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The older I get the more libertarian I become. If you have read this blog—or any of my other writing—much, you've realized I've been a fairly staunch conservative all my life. Even when we were dirt poor college students.

In my mind, real principles don't change just because they aren't convenient or when personal benefit is involved. If I believe in self-reliance, then I should believe in it even when it's hard for me.

In many ways, I'd be almost pure libertarian now…if I could reconcile it all in my head. One of the big problems with pure libertarianism is the current government overreach. It's great to say, “Hey, let anyone who wants to come to the United States, come on over!” But when the government provides education, health care, housing, food and all sorts of other perks that are paid for by coercively taxing people, then enslaving working, taxpaying citizens to provide all those goodies make open immigration a huge problem.

I don't gamble, I don't use drugs (and never have), I don't even drink alcohol, and I actually believe sex outside of marriage is wrong. (True.) Yet I still lean to the idea that adults should be able to play online poker, to shoot up, and even prostitute themselves if they so choose.

But part of me just can't get over the fact that “no man is an island.” We don't live in vacuums. When someone decimates their bank account at the black jack table, everyone else ends up supporting their family with welfare and food stamps, when druggies spend their days in a fog, families are torn apart and they become a danger to themselves and others, when recreational sex is rampant, babies are born without intact families (or are aborted) and disease spreads.

The social ramifications don't stay home to roost, they hurt all of society.

Having a civil society means having a common value set. Given that so many want something for nothing and seek pleasure long before responsibility, honor, and duty, it's difficult to envision a libertarian ideal that actually works.

Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.