Introduction
Roderick Tracy Long (born February 4, 1964) is an American professor of philosophy at Auburn University and left-libertarian blogger. He also serves as an editor of the Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, director and president of the Molinari Institute, and a Senior Fellow at the Center for a Stateless Society.
Education and career
Long received a B.A. in philosophy from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from Cornell University. He edited the book Anarchism/Minarchism: Is a Government Part of a Free Country?. Long was an editor of the Journal of Libertarian Studies until it ceased publication, under his stewardship, in 2008.
Alliance of Libertarian Left
Long is a co-founder and member of the Alliance of the Libertarian Left, a left-libertarian organization that seeks to unite various left-libertarian groups including agorists, geolibertarians, green libertarians, left-Rothbardians, minarchists, mutualists and voluntaryists, among others.
Philosophy
According to Long, he specializes in "Greek philosophy; moral psychology; ethics; philosophy of social science; and political philosophy (with an emphasis on libertarian/anarchist theory)." Long supports what he calls "libertarian anarchy", but avoids describing this as "capitalism", a term he believes has inconsistent and confusing meanings.
He is an advocate of "build[ing] worker solidarity. On the one hand, this means formal organization, including unionization—but I'm not talking about the prevailing model of 'business unions' ... but real unions, the old-fashioned kind, committed to the working class and not just union members, and interested in worker autonomy, not government patronage."
Long identifies as a peace activist and points out that a "consistent peace activist must be an anarchist." He describes market anarchism as "a peaceful, consensual alternative" to society with a state. Long has identified himself as a bleeding-heart libertarian and has contributed to the Bleeding Heart Libertarians weblog.
In addition to supporting privatizing the military, Long advocates a non-interventionist foreign policy.