I would like to pose the following question: What the fuck is libertarianism?
I will propose the premise that to be a legitimate political school of thought requires both a guiding ideology and a basis for implementing that ideology through policy. For example, as a first order approximation, I would say that modern progressivism is based on an ideology that places the greatest value on social liberty and equality. Policy is sought that increases governmental capacity to enforce social liberty at the expense of economic liberty (e.g. general welfare programs and death panels funded by progressive taxation). Modern conservativism, on the other hand, might be described as based on the idea that personal freedom is the paramount value of a society, and is implemented by reducing the role of federal government in peoples lives (e.g. cutting welfare programs and reducing taxes).
Okay, now libertarianism. I suppose the ideology is that the promotion of all freedoms and liberties (rather than the prioritization of social/personal/economic) should be sought. I think it’s safe to say, at least in reference to current political climates, this is a fairly extreme stance. How, then, does one propose to implement this in policy? What you seem to hear fairly frequently from people claiming to be libertarians is that all policy is bad, in that there is always increased restriction of freedoms as a result. How, then, is this distinct from anarchism? Without some guiding principal towards policy, libertarianism should be strictly relegated to crackpots like Rand Paul.
Not all is necessarily lost. Though I’m not aware of such a policy directive of libertarians, that’s not to say one does not or cannot exist. If I were a libertarian (which I’m not.. usually), I would say that not all freedoms and liberties are equal — there are different values that the individual or society places on its various freedoms. For example (here’s where Paul comes in again), consider the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Yes, that limits my freedom to racially discriminate. Yes, technically, I will grant that that does in fact represent a restriction of liberties. However, at that expense, all persons now have the freedom to, say, sit anywhere on a bus, or drink from whatever water fountain they please, or become the God-Damned President of the United Fucking States. If I were a libertarian, I would say that was a net gain. I would say, fuck yeah, let’s get us some more of that. (As it turns out, that’s what I say anyway, because I’m, you know, sane.)
So back to the original question. When someone says they’re a libertarian, what exactly do they mean? What are the stated goals and policy directives of American libertarians?
(…and I don’t mean upper-case ‘L’ Libertarians.. them bitches be crazy.)