There is most definitely a well-funded, widespread movement to use COVID skepticism to advance extreme right-wing libertarian aims to roll back governmental power and social programs. We can argue about whether this a good thing or not, but these groups and individuals are on the side of unbridled capitalism and corporate power. The anarcho-capitalists may see this as their dream opportunity to destroy faith in government. I have no faith in government either, but I don't trust these people to be the planners of what comes next.
These people think that the WEF is a communist one world government plot. They may have genuine ideals regarding liberty, freedom of speech, privacy, etc., but they are followers of Mises and Rand. Is their kind of dog eat dog liberty what we really want? Or maybe we do have some meaningful overlap in values?
Whatever the reality of the COVID situation, I think this is an important group to keep track of.
The Brownstone Institute for Social and Economic Research is a nonprofit organization founded May 2021 (501c3 applied). Its vision is of a society that places the highest value on the voluntary interaction of individuals and groups while minimizing the use of violence and force including that which is exercised by public authority. This vision is that of the Enlightenment that elevated learning, science, progress, and universal rights to the forefront of public life, and is newly threatened by ideologies and systems that would take the world back before the triumph of the ideal of freedom.
The mission of the Brownstone Institute – which is, in many ways, the spiritual child of the Great Barrington Declaration – is constructively to come to terms with what happened, understand why, discover and explain alternative paths, and prevent such events from happening again. Lockdowns have set a precedent in the modern world and without accountability, social and economic institutions will be shattered once again. Brownstone Institute is essential in preventing the recurrence of lockdowns by holding decision makers intellectually to account. In addition, the Brownstone Institute hopes to shed light on a path to recovery from the devastating collateral damage, while providing a vision for a different way to think about freedom, security, and public life.
Founder and President
Jeffrey Tucker, Author/Editor
Jeffrey A. Tucker is Founder and President of the Brownstone Institute and the author of many thousands of articles in the scholarly and popular press and ten books in 5 languages, most recently Liberty or Lockdown. He is also the editor of The Best of Mises. He speaks widely on topics of economics, technology, social philosophy, and culture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Tucker
Jeffrey Albert Tucker (/?t?k?r/; born December 19, 1963) is an American economics writer of the Austrian School, an advocate of anarcho-capitalism and Bitcoin, a publisher of libertarian books, a conference speaker, and an internet entrepreneur.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mises_Institute
From 1997 to 2011 Tucker worked for the Mises Institute, of which Rockwell was a co-founder, as editorial vice president and editor for the institute's website, Mises.org. From 1999 to 2011 he also contributed scholarly efforts and humorous essays to LewRockwell.com.[6]
Senior Scholars
Jayanta Bhattacharya, Stanford University
Donald Boudreaux, George Mason University
Gigi Foster, University of New South Wales
George Gilder, Author
Martin Kulldorff, Harvard University
John Tamny, Author
