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Bleeding Heart Libertarians is a blog about free markets and social justice. All of us who blog at this site are, broadly speaking, libertarians. In particular, we are libertarians who believe that addressing the needs of the economically vulnerable by remedying injustice, engaging in benevolence, fostering mutual aid, and encouraging the flourishing of free markets is both practically and morally important.
The libertarian tradition is home to multiple figures and texts modeling commitment both to individual liberty and to consistent concern for the marginalized, both here and abroad. We seek here to revive, energize, and extend that tradition—to demonstrate that contemporary libertarians can, in addition to their traditional vindication of individual liberty, offer effective, powerful, and innovative responses to the problems of economic vulnerability and injustice and to their social, political, and cultural consequences.
You can contact us at bhlblog@gmail.com.
New readers are especially encouraged to look at some of the following posts for a better introduction to some of our core ideas:


Bleeding Heart Libertarianism (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2011/03/bleeding-heart-libertarianism/) - Matt Zwolinski
Neoclassical Liberalism: How I’m Not a Libertarian (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2011/03/neoclassical-liberalism-how-im-not-a-libertarian/) - Jason Brennan
The Department of the Difference Principle (Or: Confused Reasons to Reject Social Justice) (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2011/03/the-department-of-the-difference-principle/) – Jason Brennan
A Difference Between Philosophy and Politics (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2011/03/a-difference-between-philosophy-and-politics/) – Jacob Levy
Whence I Advene (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2011/03/whence-i-advene/) – Roderick Long
Embracing Markets, Opposing “Capitalism” (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2011/03/embracing-markets-opposing-capitalism/) – Gary Chartier
What is Bleeding Heart Libertarianism? Part One: Three Types of BHL (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2011/12/what-is-bleeding-heart-libertarianism-part-one-three-types-of-bhl/) – Matt Zwolinski
Why I Am a Bleeding Heart Libertarian (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2011/12/why-i-am-a-bleeding-heart-libertarian/) – Fernando Teson
A Different Distinction (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2011/12/a-different-distinction/) – Jacob Levy
What is Bleeding Heart Libertarianism? Part Two: Strong BHL (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2011/12/what-is-bleeding-heart-libertarianism-part-two-strong-bhl/) – Matt Zwolinski
Why I am a Bleeding Heart Ideal Libertarian (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2011/12/why-i-am-a-bleeding-heart-ideal-libertarian/) – Andrew Cohen
Social Justice vs. Self-Ownership: The Case of Libertarians Great and Small (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2012/02/social-justice-vs-self-ownership-the-case-of-libertarians-great-and-small/) – Kevin Vallier
Neo-Rawlsian Libertarianism: Two Principles of Justice for Bleeding Hearts (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2012/04/neo-rawlsian-libertarianism-two-principles-of-justice-for-bleeding-hearts/) – Kevin Vallier
Zeroing in on “Social Justice” (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2012/04/zeroing-in-on-social-justice/) – Jason Brennan
Against Social Justice (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2012/04/against-social-justice/)- Jacob Levy
Social Justice as Emergent Property (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2013/05/social-injustice-as-emergent-property/) – Kevin Vallier




What is Bleeding Heart Libertarianism? Part One: Three Types of BHL By Matt Zwolinski (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/author/matt-zwolinski/) On December 16, 2011 · 25 Comments (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2011/12/what-is-bleeding-heart-libertarianism-part-one-three-types-of-bhl/#comments) · In Left-libertarianism (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/category/left-libertarianism/), Libertarianism (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/category/libertarianism/), Social Justice (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/category/social-justice/)




A lot of readers come to this blog expecting, perhaps not unreasonably, to find a group of authors presenting a coherent, well worked out theory of “bleeding heart libertarianism” (BHL) – what it is, how it differs from other forms of libertarianism, what its moral foundations and policy implications are, etc. Those readers are, unfortunately, often disappointed. First, there are real, substantive disagreements between all of the authors on this blog, such that none of us have exactly the same thing in mind when we talk about what BHL is. And second, speaking for myself anyway, BHL is more of a research programme than a worked-out body of doctrine. I started this blog with some vague ideas about the best way to understand and defend libertarianism that I thought were worth sharing with some friends and colleagues. Since then, I’ve tried to refine and develop those ideas a bit, and the conversations we’ve had here have been tremendously helpful in that respect. But I still have a long way to go.

[I<3Liberty]

+rep for BHL! :)

I'm a BHL! Some people call us liberal-tarians or fake libertarians. :rolleyes: People have even told me BHL is some liberal conspiracy theory within the LP. Double :rolleyes: for that one. Do we have any other BHLs on RPF?

[jllundqu]

Social Justice to me is lingo for using force or coercion against people making them do something they would not do voluntarily. I don't think free markets and the left's "social justice" can peacefully coexist. :)

[Feeding the Abscess]

Social Justice to me is lingo for using force or coercion against people making them do something they would not do voluntarily. I don't think free markets and the left's "social justice" can peacefully coexist. :)

What you have stated here applies to a state monopoly police force more than it does to social justice. For libertarians of this persuasion, 'social justice' is the process of freeing markets in order to uplift the poor, rather than a redistributive scheme through which certain groups are stolen from in order to artificially prop up another group.

Social justice can conceivably be achieved outside of the state and the realm of force. A state monopoly on police cannot.

[ThePenguinLibertarian]

+rep for BHL! :)

I'm a BHL! Some people call us liberal-tarians or fake libertarians. :rolleyes: People have even told me BHL is some liberal conspiracy theory within the LP. Double :rolleyes: for that one. Do we have any other BHLs on RPF?
Your faction along with Dan Bier and Steve Horwitz can all go climb trees. The former runs a facebook wall which routinely bashes libertarians who support traditional marriage, and are pro life. As of now, they just released a ton of slew against Ron Paul Calling him a republican. Steve Horwitz is a shitty professor who has done very little in his life and has lack of nay big contribution to economics.

[jmdrake]

Thanks for posting this. One argument I keep hearing is "You don't care about poor people." How about I don't want saddling future generations that haven't been born with a debt they won't be able to pay and that's largely going to banksters and beuracrats?

[ClydeCoulter]

Thanks for posting this. One argument I keep hearing is "You don't care about poor people." How about I don't want saddling future generations that haven't been born with a debt they won't be able to pay and that's largely going to banksters and beuracrats?

These "You don't care about people" need to get their ass of the internet and go help people themselves. I have been helped personally by real people in my life, and I have worked hard to deserve that (after the fact). Personal interaction brings it own rewards, but force brings it's own destruction.

[fr33]

"Republicans that want to smoke pot"

In other words, Eric Dondero.

[I<3Liberty]

Social Justice to me is lingo for using force or coercion against people making them do something they would not do voluntarily. I don't think free markets and the left's "social justice" can peacefully coexist. :)

As Feeding the Abscess said, we can work towards social justice without government involvement. My work is evidence of this -- I've volunteered and been a part of several non-profit organizations and continually donate to various highly efficient causes.


Your faction along with Dan Bier and Steve Horwitz can all go climb trees. The former runs a facebook wall which routinely bashes libertarians who support traditional marriage, and are pro life. As of now, they just released a ton of slew against Ron Paul Calling him a republican. Steve Horwitz is a shitty professor who has done very little in his life and has lack of nay big contribution to economics.

...and there are non BHLs like this, as well. You can't get a representative image of such a large group based on two people within it... any basic statistics class would have taught you this. We've rehashed marriage and the whole pro life vs. choice debate SOOOO many times on this forum and we do not need another seventy-two page thread of arguing. :rolleyes:

[NewRightLibertarian]

Pretty lousy blog from what I've seen ala the Skeptical Libertarian. They give libertarians a bad name

[Aratus]

i think over about 45 years of time i've gone from
"bleeding heart liberal" to 'bleeding heart libertarian"