What is the core of all this? It is not, as is often claimed, about left or right, with right-wing or “right-populist” forces attempting to take control. Rather, it is about the following: Should freedom and voluntarism determine how people live together, or should coercion and violence dictate how we interact?

There are only two ways in which we humans can cooperate with each other: freedom, with its voluntary action on one side, and coercion and violence (including deception) on the other. Voluntary action means: I offer you an apple for 1 US dollar, and you buy it or reject my offer, entirely as you wish. Coercion and violence mean: I force you to buy the apple I offer, and if you refuse, I will punish you. So, voluntary action on one side, and coercion and violence on the other, there is no third way.

Against this backdrop, we can easily understand what libertarian means, what libertarianism is. Libertarianism is the consistent, logically-reasoned idea of individual freedom. It is characterized by the non-aggression principle: No one may initiate aggression or violence against other people or their property. Aggression here means the use or threat of physical violence against peaceful people and their property, or the use of deception to gain access to their labor or property.

How does libertarianism and the state (as we know it today) go together? The state is the territorial coercive monopolist with the ultimate authority over all conflicts in its territory. It also claims the right to do something that is forbidden to everyone else: collect taxes, that is, take money from people without providing a specific service in return. Such a state does not stand for freedom and voluntary action, but for coercion and violence. Furthermore, the state was not created through a voluntary agreement. Neither you nor I signed a contract, nor did our ancestors. In short, the state (as we know it today) was eventually imposed on people by others.