Mondays with Murray: The Influence of Rothbard
For this weeks edition of Mondays with Murray, we turn the floor over to Tom Woods, who gave a speech last year describing how Murray Rothbard changed his mind on war. Woods, much like Lions of Liberty contributor John Odermatt, is a self-professed former Neocon as it pertains to his foreign policy views. Similar to how the words of Ron Paul schooling Rudy Giuliani on the issue of blowback awoke Odermatt from his neoconservative coma, Woods was snapped out of his Neocon spell largely due to the direct influence of Murray Rothbard. Woods was lucky enough to have met Rothbard before his death, and the tale of how his views on war were changed is truly riveting.http://youtu.be/yBCiMxuX9_gOne need not be an Austrian economist or a Rothbardian anarchist to be moved by Woods' story. Rothbard stood out as the only advocate of free markets who also held a strong anti-war position. This doesn't seem so odd today, but twenty years ago it was a unique combination. Through Rothbard, Woods came to understand that "we" are not the government, and the government is not us.The recent pullback of the push to war in Syria was a direct result of the changing of the public's views on foreign policy, which can be largely attributed to the libertarian movement sparked by Ron Paul's 2008 and 2012 Presidential campaigns. I think most libertarians would agree that the public at large has not come to accept the ideas of liberty on a grand scale, but the move towards a more non-interventionist position cannot be ignored. There was virtually no strong public or political objection to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The fact that the Neocon plans to reign bombs over Damascus have been delayed at worst and stopped altogether at best ten years later is a direct result of the influence of libertarians on the public.Even the most hardcore of war-lovers can flip their position when exposed to the truth by the right person at the right time. That person could be Ron Paul or Murray Rothbard, or it could be you. The more libertarians continue to advance the ideas of liberty, the more welcoming the political climate will become to important libertarian ideals.Keep up the great work, all you anti-war, libertarian wacko birds.Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
Check out our past editions of Mondays with Murray!9/16/13 - Around the World with Rothbard9/9/13 - Rothbard on Syria War Propaganda9/2/13 - Did Rothbard Approve of Torture?8/24/13 - Rothbard on "Libertarian Populism"8/17/13 - Rothbard on Libertarian Qualifiers8/12/13 - Rothbard on War Revisionism8/5/13 - Rothbard on George Will's Comments Regarding Libertarianism7/29/13 - Rothbard on Revolution7/22/13 - Rothbard on the George Zimmerman Verdict7/15/13 - Rothbard on Orwell's "1984"7/8/13 - Rothbard on U.S. Aggression Foreign Aggression & Imperialism7/1/13 - Why Be Libertarian?6/24/13 - Rothbard's Conflicting Views on Thomas Jefferson6/17/13 - Who was the "best" U.S. President?6/10/13 - Rothbard on State Surveillance6/3/13 - Rothbard on Chomsky and "Anarcho-Syndicalism"5/27/13 - Rothbard on America's "Two Just Wars"5/20/13 - Do Animals Have "Rights"5/13/13 - A Further Insight on IP5/6/13 - The Boston Lockdown4/29/13 - The Problem with Empirical Studies4/22/13 - The Real Story of the Whiskey Rebellion4/15/13 - What is an Entrepreneur?4/8/13 - Rothbard on Intellectual Property4/1/13 - The Five Key Questions for the Libertarian Movement3/25/13 - The Six Stages of the Libertarian Movement3/18/13 - Rothbard on the Future Prospects for Liberty3/11/13 - Rothbard on Lysander Spooner3/4/13 – Rothbard on Statism2/25/13 – Rothbard on John Bolton and Ann Coulter2/18/13 – Rothbard vs. Krugman on $9 Minimum Wage2/11/13 – Time To Hoard Nickels2/4/13 - The Death of Keynesian Economics1/28/13 – Competition and Monopoly1/21/13 – Rothbard Down The Memory Hole?1/14/13 – We Are Not The Government1//7/13 – Why Does Someone Become A Statist?12/10/12 – Rothbard on Conspiracy Theory12/3/12 – Rothbard on Secession11/26/12 – Rothbard on the Drug War11/19/12 – Rothbard on the Euro Crisis11/12/12 – Rothbard on the Lions of Liberty11/5/12 – Rothbard on Voting and Gas Lines10/29/12 – Mythbusting the “Free Market Cartel”10/22/12 – Rothbard on the Two Party Charade10/15/12 – Rothbard on Private Roads10/8/12 – Rothbard on Private Law10/1/12 – Rothbard on Ron Paul9/24/12 – Rothbard on Quantitative Easing
