Libertarian FAQ: What Is Libertarianism?
It’s hard to clearly define libertarianism. “It’s a desert topping!” “No, it’s a floor wax!” “Wait– it’s both!” It’s a mixture of social philosophy, economic philosophy, a political party, and more. It would be unjust for me to try to characterize libertarianism too exactly: libertarians should be allowed to represent their own positions. At least two FAQs have been created by libertarians to introduce their positions. But the two major flavors are anarcho-capitalists (who want to eliminate political governments) and minarchists (who want to minimize government.) There are many more subtle flavorings, such as Austrian and Chicago economic schools, gold-bug, space cadets, Old-Right, paleo-libertarians, classical liberals, hard money, the Libertarian Party, influences from Ayn Rand, and others. An interesting survey is in chapter 36 of Marshall’s “Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism”, “The New Right and Anarcho-capitalism.” This diversity of libertarian viewpoints can make
