Libertarianism

For alternative meanings of libertarianism, see: Libertarianism (disambiguation).

Template:Libertarianism expanded Libertarianism is a term used by a broad spectrum of political philosophies which prioritizes individual liberty and seeks to minimize government or to create a "state-less society." What it means to be a libertarian in a political sense is a contentious issue, even among libertarians themselves. There is no single theory that can be reliably identified as the libertarian theory, and no single principle or set of principles on which all libertarians would agree. Libertarian is an antonym of authoritarian.

History

Libertarian was originally used by free-thinkers in relation to religion, to mean those who believed in free-will over determinism; later, in 19th century Europe, it became a euphemism for 'anarchist'.

The first known use in a political sense of the term translated into English as libertarian was by the French anarcho-communist Joseph Déjacque who in 1857 employed the coinage libertaire in a letter to Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. The English term is thus derived from a word which in French is synonymous with anarchist.

Proudhon himself outlined a libertarian social philosophy consisting of "an analysis of the power relations underlying existing forms of political authority" and, further, "a vision of an alternative libertarian society based on cooperation as opposed to competition and coercion, and functioning without the need for government authority."

The term libertarian was first popularized in France in the 1890s in order to counter and evade the anti-anarchist laws known as the les lois scélérates. According to the anarchist historian Max Nettlau, first use of the term libertarian communism had been in November 1880, when a French anarchist congress employed it to more clearly identify its doctrines. The French anarchist journalist Sébastien Faure, later founder and editor of the four-volume Anarchist Encyclopedia, started the weekly paper Le Libertaire (The Libertarian) in 1895.

In the United States libertarianism as a synonym for anarchism had meantime begun to take hold. The anarchist communist geographer and social theorist Peter Kropotkin wrote in his seminal 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica article Anarchism that:

"It would be impossible to represent here, in a short sketch, the penetration, on the one hand, of anarchist ideas into modern literature, and the influence, on the other hand, which the libertarian ideas of the best contemporary writers have exercised upon the development of anarchism."

Kropotkin goes on to list some of the writers whose 'libertarian' arguments had helped shape what he himself regarded as the extremely powerful case against authoritarian and exploitative social structures:

"J. S. Mill's Liberty, Spencer's Individual versus the State, Marc Guyau's Morality without Obligation or Sanction, and Fouillée's La Morale, I'art et la religion, the works of Multatuli (E. Douwes Dekker), Richard Wagner's Art and Revolution, the works of Nietzsche, Emerson, W. Lloyd Garrison, Thoreau, Alexander Herzen, Edward Carpenter and so on; and in the domain of fiction, the dramas of Ibsen, the poetry of Walt Whitman, Tolstoy's War and Peace, Zola's Paris and Le Travail, the latest works of Merezhkovsky, and an infinity of works of less known authors, are full of ideas which show how closely anarchism is interwoven with the work that is going on in modern thought in the same direction of enfranchisement of man from the bonds of the state as well as from those of capitalism."

Modern development in the United States

By the early 20th century, the Progressive movement in the United States and the socialist movement in Europe began to promote positive rights such as public education, health care, social security or a minimum standard of living. As "liberalism" began to mean a more statist viewpoint, those who held to the pro-liberty views of the Enlightenment began to call themselves "classical liberals." Others of this persuasion began to call themselves "conservatives" to refer to conserving traditions of liberty, especially in written constitutions.

Some conservatives began to call themselves classical liberals. However, because classical connotes an old, outdated and backwards leaning philosphy, in the 1940s, Leonard Read finally began calling himself libertarian, as it avoids backward implications and confused definitions. Today some libertarians, such as the libertarian U.S. think tank, the Cato Institute, hold that classical liberalism and libertarianism are synonymous.

Starting in the 1930s, a group of central European economists lead by Austrians Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek identified the collectivist underpinnings to the various new doctrines of government power as being different brands of totalitarianism. The Austrian school of economics had a powerful impact on both economic teaching and libertarian principles, influencing economists including Henry Hazlitt, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Israel Kirzner, Murray Rothbard, Walter Block among many others.

In 1955, Dean Russell wrote an article pondering what to call those, such as himself, who subscribed to the classical liberal philosophy of individualism and self-responsibility. He said:

Many of us call ourselves "liberals," And it is true that the word "liberal" once described persons who respected the individual and feared the use of mass compulsions. But the leftists have now corrupted that once-proud term to identify themselves and their program of more government ownership of property and more controls over persons. As a result, those of us who believe in freedom must explain that when we call ourselves liberals, we mean liberals in the uncorrupted classical sense. At best, this is awkward, subject to misunderstanding. Here is a suggestion: Let those of us who love liberty trademark and reserve for our own use the good and honorable word "libertarian."

Ayn Rand's international best sellers The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957) and her books about her philosophy of Objectivism inspired a new interest in ideas of liberty and influenced modern libertarianism. Brian Doherty describes her influence: "[H]er literary skills and burning moral passion, as much as her rigorous, systematic approach to the linkages between reason and liberty, will remain a powerful introduction to the idea that your life belongs to you, not to the state or the collective—and to the rich and complex series of conclusions about the proper nature and mission of government that follows from that idea."

In 1958, Isaiah Berlin's famous essay "Two Concepts of Liberty" explained the difference between these two ideas in terms of positive and negative liberty. Whereas classical liberals aim for liberty in its negative sense, that is, the liberty from external constraints, the modern form of liberalism tries to achieve liberty in its positive sense, by providing opportunities and presenting alternatives.

Philosophical libertarianism gained a significant measure of recognition in the academy with the publication of Harvard University professor Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia in 1974. The book won a National Book Award in 1975. Nozick challenges John Rawls's arguments in A Theory of Justice that redistribution must benefit the least well off. He argued that a distribution of goods is just, so long as the distribution was brought about by free exchanges by consenting adults. Left-liberal philosopher Thomas Nagel argued that Nozick's libertarianism was 'without foundations' because Nozick's libertarianism proceeded from the assumption that individuals owned themselves without any further explanation. Nozick backed away from some of the views he expressed in Anarchy, State, and Utopia in one of his later books, The Examined Life, calling those views "seriously inadequate." In a 2001 interview, however, he clarified his position: "What I was really saying in The Examined Life was that I was no longer as hardcore a libertarian as I had been before. But the rumors of my deviation (or apostasy!) from libertarianism were much exaggerated."

Jan Narveson aimed to meet this challenge. Based on the work of David Gauthier, Narveson developed contractarian libertarianism, outlined in his 1988 work The Libertarian Idea, and then extended in his 2002 work Respecting Persons in Theory and Practice. In these works, Narveson agreed with Hobbes that individuals would lay down their ability to kill and steal from each other in order to leave the state of nature, but he broke with Hobbes in arguing that an absolute state was not necessary to enforce this agreement. Narveson argues that no state at all is required. Other advocates of contractarian libertarianism include the Nobel Laureate and founder of the public choice school of economics James M. Buchanan, and Hungarian-French philosopher Anthony de Jasay.

Libertarian principles

The central tenet of libertarianism is the principle of liberty. To libertarians, an individual human being is sovereign over his body, extending to life, and liberty. Libertarians define liberty as being completely free in action, whilst not initiating force or fraud against the life, liberty or property of another human being. Thomas Jefferson stated, "Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others." Jefferson also said "No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him." These concepts are otherwise known as the law of equal liberty or the non-aggression principle.

Libertarians generally view constraints imposed by the state on persons, beyond the need to penalize infringement of one's rights by another, as a violation of liberty. Anarchist libertarians favor no statutory constraints at all, based on the assumption that rulers are unnecessary because in the absence of political government individuals will naturally form self-governing social bonds, rules, customs, codes, and contracts. In contrast, minarchist libertarians consider government necessary for the sole purpose of protecting the rights of the people. This includes protecting people and their property from the criminal acts of others, as well as providing for national defense.

Libertarians generally defend the ideal of freedom from the perspective of how little one is constrained by authority, that is, how much one is allowed to do, which is referred to as negative liberty. This ideal is distinguished from a view of freedom focused on how much one is able to do, which is termed positive liberty, a distinction first noted by John Stuart Mill, and later described in fuller detail by Isaiah Berlin.

Many libertarians view life, liberty, and property as the ultimate rights possessed by individuals, and that compromising one necessarily endangers the rest. In democracies, they consider compromise of these individual rights by political action to be tyranny of the majority, a term first coined by Alexis de Tocqueville, and made famous by John Stuart Mill, which emphasizes the threat of the majority to impose majority norms on minorities, and violating their rights in the process. "...There needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling, against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them..."

Some libertarians favor Common Law, which they see as less arbitrary and more adaptable than statutory law. The relative benefits of common law evolving toward ever-finer definitions of property rights were articulated by thinkers such as Friedrich Hayek, Richard Epstein, Robert Nozick, and Randy Barnett. "A libertarian society would not allow anyone to injure others by pollution because it insists on individual responsibility."

Natural rights and consequentialism

Main articles: Deontological libertarianism and Consequentialist libertarianism

There are, broadly speaking, two types of libertarians: rights theorists (also called libertarian moralists) and libertarian consequentialists. Rights theorists, which include noted deontologists, assert that all persons are the absolute owners of their lives, and should be free to do whatever they wish with their own bodies or property, provided they do not infringe on the rights of another to engage in that same freedom. They maintain that the initiation of force, defined by physical violence against another or non-physical acts such as fraud or threat, is a violation of that central principle; however, they hold that protective violence, such as self defense, does not constitute an initiation of force since they hold that such actions necessarily reflect an individual's reaction to a danger initiated by another individual. Many philosophers proclaiming this theory advocate a limited government to protect individuals from any violation of their rights, and to prosecute those who initiate force against others. However, some others, such as Murray Rothbard advocate the abolition of the state, as they see the state as being institutionalized initiation of force due to taxation. Their view of natural rights is derived, directly or indirectly, from the writings of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke.

Consequentialist libertarians, on the other hand, do not see "initiation of force" as immoral. Rather, their position is that political and economic liberty lead to the best consequences in the form of happiness and prosperity. Unlike libertarian moralists, who limit their advocacy to that which does not constitute initiation of force, consequentialists advocate actions and institutions they believe maximize liberty regardless of whether these constitute initiation of force. Not regarding initiation of force to be intrinsically immoral leaves them not as likely as the libertarian moralists to be led to anarchism. Libertarian consequentialism is associated with Milton Friedman, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and James M. Buchanan.

Some libertarians may have a conception of libertarianism that is a hybrid of consequentialism and deontology.

Left-libertarianism

Main article: Left-libertarianism

Some members of the U.S. libertarian movement, including the late Samuel Edward Konkin III and Roderick T. Long, employ an apolitical strategy to achieve libertarianism. These individuals depart from other forms of libertarianism by opposing intellectual property, by advocating strong alliances with the Left on issues such as the anti-war movement, and by supporting labor unions. Some wish to revive voluntary cooperative ideas such as mutualism.

Agorism

Agorism is a left-libertarian political philosophy founded by Samuel Edward Konkin III that holds the ultimate goal as bringing about a society in which all "relations between people are voluntary exchanges — a free market." The term comes from the Greek word "agora," referring to an open place for assembly and market in ancient Greek city-states. Ideologically, it is a term representing a revolutionary type of free market anarchism, with "revolutionary" referring not to violent revolution but rather to an emphasis on counter-economics - untaxed black market activity, which agorists believe has the ability to contribute to the elimination of the state.

Geolibertarianism

Main article: Geolibertarianism

Geolibertarianism is a political movement that strives to reconcile libertarianism and Georgism (or geoism). Geolibertarians are advocates of geoism, which is the position that all land is a common asset to which all individuals have an equal right to access, and therefore if individuals claim the land as their property they must pay rent to the community for doing so. Rent need not be paid for the mere use of land, but only for the right to exclude others from that land, and for the protection of one's title by government.They simulatenously agree with the libertarian position that each individual has an exclusive right to the fruits of his or her labor as their private property, as opposed to this product being owned collectively by society or the community, and that "one's labor, wages, and the products of labor" should not be taxed. Also, with traditional libertarians they advocate "full civil liberties, with no crimes unless there are victims who have been invaded." Geolibertarians generally advocate distributing the land rent to the community via a land value tax, as proposed by Henry George and others before him. For this reason, they are often called "single taxers". Fred E. Foldvary coined the word "geo-libertarianism" in an article so titled in Land and Liberty, May/June 1981, pp. 53-55. In the case of geoanarchism, the voluntary form of geolibertarianism as described by Foldvary, rent would be collected by private associations with the opportunity to secede from a geocommunity (and not receive the geocommunity's services) if desired.

Libertarian socialism

Main article: Libertarian socialism

Libertarian socialism aims to create a society in which all violent or coercive institutions would be dissolved, and in their place every person would have free, equal access to tools of information and production, or a society in which such coercive institutions and hierarchies were drastically reduced in scope.

This equality and freedom would be achieved through the abolition of "authoritarian" institutions such as an individuals right to own private property, in order that direct control of the means of production and resources will be gained by the working class and society as a whole.

Political philosophies commonly described as libertarian socialist include: most varieties of anarchism (especially anarchist communism, anarchist collectivism, anarcho-syndicalism, some forms of mutualism, some forms of market anarchism, social ecology, and council communism) Some writers use libertarian socialism synonymously with anarchism.

Mutualism

Main article: Mutualism (economic theory)

Mutualism, as a libertarian free-market anarchist school of thought, can be traced to the writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon that envisioned a society where each person might possess a means of production either individually or collectively, with trade representing equivalent amounts of labor. Integral to the scheme was the establishment of a mutual credit bank which would lend to producers at a minimal interest rate only high enough to cover the costs of administration. Mutualism is based on a labor theory of value which holds that when labor or its product is sold, it ought to receive in exchange, goods or services embodying "the amount of labor necessary to produce an article of exactly similar and equal utility" (receiving anything less is considered exploitation, theft of labor, or "usury"). Some mutualists believe that if the state did not intervene, economic law would ensure that individuals receive no more income than that in proportion to the amount of labor they exert. Mutualists oppose the idea of individuals receiving an income through loans, investments, and rent, as they believe these individuals are not laboring. Some of them hold that if state intervention ceased, these types of incomes would disappear. Though Proudhon opposed this type of income, he expressed: "... I never meant to ... forbid or suppress, by sovereign decree, ground rent and interest on capital. I believe that all these forms of human activity should remain free and optional for all."

Right-libertarianism

Right-libertarianism or the libertarian right is a political approach to libertarianism. Right-libertarians are more likely to believe in limited government instead of anarchism and are more likely to use reformist strategies than left-libertarians.

See also: Controversies within libertarianism

Libertarian conservatism

Main articles: Libertarian conservatism and Right-libertarianism

Libertarian conservatism describes certain political ideologies which combine libertarian economic issues with social conservatism. Its four main branches are Constitutionalism, paleolibertarianism, small government conservatism, and Christian libertarianism. They generally differ from paleoconservatives, in that they are in favor of more personal and economic freedom. Agorists such as Samuel Edward Konkin III consider libertarian conservatism a form of right-libertarianism.

Notable libertarian conservatives include Barry Goldwater and Ron Paul..

In constrast to paleoconservatives, libertarian conservatives support strict laissez-faire policies such as free trade, opposition to the Federal Reserve and opposition to most business regulations. They are vehemently opposed to environmental regulations, corporate welfare, subsidies, and other areas of economic intervention. Many of them have views in accord to Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard. Others align themselves with Milton Friedman.

Libertarian conservatives are more tolerant to social issues such as drug legalization and illegal immigration than paleoconservatives. They see that illegal immigration is caused by the welfare state, that should be first get rid of. They're more tolerant to gay marriage, although they think that marriage should be deregulated by the state and should be a church function. However, many of them oppose abortion, as they see it as a positive liberty and violates the non-aggression principle because abortion is aggression towards the fetus.

Libertarian progressivism

Main article: Libertarian progressivism

Libertarian progressivism supports the civil libertarian aspect of freedom as well as supporting the kind of economic freedom that emphasizes removing corporate subsidies and other favoritism to special interests, and applying a responsible transition toward freedom - for example, some support a transition approach that includes certain trade restrictions on imports from countries that have very little freedom, so that more free trade with those countries would be phased in as they move toward more freedom. Libertarian progressives are sometimes libertarian Democrats. Libertarian progressives feel that it is more important to remove what they consider the causes of poverty (e.g. corporate welfare), than to cut government welfare programs, when first approaching a society. Libertarian progressives propose that government welfare should be weakened over time, keeping in mind the needs of the unfortunate. They believe that a temporary safety net is necessary in the transition to a society based on private charity. They are more likely than most progressives to support the separation of marriage and state, tax cuts, the decriminalization of drugs (particularly marijuana), and the defense of gun rights. Some libertarian progressives (including geolibertarians) feel that property should be defined as "products of labor and human effort", as opposed to land and natural resources, which they feel should be subject to regulation for purposes of "fair access." In contrast to Libertarian Party members or paleolibertarians, many libertarian progressives favor some form of anti-trust policy in the special case of land and natural resources, due to their view that land is a fundamentally different kind of property than products of human effort, but they typically remain open to "free-market solutions to environmental problems." They differ from many progressives in that they tend to favor the restriction of government-provided services only to "any necessary services that cannot currently be provided adequately by the non-government sector (non-profit or for-profit groups)." They are typically pro-choice but may be for or against the death penalty. They tend to favor limited government involvement in most areas of life.

Minarchism

Main article: Minarchism

Minarchism is the belief that a state should exist but that its functions should be minimal. Minimal taxation as a "necessary evil" for the limited purpose of funding public institutions.

Objectivism

Main article: Libertarianism and Objectivism

Libertarianism's status is in dispute among those who style themselves Objectivists (Objectivism is the name philosopher-novelist Ayn Rand gave her philosophy). Though elements of Rand's philosophy have been adopted by libertarianism, Objectivists (including Rand herself) have condemned libertarianism as a threat to freedom and capitalism. In particular, it has been claimed that libertarians use Objectivist ideas "with the teeth pulled out of them".

Conversely, some libertarians see Objectivists as dogmatic, unrealistic, and uncompromising (Objectivists do not see the last as a negative attribute). According to Reason editor Nick Gillespie in the magazine's March 2005 issue focusing on Objectivism's influence, Rand is "one of the most important figures in the libertarian movement... Rand remains one of the best-selling and most widely influential figures in American thought and culture" in general and in libertarianism in particular. Still, he confesses that he is embarrassed by his magazine's association with her ideas. In the same issue, Cathy Young says that "Libertarianism, the movement most closely connected to Rand's ideas, is less an offspring than a rebel stepchild." Though they reject what they see as Randian dogmas, libertarians like Young still believe that "Rand's message of reason and liberty... could be a rallying point" for libertarianism.

Objectivists reject the oft-heard libertarian refrain that State and government are "necessary evils": for them, a government limited to protection of its citizens' rights is absolutely necessary and moral. Objectivists are opposed to all anarchist currents and are suspicious of libertarians' lineage with individualist anarchism.

Right-libertarian movement

Main article: Libertarian movement

Right-libertarians and their allies are not a homogeneous group, but have collaborated to form think tanks, political parties, and other projects. For example, Austrian School economist Murray Rothbard co-founded the John Randolph Club, the Center for Libertarian Studies, and the Cato Institute to support an independent libertarian movement, and joined David Nolan in founding the Libertarian Party of the United States in 1971. (Rothbard ceased activity with the Libertarian Party in 1989, and some of his followers like Lew Rockwell are hostile to the group.) In the U.S. today, some libertarians support the Libertarian Party, some support no party, and some attempt to work within the Republican Party. The Republican Liberty Caucus (a wing of the Republican Party) promotes libertarian views.

Costa Rica's Movimiento Libertario (Libertarian Movement) is a prominent, non-U.S. libertarian party which holds roughly 10% of the seats in Costa Rica's national assembly (legislature). The Movimiento Libertario is considered the first libertarian organization to achieve substantial electoral success at the national level, though not without controversy. For example, Rigoberto Stewart, co-founder of the party and founder of the Limón REAL Project for autonomy in a province in Costa Rica, and director of INLAP, a libertarian think tank, lost his influence within Movimiento Libertario and support for the Limón REAL Project.

Liberté chérie (Cherished Liberty) in France is a pro-liberty think tank and activist association formed in 2003. Liberté chérie gained significant publicity when it managed to draw 30,000 Parisians into the streets to demonstrate against government employees who were striking.

In the United Kingdom, the Libertarian Alliance was founded in 1977 as a non-partisan libertarian group and free market think tanks such as the Adam Smith Institute have espoused libertarian principles.

In Germany a Libertäre Plattform in der FDP (Liberty Caucus within the Free Democratic Party) was founded in 2005.

In 2001, the Free State Project was founded by Jason Sorens, a political scientist and libertarian activist who argued that 20,000 libertarians should migrate to a single U.S. state in order to concentrate their activism. In August 2003, the membership of the Free State Project chose New Hampshire because of its friendliness to libertarian causes (note the state motto: Live Free or Die), limited government, citizen legislature (paid only $100 per year) and history of political activism. Despite the lower than expected rate of growth, the Free State Project has seen moderate success. They saw their first member elected to the New Hampshire legislature in 2006 and successfully completed the "First 1000" pledge in 2005, which signed up 1,033 people to move to New Hampshire by 2008. Some of the original Free Staters (about 1,000) were discontented with the choice of New Hampshire. Some have started rival projects, including the Free West Alliance, Free State Wyoming and North to the Future, a project for a Free Alaskan Nation, to concentrate activism in a different state or region. There is also a European Free State Project.

Right-libertarian politics

The main organized expression of libertarian politics in the United States has been the Libertarian Party since its founding. However, some libertarians have decided it is more effective to disseminate their ideas through think tanks like the Cato Institute.

In the United Kingdom, a similar Libertarian Party was founded on January 1st, 2008. Prior to this, the primary British expression of libertarian politics was through the Libertarian Alliance and think tanks such as the Adam Smith Institute.

Libertarianism is often portrayed as right-wing by non-libertarians in the United States. Under the concept of fusionism, it was proposed that American libertarians ally themselves with traditional conservatives, with whom they have historically had more in common than they do with American liberals, particularly with regard to economic and gun control policies. Such an alliance can be seen in uniting of libertarian and conservative lawyers in the Federalist Society. Others however, call for an alliance between libertarians and civil libertarians in the Democratic party. Many describe libertarians as being "conservative" on economic issues and "liberal" on social issues, so they can find allies in both of the two main parties while remaining distinct from both, especially on the use of state power to solve perceived problems, and constitutional compliance.

A historical example of libertarian politics would be discrimination in the workplace. Libertarians could be expected to oppose any laws on this matter because these would infringe on the property rights or freedoms of either the business owner or the just-hired employee. In other words, one should be free to discriminate against others in their personal or business dealings (within the constraints of principal–agency agreements); one should be free to choose where they accept work, or to start one's own business in accordance with their personal beliefs and prejudices; and one should be free to lead a boycott or publicity campaign against businesses with whose policies they disagree.

While the traditional political spectrum is a line, the Nolan chart is a plane, situating libertarianism in a wider gamut of political thought.

In a more current example, conservatives are likely to support a ban on same-sex marriage in the interests of preserving traditional order, while liberals are likely to favor allowing same-sex marriage in the interest of guaranteeing equality under the law. Libertarians are likely to disagree with the notion of government-sanctioned marriage itself. Specifically, they would deny that the government deserves any role in marriage other than enforcing whatever legal contract people choose to enter, and to oppose the various additional rights currently granted to married people (married couples could make the property pool in their own contract).

Instead of a "left–right" spectrum, some libertarians use a two-dimensional space, with Personal Freedom on one axis and Economic Freedom on the other, which is called the Nolan chart. Named after David Nolan, who designed the chart and also founded the United States Libertarian Party, the chart is similar to a sociopolitical test used to place individuals by the Advocates for Self Government. A first approximation of libertarian politics (derived from these charts) is that they agree with liberals on social issues and with conservatives on economic issues. Thus, the traditional linear scale of governmental philosophy could be represented inside the chart stretching from the upper left corner to the lower right, while the degree of state control is represented linearly from the lower left to the upper right.

Libertarians have tended to unite with constitutionalists in calling for strict construction of the U.S. Constitution, which they expect would vastly reduce the size and intrusiveness of government.

Right-libertarianism in the United States

Libertarians may differ over particular issues, such as abortion and the United States' ongoing presence in Iraq. The fact that libertarians are often diametrically opposed on so many issues lead to frequent condemnation of the philosophy by many, including those who hold similar thoughts.

In the United States, John Garcia has argued that libertarianism is the philosophy advocated by Thomas Jefferson and several of the Founding Fathers, while others such as John McGowan have argued that the ideology of the founding fathers is the foundation of modern American liberalism. Libertarianism is often being bundled with American conservatism, due to their common opposition of modern liberal policies that dominated much of the 20^th century. On the other hand, many conservatives are uncomfortable with libertarianism, while a few conservative Republicans, such as United States congressman Ron Paul, maintain viewpoints sympathetic to libertarian philosophy. Furthermore, the fortieth President of the United States, Ronald Reagan said he believed that "the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism." The term "libertarian" is used to describe adherents to libertarian principles, and not necessarily to members of Libertarian political parties, who are distinguished with a capital "L". As in all political parties, not all libertarians agree with the platform of any given Libertarian party. Libertarians who support limited government use the term "classical liberalism" almost interchangeably with the term "libertarianism."

Polls, in 2007, indicate that 10 to 20 percent of voting-age Americans have libertarian views, with "libertarian" being understood as agreeing with conservatives on economic issues and with liberals on personal freedom.

See also

• Americans for Limited Government
• Australian Libertarian Society
• Criticisms of the War on Terrorism
• Criticism of fractional-reserve banking
• Free Talk Live
• International Society for Individual Liberty
• Issues in libertarianism
• Laissez Faire Books
• Liberator Online
• Liberism
• Libertarian Management
• Libertarianz
• Liberty
• Liberty Magazine
• List of libertarian political parties
• Progressive libertarianism
• Right-libertarianism
• Society for Individual Freedom
• South Park Republican
• The Freeman
• List of liberal theorists

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• Kangas, Steve. "Chile: The Laboratory Test". Liberalism Resurgent. Retrieved 2006-07-10.
• LaFollette, Hugh. "Why Libertarianism is Mistaken". In Harwood, Sterling (ed.) (ed.). Business as Ethical and Business as Usual. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. pp. 58–66. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help)
• Lester, J.C. (2000). Escape from Leviathan: Liberty, Welfare and Anarchy Reconciled. Basingstoke, UK/New York, USA: Macmillan/St Martin's Press.
• Lester, J.C. (2003). "What's Wrong with "What's Wrong with Libertarianism": A reply to Jeffrey Friedman" (PDF). Liberty (August).
• Levy, Jacob (March 19 2003). "Self-Criticism". The Volokh Conspiracy. Retrieved 2006-07-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Machan, Tibor R. "Revisiting Anarchism and Government". Retrieved 2006-07-10.
• Madison, James (November 22 1787). "The Federalist No. 10: The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection (continued)". Daily Advertiser. Retrieved 2006-07-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Mill, John Stuart (1869). "Introduction". On Liberty. London, UK: Longman, Roberts & Green.
• Nelson, Quee. "Quotations Concerning Libertarianism (Often Called Classical Liberalism)". In Harwood, Sterling (ed.) (ed.). Business as Ethical and Business as Usual. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. p. 67. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help)
• Nettlau, Max (2000). A Short History of Anarchism. p. 75.
• Partridge, Ernest (2004). "With Liberty and Justice for Some". In Michael Zimmerman, Baird Callicott, Karen Warren, Irene Klaver, John Clark (eds.) (ed.). Environmental Philosophy. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |editor= has generic name (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
• Rand, Ayn. "Ayn Rand’s Q&A on Libertarians", from a 1971 interview.
• Rockwell, Lew (December 1998). "Friedman v. Rockwell". Chronicles. Retrieved 2006-07-10. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Sanchez, Julian (August 12 2003). "The Other Guevara". Reason. Retrieved 2006-07-10. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Yglesias, Matthew (April 15 2005). "Health is Forever". Retrieved 2006-07-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Young, Cathy (March 2005). "Ayn Rand at 100". Reason. Retrieved 2006-07-10.
• Zwolinski, Matt (December 2007). "Libertarianism". The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
• "The World's Smallest Political Quiz". Advocates for Self Government. Retrieved 2006-07-10.
• "The Capitalism Tour". Capitalism Magazine. Retrieved 2006-07-10.
• "Russell Means—Libertarian". Advocates for Self Government. Retrieved 2006-07-10.

External links

• Libertarian wiki
• "What is Libertarian?" by the Institute for Humane Studies, George Mason University
• Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/libertarianism/. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
• Libertarianism entry at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Libertarianism.com by the Advocates for Self-Government
• Libertarian FAQ from USENET, last modified 11 May 1998
• Society: Politics: Liberalism: Libertarianism at Curlie

• Freedom Fighters, City Journal review of Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement
• "The Philosophy of Liberty" (Flash) at the International Society for Individual Liberty
• "a libertarian Democrat manifesto" by former DNC press secretary Terry Michael, July 2006
• "The Old School Conservatives" A grassroots Libertarian activist group.
• Agents of Liberty A Libertarian Site
• Libertarian Celebrities and VIPs
• Comprehensive Listing of Notable Libertarians
• Critiques from Critiques of Libertarianism.
• Are Libertarians "Anarchists"? - Article by Murray N. Rothbard
• Liberalati Magazine
• LibertyGator - Libertarian Social News Aggregate
• Michigan LP makes history

Political parties and organizations

• Libertarian National Committee / Libertarian Party (U.S.)
• Democratic Freedom Caucus (U.S.)
• Republican Liberty Caucus (U.S.)
• ASP | Libertarian News A libertarian journal/newspaper
• Australian Libertarian Society
• Libertarianz - The New Zealand Party of Principle
• The Libertarian Alliance (UK)
• The UK Libertarian Party
• Association of Libertarian Feminists