Who do people consider to be real life manifestations or exemplars of Austrian or libertarian ideals? I don’t mean theorists or thinkers, more doers.
Also, what groups of people in history are closest to being societies which conform to libertarian or Austrian ideals?
Walter Block examines several here: http://mises.org/books/defending.pdf
He’s planning a follow-up I understand. Personally, I consider illegal immigrants as partial-exemplars of the libertarian ideal. They live and work where they want, regardless of what the government says is okay.
Who do people consider to be real life manifestations or exemplars of Austrian or libertarian ideals? I don’t mean theorists or thinkers, more doers.
Lysander Spooner is a historical example of both a theorist and a doer. His courageous fight against the US Postal Service is one such example.
Henry Hazlitt.
They’re probably not perfect, but for a fairly famous movement historically, how about Cobden, Bright and the Anti-Corn law league. I actually even think Gandhi could be considered one in the practices and tactics he used to oppose the British State, if one ignores his confused socio-economic views (I think it is a little unfair to caricature him as just a typical socialist, he was definitely not in favour of the from of central planning espoused by Nehru).
Ditto that. I hope he includes so-called “illegal immigrants” in his next one.
Lew Rockwell. Doug Casey. Jim Rogers. Peter Schiff.
@Aquila, he asked for suggestions through the Mises Scholars list a while back. I just recently suggested it to him though. Not sure if he liked the idea.
Don’t forget Peter’s father, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irwin_Schiff)]Irwin. He was willing to go to jail for his principles.
Also authored the wonderful (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFxvy9XyUtg)]How an Economy Grows and Why it Doesn’t.
I don’t know if I’d personally go that far. I have infinite pride in being a citizen of the United States. I can see what you mean in general though.
Where did you find that quite Brian? I googled it and couldn’t find a source. I am surprised Paul said that, as I understand he is something of an immigration restrictionist.
Why?
Aquilla
I see you are a huge supporter of any and all immigration. I see a lot of people espousing this belief. however rarely do I see people acknowledge that this is not possible without dismantling the welfare state. or do you believe it is ok for them to use all the recourses of a “citizen” who pays 1/2 their labor in taxes
BTW - i may not be overly proud of being a US citizen, but I am dam sure glad I was lucky enough to be born here.
@Aquila, I said that right after the OP above. Not sure why he put Ron Paul above it. I’m not Ron Paul. ^_^.
Point of information: I do not support any and all immigration. I merely do not support the use of force against individuals on the grounds that they’ve crossed a border without licking the appropriate bureaucrats boots. For instance, I do not support the immigration of individuals desirous of leeching off of the welfare state. This, however, is not an argument against immigration, it is an argument against welfare, which should be abolished, root and branch.
See Walter Block, (https://mises.org/journals/jls/13_2/13_2_4.pdf)]A Libertarian Case for Free Immigration, pages 13-17 for a complete rebuttal of the “We can’t have free immigration while welfare, min. wages, etc. are in place” argument.
Well for what it’s worth, I wish you were. At least in regards to the immigration issue.
The URL tags didn’t work two posts up. I meant to link to the article:
I thought libertarianism had embraced a sort-of ideologylessness. Where do heroes fit in? Heroes are romanticized exemplars of ideals.
The great are great only because we are on our knees. Let us rise!
– Max Stirner the end of ideology
I think the idea of illegal immigrants as exemplars is very insightful. Perhaps we learn from them that a true libertarian might have to accept lesser material wealth than the one who collaborates with statist authority.
Not really, many forms (the vast majority?) of libertarianism is Enlightenmentesque in its idealogy. Max Stirner is certainly heterodox to most libertarian thought. Nice pic though, I haven’t seen that one yet. As far as what “true libertarinaism” is, the word can be used in a plethora of often contradictory ways. The political use of the term was first used to describe left wing anarchists.
EDIT
@Aquila:
Sorry about that. I was going to type something about Ron Paul above the quotation and then decided not to, but I forgot to delete it. The quotation I used was from someone earlier in this thread.
I don’t think I could explain every reason within this post, but basically for the freedom it represented when our Founding Fathers drafted the Constitution. I put myself between the conservative and libertarian spectrum. I hold a lot of the anarcho-capitalist beliefs that I read about on this website, but I also believe a limited government is important as well. I definitely wouldn’t say I’m an anarchist. In essence, I love that the United States started with the transcendence of a few men’s dreams into action and formed the greatest country in the world.
Does egoism have no place in libertarianism? It’s a different kind of egoism(?).
“a true libertarian” I defined by juxtaposing against “one who collaborates with statist authority.”
If Joe the Plumber claims to be a libertarian and yet is licensed by the state and therefore charges higher fees for his licit status; he is not a true libertarian and shouldn’t be included on the list of libertarian heroes.