Well then you’re gonna have to take it up with Walter Block. If he thinks that Rothbard is his intellectual opponent then he must have good reasons for characterizing Rothbard as pro-closed borders.
[I]mmigration and abortion are highly unsettled issues in our community. I regard Murray Rothbard, Hans Hermann Hoppe and Stephan Kinsella as three of the most gifted libertarian theoreticians that have ever graced our movement. All three disagree with me… on these two matters.
“characterizing Rothbard as pro-closed borders.”
Just because it is stated that Rothbard disagrees with Blocks open borders position, that doesn’t then make Rothbard “closed borders”.
Just like if you are not anti-abortion, it doesn’t then make you pro-abortion.
Anyway, I’ll email him asking about his thoughts on Lew’s conception / my understanding that Rothbard never changed his position and outline why I think the previous statement about him [Rothbard]changing his position (and why I think the apparent “justification” for that assumption is absurd).
Careless writting by Rothbard. There was a political component to this migration, but it had nothing to do with language.