Libertarianism

From Imperial Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

Libertarianism is a political philosophy that advocates a minimal state in which the government is to be strictly limited in it's functions and capacity. Libertarianism places great emphasis is on individual rights and freedom. It is a political philosophy that SD.net has recently been focusing on more.

Common Libertarian Beliefs

  • Reduction of state-run programs down to as few as possible. Libertarians generally favor police forces and a minimal standing army; some support public schools in some form or another.
  • De-federalization.
  • Capitalism, usually with plans to remove regulatory laws on corporations such as anti-trust laws and minimum wages .
  • Abolition of welfare programs.
  • Militant opposition to gun-control.
  • Non-confrontational foreign policy.
  • Strong belief in separation of church and state.
  • Elimination of victim-less crimes from the law books (prostitution, drugs, seatbelts, etc.).
  • Minimal taxation, if any (extreme Libertarians see taxation as theft).

A closely related concept is anarcho-capitalism (most notably expounded by one L. Neil Smith), which advocates complete abolition of government, replacing it with corporations. Anarcho-capitalists are -- for all intents and purposes -- religiously devoted to the concept of “the Invisible Hand of the market”. Even among Libertarians, these guys are seen as lunatics, as their knee-jerk response to any criticism often starts with "Hey, I am a Libertarian, but not one of those anarcho-capitalist morons".

Criticism

Even with a few self-described “Small L libertarians” in the board’s established population, Libertarianism is for the most part highly criticized by SD.net's population for its lack of regulation; how its wealth redistribution would lead to the emergence of a few corporate monopolies; the fact that it removes environmental codes which would lead to massive ecological damage; the effects of legalization of hard drugs on society; the fact that sometimes it makes sense to drag someone away from being stupid; and effectively making the government small, dumb, and weak, especially making it vulnerable during wartime.

External Links