Most people who reject the philosophy and principles of Liberty are doing so out of fear, ignorance, or cognitive dissonance. There just isn't any other logical explanation for people to reject the notion of Self-Ownership, Property Rights, and the Non Aggression Principle.

Most people, when ask on a case by case basis, will agree to almost every aspect of the Libertarian philosophy, that is until you mention the word Libertarian in the conversation. It is at that time when you will see the change of expression or altered state of understanding in subsequent dialog. This alone is evidence enough to substantiate the claim of being ideologically driven, but I'll go one further and suggest their reaction is not much different from that of a child who refuses to go to bed without a night light to comfort them. There is obviously no real danger of a boogeyman harming the child, but due to the scary movies they may have watched or ghost stories they were told...they are allowing fear and a lack of understanding to guide the decisions and behavior, rather than rational and critical thinking. That's difficult enough to overcome when dealing with a child, but in the adult world of politics, law, and brute force, it can be a severe detriment to society at large.

That's why people who already have a predisposition to fear are much more likely to promote and endorse the expanding mandate of the state. It allows them to feel secure without having to face all the challenges and responsibilities that come with being personally responsible for it. Think about it...if you are the type that scares fairly easy, then it doesn't take much convincing for you to accept a need for a massive police state. The same can be said of those who shy away from the difficult and sometimes dangerous task of negotiating with others during conflicts, arguments or disputes.

Since government can offer them a means to avoid any personal sacrifice in a conflict by simply calling a phone number and having a group of armed men come to their defense, they will seek out that means instead. The problems only increase when a larger and larger portion of the populace realize that they can lobby politicians to deal with their fellow man by soliciting new laws or using the full force of government against them, rather than negotiate.

This is exactly what has been happening for recent generations here in Canada, the US, the UK and other Western countries. We seem to be stuck in the teenage years of human progress.
The philosophy of Liberty is just a natural evolution of human interaction, and is another step towards complete freedom from force and coercion when dealing with each other. The end result of all this human progress will be our rejection of force and violence in the name of government, and the acceptance of personal responsibility, mutual co-operation and negotiation, as well as natural law and morality to guide us through life. We will end up living in complete Anarchy once we've reached the pinnacle of the human success story. We have already made great strides from our early beginning from hunter/gatherers up to this point. Most people no longer see any justification for human slavery in the traditional sense. We no longer accept as normal the practice of executing people for their beliefs or burning Witches for their sorcery. People no longer feel the need to kill off any tribe or group who may challenge them for their food source.

So the next time you are debating or discussing the issues we face today with Statists of either political stripe, Conservative or Liberal, remind them of the fact that what we accept as normal today will certainly be judged as immature and infantile by our successive generations who grow up in the future. There can be tons of debate and variances regarding how long it will take, how intense the growing pain will be, and where it will take hold first, but there can be no doubt it will happen.
CL