Paleolibertarianism

{{Short description|Right-wing political activism strategy}} {{distinguish|Paleoconservatism}} {{Third-party|date=June 2023}} {{Libertarianism US|schools}}{{Conservatism US|movements}} '''Paleolibertarianism''' (also known as the "Paleo strategy") is a right-libertarian political activism strategy aimed at uniting libertarians and paleoconservatives.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hughes |first1=Tristan |title=A space for freedom: the Paleolibertarian coalition |journal=Journal of Political Ideologies |date=2023 |pages=1–20 |doi=10.1080/13569317.2023.2296403}}</ref> 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.<ref name="old right">«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.» [https://mises.org/library/libertarianism-and-old-right Libertarianism and the Old Right], Lew Rockwell (2006), Mises Institute.</ref><ref name=Interview>Lew Rockwell, [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/paleoism.html "What I Learned From Paleoism"], at ''LewRockwell.com'', May 2, 2002.</ref><ref name=LR/> 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 liberalism, which shared the anti-war and anti-New Deal sentiments of the Old Right in the first half of the 20th century. Paleolibertarianism is commonly classified by political scientists and commentators as a right-wing form of libertarianism due to its combination of libertarian economic views with cultural conservatism.

The paleolibertarian strategy was expected to shift the libertarian movement away from the influence of public policy-oriented libertarian organizations based in Washington, D.C. (which were accused of failing to communicate the full libertarian message and of adopting Beltway political and cultural values to gain acceptance among the political elite<ref name="old right" /><ref name="libertarian Rockwell">[https://www.lewrockwell.com/2007/05/lew-rockwell/do-you-consider-yourself-a-libertarian/ Do You Consider Yourself a Libertarian?], Kenny Johnsson interviews Lew Rockwell for The Liberal Post, LewRockwell.Com, May 25, 2007.</ref>) 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.<ref name="Interview" />{{Third-party inline|date=September 2022}}

== Tenets == According to Rockwell, the paleolibertarian movement hearkens back to such thinkers as "Ludwig von Mises, Albert Jay Nock, Garet Garrett, and the entire interwar Old Right that opposed the New Deal and favored the Old Republic"<ref name=KDC>[https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/paleolibertarianism/ "Paleolibertarianism"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927123533/https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/paleolibertarianism/|date=September 27, 2018}} by Karen De Coster, ''LewRockwell.com'', December 2, 2003</ref> 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.<ref name=KDC/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://wearelibertarians.com/importance-beltway-libertarianism-disagree-tom-woods-lew-rockwell/|title=The Importance of Beltway Libertarianism|website=wearelibertarians.com|date=20 March 2017}}</ref> According to Rockwell, paleolibertarianism "made its peace with religion as the bedrock of liberty, property, and the natural order".{{Third-party inline|date=September 2022}}

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".<ref name=LR/> 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".<ref name=LR/> Of paleolibertarians, he wrote that "we obey, and we ought to obey, traditions of manners and taste".<ref name=LR/> 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".<ref name=LR>{{cite journal|last1=Rockwell|first1=Lew|title=The Case for Paleo-libertarianism|journal=Liberty (libertarian magazine)|issue=January 1990|pages=34–38|url=http://www.pericles.press/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Liberty_Magazine.pdf|access-date=September 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180907144559/http://www.pericles.press/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Liberty_Magazine.pdf|archive-date=September 7, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Third-party inline|date=September 2022}}

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.<ref name="old right"/>{{Third-party inline|date=September 2022}}

== History == In the 1992 essay "Right-Wing Populism: A Strategy for the Paleo Movement", Rothbard reflected on libertarians' ability to gain the disaffected working-class and middle-class by using right-wing populist methods to deliver libertarian ideas.<ref>Murray Rothbard. [http://rothbard.altervista.org/articles/right-wing-populism.pdf "Right-Wing Populism: A Strategy for the Paleo Movement"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120015142/http://rothbard.altervista.org/articles/right-wing-populism.pdf |date=2018-11-20 }}. 1992.</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Sanchez|first1=Julian|last2=Weigel|first2=David|title=Who Wrote Ron Paul's Newsletters?|date=16 January 2008|url=http://reason.com/archives/2008/01/16/who-wrote-ron-pauls-newsletter|publisher=Reason Foundation|quote=Rothbard pointed to David Duke and Joseph McCarthy as models for an "Outreach to the Rednecks," which would fashion a broad libertarian/paleoconservative coalition by targeting the disaffected working and middle classes}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Martland|first1=Keir|title=Liberty from a Beginner:Selected Essays|date=2016|isbn=9781326524715|page=62|publisher=Lulu Enterprises Incorporated |edition=Second}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{cite book |last=Gottfried |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Gottfried |title=The Conservative Movement |year=1993 |publisher=Twayne Publishers |isbn=0-8057-9723-8 |oclc=16804886 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4lTuAAAAMAAJ&q=Rothbard 146]}}</ref> In 1992, Rothbard declared that "with Pat Buchanan as our leader, we shall break the clock of social democracy".<ref>Lee Edwards, [https://books.google.com/books?id=jn9mEDvqdZAC The Conservative Revolution: The Movement That Remade America], Simon and Schuster, 1999, [https://books.google.com/books?id=jn9mEDvqdZAC&q=Rothbard p. 329].</ref> 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.<ref name=Interview/>

Three years later, Rothbard said Buchanan developed too much faith in economic planning and centralized state power, which eventually led paleolibertarians to withdraw their support for Buchanan.<ref name=Interview/> In addition to Buchanan's economic nationalism, Paul Gottfried later complained of a lack of funding, infighting, media hostility or blackouts, and vilification as "racists" and "anti-Semites".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Martland|first1=Keir|title=Liberty from a Beginner: Selected Essays |date=2016 |isbn=9781326524715 |page=64 |publisher=Lulu Enterprises Incorporated |edition=Second}}</ref> 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.<ref name="society">[https://libertarianstandard.com/articles/hans-hermann-hoppe/the-property-and-freedom-society-reflections-after-5-years/ The Property And Freedom Society – Reflections After Five Years]. Presentation of 2010 of the annual meeting of the Property and Freedom Society, by Hans-Hermann Hoppe. Here, the author explains the characteristics of the John Randolph Club and the Mont Pelerin Society.</ref>{{Third-party inline|date=September 2022}}

Rothbard died in 1995. Rockwell asserted in 1999 that, with Rothbard's death, paleolibertarian organizing had ended.<ref name="old right"/> 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."<ref name="libertarian Rockwell"/>

== Influence == During the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries and the campaign for the 2016 United States presidential election, several figures active in 1990s paleolibertarianism expressed sympathy for the messages of then-candidate Donald Trump. Lew Rockwell was sympathetic to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign because of his message against the Republican and Democratic Party establishments,<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ_I3rLKWWs "The Trump Phenomenon"] The Tom Woods Show</ref> as was Rothbardian Justin Raimondo, who voted for Trump based on foreign policy.<ref>{{cite web |title=Do You Have 'Trump Derangement Syndrome?' | Alan Colmes Radio Show |url=http://radio.foxnews.com/2016/12/29/do-you-have-trump-derangement-syndrome/# |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161231075826/http://radio.foxnews.com/2016/12/29/do-you-have-trump-derangement-syndrome/ |archive-date=December 31, 2016 |access-date=December 30, 2016}}</ref>{{BSN|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable (WP:NOTRS).|date=September 2022}} 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.<ref>Gillespie, Nick (29 October 2016). [https://reason.com/2016/10/29/should-libertarians-vote-for-trump-nick-2/ "Should Libertarians Vote for Trump? Nick Gillespie Debates Walter Block on Nov. 1"]. ''Reason''. Reason Foundation. Retrieved 20 March 2020.</ref><ref>Epstein, Jim; Gillespie, Nick (2 November 2016). [https://reason.com/podcast/walter-block-nick-gillespie-debate/ "Should Libertarians Vote For Trump? Nick Gillespie vs. Walter Block"]. ''Reason''. Reason Foundation. Retrieved 20 March 2020.</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kerwick |first=Jack |title="The Trump Revolution: The Donald's Creative Destruction Deconstructed": A Review of the First Libertarian Case for the Trump Process |url=https://townhall.com/columnists/jackkerwick/2016/07/20/the-trump-revolution-the-donalds-creative-destruction-deconstructed-a-review-of-the-first-libertarian-case-for-the-trump-process-n2195251 |website=Townhall|date=20 July 2016 }}</ref>{{BSN|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable (WP:NOTRS).|date=September 2022}} 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'".<ref name="nyu.edu">{{cite web |title=Notablog | the Blog of Chris Matthew Sciabarra |url=https://www.nyu.edu/projects/sciabarra/notablog/archives/002136.html}}</ref>{{SPS|date=September 2022}} 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".<ref name="nyu.edu" />{{SPS|date=September 2022}}

Following the 2022 Libertarian National Convention, the Mises Caucus, a paleolibertarian faction, became the dominant faction on the Libertarian National Committee.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Doherty |first=Brian |date=2022-05-29 |title=Mises Caucus Takes Control of Libertarian Party |url=https://reason.com/2022/05/29/mises-caucus-takes-control-of-libertarian-party/ |access-date=2022-06-07 |website=Reason |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Mas |first=Frederic |date=2022-06-01 |title=United States: the libertarian party veers to the right |language=fr-FR |website=Contrepoints |url=https://www.contrepoints.org/2022/06/01/431241-etats-unis-le-parti-libertarien-vire-a-droite |access-date=2022-06-07}}</ref>

== Notable proponents and organizations== {{unreferenced section|date=June 2025}} * 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.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{Commons category-inline}}

Category:Paleolibertarianism Category:Anarcho-capitalism by form Category:Libertarianism by form Category:Libertarianism in the United States Category:Right-libertarianism