“I Have Had Enough!” Rhesa Browning’s Libertarian Christian Origin Story

Series Introduction

Not everyone is born a libertarian, and even those who were must come to it on their own terms. We believe in the importance of hearing the stories of others, including what they wrestled with, what they rejected, what they embraced, and how their journey led them to where they are today. We know these stories are important to share, not because each of us is a hero, but because heroism is found in all efforts of any size to make pursue a Christian ethos and embrace a way of life that enables and encourages flourishing. We offer you these stories as an encouragement and inspiration to help you bolster your faith in the Lord and your belief in human freedom.

Rhesa Browning’s Origin Story

I grew up in a small Texas town going to high school football games on Friday night and the local Methodist church on Sunday morning. My hometown is located in one of the most conservative counties in the US. I readily accepted my culture’s views on what the world was all about. Because of that, freedom was always an important concept to me. We celebrated each July 4th with a “Freedom Fest.” Who could doubt that being free was what America was all about? As a Texan in a small town, I naturally started voting Republican once I turned 18. Besides, George H.W. Bush, who was basically Ronald Reagan’s sidekick, had to be better than Bill Clintion, right? Well, it made sense at the time.

In a high school social studies class, I had one of my earliest political observations, when the teacher taught about 18th-19th century laissez-faire, where people get to pursue their own interests and the government isn’t allowed to get in the way. That sounded right to me. But then the textbook said that laissez faire failed and led to the Great Depression. It said that FDR had to enact the New Deal to save the country from the mistakes of the free market. As I read those words in high school history class, I remember thinking that this couldn’t be true. Government control and giving it more and more power wasn’t the answer to a safer, more prosperous America. But I had no other facts to support that intuition. So my mind focused on more pleasant thoughts like sports, getting good grades, and making my friends laugh.

My theological views developed way earlier than my political views. Despite voting, I was functionally apolitical. After I graduated college, I spent uncountable hours of my own time studying hermeneutics, Biblical exegesis, Greek, Hebrew, and biblical transmission. After about 5 years (and up to today), I considered my beliefs to be simply biblical, not solidly in any one theological camp, but certain in what I believe. It was a couple of decades later that I thought much about politics and started my journey towards libertarianism.

The first time I remember seriously doubting the Republican Party was when George W. Bush said in December 2008 that, “I’ve abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system.” I had thought only Democrats said things like that. My conscience was slightly pricked when I heard Bush’s opponents describe the details of the PATRIOT Act, but wasn’t sure at the time how accurate they were. While I was still basically a neocon on foreign policy, a coworker showed me something else that I couldn’t square with what I thought was Republican politics. He printed out a graph showing government spending and tax revenue when the Global War On Terror was in high gear. The graph showed that the U.S. would have had a balanced budget during that time if it wasn’t for the new spending on the wars. I had thought Republicans were for lower government spending, balanced budgets, and following the Constitution. Those were all chinks in the armor that sparked doubt in my mind about the small government claims of the Republican Party.

Soon after that, I saw the Obama Administration change American politics in several ways while Republicans largely excused it and attacked only those who offered vigorous opposition. Republicans feigned opposition to Obamacare (2010) when they weren’t in power but did nothing when they did have majorities in Congress. It was Bush appointee John Roberts who in 2012 saved Obamacare by siding with the Progressives and ruling that the ACA penalty was instead a tax. The IRS harassed conservative non-profits under the leadership of Lois Lerner in 2013. At every turn Republicans complained but sat on their hands. Whenever Republicans did act, they increased the size and scope of the government.

At that point I though, “I have had enough!” I was actively looking for some other political ideology that actually valued freedom and was radical enough to fight the government’s control over the country.

During that time, a friend at work started talking to me about libertarianism and Austrian economics. He recommended I listen to The Dangerous History podcast. The host, CJ Killmer, is a revisionist historian who does a great job of explaining the libertarian view of history. I was immediately hooked. Following that up, I read some of the great libertarian works: The Road To Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek, Human Action by Ludwig Von Mises, A History Of Money And Banking In The United States by Murray Rothbard, and Democracy: The God That Failed by Hans-Herman Hoppe. My favorite was Human Action. As a Christian, reading this book felt similar to reading the Bible.  It is hard to describe, but Mises’ observations about mankind sounded so correct, foundational, and explanatory.  I recommend that anyone studying Systematic Theology who wants a complete Christian understanding of anthropology should read it as a supplement to the Bible.

All these libertarians explained why we were facing such problems and how to solve them. For example, after the Great Recession of 2008-2009, I wondered why recessions always affected every industry at once instead of only affecting industries that were doing a bad job. There had to be something systemic that tied all the sections of the economy together. It was years later that I learned about Austrian Business Cycle Theory. It was the only concept that answered my question. Further, Austrian Economics explained that to avoid future recessions, we must stop the Federal Reserve from manipulating the money supply, end fractional reserve banking in general, and switch to a more stable monetary system.

Libertarian theory also explains the absolute importance of natural rights, nonaggression, and opposition to war. It also shows how those things are tied together with one another and with the economy. Every other political and economic system is built to prioritize the interests of the state, which is to extend privileges to some people over others, take money and property by force to pursue its policies, and prosecute war to expand its geographical control. It should be clear that these things don’t serve the interests of everyday working and middle class people. Libertarian class analysis makes it clear the state is against us. It does not protect us but lies to us, steals from us, and takes our lives, which sounds like a biblical character we are all familiar with.

All of this made total sense to me, but most of the libertarians I read or listened to at the time were atheists and it sounded like libertarianism was their religion. That was concerning, so I started thinking about how libertarianism and Christianity agree with one another and looking for areas of contradiction. My plan was to set the Bible as the ultimate authority and use it to evaluate libertarian ideas. As I have gone along, there haven’t been many contradictions between the two with most (if not all) of them occurring with left-libertarianism, not Misesian/Rothbardian libertarianism.

At about the same time, I started reading every article at mises.org and found the bionic mosquito’s blog. He introduced me to the concept of natural law which ties some parts of libertarianism to Christian political theology. He wrote quite a bit about subsidiarity and political decentralization, looking back at the relative liberty of Medieval Western Europe compared to other cultures of its time. When the Libertarian Party Mises Caucus started their “Decentralized Revolution,” I was already on board.

Natural law is an important concept for a libertarian Christian to understand. It was developed by Christian philosophers over hundreds of years. You can read early church fathers discussing it and it was also a key topic in C.S. Lewis’ The Abolition of Man. It is natural law that defines what a human being is. If you are unfamiliar with this term, you have probably heard your pastor use other words, like God’s design, the conscience, traditional morality, or created order, to describe the same ideas. Murray Rothbard used natural law as his basis to build a free society in his book The Ethics of Liberty. He asserts that we can form a secular natural law so that the religious and irreligious can work together to produce liberty. I don’t completely agree, but I do think it is a good start for libertarians of all types, because it gives an objective foundation for liberty to stand on.

Over the last few years, I have found a healthy list of other libertarian political and economic concepts in the Bible. To be clear, the Bible doesn’t teach libertarianism or Austrian Economics, but it does make statements supporting sound money, economic development, private property rights, subjective economic value, methodological individualism, equality before the law, rule of law, the fallibility of those in power, and the benefits of the division of labor.

I encourage every libertarian to investigate the claims of Christianity, and I encourage every Christian to study libertarian theory. I think each side will find the other helps to fill gaps in its understanding about the world. More and more I believe that godliness is a requirement for liberty and liberty is a reward that God gives to the godly. If faith in Christ sets us free from sin and the requirements of God’s law, then how much more does He free us from bondage to the state? The principles in the verses below can apply not only to spiritual truth but also our relationship to government.

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners;

John 8:31-32 So Jesus was saying…, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

John 8:36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

Galatians 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Source: https://libertarianchristians.com/2025/01/29/i-have-had-enough-rhesa-brownings-libertarian-christian-origin-story/