Opinion: Stay consistent with your beliefs

I wish people were more consistent.

Many people in this country say they are for smaller, or “limited” government. Most change their minds as soon as they think of something they want government to give them or do for them. If it takes bigger, more powerful, and intrusive government to get what they want, they’re happy to sacrifice you on this altar. Big government is suddenly their friend.

They are against reckless government spending until they’re hoping to get a check. Maybe it’s a stimulus check, a subsidy, or a Ponzi scheme like Social Security. Maybe it’s even a government contract.

People love liberty until there’s something they don’t like; suddenly they want to restrict someone else’s liberty a little bit more. The “other side” is willing to do the same to them, so it goes back and forth until everyone is enslaved.

Something similar is happening now with limits on speech being imposed from every direction — all endorsed and empowered by, if not coming directly from, government. Legislation banning limits on speech by non-government institutions is not the answer either. Simply keeping government out of the issue instead of propping it up would see it soon fizzle and fail.

Some voters claim to want a small-government candidate but believe their choice is limited to the two “mainstream” candidates who are both advocates for massive government. They believe voting for the candidate who actually agrees with them and is on their side is wasting their vote. This was an effective trick to play on the people.

I understand all of it, even if I don’t agree, and even though I believe every vote hurts.

To preach small government as long as it’s convenient, but to abandon this in favor of big government as soon as you want it to do something new — or to keep doing something old — isn’t consistent.

I’d rather people be consistent, even if someone is consistently against me. This way I know what to expect from them. Consistency doesn’t mean someone is right — it’s as possible to be consistently wrong as it is to be consistently right — but inconsistency always means they are wrong somewhere.

Everyone falls into this trap. Even libertarians. The difference is, do you know you’ve done it, or do you try to justify it to make your conscience comfortable again?

If you really support liberty and smaller government please act on this principle consistently, even when an attractive lure is dangled in front of you.

Farwell’s Kent McManigal champions liberty. Contact him at:

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