What Would Murray N. Rothbard Have Made of Javier Milei?

By Daniel Lacalle and Walter E. Block

We will never know for sure the reaction American economist Murray N. Rothbard would have had to Javier Milei when he became president of Argentina in 2023. Murray passed all too early in 1995; at that time, Milei was still a 25-year-old relative unknown.

We know how the latter viewed the former. Milei called the economist theoretician a mentor, naming one of his precious dogs “Murray.” Milei adopted the terms libertarian and anarcho-capitalist, as did his mentor, and eschewed the phrases minarchist and classical liberal as not radical enough in terms of liberty.

In the view of the present authors, Rothbard would have been jumping for joy at the rise into the political stratosphere of his – in effect – student, Javier Milei. He would have been ecstatic. Rothbard had pet rabbits, and there is no doubt in our minds that he would have named one in honor of this Argentine leader, returning the compliment. No, no, to say this is to damn his likely reaction with faint praise. Rothbard would have jumped out of his skin with the prospect of Milei on the horizon. A longtime atheist, Rothbard would have believed that God had brought Milei down from the heavens. An exaggeration, perhaps, but what better way to frame Rothbard’s probable wildly positive reaction to Milei?

All this is in sharp contrast to the critical reaction to Javier Milei from a whole host of other anarcho-capitalist libertarians. They are looking a gift horse in the mouth and not much liking what they see. The German Mises Institute recently announced it was giving its prestigious Ludwig von Mises award to Milei. In protest, Hans Hoppe and Guido Hulsmann, both libertarian followers of Rothbard, resigned from the Scientific Advisory Board of that organization. Hoppe in particular has excoriated Milei on numerous occasions. Other anarcho-capitalist libertarians — many associated not with the German Mises Institute but with the American version located in Auburn, AL — have been viciously critical of the Argentine president.

Why are we so sure Rothbard would have carried Milei around on his shoulders through a ticker tape parade thrown in his honor? After all, this man has been president of Argentina for some time now. Is this country a bastion of anarcho-capitalism yet? Has the Argentine government completely disappeared? Has gold replaced the peso after all this time? No, no, and no. True, Milei has radically reduced inflation from some 25% to 3% per month, but that is still too high. He rid the country of the scourge of rent control, ended numerous stultifying business regulations, and fired bureaucrats. But still, the country is not yet a libertarian paradise. Here you see the main reservations of these “libertarians.” And, yes, Milei also supports Israel, a big no-no for them.

We are certain of our expectations based on Rothbard’s relationship with Pat Buchanan, who served as a special consultant under three US presidents, Nixon, Ford, and Reagan. The former was a strong supporter of the latter. And yet Buchanan cannot hold even a small candle to Milei in terms of support for free enterprise. He was a protectionist tariff-monger, anathema to economic freedom. Rothbard was desperate for any high-profile public figure to at least give a small nod in the direction of libertarianism. Buchanan did fit that bill; he jumped over that exceedingly low barrier, to be sure. Given that Rothbard enthusiastically supported Buchanan, just imagine the glee with which he would have welcomed Milei to the ranks of laissez-faire capitalists.

Golda Meir once said: “When peace comes we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons. Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”

We now say that these Austro-libertarian denigrators of Javier Milei hate Israel and anyone who supports that nation more than they love the prospects he represents for promoting liberty. Perhaps those Austro-libertarians should learn to love liberty more than they hate Israel.