The Human Action Podcast
Michael Oliver: Rothbard vs. Rand—Can Anarcho-Capitalism and Objectivism Be Reconciled?

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Tags Other Schools of ThoughtPolitical TheoryPrivate Property
This weekend Jeff Deist welcomes Michael Oliver, and if you like debating Rothbard vs. Rand — or anarcho-capitalism vs. limited government — you’ll really enjoy our show. Michael witnessed the beginning of the modern anarcho-capitalism movement, meeting Rothbard in the early 1970s and writing a graduate thesis based on Murray’s provocative descriptive term for a libertarian society.
That thesis became a book entitled The New Libertarianism: Anarcho-Capitalism. But Oliver was also a dedicated Objectivist, and thus his book attempted to reconcile Rothbardian thought with the work of Ayn Rand — even in presumably thorny areas like natural law, private defense, and pure anarchism. The results are fascinating and provocative.
Jeff Deist is president of the Mises Institute. He previously worked as chief of staff to Congressman Ron Paul, and as an attorney for private equity clients. Contact: email; Twitter.
Michael Oliver is proprietor of Momentum Structural Analysis, which provide technical research services to financial and asset management clients. He is the author of The New Libertarianism: Anarcho-Capitalism.