In a Reason symposium on libertarianism and culture, Kerry Howley argues that libertarians should be concerned not just with minimizing government coercion, but with critiquing cultural barriers to human freedom. For instance, she points out that a woman trapped in a repressively patriarchal culture, or one that merely reinforces “traditional” gender roles, is hardly capable of fully exercising her freedom.

I agree with that. (Though I would demure at Ms. Howley’s insistence the the pill, porn, and 600 channels of TV are all on a par as examples of the “power of culture itself to liberate.”) But it’s no less true that someone who’s starving, or doesn’t have adequate access to health care, or doesn’t have clean air to breath or clean water to drink is incapable of fully exercising her freedom. Which is basically why, from J.S. Mill onward, most liberals have rejected laissez-faire in favor of some variety of state-action or welfare liberalism. In other words, valuing freedom is sometimes a good reason not to be a libertarian.