Libertarians aren’t fickle. In fact, we are consistent. What we want is more freedom in our personal and economic lives. Sadly, over the years, no matter who has been in power, the government has grown. In fact, the story is even sadder. In theory, the Democrats want more government in our economic lives and less in our private lives while the Republicans want less government in our economic lives but aren’t opposed to a certain level of government intervention in our personal lives. That’s the theory. In reality, when Republicans or Democrats have been in power, they have done a poor job at defending our freedoms, even the ones they supposedly believe in.

As long as politicians fail to defend our freedom consistently, it is likely that libertarian-leaning voters will likely fail to commit to either group — not because they are capricious, but because they believe that more freedom is the way to a happier world for all of us.

A reader sends me this:

It seems during my lifetime (born in ‘73) the government has grown larger and more invasive no matter who is in power. The minority party always runs decrying the policies of the party in power and promises to do things differently when they are in power. Each side promising less government in their specific “limited government” area when they are running for elections while the party in power promises more of the same. Democrats promise to decrease the military, censorship, church and state, etc and Republicans promise to decrease taxes, judicial activism, and so on.
The Libertarian tent is a big one with the promise of limited government in any form unifying its diverse beliefs. So any party promising to limit government is going to naturally get the vote. So from what I can see, the past 30 years or so and most strikingly this past Tuesday, is that it isn’t conservative or liberal ideals that is appealing to the masses but the promise of less government, common sense government, and less corruption. You know, the opposite of what we have had for my entire life. I think that is what people hoped and believed they were getting from BHO. That is the underlying appeal of newcomers Sarah Palin and Scott Brown and old schoolers Liberman and McCain. If more brave and talented, honest, good, everyday citizens run in 2010, then we will probably see a great many upsets no matter what letter follows their name. I think Libertarians are ahead of the curve in the “Throw the bums out” mentality that seems to be the growing consensus. That pretty much means voting for the minority every time, until we finally really get our government back! Maybe with such an impressive result in MA, we can start to get the non political machine people running and winning elections. It is the only way to “get our government back” and have it operate the way the founders intended. Tuesday is the first time I have had hope in decades.

In the end, I think that the libertarians’ biggest mistake might to keep believing that either party can give them what they want.