Paleolibertarianism (also known as the "Paleo strategy") is a
libertarian
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...
political
activism
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
strategy aimed at uniting libertarians and
paleoconservatives. It was developed by American
anarcho-capitalist
Anarcho-capitalism (or, colloquially, ancap) is an anti-statist, libertarian, and anti-political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property enfo ...
theorists
Murray Rothbard
Murray Newton Rothbard (; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School, economic historian, political theorist, and activist. Rothbard was a central figure in the 20th-century American libertarian ...
and
Lew Rockwell
Llewellyn Harrison Rockwell Jr. (born July 1, 1944) is an American author, editor, and political consultant. A libertarian and a self-professed anarcho-capitalist, he founded and is the chairman of the Mises Institute, a non-profit dedicated t ...
in the American political context after the
end of Cold War. From 1989 to 1995, they sought to communicate libertarian notions of opposition to
government intervention
Economic interventionism, sometimes also called state interventionism, is an economic policy position favouring government intervention in the market process with the intention of correcting market failures and promoting the general welfare of ...
using messages accessible to working and middle-class people of the time. This approach, usually identified as
right-wing populism
Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the Estab ...
, was intended to radicalize citizens against the state.
[«The word "paleolibertarian" was mine too, and the purpose was to recapture the political edge and intellectual rigor and radicalism of the pre-war libertarian right. There was no change in core ideology but a reapplication of fundamental principles in ways that corrected the obvious failures of the Reason and National Review crowd.
..To some extent, I would say the present decline in the moral legitimacy of the executive state represents a paleoization, if you will, a systematic radicalization of the middle class. ..all the real political dissidents and radicals, the people who are raising fundamental objections to the status quo of the American civil project, are on the right.�]
Libertarianism and the Old Right
Lew Rockwell (2006), Mises Institute
Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, or Mises Institute, is a libertarian nonprofit think tank headquartered in Auburn, Alabama, United States. It is named after the Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973).
I ...
.[Lew Rockwell]
"What I Learned From Paleoism"
at ''LewRockwell.com'', May 2, 2002.[ The name they chose for this style of activism evoked the roots of modern libertarianism, hence the prefix ''paleo''. That founding movement was American ]classical liberal
Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, econom ...
ism, which shared the anti-war
An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to p ...
and anti-New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Con ...
sentiments of the Old Right in the first half of the 20th century.
The paleolibertarian strategy was expected to move libertarian movement away from the influence of public policy libertarian organizations based in Washington, D.C., who were accused of giving up communicating the complete libertarian message while adopting the political and cultural values of the U.S. capitol to gain acceptance among the political elite,[Do You Consider Yourself a Libertarian?](_blank)
Kenny Johnsson interviews Lew Rockwell for The Liberal Post, LewRockwell.Com, May 25, 2007. and to move American right-wing politics
Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, auth ...
away from the neoconservative movement and its promotion of a U.S. foreign policy usually identified as imperialist
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power ( economic and ...
by libertarian thinkers.
Tenets
According to Rockwell, the paleolibertarian movement hearkens back to such thinkers as "Ludwig von Mises
Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (; 29 September 1881 – 10 October 1973) was an Austrian School economist, historian, logician, and sociologist. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the societal contributions of classical liberalism. He is ...
, Albert Jay Nock, Garet Garrett
Garet Garrett (February 19, 1878 – November 6, 1954), born Edward Peter Garrett, was an American journalist and author, known for his opposition to the New Deal and U.S. involvement in World War II.
Overview
Garrett was born February 1 ...
, and the entire interwar Old Right that opposed the New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Con ...
and favored the Old Republic"["Paleolibertarianism"]
by Karen De Coster, ''LewRockwell.com'', December 2, 2003 and distinguished themselves from neo-libertarians, Beltway libertarianism (a pejorative term used by hardline libertarians to describe libertarians who have gained traction in the Beltway
A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...
, i.e., Washington, D.C., who are accused of surrendering libertarian values to the Beltway values in order to have better public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...
with the Beltway 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
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...
and libertarianism as if they were indivisible issues. In his 1990's essay "The Case for Paleo-Libertarianism", Rockwell charged mainstream libertarians with "hatred of Western culture
Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''.
image:Plato Pio-Cle ...
".[ He argued that "pornographic photography, 'free'-thinking, chaotic painting, atonal music, deconstructionist literature, Bauhaus architecture, and modernist films have nothing in common with the libertarian political agenda—no matter how much individual libertarians may revel in them".][ Of paleolibertarians, he wrote that "we obey, and we ought to obey, traditions of manners and taste".][ After explaining why libertarians friendly with conventional culture could make a better argument for liberty to the middle classes, Rockwell predicted "in the new movement, libertarians who personify the present corruption will sink to their natural level, as will the Libertarian Party, which has been their diabolic pulpit".]
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 of the beginnings of the 90s—was the application of the libertarian principles in ways that lead to the radicalization of the middle classes against the state.
History
In the 1992 essay "Right-Wing Populism: A Strategy for the Paleo Movement", Rothbard reflected on the ability of libertarians to gain the disaffected working and middle classes using right-wing populism
Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the Estab ...
methods to deliver libertarian ideas.
In the 1990s, a " paleoconservative-paleolibertarian alliance was forged", centred on the John Randolph Club
The Rockford Institute was an American conservative think-tank associated with paleoconservatism, based in Rockford, Illinois. It ran the John Randolph Club and published the magazine ''Chronicles''. In early 2019, the Rockford Institute merged wi ...
founded in 1989 by traditionalist Catholic Thomas Fleming and Rothbard. Rockwell and Rothbard supported paleoconservative Republican candidate Pat Buchanan
Patrick Joseph Buchanan (; born November 2, 1938) is an American paleoconservative political commentator, columnist, politician, and broadcaster. Buchanan was an assistant and special consultant to U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, ...
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
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote s ...
". The Rockwell and Rothbard intention with this alliance was to rebirth an anti-war
An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to p ...
and anti-welfare right-wing and to fight the neoconservative leadership of the Republican Party in the context of the end of Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
.[
Three years later, Rothbard said Buchanan developed too much faith in ]economic planning
Economic planning is a resource allocation mechanism based on a computational procedure for solving a constrained maximization problem with an iterative process for obtaining its solution. Planning is a mechanism for the allocation of resources ...
and centralized state power which eventually led paleolibertarians to withdraw their support for Buchanan.[ In addition to Buchanan's ]economic nationalism
Economic nationalism, also called economic patriotism and economic populism, is an ideology that favors state interventionism over other market mechanisms, with policies such as domestic control of the economy, labor, and capital formation, inclu ...
, Paul Gottfried
Paul Edward Gottfried (born November 21, 1941) is an American paleoconservative political philosopher, historian, and writer. He is a former Professor of Humanities at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. He is editor-in-chief of the paleoco ...
later complained of a lack of funding, infighting, media hostility or blackout and vilification as "racists" and "anti-Semites". The paleolibertarian strategy did not produce practical results and generated little external sympathy. John Randolph Club was disintegrated in 1995 due to incompatibility of ideas and personalities between libertarian and conservative factions.[The Property And Freedom Society – Reflections After Five Years](_blank)
Presentation of 2010 of the annual meeting of the Property and Freedom Society, by Hans-Hermann Hoppe. Here the author explains the characteristics of John Randoph Club and the Mont Pelerin Society.
Rothbard died in 1995. Rockwell asserted in 1999 that with Rothbard's death the paleolibertarian organizing had ended. In 2007, Rockwell stated that he no longer used the term "paleolibertarian"—because it was distorted by its past association with the term paleoconservative as "some kind of socially conservative libertarian", something that "was not the point at all" of paleolibertarianism—and that all libertarians should be "happy with the term libertarian."
Influence
During the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries and the campaign for the 2016 United States presidential election
The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticke ...
, several figures active in 1990s paleolibertarianism expressed levels of sympathy for the messages of then-candidate Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
. Lew Rockwell was sympathetic to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign because of his message against the Republican Party and Democratic Party establishments, as was Rothbardian Justin Raimondo
Justin Raimondo (born Dennis Raimondo; November 18, 1951 – June 27, 2019) was an American author and the editorial director of Antiwar.com. He described himself as a "conservative- paleo-libertarian."
Early life
Born in White Plains, New Y ...
, who voted for Trump on the basis of foreign policy. In a 2016 pre-election debate with ''Reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, lang ...
'' editor Nick Gillespie
Nicholas John Gillespie (; born August 7, 1963) is an American libertarian journalist who was editor-in-chief of ''Reason'' magazine from 2000 to 2008 and editor-in-chief of Reason.com and Reason TV from 2008 to 2017. Gillespie originally joined ...
, Austrian School
The Austrian School is a heterodox school of economic thought that advocates strict adherence to methodological individualism, the concept that social phenomena result exclusively from the motivations and actions of individuals. Austrian scho ...
anarcho-capitalist economist Walter Block
Walter Edward Block (born August 21, 1941) is an American Austrian School economist and anarcho-capitalist theorist. He currently holds the Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair in Economics at the School of Business at Loyola Universit ...
advised libertarians living in battleground states
In American politics, the term swing state (also known as battleground state or purple state) refers to any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican candidate in a statewide election, most often referring to pre ...
to support Trump rather than cast their votes for Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson
Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman, author, and politician. He served as the 29th governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for Presid ...
, citing the Trump campaign's foreign policy.
In line with these views, libertarian columnist Ilana Mercer authored a book in June 2016 about presidential candidate Trump 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
Objectivism is a philosophical system developed by Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. She described it as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievemen ...
-libertarian
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...
scholar Chris Matthew Sciabarra
Chris Matthew Sciabarra (born February 17, 1960) is an American political theorist based in Brooklyn, New York. He is the author of three scholarly books—''Marx, Hayek, and Utopia''; '' Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical''; and ''Total Freedom: T ...
observed that Mercer endorsed "not necessarily the policies of Trump, but 'The Process of Trump'". Scabbarra further noted that " e 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".
Following the 2022 Libertarian National Convention, the Mises Caucus
The Libertarian Party Mises Caucus (LPMC) is a caucus within the United States Libertarian Party that promotes paleolibertarianism and a more radical version of libertarianism associated with the presidential campaigns of Ron Paul. It was fo ...
, a paleolibertarian faction, became the dominant faction on the Libertarian National Committee.
Criticism
Ron Paul newsletters
The libertarian publication ''Reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, lang ...
'' asserted that "a half-dozen longtime libertarian activists—including some still close to Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American author, activist, physician and retired politician who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1976 to 1977 and again from 1979 to 1985, as we ...
—all named the same man as Paul's chief ghostwriter: Ludwig von Mises Institute founder Llewellyn Rockwell, Jr.", although Rockwell denied it.[Alex Massie]
Ron Paul's Newsletter Problem
''The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...
'', December 22, 2011.
Notable proponents and organizations
* Murray Rothbard
Murray Newton Rothbard (; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School, economic historian, political theorist, and activist. Rothbard was a central figure in the 20th-century American libertarian ...
* Lew Rockwell
Llewellyn Harrison Rockwell Jr. (born July 1, 1944) is an American author, editor, and political consultant. A libertarian and a self-professed anarcho-capitalist, he founded and is the chairman of the Mises Institute, a non-profit dedicated t ...
* Hans-Hermann Hoppe
* Gary North
* R.J. Rushdoony
Rousas John Rushdoony (April 25, 1916 – February 8, 2001) was an American Calvinist philosopher, historian, and theologian. He is credited as being the father of Christian Reconstructionism and an inspiration for the modern Christian hom ...
* Jeffrey Tucker
* Justin Raimondo
Justin Raimondo (born Dennis Raimondo; November 18, 1951 – June 27, 2019) was an American author and the editorial director of Antiwar.com. He described himself as a "conservative- paleo-libertarian."
Early life
Born in White Plains, New Y ...
* Stefan Molyneux
* Mises Institute
Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, or Mises Institute, is a libertarian nonprofit think tank headquartered in Auburn, Alabama, United States. It is named after the Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973).
I ...
* Mises Caucus
The Libertarian Party Mises Caucus (LPMC) is a caucus within the United States Libertarian Party that promotes paleolibertarianism and a more radical version of libertarianism associated with the presidential campaigns of Ron Paul. It was fo ...
* Anti-Communist Action
Anti-Communist Action, also known as Anticom for short, is a right-wing to far-right organization based in the United States and Canada. The group has described itself as " the right's response to antifa." Anticom has espoused neo-Nazi ide ...
* Property and Freedom Society
See also
* Alt-lite
* Austrian School
The Austrian School is a heterodox school of economic thought that advocates strict adherence to methodological individualism, the concept that social phenomena result exclusively from the motivations and actions of individuals. Austrian scho ...
* Coalition for the Renewal of the Republic – Liberty and Hope
* Conservative liberalism
* Criticism of democracy
Criticism of democracy has been a key part of democracy and its functions. As Josiah Ober explains, "the legitimate role of critics" of democracy may be difficult to define, but one "approach is to divide critics into 'good internal' critics ...
* Dark Enlightenment
The Dark Enlightenment, also called the neo-reactionary movement (sometimes abbreviated to NRx), is an anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian, reactionary philosophical and political movement. In 2007 and 2008, software engineer Curtis Yarvin, writin ...
* Hans Hermann Hoppe
Hans-Hermann Hoppe (; ; born 2 September 1949) is a German_Americans, German-American economist of the Austrian School, philosopher and political theorist. He is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), ...
* Libertarian conservatism
Libertarian conservatism, also referred to as conservative libertarianism and conservatarianism, is a political and social philosophy that combines conservatism and libertarianism, representing the libertarian wing of conservatism and vice v ...
* Libertarian perspectives on immigration
* National conservatism
National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity. National conservatives usually combine nationalism with conservative stances promoting traditional cultural values, ...
* National-anarchism
* Nativism (politics)
Nativism is the political policy of promoting or protecting the interests of native or indigenous inhabitants over those of immigrants, including the support of immigration-restriction measures.
In scholarly studies, ''nativism'' is a standar ...
* Outline of libertarianism
* Paleoconservatism
Paleoconservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism in the United States stressing American nationalism, Christian ethics, regionalism, and traditionalist conservatism. Paleoconservatism's concerns overlap with those of the ...
* Party of Free Citizens
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature fo ...
* Radical right (United States)
* Real Politics Union
* Right-libertarianism
* Right-wing populism
Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the Estab ...
References
External links
*
{{populism
Anarcho-capitalism by form
Libertarianism by form
Libertarianism in the United States
Right-libertarianism