NY Times Brings Libertarianism in the Media!

I opened open my facebook page to see all the libertarian pages talking about an article from the NY Times which was apparently dedicated to condemning libertarianism. "The New York Times talked about libertarianism? This I have to see," I thought, so I clicked on the link. To my disappointment, I found that the article was regarding the libertarian impostor Rand Paul. Little did I know how much exposure this article actually gave to libertarianism. 

I started reading the article, which, to my surprise, referred to the libertarian philosophy, which Rand Paul was supposedly associated with. Libertarianism referred to as a philosophy is rare in the realm of the mainstream media. Usually, the only mention of "libertarian" is to describe a political candidate here and there, mostly attacking the actual politician and then throwing in "libertarian-leaning." However, in this case, it seemed that the article was not actually going to attack Rand Paul, but the "libertarian philosophy." This is a change for mainstream media. 

I continued on to find a reference to a libertarian institute. Reason and Cato, the libertarian-lite and more publicly exposed think tanks almost never get into the mainstream media; a mention of these institutions would be quite beneficial to the libertarian movement even though they're not purist. However, that is not what this article referenced -- they referenced a far more informative and libertarian organization. They referenced the Mises Institute. 

"The Mises Institute in the mainstream media!? That's a first!" I thought as I continued reading. Little did I know that this reference was only the beginning. The article went on to mention Lysander Spooner, the libertarian abolitionist of the 19th century. The Mises Institute and Lysander Spooner in the same article? My mind was blown. But it only got better. I admit that I almost fainted to see Murray N. Rothbard's name come up. 

The article kept going on and on, displaying some of the most brilliant libertarian minds to the public. It talked about Lew Rockwell, Jack Hunter, Tom Woods, Walter Block, the Young Americans for Liberty, and an association that I never heard of -- the National Association for Gun Rights, which apparently condemns the NRA for allowing too many gun regulations. 

The criticisms in the article were nothing new -- your typical Civil War and Civil Rights Act ignorance. However, the exposure was something very new. Was this author a libertarian troll trying to get as many great libertarian philosophers out there in one article to as many people as possible? Perhaps. Or perhaps the author didn't understand the concept of publicity. Either way, this is a victory for the libertarian movement. 

Read the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/us/politics/rand-pauls-mixed-inheritance.html