Good faith question for libertarians

Posted by VaguePredictions@reddit | Libertarian | View on Reddit | 65 comments

I’m genuinely trying to understand how libertarian philosophy reconciles its deep commitment to property rights and individual liberty with the historical reality that, in the U.S., much of that property was acquired through violence and displacement of Indigenous peoples.

If liberty and property are the moral foundations of a just society, how do we ethically ground those concepts when the original acquisition was coercive and unjust?

Does libertarian thought address this contradiction — for instance, by advocating for restitution, voluntary reparations, or some redefinition of “legitimate ownership”?

I’m asking in good faith because I find liberty as a concept compelling, but it seems incomplete (or even hypocritical) if it rests on foundations that were never justly obtained.