Power corrupts, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely.

Lord Acton

Libertarians join anarchists in despising bureaucracy and government. Anarchists see giant corporations and big government as twin threats to freedom and as exploiters of labor. Libertarians focus more narrowly on problems posed by government. In the libertarian view, corporate abuses would evaporate if government did not suppress competitive behavior and foster concentrated economic power.

Libertarians, the modern champions of laissez-faire capitalism, prize freedom as the most important social value, and advocate replacing government with the market system wherever possible.

Libertarians see other goals as empty without freedom and constantly look for areas where government can be eliminated. Libertarians would forbid government provision of many goods (e.g., education, public parks and highways, and the postal service), and would abolish all welfare programs, as well as laws governing

 

1.         Drugs, consensual sex between private individuals, and pornography.

2.         Parental rights to control teenagers.

3.         Wages and prices, including utility rates.

4.         Professional licensing or such practices as a military draft.

 

Libertarians view most government action as hindering freedom and advocate markets as efficient and equitable cures for almost all social problems. They would limit government to protecting private property rights and enforcing contracts. Although their numbers are small, many libertarian ideas have been central to the worldwide movement toward greater reliance on markets and shrinking reliance on government.