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Paleolibertarianism is a school of thought within libertarianism founded by Murray Rothbard and Lew Rockwell, and closely associated with the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Paleolibertarianism is based on a combination of radical libertarianism in politics and cultural conservatism in social thought. The description as paleolibertarianism emphasized their identification with the tradition of the American Old Right, including Ludwig von Mises, Albert Jay Nock, and the America First movement. The paleolibertarian movement defined itself in opposition to what it saw as deviations from this tradition in the form of "left-libertarianism" and "neo-libertarianism" (which were sometimes treated as the same thing, and sometimes not). "Neo-libertarianism" was characterized as a corruption of libertarian thought by inside-the- Beltway policy think tanks which failed to offer principled opposition to the consolidation of federal power and interventionism in foreign policy; left-libertarianism was characterized as undermining the cultural foundations of liberty through a misguided egalitarianism and attacks on traditional religion and bourgeois morality. 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 work of Murray N. Rothbard and his predecessors, including Ludwig von Mises, Albert Jay Nock, Garet Garrett , and the entire 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 that began in the 1980s, when large institutions moved to Washington and began to use the language of liberty as part of a grab bag of "policy options." 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:
- Disaffilation from the Vietnam War-era alliance between libertarians and the New LeftThe British New Left or Old New Left As a result of Khrushchev's secret speech denouncing Stalin and the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) ruptured. Many left the party for Trotskyist groupings or for the Inde
- Intellectual and political alliances with paleoconservatism
- Sharp opposition to warFor other uses of War, see War (disambiguation). War is conflict, between relatively large groups of people, which involves physical force inflicted by the use of weapons. Other terms for war include armed conflict hostilities and police action''. See Lim and interventionist foreign policy
- Radical decentralization in politics (most paleolibertarians subscribe to some form of anarcho-capitalismAnarcho-capitalism is a view that regards all forms of the state as unnecessary and harmful, particularly in matters of justice and self-defense, while being highly supportive of private property. It synthesizes certain ideas from the tradition of classic)
- Commitment to a Natural Law approach to libertarian theory, and intense opposition towards utilitarianUtilitarianism is a suggested theoretical framework for morality, based on quantitative maximisation of some definition of " utility" for society or humanity. Utilitarianism "The greatest good for the most people. or: "The greatest good over the least pai approaches
Prominent paleolibertarians include Murray Rothbard, Lew Rockwell, Hans-Hermann HoppeHans-Hermann Hoppe (born September 2, 1949) is an Austrian school economist and anarcho-capitalist philosopher. Born in Peine West Germany, he attended the Universitat des Saarlandes in Saarbrucken, and the Goethe-Universitat, Frankfurt am Main, studying, Thomas DiLorenzo and Joseph Sobran . Closely affiliated institutions include the Ludwig von Mises Institute and the Center for Libertarian Studies . Jonah Goldberg is one notable critic of paleolibertarianism.
