Libertarians believe that, on every issue, you have the right to decide for yourself what's best for you and to act on that belief so long as you respect the right of other people to do the same and deal with them peacefully and honestly.
Well, they generally support liberty, I wouldn't require that they support that you can decide for yourself on EVERY issue, to call them libertarians. A libertarian would have to have respect for liberty (whether as an end to itself, or whether they see it as a major practical good, or some combination of the two), but can also have other values. If those other values routinely trump liberty, than they aren't libertarian, but if certain scenarios as seen as special cases, I wouldn't withhold the label (even if I might disagree about the specific claimed special circumstances, and also recognize the risk that every circumstance could come to be considered "special"). I think you would agree, in fact I think if one doesn't agree he pretty much has to be an anarchist because taxes are necessary for government but are an example of not letting other people decide what is right for themselves.
Also at the margin what amounts to aggression against someone else can reasonably be debated (such as very modest amounts of pollution or nuisance), and in fact who/what is considered someone else can also be debated (which is most relevant for now to the abortion issue, but could also be brought up by animal rights activists, or potentially about extra-terrestrial aliens) |
