Paleolibertarianism

Paleolibertarianism (also known as the "Paleo strategy") is a right-libertarian political activism strategy aimed at uniting libertarians and paleoconservatives. It was developed by American anarcho-capitalist theorists Murray Rothbard and Lew Rockwell in the American political context after the end of the Cold War. From 1989 to 1995, they sought to communicate libertarian opposition to government intervention through messages accessible to the working class and middle class of the time. They combined libertarian free market views with the cultural conservatism of paleoconservatism, while also opposing protectionism. The strategy also embraced the paleoconservative reverence for tradition and religion. This approach, usually identified as right-wing populism, was intended to radicalize citizens against the state.) and to simultaneously shift American right-wing politics away from the neoconservative movement and its promotion of hawkish or interventionist foreign policy, usually characterized as imperialist by libertarian thinkers. and distinguishes itself from neo-libertarians, Beltway libertarianism (a pejorative term used by hardline libertarians to describe those who have gained traction in the Beltway, i.e., Washington, D.C., and are accused of surrendering libertarian values to Beltway values in order to improve public relations with the political elite), left-libertarianism and lifestyle libertarianism. According to Rockwell, paleolibertarianism "made its peace with religion as the bedrock of liberty, property, and the natural order".

Paleolibertarianism developed in opposition to the link between social avant-garde and libertarianism as though they were indivisible issues. In his 1990 essay "The Case for Paleo-Libertarianism", Rockwell charged mainstream libertarians with "hatred of Western culture".

In short, according to Lew Rockwell, the motivation of this "paleo" libertarian movement, in contrast with the "modal" libertarian movement of the Beltway and the Libertarian Party as it existed in the early '90s, was the application of libertarian principles in ways that led to the radicalization of the middle classes against the state.

In the 1990s, a "paleoconservative-paleolibertarian alliance was forged", centered on the John Randolph Club, founded in 1989 by traditionalist Catholic Thomas Fleming and Rothbard. Rockwell and Rothbard supported paleoconservative Republican candidate Pat Buchanan in the 1992 presidential election and described Buchanan as the political leader of the "paleo movement". In 1992, Rothbard declared that "with Pat Buchanan as our leader, we shall break the clock of social democracy". The intention of Rockwell and Rothbard with this alliance was to revive an anti-war and anti-welfare right-wing movement and to oppose the neoconservative leadership of the Republican Party in the context of the end of the Cold War. The paleolibertarian strategy did not produce practical results and generated little external sympathy. The John Randolph Club was disbanded in 1995 due to incompatibility between the libertarian and conservative factions.

Rothbard died in 1995. Rockwell asserted in 1999 that, with Rothbard's death, paleolibertarian organizing had ended. as was Rothbardian Justin Raimondo, who voted for Trump based on foreign policy. In a 2016 pre-election debate with Reason editor Nick Gillespie, Austrian School anarcho-capitalist economist Walter Block advised libertarians living in battleground states to support Trump rather than cast their votes for Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson, citing the Trump campaign's foreign policy.

In line with these views, libertarian columnist Ilana Mercer authored a book in June 2016 titled The Trump Revolution: The Donald's Creative Destruction Deconstructed, a critical examination of then-candidate Trump from a libertarian perspective. In discussing Mercer's book, Objectivist-libertarian scholar Chris Matthew Sciabarra observed that Mercer endorsed "not necessarily the policies of Trump, but 'The Process of Trump'". Sciabarra further noted that "[t]he most interesting of her arguments is the bolstering of liberty by Donald J. Trump [...] smashing an enmeshed political spoils system to bits: the media complex, the political and party complex, the conservative poseur complex. In the age of unconstitutional government—Democratic and Republican—this process of creative destruction can only increase the freedom quotient".

Notable proponents and organizations

Mark Meechan, also known as Count Dankula, Scottish comedian and YouTuber
Javier Milei, President of Argentina
Ron Paul, American physician, author, and former United States Representative.
Mises Caucus, faction within the American Libertarian Party
Mises Institute, founded by Rockwell to advance Paleolibertarian and Austrian economic views.
Stefan Molyneux, Canadian anarcho-capitalist podcaster, and a former associate of Rockwell.
Gary North, American economist and Christian Reconstructionist.
Hans-Hermann Hoppe, German economist, anarcho-capitalist, and cultural conservative.
Property and Freedom Society, an organization for right-libertarians founded and led by Hoppe.
Justin Raimondo, anti-war activist.
Lew Rockwell, associate of Rothbard, advocate of secession, and founder of the Mises Institute.
Murray Rothbard, American anarcho-capitalist and Austrian economist.
R.J. Rushdoony, Armenian-American Calvinist minister, reconstructionist, and advocate of Christian libertarianism.
Jeffrey Tucker, member of the Mises Institute and advocate of Bitcoin.
Janusz Korwin-Mikke, Polish politician, founding member of Real Politics Union and Confederation Liberty and Independence.

Paleolibertarianism

Notable proponents and organizations

See also

References

External links