88
votes
Is there objective proof that Jo Jorgensen stopped Trump winning, like a right-wing Ralph Nader?
TL;DR: It's a virtual impossibility, but mathematically possible. If Trump won a large majority of Libertarian votes, he could have won key states. Four states are in play. One combination gives him a ...
- 7,146
86
votes
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Does this argument against healthcare as a right not apply to a "speedy and public trial"?
One difference is that the trial (and, behind it, criminal prosecution and legal punishment) is something the state is organising for its own purpose in the first place. The right to a speedy trial is ...
- 30.5k
66
votes
Is defunding the police compatible with a libertarian mindset?
To summarize the Defund the police position, it starts with observing that the (US) police is designed and trained to employ violence, and that a majority of situations where currently the police ...
- 12.7k
58
votes
Under Chicago School economics, will monopolies naturally go away?
There is not an invisible market force that makes monopolies go away. In fact, the longer that a monopoly operates unabated, the more reserve cash it accumulates, the more it refines its ...
- 4,899
58
votes
Accepted
Is Libertarianism left wing or right wing?
The first important thing to notice is that political labels mean different things in different parts of the world and in different points of time.
In contemporary US politics libertarian is usually ...
- 2,717
50
votes
Accepted
What do Libertarians mean when they say that ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), in the long run, leads to fewer people with disabilities employed?
I'll try to give a more concrete example. As with @bharring's answer, I am giving the argument, not endorsing it.
Alice is looking to hire a computer programmer. Bob is a fully qualified Deaf computer ...
- 3,049
46
votes
Is Libertarianism left wing or right wing?
Libertarianism is neither Left nor Right-wing. It's on a spectrum opposite of Authoritarianism. So, as you go further towards Authoritarian, you want more and more government control and intervention ...
- 567
43
votes
Does this argument against healthcare as a right not apply to a "speedy and public trial"?
The right to a speedy trial just means that the prosecutor may not delay the trial unreasonably. The prosecutor is not actually required to provide a trial. The trial is a requirement to keep the ...
- 89.3k
41
votes
Is defunding the police compatible with a libertarian mindset?
Police and Marxism
The idea of Marxism is is not inherently anti-Police. In fact it is hard to fathom how a "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" could be successful in the long-term without ...
- 74.8k
36
votes
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Under Chicago School economics, will monopolies naturally go away?
As requested in comments, converting my own comments to a brief answer:
First of all, there's no generic concept of "monopoly" and thus libertarian views on such will vary. The following ...
- 91.8k
36
votes
Accepted
How would libertarianism deal with deceptive contracts?
Perhaps the single, most fundamental principle within libertarian thought is voluntarism. Almost all other libertarian ideals (freedom of contracts, autonomous judgement, informed consent, individual ...
- 12k
35
votes
Accepted
How would a libertarian model address widely spread negative externalities (such as CFCs)?
Same way CFC problem was addressed. As you will notice if you look at the detail of the issue (e.g., this blog post - which is overall very pro-regulation and pro-environmentalism and aggressively ...
- 91.8k
26
votes
How do libertarians see people that have an illness that they cannot afford treating by themselves?
What you are asking for is government charity. Libertarians don't believe in government charity but in private charity. So the person would have to raise money privately.
Another alternative is ...
- 89.3k
25
votes
How would a libertarian model address widely spread negative externalities (such as CFCs)?
If someone was concerned about this impact (and no generous billionaires step up to fix it out of the goodness of their hearts) they'd first need to be able to quantify and qualify said impact in a ...
- 17.2k
24
votes
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Why does the libertarian party earn so few seats?
Because most (all?) US states vote for individual representatives on a district-by-district basis.
In order to get a person into a state senate or state assembly, that person needs to run in one ...
- 74.8k
23
votes
Does this argument against healthcare as a right not apply to a "speedy and public trial"?
The linked article defines "rights" in a particular way and then goes on to argue that "healthcare" cannot be a right under that definition.
This is akin to the "No True Scotsman" fallacy.
Hamish ...
- 115k
23
votes
Why isn't it a woman's choice to be a prostitute?
There are countries which legalize prostitution, citing an argument just like yours. The line between serving a drink in a sexy outfit and serving a drink and a lap dance is thin. However:
Some ...
- 106k
23
votes
What do Libertarians mean when they say that ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), in the long run, leads to fewer people with disabilities employed?
The ADA is being criticized on 3 main points.
First, it puts the burden of expenses accommodating a disabled person on the employer, with no or insufficient compensation (such as tax breaks).
Second, ...
- 2,574
21
votes
What do Libertarians mean when they say that ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), in the long run, leads to fewer people with disabilities employed?
First, the ADA is a lot more than tax breaks. It legally requires "reasonable accommodations" for disabled people. There are a lot of details and caselaw on what exactly that means, but the ...
- 1,333
16
votes
Accepted
How do Libertarian political thinkers address self harm?
Suicide (or more generally, self-harm) has been a difficult moral subject for libertarian philosophy. In earlier times, self-harm was held to be a moral evil. So the possibility of a moral philosophy ...
- 23.8k
15
votes
Under Chicago School economics, will monopolies naturally go away?
All the examples of monopolies that I have found are created by the government, or at least aided by it in large ways. Are there any counterexamples? If not, why not?
As you note, one possibility is ...
- 89.3k
14
votes
Accepted
Why did Friedrich Hayek support Universal Basic Income
Hayek never explained his support for UBS outright. However, it's unquestionable that he firmly supported UBS.
The closest we come to an explanation is a quote from "The Public Sector and the Private ...
- 91.8k
14
votes
Is Libertarianism left wing or right wing?
Semantic Drift makes political terms meaningless (or at least greatly diffuses their meaning) over time. This is especially true of -isms. For example, Thomas Jefferson was a Liberal and he would be ...
- 1,583
13
votes
What is the difference between libertarianism and anarchism?
Libertarian with a big L is an official political party in the United States that seeks to get candidates elected similar to Democrats and Republicans.
Libertarians with a small l are people with an ...
- 6,014
13
votes
Accepted
What did Ayn Rand mean by " men’s rejection of reason in favor of faith, and of self-interest in favor of self-sacrifice."?
This quote is actually misattributed to Rand - in fact, it was written by Leonard Peikoff in 2008 in the introduction to a new edition of We the Living. He wrote:
The basic cause of totalitarianism ...
CDJB♦
- 105k
13
votes
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What is the libertarian solution to the antibiotic resistance caused by massive use of antibiotics in agriculture?
So, what do libertarians think about that problem?
Most libertarians hold nuanced views and don't see the world as entirely black-and-white, just like moderate members of most other ideological ...
- 52.6k
12
votes
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Are Libertarians for or against prohibitions on insider trading?
Many libertarians think insider trading should be allowed. One argument goes like this, information will allow people to make money, but if insider trading is prohibited, then the people making the ...
- 11k
11
votes
The rights of the majority over the minority in a libertarian society
No
As a general rule, libertarianism is opposed to changes imposed by majority rule over the objections of a minority. The more likely solution in this case would be for the nine homeowners to buy ...
- 89.3k
11
votes
Under Chicago School economics, will monopolies naturally go away?
What do you mean by counter examples in point 2? Monopolies broken up by the government would be the opposite of examples created by the government. Microsoft of the early/mid 90s is an obvious ...
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