Socialist magazine warns Poilievre is a libertarian

American socialist magazine Jacobin has warned its readers that Pierre Poilievre is not just another right-wing populist, but has a "radical libertarian agenda". 

Pierre Poilievre Wants Radical Austerity for Canada | Jacobin | Ryan Kelpin:

February 1, 2025 - "Much has been written about [Pierre] Poilievre in recent years, often framing him as the champion of the Freedom Convoy, anti-lockdown politics during the height of COVID-19, or a right-wing populist fighting against woke tyranny. While these characterizations highlight key elements of his political strategy, they risk oversimplifying his ideology. Poilievre is not merely a populist reactionary; he is a deeply ideological figure with a long-standing engagement with ... particularly the ideas of Milton Friedman. His contemporary anti-state politics are grounded in this intellectual lineage.... Understanding Poilievre’s ideological foundations is critical to grasping the broader implications of his rise — and the threat it poses.

"Poilievre has often expressed admiration for Friedrich Hayek and the Virginia School of public choice founders James M. Buchanan and Gordon Tullock. However, his most consistent and fervent ideological inspiration comes from Friedman’s radical libertarian critiques of the state. This is evident in Poilievre’s decades-long proselytizing in the name of two of Friedman’s most significant books: 1962’s Capitalism and Freedom and 1963’s A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960. During his formative years in Calgary, he became an avid reader of Capitalism and Freedom, shaping his worldview around Friedman’s ideas about voluntary exchange versus coercion, economic freedom versus the bureaucracy of the welfare state, and the role of inflation and monetary theory. These ideas informed many of his university essays, including his 1999 scholarship-winning 'Building Canada Through Freedom' essay.... 

"Poilievre himself traced this ideological lineage in [a] recent interview with Jordan Peterson, stating, 'I’ve been saying precisely the same thing the entire time . . . building Canada on freedom. The entire piece was on making government small and maximizing personal freedom'.... For Friedman and Poilievre, voluntary exchange occurs in a social and power vacuum. This notion presents a romanticized view of private economy in which real-world consequences and inequality do not exist. Poilievre has expressed this extreme interpretation of voluntary exchange in stark terms, stating, 'Everything the government does, even the good things, is done by the coercive force of taxation, a gun to the head.' He has fleshed this out even further in the House of Commons:

Every exchange in a free market economy, literally every single one, without exception, is based on voluntary exchange. . . . By contrast, every single transaction done by government is done by force, even legitimate, desirable transactions. . . . However, surely, we should also agree that the use of that force should be limited to cases where it is absolutely unavoidable and necessary. We should not expand government into areas people can decide upon and act out on their own volition. The government continually gets involved in areas that are easily done through voluntary exchange. In fact, it replaces free choice with force very often....

"Poilievre routinely draws on not just Friedman but also Buchanan, whose public choice theory influenced Friedman’s later work, including Free to Choose. Poilievre’s rhetoric reflects their shared disdain for the welfare state, which he once referred to in a National Post op-ed as 'truly horrific,' claiming: '[it] ... engenders a self-serving bureaucracy whose survival depends on a growing clientele of poor welfare recipients. To end poverty, this bureaucracy would have to put itself out of business, something it will never do'....

"Poilievre has routinely championed several key neoliberal policy ideas. Dating to his time in the right-wing populist Reform Party, he has supported the idea of balanced budget legislation — or at least the principle of cutting $1 from government spending for every $1 of new expenditure. This approach aims to depoliticize spending by limiting the ability of 'special interests' to extract benefits from self-serving politicians and a growth-focused bureaucracy. Poilievre has also endorsed Friedman’s specific neoliberal proposals, such as a negative income tax system — where people earning below a certain threshold would receive payments to bring them up to that minimum income level — as well as universal basic income (UBI).... UBI, as Poilievre understands it ... would come with a catch: 'Governments would pay for Friedman’s basic income by eliminating all other programs, including housing, drug plans, childcare and the bureaucrats who administer it all.' Poilievre has criticized attempts to use UBI as a distributive tool....

"Poilievre has become most notable for his focus on the inflationary crisis of the 2020s. But there has been little examination of the intellectual roots of his inflation rhetoric — it is a mistake to understand it as simply part of his constructed populist persona. When asked by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation what book on economics he would recommend, he held up one book to the camera: his well-worn and bookmarked copy of Friedman and Anna Schwartz’s A Monetary History of the United States, saying that it 'taught [him] was that money supply was the driver of inflation.' This tome has become a cornerstone of his political philosophy, referenced frequently in interviews, his Friedman-inspired Free to Choose–esque YouTube video series Debtonation [see video] and even on the House floor....

"Poilievre’s views on inflation reproduce Friedman’s monetarism and his argument that the overproduction of money supply drives up purchasing costs and government deficits, characterizing inflation as an invisible, coercive tax created by centralized government. As he describes it, 'You could not design a more damaging and unjust tax than the inflation tax.' In his Debtonation series, Poilievre takes Friedman’s ideas to their extremes, making questionable connections between overproduction of the money supply, inflation, government debt, and even the suicide rate. He doesn’t simply reproduce Friedman’s ideas; he amplifies them to appeal to contemporary political audiences. Poilievre clearly views himself not just as a proponent of Friedman but as his Canadian ideological heir apparent....

"Poilievre’s view of the state and capitalism represents a more radical libertarian agenda than that of any previous potential Canadian prime minister. He is an idealogue, a true believer, but also a pragmatist and convincing speaker. If he has his way in 2025, Canada will continue deepening its commitment to neoliberalism, but with a Friedmanite flavor not yet seen in the country."

Read more: https://jacobin.com/2025/02/poilievre-friedman-neoliberalism-canada-converatives

Debtonation (Episode 1) | Pierre Poilievre | December 27, 2025:

Nancy MacLean smears libertarians & the autistic

Democracy in Chains Author Nancy MacLean Calls Autism a Leading Cause of Libertarianism - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Robby Soave:

February 13, 2018 - "Nancy MacLean, the Duke University historian who wrote Democracy in Chains, the deeply conspiratorial and much-criticized biography of public choice economist James Buchanan, told an audience in New York last week that Buchanan and other early leaders of the limited-government movement 'seem to be on the autism spectrum.'

"According to MacLean, there is a connection between autism and libertarianism, and that connection is not feeling 'solidarity or empathy', and having 'kind of difficult human relationships sometimes'...."

"This decidedly unempathetic assertion was MacLean's answer to a question from the audience at NYC's Unitarian Church of All Souls: 'Where do [Buchanan's] motivations lie? Are they ones of personal greed? It seems like it's a little grander, is it malevolence?'.... MacLean thanked the audience member for his 'profound question.' Then she confides in a low tone, 'I didn't put this in the book but I'll say it here' and goes on to explain:

It's striking to me how many of the architects of this cause seem to be on the autism spectrum. People who don't feel solidarity or empathy with others, and who have kind of difficult human relationships sometimes....

Buchanan's own parents wanted him to go into politics and have a political career....  Part of me, since you've asked me in the way you have, part of me feels like there was this some kind of wound in him that he couldn't be this political figure, and then he made it his mission to kind of debunk the whole of politics to show that no one who was in it was good. But I don't know....

"MacLean is making two not-necessarily-related claims here: 1) that Buchanan's autism made him unsuitable for politics, spurning his opposition to government, and 2) autistic people are less empathetic, which is why callous, unfeeling libertarianism appeals to them.....

"'I've discussed how ableist people like MacLean use autism as a slur, but I don't think we've ever been accused of being the source of malevolent ideologies before,' wrote Troy Earl Camplin, who blogs about living with Asperger's syndrome and having an autistic son. 'If I lived anywhere near Duke University, I would be outside the History Department tomorrow protesting her'...

"In case there was any doubt about what she meant, another audience member asked whether Buchanan's ideas were spreading 'to other universities and so that we've got this constant flow of libertarians, autistic libertarians.' MacLean smiles and chuckles."

Read more: https://reason.com/blog/2018/02/13/democracy-in-chains-author-nancy-maclean
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Don Boudreaux's challenge to Nancy MacLean

Don Boudreaux’s Open Letter to Nancy MacLean | The American Spectator - Wlady Pleszcynski:

August 1, 2017 - "Duke history professor Nancy MacLean ... in her widely noticed recent book lambastes the great free-market economist James Buchanan as the logical successor of slave-owning segregationist John C. Calhoun. We had first read about her book, Democracy in Chains, in Don Boudreaux’s indispensable blog, CafeHayek.com. Now Don has issued an open letter to Prof. MacLean, challenging her to offer a hint of proof to support the smearing she has done of the late Professor Buchanan....

Prof. MacLean:

"On page 151 of your book Democracy in Chains you write that my late Nobel laureate colleague James Buchanan (in his 1975 book, The Limits of Liberty) 'was outlining a world in which the chronic domination of the wealthiest and most powerful over all others appeared the ultimate desideratum, a state of affairs to be enabled by his understanding of the ideal constitution.' Yet you supply no quotation from Buchanan’s book to support this harsh accusation.

"So I challenge you to find in any of Buchanan’s writings a single passage that you are willing to offer to the public as evidence that Buchanan had as an ultimate desideratum a political system in which 'the wealthiest and most powerful” exercise “chronic domination … over all others.' If you find such a passage I will post it on my blog and offer to you a public apology for having accused you, on my blog, of falsely portraying Buchanan on this score....

"I am not asking for evidence that Buchanan proposed policies that you believe will lead to the domination of the many by the wealthy few. Buchanan certainly did endorse much greater freedom than you would accord to individuals to interact as they choose in markets. But being a scholar, surely you understand that even if you are correct that Buchanan was wrong not to see that the free markets and limits on government that he endorsed would lead to the domination of the many by the wealthy few, his different assessment of the likely consequences of free markets and limited government does not imply what you accuse him of desiring, namely, the domination of the many by the wealthy few. 

"If you fail to offer to me (or to post in some other public venue) – by, say, the end of September – evidence from Buchanan’s own writings that his goal was the domination of the many by the wealthy few, I will interpret this failure as proof that you in fact have no such evidence. And the conclusion that I, and others, will reasonably draw is that you simply fabricated this offensive charge."

Read more: https://spectator.org/don-boudreauxs-open-letter-to-nancy-maclean/
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Libertarian-bashing historian Nancy MacLean accused of "getting nearly everything wrong"

To Duke Historian Nancy MacLean, Advocating Free Markets Is Something 'The World Has Never Seen Anything Like...Before' - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Brian Doherty:

August 2, 2017 - "Duke University historian Nancy MacLean recently issued Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America, an alas quite hot book that purports to expose the dark secrets of Nobel Prize-winning economist James Buchanan and the 'radical right'/libertarian movement he's allegedly the brains behind.

"MacLean has been convincingly accused by many who understand his work and the libertarian movement with both less built-in hostility and more actual knowledge than she has (including me here at Reason) of getting nearly everything wrong, from fact to interpretation. She recently took to the Chronicle of Higher Education to allegedly reply to her critics.

"A quick wrap up of many specific problems found in her book by her critics — by no means all — that MacLean ignores even while allegedly "respond[ing] to her critics," and which the editors at the Chronicle let her ignore:

• Her claim of meaningful similarity between John Calhoun's constitutional vision and that of Buchanan and his public choice school cannot be reasonably maintained.
• Her assertion that the modern public choice/libertarian constitutionalist vision has nothing to do with James Madison is not true.
• Buchanan did not, contra MacLean, believe that all taxation above voluntary giving is theft akin to a mugger in the park.
• She attributed to Buchanan the belief that those receiving government aid "are to be treated as subordinate members of the species, akin to… animals who are dependent" though he used that phrase to describe the attitude that was the opposite of his.
• Her attribution of Buchanan's use of the Hobbesian term "Leviathan" to (racist, uncoincidentally for her rhetorical smear purposes) Southern Agrarian poet Donald Davidson rather than, well, Hobbes, falls apart with study of when and how Buchanan began using the term in his work.
•  She regularly cites libertarian thinkers as saying nasty things implying a contempt for the poor or for democracy that are not supported by the full context of the quotes; victims of her malicious misinterpretation including David Boaz and Tyler Cowen....

"MacLean speaks to none of the above specific critiques of her book in the Chronicle, merely generically complaining about being attacked and insisting that people who critique her work clearly hadn't read or understood it ...  she reached instead for sympathy by complaining these specific critiques on her methods and understanding as a historian made her 'feel vulnerable and exposed' and interpreting an intellectual metaphor for a physical threat...

"She certainly does not address a core problem with her book I detailed in my review: the 'historical fact' upon which her entire thesis depends, her book's distinguishing selling point, which she claims to have uniquely discovered through diligent archival work, that James Buchanan was the secret influence behind the political funding machine of Charles Koch and that that machine is deliberately and conspiratorially disguising its libertarian goals, is completely invented. She creates an illusion of proof by citing documents that do not support the thesis in any way, shape, or form."

Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2017/08/02/to-duke-historian-nancy-maclean-advocati
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This year's evil libertarian: James M. Buchanan

Book Review: 'Democracy In Chains,' By Nancy MacLean : NPR - Genevieve Valentine:

June 18, 2017 - "[E]conomist James Buchanan — an early herald of libertarianism — began to cultivate a group of like-minded thinkers with the goal of changing government.... This sixty-year campaign to make libertarianism mainstream and eventually take the government itself is at the heart of Democracy in Chains....

"Buchanan headed a group of radical thinkers (he told his allies 'conspiratorial secrecy is at all times essential'), who worked to centralize power in states like Virginia.... As MacLean lays out in their own words, these men developed a strategy of misinformation and lying about outcomes until they had enough power that the public couldn't retaliate against policies libertarians knew were destructive."

Read more: http://www.npr.org/2017/06/18/531929217/democracy-in-chains-traces-the-rise-of-american-libertarianism


James M. Buchanan, Economic Scholar, Dies at 93 - New York Times - Robert D. McFadden:

January 9, 2013 -  "James M. Buchanan, a scholar and author whose analyses of economic and political decision-making won the 1986 Nobel in economic sciences ... was a leading proponent of public choice theory, which assumes that politicians and government officials, like everyone else, are motivated by self-interest — getting re-elected or gaining more power — and do not necessarily act in the public interest.

"He argued that their actions could be analyzed, and even predicted, by applying the tools of economics to political science in ways that yield insights into the tendencies of governments to grow, increase spending, borrow money, run large deficits and let regulations proliferate....

"Buchanan contended that the pursuit of self-interest by modern politicians often led to harmful public results. Courting voters at election time, for example, legislators will approve tax cuts and spending increases for projects and entitlements favored by the electorate. This combination can lead to ever-rising deficits, public debt burdens and increasingly large governments to conduct the public’s business.

"In lectures, articles and more than 30 books, Dr. Buchanan amplified on the theory of public choice and argued for smaller government, lower deficits and fewer regulations — a spectrum of policy objectives that were ascendant in the 1980s conservative agenda of President Ronald Reagan.

"Over the years since Dr. Buchanan won the Nobel, much of what he predicted has played out. Government is bigger than ever. Tax revenue has fallen far short of public programs’ needs. Public and private borrowing has become a way of life. Politicians still act in their own interests while espousing the public good, and national deficits have soared into the trillions."

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/business/economy/james-m-buchanan-economic-scholar-dies-at-93.html
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