Jump to content

Robert LeFevre

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by RJII (talk | contribs) at 17:24, 10 June 2006 (→External links: Category:libertarian businesspeople). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Robert LeFevre (1911–1986) was a libertarian businessman and radio personality.

Robert LeFevre

Freedom School

In 1957, LeFevre founded the Freedom School, which he ran until 1968, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Freedom School, later renamed Rampart College, was designed to educate people in LeFevre's philosophy about the meaning of freedom and free-market economic policy.

After Rampart College's collapse, LeFevre carried on his work in South Carolina under the patronage of business giant Roger Milliken.

Notable teachers at the Freedom School or Rampart College include Rose Wilder Lane, Milton Friedman, F.A. Harper, Frank Chodorov, Leonard Read, Gordon Tullock, G. Warren Nutter, Bruno Leoni, James J. Martin, and Ludwig von Mises.

Notable graduates include Roy Childs, Fred and Charles Koch, and Roger MacBride.

Views

LeFevre believed that natural law is above the law of the state and that for American society to prosper economically, free-market reforms were essential. He also believed that bestowing the good deeds of society on its government was no different from rewarding criminals for abstaining from illegal activity. All government consists of customs and institutions that control our lives by stealing our property, restricting our freedom, and endangering our lives with the rationale of protecting us from ourselves.

Influence on libertarian movement

LeFevre was influential in the early libertarian movement, but differed from modern libertarians on two counts. Most libertarians hold to a non-aggression principle in which the initiation of force or fraud is considered morally wrong, but that the use of force in defense when it is initiated by somebody else is acceptable. LeFevre went further and took a pacifist stance, believing that any use of force is morally wrong. The other point concerns the matter of voting and political parties. While most libertarians believe these are acceptable, and indeed many are organized into the Libertarian Party, LeFevre believed voting itself was an act of aggression and opposed participation in electoral politics.

LeFevre favored the abolition of the state but used the term "autarchism" (self government) to describe his politics, to distinguish it from anarchism. In part this was because of the association of anarchism in the public eye with violence, but LeFevre did not consider himself an anarchist, and in his "LeFevre Commentaries" bluntly stated that he was not an anarchist.

Robert LeFevre's movement was a basis for Robert A. Heinlein's book The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. LeFevre was the basis for the character Professor Bernardo de la Paz, organizer of the Lunar revolution.

Bibliography

  • Anarchy (1959)
  • A Way to Be Free (1999) (posthumously) (autobiography) ISBN 1584451440
  • The Fundamentals of Liberty (1988) (posthumously) ISBN 0962048003
  • The Nature of Man and His Government (1959) ISBN 0870040863
  • This Bread is Mine (1960)

Quotes

  • "An anarchist is anyone who believes in less government than you do."
  • "If men are good, you don't need government; if men are evil or ambivalent, you don't dare have one."
  • "Government is a disease masquerading as its own cure."
  • "A limited government is a contradiction in terms."

Note that the website hosting the above essays, F.A.E.M. (First Amendment Exercise Machine), contains other articles with many controversial remarks that may be offensive. These are unrelated to the beliefs of Robert LeFevre.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_LeFevre&oldid=57899422"