controlled by white male citizens was to be attacked,
defeated, and transferred to oppressed peoples. Power
structures in government, business, education, the
military, and the church were to be abolished or
restructured (with affirmative action, etc.) to transfer
authority to the dispossessed “peoples of color.” This
caused a reaction from the more CONSERVATIVEpoliticos
(e.g., the REPUBLICAN PARTYunder President Ronald REA-
GAN) and EVANGELICAL Christian churches (e.g.,
BAPTIST), which reaffirmed the preeminence of values
such as FREEDOM, PROPERTY, and the TRADITIONALrole of
men in society. By the turn of the 21st century, libera-
tion theology had lost much of its influence in the
world as conventional democratic movements spread
in Latin America, but its values continue in many Lib-
eral circles.
libertarian
A 20th-century (primarily U.S. and British), RIGHT-
WING, political IDEOLOGYand movement, akin to ANAR-
CHISM and LIBERALISM, that advocates little or no
government and absolute INDIVIDUALsocial, economic,
and moral FREEDOM. Libertarians such as Robert NOZ-
ICKassert that it is not legitimate for the state (1) to
tax some people (the wealthy) to help other people
(the poor) or (2) to declare illegal activities (such as
drug use and prostitution) that have no victim
(except the individual participating in those activi-
ties). In other words, libertarians would end all taxes
except those needed to fund the minimal legitimate
state functions (police and defense) and eliminate all
laws against victimless crimes. This radical individual,
personal freedom and antistatism emerges from a
Lockean view of human nature as materialist, inde-
pendent, free, and possessing NATURAL RIGHTSto life,
liberty, and property that no government can take
away. The ideal society for libertarians, as outlined in
Nozick’s book Anarchy, State and Utopia, is of free,
autonomous individuals relating to each other on a
voluntary, consentual basis with minimal interference
from the state. Allied with LAISSEZ-FAIRE CAPITALISM,
libertarian views gained popularity with some CONSER-
VATIVEbusiness people and REPUBLICANPARTYmembers
(such as President Ronald REAGAN). In Britain, Con-
servative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher espoused
some libertarian sentiments. Besides Nozick, leading
libertarian writers include economists Milton Fried-
man, Ludwig von Mises, Frederick von HAYEK and
Murray Rothbard, and novelist Ayn Rand. An earlier
U.S. SOCIAL-DARWINISTphilosopher, William Graham
SUMNER, expressed quasi-Libertarian ideals in the 19th
century. Much like EXISTENTIALISM, libertarianism sees
humans as essentially alone, enjoying both the free-
dom and responsibility that nature gave them. State or
social coercion violates that individuality and should
be eliminated.
Critics of libertarian thought assert that it is an
inaccurate representative of human nature (which is
social and collective) and of contemporary society
(which is corporate and interdependent). At worst,
critics of libertarian views assert it is selfish and hedo-
nistic, an ideological justification of greed and license
for the rich and powerful to exploit the weak and poor
and to avoid their social responsibilities.
As an actual social movement, libertarianism is a
small group; a Libertarian Party in the United States
routinely runs presidential and other official candidates
for election, but they never win. More significant is the
ideology’s influence on the conservative probusiness
wing of the U.S. Republican Party. There, it has man-
aged to reduce taxes on the rich and regulations on cor-
porations. The morally conservative CHRISTIAN RIGHTof
the Republican Party has counteracted its effects on
lifting laws against victimless crimes, however.
Libertarian ideology is largely an extreme version of
traditional liberalism, which conditions but does not
control modern democratic thought.Further Readings
Machan, Tibor R., ed. The Libertarian Alternative: Essays in
Social and Political Philosophy.Chicago: Nelson-Hall Co.,
1974.
Narveson, Jan. The Libertarian Idea.Philadelphia: Temple Uni-
versity Press, 1988.
Newman, Stephen L. Liberalism at Wits’ End: The Libertarian
Revolt Against the Modern State.Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Uni-
versity Press, 1984.
Rothbard, Murray N. The Essential Von Mises,4th ed. South Hol-
land, Ill.:Libertarian Press, 1980.
Von Mises, Ludwig. Planning for Freedom and Sixteen Other
Essays and Addresses.Libertarian Press, 1974.liberty
Like FREEDOM, political liberty means unrestrained,
uncontrolled individual thought, action, and choice.
Emerging in the Western world with the philosophical
LIBERALISM of Thomas HOBBES, John LOCKE, and John
Stuart MILL, liberty becomes a premier social value inliberty 187