Paleolibertarianism (also known as the "Paleo strategy") is a right-libertarian political activism strategy aimed at uniting libertarians and paleoconservatives.[«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.» Libertarianism and the Old Right, Lew Rockwell (2006), Mises Institute.][Lew Rockwell, "What I Learned From Paleoism", at LewRockwell.com, May 2, 2002.][ 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 generally seen as a right-wing ideology.
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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. (who were accused of giving up on communicating the complete libertarian message and of adopting the political and cultural values inside the Beltway to gain acceptance among the political elite[ Do You Consider Yourself a Libertarian?, Kenny Johnsson interviews Lew Rockwell for The Liberal Post, LewRockwell.Com, May 25, 2007.]); 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.
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"[ "Paleolibertarianism" by Karen De Coster, LewRockwell.com, December 2, 2003] and distinguished themselves from neo-libertarians, Beltway libertarianism (a pejorative term used by hardline libertarians to describe libertarians who have gained traction in the Beltway, i.e., Washington, D.C., who are accused of surrendering libertarian values to the Beltway values in order to have better public relations with the Beltway elite), left-libertarianism and lifestyle libertarianism.
Paleolibertarianism developed in opposition to the link between social avant-garde and libertarianism as if they were indivisible issues. In his 1990 essay "The Case for Paleo-Libertarianism", Rockwell charged mainstream libertarians with "hatred of Western culture".[ He argued that "Pornography photography, Freethought, 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".][ Of paleolibertarians, he wrote that "we obey, and we ought to obey, traditions of manners and taste".][ 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".]
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 the libertarian principles in ways that lead to the radicalization of the middle classes against the state.
History
In the 1992 essay "Right-Wing Populism: A Strategy for the Paleo Movement", Rothbard reflected on the ability of libertarians to gain the disaffected working and middle classes using right-wing populism methods to deliver libertarian ideas.[Murray Rothbard. "Right-Wing Populism: A Strategy for the Paleo Movement" . 1992.]
In the 1990s, a "paleoconservative-paleolibertarian alliance was forged", centred on the John Randolph Club founded in 1989 by traditionalist Catholic Thomas Fleming and Rothbard.[Lee Edwards, The Conservative Revolution: The Movement That Remade America, Simon and Schuster, 1999, p. 329.] The Rockwell and Rothbard intention with this alliance was to rebirth an anti-war and anti-welfare right-wing and to fight the neoconservative leadership of the Republican Party in the context of the end of Cold War.[
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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.[ In addition to Buchanan's economic nationalism, Paul Gottfried later complained of a lack of funding, infighting, media hostility or blackout and vilification as "racists" and "anti-Semites".][ 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 John Randolph Club and the Mont Pelerin Society.]
Rothbard died in 1995. Rockwell asserted in 1999 that with Rothbard's death the paleolibertarian organizing had ended.
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 levels of 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 Party and Democratic Party establishments,[ "The Trump Phenomenon" The Tom Woods Show] as was Rothbardian Justin Raimondo, who voted for Trump on the basis of foreign policy.[Gillespie, Nick (29 October 2016). "Should Libertarians Vote for Trump? Nick Gillespie Debates Walter Block on Nov. 1". Reason. Reason Foundation. Retrieved 20 March 2020.][Epstein, Jim; Gillespie, Nick (2 November 2016). "Should Libertarians Vote For Trump? Nick Gillespie vs. Walter Block". Reason. Reason Foundation. Retrieved 20 March 2020.]
In line with these views, libertarian columnist Ilana Mercer authored a book in June 2016 about presidential candidate Trump titled The Trump Revolution: The Donald's Creative Destruction Deconstructed, a critical examination of then-candidate Trump from a libertarian perspective.
Following the 2022 Libertarian National Convention, the Mises Caucus, a paleolibertarian faction, became the dominant faction on the Libertarian National Committee.
Notable proponents and organizations
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Mark Meechan, also known as Count Dankula, Scottish comedian and YouTuber
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Javier Milei, President of Argentina
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Ron Paul, American physician, author, and former United States Representative.
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Mises Caucus, faction within the American Libertarian Party
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Mises Institute, founded by Rockwell to advance Paleolibertarian and Austrian economic views.
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Stefan Molyneux, Canadian anarcho-capitalist podcaster, and a former associate of Rockwell.
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Gary North, American economist and Christian Reconstructionist.
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Hans-Hermann Hoppe, German economist, anarcho- capitalist, and cultural conservative.
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Property and Freedom Society, organization for right-libertarians founded and led by Hoppe.
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Justin Raimondo, anti-war activist.
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Lew Rockwell, associate of Rothbard, advocate of secession, and founder of the Mises Institute.
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Murray Rothbard, American anarcho-capitalist and Austrian economist.
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R.J. Rushdoony, Armenian-American Calvinism minister, reconstructionist, and advocate of Christian libertarianism.
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Jeffrey Tucker, member of the Mises Institute and advocate of Bitcoin.
See also
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Alt-lite
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Austrian School
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Coalition for the Renewal of the Republic – Liberty and Hope
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Conservative liberalism
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Criticism of democracy
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Dark Enlightenment
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Hans Hermann Hoppe
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Libertarian conservatism
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Libertarian perspectives on immigration
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National conservatism
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National-anarchism
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Nativism (politics)
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Outline of libertarianism
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Paleoconservatism
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Party of Free Citizens
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Radical right (United States)
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Real Politics Union
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Right-libertarianism
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Right-wing populism
External links
