Chat Question

Chris wrote:

anarchists and libertarians are going in the same direction.
That does not, however, make the anarchist a libertarian.

I disagree. Anarcho-libertarians and minimal govt libertarians
are both considered libertarians. But don't take my word for it.

According to www.libertarianism.net:
"Libertarianism is, as the name implies, the belief in liberty.
Libertarians strive for the best of all worlds - a free, peaceful,
abundant world where each individual has the maximum opportunity
to pursue his or her dreams and to realize his full potential."

According to www.libertarian.org:
"While libertarians are a diverse group of people with many
philosophical starting points, they share a defining belief: that
everyone should be free to do as they choose, so long as they
don't infringe upon the equal freedom of others."

Both definitions include anarcho-libertarians. That is why I
suggested the topic for a Wednesday Chat: "Is it an equitable
policy to exclude a large LP contingent, namely the anarchist
wing, when communicating as an LP representative to the
media or public?".

Michael E.

There are various flavors of libertarians and anarchists. The philosophies overlap,
depending on the flavor. But neither is a proper subset of the other. For instance,
social anarchists and capatialist libertarians have vastly different views on free
market concepts. Anarcho-libertarians are a special breed of libertarian, a subset,
libertarians which want to dismantle all government completely... but still capitalist.

I don't think it is necessary to specifically highlight sub-groups when one talks about
libertarians, as it makes discussion cumbersome; and more to the point, it alienates
those people outside of that subgroup. With a small party like ours, best not to
alienate people. At the same time, don't disown the subgroups when for instance
questions and discussion arise.

-Mike

Dr. Michael R. Edelstein wrote: