Our country is on a rapid downward slide into a socialist morass. We were once a proud and free people but now look to government for medical care, education, home mortgages, student loans and a host of other services. The bankers that have had control of our money for a century are now demanding trillions of our dollars to avoid a total economic collapse, so they say. They have convinced the American people that free enterprise is a failure and requires government intervention to prevent disaster. Our senators are not challenging the foolishness of attempting to bailout the economy. They are merely questioning how to structure the monetary dissemination process and while they're at it, like hogs at the feeding trough, getting as much as they can for themselves and their constituencies. Why is it that we have such unprincipled leaders, leaders that are totally self-seeking and care not a whit for us, except at election time when they lie through their teeth to get us to keep or put them in office?

I submit that the problem lies, not primarily with them, but with us. The spirit of liberty that pervaded early America has faded to the point of unrecognizability. Patrick Henry's “give me liberty or give me death” has degraded to “give me my share of the goodies.” Why has the penchant for freedom that characterized the average American, who was ready to shed his blood rather than lose his liberty, virtually disappeared? What changed us from what we were as colonists, in the Civil War or even in WW-2 to the spineless creatures we have become? The problem, as is always the case, is many layers deep but at the bottom, the root cause is really very simple. Libertarianism has failed and is continuing to fail because its principles are inconsistent with its fundamental philosophy of life.

Liberty, the concept of a free people that respect each other's freedom and live together in peace with a minimum of government intervention, requires an inherent constraint within each individual against the natural desire for self-gain at the expense of others. This characteristic is not inborn in any of us. Our natural instincts are for self-preservation and self-improvement whether at the expense of others or not. The entrepreneur goes into business to make a profit for himself; the purchaser tries to get the lowest price he can and the seller the highest. Do they ever lie or cheat to maximize their gains? Yes, if they can get away with it without any real loss to reputation that would hurt them later. If we're honest with ourselves we must see and admit that deep down we are all really out for number one. We very naturally, almost automatically, place ourselves and our personal well being before the concerns of our neighbors. We're really not so different from those senators and congressmen that are selling us out in Washington.

So whence comes this necessary restraining influence and what are the limits beyond which personal interests are not permitted to reach? Basically and practically there are only two possible sources: self-government or a coercive external government. Robert Winthrop stated it very clearly and succinctly when said:

All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they may have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled, either by a power within them, or by a power without them; either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible, or by the bayonet. It may do for other countries and other governments to talk about the State supporting religion. Here, under our own free institutions, it is Religion which must support the State.

Why does he bring religion into the discussion? Why only the word of God? Couldn't it be the word of man that instills in our hearts a love for our neighbor and a concern for his well being, a concern that causes us to give up personal benefit? No, selfishness is too deeply embedded in our very being for that to work. We would be looking for others to follow such a philosophy while we personally would try to use their gullibility to our own advantage. It must be the word of one who knows exactly what we've thought, said and done and can take away our gains and our peace in this life and the life to follow. All the philosophies of the world cannot reach into our inner beings and change us from within. But a God that reads our thoughts, sees every deed and has the power to judge and punish disobedience can provide real internal constraints. Without such constraints, we cannot have the freedom libertarians seek.

Until fairly recently America was a very religious, Bible-believing country. The vast majority of the population, even those that were only outwardly Christians, were self-governed. They demanded and fought for freedom and could keep it because the Bible governed their behavior. They didn't put the kind of men into office that we do today. In their day, Ron Paul would have won in a landslide against the kind of opposition he faced last year. As libertarians we might win some battles here and there but we can't and won't get back to where we once were, and enjoy the freedom we once had, without addressing this root problem. We want liberty but it can't be had without faith.