Liberalism and libertarianism have deep roots in Western thought. A central feature of the religious and intellectual traditions of ancient Israel and ancient Greece was the idea of a higher moral law that applied universally and that constrained the powers of even kings and governments. Christian theologians, including Tertullian in the 2nd and 3rd centuries and St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century, stressed the moral worth of the individual and the division of the world into two realms, one of which was the province of God and thus beyond the power of the state to control.
In the 20th Century, many thinkers have charted this territory, including Ludwig von Mises, F. A. Hayek, James M. Buchanan, Vernon L. Smith, Ayn Rand and Robert Nozick.
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Rand's hard core are Objectivists and they have had no truck with the Libertarian Party. Objectivists are actually very pro-war and pro-Israel as was Alisa Rosenbaum. Meanwhile over at tradcon American Conservative they've been arguing on how critical they should be of Rand Paul's backtracking. Raimondo at antiwar.com trashed him big time yesterday.
Thanx for clearing that up. People who seem to be libertarian often cite Ayn Rand.
Tradcon Amconmag.com's bloggers and those of Chronicles Magazine.org are having a go at dissecting Rand Paul's recent vacillatiomns.
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