Paleolibertarianism
Paleolibertarianism is a school of thought within
American libertarianism founded by
Lew Rockwell. Paleolibertarianism is based on a combination of radical libertarianism in politics and
cultural conservatism in social thought. The description as
paleolibertarianism emphasized their differences with what they call
neolibertarians, who, in their view, sacrifice libertarian ideas for political expediency. "
Neo-libertarianism" is characterized by these groups as a corruption of libertarian thought by policy
think tanks and
political parties which failed to offer principled opposition to the consolidation of federal power and
interventionism in
foreign policy (however, see
Neo-libertarianism for an important note about the shifting nature of the term). Lew Rockwell characterized paleolibertarian thought by saying:
"Paleolibertarianism holds with
Lord Acton that liberty is the highest political end of man, and that all forms of
government intervention —
economic,
cultural, social, international —amount to an attack on
prosperity,
morals, and
bourgeois civilization itself, and thus must be opposed at all levels and without
compromise. It is "paleo" because of its genesis in... [the] interwar
Old Right that opposed the
New Deal and favored the
Old Republic of
property rights,
freedom of association, and radical
political decentralization. Just as important, paleolibertarianism predates the politicization of
libertarianism... :"Instead of principle, the neo-libertarians give us political alliances; instead of intellectually robust ideas, they give us marketable platitudes. What's more, paleolibertarianism distinguishes itself from
left-libertarianism because it has made its peace with
religion as the bedrock of
liberty,
property, and the natural order.''"
Paleolibertarianism is commonly distinguished by:
* political alliances with
paleoconservatism* disaffiliation from the post-
Cold War-era alliance between
libertarians and the
New Left; note, however, that this trend has been checked in the aftermath of the
September 11 attacks and the
War on Terror, due to the paleolibertarians' growing antipathy with conservatism in general, except for the most distinctly
paleoconservative types.
* sharp opposition to
war and interventionist foreign policy
* radical decentralization in politics (most paleolibertarians subscribe to some form of
anarcho-capitalism and do not associate with any political party)
* commitment to a
Natural Law approach to libertarian theory, and intense opposition towards
utilitarian approaches
Prominent paleolibertarians include
Lew Rockwell,
Hans-Hermann Hoppe,
Thomas DiLorenzo and
Joseph Sobran. Closely affiliated institutions include the
Ludwig von Mises Institute and the
Center for Libertarian Studies.
*
What I Learned From Paleoism by Llewellyn H. Rockwell*
The Libertarian As Authoritarian
