Libertarians
Posted by anxiousme1234@reddit | Libertarian | View on Reddit | 20 comments
Aren’t they just people who know things are fucked up but don’t want to give up their vices? Or am i wrong?
Im being blunt because that’s all I know about you guys. Could you explain your political views better to me? I’m neither republican or democrat and I’m very curious if this is the party i should belong to.
Thanks in advance, no disrespect meant. I just want to understand if your party has more to it than what ive been told.
Thanks for reading and I’m looking forward to your replies. 🙂
ticketmaster9@reddit
Libertarianism stems from Aristotelianism in that it is impermissible to be an aggressor unto man, as the very nature of man requires free (non-coercive) action and thusly that society needs to be built to accommodate that (anarcho-capitalism).
MaximumInspection589@reddit
Thanks for mentioning the non aggression principle (NAP). It's great to start any discussion of classical liberalism with the NAP!
librarian1001@reddit
The driving force behind libertarianism is essentially “the government fucks everything up.” We see evidence of this everywhere. War crimes, economic failure, human rights violations, economic stratification, and plenty of other issues can often be traced back to government.
Libertarians, seeing this, have decided that the obvious solution is to reduce the government’s power.
Here are the two main libertarian factions:
Minarchists/Classical Liberals - want to reduce the government to be as small as possible while still fulfilling its main purpose. The government will be responsible for military, police, firefighting, and certain social services. The government will not impose economic restrictions or other regulations on consensual activities.
Anarchists - want to completely eliminate the government. They believe that the military, police, firefighting, and other social services can be handled by private businesses. This would allow people to choose between multiple different providers rather than being forced into a single one.
Not the most charitable description. I assume you are talking about gun rights?
Libertarians support gun rights for a number of reasons. First of all, guns allow a person to be self-sufficient from the government. If someone breaks into your house, the police are minutes away. Your gun is only seconds away. Second, it allows people to resist against the government. If you’re familiar with the American Revolution, this is why the second amendment exists. Governments very often act in predatory ways. This necessitates the citizenry having a way to resist government oppression.
anxiousme1234@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the great explanation! I understand it more now and I find myself agreeing with Minarchists/classic liberals. This is very interesting and makes me really think about becoming a libertarian. I really appreciate you taking the time to explain it to me, because I was very ignorant of these facts before.
I was not necessarily talking about gun rights, btw. I fully support the second amendment and think most of not all gun laws violate the second amendment. I was referring more to illegal drugs. Which I believe should be legal, similar to alcohol.
Thanks again, like i said i had no clue about it before but i really appreciate the education. 🙂
7in7turtles@reddit
lol can I just say thank you for not being a dick? So many people come here and sarcastically ask why libertarians are so fucked up. Nice to see someone who’s just curious.
laughsitup2021@reddit
I will take it a step further in the classical liberalism context. The purpose of governments is to protect the liberty of the people they govern. I had made a post outlining my beliefs here:
sanguinerebel@reddit
There are lots of libertarians who are morally against doing drugs and don't do drugs themselves who still don't think the state should penalize people who do them. The drug war has been a catastrophic failure, like pretty much everything the state gets it's hands on. Basically libertarians believe that your bodily autonomy is a right, and so you have a right to destroy yourself if you want to. My body, my choice, to a much broader degree than what neoliberals believe.
There is a good amount that do drugs, and there are a lot of different reasonings. Some are self-medicating and managing to do it responsibly without too much risk involved. Some are just having fun and don't care it's harmful. Some do particular drugs they believe to be relatively safe, like just cannabis for example.
Unlike the main two political parties, you will find we are far from a hive mind. We have all sorts of different morals and personalities, and just share a core set of principles. While we get labeled as selfish a lot by outsiders because we prioritize the individual, turns out we aren't selfish at all when it comes to standing up for the rights of others, even if the particular topic isn't something that effects us personally. You have non-drug users supporting the rights of drug users, people who don't partake in anything to do with prostitution supporting others' rights to partake in that, and many more examples that aren't nearly as edgy.
librarian1001@reddit
Welcome to the cause. Definitely look into anarchism, especially anarcho-capitalism. It’s not as crazy as it sounds.
History_gigachad@reddit
This is a very good explanation
pazuzusoze@reddit
I want to take care of me and mine and not you. My taxes should go to infrastructure and protection not any form of welfare. I should be able to live however I want as long as it doesn't negatively affect you. You should be able to live however you want as long as it doesn't negatively affect me.
That's what my version is.
BallsMahoganey@reddit
What has any major party shown to make you think they could remotely even begin to "fix" things?
PrincessSolo@reddit
The simplest definition is Libertarians utmost value is freedom for ourselves as well as those with whom we disagree. The other 2 big parties lobby endlessly for more and more government to force their own values onto their opposition.
Libertarianism is a principled approach to governing that has nothing to do with our own personal views or lifestyles. We are able to have personal opinions on any issue and simultaneously believe the government should not be involved - because of this people often (esp reddit lol) try to gotcha us as inconsistent but that is a misunderstanding of our core philosophy.
Artistic-Leg-847@reddit
Libertarianism is the most humble of positions since it asserts that we, as individuals, do not know what is best for other people. Most of the times we do not even know what is best for ourselves! How then can we, with moral self-righteousness, proceed to use the guns of “government” to attempt to force our neighbor to live the way we think he/she ought to live? This is hubris of the highest order! Libertarians embody true humility since they advocate for the complete self-ownership and property rights of every individual without exception! If it is immoral and criminal for me to commit a particular act as an individual, then it is immoral and criminal for any number of people to do the same act regardless of what they call themselves. Acting under the banner of “government” does not allow for exemptions of the universal laws of morality. There are no exemptions because we are all imperfect human beings! “Government” claims exemption from the laws of economics, morality, and mathematics. See politicians for what they are, liars, killers, and thieves who force you to pay them by threat of punishment. There is nothing noble or magnanimous about it; rather it is rife with chicanery and deception.
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." - H. L. Mencken
Stldjw@reddit
Google isidewith (I side with), and take the political quiz, it does take some time, but you’ll get your answer.
Also the libertarian party (like all other political parties) has a platform you can read.
mjarthur1977@reddit
Libertarianism is the closest to my personal philosophy, not a perfect match but... because I value personal freedom/liberty above other things such as controlling other people, sending other people's money to foreign causes or a variety of other things we shouldn't be doing. So what does it not match? Well after liberty taking care of others should be our priority-ideally thru voluntary giving but since we've been doing legalized theft (taxes) for awhile now let's put them to good use and take care of our own before sending them out of the country or bailing out millionaires from stupid investments
mmelectronic@reddit
I had a Dad he parented pretty hard, I don’t need the government to be my Dad.
If I’m not hurting anybody what should the government care what I do.
dwe3000@reddit
I think some of the confusion comes from the use of the word libertine, which may describe some libertarians, but is not the same concept.
NothingEvening608@reddit
Hey bro✌️
That's a super common take, and it's not totally wrong, but it misses the core idea. For libertarians, wanting to keep your "vices" isn't the foundation of the philosophy—it's a logical consequence. The entire view is built on the Non-Aggression Principle (NAP), which is the idea that it's wrong to INITIATE force or fraud against another person or their property. Since your vices (like drinking, drugs, or gambling) only affect you (your own body and money), prohibiting them requires the government to initiate force against a peaceful person. So, the goal isn't just to keep your vices; the goal is to limit the state to only defending people from true aggression, and stopping you from hurting yourself doesn't qualify.
Beer_Nomads@reddit
No, you got it. We’re all gun toting whoring junkies that just don’t want to give up our vices.
Okay, maybe not exactly, but close. The core tenet of libertarianism (small “l”, don’t particularly care for the “party”) is you should be free to do as you please so long as you aren’t preventing others from doing as they please.
anxiousme1234@reddit (OP)
Thank for the reply. I appreciate it and I agree with that stance for the most part.