I can remember the exact moment that I realized I was a libertarian. I was watching the Reagan-Carter debates, and a commercial came on. It looked just like any other political commercial, but at the end, this dignified man stood at a podium in front of a cheering crowd, and said this:

The American people should be able to go about their peaceful business without any interference from the government.

I was stunned. To me, this was the essential statement of what America was supposed to be about. This man, Ed Clarke, had boiled down freedom into a sound bite. Why, I wondered, had no other politician been able to do that?

The answer, unfortunately, is that Democrat and Republican politicians simply do not believe in freedom. They want to rule. They want to rule you. They want to rule me. They believe that the world will be a better place if you and I behave as they think we should. They believe that they are better qualified to run your life than you are. This is obviously - and unfortunately - true of both of my opponents.

Well, I'm not that smart. I want you to live your life in harmony with your own beliefs. I want you to find your own relationship with God, your own conscience, the universe, your higher power. I also want you to let me pursue my own life and find my own way, to perform my own service, without coercion.

This, to me, is the essence of freedom. Human beings, I believe, have their own purpose, and it is not up to anyone other than that individual human - you - to find that purpose. It is not up to George Bush, John Ashcroft, Gordon Smith, Bill Bradbury, Tom Daschle, Trent Lott, Dennis Hastert or anyone else to decide how you should live your life and to what purpose you should dedicate yourself. It isn't up to me to decide for you, either.

That's why I'm a Libertarian. I believe that you can make your own decisions better than any politician I've ever met. If you make a mistake, you'll hopefully learn from it. In this way, you take responsibility for your own life, instead of making politicians, society, and neighbors responsible for you.