Argumentative Essay On Libertarianism

Libertarianism is a theory of justice that focuses on making sure people can do what they want with their property as long as it doesn’t interfere with someone else’s ability to do what they want (Sandel 59-60). To work, libertarianism is based off the idea that humans have basic rights, such as Locke’s rights to life, liberty, and property, or the Jeffersonian substitute of property for pursuit of happiness. Essentially, libertarianism wants to make sure the government does not interfere with said rights unless it is absolutely necessary and in the utmost minimalistic way possible. This means libertarians oppose laws to protect people from themselves, instilling of certain virtues, and redistribution of wealth (Sandel 60). For example, libertarians would oppose seatbelt laws, students being forced to say the pledge of allegiance, and a progressive tax plan for the reasons above, respectively. The idea that individuals control their own decisions and have wide-reaching rights is critical to the libertarian philosophy. Part of Locke’s aforementioned right to life and liberty include the right to do what you want with your life. For instance, if someone wants to smoke marijuana

From a libertarian perspective, the government is violating my rights as a human being if the government is regulating the economy, thus specifically breaching my right to pursuit of happiness. Accordingly, this notion frequently encompasses that taxation is a form of theft and forbids people from using that money and investing it at their choosing. Robert Nozick, a famous libertarian philosopher, goes as far as arguing that taxation is a form of slavery (Sandel 65). Since the government takes a certain percentage of someone’s paycheck, Nozick argues that the government owns part of the individual. This is based in the core libertarian belief that people are entitled to the rewards of their work (Sandel