Just wondering...

By Steve Brenneis
Ars Mens Mentis

...what it would be like if an entire generation of children was brought up in the belief that government is not your friend, and that asking it to help you is like hiring a pedophile to teach kindergarten.

Oh, I can hear the sixties and seventies generations screeching now. People starving in the streets. Children poisoned by unscrupulous food manufacturers. Poor people getting poorer and dumber. Pandemonium.

I would like to believe that the result would be something more like the minimalist government we enjoyed prior to the Civil War. I think that's something that could be achieved, but I don't think a single generation of libertarian upbringing would get us there. I do think that it would result in a society far more skeptical of its politicians and far less likely to engage in bellying up to the public trough. People who are more suspicious of the government are less likely to play the victim game. To whom do you appeal if you believe yourself a victim of society and government is not your benefactor? I can't help but think that would result in a society more likely to stand on its own hind legs for a change.

It's worth a shot.