A person who advocates for minimal government intervention in personal and economic affairs. Emphasizes individual liberty and free-market principles.
From French libertaire, from liberté 'liberty'. Originally used in the 1850s by anarchist Joseph Déjacque, later adopted by free-market advocates in the 1970s despite the term's socialist origins.
The word has undergone a remarkable political journey - coined by a communist anarchist, it was later embraced by capitalism's strongest defenders. This semantic shift reflects how the concept of 'liberty' can be interpreted from radically different economic perspectives.
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