Most of what I’ve seen sounds like Libertarians are actually anarchists who’ve been misinformed by the dominant culture about what anarchism really is.
What would you say is the reason you identify with libertarianism over anarchism?
For me, it’s a matter of practicality. Because sure, I’d love a perfect system in which everything operates entirely on voluntary cooperation, feel free to toss in a spherical cow with zero air resistance as well. But I don’t believe such a solution to be a practical option in reality, at least for the foreseeable future. Its basically a giant instance of the prisoners dillema, just at the scale of state militaries and nuclear weapons. And at that scale, I find it significantly more desirable to hedge our bets against bad actors than to rely on near universal acceptance of an ideal solution.
Anarchists are historically left. Libertarians are historically right. At least in USA.
Stop right there: Anarchism means that there is no state or anyone that has any competence over you. Libertarians on the other hand support a minimal state that is just there to protect the core rights. Anarchism therefore means in it’s essence that you are responsible for managing and protecting your property all by yourself. However most Anarchists tend to accept some forms of deliberate power distribution.
This hardline distinction that you’re drawing between libertarians and anarchists is ridiculous and not rooted in reality. Many libertarians are and have been anarchists. Murray Rothbard and Lysander Spooner are two well-known examples.
So now we are using anarchist and libertarians as synonyms or what? It’s just what anarchism means. We can discuss how you interpret this term but you can’t change what it means. One is despises aany governmental structure whereas the other thinks a minimal state is necessary. Simple as. Of course these are extremes but I hate it when people say libertarians are right wing anarchists. Rather its the anarchists that are somewhat libertarian.
“Libertarian” is an umbrella term which can describe many anarchists as well as statists. Again, one of the most popular libertarians is Murray Rothbard, who was an anarcho-capitalist.
Exactly but as an umbrella term it’s by far more than anarchism. But you are right I have to change my wording.
I’d consider libertarians to want a small government that does very little, while anarchists want none.
A small government would make and enforce laws, have a military, and maybe do some other public goods (though not many).
Anarchism is absolute chaos. Without any sort of government, anything goes. Probably the first thing to happen is a few people seize power, and technically you don’t have anarchism anymore, you have warlords.
While a small government wouldn’t enforce build codes and wouldn’t provide free Healthcare, it’s a far cry from no government.
I thought Libertarian was just an American thing for people who don’t like the Republican candidate but don’t want anyone messing with gun or equality laws.
Every anarchist I’ve ever discussed the matter with has embraced magical thinking as the mechanism for sustaining anarchist decision-making (e.g. rule by consensus) despite threats to the status quo (like an invading despot).
Libertarians, on the other hand, routinely seem to acknowledge that some public goods, e.g. national defense, must be handled by a state actor. Minarchy rather than anarchy.
Is our current world system not the natural product of anarchy?
