By Davis Carlton

Gary North, a prominent founder of the Christian Reconstructionist movement passed away on February 24. North was a prolific author and speaker who frequently wrote and lectured on politics, libertarian economics, the gold standard, and postmillennial eschatology. North was influenced by his future father-in-law, R.J. Rushdoony who convinced him that God’s law serves as the foundation for all Christian morality and ethics. North also became convinced that God’s mandate for mankind to take dominion in Gen. 1:28 coupled with Christ’s Great Commission meant that the Gospel message wasn’t solely concerned with the salvation of individual sinners, but that the Bible also promises the conversion of the nations and consequently the transformation of the social order into conformity with God’s law.

In many ways North used his considerable talent and intellectual acumen in the service of worthy causes. North ardently defended sound money against the torrent of fiat currency that has progressively robbed Americans of their purchasing power with accelerated speed during the time when North was most active. North was a vocal opponent of overly centralized government, high taxation, neoconservative foreign policy, and social liberalism. North was also a vocal supporter of Congressman Ron Paul during his presidential campaigns when he was clearly the best candidate in the field. There is certainly much to be admired from North’s voluminous productive output.

Many of my Kinist, nationalist, and paleo-conservative friends have stated admiration for North and his work and acknowledged that he had a positive formative role in understanding the way that the world works. For many of them Gary North, and to a greater extent Rushdoony, helped them to understand the Christian imperative to take dominion of the earth and convert the nations to Christ as well as the role of Biblical law in establishing a Christian society founded about justice. Gary North was certainly not without flaws, and many of these flaws undermined much of the good that he did especially later in his life and career. By the time I had taken the red pill about 20 years ago Gary North was more entrenched in opposition to “racism.”

North articulately defended Biblical law as the foundation for Christian society, but in its application North was clearly influenced by Austrian economics and libertarian individualism. North was a devoted disciple of Austrian economists Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard. North’s libertarian streak put him at odds with his father-in-law Rushdoony, with whom he ultimately had a falling out. North ended up saying that Rushdoony’s application of Old Testament anti-hybridization laws to modern races was “racist.” North rejected Rushdoony’s family-centric understanding of society, calling it “baptized patriarchalism.”

But Gary North’s antipathy for “racism” wasn’t confined to a mere spat with his father-in-law. North angrily dismissed the assertions of an anonymous correspondent who had the temerity to suggest that North’s analysis of the problems of Detroit didn’t adequately take racial demographics into account. North called the man “a pure Aryan racist,” mocked his occupation, ridiculed his desire for privacy while implicitly praising his own moral courage, and wrote off the man as a “crazy” who is “marginalized in life.” Like Nil Desperandum, I found North’s response to be an abject failure.

North also had no patience for “antisemitism.” He considered condemnation of Zionists as a code for unfettered hatred of all Jews. North wrote, “I learned over 50 years ago that anti-Semites are scared to death of publicly saying in public what they really believe. So, they use a code word to cover their tracks, but also to identify themselves to fellow-believers: ‘Zionists.’ It means ‘Jews.’ To outsiders, they can claim innocence. ‘What? Me, an antisemite? Perish the thought.’ But to other members of their rag-tag brotherhood, it conveys this message: ‘We all know what I mean.’” North decried “antisemitism” and was willfully ignorant of the ways that Jewish influence was being wielded against Christian civilization.

Among those familiar with Gary North he is probably best known for his failed Y2K predictions and doomsday prepper advice in which he thought that a computer reset in the year 2000 would trigger a collapse of civilization in which Christian order would emerge from the ashes. North was a devout post-millenialist who believed that the triumph of Christ’s kingdom was imminent. While I share North’s optimism in the very long term, it is obvious now, and should have been more obvious when North was writing that he simply didn’t grasp the intricacies of geopolitics to think that the world was on the brink of Christian revival at the close of the twentieth century. North’s failed Y2K and subsequent predictions of impending civilizational collapse followed by Christian revival are about as cringeworthy as Hal Lindsey’s 1970s predictions of an imminent, any-minute-now secret rapture.

These examples revealed the fatal flaw of Gary North’s thinking. North was an economist at heart whose outlook vindicated Thomas Carlyle’s characterization of economics as “the dismal science.” North’s strict adherence to the Austrian economic paradigm meant that he filtered his entire perception of reality through the lens of individualism and free market choices. Gary North tended to reduce civilization to a matter of having correct ideas, mostly concerning economics. North wrote a thirty-one volume economic commentary on the Bible and even managed to extol the virtue of capitalism in his tribute he wrote for his son Caleb who died tragically at a young age. North wrote, “If anyone ever asks you “What’s so good about capitalism?” tell him this: Capitalism has made it possible for most of our children to survive the killer diseases and accidents that two centuries ago killed 30% or more of all children before they reached adulthood.”

I understand a man’s thinking not being entirely lucid in the wake of the death of one of his children, but this probably does reveal how North perceives the creative power of capitalism. It doesn’t make sense to credit the mere existence of the free market with technological progress and medical breakthroughs. Adherence to free market principles has certainly helped keep progress from being hindered, but cannot supply the gifts and talents necessary to make these discoveries and implement them in a way that is useful and productive. Both religious and worldview considerations as well as hereditary genetic endowments are integral to human achievement.

A final example of North’s flawed thinking include his embarrassing suggestion that “cultural Marxism is an oxymoron” because Marxism isn’t concerned with ideas but only on the means of production. Of course, Marx had to express his belief in dialectal materialism in the form of ideas, and his ideas about religion had massive cultural implications. North seemed willing to quibble over definitions while ignoring the root causes of the collapse of Christian civilization because they don’t fit into his Austrian economic paradigm. Ironically, North maintained a constant allegiance to his Trotskyite son-in-law Joel McDurmon, even after his leftist shilling got him fired from American Vision. The soulless nature of Gary North’s obsession with economics is summarized best in his assessment of American identity:

“There are eight words in the English language which generally define Americans, as long as they are not in Congress. These eight words are central to understanding the American character. They have been basic to the American character for over 300 years. Here they are: Live and let live. Let’s make a deal.”

Gary North is proof that God uses flawed individuals to accomplish His purposes. In spite of his flaws Gary North did at times use his gifts and talents for good, and these positive contributions have helped form the understanding of better thinkers who aren’t so enamored of Austrian economics. Gary’s passing also gives me pause to reflect on the flaws that are apparent in my own life and to aim to be a better disciple of Christ. I believe that Gary’s flaws have been melted away in the glorious presence of Christ after having been gathered to his people. I am glad that he is reunited with his son Caleb as I cannot fathom the pain of losing a child. As a Christian, I have confidence that Mr. North and I can meet one day when present disagreements will be a problem of the past. May he rest in peace.