The Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues
Abstract
In Burning Down the House, Andrew Koppelman has two goals: one philosophical and one sociological. The philosophical goal is to separate the wheat from the chaff in libertarian thought. Koppelman embraces the merits of F. A. Hayek’s arguments for markets. But he stridently rejects the radical libertarianism of Murray Rothbard, Robert Nozick, and Ayn Rand. The radicals are out, and the moderates are in. Hayek must increase, and Rothbard must decrease.
The sociological thesis is that radical libertarian ideology significantly influences the modern GOP and American conservatism. Koppelman sees the pathologies of the contemporary right as drawing from the poisoned well of Randian and Rothbardian ideology.
I am skeptical of both theses. Against the philosophical thesis, there are coherent and attractive philosophical positions between Hayek and Rothbard. Against the sociological thesis, at least one of these mid-way positions better explains the strengths and weaknesses of traditional American conservatism.
Volume
26
Issue
2
Start Page
503
Faculty Editor
Steven Smith & Maimon Schwarzschild
Recommended Citation
Vallier, Kevin
(2025)
"Fusionism, not Libertarianism, Burned Down the House,"
The Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues: Vol. 26:
Iss.
2, Article 7.
Available at:
https://digital.sandiego.edu/jcli/vol26/iss2/7
