This is a continuation of ‘What is a Libertarian? Pt. 2’. In this installment of the series, we will address the varying views on accountability held by the three ideologies/parties.
Libertarians/Anarchists:
Accountability
Libertarians, by their very nature, believe that each individual ought to take complete responsibility for their own actions and for their own destinies. Anarchists believe this as well, perhaps even more strongly than some libertarians. When libertarians and anarchists succeed, they might not thank the government or praise God. They may simply attribute their success to their hard work, investment, and time spent on a project. When they fail, they might not blame others (though they do often blame the government for many failures) and they might not attribute their failures to ‘God’s divine plan’. They generally try to take responsibility for their actions.
Welfare
By their nature, those who believe in freedom believe that the government has no moral claim to the property of individuals. This includes money, of course. When someone earns a paycheck, the government has no right to take half of their paycheck (or even a single penny of it) even if the government is only taking it in order to redistribute the money to those deemed to be in greater need of the money. In addition to being the moral alternative, libertarians believe that charity is most efficient when carried out on a voluntary basis.
Conservatives/Republicans:
Accountability
Similarly to libertarians, conservatives often profess that people ought to take responsibility for their own actions. However, conservatives could often be heard praising God for successes or citing ‘God’s divine plan’ as a justification for failures as well as for tragedies that might otherwise have no explanation (innocent babies dying, epidemics, poverty, etc.). There is a clear difference between conservatives and libertarians in this area; libertarians tend to have more self-efficacy and conservatives tend to have more faith in a higher power.
Welfare
Many conservatives support government redistribution programs, though they tend to support lower amounts of redistribution than their left-wing counterparts. The political right certainly includes people from across the whole spectrum of welfare support. The small-government conservatives support little to no welfare, whereas the moderate Republicans support nearly as much as the moderate Democrats.
Liberals/Democrats:
Accountability
Liberals tend to believe in collective accountability, whereas libertarians believe in individual accountability. They believe that communities, states, and even the entire US should share common accountability and responsibility and that each citizen should therefore be equal, including in their finances. This ‘equality’ is accomplished largely by utilizing welfare.
Welfare
Liberal Democrats are the champions of welfare. The most popular Democrats in the party and the socialist movement support very large government welfare programs. Bernie Sanders is fighting for the government health insurance program to cover every human in the US. The California Democratic party supports giving people free cash every month after they steal it from workers. In recent years, the Democratic Party and the left-wing movement in the US has taken radical steps towards authoritarian socialism.
