Llewellyn 'Lew' Rockwell
Anti-state, anti-war, pro-property
The paleolibertarian institution-builder.
Traditional Paleo-LibertarianOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Paleo-Libertarian hall →- Role
- Writer & founder
- Era
- b. 1944
- Region
- United States
- Social band
- Traditional
- Placement
- +90 · −52 · −52
§ Where Llewellyn 'Lew' Rockwell stands
3 axesRockwell is an Austrian-school hard-money man. The Mises Institute he founded in 1982 has promoted the work of Mises and Rothbard and the case for the gold standard ever since, and Rockwell calls for abolishing the Federal Reserve, the income tax and most regulation. His 2014 book Against the State: An Anarcho-Capitalist Manifesto rejects even a minimal state's role in the economy.
Rockwell describes himself as an anarcho-capitalist and treats the state as organised plunder, opposing war, empire, surveillance and the drug war. Yet the paleo strategy he and Rothbard pursued in the early 1990s also courted law-and-order populism, as in Rothbard's 1992 manifesto for right-wing populism, and Rockwell stresses the authority of family, church and property owners rather than individual licence.
In The Case for Paleo-libertarianism, published in Liberty magazine in 1990, Rockwell urged libertarians to embrace Western culture, Christian morality and bourgeois family life and to shed the movement's countercultural image. He rejects egalitarianism as a political goal and defends the right of property owners and private communities to set their own standards of conduct.
How close are you to Llewellyn 'Lew' Rockwell?
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§ The story
HistoricalLlewellyn Harrison Rockwell Jr. (b. 1944) is an American libertarian writer, publisher and institution-builder. A Massachusetts native, he worked as an editor in conservative publishing before serving as chief of staff to Congressman Ron Paul from 1978 to 1982. In 1982 he founded the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, with the blessing of Margit von Mises, the economist's widow, and with Murray Rothbard as its leading scholar.
With Rothbard, Rockwell launched the paleolibertarian project around 1990, breaking with the cultural liberalism of the Cato Institute and the Libertarian Party to seek allies among paleoconservatives and right-wing populists, chiefly through their Rothbard-Rockwell Report. In 1999 he started LewRockwell.com, which became a leading outlet for anti-war and anti-state writing, especially during the Iraq War. The paleo turn split the libertarian movement: critics argued that it courted bigotry, while Rockwell held that religion and bourgeois culture were liberty's natural allies.
Notable for
- 01Founded the Mises Institute
- 02LewRockwell.com
- 03Paleolibertarian strategy
Key works & moments
- 1978–82Serves as chief of staff to Congressman Ron Paul.
- 1982Founds the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
- 1990Publishes The Case for Paleo-libertarianism and launches the Rothbard-Rockwell Report with Murray Rothbard.
- 1999Launches LewRockwell.com, a hub for anti-war and anti-state writing.
- 2008Publishes The Left, the Right, and the State, a collection of his essays.
- 2014Publishes Against the State: An Anarcho-Capitalist Manifesto.
§ Minds closest to Llewellyn 'Lew' Rockwell
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§ Common questions
4 answersWhat is Lew Rockwell's political ideology?
Lew Rockwell is a paleolibertarian and self-described anarcho-capitalist: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Traditional Paleo-Libertarian. Economically he sits at the free-market extreme (+90), defending the gold standard and Austrian economics through the Mises Institute he founded. On governance he is clearly libertarian (−52), hostile to war, central banking and the federal state. Socially he is markedly traditional (−52), arguing since 1990 that liberty depends on religion, family and bourgeois culture.
Is Lew Rockwell left-wing or right-wing?
Right-wing, though he rejects the mainstream right. Rockwell's absolute defence of private property and markets, his opposition to egalitarianism and his cultural traditionalism all belong to the right, and his 1990s strategy explicitly sought allies among paleoconservatives and right-wing populists. But he is a fierce critic of Republican wars, bailouts and surveillance, and he treats both major parties as wings of a single warfare-welfare state, which puts him at odds with conventional conservatism.
What is paleolibertarianism?
Paleolibertarianism is the strategy Rockwell and Murray Rothbard launched around 1990 to fuse radical libertarian economics with cultural conservatism. Rockwell's 1990 essay The Case for Paleo-libertarianism urged libertarians to drop their countercultural image and ally with paleoconservatives on religion, family and opposition to the welfare state and foreign wars. The pair sought partners on the populist right, and Rothbard initially backed Pat Buchanan's 1992 presidential bid. Critics in the libertarian movement saw the turn as courting bigotry; supporters saw it as a realistic route to a mass following.
Which minds are closest to Llewellyn 'Lew' Rockwell?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Llewellyn 'Lew' Rockwell are The Covenant Community (archetype) (98% alike), Thomas Woods (98% alike) and Joseph Sobran (97% alike). The furthest is Pol Pot (0% alike).