So, for many readers of my work there\u2019s a sense that I am wishy-washy<\/a> on a number of issues (though hopefully they also notice where I am consistent: against the war on drugs, for non-interventionism, gay rights, immigration, civil liberties, etc). In my humblest of opinions there are certain tangible truths and certain areas of dispute where the issues become quite a bit more murky. There are also times when the truth and the realm of possibility are not always aligned. So I write a lot about how to reconcile these things (if only to placate myself), and I try to strike a balance.<\/p>\n

This puts me somewhere between contemporary liberalism and contemporary libertarianism, with a distinct left-leaning, broadly liberal<\/em> philosophy and lots of room to shift my ideas around within that broader framework of thought. So, yeah, wishy-washy when it comes to things like healthcare reform, education, and the size of government because even if I think the more anarchistic ideas are best, the political landscape always stymies my enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

With something like healthcare, we could probably save money if we moved to single-payer \u2013 certainly Canada is able to save money that way. But on another level, I\u2019d really prefer to see the healthcare industry opened up to actual market forces because there\u2019s always the risk that we\u2019ll run into cost and access issues (not to mention quality issues) if we just pile a single-payer system on top of the system we have. At some point I just default to a position of experimentation and doubt.<\/p>\n

Maybe this is the role of classical liberalism in America<\/a> \u2013 to strike a balance somewhere in the wild<\/a> between the progressive and libertarian camps.<\/p>\n

Update: RTod notes: “I liked this post until the last line. \u00a0I’d have preferred if you had ended with something like “maybe this is the job of self-aware people.””<\/p>\n

I take his point. I guess I try to give labels to ideas even when, perhaps, they are inadequate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, for many readers of my work there\u2019s a sense that I am wishy-washy on a number of issues (though hopefully they also notice where I am consistent: against the war on drugs, for...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":301828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[]},"categories":[13],"tags":[1372],"class_list":["post-24625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-league","tag-classical-liberalism"],"yoast_head":"\n