Yes. One more time. Javier Milei plagiarized texts. Again he put paragraphs from works by other authors without quotation marks, mention or reference to his true origin. And he did it in his book “The Path of the Libertarian”: nothing less than his own autobiography, in which he mixes texts on economics with facts from his personal history and even speeches and interviews he has given. One more chapter in the long list of “copy-paste” of the deputy of Freedom Advances and candidate for president about which, to date, he has not yet given explanations.
On this occasion, the victim of “the lion” was nothing less than Murray Rothbard, American economist and historian whom Milei deeply admires. Rothbard was one of the main theorists of anarcho-capitalism, the most extreme side of liberalism, of which Milei is a devotee, and who proposes the disappearance of the State. In the chapter “Money” is where the greatest number of “tributes” that Milei pays to the economist admired by him are concentrated. For example, to explain the origin of the coin, Milei sets an example for Robinson Crusoe, the famous character from Daniel Defoe’s novel of the same name, who is shipwrecked on a remote desert island where he lives for years and where he befriends an indigenous man whom he calls “Friday”, for having met him on that day of the week: “how was the beginning of the coin? It is clear that Robinson Crusoe, on his island, did not need a coin. In fact, he would not have been able to feed on gold pieces. To trade fish for wood with Friday, he didn’t have to worry about money either. But when a society expands beyond a few families, the field is set for the appearance of currency. Therefore, to explain its role we must go back even further and ask ourselves: what is the reason for the introduction of exchange between men?”, writes the libertarian economist. But the same thing, with the same words, Rothbard wonders in the first chapter of his book “Free and Controlled Currency”, from 1962.
But this is not the only plagiarism that Milei makes of the author that dazzles him. In the chapter “Our enemy, the State”, the libertarian writes that “the central thrust of libertarian thought is to oppose any and all assaults on individual property rights, on the person and on the objects that they have voluntarily acquired. Of course, criminals, individually or in gangs, oppose this, but there is nothing distinctive about the libertarian creed, since all persons and schools of thought reject the random exercise of violence against the individual and property. ”. Textually, the same thing that Rothbard states in the third chapter of another of his books, “The Libertarian Manifesto”, from 1973.
More copies. But Rothbard is not the only author Milei plagiarized on this occasion. He also plagiarized another, one who is still alive (Rothbard died in 1995), and whom Milei knows personally: it is Alberto Benegas Lynch (h), one of the liberal intellectuals who has most promoted the rise of the deputy, whom he considers “the second Argentine miracle after Alberdi.” In December of last year, Benegas Lynch had awarded Milei the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Higher School of Economics and Business Administration (ESEADE), a fact that led to the resignation of economist Roberto Cachanosky, also a professor at that institution, who He alleged that the decision to award Milei the distinction “ruins the prestige” of the house of studies. This autobiography even includes a prologue written by Benegas Lynch, as well as a text he authored entitled “The custody of ideas.” But the good relationship between the two did not prevent the deputy from copying several paragraphs from “Fundamentals of Economic Analysis”, a book written by Benegas Lynch and published in 1972. NEWS tried to contact the author of the original book, but received no answers.
This new investigation into the plagiarism of the presidential candidate was possible thanks to the information that the journalist and writer José Benegas shared with NEWS. Benegas, author of “The unthinkable: the curious case of liberals mutating to fascism”, had already discovered in January of this year the plagiarisms that Milei had made for the prologue of the latest edition of the book “4000 years of wage and price controls”. ” by Robert L. Schuettinger and Eamonn F. Butler (Union Publishing). On that occasion, Milei had plagiarized several paragraphs from the old foreword of the original edition of the book, which was edited by David L. Meiselman.
Exactly one year ago, NEWS discovered that, In her book “Pandenomics”, Milei had plagiarized the works of various authors. At that time, when that investigation appeared on the cover, he was presenting “The path of the libertarian” at the Book Fair, a place where he presented his new work “The end of inflation” a few days ago. “Let’s say, that is… the caste is afraid!” Was all that the current candidate for president declared about that note, seconded by the chants of his militants and by whoever was presenting the book with him: his friend, the host Viviana Canosa, who described the note of the plagiarism as an “operetta”.
First case. In 2021, the “Medium” site had revealed that several of Milei’s publications in Infobae and in El Cronista had plagiarized paragraphs from canonical intellectuals of the liberal tradition, such as Henry Hazlitt, Ludwig Von Mises, Friederick Hayek and, again, Murray. Rothbard. At that time Milei argued that, being “disclosure notes”, there was no need to name the authors, for a “practicality” issue. It was the only time that he gave any explanation for the queries about his plagiarism, although incorrect and insufficient, since the author should always be cited.
On this occasion, and as always, NEWS consulted the space of the deputy and candidate for president on this issue. And like every time they refused to answer. Milei continues plagiarizing compulsively. And this time, in her own autobiography. The last straw
