Russell Kirk’s “Libertarians, the Chirping Sectaries”

07/30/2021 Jeff Deist Bradley J. Birzer

Professor Bradley Birzer from Hillsdale College joins the show to dissect Russell Kirk's famous 1981 essay condemning libertarians. Is libertarianism necessarily utopian and unworkable, as Kirk suggests? Is it hubris to imagine we don't need the state—or even God—to prevent social chaos? Do libertarians have more in common with Communists than conservatives? Or was Kirk simply attacking an absurd strawman of the atomistic individual, with Rothbard as the particular (unstated) target of his ire? Dr. Birzer is a thoroughgoing scholar of Kirk, and provides great insights into the context and thinking behind this critique.

Russel Kirk's "Libertarians, The Chirping Sectaries": Mises.org/Kirk Rothbard's "Myth and Truth About Libertarianism": Mises.org/HAP77a Dr. Birzer's "Kirk and the Libertarians": Mises.org/HAP77b Hornberger's "An Open Letter to Russell Kirk": Mises.org/HAP77c

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