Libertarianism: Difference between revisions

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'''Libertarianism''' is a [[political philosophy]] advocating that individuals should be free to do whatever they wish with their [[individual rights|person]] or [[property rights|property]], as long as they do not infringe on the same liberty of others. Libertarians hold as a fundamental maxim that all human interaction should be voluntary and consensual. They maintain that the initiation (or threat) of physical force against another [[individual rights|person]] or his [[property rights|property]], or the commission of [[fraud]], is a violation of that principle. Some libertarians regard ''all'' initiation of force as immoral, whereas others support a limited government that engages in the minimum amount of initiatory force (such as minimal taxation and regulation) that they believe necessary to ensure maximum individual freedom. Force is not opposed when used in retaliation for initiatory aggressions such as trespassing or violence. Libertarians favor an ethic of self-responsibility and strongly oppose the [[welfare state]], because they believe ''forcing'' someone to provide aid to others is ethically wrong, ultimately counter-productive, or both.

[[Image:2d_political_spectrum.png|thumb|While the traditional political spectrum is a line, the [[Nolan chart]] turns it to a plane to situate libertarianism in a wider gamut of political thought.]]The related case of discrimination in the workplace is perhaps even more illuminating. Here, liberals would typically support laws to penalize employers for discrimination on a basis unrelated to the ability to do the job, conservatives would typically allow such discrimination, but libertarians could be expected to oppose any laws on this matter because these would infringe on the property rights of both the business owner and the justly-hired employees.  In other words, even if a particular libertarian feels strongly that various groups being discriminated against should have equality, he would say that intervening to establish this equality should not be the role of the government, but that of society. If a business discriminates against you, you are free to work elsewhere, or possibly start your own business which follows your personal belief structure, or lead a boycott or publicity campaign against the business. The libertarian's ability to distinguish between equality and freedom in this instance demonstrates their belief that equality of position is not a necessary condition of freedom, especially the freedom to enter into agreements in an un-coerced manner.  By endorsing such things as the freedom to discriminate, libertarianism supports freedom of association which is the foundation of human rights.

== The libertarian movement ==

Some, such as [[David Boaz]], executive vice president of the libertarian U.S think tank, the [[Cato Institute]], argue that the term ''classical liberalism'' should be reserved for early liberal thinkers for the sake of clarity and accuracy, and because of differences between many libertarian and classical liberal thinkers. Nevertheless, the Cato Institute's official stance is that classical liberalism and libertarianism are synonymous; they prefer the term "liberal" to describe themselves, but choose not to use it because of its confusing connotation in some English-speaking countries (most self-described liberals prefer a [[mixed economy]] rather than a free market economy). The Cato Institute dislikes adding "classical" because, in their view, "the word 'classical' connotes a backward-looking philosophy". Thus, they finally settle on "libertarian", as it avoids backward implications and confused definitions.

[[Image:Movimiento Libertario Logo.gif|left|frame|The [[Movimiento Libertario]] is one of the most successful libertarian political parties in the world.]][[Costa Rica]]'s [[Movimiento Libertario]] (Libertarian Movement) is a prominent, non-U.S. libertarian party which holds roughly 10% of the seats in Costa Rica's national assembly (legislature). The Movimiento Libertario is considered the first libertarian organization to achieve substantial electoral success at the national level, though not without controversy. For example, Rigoberto Stewart, co-founder of the party and founder of "The Limón REAL Project" [http://www.limonreal.com] for autonomy in a province in Costa Rica, and director of INLAP[http://www.inlap.org/en/], a libertarian think tank, lost his influence within Movimiento Libertario and support for "The Limón REAL Project". As perhaps explained by [[Public Choice Theory]], while accepting money from the [[Friedrich Naumann Foundation]], a [[Germany|German]] liberal foundation, the party compromised on their libertarian principles in return for more power, turning to anti-libertarian positions. [http://www.sunnimaravillosa.com/archives/00000384.html]