Promoting Libertarianism Through Charity

by Jason Archer

Posted August 10, 2006

Many libertarians, myself definitely included, lament the existence and growth of the welfare state. However, very few of us publicly acknowledge the following facts:

1. Many people depend upon functions provided by the welfare state, such as social security, schools, health care, gentrification, etc., regardless of how poorly the government provides them. This is because these things are provided at zero direct cost to their consumers, thus blinding people to their indirect costs, such as steep taxation, massive debts, and state dependency.
2. Currently, no clear private-sector alternative exists that provides the same benefits in a less coercive fashion.
3. Libertarian Party advocacy of the elimination of such forms of government spending makes all libertarians out to be heartless enemies of all forms of charity in the fickle court of public opinion.

I propose that charitable operations are the answer. For instance:

1. To replace social security, private charities must be formed and staffed to provide economic aid to those unable to work due to advanced age or illness. An example of this would be the charity work of certain churches.
2. To replace state schools, private schools must be funded charitably to provide education to children, especially poor children. Privately-funded vouchers would be one example.
3. To replace state medicine, private charitable clinics and hospitals must be funded and staffed to provide quality medical care to the poor and the uninsured. Organizations such as St. Jude's Childrens Hospital seem to exemplify this.
4. To replace state-forced gentrification (often an excuse for egregious eminent-domain abuse), communities and neighborhoods must revitalize themselves should they so choose according to their own desires and needs. The “silver rights” movement (teaching practical economic literacy in underdeveloped communities) seems to be one way to do this.

Now you're probably asking me, “how the (expletive deleted) does any of this help the libertarian movement?”

Simple. By performing charitable works, we can:

• provide viable alternatives to state welfare, funded in a non-coercive fashion, that have the potential to function better than their government-generated counterparts,
• persuade Libertarian Party candidates to point to such success stories when drumming up support for scrapping state welfare programs while forever shedding the anti-charity image in future elections,
• point to prominent libertarian charity leaders as moral “pillars of the community,” thus gaining credibility with the public for the movement in general.

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