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Libertarianism (fromFrench:libertaire,lit. 'libertarian'; or fromLatin:libertas,lit. 'freedom') is apolitical philosophy that holds freedom, personalsovereignty, andliberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with thenon-aggression principle, according to which each individual has the right to live as they choose, as long as they do not violate the rights of others by initiating force or fraud against them.
Libertarianism has been broadly shaped byliberal ideas. Libertarians advocate the expansion of individualautonomy and politicalself-determination, emphasizing the principles ofequality before the law and the protection ofcivil rights, including the rights tofreedom of association,freedom of speech,freedom of thought andfreedom of choice. They generally support individual liberty and opposeauthority,state power,warfare,militarism andnationalism, but some libertarians diverge on the scope and nature of their opposition to existingeconomic andpolitical systems. (Full article...)
Anarcho-capitalism is aright-libertarian andindividualist anarchistpolitical philosophy that advocates the elimination of thestate in favor ofindividual sovereignty in afree market. EconomistMurray Rothbard is credited with coining the term. In an anarcho-capitalist society,law enforcement,courts and all other security services would be provided by voluntarily-funded competitors such asprivate defense agencies rather than throughtaxation andmoney would beprivately and competitively provided in an open market. According to anarcho-capitalists, personal and economic activities would be regulated by thenatural laws of themarket and throughprivate law rather than throughpolitics. Furthermore,victimless crimes andcrimes against the state would not exist.
Anarcho-capitalists argue for a society based on the voluntary trade ofprivate property andservices (including money, consumer goods, land and capital goods) in order to maximize individual liberty and prosperity. However, they also recognizecharity and communal arrangements as part of the same voluntary ethic. Though anarcho-capitalists are known for asserting a right to private property (individualized or joint non-public), some propose that non-state public or community property can also exist in an anarcho-capitalist society. For them, what is important is that it is acquired and transferred without help or hindrance from the compulsory state. Anarcho-capitalists believe that the only just and/or most economically beneficial way to acquire property is through voluntary trade, gift, or labor-basedoriginal appropriation, rather than through aggression or fraud.
Anarcho-capitalists see free marketcapitalism as the basis for a free and prosperous society. Rothbard said that the difference between free-market capitalism and "state capitalism" is the difference between "peaceful, voluntary exchange" and a collusive partnership between business and government that uses coercion to subvert the free market. "Capitalism", as anarcho-capitalists employ the term, is not to be confused withstate monopoly capitalism,crony capitalism,corporatism, or contemporarymixed economies, wherein market incentives and disincentives may be altered by state action. They reject the state based on the belief that states are aggressive entities which steal property (through taxation and expropriation), initiate aggression, are a compulsory monopoly on the use of force, use their coercive powers to benefit some businesses and individuals at the expense of others, create monopolies, restricttrade and restrictpersonal freedoms viadrug laws,compulsory education,conscription, laws on food and morality and the like. The embrace of unfettered capitalism leads to considerable tension between anarcho-capitalists and manysocial anarchists that view capitalism and its market as just another authority.Anti-capitalistanarchists generally consider anarcho-capitalism a contradiction in terms and vice versa.
| “ | Though he expresses aclassical liberal doctrine,Humbdolt is no primitiveindividualist, in the style of, for example,Rousseau. Rousseau extols thesavage who "lives within himself," but Humboldt's vision is entirely different. He sums up his remarks, saying that the whole tenor of the ideas and arguments unfolded in this essay might fairly be reduced to this, that while they would break all fetters in human society, they would attempt to find as many new social bonds as possible. The isolated man is no more able to develop than the one who is fettered. And he in fact looks forward to a community of free association without coercion by thestate or other authoritarian institutions, in which free men can create, inquire, and achieve the highest development of their powers. In fact, far ahead of his time, he presents ananarchist vision that is appropriate perhaps to the next stage ofindustrial society. We can perhaps look forward to a day when these various strands will be brought together within the framework oflibertarian socialism, a social form that barely exists today, though its elements can perhaps be perceived, for example, in the guarantee of individual rights that has achieved so far its fullest realization—though still tragically flawed—in the Western democracies; in the Israelikibbutzim; in the experiments of workers' councils inYugoslavia; in the effort to awaken popular consciousness and create a new involvement in the social process, which is a fundamental element in theThird World revolutions that coexists uneasily with indefensible authoritarian practices. To summarize, the first concept of the state that I want to establish as a point of reference is classical liberalism. Its doctrine is that state functions should be drastically limited. But this familiar characterization is a very superficial one. More deeply, the classical liberal view develops from a certain concept of human nature one that stresses the importance of diversity and free creation, and therefore this view is in fundamental opposition to industrial capitalism with itswage slavery, its alienated labor, and its hierarchic and authoritarian principles of social and economic organization. At least in its ideal form, classical liberal thought is opposed to the concepts of possessive individualism, that are intrinsic to capitalist ideology. For this reason, classical liberal thought seeks to eliminate social fetters and to replace them with social bonds, and not with competitive greed, predatory individualism, and not, of course, withcorporate empires-state or private. Classical libertarian thought seems to me, therefore, to lead directly to libertarian socialism, or anarchism if you like, when combined with an understanding of industrial capitalism. | ” |
| — Noam Chomsky (1928) Government in the Future at the Poetry Center (1970) |
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| Credit: Lance W. Haverkamp |
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Mary J. Ruwart (born October 16, 1949) is an American retired biomedical researcher and alibertarian speaker, writer, and activist. She was a leading candidate for the 2008Libertarian Partypresidential nomination and is the author of the bookHealing Our World. (Full article...)
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