From ??? to Libertarianism...

Miscellaneous General
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1

Going off what BWF89 said in another tread, that a lot of libertarians he knows were former liberals, how did you come to libertarianism? From the liberal, conservative, socialist, or fascist, point of view?

I personally considered myself aligned with the liberal (in the American sense). I was never officially part of the democrats or greens or any other party. I couldn’t bring myself to be part of any party. I found libertarianism fascinating, but I couldn’t get over the libertarian stance on public education, universal health care, and private almost everything. After reading the arguments of both sides, and hearing Ron Paul speak for the first time about a year ago, it appears the libertarian position not only more logical, but more freedom oriented than the other positions. I am now a little L libertarian, but a Republican by party (never in my life did I think I would be a Republican). just so I could vote for Ron Paul in the primaries.

2

I used to be a smalish state socially conservatiive nationalist- I beliieved in a small safety net for those who couldn’t help themselves, a strong military who would, if necessary, teach the world how to run (I supported the Iraq war at this point) and prohibitions on drugs and prostitution and other cultural regulation. Then after reading Henry George became a single taxer but with a more libertaian bent. Then after reading more Austrian and Libertarian works became pretty much a minarchist. Then after listening to Hoppe’s lecture on the Origin of the State, in the series Economics, Society and History, I became a free market anarchist, though, as Hoppe does, retained a strong cultural conservatism.

3

I used to be a neo-conservative in that I supported most of what the Bush administration was doing. Although I was also a big fan of Michael Savage and rejected some of the things the neo-cons were touting such as their stance on the Iraq War because I didn’t think they went far enough in their efforts. So maybe you could have classified me as a neo-fascist (although I never thought of myself as such) because I tended to support state intervention in the propping up of traditional values, additional state regulation & collusion with business in the economy, and a strong anti-immigrant/nativist stance on border security.

I still consiter myself culturally conservative in a lot of todays issues (abortion, family values, marriage, etc.) only I’ve come to realize that the state has done a horrible job at promoting traditional values. Such a horrible job I think that from a purely utilitarian viewpoint they should get out of that business alltogether. An example would be giving out welfare checks to single monthers which only encourages them to not stay with their childrens father because if they don’t assciociate with them they get “free money” in the mail every month. Which undermines the traditional Western family structure (nuclear family). So much in fact that the majority of this generations Black population are born out of wedlock.

I am now a registered Republican (so I could vote for Ron Paul), an anarcho-capitalist in theory, a constitutionalist / states right advocate in practice, and a non-interventionist. As good of a system I think anarcho-capitalism would be I don’t think a sizable enough percentage of the general population will ever agree with it’s ideals that it could ever come to fruition. So I’ll usually side with people like Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan when it comes to foreign policy, liberals when it comes to the War on Drugs, and run-of-the-mill conservatives when it comes to the economy. By use of the term “run of the mill” I’m talking about your average Joe Republican and not the Republican Party. Most Republicans I know actually believe in a free market for the most part although the GOP politicians they elect usually don’t.

4

I most definitely approached libertarianism from the standpoint of what would be considered the “left” or at least “left of center” in contemporary terminology. I always had an anti-war streak and a strong distrust of the police power. I never liked prohibitions on things like drugs and prostitution. I generally supported what would be considered “civil liberties” or “personal liberty”, although I was of course not exactly consistant about it, as no contemporary left-liberal is. I’ve always held what would generally be considered “culturally left” views (secularism, atheism, anti-racism, I could care less about traditionalism and I don’t like family-worshop, etc.). I had pretty much no clue about economics at the time. I certainly wasn’t an outright state-socialist, but since I didn’t know any better I basically endorsed the contemporary welfare state and mixed economy.

But then I started being exposed to more libertarian and free market ideas and it drew me in. I read a lot on economics (the Mises Institute being my primary source) and got interested in political philosophy in general. I moderately slid into a more libertarian mindset and joined the libertarian party. I quickly became disillused by the party and moved on to being a “small l” libertarian. I held a minarchist view for a considerably long period of time, but in retrospect I was fairly radical and in a state of cognitive dissonance, as I was essentially making anarchistic arguments about the nature of the state as an institution (things such as the invalidity of the social contract, the extortive nature of taxation, the fact that the state produces nothing, etc.) and then backpeddling when people would accuse me of being an anarchist. Even then, most of the libertarians around me I percieved as being far too moderate. I still percieve the libertarian movement at large as being too moderate (as well as too tied to the hip with the conservative movement in America).

As I read up more and started getting more involved in inner-libertarian discussion and debate, it eventually became clear to me that I could no longer hold to a minarchist position, that not only is the state not necessary but unethical at its root. Rothbard’s arguements in “The Ethics of Liberty”, Stefan Molyneux’s podcasts and discussion on between libertarians on youtube influenced me. A debate about “subsribed government” also influenced me, for I kept argueing that their “subscribed government” was the same thing as a private security organization and the debate was merely a semantic one over the definition of government. I held a “voluntary government” to be a contradiction in terms. That lead to cognitive dissonance, for if I support voluntaryism then I cannot support “government”, at least in the way I defined it. So I moved on to market anarchism, primarily out of ethical considerations. At about the same time I got interested in rational egoism and agorism, and this only boosted by conviction. I’ve also developed something of a respect for mutualism and early individualist anarchism, as I consider market anarchism to have evolved out of those traditions. So here I am.

5

I grew up in a very strongly Republican family. My first strong memories were of the Carter presidency and of the many problems of that era. I was a solid Reagan Republican throughout the Reagan presidency and didn’t really start to slip away until the first Bush presidency. Even though I was a strong Republican, I have always had an inate distrust of government, and that is what started to push me away from the Republican party, especially with the rise of the neo-conservatives during Bush I. It was really during the mid 90’s when I was exposed to the Cato Institute, and shortly thereafter the Libertarian Party and I felt right at home. I was introduced to the Austrian School, via the Mises Institute about five years ago and with reading the various authors and studying the works on this site, I have developed my current views, particularly in economics, very much grounded in Rothbardism.

6

The first solid political beliefs I held were moderate libertarian. From there, my disgust with the left’s arrogance (both in their policies and in their description of themselves as “progressive” and “open minded”) and their tendency to try to rewrite history pushed me away from them and towards the right, where I became somewhat neoconservative (though still libertarian leaning, similar I suppose to Neal Boortz).

The more I witnessed others verbalize my beliefs, however, the more I realized that I was a tangled knot of conflicting views. In addition, at this time, I began to blur the line between “political” views and “other” views. I no longer saw any value (or reason) in separating those two worlds. When I sat down and thought about it, the only system that does not involve one human being systematically controlling another was anarcho-capitalism.

7

I used to be a right-wing monarchist, of the limited government sort. Rand’s The Virtue of Selfishness convinced me on the morality of market anarchism, whereas Hoppe’s Democracy - the God that Failed convinced me on the mechanics. I’m a thick libertarian in that I agree with Hoppe on what would be most conducive to the preservation of a libertarian order, but on a personal level I am not significantly culturally conservative - in fact, I am a Randian when it comes to personal morals. I’m not against hierarchy per se (I like the idea of the nobilitas naturalis), but I’m against all coercive forms of it.

8

I was raised conservative. My parents are republicans, and so was I until a couple of years ago. When I first became politically aware (probably about the age of 14) I understood that we were conservatives because “conservative” meant “as little government as possible”. However, I thought that “necessary” government included not only law and defense services, but also things like making sure everybody said the pledge of allegience and cheered incessantly when American planes dropped bombs on “the bad guys”. I guess you could say I spent the first half of my politically-aware life as what passes for conservative today.

My first faltering step toward libertarianism happened when I was in 12th grade. I had a mandatory debate in my English class, and I ended up debating in favor of marijuana legalization. For the sake of my grade, I really got into the role. I studied everything from the history of the drug war to scientific studies, and found that the case for prohibition was actually completely vacant. That really shook my socially conservative foundation, but I found it refreshing. After all, it was more consistent with my belief in the government that governs least.

I might have called myself a libertarian at that point if it weren’t for 9/11. I’d completely abandoned social conservatism. You might say I WAS a Libertarian (note the capital L) in fact - I had matured from ignorant capitalist to principled laissez-faireist, I didn’t believe in legislating morality, I was furious over my taxes and I have always felt more comfortable in the company of armed civilians than armed state agents.But I let myself be carried away in the post-9/11 hysteria and became a staunch security-statist. Everything else took a back seat to “the war on terror”. That’s when I got really into talk radio, and started becoming a partisan fanboy of the Republicans. I must have languished in that reeking fog for three years.

Then I discovered Protest Warrior, and thanks to the influences of the libertarians and paleoconservatives on that site (a minority, but a loud one) I rediscovered my libertarian zeal. I didn’t really abandon my security-statism at that time, but stuffed it away in a corner and ignored the nagging voice that told me I was being inconsistent.

During that time I was introduced to the Non-Aggression Principle, though I didn’t really understand its logical implications at first. I started to refine my beliefs, became economically astute, and very importantly - I met some Christian libertarians who quickly disabused me of the erroneous doctrine of Biblically-endorsed statism. All it took was a flash of rational thought and a quick exegisis. I became a full-fledged minarchist in 2006. I had been reading Heinlein and Rand, and was quickly beginning to accept the belief that liberty is prerequisite for prosperity and security, and not the other way around. Within six months I believed that the state should consist of no more than a court system.

In late 2006 a friend of mine sent me a link to George Reisman’s lecture, “The Future of Liberty”. I loved it. That’s when I discovered mises.org and Austrian economics. I suppose I was a Friedmanite before that time, but I gladly accepted Mises as my new mentor. It was about this time last year that I became an anarcho-capitalist. It was that nagging voice again, demanding that I be consistent. I believed in the Non-Aggression Principle not only as a rational ethic, but also as consistent with Christian doctrine. So starting from that premise, I formulated my own arguments against the state, and came up with a very Rothbardian system of property ethics.

That was about a month before I listened to For A New Liberty and The Ethics of Liberty at work. That was the end of any scraps of statism for me.

Since that time I’ve migrated from “plain” anarcho-capitalism to agorism, as I reject political strategies as viable instruments toward liberty, and believe that a revolutionary strategy is necessary.

So there’s my life story.

9

I used to be an anarcho-syndicalist, council communist, or whatever other term you want to give it.

I pretty much was Noam Chomsky. [:P]

10

I thought Noam Chomsky was a commiediction. BA DUM BUM.

I will never do that again, sorry.

11

From small government conservative to market liberal to “true libertarian”.

12

I was raises in a solidly leftist familly. My mother is a hardcore Democrat, and my father is pretty socialistic, even if he refused to admitt it. My first memory of politics was the 2000 election, durring which I adopted most of my parents beliefs. I was always a voracious reader, and in seventh and eighth grade I discovered the Discworld and Illuminatus series, both of which have a pretty strong libertarian libertarian slant. In 2004, Kerry’s ambivilance towards the Iraq war made me lose my faith in the Democratic party; that year, I started reading the works of Neal Stephenson, which gave a mostly positive description of an Anarcho-Capitalist future, causing me to re-evaluate my belief in democracy. For the next few years, I was a closet libertarian; it wasn’t untill I read Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress that I decided to come out.

13

…Proving again J. Neil Schulman’s saying that science fiction is the best available “hook” to get people interested in libertarian philosophy. Heinlein’s work is probably second to Ayn Rand’s in making libertarians out of the statists that are mass-produced by the public school system.

(My 11th grade English teacher HATED Heinlein.)

14

Interesting. Looks like everyone came from all over the place. And many seem to continue refining there position over time. Thanks for the responses!

15

I should say something more about this - I believe that economic secession is the best compromise between quick and effective action, and non-violence. Not that I’m opposed to another revolution in principle - I just believe it is imprudent. And even justified violence, I think, is best reserved as a last resort.

16

I started out as a strong right-leaning republican. I used to consider drug regulations, prostitution-bans, all that other stuff good things. I voted Bush in the 2004 elections, though more because I didn’t want John Kerry in office than any liking for Bush. I was big on police authority and guns for self defense only. At the same time, I was already very pro-capitalist, anti-government control/regulation. I guess you could say, that even though I was a strong Republican, the basic thought patterns for Libertarianism were always there…many of them instilled by my dad who has a lot of Libertarian leanings, and - believe it or not - reading the bible and attending a Christian school for middle school and high school.

I started moving to libertarianism after taking Intro to Microeconomics at George Mason University about a year and a half or so ago now. My professor was one Rustici (can’t remember his first name off the top of my head for the life of me), and he was a big-time libertarian. The course books were Carl Menger’s Principles of Economics, Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson, Ludwig VonMises Economic Policy, and (of course) the standard Microecon textbook. The recommended reading for the course was the novel Atlas Shrugged, which I still need to finish reading (I just haven’t been able to stick with it). Regrettably, at the time, I didn’t really start getting into it until the last three or four lectures in the class. Then he started talking about all sorts of political economics, including tarriffs, minimum wage laws, environmentalism, big government, et cetera. The one that really started to hook me was the third to last lecture where he talked about rent controls. He showed footage from rent-controlled areas of New York and other major cities, mixed in with footage from Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Hamburg, Dresden, and a few other cities that had been nuked, carpet bombed, or fire bombed during World War 2. He asked the class to tell the difference between places that were destroyed to cash in on insurance and avoid rent controls and places that were bombed in WW2. Not one person in the class could tell the difference consistently. That really got the gears turning in my head that maybe government isn’t exactly the best of things. At the end of the course, I was almost hooked, and then that Spring I started hanging out with a gaming group on campus that included a couple of anarchists, several libertarians, and a few libertarian-leaning republicans. From then on, I’ve pretty much been hooked. As I’ve done more and more research, I’ve moved deeper into the libertarian view, and now straddle the fence between minarchism and anarcho-capitalism.

17

Used to be very liberal up until about a month ago. Voted Gravel in the primaries. I always thought liberals were better on the social issues like drug decrim, letting gays marry, etc. But I also thought that government could solve economic problems with a wave of its wand. Then I started reading up here on Austrian economics, Hoppe in particular was very influential for me. Then I found Molyneux and have been devouring most of his youtube vids. And that’s about where I am today, full fledged anarcho-capitalist.

18

I was politically apathetic until I discovered libertarianism and became politically active. My family was not strongly political, and I wasn’t either. I just wasn’t interested. Discovered libertarianism in my early 20s (AFTER college). Earliest influences were Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman, although I’ve been firmly anarcho-capitalist for almost ten years now.

19

I’m not sure if there was a definition for what I was. I was an ultranationalist with a social darwinist / eugenic twist. But I was also an individual anarchist, as odd as it sounds. Basically I was really angry and wanted the world to work the way I thought would be best.

After that I went through an odd spritual phase, which, again, is difficult to define. Basically is was barebone Buddhism without the Buddha and all the extras. I came from that with a rather strong live and let live approach to life and that naturally lead to libertarianism (if that label still means anything…).

20

I’d say that I’ve been a libertarian for most of my political life. Having parents that voted for Browne twice, I grew up in a suitable environment for libertarianism to develop. However, I consider the degrees of libertarianism to have changed, mainly over the last year. From supporting Ron Paul’s campaign, I found Tom Woods’s Politically Incorrect Guide to US History, through which I found Lewrockwell.com, which had many archives which led me to perfect my libertarian positions.