The Essential Rothbard - Ludwig von Mises Institute

The Essential Rothbard 109
New Liberty (1973). 288 He worked actively for many years as a leading
member of the Libertarian Party. In an effort to resist the
abandonment of libertarian principles by factions within that party,
he led the Radical Caucus. Justin Raimondo has discussed Rothbard’s
political activities in great detail in his Enemy of the State: The
Life of Murray N. Rothbard. 289 Raimondo was a member of the
Radical Caucus and writes from the perspective of an activist in
sympathy with Rothbard. At the end of the 1980s, Rothbard left
the Libertarian Party.
Some professed to find a contradiction in Rothbard’s political
activities. He often criticized other libertarians for deviating from
the correct “line”; yet he himself sought alliances with divergent
groups, both on the Left and the Right. There is in fact no contradiction
here: Rothbard held libertarians to a much stricter standard
than outsiders. For those within the fold, doctrinal orthodoxy
was a must; but alliances with outsiders were another matter. Here
tactics were all important, and a general agreement on principles
was neither required nor expected.
ROTHBARD ON
CURRENT ECONOMIC ISSUES
He offered comments on current economic issues in The
Free Market, published by the Ludwig von Mises Institute;
and a collection of his columns from 1982 to 1995 is
available in Making Economic Sense. 290
288
For A New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, 2nd ed. (1973;
Auburn, Ala.: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2006).
289
Justin Raimondo, Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard
(New York: Prometheus Books, 2000).
290Making Economic Sense, 2nd ed. (Auburn, Ala.: Ludwig von Mises
Institute, 2006).