Libertarian

[JJKitty]

<p>What is a libertarian?
From what i’ve heard they believe that government should have as little involvment in people’s lives as possible.</p>

[CDN_dancer]

<p>Here’s a definition I found on the Internet. It’s from Wikipedia (<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian&lt;/a&gt;), and the link will take you to a page with more information. There’s a disclaimer at the top that says that the neutrality of the article is in dispute.</p>

<p>

Libertarianism is a political philosophy favoring personal and economic liberty or freedoms to the extent that they do not infringe on the same freedoms of others. Pure libertarianism favors the belief that no one may initiate coercion, which they define as the initiation of physical force, the potential initiation (threat) of such, or the use of fraud to interfere with individuals’ use of their person or property.

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[averagemathgeek]

<p><a href=“http://www.lp.org/issues/platform_all.shtml[/url]”>http://www.lp.org/issues/platform_all.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>That will give you a pretty good idea of what Libertarians want. The only thing I cannot figure out is: how will they pay for government activities?</p>

[joev]

<p>

The only thing I cannot figure out is: how will they pay for government activities?

This is the biggest reason the LP has never gotten into power. Their ideas are appealing to me, almost too appealing, but it would never work in this country.</p>

[nspeds]

<p>The best representation of Libertarianism is in ‘Anarchy, State, and Utopia’ by Robert Nozick. An explanation concerning taxation, the limits of Government, the nature of theories of redistribution, entitlements, and so on are included therein.</p>

[CC_Admin]

<p>I consider myself fairly libertarian. The idea is to have no national income tax and one national sales tax on everything. Obviously the government’s need for funds would be drastically reduced under a libertarian system. I’m not by any means an economist and I can’t begin to state what the tax rate would be or what the government’s total expenditures would be, so don’t ask. </p>

<p>The reason it won’t work in this country is because so many people are incredibly stupid. As Frank Zappa said, “There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.” I say, screw em.</p>

[Sirwatson1]

<p>I just registered to vote as a libertarian. Such auspicious timing!</p>

[ariesathena]

<p>There is a LOT of disinformation about what it means to be liberatarian. Saying that libertarians want to get rid of income tax is like saying that liberals want a 98% tax on income over $1 million annually and conservatives want to amend the Constitution to remove the Establishment Clause. Let’s avoid the extremes of all parties when trying to have a rational discussion.</p>

<p>Libertarians are socially liberal and economically conservative. If you reduce the federal government, then you don’t need as much tax money to pay for everything. For social liberalism, I’m talking about legalisation of marijuana, gay marriage, pro-choice, and pro Second Amendment. Basically, it’s the “Get the gov’t out of my business” political party. The gov’t once spent millions of dollars and nine years to determine what can properly be called “peanut butter” for food labeling. I’m just not in favour of financing politician’s deliquent cousins who can’t get jobs on the taxpayer’s dime.</p>

[nspeds]

<p>

There is a LOT of disinformation about what it means to be liberatarian. Saying that libertarians want to get rid of income tax is like saying that liberals want a 98% tax on income over $1 million annually and conservatives want to amend the Constitution to remove the Establishment Clause.

</p>

<p>There are many forms of Libertarianism since, of course, the degree of beliefs in the ideology tend to vary; however, the foundations of Libertarianism can be said to endorse the view that taxation is akin to ‘forced labor’. Whether this equates to a tacit rejection of taxation is unclear. Nevertheless, it is quite obvious that tax schemes inherently conflict with the philosophical and normative precepts of Libertarianism.</p>

<p>I myself have written an article that is pending publication. It can be found at <a href=“http://www.lunik.co.uk/versiontwo/lwfw.htm[/url]”>http://www.lunik.co.uk/versiontwo/lwfw.htm&lt;/a&gt;
This article discusses the philosophical foundations of Libertarianism, and is essentially an extension of Nozick’s text.</p>

<p>Before I am lambasted for perpetuating falsities, it must be noted that ‘Anarchy, State, and Utopia’ was the first text to render Libertarianism a belief-system worthy of consideration in both politics and philosophy. Though this may seem like a harsh statement, I dare say that those who have not perused this text are potentially, if not probably, grounding their ideological beliefs on misconceptions and ill-founded principles.</p>

[nspeds]

<p>

Nozick almost single-handedly made libertarian political philosophy respectable within mainstream academia with the 1974 publication of his now-classic Anarchy, State, and Utopia, which garnered a National Book Award the following year. Anarchy, State, and Utopia argues, among other things, that a distribution of goods is just, so long as the distribution was brought about by free exchanges by consenting adults and were made from a just starting position, even if large inequalities emerge from the process. Nozick appealed to the Kantian idea that people should be treated as rational beings

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<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nozick[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nozick&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;