Classical Liberal or Libertarian? (Pt. 2) | Sargon of Akkad | YOUTUBERS | Rubin Report

Dave Rubin of The Rubin Report talks to Sargon of Akkad (YouTube creator) about the difference between classical liberalism and libertarianism.

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All art on the set are original works by Caylin Rose Janet.

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Sargon of Akkad
YouTube Creator

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[SargonofAkkad]

I knew I'd open a can of worms with this one. I'm more than happy to engage libertarians over these ideas, so contact me when you want to talk.

[garywood]

Sargon's referring to the difference between positive and negative liberty. Positive liberty is the freedom to have [X]. Negative liberty is the freedom from [X].
Extreme libertarians only really believe in negative liberty. Whereas you might say extreme socialists only believe in positive liberty. Everyone else believes in some mixture in between.
Health care is a positive liberty. Freedom of speech is a negative liberty.

[Thurgor_Supreme]

If you want to help the poor and unfortunate, why would you be so irresponsible as to do it with government bureaucracy?

[ChrisBryer]

Again, confusing ancaps and libertarians.

[adox]

Dammit Rubin your busting my balls with the only partial uploads :)

[slid_snoks]

Seriously, have Stefan Molyneux on. He actually understands the things he talks about when it comes to this topic. I love Sargon, but he is the definition of a college intellectual on certain things.

[darkmatertm]

Oh boy. The comment section is exploding with libertarians who can't hear that they're wrong. I'm sorry for your feelings, but Sargon is spot on on this one.

Libertarianism isn't just impractical because of its instability (libertarian regimes degenerate and implode faster than communism), it outright fails to deliver its core promise. Removing state authority doesn't enable citizens to control their fate anywhere near as much as safety nets do.

[OttoVonGarfield]

Although I may be libertarian, I am not against common healthcare or socialist ideals so much as I am against them being forced on communities that disagree with them. I value autonomy most of all, and issues of healthcare should be left to the communities in question, not to the states or to the federal government, these are but things meant to represent the communities overall.

[SkipTerrio]

What Carl, like many on the left, assumes is that if assistance to the poor doesn't come from government, then it won't be forthcoming at all. That is factually and historically false. The United States was chock-a-block with charity organizations, church missions, mutual aid societies, and countless other locally-based community organizations for helping the poor before the Great Society and the welfare state largely wiped out those vitally important and effective constructs. Nobody, libertarians included, wants to see the poor starve. They just prefer more local, effective, accountable, and preferably free market solutions that are not wastefully, foolishly, and impersonally managed by some bloated bureaucracy thousands of miles away.

[shanedk]

No, Libertarians define freedom as the absence of aggression. ALL aggression is bad, whether done by government or done privately. If Sargon doesn't even know that, he's completely unqualified to talk about libertarianism.

[rometimed]

"give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime"

[kmg]

Sargon is NOT a classical liberal as he said he was in part one. He clearly does not understand how market forces work, if he understood that he would absolutely be against single payer / universal health care. There is only one correct solution and that is a completely free market.

[JohnNada]

Sargon of Akkad

I'm a fan of yours, but classical liberalism is almost 100% synonymous with libertarianism. What we now call "libertarians" used to call themselves liberals (for example, Frederic Bastiat). Classical liberals are pro free market, laissez faire capitalism, and pro limited government (aka 'minarchism'). Then, in the 1930s, people like Franklin Delano Roosevelt hijacked the term 'liberal', which came to mean something completely different, hence the need for the distinction between classical liberalism and what we call liberalism today (social liberalism). The new "liberals" were diametrically opposed to free market, laissez faire capitalism and limited government, and instead favoured mountains of incessant economic interventionism by government (in the form of regulation, public works projects, the welfare state, etc), thus increasing the size and scope of governmental power exponentially. Please do your research before calling yourself a "classical liberal".

Classical liberals oppose mountains of economic regulation (and all other kinds of economic interventionism), big government "public works" projects, the welfare state (and redistribution of wealth in general) and the kind of large, bureaucratic government necessitated by all these things. Read Frederic Bastiat if you wish to understand what classical liberalism really is. You're not a classical liberal. You're just a moderate social liberal.

"Like classical liberalism, social liberalism endorses a market economy and the expansion of civil and political rights and liberties, but differs in that it believes the legitimate role of the government includes addressing economic and social issues such as poverty, health care, and education. Under social liberalism, the good of the community is viewed as harmonious with the freedom of the individual. Social liberal policies have been widely adopted in much of the capitalist world, particularly following World War II. Social liberal ideas and parties tend to be considered centrist or centre-left.

The term "social liberalism" is used to differentiate it from classical liberalism, which dominated political and economic thought for several centuries until social liberalism branched off from it around the Great Depression."

[BazedLi]

It's always great when Sargon talks about "positive" aspects of the welfare state and people in the comments start raging in anger and instead of engaging with the argument presented start spouting off ideological rhetoric. That's so very helpful 👌

[maximelaneville]

Dave, please have Vox Day on the show! Also, when is Stefan Molyneux finally coming on? It's way over due!

[donttreadonchuck]

Libertarianism is a philosophy that believes in the non aggression principle. Please Dave get Stefan on the show he can explain libertarianism better than anyone I have seen.

[alms]

I don't give a fuck about what the rest of the world says Sargon. I'd rather go Bankrupt and be alive than sit in a queue line for months. I don't want the government in control of my life. I'm glad you like being a subject to your government Carl.

[chicagoschoolofmemeonomics]

I think there is some room for a social safety net and health care at the local level away from centralized federal government corrupt mess

[dom]

A homeless man in a free society is still a free man.

[DeathMammoth]

Upload the entire video already!! I can't wait!!! :)