Lew Rockwell

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[[File:Lew Rockwell 2016.jpg|thumb|right|168px|L.R. serenading President [[Donald Trump|Trump]] (and [[Marine Le Pen|Le Pen]]) with "Wind Beneath My Wings". Still totally an anarchist, though.]]
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{{cquote|[[James Buchanan]] made a great statement on behalf of the [[American Civil War|right of revolution]]. [[Ulysses S. Grant|Grant]] restored the [[gold standard]]. [[Warren G. Harding|Harding]] denounced US [[imperialism]] in [[Haiti]]. But overall, my favorite president is William Henry Harrison. He keeled over shortly after his inauguration.|||Rockwell in 1996<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20240302041100/https://mises.org/mises-daily/down-presidency Down with the Presidency] by Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. (10/06/1996) ''Mises Institute'' (archived from March 2, 2024).</ref>}}
'''Llewellyn Harrison "Lew" Rockwell, Jr.''' ("Rocky"<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|304n27}}) {{lived|1944}} is an [[anarcho-capitalism|anarcho-capitalist]] [[libertarian]] writer, activist, and founder and former president of the [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]] (he stepped down as president in 2009 but remains as a chairman). Despite a less-than-sterling record of confronting [[racism]] and the downright dubious company he keeps, no one has yet had the audacity to call him a [[white supremacy|white supremacist]] and let him know his so-called [[Austrian school|praxeology]] "solution" for fixing the economy is basically [[fascism]] with bad bow ties instead of jackboots. <ref>{{Cite news |last1=Markon |first1=Jerry |last2=Crites |first2=Alice |date=January 27, 2012 |title=Ron Paul signed off on racist 1990s newsletters, associates say |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ron-paul-signed-off-on-racist-newsletters-sources-say/2012/01/20/gIQAvblFVQ_story.html |access-date= |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=May 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230502183931/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ron-paul-signed-off-on-racist-newsletters-sources-say/2012/01/20/gIQAvblFVQ_story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Rockwell is a lifetime member of the [[John Birch Society]], and at one time worked in their "Members Monthly Message Department". He resigned after a supervisor called his work "sloppy… lacks imagination". He later worked as a writer for [[Ron Paul]], authoring most of the anti-Black and homophobic articles in ''Ron Paul Survival Report''.<ref name=dallek>''Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right'' by Matthew Dallek (2023) Basic Books. ISBN 1541673565.</ref>{{rp|254-255,304n27}}

==Politics==
Rockwell is a hardline libertarian who often attacks the [[Cato Institute|Cato-types]] as "[[Beltway libertarians]]" (and he in return is often derided as [[No True Scotsman|not a true libertarian]]). He was a close associate of [[Murray Rothbard]], which should explain things. The slogan of his website, lewrockwell.com (LRC), is "anti-[[state]], anti-[[war]], pro-market," and he means it. Any deviation is seen as a betrayal of the libertarian movement. Rockwell is stuck in the unenviable position of being part of a movement associated with libertine morality and being a social [[conservative]]. Because Rockwell supports policies that would let people smoke [[marijuana|doobies]] while screwing [[prostitute|hookers]], but actually opposes these acts, he coined the term "paleo-libertarian" to distance himself from the rest of the movement. Rockwell defines his brand of libertarianism:

{{cquote|Paleolibertarianism holds with Lord Acton that [[liberty]] is the highest political end of man, and that all forms of government intervention &mdash; economic, cultural, social, international &mdash; amount to an attack on prosperity, morals, and [[bourgeois]] civilization itself, and thus must be opposed at all levels and without compromise. It is "paleo" because of its genesis in… [the] interwar Old Right that opposed the [[New Deal]] and favored the Old Republic of [[property]] rights, freedom of association, and radical political decentralization. Just as important, paleolibertarianism predates the politicization of libertarianism… Instead of principle, the neo-libertarians give us political alliances; instead of intellectually robust ideas, they give us marketable platitudes. What's more, paleolibertarianism distinguishes itself from left-libertarianism because it has made its peace with [[religion]] as the bedrock of liberty, property, and the natural order.<ref>[http://libertapedia.org/wiki/Paleolibertarianism Libertapedia entry for Paleolibertarianism]</ref>}}

There is a heavy overlap between writers at Rockwell's site and the von Mises Institute, so you'll get a lot of recycled material. There are some actual [[Austrian school|Austrian]] economists like [[Thomas DiLorenzo|Tom DiLorenzo]], [[Walter Block]], and [[Peter Schiff]] (of course) writing there, so the site is rife with [[gold standard (economics)|gold buggery]]. There's massive amounts of legal history (real and [[pseudohistory|pseudo]]), much of it dealing with Constitutional [[originalism]]. They also hate [[Abraham Lincoln]], [[Franklin Roosevelt]] (along with almost all 20<sup>th</sup> century Presidents aside from [[Warren G. Harding]] and [[Calvin Coolidge]]), and [[Alexander Hamilton]].

It's funny how 10 years ago, LvMI and Lew Rockwell were all supremely anti-[[Putin]],<ref>Maltsev, Yuri, [https://www.lewrockwell.com/2006/10/yuri-n-maltsev/happy-birthday-mr-putin/ "Happy Birthday, Mr. Putin!"], LewRockwell.com 10.10.06.</ref> but then [[Alt-right|something]] changed. They started laying it on thick around 2014.<ref>Roberts, Paul Graig, [https://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/06/paul-craig-roberts/is-putin-trying-to-save-the-world-from-war/ "Can Putin's Diplomacy Prevail Over Washington's Coercion?"], LewRockwell.com 6.26.14.</ref><ref>Margolis, Eric, [https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/10/eric-margolis/can-putin-checkmate-the-empire/ "Putin Moves His Rook into Syria - Can Putin Checkmate the Empire?"], LewRockwell.com 10.45.15.</ref><ref>Engdahl, William F., [https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/05/no_author/putin-is-telling-the-truth/ "What if Putin is Telling the Truth?"], LewRockwell.com 5.25.15.</ref> (They were literally calling him "Comrade Putin".)<ref>Barnhart, Sabine, [https://www.lewrockwell.com/2006/05/sabine-barnhart/hausfraunomics/ Hausfrau Economics vs. Central Planning], LewRockell.com 5.26.06.</ref> In fact, Rockwell himself was on [[RT]] insisting that [[Jeff Sessions]], who [[Perjury|perjured]] himself when questioned about a meeting with [[Russian]] ambassador Kislyak, is innocent.<ref>[https://straightlinelogic.com/2017/03/04/sessions-scandal-us-heading-to-constitutional-crisis-by-lew-rockwell/ Transcript] of "Sessions Scandal: US Heading to Constitutional Crisis", via Robert Gore 5.4.17.</ref> His support for Trump is easier to explain: Rockwell and his mentor Rothbard both endorsed [[Pat Buchanan]] for President in 1992. Buchanan is another hyper-[[nationalist]] [[bigot]] with an economic agenda that is the polar opposite of libertarian values. LRC has a banner that reads "anti-state, anti-war, pro-market". Trump is definitely ''pro''-state and ''pro''-war, but only a little bit pro-market (when it suits him).

==The (sometimes) good stuff==
{{main|Stopped clock}}
Rockwell promotes such vehement opposition to war he puts to shame even the [[moonbat]]s.  {{wpl|Cindy Sheehan}} was even once a regular writer for his website.<ref>No, really. Here's the [https://www.lewrockwell.com/author/cindy-sheehan/ archive of her columns]</ref> The site frequently features writing critical of the militarism rampant in U.S. culture, a position once mainstream among [[left-wing]]ers in the wake of the [[Vietnam War]], but since left-of-center progressives dropped the ball on this issue back in the 1980s to early 1990s in favor of trying to out-right the right in ritual military/veteran worship, at least give Rockwell credit where credit is due for trying to out-left the left in opposing it.  

Anti-war writings — including such topics as counter-recruitment usually associated with the [[pacifist]] left — and related opposition to [[security theater]] and other aspects of the "[[war on terror]]" are the main topic of several regular writers on the site such as Laurence Vance,<ref>[https://www.lewrockwell.com/author/laurence-m-vance/ Laurence Vance archive]</ref> Butler Shaffer,<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/shaffer/shaffer-arch.html Butler Shaffer archive]</ref> and Becky Akers.<ref>[https://www.lewrockwell.com/author/becky-akers/ Becky Akers archive]</ref>

This even extends to criticism of U.S. involvement in the [[American Civil War]] and [[World War II]], areas where even the left is hesitant to venture.  However, proving the old adage<ref>Okay, so it's not old or an adage, but it should be.</ref> that putting principle over [[reality]] in every case no matter what can still lead into batshit crazy territory, they sometimes run articles by [[Pearl Harbor conspiracy theory|Pearl Harbor conspiracy theorists]]<ref name=pearl-harbor-conspiracy1>{{cite web |url=http://archive.lewrockwell.com/orig/stinnett1.html|title=December 7, 1941... a Day of Deceit|accessdate=2016-02-08|author=Robert B. Stinnett}}</ref><ref name=pearl-harbor-conspiracy2>{{cite web|url=https://mises.org/library/pearl-harbor-story-secret-war|title=Pearl Harbor: The Story of the Secret War|accessdate=2016-02-08}}</ref> and [[neo-Confederate]]s.<ref>[http://archive.lewrockwell.com/wilson/wilson12.html Here's a real doozie: "The Yankee Problem in America" by Clyde Wilson.]</ref>

[[Koch Industries]] and anyone associated with or funded by them are considered the arch-nemesis of True Libertarianism by Rockwell, so the site runs a lot of criticism of the Kochs. This is just a continuation of the old feud between Ed Crane and Murray Rothbard that had its roots in Ed Clark's 1980 presidential campaign on the Libertarian Party ticket,<ref>A topic already covered to death in most histories of the libertarian movement.  For the most detail see Brian Doherty, ''Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern Libertarian Movement'', PublicAffairs, 2007; and Justin Raimondo, ''An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard'', [[Prometheus Books]], 2000</ref> but it means Rockwell may on the one hand make common cause with left-progressives in publishing criticism of the "Kochtopus", and on the other hand allow this feud to override other issues.  His libertarian ecumenism may include all manner of [[paleoconservative]]s and remnants of the [[New Left]], but it does not include the [[Cato Institute]] or ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]''.

The site also takes the usual libertarian positions in favor of the legalization of marijuana and drugs, [[civil liberties]], and against [[police]] abuses and incarceration and surveillance overkill by the state.  This is unfortunately mixed with a cranky social conservatism in which one may find [[anti-abortion]], [[homophobic]], or anti-[[porn]] views; indeed, the site's opposition to body scanners in U.S. airports emphasizes the "pornography" angle rather than strictly opposing them on civil liberties principles alone. Also, the anti-[[police brutality]] stance the site takes today was not always the case as anyone familiar with the old ''Rothbard-Rockwell Report'' days knows.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/ir/Ch5.html Rothbard's all-time career low]</ref>  Give them credit for evolving on that issue.  One hopes they will one day similarly evolve out of their [[woo]]-promotion and the tendency to pal around with neo-Confederates and [[Dominionism|Christian dominionists]].

==Woo promotion and other dubiousness==
Rockwell might be something like a libertarian [[Huffington Post|Arianna Huffington]], promoting all kinds of [[woo]] generally associated with [[wingnut]]tery instead of [[moonbat]]tery. Rockwell's site is a hotbed of [[global warming]] [[denialism]], and his writers ''really'' love the "[[environmentalism|environmentalists]] are [[racist]]s" trope<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lewrockwell.com/2009/06/david-deming/global-warming-is-a-fraud|title=Global Warming is a Fraud|date=2009-06-29|accessdate=2016-02-08|author=David Deming}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lewrockwell.com/2008/10/eric-englund/environmentalism-is-racism|title=Environmentalism is Racism|date=2008-10-21|author=Eric Englund}}</ref><ref name=pseudoscienceLR>{{cite web|url=https://www.lewrockwell.com/2008/03/donald-w-miller-jr-md/questioning-hivaids/|title=Questioning HIV/AIDS, Human-Caused Global Warming, and Other Orthodoxies in the Biomedical Sciences|accessdate=2016-02-08|date=2008-03-04}}</ref> (possibly a case of weapons-grade [[psychological projection|projection]] there). He published articles claiming that [[Anti-relativity|the theory of relativity is a lie]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lewrockwell.com/2011/02/tom-bethell/relativity-and-the-priesthood-of-science/|title=Relativity and the Priesthood of Science|date=2011-02-28|accessdate=2016-02-08|author=Tom Bethell}}</ref> Rockwell also loves his [[paleo diet]], [[raw milk]], [[barefoot running]], and [[coconut oil]]. He often runs articles by the seriously suspect [[Joseph Mercola]] and other [[altie]]s promoting these and other various [[snake oil]]s.<ref>Mercola peddling his quackery: [https://www.lewrockwell.com/2011/09/joseph-mercola/7-reasons-to-eat-more-saturated-fat/ 7 Reasons to Eat More Saturated Fats.] Yum!</ref> The site has also featured some articles on [[AIDS denialism]].<ref>[https://www.lewrockwell.com/2008/03/donald-w-miller-jr-md/questioning-hivaids/ Articles promoting Peter Duesberg, among other quacks.]</ref> He has a broadly conspiratorial mindset.<ref name=pearl-harbor-conspiracy1/><ref name=pearl-harbor-conspiracy2/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050404140947/http://blog.lewrockwell.com/lewrw/archives/007260.html|title=Can't Be Mentioned in Polite Company|author=Lew Rockwell|date=2005-01-27|accessdate=2016-02-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100209024027/http://www.lewrockwell.com/gaddy/gaddy75.1.html|date=2009-12-07|accessdate=2016-02-08|author=Michael Gaddy|title=A Critical Decision}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lewrockwell.com/2012/04/russ-baker/someone-would-have-talked-someone-would-be-crazy/|title=Someone Would Have Talked? Someone Would Be Crazy|date=2012-04-13|accessdate=2016-02-08|author=Russ Baker}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lewrockwell.com/2012/01/russ-baker/the-deaths-of-jfk-rfk-and-the-silence-of-the-lambs/|title=The Deaths of JFK, RFK – and the Silence of the Lambs|date=2012-01-24|accessdate=2016-02-08|author=Russ Baker}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301000957/http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/ir/Ch57.html|title=THE J.F.K. FLAP}}</ref> He has also favored the elimination of drunk driving laws, claiming that they discriminate against drunkards. His site has been rated as a questionable source by [[Media Bias/Fact Check]] with extreme bias and mixed factual rating.<ref>[https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/lew-rockwell/ Lew Rockwell — MBFC]</ref>

The site is also a platform for religious zealots like [[Gary North]]. Rockwell himself is a [[Catholic]], but allows batshit crazy Christian Dominionists like North to write for his site. This includes support for [[creationism]] or "criticisms" of [[evolution]] (depending on the columnist).<ref>Here's their take on the FSM: [https://www.lewrockwell.com/2007/11/bill-sardi/the-flying-spaghetti-monsterians/ Toto takes on the Flying Spaghetti Monster]</ref>

===Ron Paul newsletters===
The kerfuffle over Ron Paul's racist newsletters led to accusations that Rockwell had ghost-written the newsletters. Rockwell dismissed this as a smear by his political enemies. Here is one take from ''The Economist'':
{{cquote|Mr Rockwell denied authorship to Jamie Kirchick, the reporter whose New Republic article published earlier this week reignited controversy over the newsletters. But both Mr Rockwell (who attacked the New Republic article on his site) and Mr Tucker refused to discuss the matter with Democracy in America. ("Look at Mises.org," Mr Tucker told me, "I'm willing to take any responsibility for anything up there, OK?") According to Wirkman Virkkala, formerly the managing editor of the libertarian monthly Liberty, the racist and [[survivalist]] elements that appeared in the newsletter were part of a deliberate "paleolibertarian" strategy, "a last gasp effort to try class hatred after the miserable showing of Ron Paul's 1988 presidential effort." It is impossible now to prove individual authorship of any particular item in the newsletter, but it is equally impossible to believe that Mr Rockwell did not know of and approve what was going into the newsletter.<ref>[http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2008/01/the_rockwell_files The Rockwell Files], ''The Economist''</ref>}}

''Reason'' also notes that other [[Libertarian Party]] insiders were aware of the intentional use of [[Southern Strategy]]-style tactics in the Rockwell-Rothbard "paleolibertarian" campaign.<ref>[http://reason.com/archives/2008/01/16/who-wrote-ron-pauls-newsletter Who wrote Ron Paul's Newsletters?], ''Reason''</ref> Rothbard and Rockwell became supporters of [[Pat Buchanan]] in an attempt to build a [[populist]]-libertarian coalition in the early 1990s until they decided Buchanan wasn't [[free market]] enough for them.<ref>[http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/joe_conason/2010/05/21/racial The Roots of Rand Paul's Civil Rights Resentment], Salon</ref> Former Paul staffer Eric Dondero has claimed that Paul wrote about half of the newsletters' content while Rockwell ghostwrote most of the rest of it.<ref>[http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2008/01/who_wrote_the_ron_paul_newslet.php Who Wrote the Ron Paul Newsletters?] [[Ed Brayton]]</ref>  Some of Rockwell's writers have been found to have written openly racist material for other sites and publications as well and he seemed to have some admiration for the late Sam Francis, a well-known [[white supremacist]] and member of the [[Council of Conservative Citizens]].<ref>[http://tomgpalmer.com/2005/01/21/racism-and-bigotry-delivered-courtesy-of-lew-rockwell/ Racism and bigotry delivered courtesy of Lew Rockwell], Tom G. Palmer</ref><ref>[http://tomgpalmer.com/2005/07/20/whats-wriggling-under-the-rockwell-2/ What's wriggling under the Rock(well)?]</ref> His Neo-Confederate Mises Institute buddies [[Thomas DiLorenzo]] and Thomas Woods often cross-post to his site. All of this put together is a little more than a tad suspicious.

But where else can you find columns tying together the [[Federal Reserve]] and [[rap music]] giving kids [[brain]] damage as the primary causes of what's wrong with the world today?<ref>[https://www.lewrockwell.com/2002/08/eric-englund/alan-greenspan-wrecks-our-culture/ Social Decay and the Federal Reserve]</ref>

==The cherry on top==
Despite claiming to support freedom of association, free markets and voluntaryism, Rockwell, like his former pal Rothbard, is for [[closed borders]].<ref>https://www.mises.org/library/open-borders-are-assault-private-property</ref> Apparently Rockwell didn't get the memo that the stance makes it impossible to actually have his ideal [[Anarcho-capitalism|anarcho-capitalist]] society or being taken seriously when claiming to advocate for such things. Actually consistent libertarians, such as Kevin Carson, have attempted to relay that memo to Rockwell though.<ref>https://c4ss.org/content/41552</ref>

==See also==
*[[Thomas Sowell]] &mdash; Nominally Libertarian, Sowell was never shy about playing [[Uncle Tom]] for the [[GOP]].

==External links==
*[https://www.lewrockwell.com/ Rockwell's homepage]
*[https://www.lewrockwell.com/author/lew-rockwell/ Rockwell's articles]
*[http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2009/12/14/lew-rockwell-website-warns-of-coming-us-civil-war/ Lew Rockwell's site warns of coming Civil War]
*You can further follow the adventures of Rockwell and his merry gang at [http://tomgpalmer.com/category/the-fever-swamp/ the Fever Swamp section of Tom G. Palmer's blog] and the [http://rightwatch.tblog.com/ archives of the Right Watch blog.]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

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