David Boaz

{{Short description|American libertarian author and editor (1953–2024)}}

{{Infobox writer

|name = David Boaz

|image = David Boaz by Gage Skidmore.jpg

|caption = Boaz in 2018

|birth_name = David Douglas Boaz

|birth_date = {{birth date|1953|8|29}}

|birth_place = Mayfield, Kentucky, U.S.

|death_date = {{death date and age|2024|6|7|1953|8|29}}

|death_place = Arlington County, Virginia, U.S.

|occupation = {{hlist|Writer|editor}}

|subject = Libertarianism in the United States

|alma_mater = Vanderbilt University (BA)

|partner = Steve Miller

}}

David Douglas Boaz ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|oʊ|z}}; August 29, 1953 – June 7, 2024) was a libertarian author, philosopher and editor. He was a distinguished senior fellow and the executive vice president of the Cato Institute, an American libertarian think tank. Boaz was a prominent advocate for individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and non-interventionist foreign policy.

Boaz authored several works on libertarian philosophy, including Libertarianism: A Primer and The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom.{{Cite web |date=2024-12-12 |title=David Boaz, a Leading Voice of Libertarianism, Dies at 70 - The New York Times |website=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/us/politics/david-boaz-dead.html |access-date=2024-12-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241212054115/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/us/politics/david-boaz-dead.html |archive-date=December 12, 2024 }} He was an early proponent of civil liberties, marriage equality, drug policy reform, and school choice, contributing to the mainstream acceptance of these issues in public discourse.{{Cite web |date=2024-04-13 |title=David Boaz on Libertarianism, Ronald Reagan, and the 2024 Election |url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/david-boaz-libertarianism-ronald-reagan-100038352.html |access-date=2024-12-23 |website=Yahoo News |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Shackford |first=Scott |date=2015-07-01 |title=Is This Where Libertarians and the Gay Community Part Ways? |url=https://reason.com/2015/07/01/is-this-where-libertarians-and-the-gay-c/ |access-date=2024-12-23 |website=Reason.com |language=en-US}} Boaz is regarded as a key figure in the development and promotion of modern libertarian thought.

Background

Boaz was born on August 29, 1953, in Mayfield, Kentucky.{{Cite news |last=Langer |first=Emily |title=David Boaz, leading voice of libertarianism, dies at 70 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/06/07/david-boaz-libertarian-cato-dead/ |access-date=June 8, 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post|date = June 7, 2024 |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}} His father was a judge, and one of his uncles, through marriage, was Frank Stubblefield, who served as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives.{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/us/politics/david-boaz-dead.html|title = David Boaz, a Leading Voice of Libertarianism, Dies at 70|last = Roberts|first = Sam|authorlink = Sam Roberts (journalist)|date = June 11, 2024|accessdate = June 11, 2024|newspaper = The New York Times|url-access = limited}} Boaz studied history at Vanderbilt University from 1971 to 1975, and as a young man was involved with the Young Americans for Freedom and the College Republicans.Doherty, Brian [https://reason.com/2024/06/07/david-boaz-rip/ David Boaz, RIP], Reason.com. Retrieved June 11, 2024.

Career

Boaz eventually parted with the conservative movement, and worked on Ed Clark's campaigns for governor of California in 1978 and for president in 1980. Around this time, he joined the Cato Institute.

He was the author of Libertarianism: A Primer, published in 1997 by the Free Press and described in the Los Angeles Times as "a well-researched manifesto of libertarian ideas."{{cite web

|url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-01-19-bk-19962-story.html

|title= Neither Left Nor Right: 'Libertarianism: A Primer'

|last1= Franzen

|first1= Don

|date= January 19, 1997

|work= Los Angeles Times

|access-date=April 25, 2014}} He was also the editor of The Libertarian Reader and co-editor of the Cato Handbook for Congress (2003) and the Cato Handbook on Policy (2005). He frequently discussed on national television and radio shows such topics as education choice, the growth of government, the ownership society, his support of drug legalization as a consequence of the individual right to self-determination,{{cite news | first1 = David | last1 = Boaz | url = https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/drug-legalization-right-control-body | title = Drug Legalization and the Right to Control Your Body | date = October 25, 2007 | publisher = Cato Institute | access-date = June 28, 2020}}{{cite video | first1 = David | last1 = Boaz | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2eTALTSIQ0 | title = Should drugs be legal? | website = Youtube | publisher = Think tank with Ben Wattenberg | language = en-US | access-date = June 28, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191213014748/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2eTALTSIQ0 | archive-date = December 13, 2019 | url-status = live}}{{cite web | url = https://norml.org/david-boaz/ | title = David Boaz profile on NORML.org | archive-url = https://archive.today/20200628214841/https://norml.org/david-boaz/ | archive-date = June 28, 2020 | url-status = live | access-date = June 28, 2020 }} a non-interventionist foreign policy,{{Cite web|last1=Boaz|first1=David|date=December 22, 2014|title=Cuba, Rand Paul, and a 21st-Century Republican Foreign Policy|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cuba-rand-paul-and-a-21st_b_6365854|access-date=June 29, 2020|website=HuffPost|language=en}} and the rise of libertarianism. Boaz said his views were informed by classical liberalism and opposed to populism. He expressed skepticism of party politics and did not join the Libertarian Party.

His articles were also published in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Review, and Slate.{{cite web|url=https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/archive/podcast/david-boaz-executive-vice-president-cato-institute-author-politics-freedom-79|title=David Boaz, Executive Vice President, Cato Institute; Author, The Politics of Freedom (7/9/2008)|publisher=Commonwealth Club|accessdate=June 13, 2024}} He appeared on ABC's Politically Incorrect, CNN's Crossfire, NPR's Talk of the Nation and All Things Considered, Fox News Channel, BBC, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fVKQAAAAQBAJ&dq=david+boaz+ABC%27s+Politically+Incorrect,+CNN%27s+Crossfire,+NPR%27s+Talk+of+the+Nation+and+All+Things+Considered,+Fox+News+Channel,+BBC,+Voice+of+America,+Radio+Free+Europe,+and+other+media.&pg=PA333|title=The Politics of Freedom|isbn=978-1-933995-26-7 |accessdate=June 13, 2024 |last1=Boaz |first1=David |date=February 25, 2008 |publisher=Cato Institute }} A graduate of Vanderbilt University, he was once the editor of The New Guard magazine and was executive director of the Council for a Competitive Economy prior to joining Cato.{{cite web|url=https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/david-boaz-1953-2004|title=David Boaz 1953–2024|publisher=Adam Smith Institute|accessdate=June 13, 2024}} In 2022, he retired as executive vice president of Cato and was named a distinguished senior fellow. He continued to write and appear on television until shortly before his death.

Personal life

Boaz, who was openly gay, was with his partner, Steve Miller, for over 30 years. He was a teetotaler.

Boaz died from esophageal cancer at his home in Arlington County, Virginia, on June 7, 2024, at the age of 70.

Books

Market Liberalism: A Paradigm for the 21st Century, Editor with Edward H. Crane, 1993. {{ISBN|9780932790972}}. {{OCLC|27267709}}
Libertarianism: A Primer, Free Press 1997. {{ISBN|9780684831985}}. {{OCLC|35658010}}
The Libertarian Reader, Editor, Free Press 1997. {{ISBN|9780684832005}}. {{OCLC|35808396}}
The Politics of Freedom: Taking on The Left, The Right and Threats to Our Liberties, 2008. {{ISBN|9781933995144}}. {{OCLC|254175718}}
The Libertarian Vote: Swing Voters, Tea Parties, and the Fiscally Conservative, Socially Liberal Center, with David Kirby and Emily Ekins, 2012. {{ISBN|9781938048746}}
The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom, Simon & Schuster, 2015. {{ISBN|9781476752846}}

References

External links

{{C-SPAN|13376}}
[https://www.c-span.org/video/?77824-1/libertarianism-primer Booknotes interview with Boaz on Libertarianism: A Primer, January 26, 1997.]
{{IMDb name|3664175}}
[https://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/david-boaz Archive] at The Huffington Post
[http://www.cato.org/people/boaz.html Biography of David Boaz] at Cato Institute
[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4485053 David Boaz discusses the ownership society with Robert Siegel] on NPR's All Things Considered
[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9097651/libertarianism David Boaz's entry "libertarianism"] at the Encyclopædia Britannica
[http://www.thepolitic.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=71&Itemid=0 "Deregulating Education"] by David Boaz, in The Politic