I’ve just finished my sophomore year of college as a political science major. Of course, studying politics means not having enough time to be as involved in politics as I’d like during the school year. Now summer is here, classes are finished until autumn, and (especially since Ron Paul is running again) I’m getting back in the swing of the whole politics-thing. And for me, with politics comes graphic arts & design. So I’ve registered as a Prospect on Dribbble, hoping to get some work and have some fun doing graphic design. Now I don’t have the time to post my portfolio and crank out new artwork right this second, but I do want to take just a moment to point out the artwork on this site.

The theme in use here is Arclite 2.02 by Digitalnature, but I’ve customized it somewhat for my own purposes. The buttons, search box, and sidebar particularly have been altered to fit my own taste, but the logo lockup at top is an entirely original design. The shield was done completely from scratch, and the type is set by hand in the Arno typeface.

More when I can post it.

—Adam

Recently my mother requested that I help her draught some legislation to ban ticket scalping, which is legal here in Tennessee.

Now I agree with her that scalping is unethical. Scalpers generate revenue for themselves without adding anything to the economy. The way these people prey on fans really is offensive. So you may find it surprising to read that my reply to her was an emphatic “I can’t do that.”

Even though Mom and I have been talking politics as long as we have — she’s a rank conservative, so we both know that there are a fair number of places where we don’t agree — she was taken completely aback. In fact, she almost sputtered her response. “Why won’t you help me? What these people are doing is wrong! You’re not planning on scalping, are you? Because if you are ….” It was then that I realized: she just doesn’t get libertarianism.

And you may not get it, either, but that’s okay. Libertarianism really isn’t hard to get at all, if it’s presented in human language instead of philosophical psychobabble. For instance, many of my fellow libertarians would begin a discourse on libertarian philosophy by explaining the basis of our philosophy, the derivation of human rights, and so on.

I’m going to begin someplace a lot more relatable: Kindergarten.

If you’re like ninety-nine and forty-four one-hundredths of the population, you’ve been scolded at least once by your teacher for doing what absolutely comes naturally to little kids. “Why don’t you mind your own business,” the lecture usually begins. “Harry took Margie’s dessert, not yours. Did it ever occur to you that Margie said he could have the cupcake? You know, all you are is a busybody and a tattle-tale, and nobody likes busybodies and tattle-tales.”
This is what it’s all about: everyone minding his own business. To a libertarian, it doesn’t matter that the scalper is a class-A slimeball (which he is). It doesn’t matter that he’s taking advantage of other people who didn’t wait in line for hours on end in order to be first (which he probably does). It doesn’t matter that the wad of cash he used to pay for his latest round of tickets came from the poor suckers who paid through the proverbial nose for tickets at the last concert (which it probably did). What matters, is that as big of a jerk as the scalper is, if he’s not causing any actual harm, then the price at which his buyer chooses to buy his tickets is nobody else’s business.

The same can be said for just about any topic. Marijuana, for instance, falls into the category of someone else’s business. Sure, pot stinks. And the guy who’s stoned out of his mind is a pain in the neck until he sobers up. And some people who do weed, go out and commit theft or murder. But theft and murder leave actual victims who were robbed or killed against their respective wills. Being offended by smoke or annoyed by a stoner is a choice that can be fixed with a simple attitude adjustment.

Ditto that for gun ownership. Guns make noise. They pose a hazard to nearby people who don’t know how to handle them properly. They can be smuggled into a theater and used to blow somebody’s brains out. But the simple act of purchasing or owning or selling a gun doesn’t necessarily create a victim. And as long as the owner of the gun doesn’t create any victims, then it’s not anybody’s business who-owns-what.

And none of it is my mom’s business, and it’s not the government’s business, either. Actually, it’s ironic: the lessons we learn so early in life, become the hardest for some of us to follow when we grow up. Really, though, “mind your own business” is just another way of saying, “treat others the way you want to be treated.” And I’m pretty sure that particular rule comes from an authority much higher than a school marm.

—Adam Johnson