What is Libertarianism: Key Ideas and Concepts?

The key ideas of libertarianism have been developing over many centuries. The first hints of them can be found in ancient China, Greece, and Israel; they began to be developed into something resembling modern libertarian philosophy in the work of thinkers such as John Locke, David Hume, Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine in the 17th and 18th centuries. In short, the core ideas that define modern libertarianism can be most simply synthesized into the following nine points:

• Individualism: Libertarians see the individual as the fundamental unit of social analysis. Only individuals make choices and are responsible for their actions. Libertarian thought emphasizes the dignity of each person, which leads to both rights and responsibilities. The gradual expansion of dignity—to women, to people of different religions, and to people of different races—is one of the greatest libertarian victories in the Western world.
• Individual Rights: As moral agents, people have the right to be secure in their liberties, life, and property. These rights are not granted by government or society; they are inherent in the nature of human beings. This is the intuitive right by which individuals enjoy security in these rights; the burden of explanation lies with those who would seek to take away or abridge these rights, which, as the U.S. Constitution states, are "self-evident."
• Spontaneous order: A great deal of order is necessary in society for people to survive and thrive. It is easy to assume that order must be imposed by a central authority, similar to the way order is imposed to collect stamps. The great insight of libertarian social analysis is that order in society arises spontaneously, from the actions of thousands or millions of individuals who coordinate their actions with those of others to achieve their goals. Throughout human history, we have gradually chosen greater freedom and yet managed to develop a complex society with a complex organization. The most important institutions in human society—language, law, money, and markets—all developed spontaneously, without central planning. Civil society—the complex web of relationships between people—is another example of spontaneous order; associations within civil society are formed for a specific purpose, but civil society itself is not an organization in itself and has no purpose.
• Rule of Law: Libertarianism is not a manifestation of libertarianism or hedonism. It does not claim that people can do whatever they want and no one can tell them anything. Libertarianism proposes a society of freedom in which individuals are free to pursue their own desires as long as they respect the equal rights of others. The rule of law means that individuals are guided by generally applicable and spontaneously developed legal norms, not by arbitrary commands; and that these rules do not aim at a specific result or outcome, but protect the freedom of individuals to pursue happiness in their own personal way.
• Limiting the role of the state: to protect their rights, individuals form states and governments. But government is a dangerous institution. Libertarians have a great antipathy to concentrated power, because as Lord Acton said: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Therefore, libertarians seek to divide and limit power, and this leads to limiting government, for example through a constitution (like the one in the United States) that lists and limits the powers that the people delegate to the government. Limiting state power is the main political consequence of applying libertarianism in practice, and libertarians point to the historical fact that the dispersion and limitation of power in Europe – more than in other parts of the world – has led to the protection of individual rights and sustainable economic growth in that part of the world.
• Free markets: In order to survive and thrive, individuals must engage in economic activity. The right to own property is linked to the right to exchange that property by mutual consent. Free markets are the economic system of free individuals—historically, they have been shown to be necessary for wealth creation. Libertarians believe that people will be freer and more prosperous if government interference in people’s economic choices is minimized. Libertarians emphasize the importance of free markets, but they are a logical consequence of protecting individual rights, not a prerequisite for them.
• Power of production: Much of the impetus for classical liberalism (in effect "old" libertarianism) in the 17th century was a reaction against monarchs and aristocrats who had been parasitizing the productive labor of others. Libertarians then defended the right of the people to keep the fruits of their labor from the government, opposing the imposition of higher taxes and economic redistribution. This grew into a respect for the work and production of the growing middle class, which was looked down upon by the aristocrats. Classical liberals then developed a class analysis that predated Marx's, dividing society into two main classes: those who produce goods and those who take them by force. Thomas Paine, for example, wrote: "There are two distinct classes of individuals in the country, those who pay taxes, and those who receive them and live by them." Similarly, Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1824: “We have more machinery in the form of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the produce of the industrious.” Modern libertarians defend the right of producers to keep what they earn from the new class (politicians and bureaucrats) who will use the means to transfer it to the non-producers.
• Natural harmony of interests: Libertarians believe that there is a natural harmony of interests among peaceful and productive people in a just society. One person’s personal goals—which might include getting a job, buying a house, and so on—may conflict with the plans of others, so the market forces many of us to pursue our own plans. But this happens peacefully, without confrontation, aggression, or violence. In the absence of government intervention, we all prosper thanks to the functioning of the free market, and there are no conflicts between farmers and merchants, between manufacturers and importers, because the normal functioning of the market does not infringe on anyone’s individual rights. It is only when the government starts handing out rewards that we find ourselves in group conflict and a zero-sum game that forces us to fight other groups for a share of political power.
• Peace: Libertarians have been critical of war for centuries. They understand that it brings death and destruction on a large scale, disrupts family and economic life, and concentrates even more power in the hands of the ruling class, which is why statesmen have a vested interest in promoting conflicts with other countries and peoples. A free society, of course, must have the capacity to defend itself against external threats. History has witnessed many such conflicts, but war is always the enemy of ordinary people, because it is they who bear its cost, either in the enormous destruction of their property or in the lives of their loved ones or even their own.

Here you may exclaim that libertarianism seems like just the standard framework of modern thought—individualism, private property, capitalism, equality before the law. Indeed, after centuries of intellectual, political, and sometimes violent struggle, these fundamental libertarian principles have become to some extent an invariable part of the fabric of modern political thought and modern governance, at least in Western societies and increasingly in other parts of the world.

There are, however, three additional points that need to be considered. First, libertarianism does not consist solely of these broad (classical) liberal principles, and libertarianism applies these principles fully and consistently, to a much greater extent than most contemporary thinkers and political schools, and certainly more than any modern government.

Second, while our society remains largely based on equal rights and capitalism, new exceptions to these principles are being carved out every day. With almost every action the state takes these days, it seeks to take away some part of our freedom, and we must carefully monitor and limit these attempts to expand our power.

Third, libertarian society is resilient; it can withstand a certain burden and continue to thrive despite it; but it is not resilient indefinitely. Those who today claim to believe in "liberal" principles but advocate more confiscation of the wealth created by productive people, more and more restrictions on voluntary cooperation, more and more exceptions to property rights and the rule of law, more and more transfers of power from society to the state, are unwittingly engaged in the deadly undermining of human civilization.

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