My son Liam turned 1 last week. It’s probably cliché to say, but it does put things in perspective.
Obviously it makes me feel kind of old, even though I’m only 24. And it makes a lot of my other accomplishments feel a lot less important in comparison.
But what I want to focus on (unsurprisingly?) is how it related to my thoughts on politics, specifically how I prioritize issues.
If you look at my personal blog history you probably can see an evolution in my thought and what issues I focused on most.
For example I used to focus a lot on somewhat abstract philosophic issues and things like tax policy and have since shifted to immigration, along with the drug war and land use policy.
Thinking about Liam’s birthday has helped clarify in my mind why I’ve come to care about the issues I do.
While my concern in politics was, and remains to be, the defense and promotion of individual liberty, there’s a lot of room for varied priorities under that umbrella. What has come to concern me the most is what I think of as “experienced liberty and tyranny.”
What do I mean by this? Let’s go back to the evolution in thought over the course of this blog.
Taxes matter, I certainly won’t dispute that. However, given the current political realities, changes in our tax code will have minimal impact on the lived experiences of almost everyone.
On the other hand, things like our current immigration policy or the War on Drugs have a massive impact on people’s lives, one that is far more visceral and destructive than the tax code.
Marginal tax rate brackets creep up a few percentage points? That’s a negative change and one I’d just as soon Liam could avoid. But the War on Drugs? Statistically speaking it’s a pretty good bet he might end up trying marijuana some day and that choice could land him in jail, unalterably changing his life for the worse.
Given that kind of disparity, I think it is far more important to focus on working to change those areas where government is actively destroying people’s lives, or at least significantly harming or limiting their well-being.
As a young man still in college or just out of it, it’s easy and fun to spend time worrying about abstract questions of philosophy (actually it still is and I do think it’s important to engage in the exercise).
As a Republican, particularly one who holds office within the Party, it’s easy to go along and be vocal about the mainstream issues like taxes and spending.
But it’s not enough to do what’s easy and being a father has made that clearer than ever to me.
I want to work to make a world I can feel better about Liam and others his age growing up in. And that means focusing on the issues that are doing the most to limit individual liberty and harm people’s well-being, things like restrictive immigration policy, the War on Drugs, prohibitions on same-sex marriage, pointless military adventurism, and occupational licensing that helps incumbent businesses & stifles competition.
These aren’t sexy or high status issues and I don’t begrudge anyone their priorities. But I hope others will come to see things the way I have come to; positive changes in these fields can yield immediate and significant improvement in the lives of many and make the world a noticeably better place for those who will follow after us.
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