🛡️ How did you become a libertarian?

[Conza]

I love a good origin story. Feel free to post your own. Mine starts back in '07.

How did you become a libertarian?

This is a question that gets asked fairly often. The short answer is as follows;

• Intellectual honesty and the knowledge/acceptance that I was completely ignorant, combined with a strong desire for justice and an unyielding passion to find the truth.

For those interested in the long answer, and to give the above some context, I was never exposed to anything politically in-depth (by choice) beyond browsing the paper in my late high school years. Really didn’t like either side of politics. Having to categorise myself on the left-right spectrum I’d have been “independent” [in the ‘middle of the road’] i.e still stuck in the false paradigm.

I had no real interest beyond that. Mostly apathetic until moving to the other side of the world at 17 to work & live in the UK (Gap Year). There I had lots of free time to ponder what I wanted to do with my life. Part of that involved asking the big questions… queue: minor existential crisis. At the core of it, it was probably best described as absolutism vs. relativism, “But what is the truth? How do I know? Is there such a thing?”. This lead to more questions. So where to begin, and who would know? The philosophers. So I started with the classics.

Plato’s - The Republic, Aristotle’s - Ethics, Machiavell’s - The Prince etc. I came away with a bit of a muddled perspective; remained a philosopher king, with a real appreciation of natural law ethics. That progressed to: “This is all great, but what are today’s philosophers saying?”, to “who is today’s greatest living intellectual?” Noam Chomsky was calling the US a world empire at the time and was a chief critic of the Iraq War invasion. He was the only one stating the obvious [that I knew of]. Naturally, I started reading his works. I even wrote him a letter seeking advice, to which he responded. Whilst killing time youtubing Chomsky videos, someone had spammed “Ron Paul: America’s Last Hope” below in the comments section.. Oh yeah? I had to check him out. Several days later this “politician” hadn’t appeared to ever “back down” or “sell out”. Unbelievable. And that was it really, I was finally on the proper path.

It wasn’t so much what Ron Paul was saying, but the principled stand he was making. The anti-imperialist stuff was a no-brainer. The “extreme” free-market stuff came later as I still had to get out of 'the box’. Learning basic economics helped immensely. However, that did not start until after I had stalled for maybe 6 months parroting Ron Paul’s conclusions. Finally, after not being able to adequately defend a position of his, I had to either accept or deny the objection. I needed more information and endeavoured to find out why Ron 'believes’ what he does. Austrian Economics, and Libertarianism it was. From there the immersion began into a whole new way of thinking, or — an actual — way of thinking. I then commenced with all the beginner/intro books: Bastiat’s - The Law, Enemy of the State - Albert Jay Nock, Economics in One Lesson - Henry Hazlitt etc. The results of a few book buying binges can be viewed here. Next it was downloading and listening to the entire mises.org media centre over many months.

Reading “What Has Government Done to Our Money?” was an early eye opener. Rothbard’s clarity and reasoning took me in. However, it was a long while before I progressed enough to feel I could adequately defend the concept of a private law, or a voluntarist society. That being said there is always room for improvement. The general joke goes, “what’s the difference between a minarchist and an anarcho-capitalist?” With the punchline being a certain time frame, for example “about 12 months”. It all depends on the individual, and how intense their interest. For me it was probably about 9 months of considered thought. I was sold on the rights based arguments, however the glaring question remained “but would it work?”. The journal article “Do We Ever Really Escape From [Voluntarism]?” removed all doubt.

 

[milkpaste]

How did you become a libertarian?

My journey started in early 2022 (training wheels still on)

Bitcoin > The Bitcoin Standard Podcast > The Bitcoin Standard Book > Austrian Economics > Reading the quintessential books; Economics in One Lesson, Human Action, The Law, What has Goverment Done to our Money? And For a New Liberty.

 

[Conza]

How did you become a libertarian?

My journey started in early 2022 (training wheels still on)

Bitcoin > The Bitcoin Standard Podcast > The Bitcoin Standard Book > Austrian Economics > Reading the quintessential books; Economics in One Lesson, Human Action, The Law, What has Goverment Done to our Money? And For a New Liberty.

Excellent . The Bitcoin -> Austro-Libertarian pipeline is very real! I love to see it.

Plan of getting Saif's latest - the Principles of Economics?

 

[milkpaste]

Yes, I've pre-ordered it and can't wait to read it.

 

[5crownik007]

It was a very gradual process for me. But I started as vaguely leftist in my early years of high school- by this I mean, essentially favouring an expansive welfare policy. Not as a consequence of reading any literature, I just felt that if it was possible for government to give everyone goods, then it should, and if it could protect us from bads, then it should. Economic literacy has gone on to quickly show me the faults in this worldview.

I would say the main turning point for me was, funny enough, encountering Jordan Peterson. He's not really a Rothbardian/Austrolibertarian, but his lectures called me to closely examine authoritarian ideologies, history of socialism, the psychology of authoritarian mindsets, and the comparatively positive living brought about in the West and by free countries. That information alone led me to be far more partial to freedom.

I made friends with a number of libertarians online, and I picked up the moral philosophy through long discussions. I wasn't an avid reader in high school, and my economic education lagged behind. My libertarian perspective was driven more by moral philosophy than an appreciation for the good economics. This, I have remedied in recent years.

 

[Nicola W]

I started getting interested in libertarianism when I found myself home-schooling - at which point the onerous oversight of the Education Department clarified my awareness of the intrusion of the state into every aspect of our lives, including the family unit.

That experience led me to discovering radical thought leaders in the field of education including John Holt, a pioneer of youth rights theory (author of many books including How Children Fail), John Taylor Gatto best known for Dumbing Us Down: the Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling and Lenore Skenazy, advocate of “free range parenting” - the polar opposite of helicopter parenting. What started as home-schooling ended up more like "unschooling" (we survived 😛 ).

This then followed with deeper dive into libertarian political philosophy more generally, including the works of economists Adam Smith and Frederik Bastiat resulting in many “a-ha” moments and an introduction to such esoteric concepts as the “invisible hand” and the “parable of the broken window”! Above all I was most impacted by Murray Rothbard, in particular his book For a New Liberty. It answered so many of my questions about how a stateless society could exist.

By then I had started reaching out to libertarian thinkers in Australia, trying to find some like-minded people. I ended up volunteering my time to a Brisbane based "think tank", establishing and running a libertarian-themed blog and in organising various events including LibertyFest conferences hosted in Brisbane and Perth, and various book-launches and debate events. I also got involved with Liberty on the Rocks, hosting the Perth meet ups. Round about then I was writing a few articles and getting published in a few outlets including spiked! Magazine, Australian Penthouse and Quillette.

These days I don't really do much of that - there are so many people who know much more than me so I'd rather learn from them - in that respect, I'm looking forward to lots of juicy discussions here on these forums!

Right now I'm lucky enough to be working for a free-market not-for-profit in Perth. My boss, the Founder and Chairman has personally met heaps of legends like Leonard Read (I, Pencil and co-founder of FEE), Mises, Hayek, Friedman and Rothbard - he has some great stories to tell and a huge "freedom" library. He was also involved with the original Workers Party in the 1970's and I'm excited to be involved with Conza and Les in building on that work with the Libertarian Party of Australia, opening that Overton window with radical libertarian ideas and growing the community.

 

[PaddyP]

Greetings from sunny Switzerland! So how did I become a Libertarian? I guess it all started in the late 90s when I got involved in the stock market, and particularly in gold stocks. I subscribed to William Buckler's financial newsletter "The Privateer", and later to Bill Bonner's "Daily Reckoning", and these provided me with a great grounding in Austrian economics and anarcho-capitalism, although I didn't recognise them as such at the time. It wasn't until 2007 that I started identifying as a Libertarian, and this was of course due to the Ron Paul revolution - a very impressive man! It was probably through him that I learnt of the Mises Institute, and this continues to be my primary source of Libertarian and economics education. I am now looking forward to seeing a Libertarian revolution in Australia so I have another good reason to move back!

 

[Rob]

Greetings from sunny Switzerland! So how did I become a Libertarian? I guess it all started in the late 90s when I got involved in the stock market, and particularly in gold stocks. I subscribed to William Buckler's financial newsletter "The Privateer", and later to Bill Bonner's "Daily Reckoning", and these provided me with a great grounding in Austrian economics and anarcho-capitalism, although I didn't recognise them as such at the time. It wasn't until 2007 that I started identifying as a Libertarian, and this was of course due to the Ron Paul revolution - a very impressive man! It was probably through him that I learnt of the Mises Institute, and this continues to be my primary source of Libertarian and economics education. I am now looking forward to seeing a Libertarian revolution in Australia so I have another good reason to move back!

If you have a finance background then many of the basic concepts in Austrian Economics usually make good sense. Did you catch the discussion between Bob Murphy and Peter Lewin on the Human Action Podcast?

 

[PaddyP]

If you have a finance background then many of the basic concepts in Austrian Economics usually make good sense. Did you catch the discussion between Bob Murphy and Peter Lewin on the Human Action Podcast?

I'm a mere engineer, but fortunately I know a thing or two about discounted cashflow and net present value, so the discussion didn't go completely over my head . Bob Murphy did a good job of dumbing things down for people like me. Quite amusing that it took over 80 years for someone to make this connection between economic and financial theory - as Peter Lewin said, it was hidden in plain sight!

 

[dmvianna]

Hi all. About to sleep here, so I’ll attempt to be brief.

I grew up in Brazil. Mum was a journalist during the military dictatorship, used to buy newspapers with cooking recipes in the frontpage (replacing censored news) or even with blanks (no time to re-diagram before printing). So I grew up seeing grown ups having heated arguments over dinner about how government was bad and ministers were thieves. The child’s takeaway: politics matter.

Then we had the hyperinflation, over years. All groceries bought on payday, before prices rose next day. At its height, we looked for items that weren’t re-labelled with the new price as the supermarket employee updated prices halfway through the day. Then price freezes and scarcity. Then the government froze and seized taxpayer savings to pay its ballooning debt.

But that’s not what the government, or TV news, or professors and analysts say. What they say is that businessmen are greedy and taxpayers should call the police to dob in businesses that raise prices. And mum did, and I was proud of her.

That mix, plus Orwell’s 1984 and a healthy dose of Dead Kennedys and Sex Pistols pointed me towards anarchism. Oh, but also walking home and jumping over overflowing sewers. Public services in Rio de Janeiro were always a crater. No maintenance of asphalt, or sewers, the police always cowering away from druglords. I thought: if the State is abolished it can only get better. I was probably 15 when I had the thought. People would help each other to get a minimum survivable framework, which they don’t have now because the disorganised crime (the State) fills and defends that niche.

But I was a Left Anarchist of course. I was never exposed to anything Right. During the 1980s everyone wanted to distance themselves from the military dictatorship years, and there simply was no other political alternative to Military dictatorship (big state, owns heavy industry) and elections for government (big state, owns heavy industry) in people’s minds.

Fast forward: I got a government scholarship to come to Australia as a visiting scientist. And went through an identity crisis. In Australia people lived the lifestyle I thought could only be possible after a Socialist Libertarian Revolution. Probably a century after. Compared to Brazil, Australia is essentially classless.

You see, I live in one third of a lot, in a house. I have a PhD, which in Brazil would place me in a spacious apartment building in a reasonably middle class suburb. Yet my neighbour is a fast food cook. And then a bus driver. Neighbours who own full lots, three times bigger than mine, are carpenters, appliance repairmen, construction workers.

In Rio de Janeiro, these people would live in shantytowns. Favelas. Under the rule of druglords and protection rackets, permanently at war with each other. They would be semi illiterate and would most likely be engaged in unregistered work. There’s a long story here, of course. Productive work is rewarded in Australia. Parasitism is rewarded in Brazil.

Long story short, I realised that I would be better off as a menial worker in Australia than as a professor in Brazil. I dropped the Left from my Anarchism and watered down my revolutionary zeal considerably. Whatever they have in Australia is a much better recipe than what Brazil has! And I’m not going to be as confident that a “from scratch” theoretical approach wouldn’t possibly make it worse.

While this is true, I have been here long enough to have worked in government and government-adjacent businesses in Australia. And I also find that the Liberals are too shy for my taste. I also find that, while in many ways the system here works amazingly well, I am quite convinced that a lot of it comes down to Australian culture rather than good government. The government is smaller than in other countries (good), but not really more efficient. And it has a heavy hand when it touches things. Let’s say I was in Victoria the last few years.

The recent wave of pro-freedom movements in Latin America has simply surprised everyone who is interested (I am). It is quite clear that elections in South America have been biased by government-sponsored mass media. Suddenly everyone found themselves surrounded by freedom-loving, market-literate people in social media, when TV has been telling us all along that this option wasn’t available. And all that is reflected in mass demonstrations that the Left is simply unable to match.

So all that converged to get me reading (I always read) more about Right-Libertarians. I’m going through Radicals for Liberty by Brian Doherty. It feels like a catalogue of people to read and a menu of ideas to taste.

That wasn’t short. Anyway, there’s much more about me in Quora if you’re curious. Hello.

 

[Rob]

Hopefully Australia doesn't have to go through what the Latin American countries have before we get a vibrant libertarian movement here!

 

[Conza]

The recent wave of pro-freedom movements in Latin America has simply surprised everyone who is interested (I am). It is quite clear that elections in South America have been biased by government-sponsored mass media. Suddenly everyone found themselves surrounded by freedom-loving, market-literate people in social media, when TV has been telling us all along that this option wasn’t available. And all that is reflected in mass demonstrations that the Left is simply unable to match.

So all that converged to get me reading (I always read) more about Right-Libertarians. I’m going through Radicals for Liberty by Brian Doherty. It feels like a catalogue of people to read and a menu of ideas to taste.

That wasn’t short. Anyway, there’s much more about me in Quora if you’re curious. Hello.

Welcome! Mises Brazil would have had a large hand in that I imagine?

A tangent, but as far as I'm concerned (along with Mises, Leonard E. Read, Rothbard etc.), "left wing" and "right wing" aren't helpful epithets at all. Adding them to 'libertarian' doesn't change that.

I'd be weary of Radicals for Liberty by Brian Doherty, or at the very least understand all of this from Joseph T. Salerno: A Review Essay of Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement by Brian Doherty

 

[dmvianna]

Welcome! Mises Brazil would have had a large hand in that I imagine?

I never ever heard of Mises Brasil. I bet they are funded, though. 😅

On “Left wing” and “Right wing”, I agree with @Conza that these terms should not limit our thinking. There sure are more dimensions of politics to think about. However sometimes they do help conversation given context. You probably guessed I was talking about Bakunin & co. when I said Left Libertarians, and Rothbard & co. when I mentioned Right Libertarians. That was my intent, at least.

You don’t need to read Doherty if you don’t want to, but I really enjoyed it. Reading improves my knowledge. Whether I agree with the author and on how many points is entirely my liberty and responsibility.

Mein Kampf is on my reading list too, and I think it will make me understand Evil much better when I do read it. I don’t think it will make me make funny salutes though. I have good friends who descend from survivors of the holocaust.