Infrastructure

David Brooks believes that, rather than bailing out auto companies, or handing money to firms who hire more workers (whom they would have likely hired anyway), we should use the money to invest in a "National Mobility Project," or "a long-term investment in the country’s infrastructure."


It's not a bad idea to build highways. However, The funds for highways are most efficiently derived from toll roads, rather than income or corporate taxes.

Those who drive, and who drive most often, should pay for the construction and maintenance of the highways they use. This system would also amount to a de facto "carbon emissions tax," reduce traffic, and encourage people to consider other modes of transportation, all without raising income taxes.

Fiscal conservatives ought not to disagree with toll roads because, without them, our nation's highways amount to one giant subsidy for drivers. So long as we don't privatise highways, governments should charge for their use.

So, to all the phantom people who watch over the I-10 W: Build a tollbooth! If you promise that there it will no longer be bumper-to-bumper traffic at 3 am on a Sunday night, I promise, in turn, that I will pay the fee with a smile.

Straw Man

David Brooks touts the findings of modern neuropsychology as evidence that Goldwater conservatism is incompatible with human beings' natural inclination to establish interdependent relationships and collaborative institutions.

But who ever said that we shouldn't form social networks? Libertarians simply believe that such networks should be strictly VOLUNTARY. The "communities" created by government are always mandatory, which inspires more discord than camaraderie. It isn't that libertarians and libertarian Republicans do not believe in charity or community. It's simply that we believe that we should choose the charities and communities with which to associate.
Trust me, many of we libertarians have close friends, from all political spectra and walks of life, whom we care for deeply. We don't need the government to set up play-dates.