The problem with libertarianism

Peter Moskos is currently guest-blogging for Radley Balko, who is currently exploring Eastern Europe (October can't come soon enough). Moskos is an Ivy-League trained Sociologist who spent a year as a police officer in Baltimore's Eastern District. Out of that came Cop in the Hood, which is a first-hand qualitative study of our ineffective drug policies and criminal justice system.

Moskos is a Harvard sociologist who now teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. In a recent post on Balko's blog, the Agitator, Moskos outlines his skepticism of libertarianism as an ideology. I think Moskos hits the nail on the head here,

"Perhaps less government is the solution to many specific problems. But I refuse to believe anything is the solution to all problems. I’m willing to accept (or at least debate) libertarian positions on any policy issue. I’m not willing to consider libertarianism as the Correct Ideology."

What is important to understand here is that there is a distinction between the theoretical and practical. What bothers me, and why I tend to agree with Moskos, is that libertarians hold their ideology regardless of its effects. Therefore, libertarianism is always the answer. But when it comes to applying ideology to practice, we have to understand that there are real repercussions, and that sometimes the ideology that we hold is not the answer to the problem. So while libertarianism may seem appealing in the theoretical, it leaves no room for the practical.