Brian Doherty: Inside The Book of Modern Libertarianism

"Brian Doherty provides a concise, thorough account of the intellectual roots of the American libertarian movement, with helpful summaries of key figures, institutions, and events. A superb introduction for the newcomer, yet rich and varied enough for others interested in the tradition, "Modern Libertarianism" is a tribute to those who advocated for the cause of political liberty in America in the 20th century." 

Source:Libertarianism.Org with a look at Brian Doherty's book.

From Libertarianism.Org

From Amazon: 

"In this lively new history, Brian Doherty provides a concise, thorough account of the intellectual roots of the American libertarian movement, with helpful summaries of key figures, institutions, and events. Modern Libertarianism effortlessly combines historical insights and intellectual profiles of important figures―including Ludwig von Mises, F. A. Hayek, Ayn Rand, Murray Rothbard, Milton Friedman, and Barry Goldwater―and key institutions such as the Foundation of Economic Education and the Mont Pelerin Society.

A superb introduction for the newcomer, yet rich and varied enough for those steeped in the libertarian tradition, Modern Libertarianism is a tribute to those who advocated for the cause of political liberty in America in the 20th century." 

From Amazon

For those who want a serious definition of libertarianism: 

"Libertarianism (from French: libertaire, itself from the Latin: libertas, lit. 'freedom') is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values.[1][2][3][4] Many libertarians conceive of freedom in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according to which each individual has the right to live as they choose, so long as it does not involve violating the rights of others by initiating force or fraud against them.[5]

Libertarians advocate for the expansion of individual autonomy and political self-determination, emphasizing the principles of equality before the law and the protection of civil rights, including the rights to freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of thought and freedom of choice.[4][6] They generally support individual liberty and oppose authority, state power, warfare, militarism and nationalism, but some libertarians diverge on the scope and nature of their opposition to existing economic and political systems...

From Wikipedia

No offense to Brian Doherty: this is probably a better definition of what he would call "modern libertarianism:": 

"Anarchism, a political philosophy that advocates for a society without a state or hierarchy

Autarchism, a political philosophy that upholds the principle of individual liberty, rejects compulsory government and supports its elimination in favor of "ruling oneself and no other"

Free-market anarchism a branch of anarchism that believes in a free-market economic system based on voluntary interactions without the involvement of the state; a form of individualist anarchism, market socialism, and libertarian socialism... 

From Wikipedia

If I were to give a serious definition of libertarianism, (and that's a big if) it would be very close to the first Wikipedia article about it that I posted here: someone who believes in the individual and individual freedom over everything else. That means someone who believes in both personal and economic freedom, combined with personal responsibility. And that government is just there to do for the people what the people can't do for themselves: 

National security

Foreign affairs

Law enforcement

Managing the currency

And that the best government is the government that's closest to the people, instead of the Federal Government trying to treat the states and cities as just additional federal agencies, with very little, if any autonomy of their own. 

So the classical definition of what libertarianism is (meaning my definition) is not what you see from so-called Libertarians today. I think the CATO Institute, Reason Magazine, Brian Doherty, are exceptions to the so-called modern Libertarian today. The New Democrat a classical liberal blog (meaning real liberal) because we believe in both individual freedom and personal freedom, as well as personal responsibility. But we believe in limited government, not zero government. 

And people who calls themselves modern Libertarians today... sometimes it's very difficult to see how they differer from Anarchists. It's like you need Superman's political x-ray vision (or something) to see any difference today between a so-called modern Libertarian and let's say a right-wing Anarchist. 

So when I think of the so-called modern Libertarian today (and this is going to sound really insulting to Libertarians) I think of the Hippies from the Silent and Boomer generations from the 1960s and 70s: 

"Along with the New Left and the Civil Rights Movement, the hippie movement was one of three dissenting groups of the 1960s counterculture.[33] Hippies rejected established institutions, criticized middle class values, opposed nuclear weapons and the Vietnam War, embraced aspects of Eastern philosophy,[38] championed sexual liberation, were often vegetarian and eco-friendly, promoted the use of psychedelic drugs which they believed expanded one's consciousness, and created intentional communities or communes. They used alternative arts, street theatre, folk music, and psychedelic rock as a part of their lifestyle and as a way of expressing their feelings, their protests, and their vision of the world and life. Hippies opposed political and social orthodoxy, choosing a gentle and nondoctrinaire ideology that favored peace, love, and personal freedom,[39][40] expressed for example in the Beatles' song "All You Need is Love".[41] Hippies perceived the dominant culture as a corrupt, monolithic entity that exercised undue power over their lives, calling this culture "the Establishment", "Big Brother", or "the Man".[42][43][44] Noting that they were "seekers of meaning and value", scholars like Timothy Miller have described hippies as a new religious movement." 

From Wikipedia

One of the things I love about blogging is that you get to read a helluva lot without having to worry about looking like a nerd. Because it literally a big part of your job. 

The Hippie definition, is what I think of when I think of the modern Libertarian: right-wing Hippies, who just want to be free to: 

do their drugs 

who tell the government to just "give peace a chance" every time there's some foreign conflict going on 

who view law enforcement as part of "The Man" when they're doing their jobs and trying to protect people from predators and keep the peace: "Hey man, I just want to be free to have a good time".

who are complete outsiders not just when it comes to government and politics where they don't even act like they don't even want to be taken seriously by the real world, let alone ever want to govern and have any real political power, (perhaps because they don't believe in government) but to society alone because they just want to be left alone from anyone who has any mainstream American ideas and values. 

As someone who is a Liberal, whose spent a good deal of my career trying to explain to people that liberalism is not only not socialism, but it's not libertarianism either, I believe for political labels to have any real value at all, they have to be used correctly. 

If you want to call yourself a Libertarian, great. But that means you believe in the non-aggression principle. But that doesn't mean you are completely against government at all. 

I think a lot of the so-called modern Libertarians today call themselves Libertarians, instead of Anarchists, is not that different from why some leftists call themselves "Liberals" or "Progressives" because they don't want to be associated with some left-wing political philosophy like socialism and be seen as out of the mainstream. Which is a problem for people who trying to honestly learn about political philosophy, including libertarianism. 

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