Just wondering what peoples thoughts were regarding if there should be considered a “home team” use of the word on this forum; and if so why, what, and how far can the term be “stretched” out.
We should be careful to distinguish between “libertarian” with a lowercase “l” and “Libertarian” with the uppercase “L”. The Libertarian Party may be the best that we have, but the party doesn’t always have the same positions as the Mises community.
The situation is further complicated by slightly different international connotations.
The trouble I have with the term is that there’s no inherent distinction between minarchists and anarco-capitalists.
I often refer to myself as an Austro-libertarian when talking to people. It sometimes helps.
“The trouble I have with the term is that there’s no inherent distinction between minarchists and anarco-capitalists”
Yeah, even though Rothbard used libertarianism as a synonym for anarcho-capitalism, it seems that most now associate libertarianism with minarchism (Stossel even said a few weeks ago that libertarians don’t want “no government”).
I have started using anarchism more to describe myself because then I often get something like “but don’t you think that would mean chaos?” and then that gives me a chance to explain the Rothbardian vision of a state-less society to them. If you say you’re an ancap or a voluntarist, the next question is always “what’s that?” so just saying anarchist saves a step.
The situation is further complicated by slightly different international connotations.
Very true. Lefties like Noam Chomsky often like to talk about how libertarianism is supposedly an anti-capitalist ideology outside of the Americas. Unfortunately, I think this also comes into play when anarcho-capitalists have misgivings about using the term “capitalism” to describe their beliefs.
God that sounds nerdy.
If you’re going to refer to yourself as an Austro-libertarian in circles that are not “in,” be prepared for the inevitable response:
“I didn’t know you’re Australian!”
haha
There are worse things than being thought of as a minarchist. Here in the States, now that Democrats are running the show in D.C., conservatives have started calling themselves “libertarians.” And a lot more people listen to Glenn Beck than frequent mises.org. The term libertarian has become tainted beyond redemption by conservative impostors.
To me, Libertarian is a word meaning a member or adherent of the various political parties around the world with such names, the US one being the most well known and prominent. The word libertarian means two things. It means a left-wing anarchist in Europe and it’s most culturally close colonies (Australia and New Zealand, for instance), and elsewhere it means a propertarian with roots in classical liberal political philosophy, though the latter meaning has been creeping through political parties and philosophers from other nations entering into Europe and it’s colonies.