What is a libertarian?
Libertarians use phrases to describe our views like the right to "life, liberty and property," and "you have the right to do anything you want as long as you don't infringe on other's right to do the same. They are accurate. To boil it down, libertarians as a political term, want to minimize government to the size where our liberty is maximized.
Where government does not belong is easy. Arrangements like jobs between private citizens. Forced confiscation and redistribution of wealth. Foreign aid. Military involvement to force political solutions in other countries. Government mandates to employers, health insurers and providers, ... For those types of things, voluntary choices are far more effective and it maximizes liberty to ban government from doing them.
To maximize liberty, government should perform only those functions which can only be effectively done by government because there must be an encompassing solution involving everyone or it doesn't work. No one who doesn't honor a contract or commits a crime is going to subject themselves to voluntary court. The same limited resources (land, water, ...) cannot be managed by competing voluntary organizations. They are not marketplace functions because they don't work when people have the choice of opting in or out. Areas government should be involved in include things like police, defense, civil and criminal courts, roads, that sort of thing.
Where libertarians generally come
The majority of libertarians come the path from fiscal conservative Republican who doesn't think government belongs in our bedroom or telling us what to do with our bodies. They are already 3/4 of the way there. I came from that path as well. Then they get the rest of the way there by starting to question things they used to believe made sense.
Three examples for me of the rest of the trip to libertarian were abortion, military "helping" other countries fight tyranny and the war on drugs. As I started to really see government for what it was, I started to see that everything they accomplished on those fronts was bad and the benefits never materialized. I did not change my values, I changed my view of matching reality to the "solution."
Where anarchists generally come
Anarchists follow the same general path, and they traveled through libertarian, which is why they identify with us. The difference is at some point they stopped pursuing limiting government for liberty sake and become ideologues. They just limited government for limiting government's sake, and they became anarchists. There is no logic to their views, which is why they can't answer simple questions.
You're in a field and there is a cliff. But it's dark and rainy and misty and you can't see more than three inches. You sit in fear afraid you'll fall off a cliff. A libertarian decides to feel with their hands. They reach out fearing a cliff, but feel solid ground. That is the solid ground of reason. So they move forward. Then they feel again, and go forward again. They do that until they reach the edge of the cliff. Then not feeling solid ground, they stop.
The anarchist does the same, but when they get to the edge of the cliff, they just say an answer will emerge and go on.
Libertarians use phrases to describe our views like the right to "life, liberty and property," and "you have the right to do anything you want as long as you don't infringe on other's right to do the same. They are accurate. To boil it down, libertarians as a political term, want to minimize government to the size where our liberty is maximized.
Where government does not belong is easy. Arrangements like jobs between private citizens. Forced confiscation and redistribution of wealth. Foreign aid. Military involvement to force political solutions in other countries. Government mandates to employers, health insurers and providers, ... For those types of things, voluntary choices are far more effective and it maximizes liberty to ban government from doing them.
To maximize liberty, government should perform only those functions which can only be effectively done by government because there must be an encompassing solution involving everyone or it doesn't work. No one who doesn't honor a contract or commits a crime is going to subject themselves to voluntary court. The same limited resources (land, water, ...) cannot be managed by competing voluntary organizations. They are not marketplace functions because they don't work when people have the choice of opting in or out. Areas government should be involved in include things like police, defense, civil and criminal courts, roads, that sort of thing.
Where libertarians generally come
The majority of libertarians come the path from fiscal conservative Republican who doesn't think government belongs in our bedroom or telling us what to do with our bodies. They are already 3/4 of the way there. I came from that path as well. Then they get the rest of the way there by starting to question things they used to believe made sense.
Three examples for me of the rest of the trip to libertarian were abortion, military "helping" other countries fight tyranny and the war on drugs. As I started to really see government for what it was, I started to see that everything they accomplished on those fronts was bad and the benefits never materialized. I did not change my values, I changed my view of matching reality to the "solution."
Where anarchists generally come
Anarchists follow the same general path, and they traveled through libertarian, which is why they identify with us. The difference is at some point they stopped pursuing limiting government for liberty sake and become ideologues. They just limited government for limiting government's sake, and they became anarchists. There is no logic to their views, which is why they can't answer simple questions.
You're in a field and there is a cliff. But it's dark and rainy and misty and you can't see more than three inches. You sit in fear afraid you'll fall off a cliff. A libertarian decides to feel with their hands. They reach out fearing a cliff, but feel solid ground. That is the solid ground of reason. So they move forward. Then they feel again, and go forward again. They do that until they reach the edge of the cliff. Then not feeling solid ground, they stop.
The anarchist does the same, but when they get to the edge of the cliff, they just say an answer will emerge and go on.
