Friday, August 20, 2010

Unqualified Reservations: Why I am not a libertarian

Unqualified Reservations: Why I am not a libertarian:
In my opinion, the practical problem with grounding libertarianism in the ideals of the American Revolution is that Americans no longer hold those ideals, and Europeans never did. Both, today, follow a moral code which is essentially socialist. It is true that this is the natural consequence of 'education' at the hands of a government which is essentially socialist.
This has occurred to me, too. Some people need to be led to water. But all the people doing the leading have a vested interest in the current state of education, and vicariously, government.

2 comments:

Brett said...

Do you think this applies to all 'education' (i.e. K-20)? All subjects (math, science, and art as well as government and history)? Wouldn't a math or science teacher who sees a pe teacher being equally compensated not have a "vested interest in the current state of education"?

Ryan said...

You're right. "All" is too strong a word. I think good teachers would do very well in a competitive system.

But there is something cyclical about how our system reinforces the education status quo. People want government education because that's how it's always been. They need to be educated about the alternatives. But the people doing the educating are teachers, who have an interest in how things are. You have to break the monopoly to convince people school choice is good. But you need a critical mass of politic support to break the monopoly, which you can't get because people have not been educated.