LIBERTARIANISM by John Hospers The Original Book that Inspired the
Worldwide Political Movement John Hospers on What Libertarianism
Is: 1) No one is anyone else's master, and no one is anyone else's
slave. 2) Other people's lives are not yours to dispose of. 3) No
human being should be a non-voluntary mortgage on the life of
another. Dr. Hospers sees these as three versions of the same
absolute right of personal liberty. In other words, assuming we are
talking about mentally-able individuals, no person can make their
life better by reducing the liberty of another person. For the same
reason that slavery is wrong, it is equally wrong to involuntarily
deprive others of their time or money. The basic human rights of
life and liberty cannot exist without a right to property. The
benefits I create for myself are MINE, and to take them away (or to
make me work for another's benefit without my consent) is wrong.
RIGHTS are ONLY to be understood as involving duties of forbearance
or restraint. In other words, so-and-so's right to property is
nothing more than the duty that others have to refrain from taking
that property for themselves. Rights belong naturally to us. Rights
are not something given to us by governments. Rights are claims
that we make AGAINST governments If I have a right to benefit from
my own labor, then the government is wrong to take any of those
benefits from me without my consent. "The only proper role of
government ... is that of the protector of the citizen against
aggression by other individuals." Because governments has the role
of "protector," government must possess enough force/power to
protect its citizens (e.g., by having a police force and/or
military and a related system for punishing or neutralizing those
who practice aggression against others). Aggression against others
includes unintended harms to others. Government also has a role in
deciding and settling claims of harm by others. Other than
providing for these legitimate functions, government has no right
to tax its citizens for any purpose whatsoever. Government should
intervene only in a RETALIATORY situation. The government must
never INITIATE an action to create a better world -- it is not the
business of government to make an advance decision about what
counts as benefit. Through laws, government can prohibit various
aggressive actions, but it cannot require the bringing about of
supposedly beneficial ones. Government charity, social programs,
public works, etc., require one person to pay for the benefits that
another person will receive. However, doing this through
involuntary taxation is theft of property. LIBERTARIANISM by John
Hospers The POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY WHOSE TIME HAS COME "For many
decades, news reports on the intellectual activities of the younger
generation have been confined almost exclusively to advocates of
statism and collectivism. Only recently have there appeared the
first acknowledgements, in the newspapers, of a rising interest
among the younger generation in political philosophy that stands in
radical contrast to this authoritarian trend: Libertarianism. "Now,
Professor John Hospers, Director of the School of Philosophy of the
University of Southern California, has given us, in his latest
book, a clear statement of the central political-economic positions
of this young intellectual movement. The book is offered, not as an
original work of philosophy, but rather as an attempt to delineate
the major positions on which most Libertarians would agree -- and
to answer many of the objections and questions with which
Libertarians have to contend. "Libertarianism is very simply and
clearly written and requires no technical knowledge on the part of
the reader. Enjoyable, informative reading." - Nathaniel Branden,
Author of THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SELF-ESTEEM
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