, Columnist
Libertarianism's Time Has Come and Gone
Government actions can lead to more individual freedom, not less.
Fun while it lasted.
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Stanford historian Ian Morris is fond of saying that "each age gets the thought it needs." According to this maxim, ideas like the Enlightenment, communism or even Christianity are a product of the economic and political circumstances of their times.
It's easy to believe that libertarianism might have been a good fit for the late 20th century. Coming out of World War II, governments were huge, bureaucratic and militaristic. The Soviet Union and Mao's China were implementing particularly destructive forms of top-down economic management. It made sense to fight these forces with a philosophy that emphasized individual liberty and limited government.