And what is a left libertarian? How do the two coalesce into a ‘Libertarian Party’ in other countries?
their podcast diet usually
The views of the US Libertarian Party are essentially summarized by “taxes and regulations are bad” with few other guiding principles. As a party, it is largely separated from any sort of political theory (even libertarian political theory), and sort of relies on a politically disenaged and uninformed populous who vote for the people promising lower taxes and legal weed without really understanding that the Libertarian Party’s approach to “taxes and regulations are bad” are primarily in favor of large corporations rather than individuals. They posture themselves as a true alternative to the Democratic and Republican parties when practically they want most of the same stuff Republicans want for the most part, with token acceptance of progressive social ideas.
Libertarianism more broadly is an ideology that believes that individual rights are the most important thing to creating a better society. This can be left wing (extending individual rights to include things like the ability to use land and other natural resources without being limited by property ownership) or right wing (believing that the right of the individual includes the right to accumulate wealth and power through accumulation of capital), and the distinction primarily depends on the approach to ownership and property. Libertarianism differs from Anarchism in that libertarians believe that a state is required for maintaining and guaranteeing individual rights through the use of laws and courts, and defending those rights from external threats via military action.
All in all, my personal view is that libertarianism, along with anarchism and other “min-archist” movements, is unable to answer the question of “how do you prevent someone from accumulating material and social power and using that power to enforce their will upon others?” For many libertarians the answer seems to be that social norms in a libertarian society would prevent people from doing this and that they would be able to withstand external attacks from groups that do not hold their views. I do not believe this, and I think that human nature means that some people will always want to gain control over others through whatever means they can, and that only a government can effectively combat these tendencies. Social norms are powerful and are a required part of a functioning democracy, but ultimately the law, backed by the ability to apply the use of force in a way agreed upon by the public, is what allows the weak to resist domination from the strong.
Thanks! This was the very thorough answer I was hoping for!
They do not care about other people, only themselves. They despise things like social programs.
I was, techniclly still am registered Libertarian. I always considered myself a left-libertarian. The ideology pretty much boils down to government bad. What I failed to realize is that the government is bad because it serves capitalist interests. Now, I identify with marxist ideology. I’m also considering democratic socialism. I intend to change my registration to Democratic before the next election. I also considered the green party for a while but Jill Stein fucked that up.
Libertarians in the US want small government on three axes: they want to eliminate programs (e.g. welfare, retirement or universal healthcare), public utilities (e.g. electricity, highways), and regulation (e.g. antitrust, banking laws.) in economic terms, it’s very right-wing, since it’s pure unadulterated capitalism. usually they want government to “stay out of the bedroom and the boardroom” though, so they’re often progressive on civil liberties. unfortunately, many self-styled “libertarians” are socially conservative, or care only about their freedoms.
Left Libertarians see both the State and Corporations as oppressive power structures, and want to reign both in. think Anarchists, but not as radical. most favor decentralized, collective government with lots of direct democracy. New Hampshire is the most right-libertarian state, while Vermont is the most left-libertarian.
the Libertarian Party in the US is ridiculously disorganized because organizing Libertarians is like herding cats. afaik there aren’t really unified Libertarian parties anywhere in the world, though maybe e.g. the Pirate Party would be close?
Really? NH the most right-libertarian? Can you elaborate on this please?
there was a libertarian takeover project to use NH as a sort of libertarian exclave. NH also hosts the Porcupine Freedom Festival, which is like a summer camp for libertarians where you pay for booze and wares with slivers of gold. Planet Money has a great episode about it.
it’s not like a majority of NH is libertarian, it’s just the highest concentration of libertarians. and subjectively the vibes are real different from VT.
Being in Montreal for the past few years, I’d love to visit both states. Alas…
ohgodletmeinpleaseIneedtogetoutofhere uh I mean yeah understandable
The views of the US Libertarian Party are essentially summarized by “taxes and regulations are bad” with few other guiding principles. As a party, it is largely separated from any sort of political theory (even libertarian political theory), and sort of relies on a politically disenaged and uninformed populous who vote for the people promising lower taxes and legal weed without really understanding that the Libertarian Party’s approach to “taxes and regulations are bad” are primarily in favor of large corporations rather than individuals. They posture themselves as a true alternative to the Democratic and Republican parties when practically they want most of the same stuff Republicans want for the most part, with token acceptance of progressive social ideas.
Libertarianism more broadly is an ideology that believes that individual rights are the most important thing to creating a better society. This can be left wing (extending individual rights to include things like the ability to use land and other natural resources without being limited by property ownership) or right wing (believing that the right of the individual includes the right to accumulate wealth and power through accumulation of capital), and the distinction primarily depends on the approach to ownership and property. Libertarianism differs from Anarchism in that libertarians believe that a state is required for maintaining and guaranteeing individual rights through the use of laws and courts, and defending those rights from external threats via military action.
All in all, my personal view is that libertarianism, along with anarchism and other “min-archist” movements, is unable to answer the question of “how do you prevent someone from accumulating material and social power and using that power to enforce their will upon others?” For many libertarians the answer seems to be that social norms in a libertarian society would prevent people from doing this and that they would be able to withstand external attacks from groups that do not hold their views. I do not believe this, and I think that human nature means that some people will always want to gain control over others through whatever means they can, and that only a government can effectively combat these tendencies. Social norms are powerful and are a required part of a functioning democracy, but ultimately the law, backed by the ability to apply the use of force in a way agreed upon by the public, is what allows the weak to resist domination from the strong.
Decades of propagandization
In my opinion what defines libertarianism overall is being non-statist and a belief in markets dictating all of life.
Left libertarianism is just progressive on social issues.
being non-statist
Yes.
and a belief in markets dictating all of life.
No.
Lots of libertarians critique both markets and the state (e.g. Murray Bookchin or Nestor Makhno).
The defining feature is just a critique of state power.
critiquing both is what makes you a left libertarian.
Not sure who Maknho is so thanks for the name drop I’ll check their work out, but as far as I know, Bookchin was a lefty anarchist. I always assumed his later ‘libertarian phase’ was just another label that he’d eventually disavow as well but that his critique of the state also went alongside his critique of the market.
Can you refer me to other libertarians who are particularly anti-market, in the American context?
Bookchin was a lot of things in his life, including a zionist, by the end he had renounced anarchism in favor of his own thing. Although he has had some decent critiques, that sort of behavior has made it hard to take him too seriously.
I would recommend David Graeber frankly if you’re looking for American context anarchism.
It’s a damned shame bookchin wrote a terrible article filled with wild distortions of history of israel/palestine. It goes without saying that people should just not go to bookchin to have an accurate or rigorous framing of middle east’s history and society. Ok, he inspired autonomous democratic movements like rojava, but that’s beside the point of it all and more linked to his social theories of democracy rather than any concrete understanding of history - as far as I know he never studied the history of the middle east in any serious depth.
His social ecology essays are filled with interesting stuff and did have some very good critiques of different environmentalist currents, he did have some strange critiques of Marx at times, but I still respect some of that work even if I may not agree with much of it. His views on zionism is another story though, not excusable. The silver lining is (as far as I know) it was just that one article.
When I was young and in college I thought I was a Libertarian because it wasn’t big government, and that libertarians were in favor of legalizing weed and gay marriage, basically letting people do what they want without the government regulating it. At the time around 2008ish, the Libertarian party really was leaning hard into that part, while leaving out the whole wanting to privatize everything. I had to get a bit older and more mature to realize that libertarians want to make every tax payer funded program function more like our fucked up healthcare system. Libertarians think that the fire department should be an opt in subscription service like it was in the 1800s. Fucking dipshits the lot of them.
The right to be fucking stupid and do without or to do it yourself shouldn’t be denied. It’s why I self host stuff. I also have the right to be fucking stupid and not backup any of my systems, but I do my backups myself. Though if I was in a position to have a better fire control situation than my local solution, you damn right I wouldn’t want to pay for the inferior service. The same goes for any other utility or public service.
The whole idea of libertarianism is to take the power away from government and abolish it so that the people can be left the fuck alone. The government is just another monopoly in my view especially in the area of currency and violence.
You’re just creating more monopolies, with no oversight and less control. At least with government, you can vote.
I’m firmly of the opinion that government regulations create monopolies. Before all the car safety and fuel efficiency regulations there were many car manufacturers in the US. Then as more regulations were added over time, we were down to just 3 manufacturers and they all made shitboxes in the 80s and 90s that didn’t last and nobody liked and gave rise to foreign manufacturers coming in and eating the big 3’s lunch.
My point is that the big 3 were the only ones that could afford those regulations and were also the ones to lobby the government to pass those regulations to drive their competitors out or force mergers. Advancements in safety and fuel efficiency would have happened anyway. This is the case where advertising can be actually helpful by showing off their products advancement in safety and efficiency to drive their sales. Volvo giving away their patent for seatbelts is another example of a way way to get goodwill and generate sales from that goodwill while keeping competition healthy.
With no government, there would be no need to vote. I’m sick and tired of every election being tHe MosT iMPorTaNt eLecTiOn oF OuR liFeTiME. I’d be fine with the absolute bare minimum of government if it meant the people we elect would not have the power to abuse in the first place.
So it sounds like you would rather trust companies to put the health and safety of its consumers over the government forcing it?
It’s really a matter of trusting companies to put the health and safety of consumers over short term profits for shareholders, without government forcing them to. Which we all know rarely happens.
No, I trust in the collective wisdom of the masses to generally make the best decisions.
The left supports collectivization of production, the right supports private ownership of production.
More libertarian left tendencies often want the means collectivised in the hands of localised workers, rather than the collective org being a national-scale bureaucracy.
I’m aware that the anarchist-adjacent left wants more cooperative, decentralized production than large scale, planned production, but as juxtaposed with right libertarians, who want private property and at most a nightwatchman state, the difference is still in how ownership is spread. I don’t agree with any libertarians, but it’s a pretty fair appraisal.
is it the idea that you should only ever care about yourself and fuck everyone else? cuz that seems like priority #1 for united states conservatives
They are suspiciously knowledgeable about age-of-consent laws.
The private ownership of production is what makes them right-wing.
Left-libertarianism would be anarchism I guess but I’d never call and anarchist left-libertarian
the whole libertarian/authoritarian axis doesn’t really describe things well because it’s a caricature. On the left Marxists and anarchists have similar end goals, the abolishing of class society, but a diversity of strategy as to how to get there. On the right, they are united in reaction and to the extent that any are “libertarian” it’s purely out of self interest.
Yeah, “libertarian” in common parlance in America is just another word for “selfish asshole”. At least anarchists want everyone to be in it together. “Libertarians” just want it all for themselves and fuck everyone else. John Galt worshipping assholes the lot of them.
See: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism#Etymology >
The term “libertarian” was invented by Joseph Dejacque, who was, broadly, a communist who rejected using a centralized state to move society toward communism (this is the opposite of what we now call authoritarian communists, who believe that you have to seize state power first in order to bring about a socialist and then communist society).
in the 1960s Murray Rothbard, a right-wing libertarian, popularized the term to refer to people who want zero or minimal state power and want a sort of hyper-capitalism to run everything by contract. He wrote that he specifically chose to steal the term from the left. This is considered right wing because it will make hierarchical systems, especially capitalism, much more intense and brutal. The state doesn’t usually limit the brutality of capitalism or other hierarchies, but from time to time popular movements have been able to make it do that.
In the US, most people will think you mean the Rothbard definition if you just say “libertarian” and will not really know what a “libertarian socialist” or “left-libertarian” is. American socialists will often have heard all of these terms.
Libertarians are an odd bunch these days. They claim to be against “big government” but they want to privatize everything which would essentially make giant corporations into a new authoritarian government.
The love to talk about being able to take your business elsewhere if you don’t like the service your getting, but that doesn’t do a lot of good if your house burns down because you were behind on your fire protection plan and no one will come to put it out.
It’s basically become an entire party that believes the idea that “survival of the
fittestwealthiest” should be the only lawYeah, the whole “taking your business elsewhere” is bullshit in the modern world. It might work in a town without internet that has 3 barbers; sure, you take your little protest purchase to another barber maybe it has an impact.
But I’ve lived in a neighborhood for 6 years where my internet connectivity choices have been Comcast, or DSL. That’s not a choice. When the only competitor is equivalent to no service, it’s not competition; it’s a monopoly.
