Introduction to Classic Liberalism

Understanding classical liberalism is essential to understanding libertarian thought. At first glance, the sheer span of history and number of thinkers is downright daunting. Who are all these people? Is the Austrian school an actual place? Who came up with these weird names?

Fortunately, the educational foundation LearnLiberty has put together a concise and informative set of videos to introduce the five main branches of classic liberal thought. Dr. Nigel Ashford of the Institute for Humane Studies walks us through the major principles, thinkers, and long term influence of each branch. I've included the video on the Chicago school of economics below:

You can watch the entire playlist here.

The Nolan Chart

If you're going to consort with libertarians (at all), you're going to encounter the Nolan Chart. It's best that we get this over with.

This is the Nolan Chart. I hope you like it, because you're probably never going to escape it.

The idea behind the Chart is that a simple left/right spectrum doesn't adequately describe the groupings of political thought. In an attempt to rectify this, David Nolan grouped issues into two categories: economic and personal, which form the chart's dimensional axes. The further out along an axis an individual falls, the more freedom they believe people should have regarding those aspects of their lives.

Libertarians, as the name might suggest, support freedom in both areas. Conservatives tend to be annoyed that we support social freedoms, liberals tend to get annoyed when we push free markets. Everyone tends to be annoyed when libertarians won't shut up about how significant using two dimensions is.

The Nolan Chart isn't perfect. It doesn't measure philosophy or attitude. Consequently, people with enormously different perspectives might get similar results on political quizzes--especially the simpler ones--that use the chart as part of their evaluation. Many people have tried to improve upon this design, and there have been many other attempts to develop multi-dimensional political references. You can read about some of these over on Wikipedia and choose which variation is your favorite.

Libertarianism and other 'isms'

One of the first questions people ask about libertarianism is where does it stand on the political spectrum? Is it liberal, conservative, or moderate? 

Libertarians, or course, will tell you it's none of them (or worse, all of them). This may seem dismally cryptic, but bear with me: it isn't that complex. You see, libertarianism doesn't conform to a traditional political spectrum running from liberals on the left to conservatives on the right. Libertarians take the better aspects of all these views, and combine them into a philosophy for maximum freedom.

Liberalism, as a political philosophy, developed in the wake of the Enlightenment. Eighteenth and nineteenth century liberals advocated civil rights, laissez-faire domestic policy, and the sovereignty of the individual. Classic liberalism is in these ways the forerunner of today's libertarianism. Liberalism, however, has taken a different route, pushing for the government to provide expansive welfare and sponsorship of the arts and sciences. Modern liberals nominally support civil rights and personal freedoms, though just how dedicated they are to these is up for debate.

The other major school in American political thought is, of course, conservatism. In many ways, American conservatism is a distillation of those same liberal ideals, but more strongly coupled with traditional morals. American conservatives generally advocate balanced budgets, limited government, capitalism, Judeo-Christian ethics, and a powerful military, though their commitment to the former three items is tenuous at best.

Many people identify as "moderates" to avoid choosing between these not-so-attractive alternatives. Moderation is often conflated with centrism, which draws on the good ideas from both left and right. In a sense, libertarians are centrists, defending personal freedoms and civil rights, as well as limited government and free market economies. However, many libertarians are also radicals who want significant changes in the social, economic, and political spheres. Thus, libertarians are radical centrists, working towards major reforms, largely within the existing system.

Neither truly left nor right, neither truly moderate nor extremist, libertarians draw on the best parts of modern conservatism and liberalism to build a coherent, integrated, and just philosophy. Individual libertarians may hold more liberal or conservative views, we may have different preferences on certain issues, but we are bound together by our love and dedication to freedom and the rights of the individual.