A question seldom asked: ‘Should government be involved in this?’

Asking why you should vote for the Libertarian Party is the wrong question. The question ought to be “when?” Everyone has a different threshold for that. Connecticut’s health, arguably America’s health as well, demand a serious movement of that goal post to immediately rather than later.

Connecticut is still stuck with that “temporary” income tax – the one Gov. Lowell Weicker alluded to being gasoline on the fiscal fire when he ran for the office. While that conclusion was correct, the action was wrong for many reasons. Let’s deal with two.

First, you can never help someone incapable of managing money or bring them to a point where they can by giving them more money. That was never going to happen then, and it certainly won’t now with SB 787.

Second, Democrats and Republicans – especially here – never start with the critical question no matter what the issue is: “Should government really be involved in this, and if so, what’s the limit?” Your cost of living, your paycheck and the dwindling amount of free time you have are the direct result of that failure.

Libertarians don’t want to run your life. We don’t know how. Anyone claiming to know how isn’t being honest. We differ from Democrats and Republicans in that we trust you, your neighbors and charitable organizations to make the best decisions.

We have frequently noted that government accounting will get Rs and Ds reelected – but in the private sector it will get you five to ten in hard time. Every single election cycle is always an excuse for them to put off the real question: “Should government really be involved in this, and if so, what’s the limit?”

Unlike your other options, we set limits. Those are based on standards and a consistently philosophy – call it a reason why we work so hard to get into a position to actually do real public service. We see the Constitution as an instruction manual – not a menu or the polite list of suggestions it is currently viewed in Hartford and Washington. We reject the idea that your rights should be taken away, abridged or restricted because others make poor decisions.

We understand healthcare as increasing from 3 percent of GDP to 19 percent as the crisis it is. Demopublican programs, tax games and insurance schemes to hide prices and gouge consumers will never solve the problem of cost. Demanding full price disclosure up front will. That means prices that don’t magically change based upon coverage. A fair and a free market requires price transparency, which is something special interests don’t want. Democrats and Republicans had 30+ years to deliver on that, let alone reduce costs in any net sense.

Goverment exists to protect individual liberty and rights and to peaceably resolve disputes. The Democrat/Republican experiment we live under is government as your dysfunctional parent, the 500-pound gorilla in the room who frequently obliterates families and businesses alike with the arbitrary stroke of a pen. There is no free market when it actively participates as that 500-pound gorilla in the market.

Everyone from Goldwater Republicans up to present day anti-war Democrats should have seen the writing on the wall. There will never be substantive reform in the Republican or Democratic Parties of any meaning. Doing anything that would limit state power would reduce their donor lists. Special interests pay for government access to you – your insurance, your bank accounts and your children. Then government bribes you with the scraps left on the table as if this is a good deal.

Government has long since grown past its job description, our means to support it and the ability of the average layperson to deal with it. We tried things the R and D way. That’s not working out and has no realistic prospect of ever working out. $19.8 trillion in national debt as of this writing bears that out – so does a state pension system that’s only 35 percent funded. They rehash the same types of proposals from 30 years ago. They even campaign on the same messages and slogans from 30 years ago. They pretend we can wait another 30 years.

As of this writing, there are 33 new Libertarian Town Committees in the process of forming in Connecticut – and more coming. We’ve all just got to get involved and do the job. The busiest day of the week can no longer be tomorrow.

Dan Reale is chairman of the Connecticut Libertarian Party.