Hear, hear, Cathy F.!

I am a libertarian, not a libertine. As a straight, married man who isn’t a drug user, my personal life could be called “socially conservative”, but that does not mean I wish to misuse government to force others to conform to what I find works for me. No matter what I would personally sacrifice to help a friend, say, beat a drug addiction, personal liberty is NOT something I will willingly give up.

I don’t believe that using the power of legally-sanctioned violence (the nature of government) is appropriate at all, in the social realm. Legally-sanctioned violence must exist, to punish murderers and rapists, to defend the nation against invasion, etc.

It is downright dangerous, however, when the police, courts or the army are used to coerce citizens to engage in certain prescribed private behaviors. That’s called absolutism, tyrrany, oppression.