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Libertarian Stereotypes

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Libertarian Stereotypes
There are certain stereotypes about libertarians that hold some truth. Many people who followed this movement, do so only to advance a personal agenda and do not follow the whole ideology. There are a couple of people in this group who only use the label “libertarian” just to agree with Democrats and Republicans. Also, some individuals joined just so they could spout anti-government hate. For example, Alex Jones associated himself with libertarians just so he could get attetion to his cause. He runs an entire news channel on misinformation or scare tactics so he could influence other people to follow him. This group is known to also have a couple of nut jobs here and there, but at the end of the day, it should not take away from their core principles for which libertarians stand for. …show more content…
It is a misconception that these people assume from criticisms libertarians have about government. People assume since this group is so critical about government that libertarians do not want any form of government. However, that is simply untrue. Michael Shermer outlines the basics of what it means to be a libertarian in his online article “The Case for Libertarianism” when he states “But, basically, libertarians are for freedom and liberty for individuals, and yet we recognize that in order to be free we must also be protected. Libertarianism is grounded in the Principle of Freedom: All people are free to think, believe, and act as they choose, as long as they do not infringe on the equal freedom of others”. Being a libertarian simply means wanting to maximize individual freedom and minimize government intervention which is also why being libertarian is not synonymous with being an anarchist. An anarchist wants no government as opposed to a libertarian who just wants a limited

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