Controversies within libertarianism

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Libertarianism is a political philosophy that emphasises the liberty of the individual and seeks to minimize or even abolish the state.^[1][2] However, there is disagreements within the proponents of the libertarian ideology, on issues such as taxation, warfare, and immigration.

Philosophy

Consequences vs. rights

Milton Friedman defined consequentialist libertarianism as a philosophy that advocates "the least intrusive government consistent with the maximum freedom for each individual as long as he does not interfere with individuals pursuing their own freedom."^[3] Where rights-theorist libertarians oppose all intrusion by government, if they support the existence of a state at all, consequentialists libertarians accept limited government interventions that they consider needed to maximize liberty. Another view, contractarian libertarianism, holds that any legitimate authority of government derives not from the consent of the governed, but from contract or mutual agreement. Robert Nozick holds a variation on this view, as does Jan Narveson, economist James M. Buchanan, Canadian philosopher David Gauthier and Hungarian-French philosopher Anthony de Jasay.^[4][5][6]

Capitalism

Libertarians who support property rights, deregulation and free trade tend to call themselves capitalists or free marketeers. Libertarian models of socialism oppose capitalism and have various views on freedom of trade and property rights. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy says that “left-libertarianism” is a variation on libertarianism which "differs on unappropriated natural resources (land, air, water, etc.)."^[7]

Classical liberalism and libertarianism

Libertarians in the minarchist flavor generally use classical liberalism interchangeably with libertarianism. However, major historical and connotational differences exist over the major terms. Generally, libertarianism means a radicalized and purist form of liberalism. Difficulties may, however, sometimes prevail in terminology when dealing with other libertarian schools of thought.^{[citation needed]}

Issues

Immigration

Libertarians generally support freedom of movement,including over borders. A minority argue that open borders amount to legalized trespass.

LGBT rights

Libertarians believe that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender/transsexual (LGBT) adults have a right to their own lifestyle or sexual preference, provided that such expression does not trample on the same freedom of other people to choose their own sexual preference or voluntary associations. They support eliminating any role for government in marriage and propose all marriage contracts between two or more adults of any sex be accepted as legal contracts.

Laws regarding race and sex

Libertarians are against laws that favor or harm any race or either sex. These include Jim Crow laws, state segregation, interracial marriage bans, and laws restricting womens' rights; they likewise oppose state enforced affirmative action, hate crime laws and anti-discrimination laws. They would not use the state to prevent voluntary affirmative action or voluntary discrimination.^[8][9][10] Most believe that the drive for profit in the marketplace will diminish or eliminate the effects of racism, which they tend to consider to be inherently collectivist.

Abortion

Most libertarians support womens' rights to choose abortion, though some argue abortion becomes homicide at some point during pregnancy and therefore should be outlawed at that point.^[11] The Libertarian Party of the U.S. platform supports keeping abortion legal. Groups like the Association of Libertarian Feminists, the Objectivist-influenced Capitalism Magazine website, and Pro-Choice Libertarians support keeping the government out of the issue. Libertarians For Life argues that zygotes and fetuses should have the same rights as children and calls for outlawing abortion.

Capital punishment

Libertarians are divided on capital punishment, also known as the death penalty. Those opposing it see it as an excessive abuse of state power which is by its very nature irreversible, as well as being in conflict with the Bill of Rights' ban on "cruel and unusual punishment." Those who support it do so on self-defense or retributive justice grounds.

Foreign military intervention

Libertarians oppose and are suspicious of government intervention in the affairs of other countries, especially violent intervention. Deontological libertarians like Murray Rothbard consider modern warfare, for whatever reason, to be illegitimate. Many Objectivists and libertarian conservatives argue that intervention is not unethical when a foreign government is abusing the rights of its citizens, but whether a nation should intervene depends on its own self-interest.

Taxation

Some libertarians believe that logical consistency to fundamental libertarian principles like the non-aggression principle oppose all coercive taxation and support tax resistance.^[12]. They would fund all services through contributions and user fees. Some proponents of limited government support low taxes, arguing that a society with no taxation would have difficulty providing public goods such as crime prevention. Geolibertarians support a land value tax.

Natural resources

Most libertarians (such as free market environmentalists and objectivists) believe that environmental damage is a result of state ownership and mismanagement of natural resources and believe that private ownership of all natural resources will result in a better environment, as a private owner of property will have more incentive to ensure the longer term value of the property. Others, such as geolibertarians, believe that such resources (especially land) cannot be considered allodial property.

Intellectual property

Libertarians hold a variety of views on intellectual property and patents. Some libertarian natural rights theorists justify property rights in ideas (and other intangibles) just like they do property rights in physical goods, saying she who made it owns it; other libertarian natural rights theorists, especially since Kinsella, have held that only physical material can be owned, and that ownership of "intellectual property" (IP) amount to an illegitimate claim of ownership over that which enters another's mind, that which cannot be removed or controlled without violation of the non-aggression axiom. Pro-IP libertarians of the utilitarian tradition say that IP maximizes innovation, while anti-IP libertarians of the selfsame persuasion say that it causes shortages of innovation. This latter view holds that IP is a euphemism for intellectual protectionism and should be abolished altogether.

Inheritance

Libertarians may disagree over what to do in absence of a will or contract in the event of death, and over posthumous property rights. In the event of a contract, the contract is enforced according to the property owner's wishes. Typically, libertarians believe that any unwilled property goes to remaining living relatives, and ideally, none of the property goes to the government in such a case. Others would say that if no will has been made, the property immediately enters the the state of nature from which anyone (save the state) can homestead it.

Strategy

Political alliances

Libertarians ally politically with modern conservatives over economic issues and gun laws, while they are more prone to ally with liberals on other civil liberties issues and non-interventionism. They may choose to vote for candidates of other parties depending on the individual and the issues they promote.

Revolution

Libertarians generally agree on the desirability of rapid and fundamental changes in power or organizational structures, but may disagree on the means by which such changes might be achieved.

Non-voting

Various libertarians use non-voting as a strategy. Some consider voting as impractical and some consider voting as immoral. Voluntaryists and Agorists oppose voting.

See also

• Issues in anarchism

External links

• Ronald Hamowy, The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism, Cato Institute, SAGE, 2008 ISBN 1412965802, 9781412965804

References