Unfortunately, our educational system highlights how government makes things worse. It also helps explain why our country has become so divisive.

Let’s say you want your child to have prayer in school, and your neighbor doesn’t. Under our current system, you have to battle it out with your neighbor.

• You each pick your own candidate who stands for what you want.
• You each donate money to that candidate.
• You put out yard signs and do whatever you can to get your friends and family to vote for your candidate.

Come election day – one of you is going to win, and one of you is going to lose.

It’s no wonder we’re so divisive, with tempers flaring at school board meetings and being upset with those “on the other side” or, even, our with neighbors.

The only way we can live our lives how we want in this current system (our children having/not having prayer in school, requiring/not requiring school uniforms, offering/not offering band or P.E., etc.) is if our neighbor loses.

Many on the campaign trail asked me if a corrupt congress is the reason our country has become so divisive. No, I don’t think that’s the answer. Our representatives in Washington very probably even more corrupt in the 1930s and 1940s, but not many cared.

Why not? Because not everything went through the federal government back then.

Take education. Rather than a one-size-fits-all that fits no one, in those days, different areas of the country could tailor education to their own needs. The needs of those in rural Appalachia were (and still are) much different than those in New York City. People could live their own lives.

Today, everything is up for a vote – not just education, but health care, automobile choices and limitations, the majority of our retirement, charity, employment decisions (hiring, firing, and wage rates), and even nutritional labeling and requirements, among others.

I used to joke that pretty soon vegetarianism will be up for a vote – will we all vote soot on whether to become vegetarians or eat steak? That’s no longer looking like a joke,

My thinking was, “Well, at least it can’t get any worse.” And then came the pandemic.

I almost long for the “good ol’ days” of duking it out with my neighbors over decisions in our local schools. Now we can’t even fight our neighbors to pick a representative to run schools the way we want.

Since last year, we’ve no longer even been allowed to vote on how our schools are run, whether our children have to wear masks, or whether we can respect the medical privacy of our employees.  Not even our so-called elected representatives have been allowed to vote on all those things. Proclamations are coming down from the federal government by unelected officials on policies they should have no say over.

Their arrogance is astounding. They assume that one person can know what’s best for another person – better than the other person does himself. They both assume that another’s experiences are not worthy of understanding, and that her views are not worthy of consideration.

Throughout my run for president, I emphasized that unless you are in the military, you should have no direct interaction with the federal government. It wasn’t easy doing that in 2020, the year that emphasized local issues, such as masks/no masks in the classroom, online/in-person teaching, and defunding local police. I was continually asked about those issues from reporters, but while Trump said students should go back to class and Biden touted online learning, my response was, “it’s a local issue that should be decided on by parents, teachers, and students.” The needs of rural Appalachia and New York City were probably more different than ever.

Today, the winner-takes-all, one-size-fits-none, do-as-we-say policies are dividing our country.

All the nastiness that people see in and around politics today comes from the anti-libertarians. It comes from the people who say “I know better than you what is best for you.” It comes from the people who say, “because you’re a member of group X, there is something wrong with you.”

The only way to unite our country again is to give us our dignity back. The libertarian alternative that says “live and let live” and even “love and let live” is the answer to America’s problem.  Allow us to make our own decisions, and we allow our neighbors to make their own decisions. Rather than fight our neighbor over whether there’s prayer school, how about we each choose the education that’s best for us and for our children? Perhaps I’ll choose the vegetarian route, but if you want to eat steak, that’s up to you.

Yours in Liberty,

At People for Liberty, we believe in #PeopleB4Politics and through education, advocacy, and opportunities for action, we are working to create and sustain a community dedicated to this end – the end of politics as we know it today. To keep up with our efforts and find a way to become a part of the movement, we hope you’ll subscribe to our newsletter.