Libertarianism

Libertarianism is a political philosophy that holds that individuals should be allowed complete freedom of action as long as they do not infringe on the freedom of others. This is usually taken by libertarians to mean that no one may initiate coercion, which they define as the use of physical force, the threat of such, or the use of fraud against other individuals or their property; any action that is not affected by the influence of coercion is considered to be "voluntary." Libertarians believe that if individuals do not engage in coercion then they should not be regarded as violating the individual rights of anyone. As a result, they oppose prohibition of victimless crimes.

Libertarians believe that governments should be held to the same moral standards as the individuals of which they are composed. Therefore, they oppose the initiation of force by governments, even if it is supported by a democratic majority. However minarchist libertarians, as opposed to anarcho-capitalist libertarians, recommend taxation as a "necessary evil" as long as no more tax is levied than what is necessary for government to maximize the protection of liberty. To the extent that libertarians advocate any government at all, its functions tend to be limited to functions that they see as protecting civil liberties, private property, and a free market (private economic liberties). Hence, most libertarians favor taxation to fund a police force, a military and courts.

While libertarianism's influence has grown in the past few decades, most libertarians see their ultimate vision for society as far from realized.

Terminology

This usage spread to English, but for the most part, English-speaking anarchists choose to call themselves anarchists, individualist anarchists, or anarcho-syndicalists, (they may subscribe to certain forms of socialism called libertarian socialism). Often, when distinguishing between the different uses of the term, the word libertarian is qualified as in "left-libertarian" or "right-wing libertarian."

A typographical convention

When the L in Libertarian is capitalized, the word refers specifically to a member of a Libertarian Party, as opposed to someone who favors the philosophy of libertarianism. This distinction is important because some libertarians do not align themselves with a Libertarian Party, and may even be members of other parties.

Libertarianism in the political spectrum

Chart turns it to a plane to accommodate libertarians and others.

Many libertarians do not identify themselves as either "right-wing" or "left-wing". In the U.S. some conservatives such as Andrew Sullivan regard themselves as both conservative and libertarian, but other libertarians argue that the two conflict and that libertarianism is really a form of liberalism. One example of this position is Friedrich Hayek's Why I am Not a Conservative.

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 called the Nolan Chart, which is named after David Nolan, who designed the chart and also founded the United States Libertarian Party.

Some of the chart's critics argue that the libertarian definition of "freedom" is flawed because it ignores the effects powerlessness and poverty have on liberty. Others argue that the associated political quiz is biased towards libertarianism or that the chart dismisses nonlibertarian values like cooperation.

Classical liberalism

Libertarians see their origins in the tradition of classical liberalism, and often use the terms interchangeably. The founders of the U.S. were called "liberals" at the time, as they opposed the European restrictions on individual liberty. Thomas Jefferson is credited as saying that "the government that governs best, governs least," which shares a common flavor with libertarianism.

Some argue that the term classical liberalism should be reserved for early liberal thinkers for the sake of clarity and accuracy. They may also argue that there are important differences between many libertarian and classical liberal thinkers. For example, many modern libertarians view the very wealthy as having earned their place, while the classical liberals were often skeptical of the rich, businesses, and corporations, which they saw as aristocratic. Thomas Jefferson in particular was critical of the growth of corporations, which would form an important part of a libertarian society.

Regardless of the term's accuracy, it is widely used by libertarians to describe themselves. Advocacy of free markets, free trade, limited government, and a focus on individual liberty unite the two philosophies.

Libertarian politics and philosophy

Rights and the law

Main articles: libertarian views of rights and ''Libertarian theories of law

Most rights-focused libertarians would argue that the only "rights" that should be established are variants of "the right to be left alone" (also called negative rights). According to Capitalism Magazine's online tour:

Rights are not guarantees to things, but only guarantees to freedom of action (right to liberty)—and a guarantee to the results of those actions (right to property).

The only obligation one's rights impose on others is for them to leave you alone, i.e. free to act within your sphere of rights.

Libertarians often justify property rights on the basis of self-ownership or the right to life; if an individual cannot own the results of his or her work, that person is a slave to others, which violates that person's self-ownership or right to life's products.

Libertarians argue that only individuals have rights—never groups. Thus, the government has no original rights but only those duties with which it has been lawfully entrusted by individual citizens, and majority rule is not considered sufficient justification for government coercion. To the extent that libertarians advocate any system of law, it tends to be common law, which they see as less arbitrary, more consistent, and more adaptable over time. Friedrich Hayek had some of the most developed ideas on what libertarian law would be like, while Richard Epstein, Robert Nozick, and Randy Barnett are three of the most influential modern thinkers in this area.

A popular perception of libertarians is that they would allow pollution of the environment, however, libertarians oppose environmental damage as an act of initiatory coercion. For example, Russell Means, an American Indian activist who competed for the 1988 presidential nomination for the Libertarian Party says: "A libertarian society would not allow anyone to injure others by pollution because it insists on individual responsibility." Critics that are aware of this position do not consider libertarian protection of the environment to be effective (see Environmental criticism, below).

Libertarian economic views

Libertarians believe that the means of production should be privately owned and that economic decisions of businesses and individuals should be made privately rather than by government, hence their support of capitalism and opposition to statism. Thus, according to libertarians, taxation, trade barriers and regulation are at best necessary evils (as they involve coercion and disrupt markets). Libertarians contend that independent, subjective valuations in a free market (supply and demand) are the only sensible means of establishing prices, and that any attempt by a centralized authority to regulate prices will fail or have overall negative consequences (see Austrian school). Economists agree that accurate pricing is an important part of efficient markets, and thus important for maximizing economic utility, but most non-libertarian economists argue that market failures tend to result unless government limits the range of legal business practices or sets prices directly. Libertarians, as supporters of a free market, oppose all collusion between government and business (see crony capitalism).

Because they oppose most or even all taxation, libertarians also oppose most programs funded by taxes, including social welfare. For example, libertarians like those at the Cato Institute have long supported Social Security privatization as a first step to dismantling Social Security. Libertarians may argue that government charity preempts private charity, that redistribution of wealth is theft, and that it provides perverse incentives that keep the poor out of the workforce, where they would not need government aid. Libertarians also argue that economic inequality is a necessary outcome of people's freedom to choose their own actions, which may or may not be profitable, and see equality of outcome as both impossible to maintain without extensive coercion and as undesirable. Libertarians believe government spending and programs should be reduced whenever possible, and that private institutions should replace them. When dismantling government services is impossible, many libertarians prefer market reforms like school vouchers to the status quo.

The libertarian movement

Libertarians and their allies are not a homogenous 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 United States Libertarian Party in 1971 (Rothbard ceased activity with the Libertarian Party in 1985 and some of his followers like Lew Rockwell are very 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 more powerful parties despite their differences. The Republican Liberty Caucus (a wing of the Republican Party) advances libertarian views while Republican Congressman Ron Paul is a life member of the Libertarian Party.

is one of the most successful libertarian political parties in the world.

A prominent non-U.S. libertarian party is Costa Rica's Movimiento Libertario (Libertarian Movement Party), which controls roughly 10% of Costa Rica's national legislature. Movimiento Libertario is considered the first Libertarian organization in history to accomplish substantial electoral success at the national level.

In 2001, the Free State Project was founded by Dr. 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 of 2003, the membership of the Free State Project chose New Hampshire. However, as of 2005, there are concerns over the low rate of growth in signed Free State Project participants. In addition, discontented Free State Project participants, in protest of the choice of New Hampshire, started rival projects including the Free West Alliance to concentrate activism in a different state or region.

For a list of libertarian political parties, think tanks, and other projects, see External Links below.

Disputes among libertarians

Libertarians do not agree on every topic. Although they share a common tradition of thinkers from centuries past to contemporary times, no thinker is considered a common authority whose opinions are universally accepted. Rather, they are generally considered a reference to compare one's opinions and arguments with. Assistant Professor Jacob Levy, writing for the weblog The Volokh Conspiracy, writes that "there hasn't been any one libertarian organization that has the semi-authoritative position that National Review had for a couple of generations of conservatism — or that, say, the Leonard Peikoff group [the Ayn Rand Institute] has among orthodox Objectivists."

Anarcho-capitalists and minarchists

is a symbol of anarcho-capitalism. Many libertarians and Objectivists also use the dollar sign as a symbol.

''Main articles: Minarchism and Anarcho-capitalism

There is no consensus among libertarians about how much government is necessary and whether there is a right to be defended by others. Minarchists believe that the government should be limited exclusively (or almost exclusively) to protecting rights. For them, the legitimate functions of government might include the maintenance of the courts, the police, the military, and perhaps a few other functions (e.g., roads or schools).

Anarcho-capitalists wish to keep the government out of matters of justice and protection, preferring to delegate these issues to private groups. Anarcho-capitalists argue that the minarchist belief that a state monopoly on coercion can be contained within any reasonable limits is unrealistic.

With the exception of a few groups like the anarcho-capitalist writers for LewRockwell.com and those influenced by an orthodox interpretation of Objectivist philosophy, the minarchist/anarcho-capitalist division is generally friendly. Since both minarchists and anarcho-capitalists believe that existing governments are far too intrusive, the two factions seek change in almost exactly the same directions, at least in the short term. Some libertarian philosophers such as Tibor Machan argue that, properly understood, minarchism and anarcho-capitalism are not in contradiction.

Consequences and natural law

While some libertarians do not emphasize the justifications of their beliefs, those that do can be broadly classified into two major categories: those who emphasize individual moral rights and those who believe that political rights are justifiable for practical reasons such as economic efficiency. For those in the former group, such as Robert Nozick, Murray Rothbard, and Hans-Hermann Hoppe, protecting rights is an end in itself. Though she rejects the label "libertarian", Ayn Rand advocated a similar but distinct form of rights-based natural law.

Representatives of the latter group, such as Milton Friedman, instead emphasize arguments that capitalism is the most effective means of promoting social good. This is a more pragmatic, consequentialist line of reasoning. Consequentialist libertarians favor protection of rights not because they consider rights to be sacred, but instead because, in their view, protecting rights produces a society which has good results, such as an increase in wealth, safety, happiness, and fairness.

Some, like Frederic Bastiat see a natural harmony between these two points of view, and do not attempt establish one view as more true than the other.

The role of Objectivism

Main article: Libertarianism and Objectivism

Libertarianism and Objectivism have a complex relationship. Though they share many of the same political goals, Objectivists see libertarians as plagiarists of their ideas "with the teeth pulled out of them", whereas libertarians generally see Objectivists as dogmatic, unrealistic, and uncompromising. According to Reason editor Nick Gillespie in the magazine's March 2005 issue focusing on Objectivism's influence, Ayn Rand is "one of the most important figures in the libertarian movement... A century after her birth and more than a decade after her death, 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 embarassed 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 concede that "Rand was the most successful and widely read popularizer of the ideas of individual liberty and the free market of her day. In the 21st century... Rand’s message of reason and liberty... could be a rallying point" for a less dogmatic political movement with similar goals like libertarianism.

Other controversies among libertarians

These controversies are addressed in separate articles: