RAND PAUL: A MENTAL ABERRATION OF NOT

Rand Paul’s filibuster stunt has brought libertarianism back in to spotlight. In truth, there can never be a society of just libertarians. Society is give and take, is interaction of all members, and is equilibrium of wants and needs; it is hawks and doves living in harmony. Libertarians would be peaceful hawks but nonetheless, hawks, always willing to take but never willing to give back.

Libertarians want to live in an unreal world. They want to live in a society we all worked hard to build and preserve. They say what many of us feel; we want the freedom to do anything we want to do, as long at it doesn’t hurt anyone else. It sounds idealistic or Utopian to be sure but it is impossible. In fact, it is downright asinine and tantamount to a child who wants to live out their life in a toy store. A number of philosophers have tried to define utopia and have failed because it is the social equivalent of a perpetual motion machine. The only reason a place called “heaven” works in the human mind is because everyone lives the good life but no one has to work to preserve it. No one has to compete to grow food or find a place to live. There is always abundant fresh water to drink. Stress and conflict do not exist in that world but of course, we do not live in that kind of place. We work to build and maintain society by competing, sharing, and struggling on earth with seven billion other people trying to survive. It would be wonderful to be a “libertarian” and not to have to worry about anyone else.

As a little example, I distinctly remember a TV reported asked Rand Paul about his attitude about segregations, after the people of Kentucky first elected him to the Senate of the United States. His answer was simple and thought provoking. He said the owner of a lunch counter has the unquestionable right to deny service to black people because the owner owned the property and his right to do with it as he please; to succeed or fail in business as he chooses. What kind of a twisted mind could think that owner would hurt no one by acting this way? Rand Paul claims to be the icon of libertarianism that wants us to give him the freedom he thinks he deserves, the freedom to do anything he wants to do, as long at it doesn’t hurt anyone else.

Judging from his father’s history, I do not know but suspect that Rand Paul grew up in a toxic home environment. Although I do not subscribe to the nurture side of the nurture-nature argument, I do believe that people act in varying degrees according to what they have learned. However, if they are acting according to innate reason, then they are acting in a manner of a sociopath, a form of mental aberration, which creates the classic father-like-son dilemma; is libertarianism nurture or nature

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