Talk:Murray Rothbard

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Insufferable asshole

As far as I can see, the only thing making Rothbard an asshole was him being racist, and he's already in that category. Unless someone can show me a smear-essay he wrote or something, I don't see how he belongs in this category anymore than all other racists out there. --Norman (talk) 09:42, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

I would say his views on children qualify him for assholism. I don't know of anyone but assholes who think that child labor laws should be rescinded. Then there was his "tough on crime" stance, which is generally consider extreme and rather authoritarian (even by libertarians), and his rather xenophobic attitudes later in life which placed him out of step with mainstream libertarianism on border issues.

Not included in the article, but well documented elsewhere, was his delight in antagonizing people deliberately, simply because he felt like doing so. I definitely call that being an asshole. --Castaigne (talk) 21:51, 18 March 2015 (UTC)

His xenophobic attitudes already place him in the category for racists, and I'm not sure whether his ideas about child labor laws make him an asshole considering he seems to have the interest of the child at heart, it's just that his premises are different from the premises of pretty much everyone else, including many libertarians. I, for one, don't share his views about children. The part about him liking to antagonize people, on the other hand, should qualify him as an asshole, whatever one might think about his theories. --Norman (talk) 22:09, 18 March 2015 (UTC)

Rothbard's views on the homeless and his "solutions" for dealing with them in favor of the rich and more fortunate also go above and beyond to show how much of an uncaring jerk he was. If you read the page, there's a section devoted to that aspect of his character which is really horrific and inhumane. That alone is grade A asshole material on par with Ayn Rand.Old Schooler (talk) 01:31, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

Lets not also forget his views on a "Free-baby market". S.H. DeLong (talk) 17:19, 29 September 2015 (UTC)

Have you read this page? Burkean (talk) 07:32, 7 October 2015 (UTC)

I am sorry, that I haven't reply to this sooner, so I will now. I have read the page about Rothbard and his views on the "free baby market". He makes it quite clear that he believes that children, should be able to sold on the market. So yes I do believe his views on the "Free-baby market, qualify him as an insufferable asshole.S.H. DeLong (talk) 02:49, 12 November 2015 (UTC)

Crankery and libertarian wingnuttery will suffice, I think. An asshole in the limelight is not pretty. They enjoy making people squirm and suffer way too much. And I don't get that impression from Rothbard. Plutoniumboss (talk) 02:56, 12 November 2015 (UTC)

On child labor laws

This from Bill Kauffman, lifelong democrat, intimate of Gore Vidal.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:kWdlOCCx3OYJ:https://mises.org/files/10230pdf/download%3Ftoken%3DPuZPfVvJ+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us Burkean (talk) 07:36, 7 October 2015 (UTC)

Spam remark

A spam comment/remark ("Hell-o child sex trafficking") keeps getting re-added to this article after it has been removed multiple times. Can the admins please stop re-adding the spam comment to this article? --185.177.124.101 (talk) 15:03, 10 August 2023 (UTC)

Holocaust Denial

Rothbard was a champion of the work of holocaust deniers like Harry Elmer Barnes and James J. Martin and supported 'historical revisionism', this really needs to be added. LamontCranston (talk) 03:08, 8 September 2019 (UTC)

On the poor and homeless section:

We have to first draw in the context of where Rothbard said those aforementioned things in this section. https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/02/murray-n-rothbard/program-right-wing-populism/ - this is where the quote came from Again: unleash the cops to clear the streets of bums and vagrants. Where will they go? Who cares? Hopefully, they will disappear, that is, move from the ranks of the petted and cosseted bum class to the ranks of the productive members of society." 1. Rothbard has seen his hardline libertarian ideas ignored for most of his lifetime. He then began turning to more desperate options, trying to do anything to advance liberty (in his mind). 2. We can see that the excerpt was particularly provocative from this quote at the end of the article: "So far: every one of these right-wing populist programs is totally consistent with a hard-core libertarian position. But all real-world politics is coalition politics, and there are other areas where libertarians might well compromise with their paleo or traditionalist or other partners in a populist coalition. For example, on family values, take such vexed problems as pornography, prostitution, or abortion. Here, pro-legalization and pro-choice libertarians should be willing to compromise on a decentralist stance; that is, to end the tyranny of the federal courts, and to leave these problems up to states and better yet, localities and neighborhoods, that is, to community standards." 3. Rothbard during the tail end of his lifetime tended to write more interesting works, so I feel like its unfair to judge his career based off those aforementioned provocative quotes or comments. Also: right wing populism as mentioned in that article is not representative of anarcho-capitalism itself, rather a compromising subset strategy, to pragmatically achieve it in Rothbard's eyes. They viewed private defense agencies having to intervene aggressively, to mitigate property violation, so that was where the thought comes from. I'd suggest editing the article with the context added, as to avoid smearing Rothbard in this light.--Libertarianandy (talk) 18:31, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Although I disagree with most of your points and despise Murray Rothbard, this article can be improved as its current state is just a rant. Keep in mind that most of the articles on economics were written six or seven years ago by users that aren't active anymore, so most of them aren't very good. Stuff like "He then began turning to more desperate options trying to do anything to advance liberty" is, however, very hard to prove and IMO a form of whitewashing. You're correct that Rothbard's views are quite different than what Ayn Rand, who had a more Spencerian "survival of the fittest" approach, believe. (though even her supported some private welfare). I'll read your post again tomorrow if I have time, though I won't be able to work on this article, at most, give some feedback. GeeJayK (talk) 21:52, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

People more familiar with Rothbards work (not me specifically though), can note a specific change in methodology in advancing liberty towards the tail end of his life, and we can see this with him aligning with lets say unfavorable figures.https://www.lewrockwell.com/1970/01/murray-n-rothbard/heres-rothbard/, https://mises.org/library/strategy-right. I can provide more evidence to help support that claim, I apologize for assuming that it was common knowledge beforehand. I recognize that RatWiki's articles on economics are quite, erm, interesting and I'll use all of my current limited knowledge of it to help the current state of it right now.--Libertarianandy (talk) 23:09, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Oh, I'm well aware that he changed his mind on many subjects. A younger Rothbard was surprisingly closer to the libertarian left and even praised Che Guevara. On Mises biography, Hulsmann also narrates why Mises brokeup with Rothbard, mentioning how Rothbard was getting to close on the left. Later on his life was fully conservative , some people even said he abandoned the NAP and stuff like that, though as far as I know his ideas about the abortion among other subjects didn't change that much. GeeJayK (talk) 00:52, 25 June 2021 (UTC)