November 14, 2026
There are no atheists in foxholes.
- William Thomas Cummings (maybe, no one's really sure)
What a great line. Snappy, to the point, and thought-provoking no matter where your beliefs lie. There's an important follow-up that's often tragically left out: "it's not an argument against atheism - it's an argument against foxholes."
The point becomes clearer if you invert it: Everyone's religious when death feels impending. Why ? On top of hedging one's bets while in mortal fear; in such unjust and nonsensical circumstances, one feels betrayed by what they've always understood as the laws of humanity, so they can't help but look beyond humanity for answers, or at least comfort.
A very similar line, elevated, I believe, to a truism, can be built on the same scaffolding: Everyone's a libertarian when the government comes for them. Or, put in the original configuration: There are no statists in holding cells.
Government is force. Institutionalized violence. It is not, has never been, and could never be anything else. It's the preferences of some, foisted and enforced on everyone else, at the point of a gun. When the government is involved, violence is involved. Being in their crosshairs is being on the business end of violence. You may be fine with this, until that target is you.
If this reasoning sounds absurd to you, count yourself lucky. It means you've never been set upon by the state. It's likely the most helpless and powerless you can possibly feel, and among the most infuriating experiences you can go through. You are at their mercy. There is rarely any recourse whatsoever.
It doesn't have to be in the form of "criminal justice", incarceration for some charge of breaking the law. It could be:
- Shutting down your small business for violating some obscure regulation
- Turning your entire life turned upside down because of some permit or license that can't be processed until next week because the one person on Earth who can handle it is on vacation
- Prohibiting you from renovating your own home due to zoning or environmental ordinances
And here's the rub. These instances get a lot of people bit by the libertarian bug. They think "leave me alone ! I'm not hurting anybody. I just want to take action to improve my position in life, and no one has a right to stop me. Let me improve my home/ run my business/ do my work/ smoke some dope/ whatever!".
If you've been here-to "Leave me alone-land"-before, congratulations ! You're thinking like a libertarian. But here's why you can't be one...
Drawing a line in the sand with something you are committed to taking full control and responsibility for is easy. But then the hammer falls. Some government action crosses your path that you kind of like.
"I don't want my little company to be taxed and regulated to death, but that tariff being in place makes things a little easier for me." "I don't want to be told I can't smoke weed if I want, but people shouldn't be allowed to own military-style rifles. Those are scary!" "I'm tired of having to take my shoes off at the airport, but what would we do without these public buses and trains?"
And... POOF ! Just like that, all hope for your salvation disappears. That's right. To be a libertarian, you're gonna have to be consistent, and most people don't have that in them.
Any and every state action is a zero-sum game. Whatever benefit it grants to you is at the expense of someone else. There are no exceptions to this. If you wouldn't put a gun to someone's head and demand an action, abstention, or material property from someone, then you have no business enlisting the government to do so on your behalf.
If you reject the initiation of force, coercion, and violence against nonaggressive actors on your pet issues, but not the ones you're averse or indifferent to, then I'm afraid you suffer from hypocritical tendencies, which have no place in true libertarianism. But, worry not, there's PLENTY of room for them in mainstream politics. Either the left of the right, two wellsprings of hypocrisy, will welcome you with open arms!
Don't misunderstand (or misconstrue, you know who you are!). This does NOT mean that every professed libertarian adheres to these standards, or even claims or wants to. There are plenty of quasi-famous LINOs (libertarian in name only). Look no further than the Libertarian Party (which will tell you why I use the lower-case "l"), who are about as likely to get my vote as they are to get on a major network's debate stage.
My purpose here is not to name-call or shame anyone, but just to get you thinking. Hopefully, if you're not already part of the choir, this at least piques your interest to learn more about libertarianism. If so, I'll point you to THE BOOK on the subject, For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto by Murray Rothbard.
You won't find a better ground-up exposition of libertarian thought anywhere. While I suggest going through it cover-to-cover, the chapters each cover specific issues if you're looking for quick references. It's the last book on the subject you'll ever need (thought it won't be the last one I recommend).
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