They ran on the same track team. They grew up in the same Brooklyn neighborhood. They even shared the same "red" politics as teenagers in the late 1950s.
Honestly, it sounds like the setup for a sitcom about two old guys yelling at clouds, but the reality is much more fascinating. Walter Block and Bernie Sanders are basically the two opposite ends of the American political spectrum today. One is the world's most "radical" libertarian economist, and the other is the most famous democratic socialist in the United States.
How do two people start at the exact same point and end up light-years apart?
The Brooklyn Connection: Bernie, Walter, and James Madison High
In the 1950s, Brooklyn was a hotbed for a specific kind of Jewish leftism. Both Walter Block and Bernie Sanders attended James Madison High School—the same school that produced Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Chuck Schumer.
Walter remembers Bernie as a natural leader. He wasn't the loudest guy, but people listened to him. They were both on the track team, running long-distance events like the half-mile. At the time, Block was just as much of a "commie" (his words, not mine) as Bernie was. They agreed on almost everything. They wanted to help the underdog. They thought the government was the tool to fix the world.
They were friends. They talked about sports, girls, and how to change the system.
But while Bernie Sanders stayed remarkably consistent for the next sixty years, Walter Block hit a massive intellectual speed bump that changed his life.
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The Lunch That Changed Everything
The split didn't happen because of a fight. It happened because of a book—well, two books and a very intense lunch.
While attending Brooklyn College, Walter Block was challenged by a friend to attend a lecture by Nathaniel Branden, who was Ayn Rand’s right-hand man at the time. Block went there ready to argue. He was a socialist; he knew the "evils" of capitalism.
Branden made him a deal: he would debate Block, but only if Block read Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand first.
Block read them. He went to the meeting. He expected to win. Instead, he got his intellectual clock cleaned. He realized that the "help" he wanted to give the poor via socialism was actually hurting them through economic distortion.
By the time 1963 rolled around, Block was a full-blown libertarian. Bernie, meanwhile, was moving to Vermont to begin a life of activism that would lead him to the Mayor's office in Burlington and eventually the U.S. Senate.
Walter Block’s Critique of Bernie Sanders’ Economics
If you ask Walter Block about Bernie today, he’s polite about the man but absolutely brutal about the ideas.
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He’s called Bernie’s economic platform "horrendous" and "theft." Why? Because Block looks at everything through the lens of the Non-Aggression Principle (NAP). To a libertarian like Block, if you take money from one person (the rich) to give it to another (the poor) via taxes, you’re using the threat of violence.
Block has spent decades dismantling the very things Bernie champions:
- The Minimum Wage: Bernie wants it at $15 or higher. Block argues this is a "law against hiring people" whose skills aren't yet worth $15 an hour. To Block, it’s the primary cause of youth unemployment.
- Free Healthcare and College: Block's view is simple. Nothing is free. If you aren't paying for it, someone else is being forced to. He calls it "road socialism"—an inefficient, deadly way to manage resources.
- Income Inequality: While Bernie sees a "rigged economy," Block sees a market rewarding people for providing value. He’s even written papers defending "the benefits of income inequality" as a signal for where resources should go.
It’s a total 180-degree difference. Bernie sees the state as a shield for the weak; Walter sees the state as the predator.
The Irony of "Consistency"
One thing Walter Block actually admires about Bernie Sanders is his consistency. Most politicians flip-flop based on the polls. Bernie doesn't. He’s been saying the same things since they were teenagers in Brooklyn.
"He hasn't changed," Block often says in interviews. "I’m the one who changed."
There's something almost poetic about it. You have two men who genuinely care about the "underdog," but their recipes for helping that person are diametrically opposed. Bernie wants to tax the billionaire class out of existence to fund social safety nets. Walter wants to abolish the taxes and the regulations so the "underdog" can start a business without permission from the government.
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Why This Rivalry Still Matters in 2026
The debate between these two old track teammates is basically the debate for the soul of the modern world.
Are we moving toward a more "managed" society where the government ensures outcomes, or are we moving toward a decentralized, radical private-property order?
When you see Bernie Sanders trending on social media for his latest critique of "corporate greed," you’re seeing the 1950s Brooklyn socialist tradition in its purest form. When you read Walter Block’s latest defense of "voluntary slave contracts" or the privatization of every single road in America, you’re seeing the result of a man who took those same Brooklyn roots and applied a radical logic of "unfiltered" liberty to them.
They don't talk much anymore. The last real contact was years ago, where they both basically agreed to disagree.
Key Takeaways from the Block-Sanders Split
If you're trying to understand how these two titans of thought differ, look at these specific areas:
- Property Rights vs. Social Rights: Block believes property rights are the only real rights. Sanders believes "social rights" (to food, housing, medicine) trump private property.
- The Nature of the State: For Sanders, the government is the "we" in a democracy. For Block, the government is a "gang of thieves writ large."
- The Origin of Poverty: Sanders blames "unfettered capitalism." Block blames "government intervention" that prevents the poor from competing.
The life paths of Walter Block and Bernie Sanders prove that your starting point doesn't determine your destination. It’s the ideas you pick up along the way.
To really get the full picture of this intellectual divide, you should check out Walter Block's book Defending the Undefendable. It explains the logic he used to break away from his (and Bernie's) early socialist roots. Conversely, reading Sanders’ Our Revolution gives you the "why" behind his lifelong commitment to the platform he’s held since those track meets in 1959.
Understanding both sides is the only way to navigate the political landscape we're living in right now. Comparing their arguments on the minimum wage specifically provides the clearest "real-world" example of how these two philosophies clash in everyday life.