Left, Right, and the Prospects for Liberty

Murray N. Rothbard

The Conservative has long been marked, whether he knows it or not, by long-run pessimism: by the belief that the long-run trend, and therefore Time itself, is against him, and hence the inevitable trend runs toward left-wing statism at home and Communism abroad. It is this long-run despair that accounts for the Conservative’s rather bizarre short-run optimism; for since the long-run is given up as hopeless, the Conservative feels that his only hope of success rests in the current moment.

Left, Right, and the Prospects for Liberty by Murray Rothbard

No content found

Meet the Author
Murray N. Rothbard
Murray N. Rothbard

Murray N. Rothbard made major contributions to economics, history, political philosophy, and legal theory. He combined Austrian economics with a fervent commitment to individual liberty.

Mises Wire Murray N. Rothbard
[This article is adapted from Murray Rothbard’s 1977 keynote address to the Libertarian Party.] I used to think that adopting the victory of liberty as the overriding goal must be almost self-evident...
View Murray N. Rothbard bio and works
References

Left and Right, Spring 1965, pp. 4-22.