Below are the remarks as prepared for delivery by Robert Wenzel for the Ninth Annual H.L. Mencken Cub Conference in Baltimore, Maryland on November 5, 2016.

When I was first asked to participate here at the H.L. Mencken Club conference I was asked to speak on Libertarianism and the Right.

I wasn't aware that this was a mere subtopic under the broader title Enemies of the Right. For I am a libertarian but come here as a friend of the right or at least the right that I believe is represented here at this conference. I consider us cousins.

Now before I get any further, I must define my terms. There are many people running around calling themselves libertarians these days that in my view are far from libertarian.

There are two men one by the name of Gary Johnson and the other by the name of William Weld that claim to be libertarians.  One of these men, Bill Weld, who is the vice presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party, this week  essentially told libertarians to vote for Hillary Clinton. Go Figure.

There is a Silicon Valley billionaire who claims to be a libertarian and yet in a speech he delivered this past week in Washington D.C., he raised concerns about free market ideology.

I am not making this up. I quote:

"Voters are tired of hearing conservative politicians say that government never works."

And

"[W]e cannot let free market ideology serve as an excuse for the decline."

There are those claiming to be libertarians who would like to slip in some cultural Marxists themes and general social justice themes into libertarianism

I hasten to add that on a personal level I have no problems with gays, those of other races and I have lived in urban centers most of my adult life. I like to interact with those different from me. That said, I do not believe that libertarianism provides any guidance on such matters.

Libertarianism is about the non-aggression principle and a foundational respect for private property. You should be allowed to do whatever you choose to do on your property, ban whomever you want and rent to him whomever you want and refrain from renting from to those you do not want to rent to or be free to not associate with anyone you don't want to.

As the great libertarian Murray Rothbard put it:

Libertarianism…is a theory which states that everyone should be free of violent invasion, should be free to do as he sees fit, except invade the person or property of another. What a person does with his or her life is vital and important, but is simply irrelevant to libertarianism…Libertarianism does not offer a way of life; it offers liberty so that each person is free to adopt and act upon his own values and moral principles.

So in other words, if you hold particular views that do not violate the non-aggression principle and respect for private property, you are not going to get flack from libertarians, as libertarians, that you should somehow be coerced by the hand of government to change your views and actions.

To the degree the right incorporates certain cultural values in its worldview, you are not going to see libertarians siccing the government on the right to coerce members of the right to act differently.

Libertarianism is about leaving people alone. It is about total freedom with the exception of objection to physical aggression against person or property.

I understand the views of the right as reflected by those here today as being generally in favor of the very limited government. This, of course, does not reflect all of the right. The neo-conservatives, for one, are quite happy with a large government that spreads its military might around the world.