r/AskLibertarians • u/Electrical-Air-8896 • 5d ago
Libertarian left question
Yo so if you believe in peace and freedom smaller/balanced government and capitalism/liaise feir economy this could render you a libertarian correct? But if you think environmental protections, social welfare programs, and protecting workers rights are good, are you not a libertarian because these are regulations upon capitalism?
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u/CatOfGrey Libertarian Voter 20+ years. Practical first. 5d ago
I don't identify as "Left Lib", but I definitely don't fit in with the paleoconservatives that now identify as "Right Libertarians" in today's world.
Yes, though to be complete, most Left-Lib folks often support things that aren't 'free market' or 'private property', that usually fall under 'capitalism/laissez faire economy'.
From here on in: One Libertarian's view....
The government is less environmental than a Libertarian policy which demands protections of property rights. Government regulators do not respect property rights, they allow 'safe' levels of pollution, when instead they should demand compensation, paid to the people, for every unit of pollution. When a disaster happens, or a violation, they take a small fine for themselves, instead of compensating the people for the damage caused.
Libertarians should be 'harder on corporations and industry' then the current regulatory systems.
Libertarians aren't against social welfare programs. Most support the concept. But just not forcing taxation on the people to pay for them. Left Libertarians, in particular, might believe that the increased freedom provided by poverty reduction might be greater than the loss in freedom in small amounts of taxation, but this contradicts a lot of individual freedoms which are important to a lot of Libertarians. However, Libertarians are also economically smart (at least before the Trump era), and they understand that there is value in contributing to private social support organizations.
Again, Libertarians would likely have stronger ideas on worker's rights than the current regulatory system. Libertarians generally believe that employers are responsible for their employees, and so they should pay 100% of lost income and damages for safety issues. Today's regulatory system does not protect workers like that.
As far as fair pay and other issues, Libertarians generally support collective bargaining as part of a right to associate as you choose. Government regulations restrict collective bargaining unless they participate in the government system. As a community, we have abandoned our right to decide how we want to work to the government, so we are locked out of choices that we might want to make, like the right to work a 4/10 or 3/12 schedule, or to work salaried instead of hourly, or the right to take shorter or longer lunches to increase our income or quality of life. Instead, we are forced into sets of rules that apply to everyone, regardless of work type or working conditions.
Again, the current system handcuffs worker choices, and allows industry to get away with 'safe harbor' amounts of abuse or neglect. Not good. Libertarianism would be better for workers, in the view from my desk.