Like a thief in the night, without my customary introductory post, I have sneaked a link to the QandO Blog into my blogroll.
Once upon a time in the mists of the distant past I considered myself a libertarian (note the small “l”). I occasionally voted for Libertarian Party candidates. But as I matured and as the outspoken libertarians seemed to go farther and farther around the bend I stopped considering myself a libertarian. My strongest political belief now is the principle of subsidiarity (the notion that the tasks of government should be undertaken as closely to the individual as is practical and that most government should be state or local government). I’m not an anarchist or an anarcho-capitalist or any similar rara avis. When I say “government” I tend to mean something more like the neighborhood watch or a precinct organization than I do a Stalinist centralized state (which is apparently what too many envision these days when they say the word). And I believe that government is necessary for the happiness of human beings, has been so for the entire history of our species, and denial of that easily and frequently demonstrated fact is just a flight of fancy.
But I’ve come to understand through the magic of the Internet that not all libertarians are anarchists who hold up Ted Kaczinski as the epitome of moral development—some are sane. And such a sane group of libertarians are the bloggers at QandO Blog. They call their version of libertarianism “neolibertarianism” and I have found their analysis and prescriptions uniformly solid, well-considered, and well-informed. I respect their opinions and that’s saying a lot. Consequently, I find the QandO Blog a worthy addition to my blogroll and I commend it to your attention.
