Posted on 07/13/2022 11:49:38 AM PDT by libertasbella
Can libertarians be of the Left?
Many would laugh at such a question. After all, libertarianism tends to be a fervently pro-free market ideology. But all ideologies have their shades of grey. With libertarianism being no exception to the trend.
The left libertarian tradition is one that champions equality and social justice under the framework of a free-market economy. The leftist libertarian political economy stresses a separation of economy and state while championing mutual ownership of resources in a voluntary manner.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.libertasbella.com ...
A strong skepticism of the prevailing mixed economy defines what is a left libertarian.
Their beliefs on ownership are particularly nuanced. Natural resources such as land, oil, and trees can be subject to collective ownership. While left libertarians respect private property more than most of the prominent forces on the left, they do not fully eschew collective forms of property ownership.
Voluntary co-operatives, communes, and other worker-driven arrangements can be used to empower workers and allow them to enjoy material benefits without having to face capitalist exploitation.
Going back to natural resources, individuals in a leftist libertarian order can still use the aforementioned commonly-owned goods. But there’s a catch: The use of such resources can only occur after society grants these individuals permission. In order to gain permission, individuals must make a payment to society at large.
The Intellectual Basis for Left Libertarian Economic Thought
Such logic is inspired by the thought of 19th century economist Henry George, who pushed for a land tax. George’s views on property rights were somewhat unique by United States standards, which tended to be more rooted in classical liberalism or free-market conservatism. In contrast, George saw land as a commonly-held resource and could not be held exclusively by an individual.
This conception of land ownership stood in contrast to the views of John Locke, who believed that land could be privately owned and homesteaded by individuals. Lockean views of private property tend to be more prevalent among Republicans, right-wing libertarians, and other classical liberal adjacent movements.
The Overlap and Differences Between Leftist Libertarians and Anti-Property Movements
Left-wing libertarians have a lot in common with collectivist and Marxist views on private property, at least in a conceptual sense. Although the similarities have limits. Advocates of collectivism on the authoritarian left are more likely to use state power to achieve their ends at the expense of individual freedom.
At the end of the day, left libertarians come in all shapes. They don’t generally dismiss the insights of Marxism and incorporate some of the anti-property beliefs of the renowned left anarchist thinker Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.
Proudhon is widely viewed as the father of the political philosophy of anarchism and is famous for his quip “property is theft.”
Like libertarian socialists, the libertarians of the left go beyond concepts of self-ownership and stress the need for voluntary institutions that close inequality gaps. Left-wing libertarians sympathize with economic redistribution of resources, albeit in a voluntary manner to correct disparities in inequality.
American philosopher Gary Chartier is a prominent anarchist who blends certain facets of libertarian thought with an anarchist agenda to create a stateless society. Chartier’s brand of anarchism doesn’t take a statist approach to addressing the question of allocating resources, but his vision for a stateless society remains rather unique.
And you want to waste space on this because...?
Because it’s good to understand your enemy?
Social justice and equality are opposites. If a person struggles with that basic reality, then they have other problems that make logic and empirical evidence irrelevant.
Libertarianism is intrinsically Leftist, since it denies human nature and the historical record of all human civilizations since the beginning of time.
Just look at their party platform, it is far left.
Social justice = anti white racism.
Putting libertarian lipstick on the pig still makes it a pig.
“equality and social justice under the framework of a free-market economy”
Mutually exclusive. It takes force.
It’s more than anti white, it’s anti merit. Which means it’s anti human.
How can one square letting people live their lives as they wish with commandeering their time for your personal benefit and being willing to kill them if they do not submit and all their time and resources for your personal benefit while you are not obligated to reciprocate in any way shape or form?
“Can libertarians be of the Left?”
It depends. Will the drag queens read Marx or Hayek to the children while grooming them? Of course, the children have consented.
No. The very suggestion of it is goofy.
Libertarianism does NOT tend to be a fervently pro-free market ideology.
Libertarianism is fervently pro-Individual.
I think you have your "isms" confused.
Libertarian: "an advocate or supporter of a political philosophy that advocates only minimal state intervention in the free market and the private lives of citizens."
Libertarians advocate personal liberty, freedom, and responsibility. And government interference decreases personal liberty, by definition.
(Not to be confused with the American Libertarian Party, which is pretty much a mess.)
Libertarian leftists are LINOs.
In my experience most libertarians tend to vote conservative if their is no libertarian candidate. But by all means insult them if you feel the need. Push them into the other camp. Good job.
are they the bunch living in Colorado where marijuana is legal, or in California with all the other fruits and nuts?
Every Libertarian I ever knew was primarily focused on using marijuana or other “fun” drugs without consequences.
The root, Liberty, refers to the right to act within moral bounds. Another word, License, refers to the right to act without regards to morality. Being a slave to ones' apetite - whether gluttony, sex, alcohol, drugs, or anything else (video games for example) is not freedom, it is slavery to license. So those "licensarians" are profoundly wrong in thinking they have anything in common with libertarianism. (And I bet if questioned they will come down on the leftist/social side of things most of the time.)
“Because it’s good to understand your enemy?”
That myth is always advanced as the reason we need to pour through all sorts of leftist gobbledygook on FR.
But that doesn’t help us understand our enemy.
All we need to understand about our enemy is that everything they say is a lie. They don’t believe what they say they believe. They don’t stand for what they claim to stand for.
When a Marxist says “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need” - do you think they really believe that or want that? Of course not. They just want us to give up our wealth and our property so they can have it.
All those schools of thought or social movements you were talking about - “Left libertarianism”, etc.. it’s all BS. Marxism is BS. Karl Marx even admitted it. It’s all a construct designed to turn one class against another so they can take advantage of the upheaval..
They just want power over us and everything they say is a lie.
I know people who spent their lives studying Marxism, Progressivism or Socialism, and they will begin their sentences by saying “Marx believed..”, or “Lenin believed…” or “Progressives believe…”
And you know what? As soon as they begin a sentence that way I know they missed the whole point: Those aren’t real philosophies or economic principles - they are cons - and the con men who came up with then certainly don’t believe any of it. It’s all made up. It’s propaganda designed to create social divisions. They want the poor to hate the rich - they want one race to hate the other. They want women to hate men. They want to break up families.
That’s the stuff we need to understand about the enemy - and you won’t find it by reading their own manifestos.
Libertarians are Libertarian.....until they’re not.
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