Libertarianism and Individualism-An Introspective Part One
This will be the first part in a series of posts that explores the meaning of Libertarianism and Individualism to me. It’s meant to inform myself on why I view these brands of thought as valuable but I want to open it up to feedback.
The convictions we hold on life and the world are sometimes more tacit than conscious. They reside in our subconscious as givens but aren’t always articulated. I started developing an explicit interest in constructing a comprehensive politics after September 11th. This tragic event awakened a fascination in current events that’s continued ever since. My first exposure to post 9-11 political polemics was a column by Mark Morford. I quickly discovered a lot more material beyond the opinion section of periodicals and became drawn to radicalism. The state centric forms of radical philosophy never spoke to me like libertarianism did. I use the term in the broadest sense possible because my original reading was mostly in non-market left-libertarian collectivism. The internet was scoured for information and books like Living My Life by Emma Goldman were devoured. I read on everything from the drug war to foreign policy in my self-education. The more orthodox ways of looking at these issues were already familiar to me so I got to see the “other” side. A combination of reading, observation, and gut feeling led me to value a critical libertarian perspective on many questions. I’ve yet to reject this basic outlook but the specifics have changed over time. My discovery of individualist and free market thought that departed from the status quo had a huge impact. I read Ayn Rand, Murray Rothbard, Kevin Carson, and incorporated it into my knowledge base. A transformation occurred that left me an individualist with an appreciation for parts of my past. It’s time I put the reasons behind this into words.
