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Libertarianism for Beginners
Libertarianism isn't about winning elections; it is first and foremost a political philosophy--a description of how, in the opinion of libertarians, free people ought to treat one another, at least when they use the law, which they regard as potentially dangerous. If libertarians are correct, the law should intrude into people's lives as little as possible, rarely telling them what to do or how to live.
A political and economic philosophy as old as John Locke and John Stuart Mill, but as alive and timely as Rand Paul, the Tea Party, and the novels of Ayn Rand, libertarianism emphasizes individual rights and calls for a radical reduction in the power and size of government. Libertarianism For Beginners lays out the history and principles of this often-misunderstood philosophy in lucid, dispassionate terms that help illuminate today's political dialogue.
A political and economic philosophy as old as John Locke and John Stuart Mill, but as alive and timely as Rand Paul, the Tea Party, and the novels of Ayn Rand, libertarianism emphasizes individual rights and calls for a radical reduction in the power and size of government. Libertarianism For Beginners lays out the history and principles of this often-misunderstood philosophy in lucid, dispassionate terms that help illuminate today's political dialogue.
176 pages, ebook
First published April 12, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 18, 2023
A guy holds a gun to your head, threatening to kill you unless you hand over your wallet. You shoot the person. He dies. Do you feel like a monster? I don't. What if you find out he's just a teenage "kid" who made a bad choice. What if you find out his gun didn't even have bullets and he was just using it to threaten you? Do you feel like a monster?
I had this discussion with a group of strangers at a hostel this summer, and I was the only one who said no, I am not a monster. In all these scenarios, he knew what he was doing, he chose to threaten someone's life, he should be prepared for the consequences. The minute someone violates my basic right to my body and my survival, whatever consequences he reaps are HIS. Even if the gun is empty, if he is ready to threaten someone's life, he should be prepared to get his life threatened back.
I found it fascinating that everyone else at the hostel didn't seem to value their right to their own life that much. Violating someone's life and survival is the worst offense a single person can commit against another person, in my opinion. And yet, people are ready to make excuses for the person holding the gun. They would feel guilty for defending their own life and to me that is unbelievably strange.
Now I see that the right to your own body, your activities, survival, property, choices, your right to your own autonomy is a political view that is controversial. For this reason I am reading this book!
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Finished the book. I think this is a good overview of the different libertarians factions and the common thread that connect them: property rights. This might sound like a limited issue but it extends to most things in life, and to the most important personal right: your right to your own self ownership. Your right to choose how you live your life, how you earn money, what you do to your body, what social contracts you engage in, etc.
After finishing this book I understand suddenly that way more people around me fall into the category of libertarian thinking than I thought, even if they don’t know it. People against a government's surveillance of its citizens for instance, is a pretty libertarian view. Many people have this view and probably don't know that they are aligned with libertarian thinking, because this political philosophy is still a somewhat outsider political view.
Living in a pretty socialist country for four years is largely what has turned me away from any optimism I had toward socialism. The government has so much control and surveillance in order to “protect” and “help” people. It comes down to a few people at the top of the hierarchy telling all of society what to do. For instance no one is allowed to work on Sundays in order to “protect” people from working too much. Ok, and how about people like me who like working on weekends and having free time in the week to visit museums when they’re empty? It doesn't matter, the government would like to "protect" me against my will.
Women aren’t allowed to sell their eggs or be surrogates because it’s “degrading” to use her body for someone else’s ends. Ok, according to who? The few random people at the top who have way too much power, that’s who. How about the women who don’t find it degrading? Do they get to decide? No, the government decides for them.
I think socialism always boils down to a few people at the top deciding what’s “best” for everyone, as if this is objective and as if people are all the same and have the same needs. Of course that’s false. Some people want do work at night, on weekends, and don’t need the government to protect them from their own preferences.
I always saw personal autonomy as the core human right. The right to choose what you do with your life, what happens to you, what you participate in. I never realized that there was a political party that is centered around this idea, but it exists and it’s libertarianism.
Of course libertarianism is complex, there are subsets with differing views, like: minarchists, anarcho-capitalists, paleo libertarians, liberaltarians, conservative libertarians, left libertarians, classic liberals, etc.
This book is a good starting point for seeing what these different viewpoints stand for, and what their arguments actually are. The way outsiders describe libertarianism is totally different from how they describe their own views. It's always better to hear about the viewpoint from the source instead of listening to someone else's rendition (and possible strawman argument) of the political view. This book references many philosophers, books, and magazines that are good references for my future reading.
I had this discussion with a group of strangers at a hostel this summer, and I was the only one who said no, I am not a monster. In all these scenarios, he knew what he was doing, he chose to threaten someone's life, he should be prepared for the consequences. The minute someone violates my basic right to my body and my survival, whatever consequences he reaps are HIS. Even if the gun is empty, if he is ready to threaten someone's life, he should be prepared to get his life threatened back.
I found it fascinating that everyone else at the hostel didn't seem to value their right to their own life that much. Violating someone's life and survival is the worst offense a single person can commit against another person, in my opinion. And yet, people are ready to make excuses for the person holding the gun. They would feel guilty for defending their own life and to me that is unbelievably strange.
Now I see that the right to your own body, your activities, survival, property, choices, your right to your own autonomy is a political view that is controversial. For this reason I am reading this book!
——————————————————————
Finished the book. I think this is a good overview of the different libertarians factions and the common thread that connect them: property rights. This might sound like a limited issue but it extends to most things in life, and to the most important personal right: your right to your own self ownership. Your right to choose how you live your life, how you earn money, what you do to your body, what social contracts you engage in, etc.
After finishing this book I understand suddenly that way more people around me fall into the category of libertarian thinking than I thought, even if they don’t know it. People against a government's surveillance of its citizens for instance, is a pretty libertarian view. Many people have this view and probably don't know that they are aligned with libertarian thinking, because this political philosophy is still a somewhat outsider political view.
Living in a pretty socialist country for four years is largely what has turned me away from any optimism I had toward socialism. The government has so much control and surveillance in order to “protect” and “help” people. It comes down to a few people at the top of the hierarchy telling all of society what to do. For instance no one is allowed to work on Sundays in order to “protect” people from working too much. Ok, and how about people like me who like working on weekends and having free time in the week to visit museums when they’re empty? It doesn't matter, the government would like to "protect" me against my will.
Women aren’t allowed to sell their eggs or be surrogates because it’s “degrading” to use her body for someone else’s ends. Ok, according to who? The few random people at the top who have way too much power, that’s who. How about the women who don’t find it degrading? Do they get to decide? No, the government decides for them.
I think socialism always boils down to a few people at the top deciding what’s “best” for everyone, as if this is objective and as if people are all the same and have the same needs. Of course that’s false. Some people want do work at night, on weekends, and don’t need the government to protect them from their own preferences.
I always saw personal autonomy as the core human right. The right to choose what you do with your life, what happens to you, what you participate in. I never realized that there was a political party that is centered around this idea, but it exists and it’s libertarianism.
Of course libertarianism is complex, there are subsets with differing views, like: minarchists, anarcho-capitalists, paleo libertarians, liberaltarians, conservative libertarians, left libertarians, classic liberals, etc.
This book is a good starting point for seeing what these different viewpoints stand for, and what their arguments actually are. The way outsiders describe libertarianism is totally different from how they describe their own views. It's always better to hear about the viewpoint from the source instead of listening to someone else's rendition (and possible strawman argument) of the political view. This book references many philosophers, books, and magazines that are good references for my future reading.
May 14, 2017
What is Libertarianism all about? This book attempts to give the answer.
Quoting from the book, it is a "political philosophy that emphasizes individual rights, including strong property rights, and the radical shrinking or abolition of government (since government routinely interferes with your use of your body and property)." A person can do what they want with their body or possessions as long as they don't use someone else's body or possessions without their consent.
Victimless crimes, like using drugs (without physically injuring anyone else) or watching pornography are not grounds for arrest. How do we pay for public services without taxes? By imposing voluntary user fees; the people who actually use the service should pay for it. Government has taken over the task of providing aid to the poor, destroying networks run by poor people themselves. In some cases, government has imposed restrictions on private charities, making their job much more difficult.
There are many different types of libertarianism. Objectivists, followers of Ayn Rand, reject anarchism, religion and other parts of conventional morality. Minarchists believe in a minimal, limited state that consists of little more than police, courts and purely defensive military. Left-libertarians advocate the abolition of the state and of other unequal relationships, like between landlords and tenants, bosses and workers and traditional husbands and wives.
This is a pretty painless introduction to libertarianism. It might take more than one reading to understand the whole book; the effort will be well worth it. Yes, this is recommended.
Quoting from the book, it is a "political philosophy that emphasizes individual rights, including strong property rights, and the radical shrinking or abolition of government (since government routinely interferes with your use of your body and property)." A person can do what they want with their body or possessions as long as they don't use someone else's body or possessions without their consent.
Victimless crimes, like using drugs (without physically injuring anyone else) or watching pornography are not grounds for arrest. How do we pay for public services without taxes? By imposing voluntary user fees; the people who actually use the service should pay for it. Government has taken over the task of providing aid to the poor, destroying networks run by poor people themselves. In some cases, government has imposed restrictions on private charities, making their job much more difficult.
There are many different types of libertarianism. Objectivists, followers of Ayn Rand, reject anarchism, religion and other parts of conventional morality. Minarchists believe in a minimal, limited state that consists of little more than police, courts and purely defensive military. Left-libertarians advocate the abolition of the state and of other unequal relationships, like between landlords and tenants, bosses and workers and traditional husbands and wives.
This is a pretty painless introduction to libertarianism. It might take more than one reading to understand the whole book; the effort will be well worth it. Yes, this is recommended.
April 20, 2016
It's probably best that I preface this review with the caveat that I'm a close friend of the author, whom I've known for years. That said, I like to think of myself as relatively objective when it comes to these things. As a fellow libertarian-who at times strongly differs from Mr. Seavey-I can appreciate the scope of the task he's set before himself with this book. Namely, explaining a (relatively) recent philosophy which seems to contradict what most people have been taught throughout their formative years, i.e. the ministrations of the state and its agents are not only beneficial but perpetual, and extricating the government from human relations would inevitably lead to disaster.
Libertarianism for Beginners deconstructs these two myths while simultaneously explaining why eliminating collectivist distortions of the free market will benefit both individuals and society as a whole. I look at this book as an antidote to the years of misguided public education most Americans have experienced, which emphasize the national greatness model of history, while overlooking the calamitous results of the grand social engineering that's been undertaken in order to "advance" humanity. Seavey lucidly and succinctly explains the historical precedents for libertarianism, how modern libertarian philosophers and economists expanded upon classical liberal theory, and the rationale for embracing liberty and self-governance as an operating philosophy.
He provides the connective tissue between the 'novel' theories of libertarian contemporaries and the revolutionary ideas enunciated by liberal thinkers dating back to the Enlightenment, and demonstrates the continuity between those who have always sought to liberate individuals from the unnecessary and hobbling influence of the state, whether in the form of kings and dukes or modern government bureaucrats. This is a book that is simple without being simplistic-the visual aides are a deft touch-which illuminates seemingly esoteric economic and philosophical concepts in a way that both the novice and diehard libertarian can appreciate.
Libertarianism for Beginners deconstructs these two myths while simultaneously explaining why eliminating collectivist distortions of the free market will benefit both individuals and society as a whole. I look at this book as an antidote to the years of misguided public education most Americans have experienced, which emphasize the national greatness model of history, while overlooking the calamitous results of the grand social engineering that's been undertaken in order to "advance" humanity. Seavey lucidly and succinctly explains the historical precedents for libertarianism, how modern libertarian philosophers and economists expanded upon classical liberal theory, and the rationale for embracing liberty and self-governance as an operating philosophy.
He provides the connective tissue between the 'novel' theories of libertarian contemporaries and the revolutionary ideas enunciated by liberal thinkers dating back to the Enlightenment, and demonstrates the continuity between those who have always sought to liberate individuals from the unnecessary and hobbling influence of the state, whether in the form of kings and dukes or modern government bureaucrats. This is a book that is simple without being simplistic-the visual aides are a deft touch-which illuminates seemingly esoteric economic and philosophical concepts in a way that both the novice and diehard libertarian can appreciate.
August 22, 2020
This was a good book because it introduced me to the core concepts behind Libertarianism. Rather, I should say the core concept (singular), because it seems that Libertarianism can really be reduced down to the idea that no one should infringe on another person's "property rights". I definitely agree with this philosophy, but as the saying goes, "The devil is in the details". What exactly are property rights (body, land, finances, intellectual)? Who is considered a person (fetuses, mentally ill, senile)? The answers to these questions are what separates Libertarianism into several factions that are split on various answers to these questions as well as to what extent the government should exist after answering these questions. Some libertarians feel that the governments only job should be the enforcer of property rights, in which case the government should be reduced to essentially a mercenary organization that we all pay to ensure that our property rights are protected.
I really wish this book would've talked more about how property rights can be applied to different topics. One of the final chapters gives a paragraph to several different subjects (such as prisons and abortions in a Libertarian view), but I would've preferred to have whole chapters about those subjects instead of chapters about the history of Libertarianism.
I really wish this book would've talked more about how property rights can be applied to different topics. One of the final chapters gives a paragraph to several different subjects (such as prisons and abortions in a Libertarian view), but I would've preferred to have whole chapters about those subjects instead of chapters about the history of Libertarianism.
October 27, 2025
This book is a primer for those dissatisfied with the two-party system in the United States.
What this book excels in is providing a descriptive overview of Libertarianism, a political ideology often disregarded and discounted from the political process.
It does a good job of presenting its arguments, proponents, and lineages to give the reader a balanced understanding of its viewpoints.
What this book excels in is providing a descriptive overview of Libertarianism, a political ideology often disregarded and discounted from the political process.
It does a good job of presenting its arguments, proponents, and lineages to give the reader a balanced understanding of its viewpoints.
July 13, 2017
I think it could have been organized a little better (to the point where the organization effected my understanding of the topic), but it was still super helpful.
March 6, 2025
A decent primer on things libertarian.
March 1, 2017
I wish I could give this book less than a star. It read like a term paper that had to be a certain word count. Poorly written and obviously biased.
June 11, 2018
I won the book through a giveaway on goodreads. Todd Seavy provides a brief but thorough introduction of Libertarianism through informative methods rather than persuasive methods, yet it is his objective approach towards this political philosophy that is ultimately the most persuasive. The Libertarian Party is unfortunately still widely unappreciated. This small political party manages to remain consistent with its beliefs by holding only three core values: all humans have the right to life, the right to liberty, and the right to own property. Every other matter within Libertarianism branches off of these three basic rights. Libertarianism for Beginners includes a timeline of the Libertarian school of thought, biographies of several influential members, popular questions and answers directed towards Libertarian values, and descriptions of the 'hows' and 'whys' of the main values of this party. This book gives a satisfactory introduction through the most effective means possible.
June 24, 2016
Maybe I'm not a beginner.
This was a fine book that briefly explained libertarianism and the different factions of it.
I have been confused, and still am, at how liberal-libertarians support their views. But I suppose to an anarcho-libertarian, a conservative-libertarian is equally confusing.
There was a lot of repetition in the book. Someone would be mentioned and explained and then there was a pull-out that said the same thing in the biographical sketch.
I read the Kindle version of this. I compliment the format. The cartoons were readable. So often, things like that are rendered unreadable on the Kindle. Good job!
Anyone who has developed political thoughts and has looked into libertarianism probably already knows the bulk of this book. It's an easy read and it's nice to hear it formally presented: all stems from property rights, more or less.
This was a fine book that briefly explained libertarianism and the different factions of it.
I have been confused, and still am, at how liberal-libertarians support their views. But I suppose to an anarcho-libertarian, a conservative-libertarian is equally confusing.
There was a lot of repetition in the book. Someone would be mentioned and explained and then there was a pull-out that said the same thing in the biographical sketch.
I read the Kindle version of this. I compliment the format. The cartoons were readable. So often, things like that are rendered unreadable on the Kindle. Good job!
Anyone who has developed political thoughts and has looked into libertarianism probably already knows the bulk of this book. It's an easy read and it's nice to hear it formally presented: all stems from property rights, more or less.
July 8, 2016
For those wanting to get a quick introduction to Libertarianism, look no further than this book. This is definitely for the lay-person new to political ideas. There is definitely a feeling of 'yeah, but....' for some points raised, but this is an introduction, not a complete thesis. He covers the history of Libertarianism, notable people, basics of Libertarianism, and common questions raised to Libertarians. I loved this book and will definitely recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about this third party option in American politics.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews