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Forgotten Horror August 2008 $4.00 ( "It is impossible to make beautiful the denial ofLiberty." - Auberon Herbert) You might think you know about him. We all did-until there appeared J6rg Guido Hiilsmann's Mises: The Last Knight ofLiberalism. Ten years in the writing, based on research·in five countries and from materials in six languages, this 1143-page treatise not only tells the true and astonishing story of Mises the man; it reconstructs the history of ideas of the last 100 years. At/ailable at mises.oriJ or amazon. com. Ludwig von Mises Institute 518 West Magnolia Avenue Auburn, Alabama 36832-4528 Phone 334-321-2100 Fax 334-321-2119 Email [email protected] Web mises.org The Mises Institute is a nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law. August 2008 Inside Liberty Volume 22, Number 7 4 Letters The noise of the crowd. 7 Reflections We export FEMA, step 'n' fetch our papers, gum up the works, follow the herd, shell out for public transit, cash in on global warming, have and eat our cake, love our pie in the sky, and leer under the burqa. Features 19 The Battle for the Libertarian Party The cameras caught the podium and the press conferences, but the real action was behind the scenes. An,drew Ferguson takes in the drama in Denver. 29 Ron Paul and the Republicans Bruce Ramsey reports as libertarian forces engage in dubious battle with the regular Republicans. 31 Privatize the Profit, Socialize the Loss Everyone is talking about the housing crisis, but what really caused it? Jim Walsh gives the colorful details. 39 The Soft Touch America is remaking the world, but not, as Bill Merritt explains, by military force. Reviews 41 Garbage In, Democracy Out What happens to democracy when the voters are grossly ignorant? Ross Levatter finds the explanation. 43 Lots of Skull, Little Brain Jo Ann Skousen was prepared to be entertained by the latest Indiana Jones movie - and in a way, she was. 44 Filmmaker, Heal Thyself Michael Moore, director of documentaries, is now the subject of a documentary. The results, as Gary Jason discovers, are fascinating, if not exactly pretty. 45 Cultures Collide What do the fundamentals of America look like from the outside (and perhaps the inside as well)? Jo Ann Skousen considers one novel's attempt to describe them. 46 Forgotten Horror A 1937 atrocity will be r~membered,if moviemakers have their way. Gary Jason shows why it's important. 47 Survival After Death? Arthur Schlesinger's "Journals" take Robert Watts Lamon on an unnostalgic visit to the Old Frontier. 42 Notes on Contributors Who's responsible. 55 Terra Incognita More than one born every minute. How to Letters Subscribe [ Under Review Reductio ad Mundanum to In "Judge this!" (Reflections, July), The IIethical dilemmas" among your Jim Walsh seems to say that judges poll questions (liThe Liberty Poll," June) should not declare laws to be in viola are hardly the reductio ad absurdum situ II Liberti] tion of the U.S. Constitution, or state ations you intended: such scenarios constitutions. But the very same item appear in the news frequently, especial seems to complain that the U.S. Supreme ly the parents' rights ones, though the Liberty takes individual Court was wrong in Kelo v. New Haven! atomic bomb question was undoubt Also in that issue is an excellent item by edly less likely in 1988. When police or freedom seriously ... and Bruce Ramsey decrying the failure of other government officials can't sensibly the status quo with more the Washington State Supreme Court to .resolve them, juries may be asked to do than one grain of salt! strike down state policy on force-feed the job. ing. I realize not every Liberty writer From a minimal-government per Every issue of Liberty brings necessarily agrees with every other, but spective, is not a jury's determination you news you can't miss, it does seem to me that Liberty policy the principled answer to resolving your opinions you won't find should be consistently supportive of ju questions? anywhere else, and the best dicial review. To those 100/0 who would apparently libertarian writing in the world. If the judiciary can't enforce the refuse, on principle, to save themselves Constitution, what good are its protec as bestthey could after falling off a balco You won't want to tions? Marbury v. Madison is good for ny, keep in mind libertarians are already liberty and good for the United States. a small minority in a statist crowd. miss a single issue! Richard Winger Lloyd Andrew San Francisco, CA Arnold,MD Act Today! Walsh responds: Many (maybe most) Rand responds: "A parent sells tickets Liberty offers you the best in people agree with Mr. Winger that to anyone wishing to observe his baby individualist thinking and Marbury v. Madison is a net good - that starve to death ... the owner of a 49th writing. So don't hesitate. You it allows the Supreme Court to balance floor apartment demands you let go of have nothing to lose, and the constitutional rights against contem his flagpole and fall to your death ... fruits of Liberty to gain! porary statutes. If that were the limit your neighbor has an atomic bomb in Use the coupon below or call: of its use, I would agree. However, the his basement." Those situations IIap Supreme Court uses this essential prec pear in the news frequently" in your 1-800-854-6991 edentto do more thanjustrein intrendy neck of the woods? That's not the news; ideas. For the past 50 years, Marbury v. you're watching the soaps. p-------Please enter my subscription .. Madison has been the main tool for jus And using a jury to determine the I to Liberty immediately! tifying judge-made law. Now, some correct action in those situations - as if argue that judge-made law is also a net any of those situations will ever arise o One Year - $29.50 avoids the point, which is to ascertain o Two Years - $56.00 good. I don't agree; ends don't justify (u.s. prices only. To Mexico and Canada, subscrip means. Perhaps the Roberts Court will whether libertarians really believe that tions are $39.50 per year; to other countries, $59.00.) prove different than the Rehnquist, the non-aggression axiom is absolute. Berger, and Warren courts before it and name avoid bad means. We should know in Zero Evidence With regard to "When Theories 10 or 20 years. address Collide" (July), I'm surprised that The editors respond: Liberty maintains Liberty would provide space to someone city state zip R.W. Bradford's policy of publishing obviously lacking in knowledge about goodwritingwithonlyonerequirement: the issue. Jo Ann Skousen is certainly phone number it must be of interest to libertarians. welcome to her opinion, but she makes o I enclose my check (payable to Liberty) Charge my: o VISA 0 MasterCard 0 Discover signature account # expires Send to: Liberty, Dept. L, .. P.O._-----_Box 1181, Port Townsend, WA 98368 .. August 2008 so many errors of fact that the review is Big Bang makes it false." Which is exact that it manages to be even cheaper than laughable. ly the problem. On the basis of this logic it is ill-conceived. Blaming the Holocaust Skousen: "How did it start? That's the intellectual equivalent of a belief in on Darwin is like blaming Woodstock the big question." No, it isn't. Darwin God is my belief that it rains whenever on Rousseau, AIDS on sex, steroids and those following on his theory make I wash my car.. on Abner Doubleday, or the Reich on no comment about "how it started." The basis of a sound scientific theory Roman Catholicism - the faith in which What Intelligent Design (ID) proponents is its falsifiability, as the admirably clear Hitler was raised. It simply doesn't pass claim, I have no idea, but it is not the thinking Judge Jones affirmed almost the laugh test. "big question." three years ago in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area J.T. Barbarese Skousen: "But because ID theory School District. For an idea to have scien New Brunswick, NJ might possibly lead to theological spec tific value it must be open to empirical Skousen responds: I stand by my ulations ... the debate bangs shut." She demonstrations, which will show not review of Ben Stein's documentary, presumes intent where none is shown. only where it works but where it does "Expelled." When reader Ron LaDow It is not that ID "might lead" someplace not. Evolution has undergone modifica writes, "Darwin and those following that it is rejected; it's that there is zero tions since Darwin in order to account on his theory make no comment about evidence to support it. Let me repeat: for what it didn't explain; among the 'how it [life on earth] started,'" he un zero evidence. more recent modifications is punctuated Skousen: "ID proponents are under intentionally makes my point: there equilibrium. A theory is a blueprint that is more to be studied and more to be standably tantalized by the possibility of reacts to new discoveries, accommodates connecting with other intelligent beings learned about the origin of life than fresh facts, and responds to the pressure Darwin's theory alone, and I for one am in the universe." Sounds good, but I've of demonstration. If one of these days interested in learning more. The con never seen an argument for ID based on science radically revamps or disproves cern expressed in the film "Expelled" "connecting with other intelligent be the theory of evolution, it will only is that those scientists who would like ings." And even if true, it is no argument emphasize that Darwin's theory was sci to extend the debate are being expelled at all, just a hope.