Libertarianism and Racism

Because the most non-libertarian Libertarian Party, presidential ticket in history is vying for the presidency, it is imperative now more than ever that libertarianism, rightly defined and applied, be explained to the masses.

Whenever I speak or write about libertarianism, I invariably refer to libertarianism greatest philosopher and theorist, Murray Rothbard (1926-1995). Here is his classic statement on libertarianism:

Libertarianism is not and does not pretend to be a complete moral, or aesthetic theory; it is only a political theory, that is, the important subset of moral theory that deals with the proper role of violence in social life. Political theory deals with what is proper or improper for the government to do, and the government is distinguished from every other group in society as being the institution of organized violence. Libertarianism holds that the only proper role of violence is to defend person and property against violence, that any use of violence that goes beyond such just defense is itself aggressive, unjust, and criminal. Libertarianism, therefore, is a theory which states that everyone should be free of violent invasion, should be free to do as he sees fit except invade the person or property of another. What a person does with his or her life is vital and important, but is simply irrelevant to libertarianism.

And here is one of his classic statements on the nonaggression theory that underlies libertarianism: to be a real violation of the nonaggression principle. And instead of being indifferent as to whether a libertarian uses drugs, views pornography, or practices an alternative lifestyle, it seems at times as though some of these libertarians believe that libertarians should celebrate these things.

Third, the most insidious thing about all of this is that it is an attack on free thought. “Racism” that doesn’t involve violence or aggression, or the threat of these things—just like love, hatred, infatuation, disgust, obsession, or revulsion that doesn’t involve violence or aggression, or the threat of these things—is a thought, an opinion, an idea, a belief, an attitude, a judgment. Libertarianism is concerned with action, not thoughts. Thoughts, like motives and desires,  are the realm of morality and religion.

Being a libertarian doesn’t preclude one from making gender, ethnic, national, religious, or racial distinctions. It doesn’t disqualify one from discriminating for or against a particular gender, ethnic group, nationality, religion, or race. And it doesn’t prohibit one from judging that one gender, ethnic group, nationality, religion, or race is better or worse than another in some aspect or respect or more likely or less likely to do or not do something than another in some aspect or respect.

Doing these things doesn’t mean that one wants to commit, or that it will lead to one wanting to commit, aggression or violence against members of some gender, ethnic, national, religious, or racial group.

Can a libertarian be a “racist”? That is, can a libertarian think, deduce, conclude, presume, suppose, assume, or believe something about a racial group? Of course, he can. Just like a progressive, a centrist, a liberal, a Christian, an atheist, a moderate, or a conservative can. It doesn’t matter if people disagree on whether his thoughts are right or wrong, rational or irrational, correct or incorrect, logical or illogical, reasonable or unreasonable. Whether someone is a “racist” or has “racist” thoughts is beyond the scope of libertarianism.

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