Libertarianism

Libertarianism is the advocacy of the maximization of freedom of thought and action. ^[1] Some libertarians support the non-aggression principle which holds that individuals should not "initiate" the use of force against the person or private property of others. Some libertarians support a minimal state (or minarchist) position and others various non-state anarchist views, such as anarcho-capitalism and libertarian socialism.^[2][3][4][5]

Overview

Libertarians exhibit differing approaches in areas such as the treatment of property rights, especially with respect to natural resources, with some libertarians advocating private ownership rights, while others hold that private ownership should be avoided as being inconsistent with the basic principles of libertarianism. Respectively, these groups are broadly distinguished as the right-libertarian and left-libertarian variants of libertarianism.^[6] Minarchists advocate a minimal state, while anarcho-capitalists believe aggression should be countered without the state. Libertarian socialists believe that liberty is best achieved through large-scale decentralization to empower workers, with the result of eliminating both the state and private capitalist organizations, which they view as coercive.^[7]

History

Etymology

The term libertarian in a metaphysical or philosophical sense was first used by late-Enlightenment free-thinkers to refer to those who believed in free will, as opposed to determinism.^[8] The first recorded use was in 1789 by William Belsham in a discussion of free will and in opposition to "necessitarian" (or determinist) views.^[9][10]

The use of the word 'libertarian' to describe a set of political positions can be tracked to the French cognate, "Libertaire", which was coined in 1857 by French anarchist communist Joseph Déjacque who used the term to distinguish his libertarian communist approach from the mutualism advocated by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.^{[11][12][11][13]} Hence the term "libertaire" has been used as a synonym for left wing anarchism or libertarian socialism since the 1890s.^[14]

In the 1950s in the United States many with classical liberal beliefs began to describe themselves as "libertarian."^[15] Academics as well as proponents of the free market perspectives note that free market libertarianism has been successfully propagated beyond the US since the 1970s via think tanks and political parties^[16][17] and that libertarianism is increasingly viewed worldwide as a free market position.^[18][19] However, Libertarian socialists Noam Chomsky, Colin Ward and others say the term is still considered a synonym of anarchism in countries other than the US.^[20][21][22]

The term libertarianism is sometimes used as a synonym for anarchism, with that use being especially common outside the United States,^[23] which some explain this to be the original meaning of the term. Hence, under that definition, "libertarian socialism" is equivalent to "socialist anarchism".^[24][25] The American use of term includes non-anarchist free-market political philosophy.

Philosophical origins and history

Enlightenment ideas of individual liberty, limited government, peace and a free market were part of a growing movement in the 19th century. Peter Kropotkin's The Great French Revolution (1909) asserts that the principles of anarchism had their origin in the directly democratic sections of Paris.^[26] According to the same author's 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica article on anarchism, the economic and, in particular, the mutual banking ideas of Proudhon were applied by supporters in the United States.^[27] The article states 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." Writers he names include John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer, Jean-Marie Guyau, Alfred Jules Émile Fouillée, Multatuli, Richard Wagner, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Lloyd Garrison and Henry David Thoreau.^[28]

Numerous left libertarians or libertarian socialists around the world have labeled themselves as such throughout the 20th century.^[29][30][31] The most significant manifestations at a mass level of libertarian groups opposed to the property principle have been revolutionary socialist workers' movements. Examples repeatedly cited in the literature include the American Industrial Workers of the World, the Makhnovist movement in Ukraine during the Russian revolution of 1917, the CNT and the FAI during the Spanish Civil War, and the Italian autonomist movement. The EZLN movement in Mexico has maintained a significance within Mexican politics since the early 1990s.

Some proponents within the growing movement for more civil liberties also pursued strong private property rights, and this movement came to be referred to as liberalism. While liberalism kept that meaning in most of the world, modern liberalism in the United States began to take a more statist approach to economic regulation.^[32][33] While conservatism in Europe continued to mean conserving hierarchical class structures through state control of society and the economy, some conservatives in the United States began to refer to conserving traditions of liberty. This was especially true of the Old Right, who opposed the New Deal and U.S. military interventions in World War I and World War II.^[34][35]

Those who held to the earlier liberal views began to call themselves market liberals, classic liberals or libertarians to distinguish themselves.^[33] (Some limited government advocates still use the term "libertarianism" almost interchangeably with the term classical liberalism.)^[36][37]

The Austrian School of economics, influenced by Frédéric Bastiat and later by Ludwig von Mises,^[38] also had an impact on both economic teaching and right-libertarian principles.^[39][40] It influenced economists, political philosophers, and theorists including Israel Kirzner and Murray Rothbard.

Ayn Rand's international bestsellers The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957) and her books about her philosophy of Objectivism influenced modern libertarianism.^[41] Two other women also published influential pro-freedom books in 1943, Rose Wilder Lane's The Discovery of Freedom and Isabel Paterson's The God of the Machine.^[42]

Arizona United States Senator Barry Goldwater's libertarian-oriented challenge to authority had a major impact on the libertarian movement,^[43] through his book The Conscience of a Conservative and his run for president in 1964.^[44] Goldwater's speech writer, Karl Hess, became a leading libertarian writer and activist.^[45]

The Vietnam War split the uneasy alliance between growing numbers of self-identified libertarians, anarchist libertarians, and more traditional conservatives who believed in limiting liberty to uphold moral virtues. Libertarians opposed to the war joined the draft resistance and peace movements and organisations such as Students for a Democratic Society. They began founding their own publications, like Murray Rothbard's The Libertarian Forum^[46][47] and organizations like the Radical Libertarian Alliance.^[48]

The split was aggravated at the 1969 Young Americans for Freedom convention, when more than 300 libertarians organized to take control of the organization from conservatives. The burning of a draft card in protest to a conservative proposal against draft resistance sparked physical confrontations among convention attendees, a walkout by a large number of libertarians, the creation of libertarian organizations like the Society for Individual Liberty, and efforts to recruit potential libertarians from conservative organizations.^[49] The split was finalized in 1971 when conservative leader William F. Buckley, Jr., in a 1971 New York Times article, attempted to divorce libertarianism from the freedom movement. He wrote: "The ideological licentiousness that rages through America today makes anarchy attractive to the simple-minded. Even to the ingeniously simple-minded."^[42]

In 1971, David Nolan and a few friends formed the Libertarian Party.^[50] Attracting former Democrats, Republicans and independents, it has run a presidential candidate every election year since 1972. By 2006, polls showed that 15 percent of American voters identified themselves as libertarian.^[51] Over the years, dozens of libertarian political parties have been formed worldwide. Educational organizations like the Center for Libertarian Studies and the Cato Institute were formed in the 1970s, and others have been created since then.^[52]

Philosophical libertarianism gained a significant measure of recognition in academia 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.^[53] According to libertarian essayist Roy Childs, "Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia single-handedly established the legitimacy of libertarianism as a political theory in the world of academia."^[54]

Principles

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy states a strict view of libertarianism "holds that agents initially fully own themselves and have moral powers to acquire property rights in external things under certain conditions," and that "in a looser sense, libertarianism is any view that approximates the strict view."^[55] Also noted is that libertarianism is not a "right-wing" doctrine because of its opposition to laws restricting adult consensual sexual relationships and drug use, and its opposition to imposing religious views or practices and compulsory military service. The Stanford Encyclopedia further describes versions of libertarianism, such as “left-libertarianism” stating that this philosophy also endorses full self-ownership, but "differs on unappropriated natural resources (land, air, water, etc.)." "Right-libertarianism" holds that such resources may be appropriated by individuals while "left-libertarianism" holds that they belong to everyone and must be distributed in some egalitarian manner.^[55]

Also stated is that libertarianism is attractive because "(1) it provides significant moral liberty of action, (2) it provides significant moral protection against interference from others, and (3) it is sensitive to what the past was like (e.g., what agreements were made and what rights violations took place)."^[56] Libertarians generally advocate the maximization of freedom of thought and action with few exceptions. One exception shared by libertarians is that the actions of an individual should not infringe upon the freedom of any other person, a premise believed by many libertarians to be expressed best through the non-aggression principle.

Some minarchists believe a minimal state would be preferable, while more anarchist libertarians hold the belief that society functioning without any recognized government is preferable.^[57] The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes the minimal state as providing only law enforcement, a judicial assembly, and armed forces; also described is the right-libertarian view called anarcho-capitalism which holds that government can be completely abolished because private companies working for profit should provide the court systems, military, and police forces;^[57] alternatively, some of the more anarchist libertarians subscribe to libertarian socialism, which seeks the elimination of government with a view on property rights that differs from anarcho-capitalism.^[7] Some ideals of libertarians exhibit a sharp contrast in the treatment of property rights, especially with respect to natural resources, with some libertarians advocating the grant of strong private ownership rights,^[56] and others holding that private ownership of certain resources allows people to take what is others have ownership of and, thus, should be avoided as being inconsistent with the basic principles of libertarianism.^[7] Broadly, the view of ownership is one key distinction between left-libertarianism and right-libertarianism.

Right-libertarianism is more widely known than left-libertarianism.^[58] Though called "right-libertarians," there may be difficulty in placing the philosophy onto the conventional left/right political spectrum as right-libertarians may show strong support for traditionally left-wing issues, such as broad freedom from search and seizure, freedom of the press, and other civil liberties. Consequently some libertarians reject being described as "left" or "right."^[59]

According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

Libertarians are committed to the belief that individuals, and not states or groups of any other kind, are both ontologically and normatively primary; that individuals have rights against certain kinds of forcible interference on the part of others; that liberty, understood as non-interference, is the only thing that can be legitimately demanded of others as a matter of legal or political right; that robust property rights and the economic liberty that follows from their consistent recognition are of central importance in respecting individual liberty; that social order is not at odds with but develops out of individual liberty; that the only proper use of coercion is defensive or to rectify an error; that governments are bound by essentially the same moral principles as individuals; and that most existing and historical governments have acted improperly insofar as they have utilized coercion for plunder, aggression, redistribution, and other purposes beyond the protection of individual liberty.^[60]

The Nolan chart, used by some pro-property libertarians, expands upon the traditional "right-left" spectrum.

All schools of libertarianism support strong personal rights to life and liberty, though there is disagreement on the subject of private property. One relatively popular formulation of libertarianism supports free market capitalism^[58] by advocating a right to private property, including property in the means of production,^[61] minimal government regulation of that property, minimal taxation, and rejection of the welfare state, all within the context of the rule of law.^[62][63][64] Some pro-property libertarians are anarchists who call for the elimination of the state.^[65]

A number of countries have libertarian parties that run candidates for political office. The US Libertarian Party supports a right-libertarian platform; a form of right-libertarianism aligned with libertarian conservatism is dominant among the schools of libertarianism in the US. In Europe, scholars have studied "the 'family' of left-libertarian movements in...France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland";^[66] the Danish Socialist People's Party is one of the political parties considered to be left-libertarian.^[67]

Isaiah Berlin's 1958 essay "Two Concepts of Liberty" describes a difference between negative liberty, which limits the power of the state to interfere, and positive liberty, in which a paternalistic state helps individuals achieve self-realization and self-determination. He believed these were rival and incompatible interpretations of liberty, and held that demands for positive liberty lead to authoritarianism.^[68]

Libertarians contrast two ethical views: consequentialist libertarianism, which is support for a large degree of "liberty" because it leads to favorable consequences, such as prosperity or efficiency and deontological libertarianism (also known as "rights-theorist libertarianism," "natural rights libertarianism," or "libertarian moralism"), which is a philosophy based on belief in moral self-ownership and opposition to "initiation of force" and fraud. Others combine a hybrid of consequentialist and deontologist thinking.^[69] Another view, contractarian libertarianism, holds that any legitimate authority of government derives not from the consent of the governed, but from contract or mutual agreement.^[70][71][72]

Libertarians maintain that what is immoral for the individual must necessarily be immoral for all state agents and that the state should not be above the law.^[73][74]

Libertarianism is not a complete moral or aesthetic theory; it is only a political theory, that is, the subset of moral theory that deals with the proper role of violence in social life.^[73] Thus, while libertarianism holds that the state should not, for instance, forcibly prohibit prostitution, it makes no judgments on whether prostitution is an ethical activity; indeed, some libertarians condemn prostitution as immoral. Walter Block writes, "How, then, can we defend the immoral activities of some market actors? This stems from the philosophy of libertarianism, which is limited to analyzing one single problem. It asks, under what conditions is violence justified? And it answers, violence is justified only for purposes of defense, or in response to prior aggression, or in retaliation against it. This means, among other things, that government is not justified in fining, punishing, incarcerating, imposing death penalties on people who act in an immoral manner—as long as they refrain from threatening or initiating physical violence on the persons or property of others."^[75]

Forms of libertarianism

Libertarian views vary with respect to how much state would survive in a libertarian society and how much property should be held privately by individuals and groups.^[76] The following are some of the groups that are included under a broad concept of "libertarianism". For a complete list see List of political ideologies.

Minarchism

Minarchism refers to the belief in a state limited to police forces, courts, and a military. In minarchism, the state neither regulates nor intervenes in personal choices and business practices, except to protect against aggression, breach of contract, and fraud.^[77][78] Both market anarchists and minarchists oppose victimless crimes, the War on Drugs, compulsory education, and conscription at all levels of government.^[78]

However, minarchists often disagree on the level of government centralization. This ranges from the centralist minarchists who support the enforcement of laws at the global or national governments, to the middle-ground minarchists who advocate states' rights or increased autonomy at the state level, and to the decentralist minarchists who think that every city or town should have its own government.

Libertarian conservatism

Libertarian conservatism, also known as conservative libertarianism (and sometimes called right-libertarianism), describes certain political ideologies that attempt to meld libertarian and conservative ideas, often called "fusionism."^[79][80] Anthony Gregory writes that right, or conservative, "libertarianism can refer to any number of varying and at times mutually exclusive political orientations" such as being "interested mainly in 'economic freedoms'"; following the "conservative lifestyle of right-libertarians"; seeking "others to embrace their own conservative lifestyle"; considering big business "as a great victim of the state"; favoring a "strong national defense"; and having "an Old Right opposition to empire."^[81]

Conservatives hold that shared values, morals, standards, and traditions are necessary for social order while libertarians consider individual liberty as the highest value.^[82] Laurence M. Vance writes: "Some libertarians consider libertarianism to be a lifestyle rather than a political philosophy... They apparently don't know the difference between libertarianism and libertinism."^[83] However, Edward Feser emphasizes that libertarianism does not require individuals to reject traditional conservative values.^[79]

Some "libertarian constitutionalists" like U.S. Representative Ron Paul believe liberty can be obtained through proper interpretation of the United States Constitution, something that would not allow federal incursions on the economy and civil liberties.^[84][85] Other libertarians critique constitutionalism for failure of its proponents to check the growth of government power.^[86][87][88]

Left-libertarianism

Left-libertarianism is usually regarded as a doctrine that has an egalitarian view concerning natural resources, holding that it is not legitimate for someone to claim private ownership of such resources to the detriment of others.^{[55][89][90][91]} Most left libertarians support some form of income redistribution on the grounds of a claim by each individual to be entitled to an equal share of natural resources.^[91] Some claim it is standard for left-libertarians to support substantial redistributive welfare programs.^[92] Left libertarianism is defended by contemporary theorists such as Peter Vallentyne, Hillel Steiner and Michael Otsuka.^[90] The term is also sometimes used as a synonym for libertarian socialism.^[93]

The Encyclopedia of Political Theory describes Noam Chomsky as an anti-statist left-libertarian.^[94] Chomsky shares an egalitarian view of resources such as natural capital. Left-Libertarians like Chomsky^[95] promote free association in place of governments and institutions of capitalism [private ownership and control over the means of production].^[7] Chomsky has described this libertarian socialism as an anarchist philosophy.^[7]

Some members of the U.S. libertarian movement, including the late Samuel Edward Konkin,^[96] and such members of the Alliance of the Libertarian Left^[97] as Roderick Long,^[98] and Gary Chartier support property rights and identify themselves with the political left for a variety of reasons. They tend to oppose intellectual property,^[99] war, and state policies they believe cause poverty.^[100]

Anarcho-capitalism

Anarcho-capitalism (also known as “libertarian anarchy”^[101][102] or “market anarchism”^[103] or “free market anarchism”^[104]) is a libertarian^[105][106] and an individualist anarchist^[107] political philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state and the provision of its services through the free market. In an anarcho-capitalist society, law enforcement, courts, and all other security services are provided by voluntarily funded competitors such as private defense agencies rather than through compulsory taxation.^[108] Anarcho-capitalism has been described as a radical form of libertarianism.^[109]

In the early 1990s Murray Rothbard, who coined the term anarcho-capitalism^[110][111], and Lew Rockwell devised a school of thought called "Paleolibertarianism" as a reaction to libertarians in Washington who had become a "market-based" solutions pressure group. It focused on replacing the state with capitalism and private government. However, because "paleolibertarian" later became confused with paleoconservative, Rockwell no longer favours the use of the term.^[112]

Libertarian transhumanism

Libertarian transhumanism asserts that the principle of self-ownership is fundamental to both libertarianism and transhumanism. The philosophy advocates free market individualism as the best vehicle for technological progress and the "right to human enhancement."^[113][114] Some criticize it as utopian, overly reliant on technology or biological fetishism.^{[115][116][117]}

Geolibertarianism

Geolibertarianism is a political movement that strives to reconcile libertarianism and Georgism (or "geoism").^[118][119] The term was coined by Fred Foldvary. 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 simultaneously 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. In agreement with traditional libertarians they advocate "full civil liberties, with no crimes unless there are victims who have been invaded." In the voluntary geolibertarianism described by Foldvary, rent would be collected by private associations with the opportunity to secede from a geocommunity if desired.^[120]

Libertarian political parties

See: Category:Libertarian_parties

The Libertarian Party of the United States was formed in 1972. The Libertarian Party is the third largest^{[121][122][123]} political party in the United States, although much smaller than either of the two major parties, the Democrats and Republicans. It has over 225,000 registered voters nationwide^[124] and has hundreds of party candidates elected or appointed to public office, and has run thousands for office.^[125] The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration across borders, and non-interventionism in foreign policy that respects freedom of trade and travel to all foreign nations and supporting "the right of the people to alter or to abolish" government.^[126]

The Libertarian Party of Canada attempts to bring together various libertarian movements across Canada. Its platform combines left-wing social policies and right-wing economic policies. The Liberal Democratic Party in Australia is a classical liberal and moderately libertarian Australian political party founded in 2001. Australia also has a small Libertarian Party, but it is not registered with the Australian Electoral Commission^[127] Libertarianz is a libertarian political party in New Zealand (hence the suffix -nz) that advocates self-government and limits on the power of the government over the individual.

In Germany, a "Libertäre Plattform in der FDP" ("Liberty Caucus within the Free Democratic Party") was founded in 2005. In Norway, The Progress Party (Norway)^[128] In Italy there is the Nonviolent Radical Party and in the Netherlands the Libertarische Partij. In Greece, the Liberal Alliance Party was founded in 2007. In Malta, Imperium Europa, founded in 2005, is affiliated with the London New Right, and is on the verge of merging with two other minor libertarian parties in the local sphere. The Russian Libertarian Movement (Rossiyskoye Libertarianskoye Dvizhenie, RLD; 2003-2006) was a short-lived political party in the Russian Federation, formed by members of the Institute of Natiology (Moscow), a libertarian think tank.

Costa Rica's Movimiento Libertario (Libertarian Movement) is a libertarian party that holds 9% of the seats in Costa Rica's national assembly. Brazil's Partido Libertários is a nascent libertarian party.^[129]

Other organizations and movements

See also categories: Libertarian think tanks and Libertarian publications

Numerous organizations and movements support a political philosophy which is primarily libertarian. Well-known libertarian organizations in the United States include the Center for Libertarian Studies, the Cato Institute, the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), the International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL) and the Ludwig von Mises Institute. The activist Free State Project, formed in 2001, works to bring 20,000 libertarians to the state of New Hampshire to influence state policy.^[130] Less successful similar projects include the Free West Alliance and Free State Wyoming. There is also a European Free State Project.^[131]

In Latin America Mexico's EZLN (Zapatista Army of National Liberation) is a social movement of indigenous peoples that includes significant libertarian socialist (social anarchist) elements which struggles for communal control of land seized in opposition to large-scale ranching oligarchies.^[132] The Irish Workers Solidarity Movement is notable for its stability, its free newspaper, and its involvement in large scale [[Tax resistance}|tax strikes]].^[133][134] The French Liberté chérie ("Cherished Liberty") is a libertarian think tank and activist association formed in 2003 that drew 30,000 Parisians into the streets to demonstrate against government employees who were striking.^[135][136] The Libertarian Society of Iceland (Frjálshyggjufélagið) is the only active propertarian libertarian organization in Iceland.^[137]

See also

• List of basic libertarianism topics
• List of libertarian organizations
• Social contract theories
• Categories:
  • Libertarianism by country
  • Libertarians by nationality

References

Bibliography

External links

• The Humble Libertarian's Top 100 Libertarian Blogs and Websites is a leading libertarian resource and index of libertarian websites.
• Foundation for Economic Education is one of the oldest libertarian organizations in the United States.
• Ludwig von Mises Institute is a research and educational center for libertarian political philosophy; including the Austrian School of economics and anarcho-capitalism.
• LewRockwell.com is a site hosting libertarian articles, run by Lew Rockwell with the slogan "anti-state, anti-war, pro-market."
• Reason Magazine
• Cato Institute
• Libertarianism.com a non-profit site for Libertarianism.