Debate this: National debt is too large, say Libertarians

With the national debt at 20 trillion dollars, it is apparent that government has become too large. Fiscal responsibility is the most important issue facing the United States right now. A large government more often than not results in reduction in liberty for that government’s citizens. Because it is such a threat to liberty, the libertarian views it as the biggest issue facing this nation.

The criminal justice system is a prime example of failure on the government’s part. According to a Washington Post article by Michelle Ye Hee Lee, 478 out of every 100,000 Americans are incarcerated, three times as large as the european median of 133.5. Furthermore, according  to Marc Santora at The New York Times, the cost to the taxpayer is about $31,286 per inmate per year, or  just under 47 billion dollars each year. That figure alone is enough to say that minimum sentencings need to be re-evaluated, which require a certain amount of time in prison at the least, usually for drug related crimes, that are excessive when it comes to non-violent crimes.

Mandatory minimum sentences are not the only issue where fiscal irresponsibility is present, it is one of many examples of how large government has become. And although your everyday Republican argues for smaller government, they are just as guilty as their Democrat counterparts. Democrats like to spend a lot on social services like social security and medicare, and Republicans love their military spending. It’s not that the libertarian views these things as bad, libertarians understand that Democrats honestly want to help people in their old age both medically and financially. Libertarians also believe that Republicans feel that a large military helps citizens. The libertarian respects these ideas but sees better ways of helping people.  In the end both groups feel that their spending is beneficial and in some regards a need. However, the libertarian views almost every spending by the government to be a bad thing, and in the case of those areas it does agree that spending is necessary, they view it as an often necessary evil. Worse though, is that the people who made this government, with its debt and super-sized programs, will not suffer the consequences. Generation Z are the ones who are going to suffer, you and me.

— Clint Bisbee is a freshman at Utah State University majoring in Economics and Political Science. He is a Student Associate at Strata and is a member of the Government Relations Council at Utah State.