Greatest libertarians

Miscellaneous General
1

My list:

  1. John Locke
    John Locke is the father of classical liberalism. His theory of natural rights, homesteading, individualism and property rights provide the foundation for the entire movement. He is definitely the greatest libertarian of all times.

  2. Murray Rothbard
    This genius of original thinking almost single handedly invented and matured the anarcho-capitalism political theory. His writings on economy, legal issues, history and philosophy are so extensive and so innovative, that his place as the greatest intellectual of the 20th century is guaranteed.

  3. Adam Smith
    Adam Smith provided the foundation of libertarian economics. He gave 19th century the sharpest defense for accumulation of wealth and for free trade. He successfully criticized mercantilism, and his influence on policy makers and the general public is unsurpassed by any other libertarian.

  4. Ludwig Von Mises
    Ludwig Von Mises’s contribution to the philosophical basis for libertarian economy (praxeology), his theory on calculation problems of centrally planned economies, and his explanation of business cycles gives Ludwig Von-Mises a place as the greatest economist of the 20th century. But even more important was Mises’s foundation of Austrian school of economics, the only school of economics in the 20th century that kept the fire of true libertarianism and didn’t let it extinguish.

  5. Milton Friedman
    The achievement of Milton Friedman doesn’t lie in development of economics. His achievement lies in making capitalism popular again in the late 20th century. His political activism as advisor to Reagan and his contribution in eliminating the draft in the United States were dwarfed by his ability to sway millions of people to free market economics and liberty principles.

2

  1. Believed in restrictions on the accumulation of property and believed in welfare

  2. None of his ideas were new for his time. He also believed in absolute advantage

  3. Alright, I’ll give you some leeway here.

Also, 4 should come before 2.

3

Also, 4 should come before 2.

!?!?

Rothbard should be #1 on that list.

4

"!?!?

Rothbard should be #1 on that list."

Who didn’t see that coming? Not judgin, just sayin.

Why do you believe that Rothbard was the greatest libertarian?

5

I give the benefit of doubt that someone who’s really only read Rothbard would make such a dogmatic claim. Rothbard may be in the top 5, but not number 1. There’s too many libertarian activists and authors for even myself to make a list, especially one like this. Bastiat? Nock? Read? Chodorov? Spooner? Hoppe? The list would take the form of core libertarian authors one needs to read from the past 100 years or so. To be honest, this is something that Jeffrey Tucker should take on (I’m sure he can make a rather extensive list).

6

The greatest libertarian is the guy who minded his own fucking business.

7

I concur with your sentiment, but not sure how serious the statement is as I see your user name and avatar.

8

Ayn Rand should be #1 on that list, of course.

haha, dont stone me

9

Ayn Rand does need to be on the list, as well as Nozick. If you asked any non-libertarian to make the list, assuming they were at least educated, it would probably go:

  1. Rand
  2. Hayek
  3. Nozick
  4. Friedman
  5. Rothbard
10

I wouldn’t argue with anyone putting Spooner on their list.

11

Molinari and Bastiat ought to be up there

12

Rothbard is #1 and then there isn’t anyone after him for a very, very long time. And only then you have the distant second, third, etc.

Also Rand and Hayek for me don’t even belong on a list of libertarians as such.

13

Rothbard is #1 and then there isn’t anyone after him for a very, very long time. And only then you have the distant second, third, etc.

QFT!

14

Okay, I revise my list and put Thomas Jefferson as #3, thus displacing Friedman.

15

I’d have the list be based on tw othings, contributions and impact.

I would say that Rothbard’s contributions and impact are both high, but he did not originate the theories. He systamized Mises/Nock/Spooner/Locke et al.

16

What are you talking about? He basically invented anarcho-capitalism and showed how it can be practical.

17

From my previous post

“He systamized Mises/Nock/Spooner/Locke et al.”

18

My updated list.

  1. John Locke
    John Locke is the father of classical liberalism. His theory of natural rights, homesteading, individualism and property rights provide the foundation for the entire movement. He is definitely the greatest libertarian of all times.

  2. Murray Rothbard
    This genius of original thinking almost single handedly invented and matured the anarcho-capitalism political theory. His writings on economy, legal issues, history and philosophy are so extensive and so innovative, that his place as the greatest intellectual of the 20th century is guaranteed.

  3. Thomas Jefferson
    While Locke was the founder of liberalism, Thomas Jefferson was its first practitioner. The declaration of independence of the United States that he authored is a huge monument for limited and restrained government. Jefferson has contributed immensely to the successful and in fact the only implementation of libertarian ideals in a modern state.

  4. Adam Smith
    Adam Smith provided the foundation of libertarian economics. He gave 19th century the sharpest defense for accumulation of wealth and for free trade. He successfully criticized mercantilism, and his influence on policy makers and the general public is unsurpassed by any other libertarian.

  5. Ludwig Von Mises
    Ludwig Von Mises’s contribution to the philosophical basis for libertarian economy (praxeology), his theory on calculation problems of centrally planned economies, and his explanation of business cycles gives Ludwig Von-Mises a place as the greatest economist of the 20th century. But even more important was Mises’s foundation of Austrian school of economics, the only school of economics in the 20th century that kept the fire of true libertarianism and didn’t let it extinguish.

19

But neither of them was an anarchist!

20

I totally think you should lose Adam Smith. Statists cling to Smith for some of their basic economic arguments. I’d use John Stuart Mill instead.