Close. The only real purpose of a government it to protect the equal Rights of it's citizens. Huge distinction as the Rats, and to a minimally lesser extent GOP'ers, are currently expanding govt power to encompass all kinds of areas that govt should never extend into. Like smoking, fats, seat belts, healthcare... All in the name of protecting us from ourselves.
That way lies tyranny.
2) An individual's freedom to act is absolute up until the point where it infringes on the freedoms of another.
Non-initiation of force, fraud, theft. If you harm yourself, there is no crime. Without a million and one socialist policies in place, there would be no "collective" cost for any self destructive individual behavior. In fact, the faster these "weak" elements of society kill themselves off, the better off the rest of us will be.
Objectivism, the core of libertarian philosophy, can be used to prop up 99.9% of the "individual Rights, personal responsibility" views of the Founders. Where things gather friction with modern "conservatism" is where the political Right's Nanny State tendencies take over in regards to religion and "vice" crimes. On the Left, the friction comes from their socialist doctrine of collectivism and "social justice".
For the most part, objectivism works. I've seen very few areas where it doesn't. However, you do have to adjust your thinking to disregard the "icky" things your neighbor may be getting up to. This is something a surprising number of people refuse to do. They WANT some government force to step in and keep the perv next door from looking at porn, or driving an SUV, or owning too many motorcycles, or smoking a pipe with cherry cavendish on their back porch, or eating meat, or carrying a gun, or...
You get the idea.
> Objectivism, the core of libertarian philosophy, can be used to prop up 99.9% of the "individual Rights, personal responsibility" views of the Founders. Where things gather friction with modern "conservatism" is where the political Right's Nanny State tendencies take over in regards to religion and "vice" crimes. On the Left, the friction comes from their socialist doctrine of collectivism and "social justice".
Precisely.
> However, you do have to adjust your thinking to disregard the "icky" things your neighbor may be getting up to.
Again, exactly correct. That's one reason I live in a rural area. My (relatively few) neighbors and I all get along because we: a) don't go out of our way to piss each other off, and b) ignore all the small sh!t. And if we want to get along, it's pretty much all small sh!t.