I have gotten many requests over the years to have a show that lays out the basics of Libertarianism – Libertarian 101 so to speak. In honor of the 800th Anniversary of the Magna Carta this week, I decided this Saturday’s show would be a great time to do it. I want to include “Ask the Libertarian” and “5 Biggest Myths About Libertarianism” and hope to start with your comments…so I ask you, what do you want to know or think people should know about Libertarians…anything goes!
You can email me through the tab at the top of this page or just comment at the bottom of this post below. I’ll also read facebook posts and tweets if you prefer, and of course taking calls – call with a question or, if you’re a Libertarian, help me lay it all out 🙂
404-872-0750 and 800 WSB TALK this Saturday 3PM-6PM ET on www.wsbradio.com or 750AM/95.5FM.
4 thoughts on “"Ask the Libertarian" & "5 Big Myths About Libertarians"”
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Based on the current political scene, your William Graham Sumner quote appears to be an accurate prediction of our political future. That said, which way are current Libertarians going? Bernie Sanders or Rand Paul??
Libertarians do not believe in laws or law enforcement just natural law. That would be fine if everyone had a high moral standard. It does not take a that doesn’t exist. Without laws and I’m not saying their all perfect but without them we would left to follow each one in his own eyes to what is right. Than it come down to gangs of people enforcing their views on the weak.
As you’ve seen on your Facebook page about this, I think you should talk about the existing debates that occur within libertarianism itself. There is this myth that libertarianism is monolithic – that ALL libertarians think the same way about X issue, Y problem, or Z solution. You can touch on five well-known schools of thought within libertarianism as an example of this debate: Milton Friedman and the Chicago School, Public Choice, the Austrian School, Natural Rights, and Anarcho-Capitalism (with a brief description of the differences between David Friedman’s anarcho-capitalism vs. Murray Rothbard’s anarcho-capitalism). (I used this video series from Learn Liberty as an inspiration for choosing these five schools of thought: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc7ucjtzdHg). Even then, there is still a debate on what it means to be a “classical liberal” or a “libertarian” as emphasized by Jason Jewell (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlCEzoyhIj4) and Richard Epstein (http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2014/03/richard_epstein_2.html).
Also, since you’re talking about the Magna Carta, you should comment briefly on the debate within libertarian circles as to just how significant it was. For instance, discuss how you crazy anarcho-capitalist types aren’t satisfied by it (but y’all are NEVER satisfied, anyway :P), as exemplified in these two articles…
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/06/bionic-mosquito/legitimizing-the-state/
https://mises.org/blog/magna-carta-and-fantasy-legal-constraints-states
…and yet, how other libertarians can hold it up as a testament to the triumph of liberty over tyranny, as these links show:
http://fee.org/anythingpeaceful/detail/war-and-taxes-what-prompted-the-magna-carta
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2015/05/nicholas_vincen.html
This just goes to show you just how diverse the range of opinions and arguments can be among libertarians. That said, you can wrap it all up by discussing many of the similarities among these differing schools of thought and how, at the end of the day, we should ALL be happy if we’re finally able to get government tangibly smaller than it currently is – no matter WHO is doing the arguing.
The Law is so easy to read. If you don’t want to get bogged down by a long book, Bastiat has condensed the principles of economic freedom for you.