公法评论

Libertarian of the Century

Who is the leading libertarian of the 20th century?
The distinguished editors of the libertarian magazine
Liberty cast their votes, and five names dominated
their list, which appears in their current (January
2000) issue:

* Milton Friedman: For decades, this Nobel
Prize-winning free market economist has been a
tireless champion of liberty. For many years he stood
almost alone as a widely-known academically respected
defender of free markets, individual liberty, and
limited government. He is author of numerous popular
and scholarly books and articles, including the
enormously influential bestsellers Free to Choose, The
Tyranny of the Status Quo, and Capitalism and Freedom.

* Friedrich A. Hayek: This Nobel Prize-winning
economist and philosopher popularized and explored the
concept of the free society as a huge "spontaneous
order" that, without central planning, satisfies human
wants and needs far better than a controlled society
ever could - an awesome and essential insight. He was
author or editor of over two dozen path-breaking books
including The Constitution of Liberty and the
best-selling The Road to Serfdom (which reached
millions of readers).

* Ludwig von Mises: This great economist and
uncompromising advocate of liberty overcame enormous
obstacles to create some of the most magnificent
defenses of free markets and individual liberty ever
penned. Mises developed economics as a logical science
rooted in human action. He created the most
devastating argument against socialism, showing that
socialism could not work because (among other things)
it lacked a meaningful pricing system to rationally
allocate resources. He was author of numerous
magnificent books including Bureaucracy, Planned
Chaos, The Anti-Capitalist Mentality and his great
masterpiece, Human Action.

* Ayn Rand: Though she would not herself have accepted
the label "libertarian," her writings - both fiction
and non-fiction - popularized libertarian ideas to
millions and were a major force in the development of
the modern libertarian movement. Her writings explored
and popularized the key libertarian concept that it is
wrong to initiate force against peaceful individuals.
Atlas Shrugged, the novel that is arguably her
masterpiece, is regularly proclaimed in surveys as one
of the most influential books of the 20th century,
and, astonishingly, has remained in print in hardcover
since it was first published in 1957.

* Murray Rothbard: Called "Mr. Libertarian" by many,
Rothbard's accomplishments were astonishingly wide and
deep. Economist, historian, philosopher, journalist,
political strategist, movement activist?no field
seemed closed to him. A brilliant stylist, Rothbard
was author of thousands of articles and over two dozen
essential books, including For A New Liberty, Power
and Market, and What Has Government Done To Our Money.
Uncompromisingly radical, Rothbard was the leading
exponent of the "anarcho-capitalism" branch of
libertarianism, arguing that society can flourish
without the state.

What an awesome list! It's an honor to be part of a
movement that can claim such figures.

The winner, by just one vote: Ludwig von Mises.

(Source: Liberty, January 2000 issue)