07-08-2016, 05:27 PM
[quote pid='4535' dateline='1467938349']
Libertarianism is not a Utopian ideal. I think you're confusing it with anarchism. Anarchists believe in no government. Left-Anarchists also believe in no property rights, while Right-Anarchists (Anarcho-Capitalists) often get confused with libertarians but they are quite different. In Anarcho Capitalism there is no government and you have to hire security companies for defense and Dispute resolution organizations to settle common law disputes. They mainly believe in the non-aggression principle which is the idea that no person or organization should be allowed to initiate the use of force against another person or entity for any reason.
Libertarians are more like classical liberals but with modern solutions to modern day problems. They just believe in small limited government a la John Locke, Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson. Namely the enlightenment era ideas of freedom of equality before the law (meaning equality of opportunity, not of outcome). Libertarians also believe in the non-aggression principle, but they have a bit of a looser interpretation as it applies to certain government actions. There's really no limit to the size of the "tribe" (not sure what you mean by that), but libertarians believe that a more localized government is preferable to a larger central government since the individual has more say. "The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities." - Ayn Rand.
Gary Johnson is a very moderate-left libertarian though. He defines himself more as fiscally conservative and socially liberal. But he's liberal on both spectrums for a libertarian. A lot of the more conservative and more hardcore Randian libertarians don't like him for this reason.
[/quote]
I still don't get it. "More localized government?" Like how local?
Most of all, I still maintain that Libertarianism is Utopian in the sense that the gap between where we are now and the DETAILS of what you would have to have for Libertarianism to exist are insurmountable. How do we get from HERE to THERE?
Libertarianism is not a Utopian ideal. I think you're confusing it with anarchism. Anarchists believe in no government. Left-Anarchists also believe in no property rights, while Right-Anarchists (Anarcho-Capitalists) often get confused with libertarians but they are quite different. In Anarcho Capitalism there is no government and you have to hire security companies for defense and Dispute resolution organizations to settle common law disputes. They mainly believe in the non-aggression principle which is the idea that no person or organization should be allowed to initiate the use of force against another person or entity for any reason.
Libertarians are more like classical liberals but with modern solutions to modern day problems. They just believe in small limited government a la John Locke, Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson. Namely the enlightenment era ideas of freedom of equality before the law (meaning equality of opportunity, not of outcome). Libertarians also believe in the non-aggression principle, but they have a bit of a looser interpretation as it applies to certain government actions. There's really no limit to the size of the "tribe" (not sure what you mean by that), but libertarians believe that a more localized government is preferable to a larger central government since the individual has more say. "The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities." - Ayn Rand.
Gary Johnson is a very moderate-left libertarian though. He defines himself more as fiscally conservative and socially liberal. But he's liberal on both spectrums for a libertarian. A lot of the more conservative and more hardcore Randian libertarians don't like him for this reason.
[/quote]
I still don't get it. "More localized government?" Like how local?
Most of all, I still maintain that Libertarianism is Utopian in the sense that the gap between where we are now and the DETAILS of what you would have to have for Libertarianism to exist are insurmountable. How do we get from HERE to THERE?
[font=Arial Black]... a man of notoriously vicious and intemperate disposition.[/font]