Libertarianism

If you go to my facebook profile, and look under Political preference, you might notice that I have stated I am a libertarian. Many people do not know what a libertarian is, so I will try to explain briefly why I have labeled myself in this way.

As a libertarian, I think that the most important aspect of human life is individual liberty. Liberty is an anchor point to the whole philosophy of libertarianism. I consider that the French enlightenment was the single greatest achievement in our history.

I believe that human beings should be free to do whatever they wish with their lives and their bodies. However, I also believe that this liberty is unrestricted to the extent of harming or interfering with other people's liberties. For example, if you wish to use heroin on your body, it is your choice. There should not be an organism that tells you that you should or shouldn't do a certain behavior. But, if you decide to steal, cheat, hurt or damage, then you are obviously interfering with other people and their liberties.

Some people associate libertarianism with anarchism. Although many libertarians are anarchists, I do not consider myself one. I think that anarchism does not work because many human beings will not own up to their responsability. However, I do think that the size of the government should be reduced to the minimum possible.

A libertarian like myself, will usually believe that freedom (both economic and personal) is the one and most important thing to safeguards. Some people wrongfully think that libertarians harbor populist and marxist beliefs. This is utterly and completely false. Libertarianism is the exact opposite of communism and socialism. While these philosophies seek for a state that will adminstrate the economic and personal freedom of it's individuals, libertarianism seeks the exact opposite.

As a libertarian, I believe that a woman has the right to choose whether she has an abortion or not. Drugs should be legalized (all of them), and many other laws that infringe on people's rights to choose what they do or don't. This does not mean that I am in favor of abortion or that I wish to do drugs. It only means that I think each person should have the right to choose. (It is not everyday you will encounter someone like me who is for the legalization of all drugs and has never used any illegal substance).

To have the freedom to do something that may harm you does not mean that you will necessarily do it. It means that you value freedom more than "safety". And to me, that is the single most important part of being human.