General

Re: The Most Charismatic Libertarian

maxpot46 — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:54:10 GMT

FreedomDefender:

Robert LeFevre seems very charismatic to me

Yeah, I LOVED his folksy storytelling style in the one recording of him I heard (that story about Joseph that someone posted the link to the other day).

Re: The Most Charismatic Libertarian

FreedomDefender — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:28:54 GMT

Robert LeFevre seems very charismatic to me

Re: The Most Charismatic Libertarian

freewheeler — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:23:41 GMT

Andrew Napolitano. He has managed to pull off some amazing things as a libertarian in the mainstream, and I would largely attribute that to his charisma. It's just hard not to like the guy.

Also a point on RP. I think one needs to consider his age. If you watch earlier videos of Paul he really was a great speaker. I think there are still traces of it today, but he stumbles a bit more. If you watch any of his speeches, he almost never uses notes. He is incredibly focused and understands how to talk to people. I think he just has lost a step in his 70s. One ex-Federal Reserve member he was publically debating on the Gold Standard actually prefaced himself with a note about how he will come off as less convincing by default because of how commanding Paul was as a speaker.

Re: The Most Charismatic Libertarian

mr_anonymous — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:45:27 GMT

liberty student:

I'm reading "Defending the Undefendable", about 1/2 through now. I really like Walter Block. I may not agree with everything he says, but he has a way about him. Like Rothbard, but not at such a frenzied pace. I get the impression that Murray Rothbard had so much to say, that he had to rush through it very quickly when speaking.

Block is the man.

Re: The Most Charismatic Libertarian

liberty student — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:35:23 GMT

Nitroadict:
Why haven't I bothered reading up on him? This will be fixed. He sure looks lonley on that wikipedia page D:

I'm reading "Defending the Undefendable", about 1/2 through now. I really like Walter Block. I may not agree with everything he says, but he has a way about him. Like Rothbard, but not at such a frenzied pace. I get the impression that Murray Rothbard had so much to say, that he had to rush through it very quickly when speaking.

Re: The Most Charismatic Libertarian

JAlanKatz — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:39:54 GMT

This thead seems to illustrate what I regard as a general problem with any lists of this sort - no matter what the topic, people will just list their favorites. This is particularly noticable, for instance, when someone asks for contributions to a list of "the greatest intellects of all time" or something similar. People will respond with the names of people whom they agree with a lot. That's why Hawkings gets mentioned so infrequently on such lists - he isn't ideological and so no one has an axe to grind in nominating him.

Re: The Most Charismatic Libertarian

Nitroadict — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 03:56:52 GMT

JohnSchreimann:

I think Walter Block is like the opposite of those who want to be seen as charismatic (though he is likeable if you're like me and agree with everything he says). I think he has a particular charm in not being afraid to be the bad guy in the room. Which is very refreshing. Check out his videos in the Media section. Particularly the one where he debates the social worker, another one where he debates a the union guy, and the two Our Story appearances. It's often funny how hostile they get, even if he's just talking common sense and/or things most or all economists know from the get go.

Though one part of his populist side is that he is willing to take any premise and show how it would be better suited for a market-based solution.

Why haven't I bothered reading up on him? This will be fixed. He sure looks lonley on that wikipedia page D:

Re: The Most Charismatic Libertarian

JohnSchreimann — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:29:39 GMT

I think Walter Block is like the opposite of those who want to be seen as charismatic (though he is likeable if you're like me and agree with everything he says). I think he has a particular charm in not being afraid to be the bad guy in the room. Which is very refreshing. Check out his videos in the Media section. Particularly the one where he debates the social worker, another one where he debates a the union guy, and the two Our Story appearances. It's often funny how hostile they get, even if he's just talking common sense and/or things most or all economists know from the get go.

Though one part of his populist side is that he is willing to take any premise and show how it would be better suited for a market-based solution.

Re: The Most Charismatic Libertarian

BlackSheep — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:08:11 GMT

Yep, it's kinda of contradictory to describe Ron Paul following has a cult of personality, but that he has no charisma. I mean, if the people are following him irrationally, merely because of his personality, as I guess that terms means, then Ron Paul should be the definition of charisma. ;)

Anyway, he sure got me very enthusiasmatic and I've read since some austrian and standard economic books from college. When I first read a small article on libertarianism, it was a critiscism, and I actually associated them with being against property rights (:-?). I thought they were some kind of communist / individualist group (like some of the greens here seem to be in some of their emotional rethoric; however they protest against things like the city privatizing a theater). I was very surprised to find otherwise, and excited about there being a political ideology I could identify with. (Thanks Ron Paul ;P)

Re: The Most Charismatic Libertarian

Nitroadict — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:02:48 GMT

I would say charisma is a subjective concept, due to the vast difference of opinion regarding who has charisma. As for RP's charisma, I would actually attribute that to a reluctant or forced upon charisma that a number of individuals perceieved RP as something he may or may not be, or if he was, exagertated such attributes.

For example, the mainstream concept of a "dark horse" candidate: another word for 'underdog', but that's not used widley in the mainstream as it would imply a heroic or good candidate; whereas you find the both word's used widley in Internet coverage. The mainstream media knows a story can be made from using such concepts, and while Kucinich, for whatever reasons you can sum up, was at some point their choice for such a story, he was no where near as controversial as RP as he was running as a Republican, despite his more Libertarian resume.

A certain amount of attention, charisma, etc. is foisted upon an object, figure, or event by outsider viewers, while another amount is more related to the actual effects of said object, figure or event. That's my 2 cents, at least.

Re: The Most Charismatic Libertarian

mr_anonymous — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:56:41 GMT

I agree with whoever mentioned Walter Block. The only thing about Block is that he is not as well known as Rand and RP.

Re: The Most Charismatic Libertarian

Libertas est Veritas — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:41:07 GMT

maxpot46:
We're in trouble if RP is the most charismatic we can come up with.

Charisma is a tricky concept. It doesn't mean exclusively Obamasque idolatry. Anyone who attracts a following mainly through his/her personality can be described as charismatic. So by that definition Paul is charismatic; many were and are drawn to him due to his straightforward demeanor. The main problem is that the media filter isn't very conductive for such charisma.

Re: The Most Charismatic Libertarian

Nitroadict — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:34:30 GMT

I would also second Rand as well, despite her own objections, as instrumental (in parallel) to libertarian thought, Rothbard fall-out or not.

Drew Carey seems to be attracting a good amount of attention for his videos over @ Reason; although I probably wouldn't agree with everything in them. I'm generalizing a bit since the videos are on Reason, which I would itself consider cosmopolitan / vulgar libertarian. He has a good amount of charisma though, and I'm probably not the only one who liked his show as well.

Re: The Most Charismatic Libertarian

JackCuyler — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:26:17 GMT

P.J. O'Rourke.

Re: The Most Charismatic Libertarian

Jon Irenicus — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:13:06 GMT

Rand (although she'd object to being called a libertarian) and Friedman were also very eloquent speakers in their day. I also consider Hoppe to be a good speaker, though perhaps not charismatic (he has an element of frigidity to him.)

-Jon