Complete freedom without oppression from society and the government is what every individual desires. Everyone has specific opinions about what aspects of the government they find controlling, unrealistic, coercive, or against our rights to freedom. However, as people often fight for these specific opinions that they believe in, they forget what the world may be like if libertarianism ruled
Libertarians advocate for an essentially non-existent government. They believe you should be allowed to act however you want and express your freedom in any way that you see fit so long as you respect those same simple rights of others. Libertarianism puts a huge responsibility on individual morality and assumes that without the oppression and coercion of the government, people will own up to their innately “good” morals.
Before giving this concept more thought, only the benefits of the product of this view came to mind. I am a huge advocate for stem cell research and have been since high school, when doctors thought that my brother had Parkinson’s Disease. As we all know, the government is controlling the degree to which stem cell research is taking place. Although individual states can provide funding for stem cell research, our nation is falling behind in comparison to the research that is taking place in other countries due to restraints from the government. I believe people should be able to research the potential applications of stem cells however they wish. Libertarianism would work in this situation, in my opinion, however, a total application of this view on our society and government is viewed by some as being anything but beneficial.
Some people believe that the application of individual responsibility for morality would be destructive. Depending on how people are raised and events that they have experienced, their morality could be almost non-existent. Their unlimited freedom could be so detrimental to society that all of the freedom and rights we have gained over the years could be demolished.
I reside somewhere in the middle of this continuum which ranges from libertarianism to the idea of complete governmental control. I would assume that the majority of Americans also reside somewhere in the middle along with me. The cons are too numerous on the extreme ends of the spectrum, however somewhere in the middle seems to be most realistic and ideal for our society. Everyone has the right to their own individual freedom and this should be protected, yet we should not put too much faith in individual human morality.
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