what's the difference between liberals and libertarians?

Answer 1

In a nutshell:

Libertarians favor maximum individual rights and economic freedom

Liberals favor group rights and wealth redistribution

Answer 2

All liberals – as well as some adherents of other political ideologies – support the form of government known as liberal democracy, with open and fair elections, where all citizens have equal rights by law. Liberalism rejected many foundational assumptions that dominated most earlier theories of government, such as the Divine Right of Kings, hereditary status, and established religion. Social progressivism, the belief that traditions do not carry any inherent value and social practices ought to be continuously adjusted for the greater benefit of humanity, is a common component of liberal ideology. Liberalism is also strongly associated with the belief that human society should be organized in accordance with certain unchangeable and inviolable rights. Different schools of liberalism are based on different conceptions of human rights, but there are some rights that all liberals support, including rights to life, liberty, and property.

Libertarians generally do not oppose force used in response to initiatory aggressions such as violence, fraud or trespassing. Libertarians favor an ethic of self-responsibility and strongly oppose conscription and the welfare state, because they believe coercing someone to provide charity and military service is ethically wrong, ultimately counter-productive, or both. Apart from some very basic principles favoring personal freedom and free markets, there is not a canon of "official" libertarian beliefs. Libertarians may disagree with other libertarians over specific issues. For example, they may differ over abortion issues, and some support the U.S. invasion of Iraq while some oppose it. There is a distinction between a libertarian and a member of a Libertarian Party, the latter of which would be called a Libertarian with a capital l, as not all libertarians agree with any particular libertarian organization's platform.

Answer 3

Classical liberals, such as Locke and Rousseau, argued that people created governments through a social contract, delegating some of their powers to the government, and expecting the government to protect most of their rights. (They also expected the government to provide what the markets could not, but economists gradually whittled this down).

Classical liberalism contained certain inconsistencies. It derived government from social contract and property from labor, but actually-existing states and land-claims often derived from past conquests - from theft, not from agreement or labor.

By the middle of the 19th century, the classical liberal tradition had led to:

1- A tendency which emphasized both free association and what can be called free dissassociation, questioning or denying that the state reflected a social contract, and denying that property reflected just acquisition.

2- A tendency which argued that markets had fewer failures, and less room for monopolies, than the earlier classical liberals had thought. They often attributed monopolies, and the associated differences in wealth and power, to state intervention.

3- A tendency which argued for more state intervention than the earlier classical liberals had supported. They often attributed monopolies, and the associated differences in wealth and power, to market processes.

(Many of those in the first group were market socialists (e.g. Proudhon), non-market socialists (e.g. Bakunin) or communists (e.g. Dejacque) as well, though others (e.g. Hodgskin) were not.)

From the 1840s through the 1920s, "anarchist" and "libertarian" were the most common descriptions for the first group, and "liberal" described the latter two groups.

From the 1930s to the present, the latter two groups took opposing positions on the New Deal in the US. Since the New Deal supporters, from the third group, became known as "liberals," the market-oriented critics, from the second group, started calling themselves "libertarians."

Thus "liberalism" and "libertarianism" each refer to multiple movements.

Answer 4

Despite what you THINK of what liberals want, they aren't too different from libertarians.

Both want equal rights for all, less intrusiveness by our government, and a government which works for the people, not big business or special interest groups.

Neoconservatives like Dead Marxist and scorch believe that liberals want welfare--when in FACT it is they who desire the welfare.

Welfare is the result of poor economic conditions which results in people from not making enough to make ends meet.

Do you think that those 47 million people here in the US--who are in poverty WANTED to be on welfare?

No. All they want is the same rights and chances everyone else gets in making a decent living. But unfortunately, or nation is divided by the "haves" and the "have-nots".

And most of these nuts whom think the opposite, whom believe that they are deserving because they are loyal Republicans--are the same people whom are hurting financially and socially.

They blame liberals for their faults because they won't take responsibility for their own failures.

As for their claims of liberals wanting to curb liberties and free speech...?

Look at what the root definition of what being LIBERAL means. It surname is "liberty"--not "slavery".

Libertarians operate on the same principle--while the conservatives of this day and age believe in intrusive government, restricted rights, HUGE deficits, and endless war for profit.

Answer 5

Liberals believe in giving all of the responsibility to the government for example nationalizing healthcare and creating a large welfare system. libertarians are the polar opposites, they believe in stripping down the government or as the common phrase goes the government that governs least governs best.

Answer 6

Common sense.