Murray Rothbard was a prolific writer. Thanks to the Mises Institute, much of his work can be found online, but there are still many articles that anarcho-capitalists have never read because only physical copies exist. For one such article, that changes today.
Simon Franek sends along this article that he found in the FEE archive. It is from the May 1973 edition of New Libertarian Notes. Click the image below for the PDF.
Murray Rothbard gives a witty discussion of the history of socialism, and how it displaced the positive movement of classical liberalism in the 18th century.
This amusing video gives a taste of Murray Rothbard’s humor as he explains economics and the deleterious effects of government housing programs.
In his book, A Spontaneous Order: The Capitalist Case for a Stateless Society, Chase Rachels does an excellent job conveying insights from both libertarianism and economics. He uses clear explanations of basic concepts and persuasive examples for applications. He relentlessly identifies aggression as the root cause of society’s problems, and the state as the primary source of aggression. Most importantly, the book is permeated by a Rothbardian hatred of the state, which will make it an enjoyable read for any ancap.
Rachels makes frequent use of long passages quoted from other works. Thankfully these are drawn from some of the best sources on libertarianism and economics: Continue reading
In this video from 1981, David D. Friedman lists some unresolved problems with libertarianism and also tells some funny stories about Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, and Ayn Rand. In general, he thinks that libertarians are too confident in their ability to answer all real world problems given the current state of libertarian ethical theory. For anyone interested in the fundamentals of libertarianism, this video will be a lot of fun.
TL;DW: First, he is concerned that there is no pre-defined rule for quantifying the kind and quantity of punishment and restitution that is appropriate in response to crimes. Continue reading
In light of Leonard Liggio‘s recent death, Simon Franek sends along this interview from 1973 which he found in the archives of the recently closed FEE headquarters in New York. In it Leonard Liggio and Murray Rothbard discuss their history in the libertarian movement and their thoughts on non-interventionism.
Here is the full text in PDF. Below is the first page.
Here are some tributes to Liggio from FEE and Reason.
Update: Simon Franek has provided the text below.
Murray Rothbard
This website is inspired by Murray Rothbard’s relentless pursuit of liberty. It is not intended to be just a tribute to him or a repository of his writings, but rather a way to continue to work towards a world in which each person is truly free.
