On today’s episode of Walt Right Perspectives I speak with
—a longtime member of the Tortuga Society and the founder of Liberty+, which describes itself as follows:We are a liberty advancement organization for people of good character. All three of our founders are libertarians whose ultimate goal is a voluntary society and are in this regard the purest form of libertarian. More important to all of us, however, is making meaningful progress toward that goal within our lifetimes. This is why we welcome liberty-advancing non-libertarians and shun those who hinder the advancement of liberty, even if they consider themselves libertarian or conservative. Our movement can be thought of like a leg of commuter transit – you can get off anywhere along the route you like, but it goes only in one direction.
As a former anarcho-capitalist and Austrian Economics enjoyer who famously broke with that worldview in 20151 but has since begun to rediscover his youthful appreciation for liberty, I found this conversation fantastically enjoyable and instructive, and expect that most of you will agree.
After listening be sure to check out N of 1’s recent article Power, which covers some of the topics discussed in this podcast.
Topics include:
Why N of 1 describes himself specifically as a “Right Libertarian”
How he found Tortuga through Noah Revoy and the Natural Law Institute
N of 1’s rejection of extreme pluralism following an unpleasant experience with a dishonorable clique of third positionists
Can very doctrinaire and regimented support of a particular moral or economic ideology (i.e. Marxism or Objectivism) be seen as a quasi-religion?
Is the need to hate an “other” or participate in vulgar witch hunts / status games an intractable part of human nature?
The impractical tendency of extreme libertarians to avoid literally any interaction with the state due to an almost supernatural fear of its corrupting influence
There’s nothing wrong with a libertarian taking back services from the government if you are also paying taxes into the system
Walt explains why he abandoned Hoppean anarcho-capitalism after concluding it would inevitably turn into feudalism before eventually scaling into a quasi-fascist arrangement (which he saw as a good thing)
What caused the decline of anarcho-capitalism in Medieval Iceland?
How does societal scale impact the distinction between private and public?
How significant are the differences in ideological underpinnings between a centralized monopolistic fascism and a more decentralized feudal arrangement with private courts and defense / insurance agencies?
The inherent tension between freedom and equality
Was medieval decentralization just a function of primitive technology? Will private actors inevitably maximize their power to the level of quasi-statehood once technology permits them to bureaucratically centralize?
Does the pervasive use of regulatory capture and credentialist rent-seeking by corporations make them state institutions in practice?
The viability of Hoppe’s idea of using “restrictive covenants” (think politicized HOAs) to advance nationalist / racialist / socially conservative policy objectives
Would a network of restrictive covenants constitute a state?
Is a corporation that establishes a natural monopoly or relies heavily on network effects to corner the market a quasi-state in its power monopoly?
N of 1’s proposal for “neighbortarianism” as an extension of Hoppe’s restrictive covenants idea—”anything that lowers property values is prohibited by default”
N of 1 argues the aesthetic impact of globalism is its worst aspect
Would upscaled covenants inevitably engage in feudal-style conflict?
The low proportion of public land with open hunting / fishing rights in TX vs. western states like NV—does a voluntarist social order allow for “the commons?”
N of 1 argues Libertarians are excessively individualistic and have needlessly accepted a framing that automatically equates state ownership with the commons
Free market as an ultimately desirable “compromise that leaves everyone mad”
Walt connects N of 1’s neighbortarianism proposal to
’s idea of Backyard Nationalism, as well as to his own idea of “building your castle”Why N of 1 abandoned pro-collapse accelerationism and now supports both Trump and a more vanguardist / mediated sort of accelerationism via initiatives like the Tortuga Society and his own organization Liberty+
Is it genuinely possible now to purge the Deep State via civil service reform given SCOTUS’s recent overturning of Chevron deference?
Why N of 1 is moderately optimistic about Trump’s second term
His participation in the Free State Project to take control of New Hampshire politics and turn the state even more libertarian
Cultural tensions in the FSP
The Libertarian Party and its recent takeover by the very based Mises Caucus
Trump’s courting of the LP at its national convention and his unusual willingness to build very overt bridges with the liberty movement
Relative to their size Libertarians are a high-impact voting bloc given their loose affiliation with either party, and that could create a valuable “kingmaker” role
The importance in N of 1’s estimation of preventing the word “Libertarian” from becoming associated with degeneracy / globalism
Why Liberty+ is open to non-libertarians who are personally virtuous and directional allies (i.e. other Tortuga Society members)
The importance of a discriminating / curatorial impulse in building community
How Liberty+ uses gamified tactics to keep its members accountable in their central goal of fighting state aggression
N of 1’s article Power, which covers a lot of the topics discussed in this podcast
N of 1 compliments
’s recent appearance on WRP
you shouldn’t feel bad if you don’t get any of the references in this video—it is VERY 2015
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