Editor’s note: Daniel Lacalle co-contributed with Walter E. Block on this essay.

We will never know for sure the reaction Murray N. Rothbard (1926-1995) would have had to Javier Milei (1970-) when he became the President of Argentina in 2023. Murray passed all too early in 1995; at that time, Javier was still a 25 year old relative unknown.

We know how the latter viewed the former. Javier called the anarcho-capitalist economist theoretician one of his mentors. He named one of his precious dogs “Murray.” Mr. Milei adopted the term libertarian, and anarcho-capitalist as did his mentor, and eschewed the phrases minarchist, and classical liberal as not radical enough in terms of liberty.

In the view of the present authors, Murray Rothbard would have been jumping for joy at the rise into the political stratosphere of his in effect student Javier Milei. He would have been ecstatic. Rothbard had pet rabbits. There is no doubt in our minds that he would have named one them in honor of this Argentinian leader, returning the compliment. No, no, to say this is to damn his likely reaction with faint praise. Murray would have literally jumped out of his skin with the prospect of Javier on the horizon. A long time atheist, Rothbard would have believed that God had brought Milei down from the heavens (Ok, ok, we’re exaggerating a bit here; we don’t know how better to express Rothbard’s wildly positive probably reaction to Milei).

All this is in sharp contrast to the very critical reaction to Milei of a whole host of other anarcho-capitalist libertarians. They are looking a gift horse in the mouth and not much liking what they see. The German Mises Institute recently announced it was giving its prestigious Ludwig von Mises award to Mr. Milei. In protest, Hans Hoppe and Guido Hulsmann, both libertarian followers of Murray Rothbard, resigned from the Scientific Advisory Board of that organization. Hoppe in particular has excoriated Javier Milei on numerous occasions. Other anarcho-capitalist libertarians, many of them associated not with the German Mises Institute, but with the American one located in Auburn, Alabama, have been viciously critical of the Argentinian president.

Why are we so sure the Rothbard would have carried Milei around on his shoulders in glee (if he could lift him) in a ticker tape parade in his honor? After all, this man has been president of Argentina for some eight months now. Is this country a bastion of anarcho-capitalism yet? Has the Argentinian government completely disappeared? Has gold replaced the peso after all this time? No, no and no. True he has radically reduced inflation from some 25% to 3% per month, but that is still too high. He has ridded the country of the scourge of rent control, ended numerous stultifying business regulations, and fired numerous bureaucrats. But, still, the country is not yet a libertarian paradise. (Here you see the main reservations of these “libertarians;” oh, yes, Milei also supports Israel, a big no-no for them).

We are certain of our expectations based on Rothbard’s relationship with Pat Buchanan. The former was a strong supporter of the latter. And yet the latter cannot hold even a small candle to Milei in term of support for free enterprise. Buchanan was a protectionist tariff monger, anathema to economic freedom. Murray was desperate for any high-profile public figure to at least give a small nod in the direction of libertarianism. Buchanan did fit that bill; he jumped over that exceedingly low barrier, to be sure. Given that Rothbard enthusiastically supported Buchanan, just imagine the glee with which he would have welcomed Javier to the ranks of laissez faire capitalists.

Golda Meir once said: “When peace comes we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons. Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”

We now say that these Austro-libertarian denigrators of Javier Milei hated Israel, and anyone who supports this only civilized country in the Middle East, more than they love the prospects he represents for promoting liberty. Libertarianism will be promoted when these Austro-libertarians will love liberty more than they hate Israel.