Libertarianism commands respect today as the only personal and political philosophy of the Western world standing in defense of individual freedom from state power. For that reason alone, it must be nourished. It is the last surviving remnant of old-style “classical liberalism,” which began in 17th-century Europe as a philosophy poised against the absolute rulers of the age.
This early liberalism turned its guns on the power of the state and became the most important anti-statist, anti-centralization intellectual force of the Western world. In large measure, we can thank it for the constitutional safeguards against overbearing central power that were implanted in the American and Canadian constitutions.
