Libertarianism

The state was born claiming to protect people, but in reality, it became the best-organized aggressor against the persons and property of the public.

Although egalitarian interventionism constantly is wrecked on the shoals of reality, there is always a stable of new politicians eager to promote what Murray Rothbard called “a revolt against nature.”

Libertarian philosophy is based upon the non-aggression principle, but a libertarian society also needs institutions to help carry out those principles, especially for those that are victims of aggression by others.

Like their American counterparts, libertarians in South Korea allied themselves with the conservative political factions and now are paying a price in the face of a political meltdown. As Murray Rothbard noted, it is better to go with principles of liberty than caving in to statists.

Although a new presidential administration and Republican Congress have claimed support for civil liberties, support remains strong for the liberty-destroying FISA law. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Has the statist tide turned from where we were culturally and politically four years ago? Or is this just a temporary lull before the political culture takes another hard left turn?

The author James Lindsay has gotten mileage by introducing the phrase “Woke Right” to describe certain ideological elements associated with the MAGA movement. The “woke” concepts coming from the left, however, are not the same, structurally speaking, as what conservatives are saying.

Rose Wilder Lane, known for her many writings, also has been a favorite of libertarians. In this week‘s Friday Philosophy, David Gordon reviews a book based on her columns in the Pittsburgh Courier from 1942-45 on race and race relations.

The American conservative movement has changed with the advent of MAGA and the economic nationalism associated with it. However, there never was a “golden age” of conservatism, as the William F. Buckley brand was terribly flawed from the beginning.

What fundamentally makes someone a libertarian or a socialist is not the end he finds most important, but the means he believes to be the best way of achieving it.