I posted previously about growing up in a libertarian household in “Who Died and Made You King?” I’ll add a few other remarks about that time, and our time.
Libertarians are often criticized as libertines, but that was hardy the case with us. I never once saw anyone drunk, or stoned, or otherwise substance-addicted. We had no hard rule against drinking or smoking, but no one drank to excess, and no one smoked. We never had beer on hand, and liquor only at the holidays. Wine, by contrast, was common, mostly red, but sometimes white. It was common to see wine at table, with dinner, or with crackers or cheese as a snack. Many adults in the family had lived for an extended period in Europe, and picked up some of the habits of time there. Wine was one of those habits.
I sometimes meet people, from those families in town most committed to every restriction or regulation, who rail against student drinking while their own children are among the worst offenders. Some of these same people expect perfect behavior of students in town, but excuse student behavior in colleges they attended, or that their children now attend. (I have no link to our local campus; I’m just not willing to kick people here because I studied elsewhere.)
No one in my family was fanatical about exercise, but — with one exception — no one was overweight. You were expected to be outside a lot, and a person who wasn’t active wouldn’t have fit in. Walking, running, cycling, hiking, swimming, climbing: diverse elements of the family regimen. Our one exception was someone who didn’t want to fit in, and was just plain lazy.
As I mentioned in a prior post, we would have considered someone who disliked students just crude and mean-spirited.
Everyone read voraciously, and many did crosswords. Most had a second language that they spoke well.
No one played cards, or gambled, but I cannot think of a reason we didn’t.
We had no dislike for either major political party, but skepticism about both, at times more of one, then more of the other. Like most people who grew up in the movement, we were never quite sure what to make of the Libertarian Party; many libertarians are quick to distinguish their leading lights (Hayek, Von Mises, Friedman) from the quirky, often embarrassing national Libertarian Party.
I meet all sorts of people who dislike, almost hate, conventional conservatives or liberals (depending on their own views). I have never felt this way, and neither did anyone in our family. Growing up, we read magazines and newsletters from libertarians, conventional liberals, and conservatives. We read works of the extreme, oppressive left, too. Almost everyone knew a fair amount of Marx, because it seemed necessary for debate back then. Marx seems a distant threat now. His ‘science’ was junk science, but it captivated many in academia, and ruined good minds. (I could stuff couches all day with the worthless theses and dissertations that took Marxism as valid.)
There are times when the libertarian seems to hew close to the left, and other moments when he seems closer to the right. In the end, he is an ally of both, yet neither. (How’s that for ersatz philosophizing? I’ll think I’ll have Café Press put it on a mug.)
We believed then, and I believe now, in sometimes hitting hard. Even more, we believed then, and I believe now, in a free discourse. One of the worst, but most obvious, traits of the town clique is that they don’t want discourse. When they complain about the free commentary on this independent blog, but ignore the real injuries to others they’ve rationalized away, they reveal only their own narcissism.
That’s brings up a final observation. When did men become so fussy, so easily concerned about small, physical inconveniences? We were a family of outgoing people, who would have been embarrassed to complain about minor nuisances. It would have seemed a sign of masculine or feminine weakness. Running to the police to report these small matters would have been ridiculous to us. It’s not ridiculous to some; it seems normal to any number of hidebound people that the police, city officials, etc., should investigate and enforce their needs, to the exclusion of others‘ interests. These selfish, stodgy few see themselves as the genuine citizens and residents, with a greater entitlement than others.
I might have stayed silent, but I could not have done so and been consistent with the family political tradition of which I am a grateful beneficiary.