Justin Raimondo
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Justin Raimondo (November 18, 1951- ) is a libertarian author and the editorial director of the website Antiwar.com. He has been involved in a variety of political efforts from his base in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Background
During the 1960s, Raimondo took a brief interest in the philosophy of Ayn Rand before joining Young Americans for Freedom. In the 1970s, he became active in the Libertarian Party. With Eric Garris, he organized a "Radical Caucus", which brought Raimondo and Garris to the attention of the influential libertarian theorist Murray Rothbard. In 1983, after a schism in the party, Raimondo left the Libertarian Party and attempted to organize a libertarian faction in the Republican Party known as the Libertarian Republican Organizing Committee. After 1989, Raimondo again began working with Rothbard in the anti-war John Randolph Club.
Recent Activities
In the 1996 U.S. congressional elections Raimondo ran as a Republican candidate in California's 8th district against Nancy Pelosi. While championing conservative and libertarian causes in general the main emphasis of his campaign was his opposition to the deployment of U.S. troops in the Balkans and, in particular, Pelosi's vote to that effect. Raimondo received 13% of the vote while Pelosi got 85%. [1] (http://cgi.cnn.com/ELECTION/CA08house.html)
During the 1992, 1996, and 2000 presidential elections, Raimondo supported the campaigns of Pat Buchanan, both as a Republican and in the Reform Party. Being an openly gay man, his support of the social conservative Buchanan attracted considerable attention[2] (http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/02.29.96/public-eyem-9609.html) and has upset many in the gay rights movement. In 1998, during the Clinton administration's war in Kosovo, Raimondo and Garris launched Antiwar.com to provide a platform for their opposition. The site has continued to publish regular columns. Raimondo has been one of the most vocal critics of the invasion of Iraq and the ongoing occupation. In 2004, he supported Ralph Nader for President, and explained his reason for this in an article published in The American Conservative [3] (http://www.amconmag.com/2004_11_08/cover2.html).
Raimondo is the author of several books, including Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement and An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard. He is also an adjunct scholar with the Ludwig von Mises Institute.
External links
- "Gay Victimology and the Liberal Kulturkampf" by Justin Raimondo (http://www.anti-state.com/raimondo/raimondo1.html)
- "Intrepid Antiwarriors of the Libertarian Right Stake Their Rightful Claim to Power" by Lessley Anderson, SF Weekly (http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2003-12-10/feature.html)
- Antiwar.com (http://www.antiwar.com)