Why you might be already be a Libertarian

The Prometheus Institute ^ | 10/4/2006 | Editorial

[tang0r]

The libertarian ideology is one of the most misunderstood in American politics. Many citizens don't have any idea what it is. Most of them who do - liberal and conservative - aver that libertarianism is nothing but a worthless form of crypto-anarchy. The author of one recently popular anti-libertarian article, titled with brevity "Why I Am Not a Libertarian," argues that libertarians want to privatize everything, and that since privatization of such things like the Pennekamp Coral Reef in Key Largo would destroy the cute fish and their natural habitat there, libertarianism is not for him. He also alleges that to be libertarian is to support abolishing welfare in favor of ruthless Social Darwinism, and since he doesn't like the idea of handicapped people being tossed in the street, so he rejects that axiom of "libertarianism" as well.  

[xrp]

OH, BUT ALL YOU LIBERTARIANS WANT TO DO IS SMOKE POT, MAKE DRUGS LEGAL AND NO BORDERS!

[xrp]

Oh yeah, /sarcasm

;-)

[wagglebee]

Just curious, is Free Republic a conservative or a libertarian forum?

[RebelBanker]

Around here, the impression I get is that the libertarians' major concern is believed to be legalizing drugs.

[rhombus]

Just curious, is Free Republic a conservative or a libertarian forum?

It is described on its homepage as a conservative site.

[rhombus]

Around here, the impression I get is that the libertarians' major concern is believed to be legalizing drugs.

I think it appears that way because that is one major issue where there is a big difference of opinoin "around here".

[bmwcyle]

Libertarians the other liberal meat.

[lormand]

"Just curious, is Free Republic a conservative or a libertarian forum?"

It is a solidly conservative forum, with sprinkles of ideologically confused individuals who are unjustifiably squeamish about calling themselves Conservatives.

[meandog]

I resemble this fact!

[antiRepublicrat]

Around here, the impression I get is that the libertarians' major concern is believed to be legalizing drugs.

Take a conservative and shore up his belief in restrictions on government power and meddling in the affairs of the people. Naturally following these principles, remove his belief that social conservatism should be enforced by the government

[Fan of Fiat]

Well said.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Libertarians the other liberal meat.

Yawn.

[Beagle8U]

Libertarian.....Armed liberal that doesn't want to pay taxes.

[King of Florida]

Yeah, that about sums it up. Small-government conservatism is another shorthand.

There are a handful of "conservatives" around here who are anything but "small-government conservatives." *cough*nannystaters*cough*

[Blackirish]

Just curious, is Free Republic a conservative or a libertarian forum?

---

Just curious when did so called conservatives become backers of big government ?

[Protagoras]

Since most of the people here cannot agree on what a conservative is, it's hard to say.

Huge numbers of freepers embrace big government and social programs and advocate liberal nonsense. They too call themselves conservatives.

To many, conservatism means embracing Republicans, no matter what.

I would debate that it is a conservative site despite what the founder desires it to be.

[bmwcyle]

The Freeper did not. It was Congress. How many Congress critters do you see here? You so called Libertarians are still on a Conservative site. Why does you fund your own site?

Libertarians, the keyboard commandos. All typing and not action.

[nosofar]

It always seemed to me to be two kinds of Libertarianism. One is what I refer to as radical libertarianism or radical individualism summed up in the phrase "You can do anything you want as long as you don't hurt someone." The crux is the definition of 'hurt'. Usually the such people refer solely to physical or financial harm, those things that can be seen and measured. They are unwilling to accept that a person can be harmed emotionally or spiritually. They are unwilling to place any value whatsoever on culture or society, unwilling to acknowledge the social dimension of people, unwilling to acknowledge that harm to a person's culture harms the person. This leads to narcissism and hedonism (just to throw a couple of -isms out there) as people are forced to withdraw from society. We lose the small community and become conglomerations of individuals. For a view for hte more traditional libertarianism (actually classic liberalism as it used to be defined by Jefferson, Locke, et.al.), I'd read Hayek's "The Constitution of Liberty".

Admittedly there are those conservatives that believe in big government forcing their agenda on the populace just as there are liberals who believe the same thing. There may be justification in this view, too, but personally I don't accept it. I'd still prefer smaller central government with more autonomous local government controlled by people at the local level. People must also have the liberty to be governed the way the choose instead of a one-size-fits-all government imposed on them.

[Dracian]

It's a mixed bag here. There are lots of "conservatives" who want the state to enforce a fundamentalist Christian lifestyle. That's not really the "conservatism" of the founders of this republic who wanted a seperation of church and state.

Limited government used to be the defining characteristic of the conservatives. But very few modern conservatives are trying to limit government -- rather they are trying to redirect government and grow it in other areas that suit their lifestyles.

Libertarians are well hated by both big government conservatives and liberals, since libertarians are consistenly for limited governments.