Thread: What is libertarianism?

What is libertarianism?

What is libertarianism? Is it a political philosophy? Is it an economic philosophy? Is it a religious philosophy? Is it a scientific philosophy? Is it philosophy at all?

After much thought and deliberation I have come to this conclusion and answer to that question. What is libertarianism? Libertarianism is a political philosophy that aims to protect the freedom, liberty, and property of all men through the use of democratic and limited force on both national and international scales.

What is libertarianism? My definition is only a basic description of what libertarianism is, and has probably raised more questions than you had about libertarianism in the first place. I am by no means qualified to answer them, but hopefully I can explain my own definition of libertarianism.

A Political Philosophy

“Libertarianism is a political philosophy…”

What do I mean when I call libertarianism a political philosophy? I mean that it only applies the politics, the science of government. It is not an economic philosophy, as it does not aim to promote a certain economic philosophy, only a free market. In this free market society is free to change its economic philosophy depending on the circumstances. It also allows individuals or groups to choose to live under their own unique economic philosophy, as they are truly free under libertarianism.

It is not a religious philosophy, and if anything encourages freedom of religion and the separation of religion and state. The promotion of a certain religious doctrine by a political philosophy has rarely if ever led to prosperity of peace. The separation of religion and state benefits both religion and state, while creating a nation of peace and security.

It is not a scientific philosophy whatsoever, and has very little in common with basic science. It is also most definitely philosophy though, and has been an issue, under other names, that has been grappled with by famous philosophers and thinkers for millennia.

Freedom, Liberty, and Property

“…that aims to protect the freedom, liberty, and property of all men…”

Freedom and liberty are interconnected, and are both very similar. It should be the pursuit of all rational men to protect these rights, yet we see this is not the case. Freedom and liberty should not only extend in matter of speech and religion but also to matter of economics and property. You are not free if you pay taxes when you do not wish to, you are not free when you are forced to pay property taxes, you are not free when the government can search your property or seize it with no apparent reason. Freedom and liberty should, and will, extend to all matters of life, from speech and religion to economics and property.

This leads to the third item of protection, your property. Everything that a man works for or is given naturally is his property. Anything that you earn by the work of your hands is your property. Anything that you receive in a trade or purchase is your property. Anything given to you through charity is your property. Last but not least, anything you are born with is your property. Even items such as your life are your property, you own them, they are yours, and should not be taken away by any other man. No man or group of men has the right to take any property whatsoever from another man or group of men unless as due punishment for committing a similar act.

Democratic and Limited Force

“…through the use of democratic and limited force…”

All men will eventually unite themselves into larger units or corporations for reasons of trade and protection. Therefore any party that joins this unit or corporation or born into it is bound by it. This unit or corporation is the government, and reserves the right to use force (granted democratically) in a limited style in order to protect these three rights. But like I said before it does not have the right to infringe on these three rights itself without due cause. Due cause should be determined by a democratic and limited judicial system and armed force with the authority of the people and the power to protect these three rights.

National and International

“…on both national and international scales.”

Finally the last, although not least, piece of my definition of libertarianism. The government is given the right to protect these three rights of all men through the use of force on both national and international scales. All men are naturally allowed to defend themselves, and unify and give this right through democracy to the government.

On a national scale this force would consist of warnings or the use of physical force by the judicial branch of government. On an international scale this force would consist of diplomacy through ambassadors. In the worst case scenario and military could be assembled to protect these three rights. The military is not to be used as a tool of authoritarianism and tyranny.

Conclusion

This is by no means an in-depth review or definition of libertarianism, but rather the basic view of a beginner in politics and libertarianism itself. I truly believe that we are all created free that and the only job of the government is to protect those three rights through national self-defense that could be a fourth right? That has just raised another question, I don’t think that this definition is final by any means! Nor is this article as correct or accurate as it could be, but I did my best.

Yes you may use my article.