Non-Libertarian FAQ: About

Description



This article is from the Libertarian FAQ, by Joe Dehn jwd3@dehnbase.fidonet.org, Robert Bickford rab.AT.daft.com, Mike Huben mhuben@world.std.com and Advocates for Self-Government http://www.self-gov.org/ with numerous contributions by others.

35 Non-Libertarian FAQ: About

The purpose of this FAQ is not to attack libertarianism, but some of the
more fallacious arguments within it. That done, libertarians can then
reformulate or reject these arguments. This is also needed to help people
place libertarianism and its arguments in context. It is very hard to find
any literature about libertarianism that was NOT written by its advocates.
This isolation from normal political discourse makes it difficult to
evaluate libertarian claims without much more research or analysis than most
of us have time for. Compare this to (for example) the extensive literature
of socialism and communism written by ideologues, scholars, pundits, etc. on
all sides. Libertarianism is scantily analyzed outside its own movement.
Let's fix that.

This particular FAQ is mostly a personal view of libertarianism. It is
impossible to have an objective view of something like libertarianism, and
it would be a mistake to presume this FAQ is. (Or that the FAQs written by
proponents are.) It is also impossible for this FAQ to represent all the
opposing positions to libertarianism, though I hope to see many future
contributions from others. One notable failing (common to many libertarians
as well) is that this FAQ is rather US-centric. All statements in this FAQ
can be argued further by both sides, and indeed most have in several answers
to this FAQ. However, feel free to save a copy of this FAQ and cite from it.
It may not be ultimate truth, but it can be a starting point for answers to
libertarianism.

The editor and primary author, Mike Huben , has 20 years experience in
debate over electronic networks. Much of that has been with religious
believers and creationists, and this colors some of the arguments and
examples. No judgement or personal offense is intended, though there is a
substantial amount of ridicule of arguments (based in large part on my
belief that it is the most effective antidote to pompous argument.) I
welcome recommendations for alleviating offense while retaining the sense
and humor of the arguments.

This FAQ is an unfinished work. Vast sections have yet to be created: as in
talk.origins, we might expect perhaps 20 FAQs to eventually result. Only the
first major section (Evangelism) has been written and included here. This
FAQ is written in HTML, then converted to plain text for posting.