[Jeff Higgins]

My admitedly limited understanding of the Libertarian movement has alway been one of a minimalist government. The "Liber..." part of their name standing for "liberty" in the sense that "liberty" means a less intrusive government. I'll have to read Seahawk's link to see how accurate my impression is.

The mainstream political spectrum today runs from ideals of "more" government to "less" government when we try to boil it down to some very simplistic quantitative measure. That's way too simple, of course, but a lot of folks think in those terms. To introduce "no" government, or to try to reduce it to where it appears as such, has never really entered the mainstream discussion. Most of us realize that is not an option. Maybe that is what has kept the Libertarians from being a part of the discussion.

On the face of it, no government presence in their lives probably appeals to a lot of people. People that have never really thought this one through. Yes, it is frustrating to deal with the government on an individual basis. Yes, I believe too many areas of our personal lives are regulated. We could certainly use improvements. But to "thow the baby out with the bathwater" and eliminate most government, turning most of their functions over to the private sector? If Libertarians really think that is a good idea they will never convince most of us. If they think in terms of simply eliminating most government services and functions, never to be replaced by a private sector equivelent, most folks would not stand for that. Some services and functions maybe; those are the current boundaries of the red vs. blue debates. But all or most? That's not a desire expressed by most of us.

I could see oversight alone of a system transfering government functions to the private sector becoming more of a burden, and more open to graft, than our present system. Imagine government every bit as big as it is today. Imagine it truly not doing anything "value added", but rather serving as no more than an oversight service. Doing nothing but administering their contracts to their "subcontractors". You think they are "innefficient" now...