it seems to me that there are two different aspects to libertarianism, one of which progressives should be supportive of and one of which they should not. There is a social component that involves what people should be able to do on a personal level. Then there is the notion of making the government smaller and spending less money on government services. I don’t understand why these two pieces are considered part of the same philosophy at all. Given that they seem to have little relationship to one another in my mind. It is not in fact true that these two are always thought about together. But thinking about them together is the philosophy of the libertarian political party which is what in our society most people think about when they hear the term libertarian.
I think that progressives should take back the part of libertarianism that we agree with and not let conservatives take complete control of the term. There is historically the notion of libertarian socialism, which is in some ways in some ways the opposite of the conservative approach to libertarianism. Libertarian socialists believe in the abolition of capitalism and the collectivization of the means of production of goods and services. It also represents a belief that nature needs to be preserved and basically left alone. The notion is of cooperative maintenance of all natural things with no ownership of things individually. Libertarian socialists also feel that workers should control the businesses they work for, rather than have them controlled by investors as is the case in the United States
Libertarian socialists are also believers in civil liberties and have historically focused on issues like women’s rights, particularly in the context of sexual rights, including the right to birth control and free love and free thought. free thought in this context refers to thinking based on science, logic and reason rather than on authority, tradition or power. Understanding that it’s hard to think that free thought is really a part of the principal as conservatives think about it since science seems to be something conservatives don’t think matters at all.
Both conservative and progressive libertarians believe in the notion of nonaggression, meaning that they should not get involved in fights with other countries . It’s not absolutely necessary to protect noncombatants. That means that violence in self-defense or in defense of others can be tolerated but starting a conflict really can’t be justified except in the context of looking out for the interests of people caught in the conflict who have no role in it. Free thought in this context means thinking that is based on science, logic, and reason rather than on authority, tradition or power.