Brian Doherty on The Forgotten History of the Antiwar Right

"The perception of being antiwar as a strictly left-progressive thing is a holdover, I think, from the Vietnam War," says Brian Doherty, senior editor of Reason.

Doherty, author of Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement, sat down with Reason.tv to talk about the all-but-forgotten tradition of conservative antiwar activism. Tracing its roots back to the American Anti-Imperialist League of the late 1890s, Doherty discusses the evolution of right-wing non-interventionism through the 1930s and into the Cold War of the 1950s, which ultimately led to a lasting rift between conservatives and libertarians. He also addresses the possibility of a resurgent conservative antiwar sentiment in the Obama era.

Interview by Zach Weissmueller. Shot by Alex Manning. Edited by Weissmueller.

Approximately 7:37.

Visit Reason.tv for HD, iPod and audio versions of this video and subscribe to Reason.tv's Youtube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• antiwar
• anti-war
• noninterventionism
• Old Right
• libertarian
• America First
• anti imperialism
• Ron Paul
• Murray Rothbard
• history
• Radicals for Capitalism
• Brian Doherty
• Reason Magazine
• Nick Gillespie

[jwka2001]

The Anti war movement that was during bush, should be ashamed of themselves for not holding Obama's feet to the fire. Obama has been nothing but a liar,, a failure, and a complete scam of a president. Its so true that the anti war movement wasnt truly an anti war movement, but an anti-bush movement.. They should be ashamed of themselves....If only Ron Paul had won :(

[yojimbo81]

Libertarians stand true to the anti-war stance. Liberals are only anti-war when their guy isn't in the White House. The anti-war movement of the Vietnam era is long gone.

[felpaluche]

People indeed forget history that easily. Perhaps because we are too consumed of our lives today.

[doobersmanster]

If we took care of our own house(America) the rest of the world would be changed ...if we were a true Free Market system it would transform the world without fireing a shot...this Socialism garbage and CULT (Secular Humanism) is nothing but tyranny..Liberty is the right of the People, not the "right" of the Government...

[poop2poop2]

@JesusDillinger Wrong William F. Buckley

[robopad]

@hzane Yes thanks to George W Bush

[SIPEROTH]

@jwka2001 I don't know if they should be ashamed of themselves, maybe they didn't ask for his head because they know the replacement will be worse. But you and others have to finally realize that No president or people rule any country and especially the US. No matter what Obama thought he wanted to do his incapable of doing it when his bosses (corporations, banks, financial groups and NOT the people) give him different orders.

They even pay for the campaigns politicians do to get elected.

[KilllaCaleb]

@gergenheimer I truly hate subjecting myself to terminology, it's quite an exceptional way to muddy things up and create polarized perceptions of ones own ideology.

[gergenheimer]

@Slipknotyk06 If you look at Libertarianism on the traditional left-right spectrum is seems to be disjointed, because Libertarians are "right" of even most conservatives on economic issues, and they are also "left" of most progressives on social freedoms. The problem isn't with the Libertarianism, it's with the left-right paradigm. If you haven't seen it, you should check out the "World's Smallest Political Quiz" - it's very simplistic, but the two axis scale put things in a new perspective.