Monday, December 03, 2012

Libertarian Anti-Semitism

I just came across a very interesting mini-essay "Documenting Anti-Semitism Within the Libertarian Movement" by an unidentified Jewish libertarian. It certainly rings true from what I know of the libertarian movement. But the extent of anti-Semitism appears to be greater than I had thought.

He writes

In recent years, as the libertarian movement has grown, so has the anti-Jewish movement within this clan of activists supposedly concerned with promoting liberty and freedom for all of humanity.

 ...In the U.S., the libertarian movement, broadly speaking, consists of think-tanks, Ron Paul activists and organizations, and those affiliated with the Libertarian Party.

The anti-Semitism in the libertarian movement has manifested itself in all three categories at alarmingly high levels. It's difficult to imagine how any libertarian activist or scholar can envision success for their movement with such anti-libertarian sentiment and malicious bigotry in its midst.
The essay concludes with this observation:
Jewish libertarians or classical liberals -- or others who are pro-equal rights (pro-decency, really) should refrain from further participation in the libertarian movement
 The author of the document has also written a useful essay on Ron Paul's Disdain for Jews and Israel.

3 comments:

Bruce Cohen said...

Thank you for sharing this, Stewart!

Anonymous said...

In the late 1970s, I personally, saw with my own eyes, Holocaust denial literature, in the back room of the Laissez-Faire bookstore on Mercer Street in Manhattan. They did not put it out for the general public to see.

Anonymous said...

I'm a libertarian and a Libertarian, and I am not an anti-Semite. I do not believe in classifying people into groups. I deal with each person as an individual; to do otherwise is un-libertarian.

There are lots of people who are claiming to be libertarian, again; just like in the 90s. It's good, and it's bad.