Against the Left: A Rothbardian Libertarianism

by Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.

Against the Left explores something basic to libertarianism that many people today have forgotten. As everyone knows, libertarians view the State and the individual as fundamentally opposed. People who freely interact in the market create on their own a wonderful society that advances progress.
In Against the Left, we examine some key battlegrounds in the struggle to preserve and advance real libertarianism against its enemies. These include the assault on the family, civil rights and "disabilities," immigration, environmentalism, economic egalitarianism, and the left-libertarian impostors who want to take libertarianism away from us.

Genres: Politics, Economics, Philosophy, Nonfiction

158 pages, Paperback

Published November 18, 2019

About the author

Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., former editorial assistant to Ludwig von Mises and congressional chief of staff to Ron Paul, is founder and chairman of the Mises Institute, executor for the estate of Murray N. Rothbard, and editor of LewRockwell.com.

[source: lewrockwell.com]

Reviews

[Andrew Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book which outlines the incompatibility of certain aspects of leftist ideology with libertarianism. Interestingly, Rockwell categorizes himself as a thin libertarian, whereas I would have thought he would decry himself a thick-right libertarian.

I'm still not totally convinced that libertarians shouldn't advocate unadulterated open borders but the chapter on immigration gives a good summary of the best arguments for opposing them.

Excellent and easy read.

[Tom Fleming · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I am a big fan of Lee Rockwell, the book is somewhat disappointing. The longest essay is almost wholly a cobbling together of different things that were said by Mised and Rothbard, with very little narration. The rest of the essays were better in that most of their prose actually comes from Lew. The best chapter is the one on economic egalitarianism, as Lew’s arguments are the most persuasive here. However, I was expecting a book that got to the core of what leftism is and, while this book does some of that, I felt it could have addressed its topic more directly.

For the most part, I don’t think the ideas in this book are bad, but one should spend one’s time elsewhere on more comprehensive and original perspectives on these ideas.

[Arsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard book to review.

It is ok, but something is missing. Reminds me of political youtube commentary in book form.
Style and way arguments are laid out give me that feel.

On the side note I was bit stumped by authors passionate dislike of nature. Turn all jungles into farms and fresh air being one coming from air conditioning etc? As someone who loves a hike in a wood or in a mountain (have in mind that where I am from most dangerous critters are few and far between) those comments were completely alien to me but I did my best not to have differences of opinion influence my rating too much. And now side note is officially longer than original review which is two lines long...

[Chai · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little book by Mr. Lew Rockwell. It might shock some mainstream libertarians who can't really get the idea of how private property and traditionalism/conservatism are necessarily mutual with one another. I agree with the author here that the main enemy of libright is the entire Left, not simply authright, in that the entire ideology of Leftism is incompatible with the idea of private property. Overall, the book is not so long and is easy to read (as Mises fellows always use "clear, everyday language"), so if you also wonder how the Left has been "treading" upon everyone since the post-ww2 period, give it a try.

[Sylvester · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic entry level book explaining the legacy of Austrian economists and answering the common challenges we encounter from the normies and leftists. There was nothing really original written here but Against the Left offers a concise introduction to embrace a free society.

[Yuvi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite chapter was the one about Environmentalism

[Diogenes the Dog · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reminds me that despite the stupid people that share the same label, I am still a (l)ibertarian.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick read. Interesting views.

[Ian Rousell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too paraphrase dependent