In the US, do Libertarians , who are keen to claim their rights?

Question

as keen to respect their responsibilities?

uh! Delete 'or', insert 'are'. My apologies.

uh! Delete 'do', insert 'are'. My apologies.

Answer 1

I honestly don't really know what Libertarianism is all about, but I think the vast majority of people trumpet their rights WAY before they think about their responsibilities.

Answer 2

I associate Libertarians as one who wants little government and therefor any social benefits must be seek elsewhere. I am not sure what motivates someone of this philosophy - do they just want low taxes or have a fear of Big Brother, perhaps a need to do it yourself as if they were a back woods hunter from 200 years ago. Perhaps they feel public sector like churches or volunteers will do the work of organized government. Regardless if they have little government they may feel they have less responsibilities as there are no formal demands on them. Perhaps our republic should either become a democracy of one vote per person and majority rules or the concept of a benevolent dictatorship. I guess this is your dilemma - as you brought up the question - so I'll ask you what is a Libertarians respect to responsibilities?

Answer 3

Hey John. You seem a little confused. Libertarians are all about responsibility. Individual responsibilities (rather than a nanny government) is the fundamental concept that underpins Libertarianism.

Best wishes.

Answer 4

The idea of true freedom is based on responsibility. Anyway, we don't "claim" our rights. We live them. If we aren't allowed to live them, we fight to TAKE them back. We don't fight in wars we consider unjust, stupid, or unnecessary, and we reserve the right to choose to decide the merits of a war before pitching our lot in. These are my opinions.

Really, though, to get an accurate answer to this question, you'll have to ask a whole lot of Libertarians. Thousands. Millions, maybe. Just like you'd have to ask thousands of Democrats, or thousands of Republicans.

I don't think you'll get a meaningful sample this way. You certainly won't get a statistically valid social cross-section.

Are you sure you don't already have a pretty strong opinion on this? Could it be that you were preaching, rather then asking a question?

Try to deprive a libertarian of his rights, and see what happens.

Answer 5

Who is defining those "responsibilities"?

Because I think those very "responsibilities" are one of the core differences between, say, Democrats or Republicans, and through-and-through Libertarians.

I'm sure Libertarians will accept every responsibility their beliefs allow, but probably not every responsibility someone else defines for them.

Answer 6

Libertarians are all about personal responsibility and accountability! We don't want big government making our decisions in life or taking our hard earned money away to pay for some idiot crack smoking welfare abuser! We can better invest and spend our own money and make our own decisions in life!

I respect my responsibility to not infringe on others freedoms while working hard to make things happen for the better in my life, I don't expect any government help. You need to research your facts about libertarians alittle better there John!