In some Conservative circles Libertarians are not too popular. The reverse is also true. For quite a while I’ve been at a loss for why this is true. I’ve studied both political philosophies in great detail, and they are very similar. The adherents of both camps share more than 90 percent of the same key beliefs.
Individual Rights and Individual Liberty are cornerstones of both Libertarianism and Conservativism. That is the direct opposite of all leftist philosophies, whether it be Liberalism, Progressivism, Socialism, Fascism, or Communism. All those Collectivist philosophies place thr supreme value of the State over the individual.
Free Market Capitalism is another cornerstone of both Conservatism and Libertarianism. Contrast that with the socialist economic policies of the Democratic Party.
Both Conservatives and Libertarians truly value the Constitution and founding principles of the United States. Democrats despise both of these.
Rather than unite against our leftist common enemies, we Conservatives and Libertarians seem to be engaged in a low level guerilla war on social media. This has bothered me for quite a while. Just the other day I finally realized why this is taking place.
At the root of this conflict is the fact that far too many individuals who identify as Libertarians have no idea what the word actually means. Some identify as a Libertarian because they think the words sounds cool. Others identify as Libertarians because they have a distorted understanding of this philosophy.
Many who identify as Libertarian believe that it a watered down version of Liberalism or Progressivism. That is most untrue. If you plot all political philosophies on a graph, Libertarianism is even further to the right than Conservatism because Libertarians place more of emphasis on individual liberty.
The concept of liberty is at the very core of the Libertarian philosophy. Liberty does not equal freedom, although freedom is at the root of liberty. If you combine responsibility with freedom, then you get liberty.
The framers of the Constitution defined liberty as the freedom to do as you wish as long as you do no harm to any other individual, or interfere with the rights of another individual. It is freedom with the responsibility to do no harm to others. Libertarians must respect the rights of all other individuals.
The framers of the Constitution considered Individual Liberty to be the very bedrock of our constitutional republic. Our Constitution was written to protect the liberty of every individual American.
A true Libertarian believes that protecting the lives and liberty of every individual are the only valid powers of any level of government, if governments do more then they will trample the liberty of individuals.
To prevent a libertarian society from descending into violence and chaos, individuals must restrain themselves. Christian morality was believed by the framers of the Constitution to be the perfect mechanism to achieve this, as long as no individuals were forced to join a religion.
For a society to functions and thrive there must exist social and cultural institutions. Libertarians believe that governments must play no role in these institutions, they must be voluntary. According to what I’ve seen, Conservatives believe that governments and laws should play a role in protecting institutions. It is a minor issue of disagreement.
The family is one of the most important institutions. Anything that is harmful to the family must be discouraged and fought against. Libertarians and Conservatives should make this a common cause.
Progressivism is about using all levels of government to force their beliefs on everyone. That violates the liberty of every individual. The belief system of progressives is extremely hostile to the social and cultural institutions that are necessary. Conservatives and Libertarians should join forces to preserve these social and cultural institutions, especially the family.
The Transgender Ideology of Progressives is one of the belief systems that Progressives are using all levels of government to cram down the throats of all Americans. It is a belief system that is harmful to social and cultural institutions. It is most harmful to children who are being indoctrinated into believing they are the wrong gender.
As a Libertarian I believe individuals have a right to identify as what ever they want to. However, no one has a right to force me, or any other individual, to play along with any other individual’s delusions. Using government to force all of society to play along is wrong and anti-liberty.
I’m almost 100 percent sure that single sex bathrooms, and similar facilities, were set up by social compact, and then later codified into laws. It was done for the safety, privacy, and modesty of the female sex. Progressives are using government force to overturn this, against the wishes of the vast majority of individuals.
I am a true Libertarian. I have a great many Conservative friends. I constantly talk politics with them. We agree well over 90 percent of the time. When we don’t we both respect each other’s point of view. We are united against Progressivism, and all other collectivist philosophies. With the Democrats destroying the United States, I suggest other Conservatives and Libertarians should follow my lead.
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Libertarianism has never existed anywhere in the world and never will. It’s a Utopianist fantasy with no connection to the real world, like wokeness. Is the general consensus among libertarians still in favor of the free movement of peoples (i.e., open borders)? We know what that brings, the destruction of society and freedom we’re seeing everyday. Utopianist, there you go.
I would consider myself libertarian were it not for two very major sticking points:
One, previously mentioned, is open borders. Actually, that disagreement is conditional. Were there no such thing as the welfare state, I’d be all for open borders. The problem is that our federally mandated “welfare” programs are an enticement not for people who are willing to work hard in order to succeed, but for people who are hoping to live the high life (as compared to where they came from) on everyone else’s dime.
I realize that eliminating the welfare state is also a plank of the Libertarian platform, but one without the other is a nonstarter for me. Until there is a viable possibility of completely eliminating all federal government (and federally mandated) handouts, the borders cannot be open.
Secondly, free trade between nations. When we eliminate tariffs and other impediments to international trade we are basically giving away our functional capability to the nations that are either most effective at tipping the scales in their favor through unfavorable trade practices on their own part, are most effective at exploiting their own peoples, or are most willing to ignore the valid safety and ecological rules that make manufacturing a sound endeavor.
I know the argument is that as their economy becomes dependent on that trade and improves as a result of it, it’s workers’ plights will improve as well; but, as someone above mentioned, that’s a utopian dream. It can function that way under the right circumstances, but under less than ideal conditions, it does no such thing. It only increases the ability of the rulers of those countries to exploit the lower classes and enrich themselves even further.
But even more importantly: one effect it most definitely causes is to make us dependent on other countries…countries that may or may not remain friendly to us in the long term…for our economic well being. The recent Pandemic and supply chain crises – as well as what’s happening throughout the world (but especially in Europe) right now as a result of the war in Ukraine illustrate this perfectly. When we make ourselves incapable of manufacturing the physical goods needed for the maintenance of our society, we are basically surrendering our sovereignty to the nations who do produce our vital goods for us.
The libertarian argument in this case is that nations who’s prosperity and economic well being are dependent upon one another don’t go to war, and, again, under perfect conditions, that’s true…but a dictatorship is hardly perfect conditions – and history clearly demonstrates that the only constant in the world is change; just because the nation we’re dependent upon for our manufacturing is our friend today, doesn’t mean they will be a year, ten years, 50 years from now. Even if they are still our friends, that doesn’t mean that they’ll be able to ship much needed goods to us if our enemy has the ability to shut down or even substantially restrict the shipping lanes – or if some natural or man-made disaster were to prevent them from trading with us.
Depending upon other nations for the manufacture of goods that we need to maintain our economy is foolhardy.
Were it not for those two issues, I’d be much less reluctant to call myself a libertarian.
But those issues are significant enough for me to just say no. (see what I did there? HAH!).
Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t vote for a libertarian that won a Republican primary. I’d vote for a libertarian all day long over any of the candidates on the left, but I won’t be voting for anyone who espouses those particular planks of libertarian philosophy in the primaries.
You are confusing the Libertarian Philosophy with the platform of the national Libertarian Party. They are not the same at all. I did not mention that party in my article because their membership only includes a tiny fraction of all Libertarians. Their platform is way too restrictive and not pragmatic at all. I am not a member of that party because of their stance on open borders and because they claim that a true Libertarian must embrace abortion.
I do not consider having secure national borders to be anti-libertarian. Most libertarians I have encountered feel the same way. Restricting movement inside the borders of a nation in any way, for any reason, is antilibertarian.
Free trade is the ideal for Libertarians. I agree with all of your concerns concerning trade and share them. I do not believe them to be anti-libertarian at all. They are simply pragmatic.
I do not belong to any party. I despise the Libertarian Party as much as I do the Republican Party. Because the Democrat Party is the Socialist party I despise them as far more than the other two parties. I identify as a Libertarian because I follow the libertarian philosophy, with a pragmatic twist.
You are confusing the Libertarian Philosophy with the platform of the national Libertarian Party. They are not the same at all. I did not mention that party in my article because their membership only includes a tiny fraction of all Libertarians.
Between 1789 through the 1890s the United States was a Libertarian nation. During that period the United States was the freest and most prosperous nation.
I do not consider having secure national borders to be anti-libertarian. Most libertarians I have encountered feel the same way. Restricting movement inside the borders of a nation in any way, for any reason, is antilibertarian.
I do not belong to any party. I despise the Libertarian Party as much as I do the Republican Party. Because the Democrat Party is the Socialist party I despise them as far more than the other two parties. I identify as a Libertarian because I follow the libertarian philosophy, with a pragmatic twist.