Sheldon Richman on How to Talk to Nonlibertarians

If
libertarians want to change how nonlibertarians think about
government, they will need to understand how
nonlibertarians think about government. Politically disengaged and
uninformed nonlibertarians may focus at times on particular
government programs and actions, or on proposals for new programs,
but rarely about government as an institution. This is not hard to
understand. For most people, the welfare, or social-service, state
is a natural, ever-present part of the landscape. This is
reinforced through their “education” in government schools. Few
ever question its necessity, much less wonder what life would be
like without it. Some people may think the government goes too far
(or not far enough) in this matter or that, but the social-service
state itself never comes under examination. Its morality is
implicitly assumed on the basis of how commonplace it is. So how
can libertarians speak to these people in a way they will
understand? How do we get them to question deeply held beliefs that
may never have been articulated? By trying to see government as
they see it writes Sheldon Richman. This may be distasteful, but if
you want to persuade people, what else are you going to do?

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