Gary North
Free markets, Biblical order
Austrian economics, traditional faith.
Traditional Paleo-LibertarianOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Paleo-Libertarian hall →- Role
- Writer & theorist
- Era
- 1942–2022
- Region
- United States
- Social band
- Traditional
- Placement
- +90 · −50 · −62
§ Where Gary North stands
3 axesNorth was a thoroughgoing Austrian economist in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises. In books such as An Introduction to Christian Economics (1973) and Honest Money (1986) he defended free markets, private property and gold-backed money, condemning inflationary central banking and fractional-reserve lending as forms of theft forbidden by the biblical ban on false weights and measures.
North wanted civil government cut back drastically, with most functions left to families, churches and voluntary associations, and he worked with Ron Paul's movement and the Mises Institute against federal power. Yet his theonomy kept him far from anarchism: in works such as Political Polytheism (1989) he argued that civil law should rest on biblical law, including its penal sanctions.
Socially North was one of the most traditionalist figures on the free-market right. A postmillennial Calvinist, he held that Christians should exercise dominion over every area of life, rejected religious pluralism and secular schooling, and championed homeschooling, culminating in the Ron Paul Curriculum launched in 2013. Family, church and biblical morality were, for him, the foundation of liberty.
How close are you to Gary North?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
HistoricalGary Kilgore North (1942–2022) was an American economic historian, author and newsletter publisher. Born in California, he earned a doctorate in history at the University of California, Riverside, worked on the staff of the Foundation for Economic Education and, in 1976, served as a research assistant to Congressman Ron Paul. He married the daughter of Rousas John Rushdoony, the founder of Christian Reconstructionism, and became one of that movement's leading writers, running the Institute for Christian Economics from Tyler, Texas.
North was a writer of enormous output, producing a multi-volume economic commentary on the Bible and the long-running Remnant Review newsletter, and fusing Austrian free-market economics with theonomy, the belief that biblical law should govern society. His forecast that the Y2K computer bug would bring social collapse at the start of 2000 failed conspicuously. Critics across the spectrum pointed to the theocratic implications of his work, including Old Testament capital punishment for moral offences such as homosexual acts. In later life he developed the Ron Paul Curriculum, a homeschooling programme.
Notable for
- 01Prolific free-market author
- 02Austrian economic education
- 03Decentralist theory
Key works & moments
- 1968Publishes Marx's Religion of Revolution, a Christian critique of Marxism.
- 1973Publishes An Introduction to Christian Economics, uniting Austrian economics with biblical law.
- 1976Works as a research assistant to Congressman Ron Paul.
- 1989Publishes Political Polytheism: The Myth of Pluralism.
- 1997–99Warns that the Y2K computer bug will bring social collapse; the predicted crisis never comes.
- 2013Launches the Ron Paul Curriculum, a homeschooling programme.
§ Minds closest to Gary North
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§ Also in the Paleo-Libertarian hall
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§ Common questions
4 answersWhat was Gary North's political ideology?
Gary North was a Christian Reconstructionist and Austrian-school economist: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Traditional Paleo-Libertarian. Economically he sat at the free-market extreme (+90), defending gold money and unregulated markets. On governance he was clearly libertarian (−50), wanting the state stripped back to a minimum, though bound by biblical law. Socially he was deeply traditional (−62), seeking a society ordered by Christian morality, family and church.
Was Gary North left-wing or right-wing?
Right-wing. North's free-market economics, his hostility to the welfare state and central banking and his Christian traditionalism placed him firmly on the American right, and he worked closely with Ron Paul and the Mises Institute. He was not a mainstream conservative, however: his theonomy, which sought to base civil law on the Old Testament, put him on the religious fringe, and many libertarians and conservatives rejected his vision as theocratic.
Was Gary North a Christian Reconstructionist?
Yes, he was one of its leading figures. Christian Reconstructionism, founded by North's father-in-law Rousas John Rushdoony, holds that biblical law, including much of the Old Testament's civil code, should govern modern society, and that Christianity will gradually triumph in history. North supplied the movement's economic theory through the Institute for Christian Economics and dozens of books, although he and Rushdoony fell out personally in the early 1980s. Critics regarded Reconstructionism as theocratic; North presented it as decentralised Christian self-government.
Which minds are closest to Gary North?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Gary North are Joseph Sobran (98% alike), The Covenant Community (archetype) (98% alike) and Llewellyn 'Lew' Rockwell (96% alike). The furthest is Pol Pot (0% alike).