What do libertarians believe?

Answer 1

This is the short version,

Libertarians believe the government is best which governs least. They believe in only as much government regulations as are absolutely necessary. Typically they are described as economically conservative and socially liberal. They believe the government should not regulate business and should not regulate a persons private life.

Answer 2

Simply put?

Libertarians believe in the freedom of everything so long as you dont use force or fraud to get it.

I dont think I can make it any simpler then that.

Answer 3

The underlying principle of libertarian belief is the non-aggression principle. This basically states that it is immoral to initiate or threaten violence against another or his property.

Harry Browne was one of the best spokesman for the libertarian philosophy. Numerous articles of his are archived at his website. If you wanted to research libertarian philosophy regarding a specific topic take a look at his list of articles, http://www.harrybrowne.org/TopicalIndex.htm

LewRockwell.com ( http://www.lewrockwell.com ) is the leading libertarian website. Here's how some of the writers there have summarized libertarian philosophy:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/molyneux/molyneux29.html
Although libertarianism is generally considered a radical doctrine, the primary task of the libertarian is to continually reinforce the basic reality that almost everyone already is a libertarian. If we simply keep asking people if they are willing to shoot others in order to get their way, we can very quickly convince them that libertarianism is not an abstract, radical or fringe philosophy, but rather a simple description of the principles by which they already live their lives.


http://www.lewrockwell.com/barnwell/barnwell58.html
We believe as George Washington did. No entangling alliances, war with none if possible, and trade with all. The United States is indeed a great country and instead of being viewed internationally as a belligerent schoolyard bully, we should use our power, wealth, influence, and ideas to promote trade, peace and stability. I understand that these are hippy words to the "realists" who believe that protectionist sanctions and destructive wars are the only way to change society, but we see what a truly great job they’ve done since the end of World War II and how they stubbornly refuse to acknowledge reality in the present.


http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig7/joffe1.html
Libertarian ideology rests on a single pillar: the non-aggression axiom. Reasoning in a wholly consistent manner from this one principle, we derive an economic system that fosters widespread prosperity and a legal system that comports with man’s nature as a rational being. To me, the beauty of libertarianism is that it’s consistent, utilitarian and moral – all at once.


http://www.lewrockwell.com/edmonds/edmonds286.html
People in my political camp – usually called libertarians, paleolibertarians, or anarcho-capitalists – who espouse a completely voluntary societal order, base our political belief on one principle in particular: that it is absolutely morally wrong to initiate force (or fraud) against another cognitively competent human being. (I specify "cognitively competent" because few of us believe it would be wrong to grab a two-year-old who is running into the street.)


http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north408.html
The libertarian creed can now be summed up as (1) the absolute right of every man to the ownership of his own body; (2) the equally absolute right to own and therefore to control the material resources he has found and transformed; and (3) therefore, the absolute right to exchange or give away the ownership to such titles to whoever is willing to exchange or receive them. As we have seen, each of these steps involves property rights, but even if we call step (1) "personal" rights, we shall see that problems about "personal liberty" inextricably involve the rights of material property or free exchange. Or, briefly, the rights of personal liberty and "freedom of enterprise" almost invariably intertwine and cannot really be separated.


http://www.lewrockwell.com/shaffer/shaffer95.html
To those who do ask, I tell them that my social and political philosophy comes down to a very simple proposition: to not trespass upon the person or property of another. Such is the essence of my "extreme crackpottery!"


http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory27.html
libertarians often get a bum rap for our alleged insistence that the free market can immediately solve all of life’s problems. This is a mischaracterization. Libertarians don’t believe the free market is a god-like panacea, only that it is by far the best and most humane economic system possible in the real world, and that central planning always leads to disaster and human suffering.