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What is libertarianism?

And how is it different from anarchism, liberalism, conservatism, and socialism?
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categorysociety
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tynamite
tynamite's avatar A liberatarian is someone who believes in freedom for people and human rights. Yeah that's what it is. Hmm. Don't we all believe in that? Oh wait! I've just given you the wrong answer. I'll try again.

A liberatarian is someone who believes in free trade.
Free trade is the concept to be able to buy and sell what you want, to whoever you want, without fear of intevention. Realistically, you know this concept is flawed if we took it to extremes, so to be pendantic, a liberatarian is someone who believes in free trade without there being bereaucratic policies on how this is done.

I've just answered your question in a sentence.
I'll expand on this so that you understand libertarian views fully.

Under true libertarian values, marijuana would be legalised, as it's less harmful than tobacco. However that would be an extreme thing to pledge, so they would go for something more simpler. The sort of libertarian you'll see 99% of the time, will believe in welfare that helps the poor. Rather than use a do what the hell you want, and if you're poor, tough luck, attitude, they instead go for you are free to do what you want, and we'll help you, even if you're poor.

Libertarians leaving the poor to rot in squalor by not giving them welfare, would be an extreme form of that; so let's get that out of the explanation. Not even capitalism, socialism, or communism most times is extreme.

What sort of people are Libertarians?

Libertarians are the sort of people who have money. The ones with IQ. They are usually smart or pretty. Conservatives usually have power, and aren't so productive or favoured by society. They are both a privileged set of people.

You can compare this as Jews in Germany being libertarian, and the Nazis exterminating them being Conservative. Jews have the power as they held 90% of the wealth as they ran all the businesses, but the Conservatives held the true wealth. This analogy works well for every situation.

Richard Branson is a libertarian, and currently elected British government are the Conservative Party. Branson launches Virgin Atlantic, Galactic, and Bank to shake up the existing markets, and the government hold the true power. People like Branson use their intelligence (or good looks), to beat the system, and promote fairness and freedom for people.

I feel like giving you some examples of some attractive libertarians, but that would be hard for me to find. So just think about being in a room full of 14 people, and think about whether the attractive or intelligent one there, would be the person to have strong libertarian values.

So you've got these libertarians and conservatives, and they're all pretty powerful and successful. On the outskirts you've got the socialists, sitting on the outside, looking on the inside. They don't like it that other people are rich, and they want to nationalise everything, tax the rich, and make everyone rich or the rich become poor. Socialists are financially irresponsible, and are ignorant of how the economy works.

Comparing Conservatives, Libertarians, and Socialists

Libertarians want to maximise their selfish interest [money], whilst embracing the free market, and promoting your freedoms. They do not understand zero sum games and power. They expect everyone to be equally powerful. Libertarians expect and want everyone to have equal opportunities and life chances in life, that anyone can be as powerful as they are.

Socialists want to make everyone equally wealthy, by blending capitalism with communist ways. They are naive, proposing crackpot schemes, that'll never work. They do not understand wealth. They expect society to function without the rich. (I cannot explain how Socialists blend communism with capitalism in this answer. It's long enough as it is.)

Conservatives want to maximise their selfish interest [power], by prohibiting things you enjoy [sex/drugs/jobs], and by decreasing social mobility. They understand that some people will be more powerful than others, so they have seized as much power as they can. They understand everything because they're evil. They know the game, and play it unfair.

The Guardian is a Libertarian newspaper. They support fairness and equality for all social groups and people.
The Sun and The Daily Mail is a Conservative newspaper. They dumb down and make their content patronising for working class readers in The Sun. They support the Conservative Party.

Where Socialism and Libertarianism blurs

If a person has no job, a socialist will blame it on the economy and give them welfare. A libertarianism will blame it on the person not being educated or motivated, and leave that person to starve.

90% of libertarians would take the viewpoint of the socialist, and give the person welfare. What makes these people different than the socialist, is that libertarians don't attempt to seize power from the rich.

Source: Myself and Teguh Budimulia (He is very bad at explaining things in understandable ways. Because he's from Mensa, he has communication problems.)

I do not know why Conservatives like to prohibit things that people enjoy. I would love it if anyone could help me out.

Further Reading

Why do Conservatives often advocate policies that restrict enjoyable things for people?
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tynamite
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White spanish woman

"Because he's from Mensa, he has communication problems."

This is complete nonsense. I'm a Mensan and don't have any more communication problems than the average non-Mensan. He may have communication problems but it is not related to be in a Mensan.
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tynamite
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Me

You're right. I didn't know that Mensa people could be happy. I always thought that having an IQ 160 would make someone sad.

Upon speaking to him on Facebook, I find that he needs counselling. Because he lives in Indonesia, and is troubled by all the corruption, violence and racial hatred around him, it has made him into a jealous and insecure person. He tells me that every time he walks out his house, he sees homeless children begging, and them getting their money robbed off them. I had to talk to him some sense and analyse him.
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tynamite
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White spanish woman

The entry requirements for a Mensan is that they are above the 98th percentile and standard tests at the moment make that 148.

There are lot of happy Mensans and there are a lot of happy Indonesians.
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tynamite
tynamite's avatar

Me

That means that my brother could be in Mensa as his IQ is 160. That explains why he's so much smarter and sensible than I am. He never makes sweeping statements.
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tynamite
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Me

What's it like being the top 2%.
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tynamite
tynamite's avatar

Sasha

This is a horribly unclear and rambling answer.

In addition to the overall answer being of poor quality, you managed to sneak some Nazi propaganda into a completely unrelated topic:"You can compare this as Jews in Germany being libertarian, and the Nazis exterminating them being Conservative. Jews have the power as they held 90% of the wealth as they ran all the businesses, but the Conservatives held the true wealth. This analogy works well for every situation. "

What the hell? This is a terribly confused metaphor that neither describes the current situation, nor the situation in Germany. Jews did not control 90% of the wealth, nor did they control the majority of businesses. In the U.S. right now, Libertarians represent such a small portion of the population both in terms of wealth and number of people that they do not represent 90% of anything on the national scale. Also, Conservatives are not trying to kill Libertarians systematically in order to maintain their genetic purity...
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tynamite
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Me

Oh really?

1. Yes they did! Jews controlled most of the wealth at the time after WWII. I can look up the exact figure if you want, and it was a lot. They also owned most of the businesses too.

2. Conservatives are increasing the rich and poor divide, and decreasing social mobility. This prevents people from getting an education, starting a business, and it prevents intelligent people from getting on in life. Conservatives are not trying to maintain their genetic purity. You're right about that. But they are trying to make life harder for everyone except the rich.

The student protests in Britain were trigged by Conservatives tripling student fees and artificially reducing places in university by making sure that they never filled up their vacancies. How many intelligent people are missing out of an education because of that? How many libertarians and would be libertarians have they taken out the game?
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tynamite
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White spanish woman

I don't think it is helpful to tell people to look up figures to prove the point you want to make. Why not provide links to these figures yourself?
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tynamite
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Me

lmao I didn't think I had to.

This comment thread is about Sasha thinking my answer is completely rubbish, not her asking me to get evidence about the Jews in Germany. "This is a horribly unclear and rambling answer."
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tynamite
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White spanish woman

I believe it is considered good practice to try and get some citations if we are claiming something to be factual.
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tynamite
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Sasha

Really.

1. Yes, I would like for you to look up and share that number. Also, note that Germans did not kill lots of Jews at the time after WWII (I assume this is a typo and that you meant WWI).

2. You mentioned that Libertarians are disproportionately rich and educated. So, they can afford education for themselves and their children even with tripled student fees. This seems to imply that Conservatives are increasing the proportion of wealthy, educated people in the UK. If one assumes that some proportion of wealthy, educated people are Libertarians, Conservatives are actually increasing the proportion of Libertarians relative to other groups.
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tynamite
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Me

1. I meant WWI. It was a typo.

2. Let's clarify whether we are talking about powerful people, or regular civilians here. When I mentioned that Libertarians are rich and educated, I am talking about powerful people. Powerful Libertarians are typically richer than powerful Conservatives

Now you moved the focus onto civilians in one paragraph. I will untangle this confusion.

Libertarians believe in the free market, and social mobility. Conservatives believe in seizing power for themselves, and reducing social mobility.

When Conservatives make it so that less people can get into university, what they are doing, by reducing social mobility, is reducing the amount of Libertarian civilians who get rich.

Look at it this way.


A youth worker, and an owner of a taxi rental service, have Libertarian values. One works for a charity, and another works for a business. By the Conservatives reducing public services, raising taxes etc, they stop more people from beating the system to get through. The CEO who would have stayed in business might go bankrupt or have to make staff redundant.

It is similar to how piracy is affecting the music industry. You're not affecting the people who already have their record deals. You're instead stopping the next surge of musicians break through.

This is why your assertion of Conservatives increasing the proportion of Libertarians relative to other groups, is untrue.
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What's an assertion, and what should I type in?

Compesh is a question and answer (and debate) website, so before you make a debate, you better learn what an assertion is. I suppose you already know what a question is, and that you've typed it in the box. ;)

An assertion, is basically a statement you can make, that is either true or false.

Richer people have better health.

The question for that would be, Do richer people have better health?

And don't forget to make your assertion, match your question.

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