Brandon Mills

Unlike the two old parties, Libertarianism is not defined by a set of policy positions. It is a coherent political philosophy rooted in Enlightenment-era classical liberalism. We start from a few core principles, and all policy positions are derived by the application of those principles. Furthermore, we believe that these principles apply to everyone. There are no special groups of people who are any more or less deserving of these rights.

You own yourself.  This is a fundamental truth of the human condition. You own your body, you own your thoughts, and you own your time.  No other person or entity can have rightful control over those aspects of your life.  Each of us is a unique individual with our own ideas, passions, priorities, and contributions. This irrefutable fact of self-ownership is the most basic form of property rights.  

You own your property. Because you own yourself, you can choose to trade your time and effort for compensation – which can in turn be converted into possessions.  It is the fact of self-ownership that creates justly acquired private property. Only you should decide how to use the product of your time, labor, and creativity.

It is wrong to use violence against peaceful people.  There is no justification for theft or aggressive violence against others. If someone aggresses against you, you have the right to defend yourself and your property. 

Libertarians often summarize our philosophical framework simply as “don’t hurt people, and don’t take their stuff”.  These are simple and self-evident ideas that the vast majority of people agree with and already live by in their private lives and personal interactions.  Libertarians are different in that we apply these principles to government actors and actions as well. If an action is wrong for a citizen to take, it is also wrong when done by a politician.

Libertarians seek to maximize individual freedoms. We believe in shrinking the size and scope of the government. We aren’t merely interested in reducing the rate of growth – we want to see an absolute reduction in both government spending and governmental authority over the lives of individuals. 

We believe free people build strong communities. Most social problems are better tackled by voluntary cooperation and mutual aid than by government intervention. Free markets pull people out of poverty and create the best opportunities for human thriving. Economic liberties and civil liberties go together hand-in-hand. As Americans, we are used to thinking of ourselves as living in the “land of the free”.  The reality is our freedom has been steadily eroded for decades. Libertarians aim to reverse that trend.