4. Libertarians provide solvent alternatives to current welfare programs that would still look after the destitute
How often have we heard liberals claim that the Republicans only want to slash medicare, end social security, and lift minimum wage laws, all in order to see the poor and hungry die in the streets? While I don’t claim to know the hearts and minds of the GOP law makers at large, I would argue that fighting to change or end these systems – without providing alternatives – is certainly worthy of scorn. The system we are currently in is crippling, but offering nothing in exchange for cutting the dead weight is not the compassionate, inclusive perspective that libertarianism stands by.
Fortunately, libertarians have historically been at the front of the efforts trying to find said alternatives to a system that truly is broken. Social Security is unsustainable, and mandatory minimum wage hikes truly do affect the least well off in their job security. And yet, abandoning these tactics without offering something better to replace them is something the Republicans have seemingly had no problem with, and even rallied behind, for years. But libertarians do offer sustainable alternatives, such as the LP presidential candidate Austin Petersen, whose platform states that he would allow people the option to opt out of Social Security and seek out alternatives such as sustainable savings accounts, while still allowing it to remain in place for those already invested in it.
And there is the matter of what we can do without minimum wage hikes – a few things, actually. The Basic Income is one option, with one variant of it having local communities pay into a yearly accumulated plot of money for the less well-off to voucher into and live, and the Guaranteed Minimum Income, which would work as a negative income tax that would actually reward families who find work by gradually tapering off as they continue to gain financial stability.
These are viable, feasible solutions to the current problem, and ones that liberals can and have gotten behind once made aware of their existence. The problem often is that neither side, Democrats nor Republicans, acknowledge that such models are out there are are shown to work. Coincidentally, the system currently still in place forces citizens to me more reliant on the state. How interesting.
