Thoughts on Liberty: Aunt Merryweather: What is Left Libertarianism?

Source:The New Democrat

The way Aunt Merryweather describes left-libertarianism, is how social liberalism is described and what social liberalism is. I use to see myself as a Classical Liberal, or even Liberal, which is what this blog is about for the most part. And then I read up on so-called Social Liberals and social liberalism. And the way that is put is people who believe in both individual freedom, both personal economic. But they also believe in using government to expand freedom for people who are struggling. You can call that the safety net, or social justice.

So after reading up on Social Liberals and social liberalism, I thought to myself, you know what I’m a Social Liberal. I didn’t like that term before, because when that term is used today that is the way you would describe a Social Democrat, or Democratic Socialist, or even Progressives of today. People who believe in not only a supersize welfare state, even if that means less income for people individually with higher taxes, but a nanny state. To make sure people are living healthy and not making bad decisions with their own personal lives.

If more Americans would just read up on social democracy and democratic socialism and then looked at their own politics and realized they believe in both personal and economic freedom. And don’t want a big government to try to manage their own lives for them economically, or personally, they would realize that they’re Social Liberals as well. Because they believe in a safety net and social insurance, but that those things should be for people who truly need them. Not big enough to try to run people’s lives for them. And only be left with mindless decisions over their own affairs. Without being able to take any risks with their lives.

I’ve never thought of myself as a Libertarian, even though I tend to be with Libertarians on 99% of the social issues generally. And even a lot of the economic issues. Because again it gets to role of government. I don’t want a big government, but I want a government effective enough to protect the innocent from predators who would harm them intentionally, or otherwise. Which includes, law enforcement and national security, but also a regulatory state not to run business’s for the people, but again to protect the innocent from predators. So products are being made safely and for the consumers as well. And today’s so-called Libertarians, don’t seem to have much if any role for government at any level.