Letter to a Young American

Or part of it. The first sentence may be dependent on the context of our correspondence (that's my excuse for the fact that, structurally, it's ugly as sin;)). I felt it stood well enough on it's own, though, not to leave it out.

I could go on and on about the virtues that have to be employed to make, maintain and build a fortune - The Acton Institute at http://www.Acton.org specializes in such things from a Catholic perspective, though I think they have a few Evangelicals on staff (though I haven't noticed them making any big deal out of denominations as long as you're a Christian - they make a big deal about Jesus - and your for freedom and it's necessary corollary responsibility), and they put out several books a year. There is certainly no virtue in squandering a fortune. But I thought I'd get into your last paragraph.

I'm a libertarian. I believe in freedom. In the 19th century, people who believed what I believe were called Liberals. What today's "liberals" are trying to do is remove the natural consequences of foolishness. They also want to impose artificial consequences on acts, like aquiring a fortune, that are naturally the results of prudence.

When you take away people's freedom, you also take away their responsibility and the whole incentive structure that encourages responsible behavior. "It's the government's job to do that." "There oughta be a law," is a corollary to that statement.

As a libertarian, I believe that the government's only job is to keep people from actually harming each other. Harming yourself is a purely moral matter that communities and families - and you yourself - can handle without pulling out weapons. Everything the government does is backed up by the police and/or the military. Very little in life requires that. If they'd stop taking our money to take care of those things for us*, we'd shop around and find the best provider of whatever service we need that we could afford.

*I meant to add, "(or trying to... or pretending to)," but I figured I'd said enough. I try not to write a whole book every time I sit down at the keyboard.