Just War and Lost Cause Mythology
Rothbardian libertarianism upholds liberty as an ethical and moral standard, and for this reason it is often criticized for being idealistic and utopian. Addressing this critique, Duncan Whitmore argues that the mere fact that we live in a statist society, in which all our liberties are under siege does not mean the fight for liberty is a lost cause. His point is that “the seeming remoteness of victory today does not mean that victory will never arrive.” Despite the growing power of the state, the cause of liberty is still worth continually striving towards. Whitmore quotes T.S. Eliot to substantiate this argument, Eliot’s point being that a worthwhile cause may never be entirely won but it must be kept alive:
If we take the widest and wisest view of a Cause, there is no such thing as a Lost Cause, because there is no such thing as a Gained Cause. We fight for lost causes because we know that our defeat and dismay may be the preface to our successors’ victory, though that victory itself will be temporary; we fight rather to keep something alive than in the expectation that it will triumph.
Similarly, in his 1908 book, The Philosophy of Loyalty, Josiah Royce argues that: “Loyalty to lost causes is, then, not only a possible thing, but one of the most potent influences of human history. In such cases, the cause comes to be idealized through its very failure to win temporary and visible success.” The cause being lost does not mean that it will, or should, be abandoned—on the contrary, its supporters continually rally their energies to the defense of the cause. The same is true in defending liberty, including wars fought to defend life, property, hearth, and home. Murray Rothbard wrote that he only considered two American wars to be just wars—the Revolutionary War and the War for Southern Independence. He saw both of these as wars fought in defense of liberty, and expressed his certainty that “the South shall rise again.” To Rothbardians, this defense of liberty (where liberty is understood as an emanation of self-ownership and property rights) is the only circumstance in which war is justified.
The South losing their bid for independence is widely characterized by critics of the South as a “lost cause,” but they do not mean this in the h
Article from LewRockwell
LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
