Site Purpose

The Big Libertarian Answer Book (BLAB) is something I conceived of when running for City Council as a fairly fresh libertarian in 2003. When campaigning, I was confronted with questions that I didn’t have good answers to. “What is the libertarian position on zoning laws?” I wondered, after issues with zoning laws became an election issue, for instance. That hadn’t been covered in the libertarian literature I had been exposed to. I know the answer (or rather range of answers) now, of course, but at the time I wished that there was some central place I could go—some Big Libertarian Answer Book—to find centralized answers to this and many other questions about libertarianism, and rhetorical aids to assist with the inevitable debates libertarians find themselves in, whether they seek them out or not. This is intended to be just that place: a site where libertarians can come to find answers on “the libertarian position on X,” and to discover resources they can use to counter anti-libertarian rhetoric and answer people’s objections to libertarianism. What this place is not, on the other hand, is a debate society. This is not the place to debate or discuss the wisdom or rightness of various libertarian philosophies, policies or views. I intend to be fairly ruthless in deleting comments that argue for or against any libertarian viewpoint. Suggesting changes to an article to make it more effective is fine, and encouraged (begged for, in fact). Submitting new links, pointing out specific problems with existing links or articles, or asking questions is more than welcome. Arguing about whether libertarian positions make sense is not. Nor is playing “I’m more libertarian than you.” There are plenty of places on the Internet to debate these things—and I encourage people to post links to those places. This is not one of them. If you have suggestions for useful resources you think we should post, or requests for answers you'd like to see, please post them in a Comment below.