In continuing What is Conservatism?, let's stop and take a closer look at libertarianism. I think you'll find more often than not, libertarians and conservatives generally agree.
We'll look at excerpts from 2 essays on libertarianism, and hopefully walk away with a better understanding. Let's start with what libertarianism is not.
What Libertarianism Is Not
1. Libertarianism is not necessarily a moral endorsement for all voluntary behavior.
Libertarianism is only a political philosophy; it has nothing to do with religion, other types of philosophy, morality outside of politics, etc. It seeks only to address the question of when it is permissible for one person to initiate force against another – and the conclusion it draws is "never." This conclusion is based mostly on the rationale that everyone is born, by virtue of being a human being, with a natural right to control their own lives, bodies, and property, so long as they are not infringing on anyone else’s body or property.
As Murray Rothbard wrote in his essay, Six Myths About Libertarianism, "The fact is that libertarianism is not and does not pretend to be a complete moral, or aesthetic theory; it is only a political theory, that is, the important subset of moral theory that deals with the proper role of violence in social life. Political theory deals with what is proper or improper for government to do, and government is distinguished from every other group in society as being the institution of organized violence. Libertarianism holds that the only proper role of violence is to defend person and property against violence, that any use of violence that goes beyond such just defense is itself aggressive, unjust, and criminal. Libertarianism, therefore, is a theory which states that everyone should be free of violent invasion, should he free to do as he sees fit except invade the person or property of another. What a person does with his or her life is vital and important, but is simply irrelevant to libertarianism.
2. Libertarianism is not an exaltation of individual liberty above all – especially not above property rights. Indeed, it could not be, because individual liberty and property rights are indistinguishable.
Again, libertarianism is only a political philosophy, so it advocates individual liberty as it relates to the State. (Anyone outside of the political system who initiates force against others is, by definition, a criminal.) Libertarianism has nothing to do with individual liberty outside of politics.
Further, individual liberty is not only compatible with property rights; it is wedded indivisibly to it. One person’s unfettered individual liberty ends where another person’s property begins.
What Libertarianism Is
What is distinctive about libertarianism is its particular property assignment rules: its view concerning who is the owner of each contestable resource, and how to determine this.
A system of property rights assigns a particular owner to every scarce resource. These resources obviously include natural resources such as land, fruits of trees, and so on. Objects found in nature are not the only scarce resources, however. Each human actor has, controls, and is identified and associated with a unique human body, which is also a scarce resource.[7] Both human bodies and nonhuman, scarce resources are desired for use as means by actors in the pursuit of various goals.
Accordingly, any political theory or system must assign ownership rights in human bodies as well as in external things. Let us consider first the libertarian property assignment rules with respect to human bodies, and the corresponding notion of aggression as it pertains to bodies. Libertarians often vigorously assert the "nonaggression principle." As Ayn Rand said, "So long as men desire to live together, no man may initiate — do you hear me? No man may start — the use of physical force against others."[8] Or, as Rothbard put it:
The libertarian creed rests upon one central axiom: that no man or group of men may aggress against the person or property of anyone else. This may be called the "nonaggression axiom." "Aggression" is defined as the initiation of the use or threat of physical violence against the person or property of anyone else. Aggression is therefore synonymous with invasion.[9]
In other words, libertarians maintain that the only way to violate rights is by initiating force — that is, by committing aggression. (Libertarianism also holds that, while the initiation of force against another person's body is impermissible, force used in response to aggression — such as defensive, restitutive, or retaliatory/punitive force — is justified.)[10]
Nonlibertarian political philosophies have a different view. Each person has some limited rights in his own body, but not complete or exclusive rights. Society — or the state, purporting to be society's agent — has certain rights in each citizen's body, too. This partial slavery is implicit in state actions and laws such as taxation, conscription, and drug prohibitions.
Libertarians believe in self-ownership. Nonlibertarians — statists — of all stripes advocate some form of slavery.
