What, you ask, is the purpose of  We Are Libertarians?

We have decided to turn back history, shouting STOP, at a time when few are apt to do so. Stop the march of civil liberty violations. Stop the march of government intervention in the free market. Stop the march of legislation that infringes on our natural rights of life, liberty, and property. We have drawn a line in the sand and will fight back against Progressive thought. It takes a special kind of arrogance to believe they, and they alone, have the inside track on history. We say NO.

We Are Libertarians is out of place, in the sense that the welfare state, collectivism, and  social engineering are in place. It is out of place because, in it’s present state, the world has embraced state capitalism and welfare liberalism. America’s ruling class feels encumbered by the tradition of fixed principles. They are plagued by the relationship of the state to the individual, of the individual to his neighbor as delineated in our founding documents. Our goal is to upend that feeling of encumbrance  We wish to show America and the rest of the world, that our founding documents are a source empowerment in shaping the future. We Are Libertarians may be unfashionable, but we are never out of date.

Former Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, a man who cared little for the rights of individuals, once said, “I happen to prefer champagne to dishwater but there is no reason to suppose the cosmos does.” In one sentence he so eloquently captured the appeal of the Progressive movement. It assumes utopia is of this world and man is the architect we have been waiting for. Progressives posit all problems are solved through the proper application of academic expertise and government guidance. The allure of social engineering is great, but attempts end in folly. It is our belief societal ills are righted through individual liberty. All state action is aggressive in nature, and we resoundingly reject the idea government can bring about utopia.

Relativism has made great inroads on the consciousness of society. Global attitudes toward the rights of minorities, gun control,  and economic and civil liberties, have marched hand in hand with the beat of Progressivism. The abandonment of absolute truth is today’s cause célèbre. Natural rights and reason are considered, in the words of Keynes, “barbarous relics”. One only need take a university level liberal arts course to experience the popularity of relativism. Political science, sociology, and economics have all capitulated to the allure of social innovation and grand design. It is our belief that higher education has become the Vatican of the left and the individual has been excommunicated.

Ideas run the world, and Progressive ideologues, having won over the intellectual class, simply created a system of government and education which ensures their running of things. They run just about everything. We share William F. Buckley sentiments when he said, “There never has been an age of conformity quite like this one, or a camaraderie quite like the Progressives”.

Libertarianism, in this world, is not for the faint of heart. When Libertarians aren’t being attacked as heartless egoists by the left, they’re being ignored and oppressed by the right-wing establishment, whose abandonment of principle is impossible to overstate. If you find a way to exaggerate infinity, please write us. Unfortunately for them, we’re fueled by self-replenishing principle and have grown accustomed to life outside the status quo. After all, we were birthed in the blood of heresy and treason.

There are, thank God or science (depending on your persuasion), free thinkers. Individuals with a sincere desire to encourage educated dissent from Progressive orthodoxy and who refuse to accept Marx’s economic determinism as our fate. We march on against Progressivism and it’s leaders who run this world. It’s our raison d’être. All this would not appear to bode well for We Are Libertarians, yet we continue with considerable optimism.

Libertarians are unlicensed nonconformists, and that is a dangerous business in the Progressive world. We continue to see news stories where supporters of the 2nd amendment, critics of government, and truth seekers are placed on government watch lists. Undaunted we continue, because at least we have honorable bedfellows in our constitutional founders. Let our detractors come. The Progressives have a long way to go before they can shut us up at the barrel of a gun.

We have nothing to offer but principle and our best efforts, not the paternalistic warmth of welfare liberalism, nor the familiarity of tradition and custom belonging to conservatism. Progressives who read this may very well label us reactionary and claim our offering lacks appeal. In response to that accusation, we say yes. We are reactionary, in the sense that we wish to return to a time when men were not imprisoned by legislation and their lifestyle was no one’s concern but their own. A time when government’s purpose was to enforce contracts and defend man’s pursuit of life, liberty, and property.

We have an idea of the world we want, but we’re pragmatic in nature. We readily admit it is a long way off. Therefore, our efforts are dedicated to all increases in liberty and all reductions in state intrusion. So it is at this point that we turn back the Progressive march of history. We offer a return to principles that have long since been locked away. Our positions are not burdened by the weight of an enormous government, subject to the whimsy of academic social engineers, and restricted by years of promises to political groups. We do not share the Progressive disdain for human freedom. And that, ladies and gentlemen, makes Libertarians just about the hottest thing in this town…

Among our convictions:

– It is the job of government to protect each citizen’s life, liberty and property. All other activities of government encroach upon freedom and progress. The growth of government is a never ending fight.

– The crisis of our era is the conflict between the social engineers, who believe society is perfectible, and adherents of natural law and individual unalienable rights. We believe man’s pursuit of life, liberty, and property is absolute. Central planners be damned.

– Progressive’s believe history ends in collectivism. We consider collectivism appalling,  oppressive, and against human nature. We find ourselves committed to opposing any policy collectivist in nature no matter how small.

– The greatest danger to the world is the conformity of academic thought from education policy to the arts. Thought leaders are on a mission to insert the latest fads into the lives of each citizen. The intellectual class supposedly welcomes all ideas, but are then infuriated to find out opposing ideas exist. We stand on the side of negative liberties. Citizens and society at large are not guinea pigs for Utopians.

– The biggest threat to global political systems is the trend towards unified global governance. The dominant theme in global governance is Technocracy. This theme is directly related to the march of Progressivism. We endorse spontaneous order. The individual is best suited for determining their decisions and the closer power is to the individual in a political system, the less danger individual freedom faces.

– Laissez-Faire capitalism is necessary to liberty and economic progress. The world economy is under attack from government intrusion and the rise of State capitalism (China). We support free markets and sound monetary policy. Fiat currency creates the boom and bust cycles of capitalism. We need a return to sound monetary policy and the end of government intervention in the economy. Government’s sole economic role should be the enforcement of contracts.

So, we ask, will you stand with us in turning back history?