Do you think indifference is liberty?

Question

indifference: good, bad?

Answer 1

They're two different things. If anything, liberty affords one the luxury of actually caring about the causes that one finds important.

I can see how a certain degree of indifference toward gov't can be liberating. Some people, politics is all they think about, what the gov't is or isn't doing right, what the gov't should be doing, the whole "there oughta be a law" mentality, etc. As a libertarian, I think politics and gov't should play as small a role in peoples' lives as possible. We've got better things to be doing with our lives!

OTOH, total indifference to gov't can decrease your liberty as well. Typically, most people who are involved with gov't (directly or indirectly) are those with some interest in using it or creating or expanding its agencies or programs. Such continual growth of gov't impinges more and more on our freedoms by the creation of more and more regulations we have to abide by and more taxes we have to pay to pay for all the "freebies" we get from gov't.

I think liberty is maximized by NOT being indifferent to those things which can or will reduce your liberty.

Answer 2

Indifference of government towards its citizens is crucial to sustaining liberty. No one gets any special treatment and no one gets singled out for persecution.