Lew Rockwell

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Lew Rockwell
Lewrockwell.jpg
Born Llewellyn Harrison Rockwell, Jr.
(1944-07-01) July 1, 1944 (age 68)
Boston, Massachusetts
Nationality United States
Occupation Political commentator, editor, blogger, podcaster, and former Congressional staffer
Influenced by Henry Hazlitt, Robert Taft, Garet Garrett, John T. Flynn, Albert Jay Nock, H.L. Mencken, Frank Chodorov, Charles C. Tansill, Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard
Religion Roman Catholic
Spouse(s) Mardelle Rockwell
Website
LewRockwell.com
Part of a series on the
Austrian School

Llewellyn Harrison "Lew" Rockwell, Jr. (born July 1, 1944) is an American libertarian author and editor, self-professed anarcho-capitalist,[1] a proponent of the Austrian School of economics, and founder and chairman of the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

Contents

Life and work [edit]

Rockwell was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1944. His father was a "Taft Republican", and Rockwell was exposed at a young age to military non-interventionism.[2] He was introduced to the laissez faire thought of the French Liberal and Austrian schools of economics when he received Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson as a gift from a family friend on his twelfth birthday.[2] Later in his youth, Rockwell became disaffected with mainstream conservatism.[2]

Early career in publishing [edit]

After college, Rockwell worked at Arlington House publishers as an editor of books by authors including Bill Rickenbacker, Harry Browne, and George Roche. There, he became acquainted with the works of Ludwig von Mises.[2]

In the mid-1970s Rockwell worked at Hillsdale College.[2] George Roche had become president of the college in 1971.[3] Rockwell worked in fundraising and public relations. He started the Hillsdale College Press, and founded the school's monthly publication, Imprimis which were praised by Gary North for being "the most financially successful newsletter in history, raising several hundred million dollars for Hillsdale."[2][4]

Rockwell met Murray Rothbard in 1975 while working for Hillsdale. Rockwell credits Rothbard with convincing him to reject statism completely, saying "I cannot remember the day that I finally came around to the position that the state is unnecessary and destructive by its nature – that it cannot improve on, and indeed only destroys, the social and economic system that grows out of property rights, exchange, and natural social authority – but I do know that it was Rothbard who finally convinced me to take this last step."[2]

Work for Ron Paul [edit]

Main article: Ron Paul

Rockwell served as Ron Paul's congressional chief of staff from 1978 to 1982.[5][6] He was a consultant to Paul's 1988 Libertarian Party campaign for President of the United States[7] and was vice-chair of the exploratory committee for Paul's run for the 1992 Republican Party nomination for president.[8]

Ron Paul newsletters [edit]

Main article: Ron Paul newsletters

Reason magazine reported Rockwell was a founding officer and former Vice President at Ron Paul & Associates[9] which was one of the publishers of a variety of political and investment-oriented newsletters bearing Paul's name.[10][11]

In January 2008, during Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign, James Kirchick of the New Republic uncovered a collection of Ron Paul newsletters and alleged that they "reveal decades worth of obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews, and gays."[11][12] For instance, one issue of a newsletter described African-Americans as "animals",[11] another asserted that 95% of them were criminals,[13] and another approved of the slogan "Sodomy = Death" and said homosexuals suffering from HIV/AIDS "enjoy the pity and attention that comes with being sick".[11]

Kirchick noted that most of the articles contained no bylines.[11] Numerous sources reported Lew Rockwell had "partly overseen" the production of the newsletters;[14] Rockwell is listed as "contributing editor" on physical copies of some newsletters[15][16] and listed as sole Editor of the May 1988 "Ron Paul investment Newsletter".[17] Reason magazine reported that "a half-dozen longtime libertarian activists – including some still close to Paul" had identified Rockwell as the "chief ghostwriter" of the newsletters,[9] as did former Ron Paul Chief of Staff (1981–1985) John W. Robbins.[18]

Rockwell admitted to Kirchick that he was "involved in the promotion" of the newsletters and wrote the subscription letters but denied ghostwriting the articles. He said there were "seven or eight freelancers involved at various stages" of the newsletter's history and indicated another individual who had "left in unfortunate circumstances", but whom he did not identify, was in charge of editing and publishing the newsletters.[19] Ron Paul himself repudiated the newsletters' content and said he was not involved in the daily operations of the newsletters or saw much of their content until years later.[14] In 2011 Paul's spokesperson Jesse Benton said that Paul had "taken moral responsibility because they appeared under his name and slipped through under his watch".[20]

Ludwig von Mises Institute [edit]

Part of a series on
Libertarianism
Main article: Ludwig von Mises Institute

In 1982, Rockwell founded the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama and was its president until the summer of 2009, when he transitioned to the position of chairman of the board.[21] He also is Vice President of the Center for Libertarian Studies in Burlingame, California and publisher of the political weblog LewRockwell.com. Rockwell was closely associated with his teacher and colleague Murray Rothbard until Rothbard's death in 1995. Rockwell's political ideology, like Rothbard's in his later years, combines a form of anarcho-capitalism with cultural conservatism and the Austrian School of economics. He also advocates federalist concepts as a means of promoting freedom from central government, and also advocates secession for the same political decentralist reasons. Rockwell has called environmentalism "[a]n ideology as pitiless and Messianic as Marxism."[22]

The Mises Institute published Rockwell's Speaking of Liberty, an anthology of editorials which were originally published on his website, along with transcripts from some of his speaking engagements. Rockwell and the Ludwig von Mises Institute together publish the Journal of Libertarian Studies.

Burton Blumert, Rockwell, economist and philosopher David Gordon, and Murray Rothbard.

Paleolibertarianism [edit]

Main article: Paleolibertarianism

In 1985, Rockwell was named a contributing editor to Conservative Digest.[23] During the 1990s Rothbard, Rockwell and others described their views as paleolibertarian to emphasize their commitment to cultural conservatism, even as they continued to hold hardcore anti-state beliefs.[24] In a 2007 interview Rockwell revealed he no longer considered himself a "paleolibertarian" and was "happy with the term libertarian." He explained "the term paleolibertarian became confused because of its association with paleoconservative, so it came to mean some sort of socially conservative libertarian, which wasn't the point at all...."[25]

LewRockwell.com [edit]

Main article: LewRockwell.com

Rockwell's website, LewRockwell.com, formed in 1999, features articles and blog entries by a number of columnists and writers. It's motto is "anti-war, anti-state, pro-market".[26] There also is a weekly podcast called the Lew Rockwell Show.[27] As of May 2013 LRC was in the top 10,000 websites worldwide.[28] LewRockwell.com publishes a variety of articles opposing war and imperialism, questioning United States participation in World War II, opposing "economic fascism" and supporting Austrian economics and secessionism.[29] The writings are sometimes controversial and have brought criticism from some on the political right.[30][31]

Books [edit]

Author [edit]

Editor [edit]

Notes [edit]

 This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (April 2013)
  1. ^ About LewRockwell.com http://www.lewrockwell.com/about.html
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Doherty, Brian. "Libertarianism and the Old Right.", Mises.org. 1999. Orig. published by SpintechMag.org. May 12, 1999.
  3. ^ Michaelson, Mark G. "Remembering George Roche.", The American Spectator, May 12, 2006.
  4. ^ North, Gary. "How Lew Rockwell Copied Leonard E. Read and Took Over the Libertarian Movement." GaryNorth.com. May 26, 2009. [1]
  5. ^ Berlau, John. Now playing right field – Rep. Ron Paul – Interview Insight on the News. February 10, 1997.
  6. ^ Hayes, Christopher, The Nation, Ron Paul's Roots, December 6, 2007, retrieved January 14, 2008
  7. ^ "Campaign staffs announced", LPNEWS, May/June 1987, 10
  8. ^ Burton Blumert, "Ron Paul for President Exploratory Committee" fundraising letter, October 1, 1991.
  9. ^ a b "Who Wrote Ron Paul's Newsletters?". Reason.com. January 16, 2008. Retrieved 2013-04-30. 
  10. ^ The newsletters had various names: Dr. Ron Paul's Freedom Report (OCLC 38365640 and 15124395), The Ron Paul Survival Report (OCLC 27301727), the Ron Paul Investment Letter (OCLC 27301651), and the Ron Paul Political Report (OCLC 31695178).
  11. ^ a b c d e Kirchick, James (January 8, 2008). "Angry White Man: The Bigoted Past of Ron Paul". The New Republic. Retrieved February 17, 2012. 
  12. ^ "TNR Exclusive: A Collection of Ron Paul's Most Incendiary Newsletters". The New Republic. December 23, 2011. Retrieved 2012-01-13. 
  13. ^ "Paul's story changes on racial comments – USATODAY.com". Usatoday30.usatoday.com. December 21, 2011. Retrieved 2013-04-30. 
  14. ^ a b Jim Rutenberg and Serge F. Kovaleski, Paul Disowns Extremists’ Views but Doesn’t Disavow the Support, New York Times, December 25, 2011.
  15. ^ Post Store (December 27, 2011). "Ron Paul and the racist newsletters (Fact Checker biography)". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2013-04-30. 
  16. ^ Masthead of a 1987 Ron Paul Investment Letter
  17. ^ May 1988 "Ron Paul investment Newsletter"
  18. ^ "Likely Author of Shocking Ron Paul Letters Exposed". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2013-04-30. 
  19. ^ Kirchick, James. "Who Wrote Ron Paul's Newsletters?". New Republic. Retrieved 2013-04-30. 
  20. ^ Jackie Kucinich, Paul's story changes on racial comments, USA TODAY, December 21, 2011.
  21. ^ About the Mises Institute page at Ludwig von Mises Institute website.
  22. ^ Rockwell, L. H., Jr. (1990). "An anti-environmentalist manifesto." From The Right, Quarterly II, 1(6), 1. (newsletter of Patrick J. Buchanan), p. 1; Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. Rockwell's Anti-Environmentalist Manifesto, May 1, 2000 version published by Lewrockwell.com
  23. ^ Berlet, Chip. The Write Stuff: U. S. Serial Print Culture from Conservatives out to Neonazis, Library Trends – Volume 56, Number 3, Winter 2008, pp. 570–600.
  24. ^ Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. "The Case for Paleo-libertarianism" in Liberty magazine, January 1990, 34–38.
  25. ^ Kenny Johnsson, Do You Consider Yourself a Libertarian?, interview with Lew Rockwell, May 25, 2007.
  26. ^ About LewRockwell.com; Columnists listing; The LRC Blog at LewRockwell.com website.
  27. ^ Lew Rockwell Show.
  28. ^ Alexa analyctics for LewRockwell.com, accessed May 5, 2013.
  29. ^ For example: Rogers, Mike. "Dying For the Emperor? No Way." LewRockwell.com. October 12, 2005; Gonella, Jason. "The Decline and Fall of the United States Empire." LewRockwell.com. December 9, 2004; DiLorenzo, Thomas J. "Economic Fascism" LewRockwell.com. November 23, 2004. [2]
  30. ^ Laksin, Jacob. "The Right's Left Turn." FrontPageMag. October 5, 2005. [3]
  31. ^ Goldberg, Jonah. "Farewell, Lew Rockwell: The final word." National Review Online. March 7, 2001. [4]

External links [edit]

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