Flada Blog

Readers who are close observers and who have followed this blog since its inception a whopping (roughly) one week ago may have noticed a few changes here and there. Some of the changes have been obvious and have even meritted an announcement in the “Site News” section of my right sidebar. Others have been less apparent.

One of the items I have changed is the subtitle. Originally, it read “a libertarian’s perspective on politics and life“. Sometime during the week, I reworded it to use the term individualist’s instead of libertarian’s. Shortly after the change, someone asked me “what’s the difference?” It turns out that there’s very little difference.

From Webster’s Online:

Main Entry: lib·er·tar·i·an
Pronunciation: “li-b&r-’ter-E-&n, -’te-rE-
Function: noun
1 : an advocate of the doctrine of free will

Main Entry: in·di·vid·u·al·ist
Pronunciation: -list
Function: noun
1 : one that pursues a markedly independent course in thought or action

Those are both pretty simple definitions. They both boil down to someone who believes that an individual has the ability and right to direct his or her own life, that such individuals are autonomous and subordinate to no one. In a nutshell, they both apply to a person who believes that an individual has the right to own the fruits of that individual’s labor. They both apply to a person who understands that individuals have the right to perform whatever actions they choose with their own bodies and property–provided they don’t violate similar rights held by other individuals.

Unfortunately, there is a problem with the libertarian name because over the last 30 years or so the term has developed certain connotations. For the most part the connotations are completely undeserved, but that doesn’t change the fact that they persist. Several readers who have commented privately about my post Is The Majority Doomed to Minority Status? have held the mistaken belief that libertarians are the same thing as republicans except they want to smoke pot. The fact that many libertarians (myself included) have never touched the stuff does little to sway opinion. Fact is, libertarians could just as easily be accused of being “the same thing as democrats except they want individuals to control their own finances and solve their own problems,” but for some reason you never hear that.

There is one other reason I decided to make the change in my subtitle and I hinted at it in the Majority/Minority article. The other reason is one of association. Small “l” libertarians are constantly pointing out the differences between themselves and the big “L” Libertarians of the Libertarian Party. Frankly, I don’t want to do that here. If nothing else good comes from my writings, I would like to focus on the common ground among those who maintain libertarian/individualist ideals. This is the only way that we can grow as individuals and as a group.

With that being said, call yourself whichever you choose. “I am a libertarian” should never be words spoken in shame.