Hello

[Caecilian]

Well I've never thought of the word "anarchist" to mean "left-wing". In fact it seems more obvious to me that without a state, you wouldn't be able to introduce left-wing economic policies, so you'd have to go with a natural market (i.e. a free market with no rules / regulations).

Well, I can only say that historically the major political movements that have called themselves 'anarchist' have all been left-wing. If you look at the contemporary British political scene, you'll see the same thing. In fact, I doubt if you'd be able to find a single organization in the UK which calls itself 'anarchist'- without additional qualifiers- and isn't left-wing.

I have to disagree with your point on libertarianism though; the word itself means a multitude of things. There is no default "right-wing" position of libertarianism, and I think most political theorists would agree with me. Certainly that is why such groups as the "Political Compass" have it as a region spanning both the left and the right of their classification map. I agree, when political groups call themselves "Libertarian" in their name, they tend to be right-wing, but then there are quite a few groups who are left-wing and still have libertarian values.

The things that both left and right libertarians share are what make the name "libertarian" have meaning. We are all big on civil rights; individual liberty, and a minimal state intervention. The only reason there are different groups of us, and different "wings" in the political spectrum, is that we have internal disagreements over the best ways to maximise liberty and not have total chaos. Some (like myself) believe the freer the market, the freer the people, whilst others want regulation on the market (or a form of personal socialism).

I agree that 'libertarian' (and for that matter 'anarchist') shouldn't have left/ right connotations, but in practice it does, at least when the term is used without qualifiers. Left-wing libertarians call themselves left-libertarians, libertarian marxists, neo-anarchists or whatever. Right-wing libertarians often refer to themselves simply as 'libertarians'. Actually, I don't think that we're disagreeing about anything too substantial here.

As far as libertarian values go, as a left-libertarian with strong anarchist leanings I'd have to say that we're not on the same side. In other words: while our values and views may sometimes coincide, you and I are not in any sense natural political allies. Quite the opposite, in fact. Its not just a sort of internal disagreement about how to maximize liberty, its among other things a very fundamental dispute about what liberty is.