The political position of libertarianism

Libertarianism is usually regarded as a right-wing philosophy (especially in the United States and Canada). Especially for non-liberals, liberals in these two countries usually stand on the same side as the so-called conservatism in the local area and oppose the so-called liberalism in the local area, which is more related to their views on the economy and their attitude towards gun control. However, many people usually regard libertarianism as a "conservative" on economic issues and a "liberal" on social issues. Many libertarians also support "* * * and constitutionalism" (that is, * * and the United States, which are strictly restricted by the US Constitution), instead of some regimes that they regard as "unrestricted democracy", which they believe will lead to "tyranny of the majority". (For example, Ron Paul, a Texas Congressman and former presidential candidate pushed by liberals, is regarded as one of them, because he supports the idea of constitutionalism and state, although he belongs to the * * * and the party. )

However, describing libertarianism as right wing (or left wing) is a misunderstanding of libertarianism, because there is no strict distinction between left wing and right wing in philosophy, and libertarians object to any designation that classifies it as left wing or right wing. For example, libertarianism opposes drug control, conscription, and non-self-defense wars and supports the defense of other countries, and supports the expansion of free trade, freedom of speech, and tax minimization, which obviously spans the left and right wings of traditional definition.

Another way to understand the political spectrum of libertarianism is to compare liberalism and conservatism. Liberalism advocates that the government should promote equality, while conservatism advocates that the government should promote order. Libertarianism, on the other hand, advocates freedom and opposes the government's promotion of equality or order. For example, in order to maintain the traditional order, conservatives usually tend to ban same-sex marriage; Liberals will support allowing same-sex marriage to ensure equality under the law, while liberals will directly attack "why does marriage need government approval?" This question. Usually, they will object to the government playing any role in marriage. Unless the two parties to a marriage voluntarily sign a mutual contract, it is necessary for the government to supervise the implementation of such a contract and oppose giving the married person any additional rights (current tax reduction and exemption, subsidies, etc.). ).

On the issue of discrimination (race, color, gender, etc. ), libertarianism may be more obvious. On this issue, liberals usually support the law to punish employers who create discrimination unrelated to their ability to work, while conservatives usually allow or even encourage such discrimination; On the other hand, liberals will oppose the enactment of any laws on this kind of discrimination, because in their view, it is an infringement on the owners of property rights and employees who are properly employed. In other words, even if a particular libertarian strongly believes that the discrimination suffered by certain groups should be treated equally, he will say that the process of equalization should be played by society, not by the government. If a company discriminates against you, you also have the "freedom" to change jobs, or start your own business and give play to your ideas if possible. In these examples, the ability of liberals to distinguish between equality and freedom proves that they believe that equality of status is not a necessary element of "freedom"-especially under the freedom of signing non-mandatory contracts.

In order to replace the traditional method of distinguishing "left-right" political spectrum, some libertarians use a two-dimensional chart, which represents the axis of "personal freedom" and the horizontal line of "economic freedom". This picture is called Nolan Curve, named after David Nolan, who invented this picture and was also the founder of the American Liberal Party. This chart is similar to a socio-political tendency test invented by people in the self-management movement. The chart also shows the policy tendency of libertarianism, that is, liberalism on social issues and conservatism on economic issues.