While many in the liberty movement may pooh-pooh political engagement, in favor of educational outreach alone, Jack Hunter has written a valuable rebuttal (also presented in the video below). In The American Conservative—an excellent magazine, by the way—he bases his case on the example of staunch libertarian and anarcho-capitalist, Murray Rothbard, who authored The Ethics of Liberty.

Rothbard was concerned that a movement without political action would foster a “social club for crazies. [I]f we’re really devoted to liberty, how can we not do our best for liberty to win? Are we really libertarians, or are we just playing around?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LKiUZ7E43g

If you’d rather not watch the video, you can read the full article here, and the comments section adds plenty of spice to the mix.