On the occasion of the end of the year, the president Javier Milei He gathered his officials and his closest circle at the Quinta de Olivos for a dinner. The official image released online by the Government showed him in the center of the scene, surrounded by the members of his team, all holding the same book: “Defending the indefensible”. The essay written by the American economist Walter Blockis considered one of the most influential and controversial works within libertarian thought.
Block’s writing was originally published in 1976 and immediately became a reference work for its deliberately provocative nature. Throughout its pages, the author justifies activities that are socially questioned and, in many cases, classified as crimes, such as prostitution, pimping, drug trafficking, the sale of organs and child labor, presenting them as legitimate practices within a market without external moral restrictions.
In this framework, it is no coincidence that the prologue of the publication was written by the economist Murray Rothbard one of the main references of anarcho-capitalism and extreme libertarianism. A figure claimed repeatedly by the President since his time as a television panelist. “Liberalism is the unrestricted respect for the life project of others, based on the principle of non-aggression and in defense of the right to life, liberty and property,” is the conceptual axis that Milei systematically repeats in his speeches and is sustained, throughout its 189 pages, in Block’s book.
At more than eighty years old, the essayist continues to be an uncomfortable figure even for many liberals. Admired for his doctrinal coherence and criticized for the radicality of his conclusions, he embodies like few others the most extreme side of libertarian thought. “I prefer to be consistent rather than popular,” he often repeats, aware that his legacy is destined to both inspire and bother entire generations of economists and political leaders.
With the triumph of Javier Milei in the 2023 presidential elections, both in Latin America, and especially in the country, the author’s ideas have gained notoriety in recent years by being cited by libertarian popularizers and influencers. Although he does not maintain an organic relationship with governments or parties, his writings are mentioned as theoretical support for the harshest positions against the State. In the United States, Block actively participates in think tanks and foundations, and was a recurring voice in spaces linked to the North American Libertarian Party.
On his social networks, Milei’s biographer, Marcelo Duclos, shared a message from the writer referring to the Argentine president. “Milei is the best thing that has happened to us in a long time for the movement of freedom and economic freedom. All libertarians should take off their hats, salute him and wish him success. No, I correct myself: everyone should do it,” was the post. A few years ago, Block came to the country to hold a series of talks in the area of indigenous libertarianism.
Born in New York in 1941, the economist trained academically at Columbia University, where he obtained his doctorate in Economics, and spent much of his career as a professor at Loyola University New Orleans. At that time he assumed without nuances the postulates of Rothbard’s anarcho-capitalism, which supports the absolute privatization of all public functions. “The role of the economist is not to say what is morally pleasant, but to analyze the logical consequences of each action,” he stated on more than one occasion, summarizing his provocative method.
In the 1970s, from this theoretical matrix, Block built a work that challenged ethical, legal and political consensus. ““Defending the indefensible”republished in multiple languages, became a cult text within libertarianism. There, this theorist proposes to justify, from the right of property and individual freedom, socially repudiated figures and activities, such as speculators, usurers, pimps or even polluters. “If an action is voluntary and does not violate property rights, it cannot be criminalized,” maintains the author in one of the most cited passages in the book.
“What is truly immoral is that the State prevents people from making decisions about their own body and property,” he wrote, head-on challenging the limits of the classical liberal consensus. The ideas of the text generated strong controversies inside and outside the academic field. Beyond Defending the indefensiblethe economist wrote numerous articles and publications on economic theory, libertarian ethics and criticism of state interventionism.
In conferences and interviews, he often insists that “the market is a process morally superior to political power” and that “politics is the art of living off the work of others; while the market is voluntary cooperation.” A self-declared defender of absolute laissez-faire, his strongest economic statements are found in the rejection of taxes, labor regulations and redistributive policies, which he defines as “disguised forms of expropriation.” Will it be Javier Milei’s academic beacon for the coming years?
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