Many thanks to those on the Pride Team for making the 2014 Outright Libertarian booth at the 2014 Pride Celebration a success. It takes teamwork, and members of Outright, Libertarian Party of San Francisco, Marin Libertarian Party, Golden Gate Liberty Revolution, International Society for Individual Liberty, and assorted friends of LPSF who faithfully visit our booth and lend a hand each year made it happen.
No one can say LPSF lives in an echo chamber! We talk to and listen to hundreds of folks, local and visitors from around the world at Pride. We hear heartfelt questioning of the Libertarian call for shrinking government to the original purposes spelled out in our Constitution: “The Constitution was written for a small agrarian society; how can it be still relevant now?” “Can charity help as many people as the government does now?” “Is it not worth it to pay more taxes in order not to see people in need?” “Why is a national ID card controversial?” Our response is always an acknowledgement of understanding of divergent points of view, and a statement of our own: If we allow government the power to give, we necessarily allow government the power to take. If we are OK with government helping the needy, we should be OK with the IRS taxing us to whatever amounts it takes to do so. If we are OK with government intervention in foreign affairs, we should be OK with the NSA listening to our phone conversations to catch possible foreign terrorists.
Interestingly, after sometimes long such conversations, our booth guests and we part with a strong handshake – an acknowledgement that we still live in a largely free society, where we can express our points of view and still live in harmony. Let’s all not ever let that freedom go away!
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