Events in Arizona and right here in Michigan suggest that, perhaps, it’s time for libertarian reformers to adopt a new strategy.
We have spent decades pointing out the failures and boondoggles that inevitably follow when government undertakes to do what it has no business doing — charity being the most obvious and ubiquitous example.
But the fact of the matter is that, ironically, government has been equally inept at providing the few services we actually expect it to do.
[Note to our anarchist cousins: spare us the "I told you so."]
A federal government that can project awesome, military force into countries on the other side of the world has proven so incompetent at defending our own borders from invading civilians that the State of Arizona has taken up its own self-defense.
Meanwhile, local governments here in Michigan have been equally abject failures at providing that most fundamental of government functions — protecting those of us who are peaceful and honest from those who aren’t.
But people will not continue to live in fear for their safety.
A decade or so ago we finally reversed the burden of proof for obtaining a CCW (concealed carry) permit, requiring government to show why a sane, law-abiding individual ought to be legally denied rather than him or her having to demonstrate some extraordinary need.
More recently, advocates of “open carry” — which requires no permit under state law — have been pushing back against local restrictions.
Politicians from Democrat Governor Granholm to Republican County Executive Patterson are now lamenting the fact that the people are finally taking upon themselves responsibility for the protection their government has failed to provide.
Meanwhile, the trial of a homeowner (and CCW holder) who, returning from work to a third, attempted break-in, reacted by chasing down — and then gunning down — the burglar has ended in a hung jury.
In normal times average people would undoubtedly have considered this an excessive use of force. But for law-abiding Detroiters these are not normal times.
The Arizona immigration law, the concealed and open carry trends, the mistrial in Detroit, all evidence a level of frustration that suggest libertarian reformers ought to stop harping on government failures in areas where it has no business being in the first place, and start demanding that it focus time, effort and resources where they actually belong. Which, incidentally, would leave them less opportunity to go where they don’t.
Decent, hard-working, everyday people are sending a message about the failure of government by resorting to a traditional, American truism about where best to turn for help. And how to be deserving of it.
