I was reading a lot of Rothbard’s work, and find myself agreeing with much of anarcho-capitalist ideas, precisely because they are so radical. I also read Market for liberty and Chaos theory. And I assumed because Rothbard had so much influence in creating the Libertarian Party, his ideas were still influential there.
But from reading the wikipedia articles, it seems that the Libertarian Reform Caucus, has become dominant, undoing the Dallas compromise between anarchists and minarchists and closing the big tent. It is one thing to say lets fight for minarchism first and then debate anarchism, but they explicitly said they always want a state.
As Rothbard points out once your argue for a night watchmen state, it is hard to defend against further encroachments of the state. To some extent we already have a minarchist state since the vast majority of Big Government’s budget goes into defense and national security. Looking over the Libertarian Reform Caucus, they seem to be far more Neoconservative than Ron Paul who is actually inside the Republican Party.
I would assume that some member of this forum are members of the LP, and I’d like to get your feedback.
I think it’s a shame that some people feel like ideas need to be softened in order to be swallowed.
I spent years calling myself a Libertarian while still arguing for a state as a basic requirement for society. In my heart I knew that we didn’t need a state monopoly of law or security or defense, but I would never say it out loud and I fought thinking about the possibility because it seemed unrealistic.
I thought I was the only person on the planet who believed in anarchy, and as a member of the LP it was right under my nose. Then I found the LvMi.
I’ve never looked back. It is wondeful to know that you’re not alone and not crazy. I wish the LP was LOUDER about anarchy, if for no better reason than to help others (and I know they’re out there) like me.
I have to say that I don’t think it ever came up in conversation. Maybe because I was hanging around people who were focused on political change that anarchy was never an answer to the questions that were asked.
This is why I wish i would have been exposed to An-cap earlier. If anyone around me would have had the balls to talk about it I would be years ahead of where I am now.
Some affiliates are more radical than others. There are plenty of anarchists in the LP. Hell, we nearly ran our first anarchist Presidential candidate in 2008.
Come to the convention in St. Louis, and check it out. We’re planning some fun stuff.