out that any freedom can and will be abused by someone.
I've seen people argue that commonplace irresponsibility shows why political government is necessary. They never explain how these naturally irresponsible people who won't govern their own lives can be expected to responsibly govern the lives of thousands or millions of others once getting elected. I'm not buying it, and the evidence seems to point the opposite way.
Individual irresponsibility pales in comparison to the tragedy which occurs when you give flawed humans-- which is all of us-- power over others. Giving people who hunger for control the power to impose their opinions at gunpoint is what political government is at its foundation.
I believe it was irresponsible to shut down the economy to fight a virus which is losing its power to kill-- as all such viruses seem to do over time. Irresponsible governing has damaged the economy and undoubtedly killed people, and yet this is supposed to be better than the alternative of letting people run their own lives.
I'm in favor of letting people live with the consequences of their choices, while everyone else is free to defend themselves from those bad choices when necessary. Government often makes this reasonable path illegal. All this accomplishes is making it safe to be irresponsible, encouraging more of it.
Irresponsibility is just one human flaw among many.
Libertarianism isn't a denial of human nature's flaws. It's the recognition that those flaws are universal and those who seek to govern aren't immune. In fact, seeking to govern anyone besides yourself is among the worst of flaws. It's not something I would encourage; it's irresponsible.
I feel like a SHTF event is imminent. Notice I don't say I think it is, rather it's just a feeling. Possibly triggered by the upcoming election.
I don't have a crystal ball. I'm almost definitely wrong.
If you can see it coming, it's not going to happen. That's almost a guarantee.
Just like the Coronapocalypse came at us out of nowhere, triggered by unexpected government overreactions to a fairly normal virus, a more serious event will also be a surprise. Consider the Coronapanic a practice run. It should have shown you the holes in your preps if you were paying attention.
I lucked out with the panicdemic because I was ready. Well, maybe it wasn't completely luck; I've prepped for years "just in case", and it finally paid off. I was pretty sure I wouldn't see it coming when it finally happened, and I didn't. But it didn't matter because I stay ready all the time-- and I have done so since well before the Y2K fizzle. I intend to be just as ready, if not more ready, the next time something ...
Sometimes it's good to just listen to people's stories without interrupting, even when you know the stories are nonsense.
My 2nd wife used to tell of a ghost that lived in her house when she was a kid. It was an interesting story even though I didn't believe it. I learned quickly that her family was very prone to believe anything as long as it fit with their magical worldview.
Other people tell me stories about beneficial things political government can do. These stories are no more true-- in the sense of being objective reality-- than ghost stories, but they can still be informative if you want to know which particular superstitions a person is living under.
Interrupt and you'll never hear the whole tale. Listen and you might be entertained by some fantastical tales of magical realms. Just don't bet your life on them being true.
My nature is such that I simply can't see government as a solution to anything. This puts me at odds with most of the rest of my species.
Yes, I think "social media" has become a horror. This doesn't mean I want government to regulate it; it means I think people who don't like it (or are too dumb to know not to take it at face value) should probably stop using it.
The same is true of so many other things I don't like.
Litter/pollution, scammers, sexual predators, abortion, animal cruelty, Hillary Clinton, poverty, drug abuse, pandemics, crime, and all manner of awful things.
I may hate them, but that doesn't mean I want government to step in. Look how often that has the opposite effect anyway; making the original problem worse-- or at least not solving it-- while also creating a host of new problems that never would have existed otherwise (anti-gun legislation being a perfect example).
And even if government intervention doesn't make this specific problem worse this particular ...
