Home     Conscientious Objector Menu

SIDIS MAY HAVE INVENTED THE WORD 'LIBERTARIAN'
"We shall probably have occasion to use the word "libertarian" plenty of times from now on (Continuity News, June, 1938)."

"LIBERTARIAN"

                Last month we asked for suggestions for a new name for government with limited powers, such as the American continuity demands. The suggestions we made were justly criticised as strange and unfamiliar, and we have as yet to no term to cover the particular ground. However, another term that may partly fill the need has been coming into use―the word "libertarian."
                This word is coming into use to denote advocacy of the supremacy of individual liberties and rights, including the proposition that no government must be allowed to exceed these limits. A libertarian government is essentially a limited government limited by individual rights; the definition not only does not imply majority rule, but definitely implies that all rule, whether majority or minority, is strictly limited to the field of preventing transgressions on the rights of any individuals whatever. This is in opposition to "authoritarian," which implies that the government, whether it represents a majority or not, is supreme and must be obeyed regardless. The idea of authoritarianist democracy, as opposed to libertarianism, is the one current in official circles, who believe that a "head of government," once elected, must not be opposed by anything whatever. The idea is more tersely expressed by Macauley:

                We shall probably have occasion to use the word "libertarian" plenty of times from now on. But the more general idea of limited government is still without a good name. The word "democracy" is useless because abused.

Thursday, August 12, 1943