I know I could have probably looked this up with a search engine but its more fun to hear what the good people of lemmy have to say

  • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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    16 hours ago

    Keep in mind that a lot of political words are contentious and can have multiple definitions.

    But in the broadest senses, a libertarian would be someone who orients their politics towards the pursuit or protection of liberty. This can take many forms. In the US at least, many libertarians tend to focus on reducing government interventions in their lives, opposing things like taxes, gun control, abortion and speech restrictions, etc.

    Anarchists could be considered a subset of libertarians. However, they go much further in that they believe in the total abolition of the state. Most anarchists also believe in the total abolition of all relationships involving the domination of people by other people. This typically includes things like racial hierarchies, gender hierarchies, or even hierarchies over children.

    So a quick distinction might be that libertarians want a minimal state while anarchists want no state.

    • Taalnazi@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      Should also add that a lot of libertarians in reality tend to be more of the “I want the freedom to repress others” people, eg wanting homeschooling (which can increase abuse), opposing measures that would improve every person’s quality of life (such as universal healthcare) etc.

      Anarchists on the other hand, tend to be more often on the socialist or communist kind, in where they favour the abolition of hierarchy and thus favour an egalitarian society, by abolition of private (but not personal) property.

      • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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        14 hours ago

        Yeah there is a weird contingent of libertarians who are very close to just fascists who hate taxes. It’s very weird but I attribute it to the political magnetism of Trump and similar fascist leaders.

        They aren’t all like that though.

    • Bobr@lemmy.libertarianfellowship.org
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      13 hours ago

      Good summary :)

      Just my 2c regarding

      opposing things like taxes, gun control, abortion and speech restrictions, etc.

      Opposing abortion is not a libertarian policy, it is a conservative policy. So conservative libertarians hold this opinion because they are conservative, not because they are libertarian. Your example is probably still correct though, because you say it is about US, and I guess in US lots of libertarians are indeed conservatives.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      14 hours ago

      political words are contentious and can have multiple definitions have been assigned new made-up definitions for us to ignore .

      FTFY

    • Canaconda@lemmy.ca
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      15 hours ago

      So a quick distinction might be that libertarians want a minimal state while anarchists want no state.

      Aka house cats and yappy dogs.

      • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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        14 hours ago

        Or maybe it just doesn’t answer the question lol.

        “I’m downvoted, it must be because I’m right!” is a very silly conclusion.

          • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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            14 hours ago

            I never claimed to endorse that view. You certainly can be downvoted for speaking truth. That’s just not the case here.

            Usually this is the case when you are polite and articulate but get no serious replies and only downvotes.

            When you post a snarky one-liner that ignores the question at hand in favor of some belligerent tribal attitude, that’s just a low quality comment that belongs at the bottom of the thread.

              • Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                11 hours ago

                Offended by weak trolling? No. You haven’t done anything offensive, just idiotic. It’s sad to see someone try so hard to annoy others and fail. Trolling is easy as fuck and you can’t even do that right.