Isabel Paterson

Isabel Paterson was a Canadian-American journalist, author, literary critic, and political theorist often overlooked in libertarian circles. However, her contributions to the movement are immeasurable.

Early Life and Career

Paterson was born on January 22, 1886, on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Her family moved to Alberta when she was a child. She attended the University of Alberta but did not complete her degree. Instead, she became a journalist and worked for several newspapers in Canada before moving to New York City in 1911.

In New York City, Paterson worked as a journalist for the New York Evening Post and later for the Freeman magazine. Her writing covered many topics, including politics, economics, literature, and culture.

Isabel Paterson became one of the most influential literary critics of her day. From 1924 to 1929, she wrote a literary column for the New York Herald Tribune. In that role, she covered the flourishing of American literature, including writers such as Ernest Hemingway and F Scott Fitzgerald.

The God of the Machine

Paterson’s most significant contribution to libertarianism is her book “The God of the Machine,” published in 1943. In this book, she argues that individual freedom is essential to human progress and that government intervention only hinders progress.

Paterson wrote: “All schemes for imposing selection by law or regulation are contrary to natural order.”

She believed that individuals should be free to make their own choices without interference from the government.

Isabel Paterson’s The God of the Machine has become a classic in libertarian literature and is still relevant today. It influenced many libertarians, including Ayn Rand and Murray Rothbard.

Influence on Ayn Rand

Isabel Paterson is considered one of the mothers of American libertarianism, along with Rose Wilder Lane and Ayn Rand.

Paterson’s ideas greatly influenced Ayn Rand. In fact, Rand wrote an introduction to a reissue of The God of the Machine in 1993.

Rand said about Paterson: “She had an extraordinary mind; she saw things clearly where others were lost in fog…She understood capitalism as few others have.”

Rand also used Paterson’s ideas in her own work. For example, the concept of “the sanction of the victim” in Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged” was influenced by Paterson’s idea that government intervention is only possible because people allow it.

Criticism of Progressivism

Paterson was a fierce critic of progressivism and believed that it was a threat to individual freedom. She argued that progressivism sought to replace traditional values with a new set of values imposed by the state.

In an article for The Freeman, Paterson wrote: “The Progressive movement is above all things anti-traditional and against existing institutions – so much so that it cannot build anything on its own.”

Her criticism of “progressivism” is still relevant today as many politicians continue to push for more government intervention in our lives.

Summary

Isabel Paterson may be forgotten by many libertarians today, but her ideas are still relevant. Her book The God of the Machine will be helpful for anyone interested in libertarianism and the benefits of limited government.

Paterson understood that individual freedom is essential to human progress and that government intervention only hinders progress. She fiercely criticized “progressivism” and believed it threatened personal freedom. For her work and influence, she deserves to be remembered as one of the great thinkers of libertarianism.

She passed away on January 10, 1961, almost reaching 75 years.

Isabel Paterson Quotes

She opens her essay – The Humanitarian with a Guillotine – with:

Most of the harm in the world is done by good people, and not by accident, lapse, or omission. It is the result of their deliberate actions, long persevered in, which they hold to be motivated by high ideals toward virtuous ends.

Here are a few more Isabel Paterson quotes to ponder.

“No law can give power to private persons; every law transfers power from private persons to government.”

— Isabel Paterson

“The craving for power is in itself a sign of inferior abilities and unfitness for responsibility.”

—Isabel Paterson

“The military state is the final form to which every planned economy tends rapidly.” — Isabel Paterson

“Now the sole remedy for the abuse of political power is to limit it; but when politics corrupt business, modern reformers invariably demand the enlargement of the political power.”

— Isabel Paterson

“Right now it is a terrible thing to be a rugged individualist; but we don’t know what else to be except a feeble nonentity.”

— Isabel Paterson

“If Americans should now turn back, submit again to slavery, it would be a betrayal so base the human race might better perish.”

— Isabel Paterson

“The power to do things for people is also the power to do things to people.”

— Isabel Paterson

“If there were just one gift you could choose, but nothing barred, what would it be? We wish you then your own wish; you name it. Ours is liberty, now and forever.”

— Isabel Paterson