By posting this I am not saying that I agree with it… indeed, I think that Reason Magazine is one of the best reads in the world. Instead Im posting it as an excuse to discuss the libertarian schism in the US that has been running for as long as I can remember and can sometimes get quite bitter and personal. For those who dont know, the very simplified version is that there are two groups: (1) the so-called paleo-libertarians of the Ludwig von Mises Institute who are associated with the names Murray Rothbard, Lew Rockwell, Walter Block, Ron Paul, as well as Antiwar, anarchy and Austrian economics; and (2) the so-called neo-libertarians more often associated with The Cato Institute, Reason, Atlas, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, people including Hayek, the Friedman family, Tom Palmer, Bryan Caplan, as well George Mason University, new institutional economics, and a lower ratio of anarchists. Rather than debating which side is better; I wanted to ask the question of how we can reconcile the two groups… not perfectly reconcile all their beliefs, since diversity of views is inevitable; but bridge the gap so that everybody can at least admit that we are all broadly allies pushing in roughly the same direction. And Ill add that I am thankful that the libertarian schism has not translated to Australia with anywhere near the amount of anger or animosity.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 22:14:52 +0000
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