Liberalism, Libertarianism, and the Welfare State, Briefly

Classical Liberalism

  • Classical Liberalism, set forth by John Locke in 1689, is the view that a fundamental responsibility of government is to protect its citizens’ rights to life, liberty, and property.
    • That you have a right to do X means not just that you’re free to do X but also that the government and everyone else is prohibited from interfering with your doing X.
    • For Locke, government is responsible for:
      • Protecting the rights to life, liberty, and property of its citizens
      • Prosecuting and punishing anyone who violates those rights
      • Pursuing the public good even when it conflicts those rights.
        • (Rights are prima facie, not absolute.)
    • Locke’s argument:
      • God created people with the mission to survive.
      • Therefore people have a right to survive
      • Survival means having life, liberty, health and property. 
      • Therefore people have a God-given or “natural” right to life, liberty, health and property.
  • From John Stuart Mill’s essay On Liberty (1859):
    • “The object of this essay is to assert one very simple principle … That principle is that the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.”

Liberalism and Democracy

  • In a democracy a majority of voters may elect representatives who unjustly restrict the freedom of individuals in the minority, e.g. making interracial marriage a felony.
  • In a liberal democracy rights protect individuals from the tyranny of the majority.

Evolution of Classical Liberalism

  • Classical Liberalism evolved into two views
    • Libertarianism
    • Modern (Welfare State) Liberalism

Libertarianism

  • Libertarianism is the view that the primary role of government is to protect individual rights, in particular the rights to life, liberty, and property. Otherwise, government should stay out of people’s lives and leave the market alone
  • As Robert Nozick puts in in Anarchy, State, and Utopia, the state should function essentially as a “night watchman,” with powers limited to those necessary to protect citizens against violence, theft, and fraud. (britannica.com/biography/Robert-Nozick)

Modern (Welfare State) Liberalism

  • Modern Liberalism is the view that the government should not just protect the rights of citizens but also promote their economic and social well-being, in other words, support the welfare state.
    • Welfare Statism is the doctrine that human beings have a fundamental right to an adequate standard of living, insuring them against the risks and uncertainties of life.  And therefore the state has a moral obligation to provide such a standard of living.
    • The welfare state not only protects individual rights but aslo
      • provides social insurance and social welfare
      • creates (equal) opportunities
      • expands rights
  • britannica.com/topic/liberalism
    • “According to modern liberalism, the chief task of government is to remove obstacles that prevent individuals from living freely or from fully realizing their potential. Such obstacles include poverty, disease, discrimination, and ignorance.”

View The Welfare State, Issue and Arguments

Continuum

Democrats and Republicans

  • The Democratic Party supports the welfare state.  
  • The GOP opposes it. 
  • The GOP tends to be libertarIan on economic matters, supporting free market capitalism.
  • The GOP tends to be anti-libertarian on social matters, e.g. opposing abortion.