"Liberty is a (j{onous !Feast." -1?gbert 'Burns July 1988 $4.00 Volume 1, Number 6 • Joe Fuhrig,former CaliforniaLP candidate for Governor, U.S. Senator, and Congress: "[am excited about the tremendous opportunity to unite the libertarian tendencies in the GOP and lead a unified libertarian wing in the party. LROC has made impressive gains in the GOP." • Reynold Schweickhardt, President of the California Republican League (a major GOP activist group): "[ am excited and impressed with LROC's commitment to principle and un­ yielding supportfor libertarian ideals." • Paul Weyrich, President of the Free Congress Foundation, tried to contain his excitement about being called a "new fascist" by LROC: "You forgot to mention that as a member ofthe Board ofGovernors ofAMTRAK, [ also make the trains run on time." How could any dedicated libertarian activist NOT get excited at the prospect of bringing libertarian principles into the political mainstream? Because, as a libertarian, you know that principles are more important than votes; recruiting new libertarians is more important than creating illusions; and electing principled, hard-core libertarians to Congress and state legisla­ tures is more important than maintaining principled invisibility., Whether you subscribe or not, you're going to hear a lot more about libertarian Republicans: running for office, in the media, and at the GOP National Convention this summer.· Subscribe today for a mere $20 a year and receive two extra issues free. iiiliiiiliililil iliil iliili!iiliiliiiliilililiililiiilllllillilimilililililliliiliiliiliil r----------------------------------------__I'm excited. Send me a year of Libertarian Agenda (10 Or better yet, join LROC for the same issues) plus two bonus issues. I enclose $20. price, and also receive our internal __I'm really excited. I wanttojoin LROC and gettheabove bulletin, Libertarian Republican plus Libertarian Republican Organizer and all other publica­ Organizer, as well as other exciting tions'for the same low price ($20). LROC bulletins and publications __I'm still pretty calm. Send me the next issue free. (plus, of course, your two free issues). Name _ Address _ Not excited yet? Then check the box on City State Zip _ the coupon and receive a free sample Phone(s) _ issue of Libertarian Agenda. Send and makechecks payableto LROC, 444 CastroSt., #301, Mountain View, CA 94041; phone: 415-965-1506. Contents July 1988 Volume 1, Number 6 Rebel Without a Clue Lessons from the Mecham Affair by Matt Kesler, page 15 Confessions of an Intractable Individualist by Jerome Tuccille, page 19 L. Neil Smith Interviewed by D. R. Blackmon, page 23 Ivan the Terrible by William P. Moulton, page 27 Nicaragua: The Case for Non-Intervention by William Kelsey, page 31 special section The Liberty Poll: Who We Are, What We Think, page 37 What the Poll Means: The Editors Comment, page 49 What IfIt's Publish and Perish? by Tibor R. Machan, page 54 Rand Bashing: Enough is Enough by Ross Overbeek, page 56 Departments ----- . ----- Reflections The Editors "Editorialize," page 9 Reviews Stephen Cox on the Polovchak Affair, page 59 David Ramsay Steele on Natural Rights, page 61 Jeffrey A. Tucker on the Fed, page 64 David Hudson on Film, page 72 Booknotes, page 68 Videonotes, page 70 Buronic Episodes, page 14 Letters, page 4 Classified Advertisements, page 71 Contributors, page 77 Terra Incognita, pages 78 But one must be careful of terms here. A doctrinaire person is someone who Letters substitutes another's thinking for his [ ] own. Contrary to Steele's assertions, most admirers of Rand and Objectivism think quite freely and expect infallibility of nei­ Anti-Anti-Objectivism stand me when I say that both sides of the I enjoy reading your excellent publica­ ther. That Rand could be authoritarian Objectivist/Libertarian conflict could do and vindictive has been well established; tion, but I am disturbed by what appears with a little more objectivity, in the truest that she could be brilliantly original and to be a commonly held belief among quite sense of the word, and a lot less forejudg­ inspiring is more generally the case. a few of your writers: the notion that all ment and intolerance. David Brown's perspective is fair. Da­ Objectivists are pea-brained zealots who Lisa M. Jones vid Steele's article not only teeters on the fulminate at anyone who challenges their Bethany, Okla. beliefs. While I acknowledge that there brink of hysteria, it is also cruel. Rand ad­ vocated reason, egoism and.liberty. She are Objectivists who fit this description, it The Matter of Rand be friend. Her arguments were extensive, is simply not an accurate generalization. The organism which denotes itself as impressive, heartfelt, honest and unique. To me, to be an Objectivist is not to David Ramsay Steele makes a few accu­ Any kindred libertarian soul who would accept Ayn Rand's beliefs and opinions rate observations in its "appraisal" of Ayn cavalierly brush off these arguments and as gospel; one who accepts the philoso­ Rand's personality and achievement assassinate the entire personality of their phy places value on individual thought ("Alice in Wonderland," Liberty, May author sacrifices the spirit of rational en- and achievement. To judge an entire phi­ 1988). Unfortunately, it shows little true . quiry and raises questions as to his own losophy by the actions of a few idiots care in its understanding of Rand. To un­ base motives. This goes for David Ram­ who turned it into a pseudo-religion is derstand another individual requires an say Steele as much as it goes for Alice wrong. And as for the libertarians who honest attempt to treat that individual, as Rosenbaum. criticize some of the remarks made by much as possible, in his or her own terms. Brian Wright certain prominent Objectivists, I hope I see no such fairmindedness in Steele. West Bloomfield, Mich. they can realize that not everyone who From about the time of the Rand­ calls himself an Objectivist necessarily Branden split in the late'60s, it became Brighter Than Aristotle agrees with these statements, just as not obvious to any individual who valued David Steele's polemic was fairly all Libertarians necessarily agree with all psychological independence (which is ac­ shallow but long and funny. David Brown the statements made by another Libertari­ tually a proper offshoot of Objectivism) ("Barbara Branden and Her Critics," Lib­ an. Also, if a person is to judge the beliefs that there was big trouble in Galt's Gulch. erty,May 1988) was right on the mark. of people he considers to be dimwitted Many Objectivists were young and in one I think we can now see that Ayn and robotic, he should be careful not to way or another struck out on their own. Rand's choice of fiction to promulgate her resort to dimwitted and robotic tactics Arguments for free-market anarchy were new philosophy of the individual, totally himself by making cheap shots and indis­ developed then. One also saw beginnings from oU:tside the intellectual job shop of criminate attacks. of the human potential movement, life­ America, was a brilliant stroke. Unfortu­ No matter what one thinks of Ayn extension, space colonization and a host nately she had to pay the costs that all ge­ Rand personally, one should not auto­ of other ideas/lifestyles which would niuses who mix it up with the public matically assume that everyone who val­ leave all doctrinaire people from commies have to pay. She valiantly tried to avoid ues her work is stupid. Yes, I am an to Randians on their butts in the dust. the syndromes of the cult (and succeeded Objectivist, but I hope you can under- That's just the way it happened. to a large extent) and maintain control of her work, but it wasn't possible. Ulti­ mately she had to trust other fallible hu­ Publisher's Note mans, and some betrayed her-but her magnificent accomplishments far over­ This issue is a milestone of sorts for Liberty: it marks the end of our first shadow the costs. year's publication. During this time Liberty has shown considerable growth and In the centuries ahead she will be rec­ progress. This issue has 80 pages, making it our biggest issue ever, almost twice ognized as one of the seminal thinkers of the length of our first issue. And it will be read by more than 2500 paid subscri­ the Western world, possibly even shining bers-an increase of almost 20% in the last three months. brighter than her beloved Aristotle. I feel Our charter subscriptions expire with this issue. This is a critical time for new fortunate to have lived in her time. publications like Liberty, a time when they learn just how muchtheir subscribers Scott Pearson really value them. Happily, the results of our renewal mailing have been encour­ El Paso, Tex. aging-not only are subscribers renewing at a rate that magazine experts tell us is outstanding, but almost 40% have chosen to renew for 2 years or more. Protecting the Iconoclast This issue also includes a special research project that we have been working I don't know where David,Ramsay on for more than six months-The Liberty Poll, which surveys our readers about Steele was coming from in his article their lives, their beliefs, their heroes and their values. We report the results in a about Ayn Rand. It is full of half-truths, special 17 page section beginning on page 37. misinformation and malevolence. I had We also introduce a new feature in this issue. Reflections are lively, brief several conversations with Miss Rand comments by our Editors on the passing scene. It begins on page 9. over the years, read most of what she - R.