Rothbard as System-Builder: A Tribute
An abridged version of this essay was printed in Liberty magazine.
by Wendy McElroy
Murray N. Rothbard (1926-1995) — the greatest libertarian theorist of the 20th century — expressed what he considered to be the central political issue confronting mankind. He wrote, “My own basic perspective on the history of man…is to place central importance on the great conflict which is eternally waged between Liberty and Power.” Liberty v. Power. In its most blatant form, the struggle manifests itself as war between the peaceful, productive individual and the intrusive State that usurps those products. The tension between freedom and authority is hardly a new subject for political commentary. But Rothbard managed to bring a newness to everything he touched intellectually.
Rothbard was a system builder. Unsatisfied with past attempts to present a ‘philosophy of freedom,’ Rothbard sought to create an interdisciplinary system of thought that used the struggle between Liberty and Power as its integrating theme. He explained, “Strands and remnants of libertarian doctrines are, indeed, all around us. … But only libertarianism takes these strands and remnants and integrates them into a mighty, logical, and consistent system.” Without such a systematic world view, he believed Liberty could not succeed.
In forty-five years of scholarship and activism, Rothbard produced over two dozen books and thousands of articles that made sense of the world from a radical individualist perspective. In doing so, it is no exaggeration to say that Rothbard created the modern libertarian movement. Specifically, he refined and fused together:
- natural law theory, using a basic Aristotelian or Randian approach;
- the radical civil libertarianism of 19th century individualist-anarchists, especially Lysander Spooner and Benjamin Tucker;
- the free market philosophy of Austrian economists, in particular Ludwig von Mises, into which he incorporated sweeping economic histories; and,
- the foreign policy of the American Old Right — that is, isolationism.
As a result of the fusion, libertarianism blossomed in the ’60s as the philosophy of absolute individual rights based on natural law — of rights that were expressed domestically through the free market and internationally through non-aggression (isolationism) with its corollary of unbridled free trade. But more than this. Following in the footsteps of his mentor, the pioneering Austrian Economist Ludwig von Mises, Rothbard grounded human liberty in human nature. Developing an explicit philosophy of Liberty, he drove his insights through history to re-examine the real implications and meaning of events, such as the American Revolution. He laid a moral foundation for freedom, then used it to springboard into a strategy by which to achieve it. The integration was a stunning accomplishment. And one that stirred the love of Liberty within a generation of scholars and activists who proudly called themselves ‘Rothbardians.’ I include myself in those ranks.