Anarchist and Libertarian Thought in Contemporary Movements

Anarchist and libertarian currents both persisted into contemporary politics along divergent paths. On the free-market side, the Libertarian Party of the United States was founded in Colorado Springs in 1971 by David Nolan, providing an explicit electoral vehicle for Rothbardian and Misesian ideas; Congressman Ron Paul's Republican presidential primary campaigns in 2008 and 2012 subsequently popularized Austrian economics, opposition to the Federal Reserve, and non-interventionist foreign policy to a much wider American public than earlier libertarian efforts had reached.