THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD "LIBERTARIAN"

Ever tire of bonehead Baggers claiming that the Founders were libertarians? Then point out to them the origin of the concept.

In politics, the word seems to date from 1920, according to the Oxford English Dictionary:

DRAFT ADDITIONS JUNE 2006

libertarian, n. and adj.

n. Polit. (orig. U.S.). A person who believes the role of the government should be limited to upholding individual rights, and who therefore opposes government regulation of economic or social affairs; an anti-statist. Also (with capital initial): a member of any of various political parties promoting these views.

1920 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 26 68 The enlightened libertarian is not today greatly interested in academic attacks on the metaphysical state or the political state. He is interested in well-directed attacks on special privilege and shielded, protected monopolies... Flank attacks on the state are far more effective at this stage than frontal attacks. 1966 Washington Post 30 July A17/1, I used to think of myself as a ‘libertarian’, or an ‘anti-Statist’... But in a world that has no room for subtleties, we libertarians find ourselves classified as conservatives. 1972 N.Y. Times 6 Feb. I. 47/6 Asked at a news conference if the approach of the Libertarians was not close to anarchy, Mr. Nolan replied, ‘Anarchy is simply Libertarianism carried to an unworkable extreme.’ 1991 Sat. Night (Toronto) Nov. 31/3 He was coming straight back to Toronto, presumably to lead the Libertarians to victory in the Canadian federal election. 1996 R. BORK Slouching towards Gomorrah II. vii. 150 Libertarians join forces with modern liberals in opposing censorship.