Happy Fourth: On Libertarianism, Citizenship, and Social
Responsibility  I was raised a libertarian. I believed the
government was the problem. I thought that the smaller the
government was, the better off everyone would be. Taxes were a
bad thing, something to be resented and, if at all possible,
opposed. I was raised in an environment where the idea of an
individual person and his property seceding from the country was
bandied about as intriguing and talk of abolishing the public
school system was normal.  Individualism was a key value and
individual rights were upheld as most important, even when they
came at the expense of the community. When I was a kid, I heard
it said that the ideal citizen was a homeowner who ran his own
business and homeschooled his children, because that citizen
would be wholly independent from the government. Independence
and individualism were paramount.  One term I never heard
emphasized – or even mentioned, I believe – was social
responsibility. The idea that we might have a res