Why I am a Libertarian and What that Means

For those who don’t know, libertarianism is one of the four major schools of political thought, (Conservative, Liberal, Populist, Libertarianism)

Conservatism seeks to regulate human behavior but not regulate the economy.

Liberalism seeks to regulate the economy but not human behavior

Populism seeks to regulate everything

Libertarianism seeks to regulate as little as possible in general.

Libertarianism operates on two basic principles:

Non-Intervention: Unless someone is harming someone other than themselves with their actions, right or wrong, they should have the freedom to live and act as they choose without government pressure or interference. The government has no place making financial, medical, spiritual, educational, or relationship decisions for individual persons or regulating what a person wears, says, publishes, celebrates, or does as long as it is not causing harm to other people around them.

Non-aggression: If it’s not your problem, don’t try to solve it, the government should worry primarily about the well-being of its own people, and only get involved militarily when whatever is going on in another country is somehow a threat to our own national security.

Examples of Non-Intervention:

People can use birth-control, insurance can cover birth-control, but businesses shouldn’t be forced to offer plans that cover forms of birth-control that they don’t agree with.

Same-sex couples can live together, adopt children together, receive any and all legal rights, benefits and responsibilities that come with marriage, but it should be left up to the individual religious organization whether or not to accept and/or perform the marriage.

Examples of Non-Aggression:

It’s no concern of the American government what goes on in the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine because it has nothing to do with us.

It’s no concern of the American Government what happens in the disputes between Hong Kong and China, because it has nothing to do with us.

It IS the concern of the US government, along with others around the world, to help crush Isis because it, and other terrorist organizations DO pose a threat to national security.

It IS a concern of the US government, along with others around the world, to help combat the Ebola outbreak in West Africa because that IS a threat to National Security and the lives and health of American Citizens.

TO BE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR I am NOT saying that we, as American Citizens, and as World Citizens shouldn’t care that essential liberties are being stripped of people in certain countries around the world, or that a truly sad number of countries have significant populations living in absolute poverty and/or still lack basic infrastructure and sanitation. Just that those aren’t things the government should be the one trying to fix, rather it is us, us as citizens who should care about those things and working to help fix them through various kinds of activism and charity.