Justin Raimondo

{{Infobox person

| name = Justin Raimondo

| image = Justin Raimondo.jpg

| caption = Justin Raimondo

| birth_name = Dennis Raimondo

| birth_date = {{birth date|1951|11|18}}

| birth_place = White Plains, New York, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age |2019|6|27|1951|11|18}}

| death_place = {{nowrap|Sebastopol, California, U.S.}}

| occupation = Journalist, author, writer

| spouse = Yoshinori Abe{{cite web|url=https://original.antiwar.com/Antiwar_Staff/2019/06/27/justin-raimondo-rip-1951-2019/|title=Justin Raimondo, RIP (1951–2019)|work=Antiwar.com|date=June 27, 2019 }}

}}

Justin Raimondo (born Dennis Raimondo; November 18, 1951 – June 27, 2019){{cite web|url=http://www.joincalifornia.com/candidate/2787|title=JoinCalifornia – Justin Raimondo|work=joincalifornia.com}}{{cite web|url=https://original.antiwar.com/Antiwar_Staff/2019/06/27/justin-raimondo-rip-1951-2019/|title=Justin Raimondo, RIP (1951–2019)

|work=Antiwar.com|date=June 27, 2019

}} was an American author and the editorial director of Antiwar.com. He described himself as a "conservative-paleo-libertarian."Justin Raimondo, [http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=12475 Commissar Frum: Former Presidential speechwriter smears antiwar conservatives], Antiwar.com, March 22, 2003.

{{cite web

|author1=Jeff Deist|author2=Justin Raimondo

|title=Justin Raimondo: Against the War Machine

|url=http://mises.org/media/8596/Justin-Raimondo-Against-the-War-Machine|website=mises.org

|publisher=Ludwig von Mises Institute

|access-date=February 18, 2015

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140711043413/http://mises.org/media/8596/Justin-Raimondo-Against-the-War-Machine

|archive-date=July 11, 2014 |format=MP3

|date=July 3, 2014

}}

Early life

Born in White Plains, New York, Raimondo moved with his family to Yorktown Heights, New York when he was very young. Raimondo described himself as a "bad kid"; to deter himself from this path he spent one year at a Jesuit-run school in upstate New York.

Around this time he took an interest in Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism.Justin Raimondo: "One of Them", Chronicles. A Magazine of American Culture, June 2012. Later he joined Young Americans for Freedom. In the 1970s, he became active in the Libertarian Party. He "joined the party in 1974, and was active in Roger MacBride's 1976 presidential campaign, the LP's second White House bid."Raimondo, Justin (June 14, 2000) [http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j061400.html Wild About Harry: Why I Am Not Voting Libertarian This Year], Antiwar.com He came to the defense of the White Night riots, which followed the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the deaths of San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone.{{cite news |last=Ho |first=Catherine |date=June 30, 2019 |title=Justin Raimondo, longtime Bay Area antiwar activist and writer, dies |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Justin-Raimondo-longtime-Bay-Area-antiwar-14061759.php |access-date=July 1, 2019 |work=San Francisco Chronicle}}

In 1983, after a schism in the Libertarian Party, Raimondo left the party and attempted to organize a libertarian faction in the Republican Party known as the Libertarian Republican Organizing Committee. After 1989, Raimondo again began working with Rothbard in the anti-war, paleoconservative John Randolph Club, part of the Rockford Institute.

Career

=Early activism=

In 1980, Raimondo ran for public office for the first time. Running as a Libertarian candidate for the 16th district seat in the California State Assembly, Raimondo received 4,730 votes or 7.7% of the vote.{{cite web|url=http://www.joincalifornia.com/election/1980-11-04|title=JoinCalifornia – 11-04-1980 Election|work=joincalifornia.com}} In 1982, Raimondo ran for California's 5th district seat in the United States House of Representatives as a Libertarian, against Democratic incumbent Phillip Burton and Republican challenger Milton Marks. He received 14.2% of the vote.{{cite web|url=http://www.joincalifornia.com/election/1982-11-02|title=JoinCalifornia – 11-02-1982 Election|work=joincalifornia.com}}

In the 1996 U.S. congressional elections, Raimondo ran as a Republican candidate in California's 8th district against Nancy Pelosi. While he championed conservative and libertarian causes in general, the main emphasis of his campaign was his opposition to the deployment of U.S. troops in the Balkans and, in particular, Pelosi's vote to that effect.{{cite web|url=http://www.antiwar.com/raimondo/news1.html|title=Raimondo for Congress|work=Antiwar.com}} Raimondo received 25,739 votes{{cite web|url=http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1996/96Stat.htm#5|title=96 Presidential and Congressional Election Statistics |work=house.gov}} for 12.4 percent of the vote while Pelosi got 84.3 percent.{{cite web|url=http://cgi.cnn.com/ELECTION/CA08house.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010518224639/http://cgi.cnn.com/ELECTION/CA08house.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 18, 2001|title=AllPolitics – California House 08 Election Results|work=cnn.com}}

During the 1992, 1996, and 2000 presidential elections, Raimondo supported the campaigns of Pat Buchanan, both as a Republican and in the Reform Party. As he was an out gay man,{{cite news|last=Anderson|first=Lessley|url=http://www.sfweekly.com/2003-12-10/news/intrepid-antiwarriors-of-the-libertarian-right-stake-their-rightful-claim-to-power/full|title=Intrepid Antiwarriors of the Libertarian Right Stake Their Rightful Claim to Power|work=SF Weekly|date=December 10, 2003|access-date=June 28, 2019}} his support of the social conservative Buchanan attracted considerable attention.{{cite web|url=http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/02.29.96/public-eyem-9609.html|title=Metro Features – Public Eye|work=metroactive.com}} The idea he "wants to round us all up and send us to concentration camps is just a bunch of crap. It's a lie and a smear. He welcomes gay workers in his campaign. He does not think that homosexuality is all that great a thing. But I don't need his approval. Why does any gay person need anyone's benediction?"{{cite news|last=Herron|first=Jim Zamora|url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Gay-Buchanan-backer-defends-his-candidate-3158371.php|title=Gay Buchanan backer defends his candidate|work=SF Gate|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|date=February 23, 1996|access-date=June 28, 2019}}

In 1994, Raimondo was the San Francisco coordinator for the "Save our State" Proposition 187, which would have barred taxpayer funding of non-emergency services to illegal aliens in California.Rothbard, Murray. "[http://archive.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/ir/Ch16.html Big Government Libertarians]." November 1994. The measure was passed by California voters, but was later stayed by a federal court.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

=Antiwar.com and later activities=

Raimondo and Eric Garris launched Antiwar.com in 1995.{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/gay-rights-antiwar-activist-justin-raimondo-dies-67-64050668|title=Gay rights, anti-war activist Justin Raimondo dies at 67|work=ABC News|agency=Associated Press|date=June 30, 2019|access-date=July 1, 2019}} In 1999, during the Clinton administration's military intervention in the Kosovo war, the site became a full-time effort, providing a platform for the pair's opposition to foreign intervention. Raimondo was a vocal critic of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the ongoing occupation.

In the 2004 presidential election, he wrote approvingly of candidate Ralph Nader in an article published in The American Conservative. "Nader’s distrust of bigness, either corporate or governmental, his fear of centralized power, his sharp critique of the managerial-bureaucratic mentality, all recall the distinctively American tradition of individualist populism", he wrote.{{cite news|last=Raimondo|first=Justin|url=http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/old-right-nader/|title=Old Right Nader|work=The American Conservative|date=November 8, 2004|access-date=June 28, 2019}}

Raimondo wrote positively about Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign, but expressed support for Dennis Kucinich.Raimondo, Justin (September 27, 2010) [http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/09/16/make-noise/ Make Noise!] Unlike Ron Paul and his son, Rand, however, Raimondo supported abortion: "The libertarian position is unequivocal: the mother has the absolute right to abortion, period."{{cite news|last=Weigel|first=David|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/07/30/why-arent-libertarians-rejecting-rand-pauls-fight-against-planned-parenthood|title=Why aren't libertarians rejecting Rand Paul's fight against Planned Parenthood?|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 30, 2015|access-date=June 28, 2019}} He was critical of Barack Obama's Cabinet choices as PresidentDitz, Jason (November 20, 2008) [http://news.antiwar.com/2008/11/20/antiwar-groups-fear-hawkish-cabinet/ Antiwar Groups Fear Hawkish Cabinet], Antiwar.com along with the President himself. However, when Obama nominated former Nebraska U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel for U.S. Secretary of Defense to succeed Leon Panetta, Raimondo came out in support for Hagel.

In 2016, he voted for Donald Trump on the basis of his foreign policy.{{Cite news|url=http://radio.foxnews.com/2016/12/29/do-you-have-trump-derangement-syndrome/|title=Do You Have 'Trump Derangement Syndrome?'|work=Fox News|date=December 29, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161231075826/http://radio.foxnews.com/2016/12/29/do-you-have-trump-derangement-syndrome/ |archive-date=December 31, 2016 |url-status=dead }}

Opinions

{{listen |filename=Justin Raimondo Against the War Machine.ogg |title=Justin Raimondo: Against the War Machine |description=Jeff Deist and Justin Raimondo discuss the early history of the modern libertarian movement, Justin's time working with Murray Rothbard on libertarian strategy, and the chances for developing a broad new anti-war coalition.}}

=Major ideas and recurring themes=

Raimondo argued in a 2003 Antiwar.com column that Israel exerts a dominant force in the formulation of American foreign policy.{{cite web|url=http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j100603.html|title=Israel Is the Problem, by Justin Raimondo|work=antiwar.com}} Raimondo also believed that the United States was led into World War II through lies by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and that the U.S. deliberately provoked a war with Japan through economic sanctions.{{cite web|url=http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=3076|title=Yasukuni Brouhaha |work=Antiwar.com Original|date=August 17, 2001 }} Raimondo's views were compared by Christopher Hitchens to those of Charles Lindbergh,Hitchens, Christopher. [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/05/blood-for-no-oil/4798/ Blood for No Oil!], The Atlantic (May 2006) whom Raimondo once described as an "American hero sprung from the heartland."{{cite web|url=http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7908|title=Smearing Fitzgerald – Antiwar.com Original|work=Antiwar.com Original|date=November 4, 2005 }} Raimondo also wrote that Israeli intelligence operating in the U.S. had advance knowledge of the September 11, 2001 attacks.{{cite web|url=http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j032202.html|title=The Truth, At Last|work=antiwar.com}}

Raimondo believed that the government should refrain from adopting laws that would prohibit discrimination against homosexuals. "I think gays should have the right to discriminate against straight people if they want", he said in 2003. He also opposed the legal recognition of same-sex marriage and instead favored marriage privatization.Raimondo, Justin (April 4, 2011) [http://www.amconmag.com/blog/the-libertarian-case-against-gay-marriage/ The Libertarian Case Against Gay Marriage], The American Conservative Raimondo debated the issue of same-sex marriage with journalist Jonathan Rauch, who supports it.{{cite web|url=http://www.libertylawsite.org/2013/05/02/why-not-gay-marriage/|title=Why Not Gay Marriage? – Law & Liberty|date=May 2, 2013|access-date=November 28, 2018}} He also argued that after years of persecution by the state, LGBT rights activists sought to "use the battering ram of government power" to actively intervene on behalf of homosexuals.Justin Raimondo, [http://www.anti-state.com/raimondo/raimondo1.html Gay Victimology and the Liberal Kulturkampf]

=Religious views=

Though raised a Catholic, Raimondo described himself as "not a believer."[http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j122903.html Pope John Paul II: Man of the Year] December 29, 2003 Raimondo further described his early interactions with the Catholic Church and a local Jesuit seminary in Yorktown Heights as being influential in his development, despite rejecting the notion of God. He described being "taken with their engagement with ideas" and discussions of philosophy, which he was lacking in traditional schools or from classmates at the time.

Death

Raimondo died of stage IV lung cancer on June 27, 2019, in Sebastopol, California.{{cite web|url=https://original.antiwar.com/Antiwar_Staff/2019/06/27/justin-raimondo-rip-1951-2019/|title=Justin Raimondo, RIP (1951–2019)|work=Antiwar.com|date=June 27, 2019 }} He was survived by his husband, Yoshinori Abe, and two sisters.

Bibliography

Articles

In addition to his thrice-weekly column for Antiwar.com, Raimondo was a regular contributor to The American Conservative and Chronicles magazine. He formerly wrote twice-monthly columns for Taki's Top Drawer, but ceased in 2009.

Books

Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement. Center for Libertarian Studies, 1993. Reissued by Intercollegiate Studies Institute in 2008 with new introduction by George W. Carey. {{ISBN|978-1933859606}}.
[https://archive.org/details/intobosnianquagm00raim Into the Bosnian Quagmire: The Case Against U.S. Intervention in the Balkans]. Burlingame, CA: America First Books-America First Political Action Committee, 1996. {{ISBN|978-1883959012}}.
[https://books.google.com/books?id=h-Iy3rfBa4oC Colin Powell and the Power Elite.] Burlingame, CA: America First Books-America First Political Action Committee, 1996. {{ISBN|1883959039}}.
An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2000. {{ISBN|978-1615922390}}.
The Terror Enigma: 9/11 and the Israeli Connection. iUniverse, November 2003. {{ISBN|0595296823}}.

Book contributions

[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780737711820/page/100/ "Gays and Lesbians Should Not be Given Special Rights".] [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780737711820 Homosexuality], edited by Helen Cothran. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003, pp. 100–103. {{ISBN|978-0737711820}}.
[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780737737462/page/184/ "The United States Should Not Intervene in Darfur".] [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780737737462/ Human Rights.] Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008, pp. 185–192. {{ISBN|978-0737737455}}.
[https://archive.org/details/war0000unse_i9c3/page/134/ "America is Losing the War on Terror".] [https://archive.org/details/war0000unse_i9c3 War.] Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2014, pp. 135–141. {{ISBN|978-0737769715}}.

References

External links

[http://antiwar.com/justin/ Raimondo Articles at AntiWar.com]
[http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justinarchives.html Justin Raimondo's AntiWar Archives]
[https://www.theamericanconservative.com/author/justin-raimondo/ Articles at American Conservative]
{{C-SPAN|45659}}
{{Twitter}}

Category:1951 births

Category:2019 deaths

Category:20th-century American journalists

Category:20th-century American male writers

Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers

Category:20th-century atheists

Category:21st-century American journalists

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers

Category:21st-century atheists

Category:Activists from New York (state)

Category:Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area