9.3.5: Western Libertarians
- Page ID
- 212732
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Americans who have strong opinions about personal liberty are best characterized as libertarians. So, if you are a fan of Las Vegas, with its very relaxed regulation of gambling, prostitution, and alcohol, you probably think the government has no business regulating your personal behaviors. Staunch libertarians also think the government should take little from you in the way of taxes, minimally regulate economic and business activity, and provide little assistance to individuals (welfare, college tuition, free highways, and free beaches). Libertarians most often vote for Republicans, which prompts the news media to refer to them simply as “conservatives”, which is a misleading oversimplification.
Libertarians argue that the government should be as small as possible; interfering and intervening in the lives of individuals as infrequently as possible. Personal responsibility and low taxes are central themes of libertarian doctrine. Distrust of the government is high among libertarians, and they think dependency on government programs is a widespread social-ill. The right to own guns and low taxes are rallying cries in this philosophy. Libertarians generally cling to a classical economic theory calling for very low taxes and minimal regulation on private enterprise and property. Libertarians also dislike government intervention in environmental matters. Ironically, in this region, many people make their living by drilling for oil, ranching and cutting timber on government-owned lands. Many of those who exploit government lands pay far less for the use of government-owned land than they would in a truly free-market environment.
There are some serious libertarians in the US, but they probably are not a majority in any region of the United States. The Mountain West, where cultural diversity and population densities are both low, is probably the region of the US where libertarians are most numerous. Recall from the Agriculture chapter how lands in this region of the US are completely divided according to the Township and Range cadastral system, which seems to encourage a sense of individualism and undermine collective social action.
Figure: Slab City, CA. This building, formerly a sentry station marks the entrance to Slab City, a nearly anarchist community living in the Low Desert of California. Few laws regulate behavior or ensure a quality of life here.