Jump to content

Right-libertarianism: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
mNo edit summary
No edit summary
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Libertarianism sidebar}}
{{Libertarianism sidebar}}


'''Right-libertarianism''' is a term used by some political analysts{{Who?|date=May 2013}} and media sources{{Who|date=May 2013}} to specify [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] political philosophies which explicitly support [[Free market|free-market]] [[capitalism]] and [[private property]] rights, along with emphasis on the [[Individual rights|rights]] and freedom of the [[Individualism|individual]] as opposed to [[Collectivism|collectivist]] views.{{Citation needed|date=May 2013}}
'''Right-libertarianism''' is a term used by some political analysts{{Who?|date=May 2013}} and media sources{{Who|date=May 2013}} to specify [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] political philosophies which explicitly support [[Free market|free-market]] [[capitalism]] and [[private property]] rights, along with emphasis on the [[Individual rights|rights]] and freedom of the [[Individualism|individual]] as opposed to [[social justice]] views.{{Citation needed|date=May 2013}}


Some political analysts have labeled [[Propertarianism|pro-property]] libertarianism as "right-libertarianism." The "libertarianism" entry of Wilbur R. Miller's encyclopedia of ''The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America'' holds that while there is debate on whether left, right and [[Libertarian socialism|socialist libertarianism]] "represent distinct ideologies as opposed to variations on a theme," "right-libertarianism" is the most pro-private property.<ref>Wilburn R. Miller, editor, ''The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia'', [[Sage Publications]], 2012, [http://books.google.com/books?id=tYME6Z35nyAC&pg=PA1006&dq=right-libertarianism&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uUsEUaO2OvCu0AGYvIDIAw&ved=0CEoQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=right-libertarianism&f=false p. 1006], ISBN 1412988764, 9781412988766</ref> The "libertarianism" entry in Mark Bevir's ''Encyclopedia of Political Theory'' holds the three types of libertarianism are right, left, and "[[Consequentialist libertarianism|consequentialist]]" as promoted by [[Friedrich Hayek]].<ref> Mark Bevir, editor, ''Encyclopedia of Political Theory'', Sage Publications, 2010, [http://books.google.com/books?id=wVIoCtB3m74C&pg=PA811&dq=%22right-libertarianism%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=p5rcUPreFaXv0gGnvICACA&ved=0CEoQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22right-libertarianism%22&f=false p. 811],
Some political analysts have labeled [[Propertarianism|pro-property]] libertarianism as "right-libertarianism." The "libertarianism" entry of Wilbur R. Miller's encyclopedia of ''The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America'' holds that while there is debate on whether left, right and [[Libertarian socialism|socialist libertarianism]] "represent distinct ideologies as opposed to variations on a theme," "right-libertarianism" is the most pro-private property.<ref>Wilburn R. Miller, editor, ''The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia'', [[Sage Publications]], 2012, [http://books.google.com/books?id=tYME6Z35nyAC&pg=PA1006&dq=right-libertarianism&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uUsEUaO2OvCu0AGYvIDIAw&ved=0CEoQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=right-libertarianism&f=false p. 1006], ISBN 1412988764, 9781412988766</ref> The "libertarianism" entry in Mark Bevir's ''Encyclopedia of Political Theory'' holds the three types of libertarianism are right, left, and "[[Consequentialist libertarianism|consequentialist]]" as promoted by [[Friedrich Hayek]].<ref> Mark Bevir, editor, ''Encyclopedia of Political Theory'', Sage Publications, 2010, [http://books.google.com/books?id=wVIoCtB3m74C&pg=PA811&dq=%22right-libertarianism%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=p5rcUPreFaXv0gGnvICACA&ved=0CEoQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22right-libertarianism%22&f=false p. 811],

Revision as of 16:17, 7 June 2013

Right-libertarianism is a term used by some political analysts[who?] and media sources[who?] to specify libertarian political philosophies which explicitly support free-market capitalism and private property rights, along with emphasis on the rights and freedom of the individual as opposed to social justice views.[citation needed]

Some political analysts have labeled pro-property libertarianism as "right-libertarianism." The "libertarianism" entry of Wilbur R. Miller's encyclopedia of The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America holds that while there is debate on whether left, right and socialist libertarianism "represent distinct ideologies as opposed to variations on a theme," "right-libertarianism" is the most pro-private property.[1] The "libertarianism" entry in Mark Bevir's Encyclopedia of Political Theory holds the three types of libertarianism are right, left, and "consequentialist" as promoted by Friedrich Hayek.[2] Herbert Kitschelt and Anthony J. McGann contrast "right-libertarianism" with "right-authoritarianism."[3] Critics of capitalism also have described anarcho-capitalist views as a "right-wing" form of libertarianism.[4]

Peter Vallentyne writes that libertarianism is not a "right-wing" doctrine in the context of the typical left-right political spectrum because on social issues it tends to be "left-wing", opposing laws restricting consensual sexual relationships between or drug use by adults, as well as laws imposing religious views or practices or compulsory military service. However, he uses the term when he writes that in "right-libertarianism" unowned natural resources "may be appropriated by the first person who discovers them, mixes her labor with them, or merely claims them—without the consent of others, and with little or no payment to them.” He contrasts this with left-libertarianism where such "unappropriated natural resources belong to everyone in some egalitarian manner."[5] Similarly, Lawrence and Charlotte Becker maintain "right-libertarianism" most often refers to the political position that because natural resources are originally unowned, they therefore may be appropriated at-will by private parties without the consent of, or owing to, others.[6]

The term "Old Right" in the United States described a loose coalition of individuals who opposed the 1930s "New Deal" at home and military interventionism abroad. It was inspired by writers like H. L. Mencken, Albert Jay Nock, Isabel Paterson, Rose Wilder Lane, John T. Flynn, Garet Garrett and Felix Morley.[7][8] According to Murray N. Rothbard, the "Old Right" "did not describe or think of themselves as conservatives: they wanted to repeal and overthrow, not conserve."[7] As Frank Chodorov wrote: "As for me, I will punch anyone who calls me a conservative in the nose. I am a radical."[9] Old Right thinkers were not identified with the social conservatism of later "right-wing" thinkers.[10]

In the 1960s Murray Rothbard started the publication Left and Right: A Journal of Libertarian Thought, believing that the "left-right" political spectrum had gone "entirely askew" since conservatives were sometimes more statist than liberals. Rothbard tried to reach out to leftists and to go "beyond left and right."[11] However, Rothbard did sometimes use the term "right", in 1971 describing libertarianism as "right-wing" because of its "emphasis on the rights of private property." He also described in detail political wings of the pro-property movement which were more left or more right than opposing wings.[12]

Anthony Gregory also points out that within the libertarian movement "just as the general concepts 'left' and 'right' are riddled with obfuscation and imprecision, left- and right-libertarianism can refer to any number of varying and at times mutually exclusive political orientations". He writes that one of several ways to look at right-libertarianism is its exclusive interest in "economic freedoms," preference for a "conservative lifestyle," view that big business is "a great victim of the state," favoring of a "strong national defense," and sharing the Old Right's "opposition to empire." However, he holds that the important distinction for libertarians is not left or right but whether they are "government apologists who use libertarian rhetoric to defend state aggression."[13]

Samuel Edward Konkin III defined the term "right-libertarianism" as an: "activist, organization, publication or tendency which supports parliamentarianism exclusively as a strategy for reducing or abolishing the state, typically opposes counter-economics, either opposes the Libertarian Party or works to drag it right and prefers coalitions with supposedly 'free-market' conservatives."[14]

Some pro-property libertarians like Leonard Read, Harry Browne, Walter Block and Tibor R. Machan reject any association with either term "right" or "left".[15] Other libertarians like Sheldon Richman, Karl Hess, Roderick Long and Kevin Carson have written about libertarianism's opposition to authoritarian rule being in concert with the original meaning of "left wing."[16][17]

See also

References

  1. ^ Wilburn R. Miller, editor, The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia, Sage Publications, 2012, p. 1006, ISBN 1412988764, 9781412988766
  2. ^ Mark Bevir, editor, Encyclopedia of Political Theory, Sage Publications, 2010, p. 811, ISBN 1412958652, 9781412958653
  3. ^ Herbert Kitschelt, Anthony J. McGann, The Radical Right in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis, University of Michigan Press, 1997, p. 27, ISBN 472084410, 9780472084418
  4. ^
    • Marcellus Andrews, The Political Economy of Hope and Fear: Capitalism and the Black Condition in America, NYU Press, 2001, ISBN 0814706800, 9780814706800 On page 61: "anarcho-capitalist -- a right-wing libertarian whose faith in private property and unregulated markets is absolute"
    • David Goodway, Anarchist seeds beneath the snow: left-libertarian thought and British writers from William Morris to Colin Ward, Liverpool University Press, Liverpool University Press, 2006 ISBN 1846310253, 9781846310256 On page 4: describes confusion in definition of libertarianism because of "Anarcho-capitalism, 'minimal statism' and an extreme right-wing laissez-faire philosophy"
    • Saul Newman, The Politics of Postanarchism, Edinburgh University Press, 2010 ISBN 0748634959, 9780748634958 On page 43 : "It is important to distinguish between anarchism and certain strands of right-wing libertarianism which at times go by the same name (for example, Murray Rothbard's anarcho-capitalism)."
  5. ^ Peter Vallentyne, "Libertarianism," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Stanford University, July 20, 2010], accessed December 26, 2012.
  6. ^ Lawrence C. Becker, Charlotte B. Becker. Encyclopedia of ethics, Volume 3, Taylor & Francis US, 2001, p. 1562.
  7. ^ a b Murray N. Rothbard, Betrayal of the American Right, Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2007, in Introduction by Thomas E. Woods, Jr., p. xi.
  8. ^ See also:
    • Albert Jay Nock, Memoirs of a Superfluous Man (New York: Harper 1943); Our Enemy, the State (New York: Morrow 1935); "Isaiah's Job," Atlantic Monthly 157 (June 1936): 641-9
    • Frank Chodorov, Out of Step: The Autobiography of an Individualist (New York: Devin-Adair 1962); Fugitive Essays: Selected Writings of Frank Chodorov, ed. Charles H. Hamilton (Indianapolis: Liberty 1980).
    • Carl Ryant, Profit's Prophet: Garet Garrett (1878-1954) (Selinsgrove, PA: Susquehanna UP 1989); Bruce Ramsey, Unsanctioned Voice: Garet Garrett, Journalist of the Old Right (Caldwell, ID: Caxton 2008).
    • Stephen Cox, The Woman and the Dynamo: Isabel Paterson and the Idea of America (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction 2004); Isabel Paterson, The God of the Machine (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction 1993).
    • Rose Wilder Lane, Give Me Liberty (1936; Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger 2006); The Discovery of Freedom: Man's Struggle against Authority (1943: Auburn, Alabama: Mises 2007)
    • John T. Flynn, As We Go Marching: A Biting Indictment of the Coming of Domestic Fascism in America (1944; New York: Free Life 1973); John Moser, Right Turn: John T. Flynn and the Transformation of American Liberalism (New York: New York UP 2005).
    • See also: Ronald Radosh, Prophets on the Right: Profiles of Conservative Critics of American Globalism (New York: Simon 1975); Justin Raimondo, Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement, 2d ed. (Wilmington, DE: ISI 2008)
  9. ^ Frank Chodorov, letter to the editor, National Review 2.20 (Oct. 6, 1956): 23, qtd. Charles H. Hamilton, "Introduction," Fugitive Essays 29, qtd. Rothbard, Betrayal 165.
  10. ^ Bill Kauffman, "Found Cause: Don't Call Me a Conservative," American Conservative, May 18, 2009.
  11. ^ Justin Raimondo, An Enemy of the State, Chapter 4: "Beyond left and right", p. 159, Prometheus Books, 2000.
  12. ^ Murray N. Rothbard, The Left and Right Within Libertarianism, originally published in "WIN: Peace and Freedom through Nonviolent Action", March 1, 1971; reprinted at LewRockwell.com.
  13. ^ Anthony Gregory, Left, Right, Moderate and Radical, LewRockwell.com (n.p., Dec. 21, 2006)
  14. ^ Samuel Edward Konkin III, New Libertarian Manifesto, 1983.
  15. ^ See:
  16. ^ Sheldon Richman, "Libertarianism: Left or Right?," Freedom Daily (Future of Freedom Foundation, Sep. 12, 2007). Richman notes that since the origins of the term "right wing" were from the French Legislative Assembly where supporters of the dethroned monarchy and aristocracy sat, libertarians should be on the "left wing" where their opponents sat.
  17. ^ Some forebears of contemporary libertarians, like Benjamin Tucker, have been participants in the acknowledged history of the Left: Tucker embraced the First International. See, e.g., James J. Martin, Men against the State: The Expositors of Individualist Anarchism in America (Colorado Springs, CO: Myles 1970). Tucker identified his economic philosophy as a form of socialism. See Benjamin R. Tucker, "State Socialism and Anarchism: How Far They Agree and Wherein They Differ," Instead of a Book: By a Man Too Busy to Write One (New York: Tucker 1897). Sheldon Richman writes that Tucker's brand was to be achieved through free market, not state means. See Libertarianism: Left or Right?," Future of Freedom Foundation, September 12, 2007.