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Libertarian ideology is based on the classical liberal tradition that each person has the a priori right to life, liberty, and property. Since you have these ri
by clarkmoody 10y ago
Libertarian ideology is based on the classical liberal tradition that each person has the a priori right to life, liberty, and property. Since you have these rights, you may dispose of your person and property as you see fit as long as you do not infringe upon these rights of another. This leads to the non-aggression principle, which in bumper sticker form is "don't hurt people and don't take their stuff." Basically, the initiation of violence is prohibited unless it is in defense of property or as punishment for a crime.
All individuals in society should be treated equally under the law, including members of law enforcement and others within the government. If I am not allowed to commit violence against you until you have been convicted of a crime, neither should anyone else, whether or not they wear a police uniform. Indeed, libertarianism advocates for private, rather than public, police forces.
> what is the ideology that lacks them
Statism in all forms grants special privilege to members of the government, including the power to tax and hold monopoly on the use of force. The US criminal code is full of exceptions for on-duty police officers, judges, and others, especially regarding firearms laws. Police officers can carry firearms into school buildings where others are guilty of a felony if they do, for instance. Thus you have inequality under the law. Such police immunity is what leads to the abuses we see every day.
- Thimothy 10y agoI'm not arguing against your point, but most western countries manage to have a more or less competent police without such adherence to libertarianism. Maybe is easiest to implement, they have done so.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- Fargren 10y agoThanks for the elaboration. I don't entirely agree with you though. On on one hand you are right, libertarinism does strongly oppose the existence of a state force with rights that common citizens don't have. On the other, many other political mindsets have different sets of checks and balances to avoid this kind of situations. They are all fallible in different ways, and I doubt libertarianism is the exception. At the end of the day a system will follow the morals of those with de facto power, and power will arise even in the face of non-existent power structures.