Libertarianism is a complex political philosophy in favor of maximizing individual freedom and minimizing the concentration of power. An adherent to libertarianism is called a libertarian. While libertarians rarely, if ever, have beliefs that are exactly the same, this article attempts to summarize some basic commonalities.

Central to libertarianism is the idea of personal liberty. Libertarians want people to be allowed to do pretty much whatever they want unless it infringes on the rights or property of someone else. Advocates of libertarianism want to discard the huge set of rules, regulations, laws, and bans common to most of the world's governments today. In its extreme form, libertarianism is anarchism - the absence of all rules - but in practice, most libertarians advocate government as a 'necessary evil'. Government for the purpose of national defense is a typical example.

Libertarians visualize a libertarian society as a network of groups and individuals defining and enforcing their own collective laws and norms, without the interference of a national government body. In a libertarian society, almost everything would be entirely privatized - law enforcement, research of all types, utilities, road maintenance, and so on. The idea is that, if people want something, they will pay for it, and supply will emerge to meet the demand. This is the notion of free markets, also central to libertarianism.

Adherents to more popular political parties fear that a society following libertarianism would degenerate into chaos. Libertarians argue that, to the contrary, the market would cause order to exist, eliminating the 'pork' of big government and making society more efficient and effective. Libertarianism is against any form of government hand-outs or societal safety nets - publicly funded mental health programs, welfare, medicare, and the like would all be dissolved and presumably replaced by private programs if there is sufficient demand for them. Libertarians believe, to a certain extent, that a society based on "survival of the fittest" would be a better place to live.

Historically, libertarianism has been poorly funded and badly organized. This is changing slightly over time, as there is a strong presence of libertarians in techno-savvy, entrepreneurial circles that have experienced great success in the last decade or two. Libertarians see themselves as forward-looking and against all types of boundaries or coercion. They may see advocates of more conventional political parties as tools of big government.

To learn more about libertarianism, find a friend or acquaintance who is a libertarian and ask them specific questions. Many are accustomed to defending their ideas and will have plenty of detailed answers to give you.