City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 10-2014 Millennial Libertarians: The Rebirth of a Movement and the Transformation of U.S. Political Culture Kaja Tretjak Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/477 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] MILLENNIAL LIBERTARIANS: THE REBIRTH OF A MOVEMENT AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF U.S. POLITICAL CULTURE By KAJA TRETJAK A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2014 2014 KAJA TRETJAK Some rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ ii This manuscript has been read and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in Anthropology in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Dr. Leith Mullings ___________________ ______________________________________________________ Date Chair of Examining Committee Dr. Gerald Creed ___________________ ______________________________________________________ Date Executive Officer Dr. Jeff Maskovsky Supervisory Committee Dr. Donald Robotham Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract MILLENNIAL LIBERTARIANS: THE REBIRTH OF A MOVEMENT AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF U.S. POLITICAL CULTURE By Kaja Tretjak Adviser: Professor Leith Mullings This dissertation examines the contemporary resurgence of libertarianism in the U.S., exploring a rapidly expanding, transnational network of hundreds of thousands liberty movement participants connected through student groups, community organizations, and established institutions, as well as through social media and a vast array of online forums. Grounded in 32 months of ethnographic fieldwork and over 200 interviews, it documents the rise of a profound disenchantment, particularly among millennials, with state-based solutions to pressing contemporary problems and, more broadly, with the nation-state project itself. Drawing on first- hand accounts ranging from elite boardrooms and think tank conference rooms, to political demonstrations and direct actions, to student reading groups and gatherings of cryptoanarchist communities, the dissertation situates the ethnographic study within the broader framework of a reconfiguration of U.S. populism in the era of the security state. The project examines how established libertarian organizations, a key component of the longstanding U.S. conservative coalition, have helped infuse libertarianism with renewed relevance for a substantial part of an entire generation deeply disheartened by a world embroiled in economic crisis and heavily militarized systems of governance. Through the consolidation of a libertarian wing of the Republican Party, parts of the liberty movement are presently shaking up the very conservative coalition that helped usher forth the movement’s revival. But iv libertarianism’s resurgence is also powerfully reshaping U.S. political culture beyond formal political processes, giving rise to a proliferation of libertarian spaces that expressly reject effecting change through electoral politics and policy in favor of changing “hearts and minds” by promoting libertarian principles and social organization. Simultaneously, growing numbers of millennials influenced by the liberty movement increasingly challenge its dominant trends, focusing on the experiences of vulnerable and marginalized groups — from urging the integration of libertarianism with a broader socioeconomic critique as well as antiracism, feminism, mutual aid, and labor solidarity, to revisiting the ideas of 19th century U.S. individualist anarchists. Thus, while the libertarian political establishment is likely to continue to expand over the coming years and secure a firmer place in the Republican Party, the movement simultaneously serves as a siphon — growing numbers of millennial libertarians are presently breaking from the political right and moving closer to various forms of left libertarianism, market anarchism, mutualism, and even social anarchism. The project thus illustrates the centrality of cultural formations beyond policy and electoral politics to the largest popular movement motivated by distinctly libertarian ideas in the postwar period, as well as to reconfigurations of U.S. liberalism. The dissertation contributes to a burgeoning literature on the resurgence of antistatist theory and organizing in the new millennium. Scholars and activists alike continue to document especially the revitalization of social anarchist traditions permeating numerous contemporary struggles, tracing how the resuscitation of social anarchist thought and activism informs important parts of extant insurgency across the globe. The U.S. liberty movement presents another key but understudied aspect of the present antistate moment. The dissertation also builds on longstanding anthropological approaches to understanding the complex processes through v which political ideologies are shaped and constituted. Through an ethnographic lens, it interrogates how deeply ingrained U.S. ideologies of freedom, individualism, and even liberalism itself are interpreted, contested, and reappropriated to both challenge and reinscribe relations of power. The libertarian resurgence represents a crucial struggle over the very meaning and direction of U.S. liberalism in our historical moment. vi Acknowledgments No project of this scope can come to fruition without the contributions of numerous people who have in various ways provided expertise, inspiration, useful criticism, encouragement, mentorship, and, occasionally, much-needed distraction. My sincere thanks to members of the CUNY Graduate Center faculty for years of input and professional guidance in this project and beyond — especially my adviser Leith Mullings, as well as my dissertation committee members Donald Robotham and Jeff Maskovsky. Jeff’s generous encouragement and direction well before this project was even conceptualized made a profound impact in ways he does not know. Michael Blim, Gerald Creed, David Harvey, Louise Lennihan, Ida Susser, and Katherine Verdery provided much insight and counsel throughout my time at the Graduate Center. Many thanks also to Sandi Morgen, who kindly enabled me to share parts of my work at the University of Oregon and who provided additional input as my external dissertation reader. A special thanks to Ellen DeRiso, the able and extremely helpful assistant program officer in the CUNY Graduate Center anthropology program, and of course to the many colleagues who offered input and feedback throughout years of seminars and conference presentations. My gratitude goes to everyone who agreed to be interviewed for this project, and who otherwise lent time and energy to helping me understand the intricacies and rich history of the liberty movement. Numerous organizations also provided access to resources, materials, and information critical to this research. I would like to thank especially the staff, members, and affiliates of the Alliance of the Libertarian Left and the Alliance of the Libertarian Left Distro; the Atlas Economic Research Foundation; the Cato Institute; the Center for a Stateless Society; Društvo Svetilnik, especially founder and president Tanja Štumberger Porčnik; the Foundation for Economic Education; the Independent Institute, especially research fellow Anthony Gregory; vii the Institute for Humane Studies, especially Senior Programs Officer Nigel Ashford; the Ludwig von Mises Institute; Students for Liberty; and Young Americans for Liberty. A special thanks also to David Townes and to Students for Liberty’s Clark Ruper and Clint Townsend; Andrew Kaluza left us well before his time, but his memory lives on in the hearts of all who knew and loved him. The dissertation would not have been possible without these individuals and many others, too numerous to list here. My heartfelt thanks to members of the Austin, Texas libertarian community for graciously welcoming an awkward stranger in the early stages of her dissertation research and sharing their spaces and experiences throughout a period of over two years: Brave New Books, Texans for Accountable Government, especially Executive Director Heather Fazio, the University of Texas Mises Circle, and the present and former members and affiliates of the Libertarian Longhorns at the University of Texas, Austin, especially Kaitlyn Barry, Joseph Boudreau, Lorraine DeNardis, Andy Fernandez, Michael Goldstein, Jeremy Guillory, Shawn Holan, Katelyn Horn, Norman Horn, Daniel Krawisz, Melanie McGuire, Taylor Metting, Justo Montoya, Michael Moore, Brent Mowery, Chris Nenandal, José Niño, Clark Patterson, Molly Reynolds, Rafael Rodriguez, and Jason Wohlfahrt. Many thanks also to many in the broader Austin activist community for their insight and wisdom, especially Rob Adams, Catherine Bleish, Richard Boland, Antonio Buehler, John Bush, Scott Crow, Sarah Dickerson, Harold Gray, Natasha Hansen, Alex Miller, Erin Miller, Chris Nielsen, Josh “Comrade” Pineda, Crystal Poole, Debbie Russell, Monica Savant, Audrey Steiner,