The Believing Brain - Michael Shermer [133]
I believe that the Realistic Vision of human nature is what James Madison was thinking of when he penned his famous dictum in “Federalist Paper Number 51”: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.”21 Abraham Lincoln also had something like the Realistic Vision in mind when he wrote in his first inaugural address in March 1861, on the eve of the bloodiest conflict in our nation’s history: “Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”22
Left, Right, and Off the Charts
In my Realpolitik mode, I do not see this left-right system changing any time soon because it is so deeply grounded in our evolved human natures as exhibited in the five moral foundations and as evidenced by the twelve lines of evidence for the Realistic Vision. In my Idealpolitik23 mode, however, I have found a political position beyond the traditional left-right spectrum that well suits my beliefs and temperament, and this is called libertarian. Libertarian? I know what you’re thinking:
Libertarians are a bunch of electric-car driving, fusion-food eating, pot-smoking, porn-watching, prostitution-supporting, gold-hoarding, gun-stashing, Constitution-waving, secession-mongering, tax-revolting, anti-government anarchists.
Yes, like the other two stereotypes, there is some element of truth in this one as well. But, basically, libertarians are for freedom and liberty for individuals, and yet we recognize that in order to be free we must also be protected. Your freedom to swing your arms ends at my nose. As John Stuart Mill explained in his 1859 book On Liberty, “The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.”24 The development of democracy was an important step to defeating the tyranny of the magistrate that reigned for centuries in European monarchies, but as Mill noted, the problem with democracy is that it can lead to the tyranny of the majority: “There needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling, against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them; to fetter the development and, if possible, prevent the formation of any individuality not in harmony with its ways, and compel all characters to fashion themselves upon the model of its own.”25 This is, in fact, why our country’s founders produced the Bill of Rights. These are rights that cannot be taken away no matter how big the majority in a democratic election.
Libertarianism is grounded in the Principle of Freedom: all people are free to think, believe, and act as they choose, so long as they do not infringe on the equal freedom of others. Of course, the devil is in the details of what constitutes “infringement,” but there are at least a dozen essentials to liberty and freedom that need shielding from encroachment:
1. The rule of law.
2. Property rights.
3. Economic stability through a secure and trustworthy banking and monetary system.
4. A reliable