User:MutantPlatypus

<!--

I haven't seen many reliable sources establishing the notability of left-libertarianism to the point that it should be included in the Libertarianism article with equal weight to right-libertarianism. Three encyclopedias of philosophy state right-libertarianism is the most common, yet you insist on removing that information. In an article about libertarianism, it is important that which theories are more common and which are not is established, lest one be given undue weight. None of the discussions I've found in the past have established a consensus. If you cannot provide reliable sources establishing the relative notability of left-libertarianism, you are, in fact, POV pushing (or giving in to someone who wants a POV pushed). Weight pushing may be a more appropriate. I'm just letting you know that, unless I'm shown some solid academic consensus that left-libertarianism is equally notable to right libertarianism, I feel like I'm going to have to take this to formal mediation to get a decision on what is neutral and what isn't.

Libertarianism is a term for political theories that advocate the maximization of individual liberty in thought and action and the minimization or abolition of the state. According to academic literature, libertarianism usually refers to a minarchist philosophy that protects an individual's right to appropriate natural resources. Since the 1890s, in France, the term "libertarianism" has often been used as a synonym for anarchism, and was first associated with a socialist anarchism. The term libertarianism is still used throughout the world as a synonym for anarchism, despite the fact that, (according to English-language sources) it has recently become associated with free market positions.

The free market minarchist meaning comes from the early 20th century United States. Around the turn of the century, the meaning of liberalism began to shift from the old, "laissez-faire constitutionalism" to "New Deal statism", and old liberals began to call themselves market liberals, classical liberals or libertarians to distinguish themselves from the new liberals. Academics as well as proponents of classical liberalism note that it has successfully been propagated beyond the US since the 1970s via think tanks and political parties.

The ambiguity of the word is not limited to just anarchy/minarchy split. Libertarians may also be left or right, and these left-libertarians and right-libertarians have different views on property rights over natural resources. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, right libertarians hold that the resources "may be appropriated by the first person who discovers them, mixes her labor with them, or merely claims them—without the consent of others, and with little or no payment to them." Left-libertarians hold "that unappropriated natural resources belong to everyone in some egalitarian manner." For example, some left-libertarians would "require those who claim rights over natural resources to make a payment to others for the value of those rights."

-->

/Reliable Sources Noticeboard in Action