Here are two other examples of questions answered with the Ransberger Pivot.
Q : Aren't libertarians in favour of legalizing drugs ? That's crazy ! We'd have even worse problems than we have right now with mafias and addiction !
A : Like you, I want to live in a society where drug-motivated violence is a thing of the past, and where innocent people do not suffer in jail. The only way to accomplish this is by legalizing drugs, like they were before Prohibition and the Drug War began. Because drugs are illegal, there is a tremendous black market which causes violence in the streets, causes other types of crimes because black market prices are much higher than they would be in a free market, and also puts more than half a million people in prison every year in the United States. If drugs were legalized, they would become like any other product. There would be no need for gangs and violence because there would be no more black market. And it's been shown that in countries where a drug is legal, use of that drug is significantly lowered.
Q : You libertarians want to have only private schools. Wouldn't that ruin the education of our children ?
A : Like you, I want education to be a social priority. How our children learn is of vital importance to our future. That is why we must take education out of the government's hands and let the free market give more flexibility and efficiency to our education system. Right now, the public schools' "one size fits all", bureaucratic mode of education is making our children stupider and wasting our money. The average tuition in a public school is twice that of private schools. Furthermore, the National Assessment of Educational Progress has shown that progress in learning is faster in private schools than in public schools, and all the tests show private schooling and homeschooling being superior to public schooling. Finally, it is not necessary to give up gratuity to have private schools : we could establish charter schools, which already exist and provide a more efficient alternative to government control without giving up gratuity.
The most important thing to remember is that truth is inherently comparative. The same thing is true about politics : to show that libertarianism is the best alternative, you must contrast it to statist alternatives. Government is inefficient and does not work. If you show this truth over and over in all domains, then it becomes inescapable.
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