There’s a story at the New York Times website about the Pauls, a libertarian family that’s typical of many libertarian families except in the political prominence of father and son. See, For Paul Family, Libertarian Ethos Began at Home.
Here are descriptions of family life in the household:
In keeping with their position as the First Family of Libertarianism, the Pauls of Lake Jackson, Tex., did not have many rules around their home.
“Behave yourself and be polite” is how Representative Ron Paul describes his regulatory philosophy about rearing five children. Mr. Paul, a Republican, and his wife of 53 years, Carol, never believed in assigned chores or mandates.
They did not give out allowances, which they viewed as a parental version of a government handout. They did not believe in strict curfews; Mr. Paul says that unintended consequences – like speeding home to beat the clock – can result from excessive meddling from a central authority.
While Mr. Paul’s laissez-faire views produced a family of likeminded thinkers – “We’re all on board,” says the oldest son, Ronnie Paul – they inspired the middle child, Rand, to follow his father’s career path, first into medicine and now politics. If he prevails in November after winning the Republican nomination for a Senate seat in Kentucky last month, he and his father would form a two-man libertarian dynasty.
Father and son are described as each other’s political sounding boards, confidants and support systems. “Dad and Rand spent hours having great philosophical discussions about issues,” said Joy Paul Leblanc, the youngest sibling….
Friends of the family describe a traditional household with early American decor and the frequent aroma of Mrs. Paul’s chocolate chip cookies, if not fish sticks. They have lived since July 4, 1968, in the same middle-class enclave of Lake Jackson, where the streets are named for trees, flowers and fauna (the Pauls live on Blossom). They owned a series of collies (Julie, Kippy and Cricket) and a Maltese (Liberty), and the kids were expected, though not required, to feed the pooches, make their own beds, clear their own dishes from the table and not talk back to their elders.
Much of that description would apply to libertarian families without ambitions for political office. If you’ve grown up in a ‘movement’ family, including families that leaned libertarian before the term ‘libertarian’ was coined, you probably find much of this description familiar. I’ve never, ever met a libertarian family in this country that wasn’t proudly American, and also cosmopolitan in a commitment to peaceful relations and trade with friendly countries.
I note, however, that not everyone is born into a libertarian household. Some, unfortunately, experience mistreatment at the hands of government, and become libertarian after experiencing that mistreatment. (Radley Balko contends that people like that find libertarianism as a consequence of something that “happens to them.”) See, Libertarianism as an Experience. Others were born into a household like the Pauls, drift away for a bit, and return forever committed to libertarian views.
For those who grew up as the Pauls did, though, I think there’s a typical gratitude for an upbringing that’s both happy and principled.