I enjoy dialoguing with followers of the blog on social media and directly, when and if I can. A few weeks ago, I solicited some answers to the question of what might hold libertarians back from considering Christianity and, just as well, what might commonly hold back Christians from considering libertarianism. Among the answers were some of the more traditional objections; Christians might view some particular scriptures, like Romans 13, as justifying state authority beyond what libertarians typically promote, and many, more secular, libertarians object to Christianity for the same reasons non-libertarians would, like the problem of evil, hypocrisy of Christians, etc.
But one answer, for whatever reason, stood out to me.
The gist was that libertarianism tends to attract passionate people, principled people, who identify with its ideology to their core. It becomes very much a part of their identity and, with time, comes to dominate the way that they see the world around them. But it can also seriously affect the way in which they view and treat others that do not agree with them. They may often view outsiders as too lazy, too dumb to grasp the concepts, too blinded by their own ideas.
In short, we too often grow not only to disagree with others: we begin to hate them.
To Be ‘In’ Politics But Not ‘Of’ Politics
This brought to mind some iconic scriptures that most Christians can quote but few consistently fulfill:
“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
I Corinthians 13:13
The political sphere is such a polarizing environment that it can feel near impossible to maintain a visible political viewpoint without also compromising a Christ-like love for everyone we meet. And yet, we know that it must be done.
I believe this is where libertarianism offers a striking complement to this scriptural mandate to the Christian, that libertarianism, or rather its principles borne out in everyday life, offers the most compatible parallels to the church’s duties to exhibit faith, hope, and love to others.
Faith
For the Christian, faith has always been of ultimate value, but not for the reasons it has often been misunderstood to be. The faith of a Christian is not a blind one. It is not one that believes in the face of obvious contradiction or falsehood. It is one that has always been informed by reason and evidence. We believe that God reveals Himself and testifies to His existence and qualities through creation itself and through His revelation to mankind. And both “books” of revelation have been shown to be faithful time and again.
Likewise, as Christian libertarians, we can further extend that faith into the social and political realms as well. The libertarian’s faith extends to individuals and to society; and not the vague buzzword that is so often used as a generalization to justify preferred end goals. We have faith in human interaction itself. We do not deny human depravity or human nature. In fact, libertarians embrace that human nature. Through observation and evidence, we see that self-preservation and self-interest are central to human action and interaction. But, what’s more, we have faith that these forces can and do, in free societies, work toward positive social outcomes. The husband and father, though self-interested in their own desire to earn and prosper, also does so on behalf of his family, which strengthens the institution of the family. The businessman, though self-interested in their own success, does so by partnering with producers for raw materials, using the voluntary efforts of laborers, in order to bring value to customers.
The libertarian’s faith, like the Christian’s, is not blind, but rather pure and principled.
Hope
For the Christian, hope is equally paramount. Prior to Christ, followers of Yahweh looked always to the future for a deliverer, a redeemer. The tribes of Israel and Judea were limited to worship only in type and shadow, foretelling of but never fully realizing the fullness of relationship with their God. But their practices were also ever hopeful. Even through times of vision and times of lack a faithful remnant always existed and remained ever vigilant in their expectation of the Messiah.
Now after Christ, we also worship in greater spirit and truth, but still with a sense of hopefulness. We glory in our redemption through Christ but still look to yet another return, a second and final triumphant return of the savior that will forever reunite God with His people.
As libertarians, we can also find great hope in the future of mankind in this interim period. Though eschatological worldviews will influence just how hopeful Christians can expect the future to be, at least regarding humanity’s relationship with the Church, knowledge and technology have indeed increased in these last days. No matter society’s ultimate future, the near term looks brighter for a great many people for a great many reasons. Poverty is decreasing worldwide, authoritarian regimes liberalizing, and trade and globalization have raised the standard of living for billions of people. As well, technology has allowed Christians to better evangelize the world than ever before in history, making them ideally suited to fulfilling the Great Commission.
By extending libertarian principles to human interaction, self-ownership, strong property rights, and free and voluntary capitalism give peoples in every nation the opportunity to realize a better future for themselves.
Love
Lastly, as the Apostle Paul duly notes, the greatest power that Christians possess is that of love itself. Because God represents perfect love, and Christ provides the ultimate example of love personified, it is no surprise that the act of love would be foundational to the Christian’s duties to those around them. We are told to love our neighbor as ourselves, to love our enemies, and to do all things in love.
And it is in love that libertarianism truly finds its most distinctive qualities for the Christian. Traditionally conservative policy measures, such as the war on drugs or opposition to legal gambling, are often justified under a guise of love. Tragically, instead of effectively producing the desired outcomes to societal problems, these policies have done quite the opposite. Those suffering from addiction are instead criminalized, their behavior simply pushed more underground, less visible, less noticeable, furthering a social apathy that believes such community problems to be “someone else’s concern.”
As well, progressive policies that proclaim love and charity to their beneficiaries hardly meet their mark either. Programs like Social Security, Great Society social reforms, or more modern calls for universal basic incomes and democratic socialism do not find their root in love. These initiatives share the same fatal flaw of shifting the burden of communities to an equally burdensome and more inefficient administrative bureaucracy that lacks the capacity to analyze and fulfill an individual’s need in a sustainable way. Much like a domesticated animal may, with time, find life in the wild to have become too challenging to endure, so have countless millions fallen into dependency upon the state for their continued subsistence with no hope or plan of deliverance. And, above all, there is no love in the desire to forcibly take and redistribute the resources of the productive to others, to “be generous with someone else’s money.”
In today’s political landscape, libertarianism alone exhibits the necessary principles to produce truly loving communities. Social problems can only truly be solved via social means and a truly healthy and moral society requires these means be executed freely. These problems are symptoms of social ills which deserve to be dealt with by its members and no one else, its risks, costs and benefits to be weighed and borne within its unique community. This sort of knitting together of human dependency, true community, the sort that all politicians routinely claim to desire, can only be achieved this way; there is no shortcut.
The Bottom Line
It is certainly true that, to the wise Christian, politics plays little ultimate importance in light of the importance of the gospel. But it is equally wise to note that politics, as a function of human social interaction, has a broad capacity to contribute to either greater human suffering or greater human flourishing. And while humanity’s destiny and purpose is not a purely humanistic one, if we are truly called to serve those in need, and if we are truly concerned with creating the most fertile ground in which the gospel can take root and spread, our politics ought to match those goals as closely as possible. It is my hope that you’ve been left with an enduring sense of why libertarianism offers that most faithful, hopeful, and loving of options.