Libertarianism

Alvaro Morales , Samantha Hernndez

and Elvis Milla

What is a libertarian?

The word means approximately "believer in liberty".

Libertarians believe in a world of liberty; a world in which all
individuals are sovereign over their lives and no individuals
are forced to sacrifice their values for the benefit of others.
They believe that respect for individual rights is the essential
precondition for a free and prosperous world, that force and
fraud must be eliminated from human relationships, and that
only through freedom can peace and prosperity be realized.
Consequently, they defend each persons right to engage in
any activity that is peaceful and honest. (This latter is called
the "Non-Coercion Principle" and is the one thing all
libertarians agree on.)

Principles of
Libertarianism

They seek the maximum protection for the rights of all

people against any violation, be it by other people,
other nations, or our own government. Every human
being is born master of himself or herself, sole owner
of his or her body and mind, free to live and act as he
or she sees fit. It is their principle that, so long as a
person does not violate the rights of others, he or she
should be left free and unrestrained. Government
tends to operate on the opposite principle, that the
State is master and the individual the servant, to act
only as directed by those in power.

Father creator

John Locke (29 August 1632 28 October 1704), was an

English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential
of Enlightenment thinkers and known as the "Father of Classical
Liberalism". Considered one of the first of the British empiricist, following
the tradition of Sir Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social
contract theory. His work greatly affected the development
of epistemology and political philosophy. His writings
influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish
Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American Revolutionaries. His
contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in
the United States declaration of Independence Locke's theory of mind is
often cited as the origin of modern conceptions of identity and the self,
figuring prominently in the work of later philosophers such
as Hume, Rousseau, and Kant.

Size of Government

The power of government must be kept to

the minimum necessary to protect the
rights of its citizens, and no more.
Granting more power than that minimum
allows the corrupt, the ambitious, and the
tyrannical to run roughshod over the rights
of the citizen. And they believe it is their
mission to contest this trend, to stop its
expansion and to reverse it

Limited or Omnipotent
government?

Government is , essentially, raw concentrated force, and thus, prone

to abuse. It is established and tolerated only as the agent and servant
of the people--not their master. The force of government must be used
only in response to an attack, fraud, or other initiation of force against
an individual, group or government by another individual, group or
government.
They deny the right of any government to coerce peaceful citizens.
Governments exist for the sole purpose of defending the freedoms of
their citizens. These freedoms include the right to life; the right to
liberty of thought, speech and action; and the right to property. When
government violates these freedoms--by initiating force against them,
by prohibiting the act and means of self-defense, by censoring
thought, word and deed, or by taking property without the consent of
the owner--the government must be brought to heel.

Economic System

Libertarians want all members of society to have

abundant opportunities to achieve economic
success. A free and competitive market allocates
resources in the most efficient manner. Each person
has the right to offer goods and services to others
on the free market. The only proper role of
government in the economic realm is to protect
property rights, adjudicate disputes, and provide a
legal framework in which voluntary trade is
protected. All efforts by government to redistribute
wealth, or to control or manage trade, are improper
in a free society

Civil Liberties

Individuals should be free to make choices for themselves and to

accept responsibility for the consequences of the choices they
make. Our support of an individual's right to make choices in life
does not mean that we necessarily approve or disapprove of
those choices. No individual, group, or government may initiate
force against any other individual, group, or government.. We
recognize that there will always be bigotry and hatred in the
world, just as there will always be fear and stupidity; but one
cannot use laws to force understanding any more than one can
use laws to force courage or intelligence. When people use
bigotry as an excuse to commit force or fraud, it is the act itself
which is the crime, and deserves punishment, not the motive
behind it.

Libertarians position
on:

Drugs: All drugs should be legalized , prohibition doesn't

work. Libertarians would leave in place laws against actions
which directly endanger the physical safety of others, like
driving under the influence of drugs, or carrying a firearm
under the influence.
Abortion: Adamantly pro-choice but oppose any government
financial aid to subsidize abortions.
Gay marriage: Marriage is a matter of private contract, and
should not be defined or licensed by government. We believe
that government should not treat individuals differently based
on their marital status.. Consenting adults should be free to
choose their own sexual practices and personal relationships.

Taxes

Stridently opposes all government imposed taxes

and employer withdrawal of employees money for
tax purposes. Libertarians believe that all persons
are entitled to the fruits of their labor. As such, they
view taxation as the forced taking of property. At
most they regard it as a necessary evil, so that the
vital functions of government can continue
independent of undue outside influence. For this
reason we advocate the reduction of taxation to the
lowest feasible level, and the replacement of taxation
with user fees where practicable.

Freedom of Speech

Government should not interfere in matters of

personal conscience, such as religion, speech,
creativity, or political activity. Nor should any
majority be allowed to use government power
or support to force the minority to accept their
moral, religious, or political beliefs.
They call for an end to so-called "free speech
zones," which are in reality a means of
isolating and silencing dissent in the public
arena. Public officials have no right to be
insulated from the voice of opposition to their
policies.

Religious Freedom

Strong belief in separation of church and

state and by contrast, Libertarians hold a
strong belief in freedom of religion.
Libertarians oppose government funding or
endorsement of any religious or nonreligious
position over any other. Libertarians call for
strict supervision of how government
payments or tax subsidies to all religious
organizations are used, to insure they are not
used to support indoctrination.

Bible ''principles''

They claim to be distinct from

Christian libertarians through
their derivation of Bible-based
legal philosophy using biblical
hermeneutics that are different
from those used by Christian
libertarians.

Army size

Support the maintenance of a sufficient military to defend

the country against aggression. The country should both
avoid entangling alliances and abandon its attempts to act
as policeman for the world. They oppose any form of
compulsory national service. The protection of individual
rights , to protect people's livery and property is the only
proper purpose of government. Government is
constitutionally limited so as to prevent the infringement of
individual rights by the government itself. The principle of
non-initiation of force should guide the relationships
between governments.

Privacy right

Libertarians advocate individual privacy and

government transparency. They are
committed to ending governments practice
of spying on everyone. They support the
rights recognized to be secure in our
persons, homes, property, and
communications. Protection from
unreasonable search and seizure should
include records held by third parties, such as
email, medical, and library records.

Private Property

Libertarians would free property owners from government restrictions on

their rights to control and enjoy their property, as long as their choices do
not harm or infringe on the rights of others. Eminent domain, civil asset
forfeiture, governmental limits on profits, governmental production
mandates, and governmental controls on prices of goods and services are
abridgements of such fundamental rights. For voluntary dealings among
private entities, parties should be free to choose with whom they trade and
set whatever trade terms are mutually agreeable. Libertarians would close
the exceptions and loopholes in the state prohibition against the use of
eminent domain for private economic development. Under no
circumstances should government have the power to force the transfer of
land from a private entity to another against the will of the owner.
Libertarians strongly oppose state and local governments abusive use of
eminent domain laws for the creation of toll roads, transportation corridors,
and semi-public or private use projects.

Environment

Libertarians believe that the only

effective way to save the Earth is to give
everyone economic incentives to save
their little bit of it. Believes that land
and animals should be sold to private
organizations or ranchers and taken out
of the hands of the government because
private citizens will care for it better.

Health Care

Strongly supports a complete separation of

healthcare and state. Supports the deregulation of
the healthcare industry. Favor a free market health
care system. They recognize the freedom of
individuals to determine the level of health
insurance they want (if any), the level of health
care they want, the care providers they want, the
medicines and treatments they will use and all
other aspects of their medical care, including endof-life decisions. People should be free to purchase
health insurance across state lines.

Censorship

Libertarians are opposed to any governmentenforced limits on free expression. On the other
hand, they reject the "liberal" idea that refusing to
subsidize a controversial artist is censorship. Thus,
they would strike down all anti-pornography laws
as unwarranted interference with private and
voluntary acts (leaving in place laws punishing, for
example, coercion of minors for the production of
pornography). They would also end all government
funding of art; the label of "artist" confers no
special right to a living at public expense.

Subsidies

In order to achieve a free economy in which government

victimizes no one for the benefit of any other, they oppose
all government subsidies to business, labor, education,
agriculture, science, broadcasting, the arts, sports, or any
other special interest. In particular, they condemn any
effort to forge an alliance between government and
business under the guise of "reindustrialization" or
"industrial policy." The unrestricted competition of the free
market is the best way to foster prosperity. They therefore
oppose any resumption of the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation, or any similar plan that would force the
taxpayer to subsidize or sustain any enterprise.

Balanced budget or
deficit spending

They believe that smaller government

is better. They seek to reduce the size
and scope of government, and sunset
or abolish unnecessary or
unconstitutional programs and
agencies. They support balancing the
budgets of all levels of government by
reducing government spending. They
support a moratorium on state bond
issuance and all other forms of

Retirement

Retirement planning is the responsibility of the

individual, not the government. Libertarians
would phase out the current governmentsponsored Social Security system and
transition to a private voluntary system. The
proper and most effective source of help for
the poor is the voluntary efforts of private
groups and individuals. They believe members
of society will become more charitable and
civil society will be strengthened as
government reduces its activity in this realm.

Free trade or trade

barriers

Libertarians support free markets. They

defend the right of individuals to form
corporations, cooperatives and other
types of entities based on voluntary
association. We oppose all forms of
government subsidies and bailouts to
business, labor, or any other special
interest. Government should not
compete with private enterprise.