What Libertarians Want From Government
Americans of all political persuasions want something from the government, including libertarians. But what libertarians want from the government is quite different from what liberals and conservatives want.
Liberals want much from government. To get an idea of just how much they want, just look at the new 2016 Democratic Party platform. Liberals, progressives, and socialists—all of whom always vote Democratic—want the government to:
- Raise workers’ wages
- Support working families
- Help more workers share in near-record corporate profits
- Expand access to affordable housing and homeownership
- Protect and expand Social Security
What is remarkable about the Republican Party platform is what it doesn’t say about things that conservatives generally support—like the federal government’s war on drugs. And of course, one of the hallmarks of conservatives is that they want the government to incessantly meddle in the affairs of other countries, build military bases on every continent, police the world, and station troops all over the globe.
In contrast to the 55 pages of the Democratic Party platform and the 66 pages of the Republican Party platform, the platform of the Libertarian Party consists of just 7 pages. Here is what it says about the proper role of government:
The prescribed role of government is to protect the rights of every individual including the right to life, liberty, and property.
The protection of individual rights is the only proper purpose of government.
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.
The military should be “sufficient” to “defend the United States against aggression,” but “the United States should both avoid entangling alliances and abandon its attempts to act as policeman for the world.” U.S. foreign policy “should emphasize defense against attack from abroad and enhance the likelihood of peace by avoiding foreign entanglements.” The “current U.S. government policy of foreign intervention, including military and economic aid” should be ended.
Criminal laws should be limited to those that actually violate “the rights of others through force or fraud, or to deliberate actions that place others involuntarily at significant risk of harm.” The government should not interfere “in the areas of voluntary and contractual relations among individuals.”
The difference between the Libertarian Party and all other political parties is a simple one: “All political parties other than our own grant to government the right to regulate the lives of individuals and seize the fruits of their labor without their consent.” Indeed, this is the root of the difference between libertarians and everyone else. Most non-libertarians deem it completely appropriate for government:
(1) to punish people for engaging in entirely peaceful, voluntary, and consensual actions that do not aggress against the person or property of others; or
(2) to take people’s resources against their will, by force if necessary, and transfer or redistribute them to other citizens or foreigners as the government sees fit.
Libertarians maintain that people should be free from government interference to live their lives any way they desire and engage in any economic activity they choose as long as their actions are peaceful and consensual and they don’t violate the personal or property rights of others.
It is too bad that the Libertarian Party candidates for president and vice president deviate significantly from both their party platform and libertarian theory.
What do libertarians want from government? If they haven’t violated the personal or property rights of someone else, libertarians just want to be left alone.
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