Is there a difference between someone who is very liberal and a libertarian? Or are they the same?

Question

I am just trying to determine someones political views and wondered if the two are the same or are they different, and if different, how?

Answer 1

Libertarians are against big government. Liberals like big government.

EDIT: Conservatives are against big government, and believe it is the liberals trying once again, to force their morality onto government.

Conservatives and libertarians both favor military strength.

Answer 2

Momorecas... has the only answer so far that even comes close to explaining the difference between liberals and libertarians. Libertarians believe that the federal govt should be returned to its constitutional roots; national defense, both foreign and domestic. The libertarians are the true liberals!!!! The modern liberal believes that the govt is 'supposed' to provide for everyone's welfare and pay for it by taking money from the workers at gunpoint via local law enforcement or the military (our present tax code). Their policy of national defense is that war is wrong at any cost and if the results aren't immediate, then the whole thing wasn't justified. Does not this sound a bit like socialism?
Unfortunately, the direction our government is taking is towards socialism, a system that has so far failed in every place that it has been attempted.

The government has never made things easier for the people and libertarians believe that they should do so by getting out of the way of private industries that can do it more efficiently.

The liberals want higher taxes and the libertarians want low taxes if any, but will settle for the fair tax as this would remove the politicians from being influenced by lobbyists wanting tax breaks

Answer 3

Well, examples of libertarian ideology can be found in both ruling parties...libertarians are for limited government, and fiscal responsibility...or what the republicans USED to espouse. They believe in every person's rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of hapiness. That could include laws that force businesses to be handicap accessible, so handicapped people can ALSO have the right to those things, typically ADA is assoc. with liberals. Tehy believe in limited law and intervention in people's lives. And what laws are made should be left up to the local and state governments. Libertarians would make no laws prohibiting abortion or gay marriage. Libertarians don't believe that war is a good thing...it cost's too much, and tends to infringe on rightsa guaranteed by the constitution. Liberal and conservative definitions have been muddied troughout the years, and can be confusing. those of us who believe in TRUE conservatism, the kind that was invented by Goldwater, and espoused by republicans BEFORE the religious right hijacked the GOP, tend to assosciate themselves with libertarians...

Answer 4

Libertarians are probably the closest party we have to the original founding fathers. They are strict constitutionalists as well as capitalists. They believe the federal government is there for defense and lawmaking, not regulating our lives or businesses. They are equivalent to the "classic" liberal.

The neo-liberal is what liberals are today. They believe in big government to regulate businesses and to help the less fortunate. Neo liberalism began with FDR.

Libertarians used to vote along Republican lines in the days when Republicans were true fiscal conservatives. In today's world, however, it's more difficult to find true fiscal conservatives, that are also willing to support our constitution and stay the hell out of our personal lives.

Answer 5

Yep liberals and libertarians are on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Liberals think government can save everything and should be involved with every aspect of your life. While libertarians shun the government and government control. They believe the government is only there to protect you from others infringing on your natural freedoms. Nothing more.

Answer 6

Libertarians believe in practically no central government control. They believe in the smallest government possible.

Liberals want huge central government to protect the extreme behaviors of people on the edges of society.

Answer 7

There are really two kinds of Libertarian: Left-Libertarian and Right-Libertarian. Left-Libertarians don't like the government controlling our sex lives, prohibiting what substances we may ingest, or preaching religion at us. Right-Libvertarians mostly don't want the governement to regulate business. At all.

Conservatives like Big Government, too, just for different aims. Like regulating our private lives.

Answer 8

a libertarian believes in freedom in almost all its forms and being free from the state control in almost all matters

a liberal or what is now know in modern america as a liberal, is generally a person who believes the government should be involved in nearly every aspect of an individual's life and they attempt to tax the public to death to accomplish this