One of the beloved words of the left is the t-word: tolerance. But while they talk a good game, are they really that committed to it? Here are five ways libertarians are more tolerant than liberals.
1) Anti-minimum wage
As economist Walter Block states, the minimum wage “is an unemployment law [. . .] It only stipulates who CANNOT legally be employed.”
In other words, if you’re a young or relatively unskilled worker, and you think your best option is to work for a low wage, the minimum wage says you can’t get a job.
The only tolerant position here is to allow adults and young adults to make what they see as their best choices. Unfortunately, the left thinks you’re too stupid to do this.
2) Recreational and Medicinal Drugs
When it comes to recreational drugs, liberals favor legalizing marijuana but are usually unwilling to talk about anything else. Even for marijuana, they want to tax and regulate it and disallow individuals from fully making their own choices.
Meanwhile, in the land of medicinal drugs and alternative therapies, the left believes in a giant bureaucracy to make your decisions for you. Have cancer and wish you could try an experimental medication? Sorry, you don’t have the FDA’s permission.
If we believe in choice, then we should tolerate people taking their own risks. Once again, the left doesn’t trust you to do that.
3) Money
Even if you manage to find a job (see the earlier section on the minimum wage), the left thinks at least a third of your income doesn’t belong to you. On top of that, they’ll force you to pay for whatever the government’s current pet project is, whether it be welfare, the latest war, or lining up the crony capitalists even they hate with subsidies.
Oh, X expenditure goes against your conscience? Too bad, you have to pay for it. Libertarians meanwhile believe in letting individuals keep their own income and make their own choices with it.
4) Free Speech
It’s true that the left in general isn’t too bad with free speech. However, a new generation of campus liberals has risen up to demolish the First Amendment. Methods include safe spaces, trigger warnings*, or plain banning speakers from coming on campus.
As Ron Paul states, “We don’t have the First Amendment so we can talk about the weather. We have the First Amendment so that we can say very controversial things.” And allowing people to act controversially is the true test of tolerance.
*There are legitimate uses for trigger warnings/safe spaces, but they’re often taken too far.
5) Baking the Cake
What list on tolerance would be complete without #BaketheCake? Christian business owners have been fined over $100,000 for refusing service for gay weddings. Though libertarians may personally agree or disagree, we’re tolerant of the decisions of those owners. You should be allowed to make your own choices with your labor.
And what about liberals? Pro-choice liberals believe that a woman has a right to control and make choices with her own body. Unless she owns a business.
Then she’d better get back in the kitchen and bake the damn cake.