My list:
1) Believed in restrictions on the accumulation of property and believed in welfare
3) None of his ideas were new for his time. He also believed in absolute advantage
5) Alright, I'll give you some leeway here.
Also, 4 should come before 2.
!?!?
Rothbard should be #1 on that list.
"!?!?
Rothbard should be #1 on that list."
Who didn't see that coming? Not judgin, just sayin.
Why do you believe that Rothbard was the greatest libertarian?
I give the benefit of doubt that someone who's really only read Rothbard would make such a dogmatic claim. Rothbard may be in the top 5, but not number 1. There's too many libertarian activists and authors for even myself to make a list, especially one like this. Bastiat? Nock? Read? Chodorov? Spooner? Hoppe? The list would take the form of core libertarian authors one needs to read from the past 100 years or so. To be honest, this is something that Jeffrey Tucker should take on (I'm sure he can make a rather extensive list).
The greatest libertarian is the guy who minded his own fucking business.
I concur with your sentiment, but not sure how serious the statement is as I see your user name and avatar.
haha, dont stone me
Ayn Rand does need to be on the list, as well as Nozick. If you asked any non-libertarian to make the list, assuming they were at least educated, it would probably go:
they said we would have an unfair fun advantage
I wouldn't argue with anyone putting Spooner on their list.
Molinari and Bastiat ought to be up there
Rothbard is #1 and then there isn't anyone after him for a very, very long time. And only then you have the distant second, third, etc. Also Rand and Hayek for me don't even belong on a list of libertarians as such.
Rothbard is #1 and then there isn't anyone after him for a very, very long time. And only then you have the distant second, third, etc.
QFT!
Okay, I revise my list and put Thomas Jefferson as #3, thus displacing Friedman.
I'd have the list be based on tw othings, contributions and impact.
I would say that Rothbard's contributions and impact are both high, but he did not originate the theories. He systamized Mises/Nock/Spooner/Locke et al.
What are you talking about? He basically invented anarcho-capitalism and showed how it can be practical.
From my previous post
"He systamized Mises/Nock/Spooner/Locke et al."
But neither of them was an anarchist!
I totally think you should lose Adam Smith. Statists cling to Smith for some of their basic economic arguments. I'd use John Stuart Mill instead.
1) Rothbard
2) Mises
3) Jefferson
4) Spooner
5) Locke
*honorable mentions: Friedman, Ron Paul, and Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged was the first book i ever fully read. The book help me, at the time, feel like there has to be true individualist other than myself.)
Mill? He was a statist if there ever was one.
Oh c'mon, in the classical tradition, there aren't any better than Mill. He's no Spooner, haha, but I don't mean to be in tier of "anarchist" as opposed to 'libertarian' or 'classical liberal.'
I feel if you're going to make a list like this it should be varied, and putting down the originators is something that needs to be taken into consideration. As far as putting Rand...like 2 years ago I would have agreed, but besides her fiction I don't see much to offer once you get in depth with her. I could completely disregard Objectivism and be fine with it, and I don't really see what Objectivism has to offer to the Austro-libertarian or anarcho-capitalist framework when you can find actual theorists who make good contributions. (Well, she can be on the list, but not top 5.)
There is a big difference between ranking Libertarians and ranking Economists. I feel some of you are attempting to do both.
Here's my list of Libertarians, which are more of a activist nature, and more influential, than the academic/philosopher type.
1. Rothbard
2. Paul, history will prove it...
3. Jefferson
4. Mises
5. Rand
If we are speaking Libertarian Economists/Philosphers:
Bohm-Bawerk
Mises
Rothbard
Bastiat