Idealistic Yet Realistic

Libertarians can maybe be boiled down to this;

We are idealistic enough to believe that people are capable of self control, self discipline and being a good person that we should not need a government to babysit and be overseers.

We are realistic enough to know that despite our potential, people are also irrational, unreasonable, unmotivated and undisciplined for a variety of reasons ranging from biological and mental disorders to some people are just assholes.

Because of that, we are willing to tolerate an objective third party to be an impartial referee when conflicts between individuals and groups of people arise.

We know that much as we can't hold our breath on it, we have to give some level of trust to this third party to step in and keep things right.

However, we can't help but be disappointed time and time again when that third party forgets it's place and goes too far, betraying the trust we give them.

Being idealistic still, we have to believe that somewhere out there are the most consistent rational, reasonable, disciplined people who can be counted on to do things the way they should be done.  So, we sigh, shrug our shoulders, and try again.

Libertarians know what the best is that people can be.  We also know that people are not perfect and far too many people don't even make the effort to be the best person they can be.

It's frustrating to be so idealistic about people's potential and so painfully aware of the likelihood of failure of people and government run amok at the same time.

But, to give up our ideals and stop believing in the potential in people is just not something we can settle with.   We want to believe people don't "need" government, yet we can't deny that people can't always be counted on to be in control of themselves enough to not need at least a minimal government.

But even in a world where no people were selfish, lazy, greedy or just plain assholes, people still suffer from insanity, chemical imbalances, anger, desperation, dire circumstances out of their control (drought being one example), and other things we are prone to dealing with as human beings.

We complain about the state and the seemingly inevitable problem of "who polices the police".  Yet when given a situation of just a bunch of people doing things cooperatively and privately, we still have the same problems of favoritism, nepotism, racism, sexism, etc that pit people against people.

Who steps in as a private sector third party to address those things that will not be corrupted to back their buddy or their son or play favorites, etc...?

Be it government or private sector, these are human problems and hating on government as though it solely is vulnerable to these things is being in denial of reality.

We, as libertarians, can only keep working to educate other people about self ownership, free association, and other ideals that motivate people to be self controlled, disciplined, responsible and respectful.

We need to have our ideals to give us goals and something to work for and be hopeful for.

We need to be realistic and practical and honest with ourselves to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

It's a balancing act to be a libertarian.  Just enough idealism and just enough acceptance of reality.