I used to think that personal responsibility was doing the basics of “adulting,” such as paying your bills, keeping your promises, not committing to things you can’t follow through on and voting. The more I study true libertarianism, I see that this definition of personal responsibility is the base line; the bare minimum.
The new libertarian definition of personal responsibility includes all the things I just mentioned, but it goes much farther. If we want less government interference and control, I think we need to step up and solve the problem ourselves. For example, if we believe that the social safety net of providing food, clothing and shelter to the poor is important and should be provided through the private sector, then the logical response from a libertarian perspective is to volunteer my time or donate money or food to a local food bank, or donate money or clothes to a shelter.
It’s not enough to whine about how much we are currently being taxed and not be willing to donate to a specific cause or two that you find to be worthy of your time or money because of the “well, once the government stops taxing me, I’ll have the money to donate” argument. These things won’t change until we step up and start shaping them, each in our own small or large ways.
For many people I talk to, I’m the only Libertarian they know. I’m fine with this, but I also realize that if that’s the case, I have to be that example of an Libertarian because the lens they view me with is the lens that will bias their view of the next time they meet a libertarian or hear about libertarians in the news. We have to show people that we care about people and about our community before we can move their whole worldview towards liberty.