I don’t like most of the terms used to describe libertarian beliefs:
Free markets? Not everything is about economic markets, and left-wing critics have a field day pointing out that government itself establishes the underlying rules of the market.
Market liberal? Again not everything is about economic markets, and just generally, yuck.
Classical liberal? Kind of like a secret handshake, only those in the know have any idea what this means. Besides, many of historical figures often identified as classical liberals wouldn’t know what to make of modern libertarianism.
Individualism? Socialism would actually be a better description, if it hadn’t been captured by collectivists. At one time, libertarian types were called socialists, and Marxists called themselves libertarians (Chomsky still calls himself a libertarian, last I heard). Too confusing to try to undo this one.
So I thought about an alternative. I like “political pacifist,” except that pacifism has never been very popular.
So what do I, and other libertarians, believe in? Free exchange! Or, if you prefer, liberty of exchange. People should have the freedom to exchange goods and services in a market. They should also have the presumptive freedom to volunteer (or not), to pursue the occupations or avocations of their choice, to make whatever love and sex arrangements they want, to use psychoactive substances, to terminate pregnancies, to travel, write, think, create art, and exchange any of their goods, talents, and whatnot for whatever suits them. Of course, there are many caveats to all this, and libertarians will disagree among themselves as to what the limits of free exchange are. Nevertheless, I think it’s fair to say that our underlying common ideology is free exchange.
I’m not expecting this phrase to get into general circulation, but you never know.
UPDATE: Yeah, I know this has the potential to be confused with a shoppers’ platform, but do you have any better ideas?