How Clinton's Plan Will Ruin

January 1994 Vol. 7, No.2 $4.00 Your Health

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Mint State 1964 Kennedy Silver Half Dollars •• • Less than $2.00 per coinl The Kennedy Half Dollar of 1964 was the last half dollar issued for circulation by the U.S. Mint made from high grade 90% silver. As such it has been prized by investors and collectors, trading at prices as high as $13.00 each ... Today, you can buy them for as little as $1.95 per coin! Last of the Silver Coins! coin." It thus joins such famous rarities issued one year only, as On June 3, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson sent a historic the 1909 "V.D.B." Lincoln cent, the 1883 "No Cents" Liberty message to Congress: the United States would no longer mint nickel, the 1796 "Small Eagle" quarter, the 1907 "High-Relief" coins of 90% pure silver. Thirty-five years of inflation had driv- St Gaudens $20 ... all treasured by collectors as one year type en down the value of the U.S. dollar to the point ~here the coins! Treasury could not afford to make our coins ofhigh grade silver. That meant that the 1964 half dollars, featuring the new Ken­ Huge Meltdown! nedy design, would be the last u.s. half dollar of high grade sil­ The initial mintage of the 1964·Kennedy half dollar was quite ver ever issued. large, but in the silver boom of 1980, many of these high purity silver coins were melted. No one knoWs exactly how many 1964 One Year Type Coin Kennedy half dollars were melted down, but some experts esti­ As a result, the 1964 half dollar is not only the last U.S. high mate that millions were melted for their silver value. purity silver half dollar issued for circulation, but it is also a As a result, the 1964 Kennedy half dollars are much scarcer unique coin: the only Kennedy half made ofhigh purity silver. than their mintages indicate. So 1964 became the first and the last year ofhigh purity Ken­ nedy half dollars, or what numismatists call a "one year type Silver Content Each 1964 Kennedy half dollar contains 11.25 grams of sil­ r ------Please send me the rolls of 1964 Kennedy--.-,Half Dol- ver-that's 14% more silver than the u.s. silver dollars issued in lars in Mint State condition that I have indicated be- I I Ye'S • low. I understand that every coin is in Brilliant Un- the 1970s! circulated condition. I ' I Uncirculated Bargain! 1-4 Rolls @ $46.00 each = For all these reasons the 1964 Kennedy half dollar has long I ~9 Rolls @ $44.00 each = I been treasured by collectors. So it is no wonder the 1964 Kenne­ 10--49 Rolls @ $42.00 each = dy half in Mint State condition has sold at prices as high as I I $13.00 each. The price has fallen offwith the price ofsilver, but 50 Rolls @ $40.50 each = the 1993 edition of the authoritative Guidebook olu.s. Coins (or @ I 100 Rolls $39.50 each = I U "Redbook ) lists mint state specimens at $3.25 each. I Shipping & Handling: I A few weeks ago, we had the good fortune to acquire several Total: bags of 1964 Kennedy halves in original Mint State condition. I I And we acquired them at such a bargain rate, that we can offer I NAME them to you, in beautiful Mint State rolls of 20 coins each, at I prices below $2.00 per coin! I ADDRESS I Act today! Our supply ofthe last high purity silver halfdollars CITY/STATE/ZIP is limited, and we cannot guarantee our price once that supply is I I sold. All orders will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis. PHONE To reserve your purchase, call us toll-free at 1-800-321-1542. I Liberty Coin Service 300 Frandor Ave, Lansing MI 48912 I (Local residents call 351-4720; other Michigan residents call 1­ L ------National: 1-800-321-1542 • Michigan: 1-800-933-4720 .I 800-933-4720.) Or return the coupon at left. January 1994 Inside Liberty Volume 7, Number 2

4 Letters Just in case you were in doubt: Liberty's readers like to speak out! 5 Reflections Liberty's editors on tax reform, guilty porn, utopian scorn, Hallowe'en reborn, feminists forlorn, someone to mourn, and Douglas Casey's White House sojourn. 15 Medianotes The press reports on you; we report on the press; you figure it out. 17 Elections '93 Americans go to the polls; Chester Alan Arthur sorts the votes. Features 19 First They Came for the Fascists. .. Maverick lawyer Gerry Spence tells why he defended white separatist Randy Weaver - and just how much is still at stake. 23 Midnight in Moscow When Yeltsin's struggle with the Russian parliament turned violent, Ross Overbeek was there. But the real revolution he witnessed is quiet, anonymous, and likely to tum a nation on its head. 27 NAFTA and/or Free Trade Is NAFTA a sure step toward freer trade, or just another statist scam? Fred Smith, James M. Sheehan, and Brian Doherty trade opinions, freely. 31 After the Election, Ie Deluge In their recent election, Canadians liquidated the ruling party, and placed almost as many anti-federalists in parliament as federalists. Scott J. Reid asks: is thisfinally the end ofCanada? 35 Presidential Malpractice The Clintons have finally released details of their much-hyped health plan. R. W. Bradford offers a grim diagnosis, and Stephen Cox, Jane Shaw, and Robert Higgs give the requisite second opinions. 43 Thuggery, Left and Right David Horowitz excoriates those who condemn one brand of thuggery but tolerate another. 45 The Inevitability of the Welfare State Todd Seavey makes the case for postmodem pessimism and avoiding a war with the Amish. 48 Abortion and Reproductive Technology Wendy McElroy exposes the newest enemies ofa woman's right to control her own body: radical feminists. Reviews 55 The New Conservative Welfare State Jesse Walker examines the madness ofwelfare, the welfare of the mad, and the latest right-wing apologia for big government. 63 Miles from Understanding Travelling through America's sparsely inhabited nether regions, R.W. Bradford finds one manwhohas come to terms with the American West, and another who doesn't know how to begin. 65 My Heroes Have AlWays Been Cowboys Clark Stooksbury takes an international look at the culture of firearms and the idea of gun control. Departments 68 Classified Ads The market can't equilibrate if you don't read this. 69 Notes on Contributors Who writes this stuff, anyway? 70 Terra Incognita Further portents of the approaching millennium. January 1994

lescence, I found it fitting to read that an s======~] adolescent almost became party chair. t======t [:==:==L=e e======r Walter Williams noted the LP's immaturi­ ty when he told the LP convention, a few "God" is simply the name we give to this You Grow Up, Robert years back, that he would not run on the unimpeachable authority. some people What is happening to an otherwise H LP ticket unless the party stopped mas­ mistakenly think ofGod as Santa Claus intelligent publication? Robert Tinney turbating in public. or as a tyrant with a long whip, don't be ("Putting Away Childish Things," Octo­ The LP's juvenile traits include an in­ ber 1993) doesn't have to embrace my angry with them. Weep for them. They're solent groupthink conformity intolerant Christian beliefs. However, I don't expect missing out. ofdissent; an initiatory ritual to prove to have them ridiculed in a forum that Joanna Parker oneself hipper-than-thou; an uncompro­ I've generally considered to be one of the Ocean Shores, Wash. mising, one-size-fits-all solution to each final bastions of right thinking. and every complex problem of the hu­ And what is this business printing the The Party's Line Chester Alan Arthur's article about man condition; and the if-it-feels-good­ likes of 1/the f--king IRS"?! H you want to the Libertarian Party national convention say-it self-indulgence that denies respon­ be that cut above, then maintain at least . sibility beyond the self. normal literary standards. There is still in Salt Lake City ("The Oldest Estab­ lished Permanent Floating Anarchy in Symptomatic of the LP's problems is room for decency and the notion of polite the simplistic, insulting oath - in reality, company among thinking people. Salt Lake," October 1993) contained a few errors I would like to correct. an anti-takeover shark repellent. The oath As an anti-abortion Christian individ­ institutionalizes ideological intolerance. It ual-a "child of God," if you must -I The LP National Committee adopted a resolution calling for abolishing its legitimizes the "gospel gestapo" to pur­ already feel under enough attack from sue the perpetual purification inquisition. the present power clique. Would the Li­ membership pledge and current platform at its December 1992 meeting in Las Ve­ Itworks to minimize membership, cartel­ bertarians also crucify me if given the ize debate, and marginalize influence. It chance? I'd like to ask Mr Tinney to grow gas - not in Atlanta, as Mr Arthur states. Mr Arthur's description of Bill Evers is an internal contradiction casting a split up a bit himself. His points could be personality - coercing members who properly made without stooping to the as leader of the pro-pledge, pro-platform forces before and during the convention join a party dedicated to creating a non­ same level of the non-thinkers that pres­ coercive society. ently rule the world. is almost completely inaccurate. Itwas Steve Alexander whowas the leader of At the great worldwide historical cat­ Dale H. Howard aclysm of imploding socialism, when do­ this group, not Mr Evers. Westminster, Md. mesticallyan eccentric billionaire can gar­ Mr Arthur portrays LP leaders as ner millions of votes as nothing more worried during the vote count that Author of Liberty than a protest vehicle against corrupt Robert Tinney places all who think of Natalie Lloyd would be elected national Washingtonian rule, the LP shrivels. themselves as "children ofGod" on the chair. He is mistaken about what those Even being on the winning side of history lower end ofhis growth-spectrum chart. leaders' actual views and statements cannot overcome puerility. Goodness, Robert! Didn't you know that were at the time. James A. Winter "God" is another name for the inventor Karen Allard Waterville, Ohio of freedom, that the word "God" derives Tacoma, Wash. from the Anglo-Saxon"good," and that Arthur replies: Thanks for correcting my The III-Tempered Sowell God is the proto-libertarian? error regarding the location of the De­ Dan Riga certainly got it right in "The Sure, loads ofpeople don't under­ cember 1992 NatCom meeting. My char­ Well-Tempered Libertarian" (October stand this and use religion to oppress acterization of Williamson Evers as lead­ 1993). May I add an example of libertari­ others - often quite unintentionally. er of the "faction" that supported the an intolerance? I think Dr Thomas Sowell They need enlightenment, not condemna­ oath and platform came from reliable is just terrible in his intolerance of statists. tion. Everyone is capable of learning, giv­ sources within the pro-oath, pro-platform His "Observations" column in Forbes is en good teachers. campaign, my own observations of Mr chock full of intellectual elitism. It is sad Libertarianism is about individual Evers' behavior during the convention, because Sowell used to be a Marxist. He rights. If individual rights do not come and his conversations with me. Given his should have more understanding. Not from an unimpeachable authority, then preference for working behind the everyone is born a libertarian! any government can feel free to trash scenes, he was not, ofcourse, head of the David Herman every last freedom of every one of us. formal"group." My reporting of the wor­ Old Bethpage, N.Y. ries of Mr Evers and other party leaders that 14-year-old Natalie Lloyd might be Bradford and the Beast elected party chairperson came from my R.W. Bradford's response ("There's Letters Policy direct observation of Mr Evers and the No Kill Like Overkill") to Prof. Lomasky's other leaders; unless they engaged in an article ("In 'Defense' ofJanet Reno," Au­ We invite readers to comment on articles elaborate charade designed to fool me, gust1993) aboutthe Waco slaughterwas that have appeared in liberty. We reserve one ofhis best. Itshould be mentioned the right to edit for length and clarity. All my report is accurate. that the primary reason for the original as­ letters are assumed to be intended for publi­ Self-Abusing Libertarian saultwas to intimidate the rest of uswith cation unless otherwise stated. Succinct, Adolescents a demonstration of the government'swill­ typewritten letters are preferred. Please in­ As an LP-oath refusenik who long ingness to use massive force against clude your phone number so that we can ago realized the LP was trapped in ado- verify your identity. continued on page 26 Northern explosion - I've never much admired Sec. 3. Section 1 shall not apply to any member of Congress, Canada, but I do like the idea of a political system that allows member of his or her staff, or any government official whom he the voters virtually to eliminate the governing party in one or she appoints ifthe member of Congress votes against the tax fell swoop. Two such elections would solve a lot of my coun­ increase in question. Sec. 4. There shall be no other exceptions to Section 1. None. try's problems. . -DB Not even one. Catch-22 - u.s. Troops can't leave Somalia, because I am sure there are those who will say that the president that would "destroy our credibility as a superpower." But we might have to raise taxes against his will, or against the will couldn't land troops in Haiti because a few people were of some members of his staff, or that a Congress might enact standing on the beach with weapons saying they didn't want taxes against their will. It seems to me, however, that this is a us there. Anyone who can satisfactorily explain this should small price to pay for service to one's country. -RWB get Gergen's job. -CS Educated hypothesis - Joycelyn Elders is at it A real tax reform - The recent Clinton tax increas­ again. She told a congressional hearing on youth violence that es were made effuctive retroactive to the beginning of the "it is often easier for our children to obtain a gun than it is to year, touching off protests that such ex post facto taxation is find ... a good school." Maybe that's because guns are sold for unfair, unconstitutional, or both. I disagree. In fact, I believe a profit, while schools are provided by the government. -DB that it would be good public policy to require that all tax in­ creases be made retroactive. Denny's disease - First came the insanity defense: Not for normal people, though. Be you a wage-slave or a you could kill someone and get out of jail free if you could filthy-rich capitalist pig, it's only fair that the taxes you pay prove yourself not guilty "for reasons of insanity." Now on any given activity be the taxes in effect when you engaged Damian Williams and his cohorts can almost kill a man ­ in the act. But there is one class of people who have an unfair truck driver Reginald Denny - and escape felony charges be­ advantage over both wage-slaves and capitalist pigs. I refer, cause they were simply following "mob psychology." That is of course, to politicians. For politicians are in a position to to say, they have been found not guilty for reasons of everyone know in advance that a tax increase is coming, and are there­ else's insanity. As Paul Robinson wrote in The Wall Street fore in a position to shift taxable income from the future to Journal, "Rioting used to be an offense. Now it's a defense." the present. Some feminists blame pornography for rape, and wish to Consider the case of Hillary Rodham Clinton. As soon as see this dubious causal principle set into law. I wonder how her hubby was elected, she shifted her law practice income many of themhave thought outthe likelyconsequences ofsuch from 1993 (when the marginal federal income tax rate would legislation. One day, if Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea be 39.6%) into 1992 (when the marginal rate was only 31%). Dworkin get their way, a rapist will admit his crime but be re­ Further, she elected to take substantial income in 1992 that leased nonetheless, pronounced not guilty "for reasons of por­ she knew would disappear in 1993. I refer here to her sale of nography." And, as Hugh Hefner is dragged from his home her health care stocks, whose value has plummeted under her and putinirons, a gangoffemale rioters will assaultandnearly own onslaught against the medical care industry. kill someone. With any luck, it will be a psychobabbling legal Clearly, because of her position as quasi-president, Ms theorist, andnotaninnocentmale truck driver. -JW Rodham Clinton had an unfair advantage over us. Every Philip Johnson, executive direc­ member of the administration and Congress, as well as their Rambo altruism - tor of Project CARE in Somalia, has corne out in favor of u.s. staff and family, shares this advantage. They plainly have a intervention, including assassination. "Remove [Aidid] from privilege denied to ordinary citizens. the country or neutralize him in the country, but get him out To remedy this inequity, I propose the following constitu­ of there," Johnson said on Nightline. "'The humanitarian pro­ tional amendment: gram will go ahead as soon as this glitch is out of the way. It Sec 1. Any tax increase enacted during the tenn of office of any president or member of Congress shall apply retroactively has to be removed." Instead of sending out the Rangers to kill to himself or herself, any member of his or her staff, or any this "glitch," perhaps our military can arm Project CARE government official or employee whom he or she appoints, for workers and see if Johnson's bite is as big as his bark. -JSR a period equal to the term of office of the president or member of Congress. Public Choice, 301 - I used to think of Yassir Sec 2. Section 1 shall not apply to any president, member of Arafat merely as a terrorist, though perhaps in a not­ his or her staff, or any government official whom he or she ap­ completely-unjust cause. Now he can be seen for what he is: a points ifthe president vetoes the tax increase in question. brilliant politician. Ever since Arafat sided with Saddam Liberty 5 Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

Hussein during the allied war against Iraq, he and his cultivates a reputation as one of the chamber's intellects by Palestinian Liberation Organization have been on hard times. reading ghost-written speeches on recondite subjects (interna­ Facing world opprobrium, his leadership became increasing­ tional finance, the tax code) in a halting, hesitant voice, rather ly precarious, and the preeminence of the PLO in Palestinian like Daryl Hannah or Justine Bateman discoursing on, you affairs began rapidly to sink. So what does Arafat do? He know, the ozone and all that. signs a treaty with Israel that places the PLO as the official The senator wants to raise the annual fee for a federal fire­ political organization of the Palestinian peoples, with himself arms dealer's license to an astronomical $3,500. This would as head. In effect, he got the Israeli government, his sworn en­ force out of business tens of thousands of honest and decent emy for thirty-some-odd years, to secure his jobr men and women, but no matter: Bradley and the Beltway gun Well, it sure beats running for office. - TWV controllers, who know Middle America only through movies and television, have seen Falling Down and they're going to The butcher from Independence - Recently put an end to that. declassified World War n diplomatic communiques indicate The prohibitionists detest an America they do not under­ that three months before the United States dropped atomic stand, and they deal in cant. Most live in cities or suburbs and bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the U.S. government consume what they believe is the nutritious commodity "cul­ knew that top Japanese commanders were willing to surren­ ture." Their greatest fear is that on the way home from, say, der. According to an intercepted report from a German diplo­ M. Butterfly or Short Cuts, a young black man wielding a mat who had spoken on May 5, 1945, with a ranking Japanese handgunwill rob or kill them. This is not unreasonable, but it naval officer, "Since the situation is clearly recognized to be gnaws at the Corporate Liberal: "am I a racist?" he wonders, hopeless, large sections of the Japanese armed forces would and before he can answer he has created an entirely new­ not regard with disfavor an American request for capitulation and whiter - villain: the National Rifle Association. even if the terms were hard." But Truman went and dropped The NRA is the only organization in Washington that his load anyway. -SR speaks for working and rural Americans. Its members are Is nothing sacred? - Say a prayer for Iowa City. law-abiding folk who commit a negligible percentage of the This Halloween, the politically correct sensitivity-mavens nation's violent crimes. They believe in the second amend­ spirited its children away. ment and the old verities, which makes them dangerous to The Iowa City Community District Equity/Affirmative the likes of Clinton and Kemp and Bennett and Bush and Action Advisory Committee, which probably has more words Bradley and the other hall monitors of the American Empire. The Clash once asked: in its name than actual members, sent a letter to public-school parents this year, asking them to have their children avoid cer­ When they kick at your front door How you gonna come? tain costumes this Halloween. Don't be a Gypsy or an With your hands on your head American Indian- that's insensitive to members of those eth­ Or on the trigger of your gun? nic groups. Don't be a hobo - that's insensitive to homeless The NRA knows. -BK people. Don't be an old man or woman, or a "differently abled person," or a witch. Hold on -whynot a witch? Mother Superior jumped the gun - The "Many of the younger children are frightened by witches," feminist Left doesn't know quite how to handle the National an administrator explained. (Frightened! On Halloweenr> Plus, Rifle Association's recent series of woman-oriented ads. On another added,witchcostumes have "religiousconnotations." the one hand, the progressively correct's favorite organiza­ Goddess forbid. Well, let's not wear any witch costumes tional whipping-boy is sounding most of the right notes. The this Halloween. And don't sing any songs about Jesus this ad's theme is "Refuse to Be a Victim." Women are told they Christmas, either. And when Passover rolls around, skip the live in a dangerous world ("He's followed you for two weeks, ceremonies and stick to the food. he'll rape you in two minutes") and have eve­ Yes, you say, this is all very stupid, but it ry right to defend themselves. In the words of isn't doing any actual harm - right? Alas, no. Liberty's Editors an NRA spokeswoman, "This provides wom­ Listen to the testimony of nine-year-old Reflect en with empowerment. They can take their Chandra Wolfe: "I was going to be a Gypsy," lives into their own hands." she says, "but I changed my mind because of CAA Chester Alan Arthur Leaving aside the reflexive hostility most David Boaz the letter. Now I'm going to be a cheerleader." DB leftists feel toward the NRA, the campaign RWB R.W. Bradford A cheerleader! Is this where P.C. leads? DC Douglas Casey promotes the idea of actual individual wom­ Someone is devouring your children's souls SC Stephen Cox en protecting their lives; which means, pro­ this Halloween, Mr and Mrs Iowa City, and it BD Brian Doherty tecting their right to get on with their careers, ain't witches. -JW BK Bill Kauffman lifestyles, choices, values. It invokes liberty, WPM William P. Moulton not "liberation." No particular view of wom­ How you gonna come? - The RR Ralph Raico en, let alone Woman, is postulated. The as­ latest Bright Idea in the war on crime issues SR Sheldon Richman sumption, rather, is that women have the from the dome of New Jersey Senator Bill JSR James S. Robbins same rights as men, though they may have Bradley, once described to me by a JSS Jane S. Shaw some special needs and circumstances that Democratic Finance Committee staffer as "the SS Sandy Shaw CS Clark Stooksbury render protection more urgent, more difficult, dumbest Rhodes Scholar in history." Bradley TWV Timothy Virkkala or perhaps merely different. JW Jesse Walker 6 Liberty Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

So what has been the feminist mainstream's ultimate reac­ House. tion to all this? Relentless opposition. Proclamations, joint The invitation to the soiree instructed us to R.S.V.P. with statements, and fiery columns, all bristling with non-sequiturs. our social security numbers. It seems the White House didn't "The NRA is trying to exploit tragedies by saying ... guns will want any of Bill's old classmates around unless they had run protect women. In fact, guns are killing women," thunders security checks on them. Oh well, if you want dinner with Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). "These ads are exploiting fear to sell Bill, you gotta pay the price. a product," her colleague from Pennsylvania concurs. (The For entertainment, the program had panel discussions on same thing could be said of ads for medical insurance, con­ health care, the economy, foreign relations, and social trends. doms, or extra-grip tires. Or feminist activists' direct-mail ef­ I sat on the social trends panel and was suitably outrageous, forts, for that matter.) much to the apparent delight of the audience. Think about the attitude underlying the attacks on the NRA's campaign. The correct response of women to a hostile world is, apparently, supposed to be one of innocence and passivity. In the words of District of Columbia official Eleanor It was apparent that, although she made a Holmes Norton, "Women are virgins when it comes to guns. show of listening, a cold plastic veneer of a The safest course is to remain that way." smile covering her face, the young velociraptor What is going on here? Whatever it is, it's ugly. I hereby set forth a hypothesis - fully understanding that not every absolutely knew best and was being polite for feminist thinks this way - to explain this reaction: The femi­ the sake of show. nist movement is part of a larger "progressive" coalition, with which it shares a broad (yuk, yuk) agenda. This agenda in­ volves, inter alia, a massive transfer of power to the political But the health care panel was more interesting to me. classes, a process which in tum depends largely on fostering a Reading Doonesbury, I've come to learn that the White House cult of victimization among its constituencies. To be success­ is populated by a bunch of kids in their 20s and early 30s who ful, this strategy requires an amorphous, silent, collective all want to control the fate of the nation while they grow up. mass, whose members place their trust in a leadership cadre The BilIary person on the health care panel was a prim, athlet­ which represents and speaks for them. It requires, in addition, ic-looking, short-haired young lady of 27 years, identified as that the members hew to a correct political line, vote as or­ Hillary's chief assistant in this area. She reminded me of noth­ dered, and generally defer to their betters. ing so much as a small velociraptor - alert, eyes darting Within the context of radical feminism, females who resort everywhere. to the petty-bourgeois strategem of individual self-protection What she said were forgettable party-line generalities. But are analogous to blacks who succeed on their own merits in it was apparent that, although she made a show of listening, a the larger society. Each group stands as a subtle rebuke to cold plastic veneer of a smile covering her face, the young ve­ their supposed leaders. They upset the dialectic in which lociraptor absolutely knew best and was being polite for the these leaders say to the system's power-brokers, "Help my sake of show. Scary. people, and they will remain loyal forever." That night, at the White House, I had a photo op with Bill. Worst of all, the very need for "leadership" is called into I offered him a friendly "Hi, Bill, how you doin'?" He re­ question. Self-reliant people do not need to be led. Who sponded with a sincere "Hello, Doug, how are you?" I don't "leads" Irish-Americans or Middle American WASPs? recall ever having met him in school, so he must have gotten Ladies, if you need guns, get'em. Keep your powder dry, my name by unobtrusively looking at my nametag. I was and shoot straight. -WPM impressed. Why did the skies not darken? - Secretary of Defense Les Aspin, in an appearance on Face the Nation, admitted that U.S. troops should reduce their presence in Somalia - but carefully. "The trick is going to be to be able to withdraw those forces in a way in which at least some security remains behind so that the famine does not return," he said. It's good to know that, on top of every­ thing else, our military is committed to rebuilding Somali weather conditions. Do they do floods too? -JW My dinner with Bill - A quarter century has passed since I graduated from Ceorgetown University, so, naturally, some of my classmates organized a class reunion. One of my fellow students had risen to a position of promi- ~~ nence, and invited the reunion into his spacious home. That ~ '======:2----' student's name is Bill Clinton. The reunion had the highest I"'" ""'""" t"""" r""'\ ""'" ~I"" percentage turnout in Georgetown's history, and was also the largest sit-down dinner in the history of the White "I got immunity for testifying against Stalin." Liberty 7 Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

The other entertainment that evening was ,Chuck Berry. Bob Baldari like glue during the entire evening. He went into Which meant that another old friend of mine, Bob Baldari, his bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo mode, giving me a lengthy would be at the party. Bob is a civil rights attorney in real life, explanation of the importance of protecting the president but he plays keyboards with Chuck whenever he gets the from people who had actually inhaled and are thereby risks chance. I had learned that Bob was invited a few weeks earli­ to the Free World. er, when an FBI agent showed up at my house to ask ques­ Then he paused a moment, and looked puzzled. "The way tions about him. The agent was decked out in a bomber jacket I understood it," he finally said, "there was supposed to be a and Ray-Bans, just like the G-men in Midnight Run - the security guy on you, too." -DC ones Robert DeNiro asks, "Did your mothers dress you all alike? Fashions by Foster Grant?" It seems Bob once had a RoIe-mode1- Colin Powell no longer chairs the NSC, problem with the law, something about possessing some of so I suppose it won't threaten national security for me to be­ the herb that Bill Clinton smoked but didn't inhale. The FBI smirch his reputation a bit. According to David Corn in the guy asked me some questions about Bob, but I wasn't much March 8 and October 4 editions of The Nation, Powell, while help to him. There was only one G-Man, and I figured I testifying about Iran-contra in 1987, claimed not to know couldn't be in trouble unless there were at least two of them, whether Casper Weinberger kept a diary. Last year, once the and as a matter of principle I don't talk to the authorities document was known to exist/Powell delivered a sworn state­ about my friends. ment in which he described his former boss's diaries "in great Well, Bob was allowed to perform, no thanks to me. It detail." It is unusual for recollection to grow more clear with turns out that Chuck Berry threatened to skip the party if he time, so, unless the general has been recovering "repressed" couldn't have his keyboard man there. But they weren't tak­ memories under hypnosis, he would appear to be a perjurer. ing any chances: Bob was shadowed by a suit that night, at Which makes me wonder why the man is leaving the very close range. Like two feet. Clinton administration. In one area at least, he and the presi­ Of course, the place was crawling with grim-looking dent seem to have a lot in common. -JW thugs dressed in cheap suits with bulges under the arms and little earphones sticking out of their heads. Only their dark Ingrates - A Washington Post headline reports: "One glasses were missing; I suppose they are dispensable indoors City Aide Tries to Meet Needs of District's 15,000 Asians." at night. I'm sure they did a good job of keeping the president Actually, tens of thousands of businesspeople and their em­ alive, though they didn't stop any of my classmates from ployees work to "meet the needs" of Asian-Americans in pocketing a bunch of presidential silverware as souvenirs. Washington. And really, as we know from Leonard Read's "I, Bill gave a short speech, with everyone clapping and Pencil" and Milton and Rose Friedman's Free To Choose, mil­ cheering uproariously at every opportunity - except the two lions of people all over the world, most of whom have never times Bill made policy references. Then, the applause was met an Asian-American from Washington, D.C., work to serve subdued and polite. Everyone who knew Bill liked him well their needs through the (seeming) magic of the free market. enough, but few supported his policies; Georgetown was a As it happens, the "need" referred to in the headline, and politically and socially conservative school in the '60s. It's the one that the "mayor's assistant on Asian and Pacific only natural, though, that everyone felt better about him after Islander affairs" spends most of her time on, is murder. Ten the party than they did before. Just being there made you feel Asian-American shopkeepers have been shot so far in 1993. like a privileged insider, one of his team. And nobody, in­ The mayor might do well to dismiss her ethnic liaison and cluding myself, likes to speak ill of someone who's hosted hire another police officer. Meanwhile, the poor assistant's you in his home, even if you're the one who bought it for job is being made more difficult because, she complains, him. A good time was had by all, perhaps even Hillary, who "There is this intense privacy among Asians. They find it nat­ sat near Bill but was surrounded by three or four pert veloci­ ural to accept personal responsibility, so they don't ... ask for raptors at all times. help from my office." Yes, as conservatives and pseudo­ The next day, I ran into Tim Chorba, another classmate libertarians keep reminding us, these foreigners just don't from Georgetown Class of '68. These days he's a partner with share our values. -DB powerful Washington lobbyist/law firm Patton, Boggs & Blow and a real insider in the Clinton administration, so I fig­ Uncivil and illiberal - ACLU Executive ured I'd ask him about the cheap-~uited guy who stuck to Director Ira Glasser just wrote a gloating column in Civil Liberties, celebrating the end of the dark ages and the dawn of a new renaissance for civil liberties: the election of Bill Clinton and the end of the Reagan-Bush years. He may be throwing his hat into the air too soon. Yes, the Reagan-Bush record on personal freedom is not good. Reagan's Drug War was a long catalog of civil wrongs: "zero tolerance," civil forfeiture, mandatory urine testing, cops breaking down doors in the middle of the night. The Supreme Court in the '80s eroded protections of the rights of the accused. There was a misguided campaign against insider "Do these hallucinations take place at any particular trading which amounted to a war against free speech and free time, or do they gleep schnoodle florh fnord wazzle?" association. FCC regulation of "indecency" increased, as did 8 Liberty Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

governmental attacks on porn. And I won't even go into figure. But Clinton - well, Clinton just fibs his way through Bush's egregious campaign theme of forcing every school­ like some pathetic co-dependent to a power-monger. (By the child in the country to recite a loyalty oath (the Pledge of way, is there a twelve-step program for Hillary? Can we send Allegiance) or his attempt to gut the first amendment in the her to it? Would she recognize"a power greater thanherself"?) name of "stopping flag-burning." And so I turn to chapter three, the letter to the church at But the record is not unmixed. Some good things did hap­ Laodicea: "1 know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor pen on the civil liberties front during the dark ages. In 1987, hot; I would that thou wert cold or hot. So, then, because thou the Reagan FCC abolished the odious "Fairness" Doctrine. art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of The Supreme Court unanimously upheld strong protection my mouth." for satirical speech in the Falwell v Flynt case. That same court I think that I, too, will be spewing a lot for the next few has upheld first amendment protection for flag burning, de­ years. Forgive me. But as Gennifer Flowers used to say in an­ spite Bush's hyperventilating rhetoric, and struck down polit­ other context, Bill Clinton leaves a bad taste in the mouth. ically correct "hate speech" ordinances. One particularly Think of the church of Laodicea, and hurl that loogie. - TWV impressive Supreme Court decision was the Nollan v California Coastal Commission case. There, the Court decided Hammurabi orProudhon?- DurkPearsonand that when the California Coastal Commission took a strip of I have been thinking about putting together an essay called beach-front property from its owner, the fifth amendment's "The Book of 1,000 Laws." Itwould start with the principle that "takings" clause required the state to pay for it. there are only a few acts nearly all people would agree should This precedent may prove very useful in the fight against be crimes - murder, rape, theft, a few others. After that, you onerous land-use controls. But the ruling may not be as re­ start getting more and more opposition and indifference. markable as the position the ACLU took. They intervened on This would lead up to an exercise: readers would be asked the side ofthe state. They wanted to weaken the fifth amendment. to make up their own lists of 1,000 laws. We know we couldn't Which may be why Glasser's so far off target. Rumors of a li­ write such a list. We probably couldn't even get to 100 laws. If bertarian renaissance to the side, the Democrats in Congress most readers are like us, they might start to get an idea for and the White House are not really any better than the what it means that there are hundreds of millions of laws, Republicans when it comes to civil liberties. As I write this, rules, and regulations in the U.S. for which people can be im­ Congressional Democrats are preparing to reimpose the prisoned or fined. To be governed. .. -55 Fairness Doctrine, primarily to gag Rush Limbaugh and oth­ Gay health - Dozens of large corporations have be­ er conservative radio talk-show hosts. And there's been gun to grant health benefits to the partners of gay employees. much huffing and puffing from Senator Paul Simon (D-Ill.) During 1993, Apple Computer, Microsoft, Microsystems, and Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) about the "need" to Home Box Office, Warner Brothers, and the New York law regulate the content of television, since the people themselves firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCoy joined the ranks of don't have enough sense to decide what they want to watch. companies that treat partners of gay and lesbian employees as Now Clinton, like Bush before him, wants to go after if they were legal spouses and pay a substantial portion of crime by gutting the Constitution's habeas corpus protections. their medical bills. Interestingly, in most cases the benefits are And the administration's outrageous assault on religious denied to unmarried partners of heterosexual employees on freedom and the right to bear arms in Waco has already been the grounds that they, unlike gays, have the option of getting well-catalogued in these pages. spousal benefits by marrying. In contrast, city governments And Ira Glasser is happy. Well, I'm in mourning ­ that have established "domestic partner" benefits have made mourning the glory days of that once-great defender of our them available to both gay and straight employees. civil rights and liberties, the ACLU. -cs Once again, businesses get it right and governments get it Getting apocalyptic - For some reason, when I wrong. Businesses are taking the appropriate position: "if you try to make sense of the Clinton administration, I reach for want the benefits of marriage, get married; but if the state won't let you get married, we'll be more progressive." my Bible. Indeed, I have even found myself breaking a long­ standing habit by turning to the Book of the Revelation. Governments just see domestic partnership as one more goo­ die to hand out; businesses see it as a way of remedying an Confronted with Bill Clinton, most turn to scatology, not unfairness, not to mention retaining valued employees. -DB eschatology. But remember: scatology may be about scat, but eschatology is the scat that goes down in the future. And Sucker bet - Wanna bet the Somalia imbroglio ends with Bill Clinton's statist proposals, we are not only up to our with the U.S. footing the bill to the tune of many billions to knees in scat, but the scat is pouring down, from prop up a Somali government headed by fugitive-warlord­ Washington. I no longer worry about Gog and Magog, but turned-statesman Aidid? -BD about all the people agog with the Clintocracy. Though their numbers decrease, still ... it astounds me that anyone could John Stuart Saint-Simon? - Discussing liber­ be dancing in the streets, singing in this rain. tarian support for the California school-voucher initiative ­ But it is Bill Clinton's character that sends me to the slain at the polls on November 2, the victim of an enormous Revelation. A friend has observed that our last really thor­ advertising assault from the teachers' unions - the Los lough-going and effective statist president was Lyndon Baines Angeles Times referred to the "utopian philosophy that people Johnson, and that, whatever else may be said for this particu­ should be able to do as they please as long as they do not lar liar, murderer, and cheat, at least he cut a larger-than-life harm others." Liberty 9 Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

The word "utopian" used to be associated with preposte­ though I do occasionally light up a good cigar. But isn't the rous schemes for constructing a planned society that would level of concern just a little extreme? There are supposedly control all human activities. Now, apparently, it's associated about 350,000 "premature" smoking-related deaths a year. But with the preposterous schemes of America's founding fathers when is any death not "premature"? - and the preposterous notions of those kindly relatives who The only thing that differentiates cigarettes from other un­ told us, as children, that we could go out and do what we healthy habits is that the smoke is an unavoidable externality. wanted as long as nobody else got hurt. -SC So why did anti-smoking fanatics throw a fit when R.}. Reynolds test-marketed a smokeless cigarette? Maybe because The myth of drug abuse - As Thomas Szasz the issue isn't really health or safety, but control. has noted, it is impossible for government to "control" drugs. When bureaucrats start suggesting what citizens can do It can only (seek to) control people. Similarly, it is impossible with a legal product at home, I get concerned. A man's home to "abuse" drugs. One can only abuse people - either oneself is his castle, and if Browner and her enforcers ever attempt to or others. When someone hits himself or someone else with a breach my defenses, I plan to raise the drawbridge, close the baseball bat, we don't say he abused the bat. gates, and pour hot oil on the bastards. -CS This illustrates the ethical issue inherent in drug prohibi­ tion. If one abuses oneself, it is no business of the state's. If Best of1993 - The snow flies, bells jingle, and every one abuses others, one is subject to the criminal law, and idiot compiles his Best of '93 list. there are (or ought to be) procedures for compensating the H the American Civil Liberties Union still stood for any­ victims. H force is not used, the whole matter is within the thing other than the accumulated prejudices of upper-middle­ realm of peaceful interpersonal relations, and the state should class white people who think PBS is riveting, it would make have nothing to say. -SR Patrick J. Buchanan its Man - er, Person - of the Year, for his courageous defense of John Demjanjuk, the apparently in­ Smoking lamps lit - One of the good things nocent Cleveland Ukrainian who was railroaded into an about having a Democrat in the White House is that they have Israeli prison due to the incompetence (or malice) of the witti­ more regard for privacy rights than those nasty Republicans, ly named U.S. Department of Justice. A special citation would right? Wrong! Testifying before Congress, EPA chief Carol go to Ohio Democrat Jim Traficant, the flamboyant leisure­ Browner "suggested" that people no longer snloke in their own suited congressman who stood by Demjanjuk, even to the homes or allow their guests to do so. The key word here is sug­ point of making the not-Ivan look like a fashion plate. gested. People are still free to light up at will behind closed The estimable Traficant would finish a close second in the doors,but how long will that last? Perhaps the most pressing Legislator of the Year category to Senator Robert Byrd, the threat to freedom in this country right now is the insidious en­ West Virginia Democrat first elected in 1958. The former ma­ croachment of irritating do-gooders who plague our civiliza­ jority leader is a grim and grumpy sort, a fiddle-playing tion. Remember when you could get into a new car without snake-oil salesman who looks like Conway Twitty's mean old­ being strangled by the automatic belts, or not be harassed by a er brother. Before relinquishing his leadership post he used to bunch ofidiotic warnings on a can ofbeer? bore colleagues silly with his interminable disquisitions upon Browner's anti-smoking fanaticism is not new. She is only Senate history. Byrd is comfortable with· the past; Calhoun continuing the work of Reagan's odious surgeon general, C. and Clay and Benton are obViously very real to him. He is reg­ Everett Koop, and a legion of others across the political spec­ ularly ridiculed by the Official Conservatives for his tireless trum. (Koop, you may remember, is the boob who liked to efforts to move various D.C.-based operations to West dress up like an admiral in the Freedonian navy.) Virginia, which strikes me as a selfish but laudable effort to I am at a loss about the fuss over tobacco. I understand disperse Leviathan. that it is bad for your health, is habit-forming, and that the In a chamber of cowards, Byrd has emerged as a rare man smoke annoys a lot of people. I don't encourage using it, al- of courage, taking the lead in calling for a complete withdraw­ al of U.S. forces from occupied Somalia. In the sweet and glorious tones of the Old Right, he told his fellow senators, "I do not see in front of this. chamber the U.N. flag. I never saluted the U.N. flag. I saluted Old Glory, the American flag." Byrd's former West Virginia Senate mate, Jennings Randolph, was cut from the same cloth. Elderly Senator Randolph, who came to Congress in 1933 and was the de­ voutest New Dealer this side of Hyde Park, was a kind and courtly man who had two charming causes: requiring Senators to cast votes while at their desks, and celebrating holidays on the actual date of their occurrence, not merely the nearest Monday. Senator Randolph was a staunch foe of foreign aid, calling it "wasted money"; after all, "we have so much to do for our own people." Senator Randolph retired and was replaced by Jay Rockefeller, "I hate to do this, guys, but my kid wants bunny slippers." which doesn't say much for you Mountaineers. 10 Liberty " Voila logic!" -~J.O'ROURKE

"A "A senous• splendid blueprint collection for change." of -GEORGE E WILL infonned analyses ... mustreading." "A futuristic -MILTON FRIEDMAN vision ... /\Pal'.-)(ligllll()I-,tll(~ charts new 21S t, (;f~I'''I"llr)T territory for "Bristles the decades with t~dil(~d b'\" ahead." l)n"idUo.az und 1':(I"~i).'d II.(:....n(~ uncotnfortable -Go~ WILLIAM E WELD ideas." -PETE DU PONT "Provocative nelV "Shouldbe ideas ... a road the principal map for our "Facts, cOInpass new president." reason, for -Go\': L. DOUGLAS WILDER clear-eyed policymakers and and " Should be read disinterested public servants." andre-read analysis ... -MALCOLM s. FORBES, JR. by every member voila logic!" of Congress." -~ J. O'ROURKE -JACK KEMP

THE CATO INSTITUTE'S PRIMER FOR THE '90s! 404 pp.l$25.95 cloth/$15.95 paper Available at bookstores or call toll-free 1-800-767-1241 HNSTJITU'TJE (noon-9:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday-Friday) 1000 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001 • (202) 842-0200 Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

I have often wondered why libertarians are blind to the ask anybody on the street, the note is five pounds, and they virtues of men such as Byrd and Randolph: patriots, lovers of obviously aren't talking about units of weight - so what our history, defenders (in the most general sense) of America could that statement possibly mean? I decided to visit the First. Senator Byrd, unlike almost every Republican member Bank of England in downtown London to make them make of Congress, at least stands for some semblance of republican good their promise. What would they do - hand me back an­ government. I do not know, nor do I care about, his position other five-pound note in exchange for the one I offered? on the capital gains tax: he is, in the fall of 1993, an eloquent I was stopped at the door by a security guard. I explained and principled foe of the Wilsonian imperialism whose prem­ that my note said that the Bank would give me five pounds ises our two parties share. Yes, a couple of Republicans ­ upon demand for it, and that I was hereby demanding they notably, the praiseworthy Senator Hank Brown of Colorado fulfill their obligation. He explained I couldn't get past the and my favorite Keating Fiver, Arizona's John McCain ­ front desk without wearing a three-piece suit and having "of­ have criticized our blundering in Somalia, but where were ficial business." The man behind the front desk had little pa­ they when Reagan and Bush were spilling blood and money tience, telling me that perhaps I'd find some information if I around the globe? The only Republican senators who op­ went to the Bank of England Museum around the comer. posed the shameful Gulf War were Oregon's pacifist Hatfield So I left and went to the museum, which is quite nice, ac­ and Iowa's agrarian Grassley. They deserved our thanks and tually. I explained to a curator what had happened, and that I prayers then, as Byrd does now. -BK was interested in finding out what exactly the language could mean. It obViously didn't function as a promise to pay me Guilt and sympathy - The AIDS epidemic has five pounds - the bank wouldn't even let me through the spawned a bevy of support groups - for people with AIDS, door! She disappeared into a back room and, finally, dug up for those who have or had friends or lovers or family mem­ an old photocopy from Cod-alone-knows-where, which at­ bers with AIDS, and now, in Michigan, for men who don't tempts to explain the meaning and evolution of the "1 prom­ have AIDS and feel guilty about it. According to founder ise to pay the bearer" language. I took the pages home and Craig Covey, HIV-negative gay men "are affected differently, tried to understand them. Apparently, the Bank is now con­ but just as much" as those who test positive. "A lot of them tending that the language only means, and only ever meant, who have survived can almost feel like they are missing out that it has an obligation to replace old, out-of-eirculation on something," he adds. "What's happening to the gay com­ pound notes with new, in-eirculation ones. munity is what is happening to people who survived the Right. That's what "1 promise to pay the bearer on de­ Holocaust," another spokesperson asserts. mand the sum of five pounds" means. I suppose there are some gay people who feel guilty about -guest reflection by N. Stephan Kinsella not having AIDS, and some Jews who feel guilty aboutnot hav­ ing been gassed. In that spirit, I think I'll start a support group Free at last - For some reason, in the late summer of for people unluckyenoughnotto be gay orJewish atall. Infact, 1985, I was suddenly filled with a desire to join the military. I I think I'll limit membership to guilty well-off HIV-negative didn't want to interrupt my schooling for three or four years, heterosexual white Anglo-Saxon males withoutdisabilities. so the reserves seemed to be the way to go. Although I went But alas! America's universities have beaten me to the through the formality of talking to an Army recruiter, there punch. Is there a support group available for people who fail was never any question about which branch I would join. I in their attempts to start support groups? -WPM had seen John Wayne's The Sands ofIwo lima when I was a kid; I had watched Baa Baa Blacksheep in junior high school; and I Funny money - There's some funny language on was working for an ex-Marine who had served in Vietnam, the money in England. The five-pound note contains the who had regaled me with stories about boot camp. I would statement, "Bank of England: I promise to pay the bearer on not have been able to face him after joining the Army or Navy. demand the sum of five pounds." Five pounds of what? If you My Marine odyssey began in the early morning hours of "Dear Michael, ''Your Persuasion Tapes Saved My Marriage...

"We've been married almost 6 years. "...Michael, your Persuasion Tapes "He started laughing. We talked. 1. THEY DON'T BELIEVE YOU. Myhusband is a memberofthe LP. He earned me $12,000. I was 1 of 4 can­ Then we started making progress... You're telling them the opposite of subscribes to all the libertarian didatesfor a promotioninmycompany. "Michael, your persuasion tech­ everything they heard in school, magazines and journals. He reads 10 I was the least qualified. 1 don't so­ niques are powerful. I regularly use church, on TV and from their family or 12 books every month. cialize with the boss. Nobody figured 1 them with clients, colleagues, friends and friends. "He talks to everyone about politics had a real chance. and family. Your methods have im­ 2. THEY DON'T TRUST YOU. andeconomics, buthe stopped talking "When 1went in for the interview, I proved all my relationships." Whathaveyou personallydone toearn to meandwithmeaboutwhatmatters startedoffwithyourRapport building Name withheld by request their confidence? to us and our relationship. I felt taken methods, then I used your 'Intellec­ 3. THEY DON'T LIKE YOU. for granted. I felt like he didn't really tual Judo' to turn objections to pro­ "...1 was one of the thousands of You've criticized their beliefs and val­ love me anymore. moting me into reasons why I was the aerospace workers laid off. Not only ues-andthebeliefsand values oftheir "I talked with him. 1 read a few best candidate. 1 used your 'Isolate was I out ofwork but I was competing family and friends. books on relationships and communi­ the Concern' tactic to handle the final against these thousands for a shrink­ 4. THEY DON'T THINK IT'S cation. I went to a counselor. (He issue. ing number ofjobs here in California. IMPORTANT ENOUGH. wouldn't come.) 1 tried everything. "After 35 minutes, my boss said, "For 3 months I got nowhere. One Even ifthey believe andtrust and like Nothing worked. 'Communication is very important to afternoon, 1listenedto yourEssence of you, why should they sacrifice family "I was ready to give up. One night, this job and so is poise under fire: Political Persuasion tapes again. time, work time and leisure time for while he was at a libertarian meeting, Congratulations, you've got the pro­ (I bought them a year ago.) the libertarian cause? 1 saw your Essence of Political Per­ motion.' Your Essence ofPolitical Per­ "I starting using the Rapport build­ suasion Tapes on top ofhis book shelf. suasion Tapes earned me a $12,000 a ing steps, the Onus of Criterion and The Essence ofPolitical Persuasion "Maybe 1could persuade him to talk year promotion in 35 minutes." Political Cross-Dressing during every breaks through these barriers for you. to me.. .1 listened to side 1 ofthe first R.S., Los Angeles, CA interview. In2 weeks, I got 4joboffers. Quickly. Easily. Enjoyably. tape. Your recipes for quickly creating I'm now back at work. Michael, tell rapport made sense to me. So didyour "My letters-to-the-editor used to libertarians that your Persuasion 822 people have bought my Essence keys to powerful communication... make people angry. Since I started tapes aren't just for politics...they got of Political Persuasion Audio Tape "When my husband got home, 1told using your Political Persuasion me a job." Program. Only 5 asked for refunds. him1hadlistenedto side 1ofyourfirst methods, people started sending in B.N., Orange County, CA (Which were promptly given.) You tape and asked him to practice your letters agreeing with me." know how picky libertarians can be. rapport recipes with me. We practiced T.L., Toronto, CANADA "I'm a 74 year old retiree. 1call in to We talk back to the TV News. for about 30 minutes. The next thing I several radio talk shows. People used 817 satisfied customers out of 822 knew we were talking about us, our "...anyway, I got fed up listening to to tell me that my libertarian ideas buyers. relationship, our marriage and our my sociology professor praise welfare were crazy...Now they ask me to tell 99.39% Customer Satisfaction. life together. We talked 3 hours. It statism. One day, afterclass, I gothim them more - thanks to your Essence 311 customers wrote me unsolicited seemed like minutes. alone andusedyour'WelfareJunkies' of Political Persuasion Tapes." letters praising the Essence ofPoliti­ "We have listened to your tape set 8 argumenton him. Itstopped him cold! A.J., Denver, CO cal Persuasion - and telling me the or 9 times. We practiced all the skills He asked if I could recommend any difference thetapesmadeintheirlives. you teach. We started listeningto and books on the subject. 1 told him I'd The Essence ofPolitical Persuasion talkingwitheachother. Now we really bring one by later. Why don't more people seriously could change your life. communicate. "Michael, that's when 1called you. 1 think through the libertarian argu­ "I finally understand why my hus­ followed your advice to the letter. 1 ments and evidence you give them? 60 Day Money Back Guarantee. band is a libertarian. I've read 8 lib­ bought a copy of Charles Murray's ertarian books in 6 weeks and dis­ LOSINGGROUND -and solditto my Why don't they take your ideas to Order Now! Mail your check or cussed them with my husband. Now professor. You're right, ifI'd given itto heart? money order today. I'm a real libertarian, too. him I'd be practicing intellectual wel­ "Michael, your Essence ofPolitical fare, encouraging him to believe in 1------, Persuasion Tapes savedmy marriage. something for nothing and he'd have Free Bonus Tape With Your Order! P.S. "We are expectingourfirst baby had no financial investment in read­ o Yes! Here's my $29.95. Send me The Essence OfPolitical Persuasion late this year." ing the book. Audio Tape Program (3 tapes) -- and the free bonus tape--an added $10.00 Name withheld by request "Well, he read the book and asked value--Emerling's The Missing Factor In The Libertarian Equation: Self­ for more. 1 gave him a Laissez Faire Responsibility. (Foreign Orders add $4.00 for additional Postage.) "I'm a Christian Libertarian. While Books catalog(he boughtseveralbooks t/Also send me The Late, Great Libertarian Macho Flash (Classic Reprint) I've always felt uncomfortable dis­ over the phone while I was there) and cussing my Christian beliefs with lib­ a CATO catalog. ertarians, I've felt even more uncom­ "My professor is on his way to be­ fortable discussing my libertarian coming a libertarian. Think of how Name GO-Day beliefs with my fellow Christians. many thousands of students he will Money Back ''Your Essence ofPolitical Persua­ influence with libertarian ideas ­ sion Tapesgave me theconfidence and thanks to your Essence of Political Street Guarantee skills 1needed to bringlibertarianism Persuasion Tapes." to mychurch. Yourstoryon'theJudas R.J., Madison, WI City, All Orders Bargain' hit me deep. I'm getting Mailed Within powerful results with your'Political "...I'm a competent, trained Psy­ 24 Hours Cross-Dressing' and 'Words Are chiatrist, but 1was stuck. He was the State/Zip Weapons'techniques. most resistant depressive I've ever "Liberty cannot triumph in America treated. without the support ofmillions ofmy "In frustration, I tried your 'Intel­ Make your Check or Money Order payable to: fellow Christians. Reaching them will lectual Judo' method on him. 1agreed Michael Emerling • Box 28368· Las Vegas, NV 89126 be my special libertarian 'ministry'. with his depression. I embraced his L ~ " God Bless you, Michael." position. 1 added to it, accelerated it B.L., New York, New York and re-directed it. Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

Christmas Eve, 1985, when my bus passed through Port contract that I signed eight years ago with the United States Royal, South Carolina, and made a left into the gate at Marine Marine Corps finally expired. Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island. My active involvement But I am still a part of the fold. The Marine Corps, like as a Marine reservist ended on Dec. 15, 1991 when I exited the motherhood, ,is a lifetime commitment; "Once a Marine, Navy base at Millington, Tennessee for the last time. Always a Marine." So I remain a part of the tradition that in­ The experiences I had between those two dates were edu­ cludes great Americans that I admire, such as Thomas Sowell cational, if often infuriating and frustrating. They included and Joe Foss; as well as some not-so-great Americans, such as three months of boot camp, five months of training at Camp Oliver North and Pat Robertson; and assorted odd characters Lejeune, North Carolina, and four months of service during like Lee Harvey Oswald, and a dozen lesser-known snipers the Gulf War at the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, who had the misfortune to shoot at mere mortals instead of a South Carolina. They had a significant impact on my views. In president. But since August 25, I no longer have to worry 1985, I was a conventional Reaganite conservative. It only took about getting an unpleasant phone call should Clinton decide about two years of monthly drills to tum me off to the jingo­ to widen the war in Somalia. -CS ism to which I was constantly exposed. I also became much more cautious about supporting a belligerent foreign policy The moral equivalent - After I heard Thomas when I becanle one of that policy's potential instruments. Szasz speak at the Libertarian Party convention about how Eventually I did become an instrument of Bush's foreign poli­ President Clinton's medical reforms will expand the power of cy, but that is not an unpleasant memory. As it turns out, the the federal government, it occurred to me that we might have Gulf War was something of a paid vacation for me, an inter­ to revise Randolph Bourne's classic maxim to "Health is the lude from an experience more horrible than war: law school. health of the state." --SR More than any other factor, my military experiences led Eight months after Bill me down the path towards individualism. Some are influ­ Diagnosis confirmed - Clinton took office, I had dinner with friends, one of whom is enced by Human Action or Atlas Shrugged; I was converted by a fairly well-known Washington insider. Eventually, the talk the Essential Subjects for the Marine. Anybody who has ever turned to politics, and my insider friend began a rambling dis­ lived on a military base has a good idea of what it is like to course on Clinton. It's hard to get a handle on the man, he live under socialism: said. Sometimes he seems like a liberal, sometimes he acts like • Everyone waits in long lines for food, and you have a a conservative, sometimes he sounds libertarian, sometimes limited choice about what and how much you may have when you get there. left-wing, sometimes right-wing ... the monologue went on for a while. "I've been a friend of Bill Clinton for more than • Privacy is nonexistent. Your quarters are subject to in­ ten years," he concluded. "But I still don't know what his po­ spection on a weekly basis and can be entered at any time litical beliefs are." without your knowledge. I took advantage of this break in the action, and offered • Big Brother is always watching. You can be stopped for any transgression, even a bad haircut, by almost anyone. the thesis of the essay I had written in these pages ten months earlier. "What do you think of the proposition that Bill • The buildings are so nondescript that they must be num­ Clinton has only a single political conviction -- that the bered to make them distinguishable. world would be a better place if only he were running In spite of all of the annoyances of my Marine career, if I things?" could go back in time, I would probably do it all over again, "Youknow," he said. "That's a very interesting theory." bitching and complaining about how much I hated it all the He thought for a few minutes. Then he said, "Yes, I think while. There were a lot of good times amongst the bad. But you're right." --CAA I'm glad it's finally over. At midnight on August 25th, I became a free man. The Emily Litella redux - Here's some good news for everyone who's tired of double-talking politicians and their i~WIWT linguistic obfuscations: I just heard on the radio that, in order 'lclft %tL to pass his health care plan, Bill Clinton is going to embrace ~A..'" A(;VAl syntax. If this is so, we just might start to hear some clear, ~~0fi'E WILL. well-formulated- , I Oh, wait a minute. He didn't say syntax, he said sin taxes. Never mind. -JW Aaron Wildavsky, R.I.P. - Aaron Wildavsky was a maverick conservative political scientist, but that doesn't begin to encompass his interests and accomplish­ ments. The author of more than thirty books and founder of the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, he was a restless seeker of truth. He delved into traditional political science topics, but more and more as time went on he addressed complicated issues ofso­ cial policy such as risk assessment, the push for egalitarian­ ism, and even the question of species extinction. Amazingly, 14 Liberty Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

he had the respect of his peers in a profession dominated by to-earth advice about writing, reading, and time management the Left; he was president of the American Political Science can be found in his engaging book Craftways. He made a point Association in 1985-86. of sending short notes praising articles he admired, especially I first got interested in his work through his 1987 book, those written by people in obscure or small institutions. "They Searching for Safety, which pointed out that the pursuit of zero seldom get fan mail," he explained. risk can increase risk and weaken our ability to withstand Wildavsky twice addressed the Political Economy dangers. This book also laid the foundation for a concept we Research Center's annual conference for journalists. The sec­ call "wealth and health": economic growth and the wealth it ond time I drove him to the airport, and he asked me to stop provides leads to a healthier, safer, and more environmentally at Bozeman's Salvation Army store. He had a standing bet attractive society. with a friend that he could stop in a thrift store in any town As he studied risk, Wildavsky came to feel that non­ in America and within twenty minutes find a better version scientists needed to understand technical issues such as global of something he already owned. That day, he found a good­ warming and ozone depletion, because environmentalists quality windbreaker. He never rested in his quest to obtain were using scare science to bludgeon people into accepting facts, hypothesize, and test out his understanding of draconian policies. So he developed techniques for reading American society. scientific literature outside one's own expertise. Other down- Death, via cancer, caught up with him at age 63. -J5S

Good signals - Once in a great while I pick up the MeLuhan was proclaimed a profound guru for declaring that Washington Post and find evidence that the world is slowly, television is a /leool" medium, in contrast to "hot" radio. I nev­ grudgingly moving in the right direction. Take the issue of er knew what he meant by this, but one thing seems plain: tele­ Saturday, September 18. There were four stories above the vision does not stimulate cool reasoning. fold on the front page: "U.S. Foreign Aid Overhaul Urged"; How will the world fare with the boob tube in power? /lCompetition Prescribed for the VA [Hospitals]"; /lRebirth in Don't touch that dial. -RWB New York/Neighborhoods Growing Again in the City Where New Immigrants Are Planting Roots"; and, most delightfully, Restoring hope - On August 8, 1993, Belgium's /lRussia's Irrelevant Chaos/A Splintered Government Spins Radio 1 aired an interview with troops returning from active Its Wheels - But Does It Matter?" -DB duty in Somalia. Although their comments say a lot about the U.N.'s operation, so far the only remotely prominent Being there - In the slow news period after last year's American journalist to report on the program is leftist writer elections, news organizations sent camera crews to Somalia, Alexander Cockburn. who then sent back video images of starving children. It was The troops reported throwing food to Somalis - "At the good television: powerful images that evoked strong reactions beginning we did it because we wanted to give them some­ from viewers. The images pulled American heartstrings, the thing to eat. But towards the end, we threw it to them to be newsmen reported (accurately) that relief of starvation was able to hit them as well. It was, like, you want to give, but made difficult if not impossible by the civil war in which they must also suffer if they want to get something." Somalia was engulfed, and it seemed only natural that the Sometimes troops would punch Somalis, knock them down, U.S. would send in the Marines to distribute food. even start kicking their heads. "There were guys who were Nine months later, another video image reversed public just so stressed out, that they just had to hit to get it out of sentiment: the image of an American soldier's corpse being their system.... It's possible that [some Somalis] were beaten dragged through the streets of Mogadishu and treated disre­ to death, they're not talking about it. You know, if someone spectfully by local citizens. Suddenly, the cry was heard from had been killed, you just left them there. All you thought coast to coast: Why are we in Somalia anyway? Senators who about was all the red tape it would cause." had supported the invasion and occupation suddenly favored Somalis were shot to death, too. "If you saw someone with exit, and even the president was forced by pubic opinion to a weapon, or you went into a home and they had a weapon, or promise a pullout of all forces within six months. if they were shooting at each other and you were caught in the Itwas television that got the U.S. into Somalia, and it is tel­ crossfire, these were all situations thatwe experienced, then we evision that is getting us out. The state of public discussion has just decided to shoot, even if itwasn't strictly self-defense." got to the point where thinking and analysis are irrelevant. But the soldiers still showed some caution. "At the be­ The image beamed from a camera to a satellite to a transmitter ginning, the guy who shot at the first Somali, that night, on to our living room establishes policy, moves armies across bor­ the roof, he had to spend the whole afternoon filling in ders, and brings periods of peace. Thirty years ago, Marshall forms. And they had to be signed by this one and that one Liberty 15 Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994 and the army auditor was there. So we learned a lot from worthy of a front-page story. But what do these state-besotted that first lesson. When you kill one, it's better to keep it jokers expect? That during these squabbles, no one would quiet." -JW leave their house, eat, go to work, entertain themselves, go for walks, or do those myriad other activities that make up life as Economics on the air - National Public Radio people actually live it - just because they didn't know "who reports that the Yugoslav government, whoever that is, has was in charge"? just issued a 500 million dinar note "in an attempt to deal with The media - particularly the Post - try to inculcate a false the country's roaring inflation." Apparently, no matter how sense that what goes on among the professional bandit classes much money they print, prices just keep rising. is somehow all that is news, all that defines what is happening Meanwhile, NPR also tells us that inflation is now "1,896 in the world. My friend Shawnfound herself in Guatemala this percent a month." I'd like to see the complex econometric summer·during their coup contretemps. I was following the model that came up with that number in a scarcity-ravaged, story in the Post, and of course they made it seemas though the still-communist war economy. Maybe it's about 2,000 percent country was plunged into chaos because of the confusion over - who knows? But accurate to the fourth significant digit? "who was in charge." I got a letter from Shawn and was de­ Give me a break. .. , ' . -DB lighted to discover that, were it not for the censored blocks in Tea and stupidity - Larry King has stated that it is the newspapers she read, she would have had no idea from the "technically" unpatriotic for the wealthy to use deductions texture and activities of day-to-day life that anything unusual and loopholes to lower their taxes. This strikes me as the most was happening in Guatemala. And if she hadn't been a news­ irrational pronouncement by a Washington journalist since a paper reader, shewould have had no idea atall. reporter for NPR compared Simi Valley, California, where a When papers wonder why they steadily lose circulation mixed race jury aquitted the L.A. police officers to Selma, and reader interest, perhaps they should contemplate that the Alabama in the 196Os. Resistance to taxes by the use of deduc­ great bulk of what they report has to do with what govern­ tions and loopholes or even outright cheating is as American ment officials say and - occasionally - do. Government and as pickup trucks and college football on a Saturday afternoon. politics, thank God, are not life. It is as patriotic as saluting the flag - maybe more. This coun­ This simple fact is news to the Washington Post. -BD try desperately needs more people spending more of their money as they see fit and sending less of it to Washington. Blame it on Reno - Within hours of Janet Reno's King, last seen drooling over Ross Perot, is one of the most preposterous threat to television producers that they had bet­ inane voices coming from the capital. To paraphrase Mary ter get the violence out of their programming, else she will im­ McCarthy, everything he says is stupid, even "and" and pose further regulation, three of Liberty's editors had written "the." -CS Reflections observing the absurdity of such moral indignation coming from the person who had ordered the assault near The revolution of everyday life - The Waco that killed 85 Americans, including 15 innocent chil­ Washington Post reports that, during the internecine squab­ dren. Happily, I was saved from the dilemnla of choosing bles amongst Russian governing class of late, a few blocks which to run when Conan O'Brien made substantially the away from the fighting at the parliament building, life for same observation on his later-night television show. I mean, Muscovites was going on as normal. This seemed unusual we can't rerun jokes from television, can we? enough for our government-obsessed mavens at the Post to be The most remarkable aspect ofJanet Reno's unveiled threat fAl1)fAJJ1 coK'IE. r~ SrOCK ~

16 Liberty ------Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994 to broadcasters' first amendment rights was the entertainment censorship, how does Hollywood respond? Not so much as a industry's reaction. Barely more than a year ago, when J. peep. -RWB Danforth Quayle suggested that perhaps part of the explana­ tion for the explosion of illegitimate births was the example of Right at the Post - It was good news in early Murphy Brown, an articulate, intelligent, mature, very success­ October that publishing tycoon Rupert Murdoch succeeded in ful role-model on a television program, the Hollywood estab­ breaking the unions and salvaging the New York Post. Not that lishment responded as ifhe (a) had gone nuts, i.e., was not able the Post is or is likely ever to become a quality paper, but at to comprehend that Murphy Brown is a fictional character; and least a few free-market columnists will have an outlet in what (b) was openinga new round ofcensorship. is still the country's biggest market. Particularly welcome is But when Janet Reno makes an explicit threat to institute continued on page 30

Election Day 1993 has come and gone, and the votes have fore the election, people began to remember the $2,800,000,000 been tabulated and announced. On the positive side, voters in in tax increases with which Florio had blessed them, and the Washington enacted spending limits, voters in Maine and consequentjob losses. Whitman began to gain in the polls a few New York enacted term limits, voters in Montana prohibited days before the election, and won by a modest margin of30/0. flouridation of public water supplies, and voters in Texas In Virginia, Democratic candidate Mary Sue Terry began passed a constitutional amendment requiring ballot approval the race with a huge lead, which she managed to fritter away in of any income tax and limited any future income tax to prop­ perhaps the most idiotically managed political campaign in erty tax relief. memory. She shifted quickly from one campaign theme to an­ On the negative side, voters in Washington rejected the re­ other, leaving voters convinced that she had no beliefs at all. In peal of several new taxes, voters in California rejected school a vain attempt to gain votes by raising the gun issue that had choice, and voters in several states approved new borrowing helped Florio rise in the polls, she came out strongly in favor of or new taxes to build more prisons or parks. a mandatory five-day waiting period for handgun purchases American voters were in an angry mood, turning out an and attacked her opponent George Allen's support for the right incumbent mayor in New York and an incumbent governor to own guns. Unfortunately, for years prior to this she had been in New Jersey, and choosing a RepUblican in Virginia. And, a consistent opponent of waiting periods, had denounced man­ as usual, there were some very significant ballot measures. datory waiting periods as recently as January, and had long en­ Probably the most significant partisan election was joyed the support of the National Rifle Association. Instead of Christine Whitman's victory in New Jersey. After his election gaining support, this flip-flop left voters more convinced than in 1989, Governor James Florio was Widely celebrated as a ever that she was a political prostitute. "new" kind of Democrat, one who could articulate and imple­ Her campaign blundered again when it urged voters to re­ ment the left-liberal agenda of higher taxes and more spend­ ject RepUblican Allen because Michael Farris, the Republican ing without everyone hating him. In 1990, Florio rammed a candidate for lieutenant governor, was a born-again Christian, huge tax increase through the state legislature. Almost imme­ who thus might try to impose Pat Robertson's or Jerry diately, his popularity plumeted, and in 1990 he was so wide­ Falwell's social agenda. In fact, Allen had avoided injecting ly hated that New Jersey voters nearly unseated popular his religious beliefs into the campaign, instead advocating a airhead Senator Bill Bradley, and in 1991 elected huge majori­ more-or-Iess conventional conservatism. What's more, Terry's ties of RepUblicans to both houses of the legislature. charges offended many Virginia voters, particularly those Though voters were beginning to forget how much they who found it just as pernicious to attack a candidate for being hated Florio as the campaign began, Florio looked like a sure a born-again Christian in 1993 as it was in 1960 to attack a can­ loser. But thanks to a highly skilled campaign orchestrated by didate for being a Catholic or a Jew - not to mention the sub­ Clinton campaign manager James Carville, Florio did the im­ stantial number (340/0) of Virginia voters who are themselves possible: he pulled ahead in the polls. Carville chose a strate­ born-again Christians. gy of misdirection. Like a magician who maneuvers your Those who value individual liberty could find little attrac­ attention to the wand in his right hand while he is palming tive in either major candidate for mayor of New York. David the coin in his left, Carville focused on the issue of gun con­ Dinkins is a typical big-city Democrat, i.e., one whose immedi­ trol, trying to exploit the fact that Christine Whitman had ate response to any problem is to raise taxes, increase spend­ once said a few kind words about the second amendment. ing on favorite constituencies, and regulate the hell out of any Having gotten the voters' attention off taxes, he began per­ enterprise foolish enough to try to stay in business. His sonal attacks on Christine Whitman. Republican opponent, also endorsed by the Liberal Party, was For a while, Florio pulled ahead in the polls and it looked Rudolph Giuliani, whose major qualification for the position like this legerdemain might work. But in the last few days be- was his record as a crime-fighting federal prosecutor. Liberty 17 Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

Unhappily, his idea of prosecution is to trample the Bill of felonies as getting in barroom fights. And inSan Francisco, vot­ Rights,·suborn perjury, and get a conviction at any price. His ers narrowly passed the resolution, "it shall be the policy of the stated beliefs were hardly different from Dinkins' on most people ofSanFrancisco to allow Police Officer Bob Geary to de­ other issues. Happily, there was a Libertarian candidate on cide when he may use his puppet Brendan O'Smarty while on the ballot. Unhappily, his campaign was underfunded and duty." never really got off the ground. The Libertarian Party could list five victories in the elec­ Long before election day, it was apparent that big spend­ tions. In Birmingham, Dr Jimmy Blake, chairperson of the ing by teachers' unions in California had succeeded in under­ . Alabama LP, was elected to City Council with 55.50/0 of the mining support for school choice, and the final tally was an vote. In Woodstock, N.Y., Rebecca Wilber was elected to Town absolute rout, with over 700/0 of voters turning thumbs down. Council, and two Libertarians were elected as Inspector of In Washington, there were two complicated tax limitation Elections and one Judge of Election in Pennsylvania. initiatives were on the ballot. Proposition 601 limited future Blake's victory came in a nonpartisan election, but the main issue in the campaign was his membership in the LP. He was repeatedly forced to defend the more fragrant portions of the LP platform (e.g., explain that he supported legalizing It appears that the highest official elected prostitution, not favor prostitution itself). Happily, Jimmy solely on a Libertarian Party ticket is still po­ Blake is an extraordinarily personable man, well-known and lygamist cult leader Alex Joseph, mayor of Big liked in the community, so the attempt to paint him a prosti­ tute-loving, child-molesting drug user failed to work. Water, Utah (pop. 328). Wilber was actually a candidate on the LP ticket, but got most of her votes as a Republican. It appears that the highest official elected solely on an LP ticket is still polygamist cult state government spending increases to inflation and popula­ leader Alex Joseph, mayor of Big Water, Utah (pop. 328). tion growth and Proposition 602 repealed the tax increases Probably the best showing by a candidate in a three-way imposed by the state legislature this year. These measures race solely on the LP ticket was the 12% showing by Richard were perceived as serious threats to customary tax-and-spend Sincere, who ran an aggressive campaign for the Virginia politicians and state employees. The campaign against them House of Delegates. In New York City, Joseph Brennan got included some really humorous moments, including a prom­ 2,425 (about 0.14%) votes to show for his active but underfi­ ise from free-spending left-liberal governor Mike Lowry that nanced campaign for ~yor, an improvement of about 1/3 he would cut spending to the bone if the voters would only over the LP nominee in 1989. Vicki Kirkland and Bob Faulk reject the measures on the ballot. State employees coughed up each got over 5,000 votes in their races for the less-hotly­ more than a million dollars to finance an extraordinary bar­ contested positions of Comptroller and Public Advocate. rage of radio and television commercials, distinguished by In Canada's national election on October 25, the their absolute mendacity. The focus of the ads was 602, pre­ Libertarian Party fielded candidates in 52 ridings, garnering a sumably since it was a more immediate threat. Time and time total of 13,487 votes, down from 88 candidates and over 33,000 again, voters were told that passing 602 would "give our votes in the 1988 federal elections, leaving them only two seats money to the tobacco and alcohol companies." (What it behind the Progressive Conservatives in their struggle to be­ would actually do is eliminate the increased taxes extracted come Canada's fifth party. This was the first election contested from people who purchase alcohol or tobacco.) under "C-114," the infamous amendment to the Federal The campaign managed to get Washington's traditionally Elections Act which requires that all parties field at least 50 somnambulant voters to reject 602, but 601 passed by a small candidates or else be legally disbanded and have their assets margin. Which suggests a strategy for those who campaign seized by the government. The measure also quintupled filing for ballot initiatives that patently offend government employ­ fees to $1,000 and quadrupled signature requirements on peti­ ees. Put two measures on the ballot, on the theory that the tions to 100. Eleven national political parties were outlawed special interests focus on the more draconian and the more and their assets seized under the measure. Among them were moderate one will slip in. Perhaps the advocates of school the Social Credit Party, which had seats in Parliament from choice in California should have put an "end-funding-for­ 1935 to 1980 and was the majority party in British Columbia schools" measure on the ballot this time. for all but 4 of the past 40 years; the Confederation of Regions, The California school voucher measure and the the official opposition party in New Brunswick; and the Washington tax-rollback were not the only disappointments Communist Party. (Ironically, the CP, which advocates gov­ for libertarians. Ohio and Pennsylvania voters authorized bor­ ernment expropriation, is suing to prevent the expropriation rowing $200 million and $50 million respectively to buy parks of its assets.) and "preserve natural resources." Texas voters authorized bor­ George Dance, head of the CLP, attributed the decline in rowing $1 billion to build prisons and mental health and men­ the party's vote totals to the spectacular rise of the quasi­ tal retardation facilities. Whether this illustrates cultural libertarian Reform Party and the presence on the ballot of so difference between Texans and Midwesterners or simply that many other fringe parties, which generally fielded more candi­ people prefer prisons to parks, I am not sure. California voted dates than before, thanks to C-114, thereby splitting the an increase in sales tax to pay for more law enforcement, and protest vote. The Canadian LP has some 3,000 members, giv­ voters in Washington voted to mandate life imprisonment ing it about triple the per capita membership of the u.S. with no parole for those convicted three times of such serious Libertarian Party. -CAA 18 Liberty Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994 Correspondence

First They Came for the Fascists ... by Gerry Spence

When the Randy Weaver's wife was dead, shot through the head while she clutched her child to her breast. His son governtnent tnurders was shot, twice. First they shot the child's arm - probably destroyed the arm. The child cried out. Then, as the boy was run­ a man's wife and son, ning, they shot him in the back. Randy Weaver himself had been shot and wounded, and Kevin Harris, a kid the Weavers had all but adopted, was then puts him on dying of a chest wound. The blood hadn't cooled on Ruby Hill before the na­ tional media announced that I had taken the defense of Randy Weaver. Then trial, an injustice has all hell broke loose. My sister wrote me decrying my defense of this "racist." There were letters to the editors in several papers that expressed their disap­ occurred. If no one pointment that I would lend my services to a person with Weaver's beliefs. And I received a letter from my close friend, Alan Hirschfield, the former speaks up for the chairman and chief executive officer of Columbia Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox, imploring me to withdraw. He wrote: man's rights because After much thought I decided to write this letter to you. It represents a very pro- found concern on my part regarding your decision to represent Randy Weaver. of the man's While I applaud andfully understand your motives in taking such a case, I nonethe­ less find this individual defense troubling. It is so because ofthe respectability and unpopular political credibility your involvement imparts to a cause which I find despicable. The Aryan Nation, The Brotherhood, and the Order are all groups dedicated to beliefs, injustice is only one premise - hatred ofthe unlike by the like. They deny the Holocaust and preach the gospel ofethnic debasement and racist supremacy. They are societal mal­ contents and misfits who espouse nothing worthwhile. It is the beliefs ofthese groups cOtnpounded. that Mr Weaver represents. Mr Hirschfield went on to argue that my involvement would lend dignity to an illicit and repugnant movement: This is not Huey Newton and the Black Panthers fighting 200 years ofprejudice and second-class citizenship nor even the PLO seeking a homeland by terrorist meth­ od. While I abhor terrorism ofany kind I do understand its politics. Not so with the philosophy ofthe groups Mr Weaver stands for. The issues involved are reminiscent ofthe recent national uproar over the War­ ner Brothers recording made by the rap singer Ice T which advocated killing cops. Other tracks on the CD were virulently anti-Semitic and homophobic. The right of Ice T to publicly record these songs was not the issue. What was troublesome to my­ selfand others was the role ofWarner Bros. in disseminating his message in the name ofpreserving their"creative integrity." I gave an interview on this subject and suggested that at least in business there was a line to be drawn between unbridled creative freedom and corporate responsibility. In Warner's case they could have cho- Liberty 19 Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994 sen not to distribute this record (it still would hIlvefound a distrib­ and he was cold. His small feet were clad in rubber prison utor); instead they trumpeted the creative freedom argument and sandals. In the stark setting of the prison conference room he by lending their world-renowned prestige to the issue they impart­ seemed diminutive and fragile. He had spent eleven days in a ed to Ice T and his message a legitimacy wholly undeserved and in standoff against the government, and he had lost. His wife doing so made the recording a national hit in contrast to his previ­ was dead. His son was dead. His friend was near death. ous mediocre results. Weaver himself had been wounded. He had lost his freedom. My premise, therefore, is not the right ofWeaver or anyone else He had lost it all. And now he stood face to face with a strang­ to the best possible defense but rather the message sent when the er who towered over him and whose words were not words finest trial lawyer in America undertakes that defense, simply to of comfort. When I spoke, you, Alan, were on my mind. make thllt point. The message, I believe, will embolden those espous­ "My name is Gerry Spence," I began. "I'm the lawyer ing the cause Weaver represents and encourage other mindless hat­ you've been told about. Before we begin to talk I want you to ers to join up. The resultant media attention will provide a understand that I do not share any of your political or relig­ platform previously never enjoyed by those people. ious beliefs. Many of my dearest friends are Jews. My daugh­ I clearly know this is not your intent in defending Mr Weaver ter is married to a Jew. My sister is married to a black man. but I believe . .. there is a time when a person ofyour extraordinary She has adopted a black child. I deplore what the Nazis stood talent and commitment, and knowing full well the notoriety that for. IfI defend you I will not defend your political beliefs or comes with your representation, perhaps demurs, rather than allow your religious beliefs, but your rights as an American citizen legitiltlacy and notoriety to a sick and twisted philosophy. to a fair trial." His quiet answer was, "That is all I ask." Then I As you know, I am not a religious person . .. but I am keenly motioned him to a red plastic chair and I took a similar one. conscious ofmy heritage and the endless persecution Jews through­ And as the guards marched by and from time to time peered out the world hIlve suffered. There is in my mind no worse group of in, he told his story. people thlln those involved here who espouse both hIltred and vio­ Alan, you are a good and fair man. That I know. Were it lence against blacks and other minorities without purpose other otherwise we would not be such good friends. Yet it is your than hatred itself. They don't need a homeland, they don't propose pain I hear most clearly - exacerbated, I know, by the fact that your friend should represent your enemy. Yet what drew me to this case was my own pain. Let me tell you the facts. There are no worse people than those who es­ Randy Weaver's principal crime against the government had been his failure to appear incourt on a charge of possess­ pouse both hatred and violence against blacks ing illegal firearms. The first crime was not his. He had been and other minorities without purpose other than entrapped - intentionally, systematically, patiently, purpose­ hatred itself. As a result of your involvement ly entrapped - by a federal agentwho solicited him tocut off, contrary to federal law, the barrels ofa couple of shotguns. these same people will be given a greatly ex­ Randy Weaver never owned an illegal weapon in his life. He panded voice at this trial. was not engaged in the manufacture of illegal weapons. The idea ofselling illegal weapons had never entered his mind un­ til the government agent suggested it and encouraged him to alternatives, and they don't want a solution other than the one Hit­ act illegally. The government knew he needed the money. He ler sought. As a result ofyour involvement these same people will is as poor as an empty cupboard. He had three daughters, a be given a greatly expanded voice at this trial. son, and a wife to support. He lived in a small house in the It is because ofthis that I write and ask you to reconsider your woods withoutelectricity or runningwater. Although he is a decision to involve yourselfin this case. I do so out oftotal respect small, frail man, with tiny, delicate hands who probably and personal affection for you. And, ofcourse, whatever your deci­ weighs no more than a hundred twenty pounds, he made an sion you will always have the same respect and that same affection honest living bychopping firewood and by seasonal work as a from me. logger. Your friend, This man is wrong. His beliefs are wrong. His relationship Alan]. Hirschfield to mankind is wrong. He was perhaps legally wrong when he failed to appear and defend himself in court. But the first The next day I delivered the follOWing by carrier to Mr wrong was not his. Nor was the first wrong the government's. Hirschfield: The first wrong was ours. I cherish your letter. It reminds me once again of our In this country we embrace the myth that we are still a de­ friendship, for only friends can speak and hear each other in mocracy when we know that we are not a democracy, that we matters so deeply a part of the soul. And your letter reminds are not free, that the government does not serve us but subju­ me as well, as we all must be reminded, of the unspeakable gates us. Although we give lip service to the notion of free­ pain everyJew has suffered from the horrors of the Holo­ dom, we know the government is no longer the servant of the caust. No better evidence of our friendship could be shown people but, at last, has become the people's master. We have than your intense caring concerning what I do and what I stood by like timid sheep while the wolf killed - first the stand for. weak, then the strays, then those on the outer edges of the I met Randy Weaver in jail on the evening of his surren­ flock, until at last the whole flock belonged to the wolf. We der. His eyes had no light in them. He was unshaven and dir­ did not care much about the weak or about the strays. They ty. He was naked except for yellow plastic prison coveralls, were not a part of the flock. We did not care much about 20 Liberty Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994 those on the edges. They had chosen to be there. But as the populated with judges who were appointed by the new king. wolf worked its way toward the center of the flock we discov­ At last the new king was crowned when we forgot the lessons ered that we were now on the outer edges. Now we must of history, that when the rights ofour enemies have been wrested look the wolf squarely in the eye. That we did not do so when from them, our own rights have been lost as well, for the same rights the first of us was ripped and torn and eaten was the first serve both citizen and criminal. wrong. It was our wrong. When Randy Weaver failed to appear in court because he That none of us have felt responsible for having lost our had lost his trust in the government, we witnessed the fruits freedom has been a part of an insidious progression. In the of our crime. The government, indeed, had no intent to pro- beginning the attention of the flock was directed not to the marauding wolf but to our own deviant members within the flock. We rejoiced when the wolf destroyed them, for they Vicki was shot and slowly fell to her knees, were our enemies. We were told that the weak lay under the rocks while we faced the blizzards to rustle our food, and we her head resting on the floor like one kneeling in did not care when the wolf took them. We argued that they prayer. Randy ran up and took the baby that she deserved it. When one of our flock faced the wolf alone it was clutched, and then he lifted his wife's head. Half always eaten. Each of us was afraid of the wolf, but as a flock of her face was blown away. we were not afraid. Indeed, the wolf helped us by destroying the weak and dismembering the aberrant element within. As time went by, strangely the herd felt more secure under the teet his rights. The government had but one purpose as it re­ rule of the wolf. It believed that by belonging to this wolf it mains today, the disengagement of this citizen from society. would remain safe from all the other wolves. But we were Those who suffered and died in the Holocaust must have ex­ eaten just the same. quisitely understood such illicit motivations of power. No one knows better than the children of the Holocaust I have said that I was attracted to the case out of my own how the lessons of history must never be forgotten. Yet Amer­ pain. Let me tell you the facts: A crack team of trained gov­ icans, whose battle cry was once "Give me liberty or give me ernment marksmen sneaked onto Randy Weaver's small iso­ death," have sat placidly by as a new king was crowned. In lated acreage on a reconnaissance mission preparatory to a America a new king was crowned by the shrug of our shoul­ contemplated arrest. They gave Randy no warning of their ders when our neighbors were wrongfully seized. A new coming. They came without a warrant. They never identified king was crowned when we capitulated to a regime that was themselves. no longer sensitive to people but to non-people - to corpora­ The Weavers owned three dogs, two small crossbred collie tions, to money, and to power. The new king was crowned mutts and a yellow lab, a big pup a little over a year old when we turned our heads as the poor and the forgotten and whose most potent weapon was his tail with which he could beat a full-grown man to death. The dog, Striker, was a close member of the Weaver family. Not only was he a companion for the children, but in the winter he pulled the family sled to The government agents shot the child in the haul their water supply from the spring below. When the arm. He turned and ran, the arm flopping, and dogs discovered the intruders, they raised a ruckus, and when he did the officers, still unidentified as Randy, his friend Kevin, and Randy's 14-year-old son Sam grabbed their guns and followed the dogs to investigate. such, shot the child in the back and killed him. When the government agents were confronted with the barking dog, they did what men who have been taught to kill do. They shot Striker. The boy, barely larger than a ten-year­ the damned were rendered mute and defenseless, not be­ old child, heard his dog's yelp, saw the dog fall, and, as a 14­ cause they were evil but because in the scheme of our lives, year-old might, he returned the fire. Then the government they seemed unimportant, not because they were essentially agents shot the child in the arm. He turned and ran, the arm dangerous but because they were essentially powerless. The flopping, and when he did the officers, still unidentified as new king was crowned when we cheered the government on such, shot the child in the back and killed him. as it prosecuted the progeny of our ghettos and filled our Kevin Harris witnessed the shooting of the dog. Then he prisons with black men whose first crime was that they were saw Sam being shot as he turned around and ran. To Kevin born in the ghettos. We cheered the new king on as it diluted there was no alternative. He knew if he ran these three in­ our right to be secure in our homes against unlawful searches truders, whoever they were, would kill him as well. In de­ and secure in the courts against unlawful evidence. We fense of himself, he raised his rifle and shot in the direction of cheered the new king on because we were told that our sa­ the officer who had killed the boy. Then, while the officers cred rights were but "loopholes" by which our enemies, the were in disarray, Kevin retreated to the Weaver cabin. murderers and rapists and thieves and drug dealers, es­ In the meantime, Randy Weaver had been off in another caped. We were told that those who fought for their rights, direction and only heard the shooting, the dog's yelp, and the the lawyers, were worse than the thieves who stole from us gunfire that followed. Randy hollered for his son and shot his in the night, that our juries were irresponsible and ignorant shotgun in the air to attract the boy. and ought not be trusted. We watched with barely more than "Come on home, Sam. Come home." a mumble as the legal system that once protected us became Over and over he called. Liberty 21 Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

Finally he heard the boy call back: "I'm comin', Dad." I also feel your pain, my friend. Yet I also know that in the Those were the last words he ever heard from his son. . end, if you were the judge at the trial of Adolph Eichmann, Later that same day Randy, Kevin, and Vicki Weaver, you would have insisted that he not have ordinary counsel, Randy's wife, went down to where the boy lay and carried but the best counsel. In the same way, if you were the judge in his body back to an outbuilding near their cabin. There they Randy's case, and you had the choice, I have no doubt that removed the child's clothing and bathed his wounds and despite your own pain you might well have appointed me to prepared the body. The next evening, Weaver's oldest defend him. In the end you would know that the Holocaust daughter, Sarah, 16, Kevin and Randy went back to the shed must never stand for part justice, or average justice, but for to have a last look at Sam. When they did, the government that most notable of ideals - that even the enemies of the snipers opened fire. Randy was hit in the shoulder. The three Jews themselves must receive the best justice the system can turned and ran for the house where Vicki, with her ten­ provide. Hit were otherwise, the meaning of the Holocaust month-old baby in her arms, stood holding the door open. would be accordingly besmirched. As the three entered the house Vicki was shot and slowly fell Alan, I agree with your arguments. They are proper and to her knees, her head resting on the floor like one kneeling they are true. I agree that my defense of Randy Weaver may in prayer. Randy ran up and took the baby that she clutched, attach a legitimacy and a dignity to his politics and religion. and then he lifted his wife's head. Half of her face was blown But it may, as well, stand for the proposition that there are away. those who do not condone this kind of criminal action by our Kevin was also hit. Huge areas of muscle in his arm had government. I view the defense of Randy Weaver's case as an been blown out, and his lung was punctured in several places. opportunity to address a more vital issue, one that transcends Randy and his 16-year-old daughter stretched the dead moth­ a white separatist movement or notions of the supremacy of er on the floor of the cabin and covered her with a blanket one race over another, for the ultimate enemy of any people is where she remained for over eight days as the siege not the angry hate groups that fester within, but a govern­ progressed. ment itself that has lost its respect for the individual. The ulti­ By this time there were officers by the score, troops, ar­ mate enemy of democracy is not the drug dealer or the mored personnel carriers, helicopters, radios, televisions, ro­ crooked politician or the crazed skinhead. The ultimate ene­ bots, and untold armaments surrounding the house. I will my is the New King that has become so powerful it can mur­ not burden you with the misery and the horror the famU y der its own citizens with impunity. To the same extent that Randy Weaver cannot find justice in this country we, too, will soon be deprived of justice. At last, my defense of Randy Weaver is a defense of every Jew My defense of Randy Weaver is a defense of and every gentile, for every black and every gay who loves every Jew and every gentile, for every black and freedom and deplores tyranny. Although I understand that it will be easy for my defense of every gay who loves freedom and deplores Randy Weaver tobe confused with an endorsement of the poli­ tyranny. tics of the Aryan Nation, my challenge will be to demonstrate that we can still be a nation where the rights of the individual, despite his race, color, or religion, remain supreme. Hthis be not so, it is because we have forgotten the lessons of our histo­ suffered in the standoff. I will tell you that finally Bo Gritz, ries - the history ofthe American Revolution as well as the Randy's fornler commander in the Special Forces, came to history of the Holocaust. help in the negotiations. Critz told Randy that if he would And so my friend, Alan, if I were to withdraw from the de­ surrender, Critz would guarantee him a fair trial, and before fense of Randy Weaver as you request, I would be required to the negotiations came to an end, Randy CaIne to the belief abandon my belief that this system has any remaining virtue. that I would represent him. Although Critz had contacted me I would be more at fault than the federal government that has before he spoke to Randy, I had only agreed to talk to Randy. murdered these people, for I have not been trained to murder But the accuracy of what was said between Gritz and me and but to defend. I would be less ofa man than my client who what was heard by Randy somehow got lost in the horror, had the courage of his convictions. I would lose all respect for and Randy's belief that I would represent him if he surren­ myself. I would be unable to any longer be your friend, for dered was, in part, his motivation for finally submitting to friendship must always have its foundation in respect. There­ arrest. fore as my friend, I ask that you not require this of me. I ask, And so my friend, Alan, you can now understand the instead, for your prayers, your understanding, and your con­ pain I feel in this case. It is the pain that comes from the reali­ tinued love. zation that we have permitted a government to act in our name and on our behalf in a criminal fashion. It is the pain of As ever, watching the governrrlent as it now attempts to lie about its Gerry Spence complicity in this affair and to cover its crimes by charging Randy with crimes he did not commit, including murder. It is the pain of seeing an innocent wOlnan with her child in her arms murdered and innocent children subjected to these • atrocities. Indeed, as a human being, I feel Randy's irrepressi­ Excerpted with permission from From Freedom to Slavery: The ble pain and horror and grief. Rebirth ofTyranny in America, St. Martin's Press, 1993. 22 Liberty Report

Midnight in Moscow by Ross Overbeek

A lot has changed in Moscow in the past year. There are supermarkets, restaurants, espresso bars, and a new entrepreneurial class. And, oh yes, people are being killed in the streets.

It was a few minutes after midnight when Maxim and I entered the coffeeshop just off Smolenskaya Park in Moscow. A year ago, it was impossible to find a coffeeshop in Moscow. Now, espresso is a dollar a cup - about what I'd pay in Naperville, Illinois. During the six days I had been in Moscow working with Russian col­ leagues on a number of computer creaky elevator. We wandered down to the routine of camp life. Freedom programming problems, Moscow had a hallway with a huge hole in the ceil­ hurts too much." been gripped by a crisis. Four days ing, went through an enormous door The middle-aged Muscovite had before I arrived, the elected president, with two large locks, and passed sev­ grown up under Communism, but he Boris Yeltsin, had dissolved the legis­ eral armed guards before emerging didn't seem like an ex-innlate to me. lature and called for new elections. into a modern office complex, where "It could have happened here," he Alexander Rutskoi, the vice presi­ young, alert-looking people were said. "I thought it might. But it didn't. dent, had responded by declaring doing state-of-the-art work on the lat­ It isn't." himself the legitimate president of est computer equipment. Less than ten hours later, I was at Russia. His party of mostly old-line The associate director was running the White House. The police, heavily communists had refused to leave the Windows/NT, a system not yet wide­ armed with automatic weapons, White House, the building in which ly available in the U.S. He told me his ringed the building. It was about 9:30 the legislature met. There ensued a company was seeking Internet access. a.m. and the crowd of pro-parliament sort of.standoff: Yeltsin's opposition I gave him the computer science demonstrators consisted of only a few occupied the White House, surround­ books I had brought from America, hundred heads; they didn't seem like ed by police and soldiers, believed to expecting to have to accept some form the sort of people with whom I might be loyal to Yeltsin, along with a of payment in kind, as barter had strike up a conversation. Nothing crowd of demonstrators opposed to been the order of the day during my much seemed to be happening, and I Yeltsin's rule. previous visit. But he opened his wal­ left after about 45 minutes. Less than Maxim and I had been working on let and counted out seven $50 bills, 24 hours later, the anti-Yeltsin forces a problem in database technology all American money, to pay me for the attempted a takeover of Moscow's tel­ day and it was definitely time to books. evision station, and the situation at relax. "I really don't think too much Back in the coffeeshop, Maxim was the White House turned violent, as about these events," he was saying. reminiscing. "I studied Bettelheim, Russian troops expelled its occupants, "It's insignificant compared to what's back before perestroika. I began to un­ and the hotel where I was staying was really happening." derstand what happened to concen­ shut down because of sniper fire. Earlier, he had led me into a tration camp inmates when they were grungy building in a nondescript part liberated. A lot of them couldn't han­ of town and taken me up a tiny, dle freedorn; they wanted to go back The availability of•espresso and of Liberty 23 Volume 7, Number 2 Januar 1994

dollars to pay for American computer leases two floors of the Belgrade hotel, The biggest contrast is between the science books weren't the only changes and runs them as a separate enterprise, rouble economy and the dollar econo­ that had occurred·since my last visit to independent of the rest of the building. my. There is ample food available for Moscow, one year ago. Progress there The banks, alas, are still tied up in those with dollars - but not everyone, has been amazing. New businesses red tape. It remains common for them certainly not government workers, were springing up allover Moscow ­ to hold transferred money for weeks, have dollars to spare. When subsidies not just coffeeshops, but restaurants, even months, before releasing it. That are reduced to the point where rouble­ supermarkets, and more. makes even so basic a matter as paying users cannot afford their daily meals, Today, there are western-style su­ salaries quite difficult. something will have to give. Sooner or permarkets offering a wide variety of Private-sector salaries were zoom­ good quality food, much of it import­ ing upwards; the scientists I was work­ ed, even fresh produce. I attended a ing with were seeing increases by a The police, heavily armed banquet held for a scientific institute at factor of about 35. Price controls were which the food was superb, equal to gone, and with government interven­ with automatic weapons, anything available in the West. I later tion still limiting supplies, prices were ringed the White House. It learned that the banquet had been ca­ going through the roof. People in the was about 9:30 a.m. and the tered by a local farmer and paid for in private sector were generally unhurt, dollars. but wage-controlled public employees crowd of pro-parliament dem­ The hotel at which I stayed was rea­ were feeling a real squeeze. At the same onstrators consisted of only a sonably priced, but unusually run. You time, where free markets were allowed few hundred people. don't rent rooms from the hotel, but to function, some prices were falling. from entrepreneurs who have leased IBM-pes, a year ago 400/0 more in entire floors. I got a room from a Russia than America, had dropped to later they are going to have to produce British outfit called Clambays, which the price levels that prevail in the West. something, have to earn their way, have to stop being· dependent on a government that can no longer afford to subsidize them. The Disloyal Opposition The old ruling class of Communist apparatchiks has been stripped of many It Came From Arkansas, Libertjs new book on the Clinton administration, is a of it powers. This transformation is delightful way to share the wealth oflibertarian thinking ... continuing to this day, and is fraught Never before has a new with danger. IneVitably, the change has administration gone so wrong so quickly! brought prosperity to a new class of criminals, though the streets of Never before has a new ...... •_----_ ...._--~~~~~~~ administration been subject to such Moscow are safer than the streets of searing analysis! Chicago. But what is remarkable is that And never before have we there is also emerging a new class of offered a holiday gift idea as ideal as ~ young entrepreneurs. this book! Chester Alan Anhur, David • Boaz, Bill Bradford, Harry Browne, Two days later, I was in Pushchino, a Doug Casey, Randal O'Toole, little city about 100 kilometers from Durk Pearson, Sheldon Richman, Moscow. My friend Zhenya and I were Sandy Shaw. .. writers who make returning from a ten-mile hike. On the sense ofthis newest threat to way into town, a man passed us and freedom. tapped Zhenya on the shoulder. liThe You can purchase a copy for revolution has started," he said. $12.95 plus $2.00 shipping and The only television channel was handling. Or, with every showing an old American movie. A subscription you order, you can buy one for $9.95. That's a savings newscaster broke in. There was fight­ of$3.00 from the regular price! ing at the White House, and the TV sta­ So make your list and check it tion was under attack. Caidar appeared, asking people to take to the twice, and ifyou're feeling really The DOl Olnu.n naughty or you're feeling really Su.ry streets. nice, give ... yir\J ~n_ ~UI~ "~CIe fra. ArkIm," uinilllli Prlidil krril[ i1"1ii" GIll,'" '-It '"." 8Ii. Outside, in Pushchino, the towns­ IIiiJJ "1ibI" GiWl M~ "M" en lilt "hllr' Rea, B. "bss" IIi. at IclJllfllil1 k18JiJ ~J l i ~tr. LI. people were doing their best to be po­ It Came from Arkansas! Iriiri. IImJ ~.~ IIl1as~, _I ~L I.IlIlItlkJ. hMJ 111ieli i~il m_1nti _~.l.~tr. W.M 'J lite to foreigners while their own US~ coupon on opposit~ pag~~ or call· Li.lrlllirt. beciin Prlicr JUI iair.•me _.lrkklb.lII1UI _Jlt ~n. Mllil~ Mlle _1'lI"'l futures hung in the balance. At first, Zhenya was openly de- 1-800-854-6991 (((jive Me II LibertXJI

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This winter, why not give your friends the sheer pleasure of individualist thinking and living ... the Specia{!Jlofiaay !Rg,tesl state-of-the-art in libertarian analysis ... the free­ We offer gift subscriptions at a special rate: the low- wheeling writing of today's leading libertarians ... est price subscriptions we have ever offered! the joy of pulling the rug out from under the illiberal First Gift (or your renewal) $19.50 establishment. Second Gift $17.00 These are a few of the little pleasures we prOVide Each Additional Gift $15.00 every other month. Wouldn't it be fun to share them with a friend? '1t Came from .9LrKgnsas II In the past year, Liberty has published the writing And with every subscription, buy a copy of the new of Douglas Casey, Karl Hess, John Hospers, David book on the Clinton administration, "It Came from Ar­ Friedman, Richard Kostelanetz, Bill Kauffman, David kansas" (see advertisement on opposite page), for only Boaz, Jane Shaw, Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw ... $9.95 (regular price: $12.95 + $2.00 shipping and han­ The most exciting libertarian writers providing a feast dling), either to give as a gift or to keep for yourself! ofgood reading! Act Today! These special rates are available only You pay a compliment when you give the gift of through January 15, 1994. And remember, your own Liberty. Send us your gift list tooay, and we'll send subscription or renewal qualifies as one of the subscrip­ your greeting with every issue! We'll also send a tions. handsome gift card in your name to each recipient. Use the handy coupon below, or the special cou­ pon/envelope inside. Or call: This is the ideal gift ... it is so easy, and so inex­ pensive ... 800-854-6991 as low as $15.00 a year! What could be easier-or better! r------,' Please send the subscriptions and books as ..., " I·Yes marked below. I understand that a gift card 0 Subscrlption 0 1tCame from Arkansas I will be sent in my name to each recipient. N arne I I o First Gift 0 Renewal 0 '1t Came from Arkansas" Address ------I Name City I I Address State Zip I I City 0 Subscription 0 '1t Came from Arkansas" I I State Zip Name------I Address I 0 Check enclosed 0 Charge my Visa or MasterCard ------I City _ Account # Expires _ I S. State Zip I 19nature ------Send to: Liberty, PO Box 1181, Port Townsend, WA 98368..1 L ------Volume 7, Number 2 Januar 1994

pressed at Yeltsin's failure to move ing me from returning from Puschino money, regulatory harassment, and earlier and more aggressively. Later to Moscow. Instead, I had to go the like in today's Russia. And it's that evening, he seemed to change his straight to the airport. The drive was probably unavoidable. Russia is far, mind: "Yeltsin could not have moved weirdly fascinating. Petrol prices were far away from a truly free economy, earlier. Had he initiated the aggres­ still being held down, so a black mar­ but matters are improving rapidly. sion, world opinion would have con­ ket had formed. Gas trucks would just demned him. As it stands, by waiting park a few minutes at turnoffs, cars as long as he has, he can institute would stop and refill, then everyone Less than 24 hours later, the whatever actions he wishes - if he would move on. It created traffic prob­ lems, and I imagine the regulators situation at the White House didn't care much fo~ it, but it's just turned violent, and the hotel people making the most of a bad situa­ where I was staying was shut He opened his wallet and tion. Russians are adapting. A market counted out seven $50 bills, is appearing. down because ofsniper fire. American money. Consider the abstract problem of how to move an authoritarian society with a parasitical power structure in a The existing power structure is break­ libertarian direction. It is clear that can win." he could win - that was ingdown. If those who hold power will let it go asking a lot. The key problems now are avoid­ only gradually, and after a long and Everything would hinge on how ing civil war, developing a functioning hard struggle. Once change seems in­ the army reacted that night, he contin­ judicial system, and establishing in­ evitable, the smarter members of the ued. By not responding immediately, creased spheres for private property. nomenklatura will try to gain privileged Yeltsin had turned a threatening situa­ That's a tall order but I think the one­ positions in the freer society, stashing tion into a comedy. But in doing so, he time Soviets just might pull it off. away as much as they can skim off had looked weak, and the loyalty of li you get the chance, go over to during the transition. the army might waver. visit Moscow and St. Petersburg. Talk Hence the common Muscovite com­ But the army did remain loyal to with the people - a surprisingly large ment: "li you're rich, you're probably a Yeltsin, and within two days the presi­ number can speak English very well. thief." dent had prevailed. By not immediate­ You'll find new opportunities and ex­ An American friend who manages ly responding, Yeltsin had made his traordinary individuals. You'll see able a fairly large Moscow operation told opponents look like thugs and crimi­ leaders making unrecognized contri­ me his approach to business survival: nals. His reward was the sympathy of butions. You'll discover a nation with "Take any aid and just offer $100,000 most Russians and of the foreign pow­ a real hope that for all the current trou­ to each bureaucrat you have to deal ers when he did ultimately crack down bles, a better tomorrow can still be with, in a prioritized order. Let the on the legislature. had. money go as far as it will. But make it a It's well past midnight now. The condition that, if they take it, they dawn is on its way. These are the Travel restrictions •were imposed after must leave." strange times, the ambiguous times -, the parliamentary showdown, prevent- There is a lot of bribery, protection but things are getting better. 0

Letters, continued from page 4

anyone who dares to challenge state of the beast. NPR, Sil authority. Those cowed by such threats Dean R. Hyatt While I share some of Glenn usually evade obvious examples of Ontario, Calif. Garvin's criticisms of NPR, All Things government brutality by rationaliZing Considered, and Morning Edition ("How the decision-making process that caus­ Now, a Word for Lomasky Do I Loathe NPR? Let Me Count the es the act. Based on eight years in the Navy, Ways," August 1993), I feel compelled That Lomasky sympathized with three years work on a government con­ to point out the good in NPR. Reno's suffering persuades this writer tract, and nine years as a government For example, commentator Baxter that he is rationalizing the wrong and employee, I have to agree with Mr Black, cowboy and former large­ discounting the innocent victims. Lomasky's analysis of the Waco disas­ animal veterinarian, is closer to litera­ While it seems that the professor ter. But, as always, R.W. Bradford's ar­ ture than news. Red Barber added in­ is a moral and honest person, his ticle was also thought-provoking. He's teresting angles and background suggestion that those who command right - ineptitude doesn't excuse information to sports. And I'll never the "levers of power" might share murder. forget Andre Codrescu's commentary these attributes can only mean that Don Kosloff on the Clinton inauguration, which, he does not understand the nature Perry, Ohio continued on page 44 26 Liberty Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994 Dispute NAFTA and/or Free Trade

The North American Free Trade Agreement has fallen on hard times ­ even among advocates of free trade. Here are two very different perspectives.

ing trade with Mexico. mains outside the ambit of environ­ The Greening of Trade Yet are the changes so small? After mental challenge. all, economic liberty is possible only in Before NAFTA, nations were able Fred L. Smith, Jr. a world of dispersed political power; to restrict trade in a specific good based James M. Sheehan without any competitive checks, regula­ on the nature of the good itself. On tory bodies become ever more totalitari­ those grounds, environmental and eco­ NAFTA was once championed as a free an. Once, federalism disciplined nomic protectionists have already trade agreement, and many free traders excessive regulation. H California im­ created great mischief - the Chilean stillsupport it, believing it a reasonable posed too many restrictions on its econ­ grape scandal, efforts to·.ban Latin way to expand trade in a protectionist omy, firms would move to other states. American beef, European efforts (sup­ world. In fact, NAFTA is a managed The onslaught of nationally uniform ported by American activists) to re­ trade agreement that threatens to fur­ regulations has largely eliminated this strict U.S. meat imports. Still, trade law ther regulate three nations already suf­ disciplinary effect, leaving industry did not seek to regulate production fering from excessive red tape. NAFTA only one escape hatch - to move over­ and process methods - the environ­ is a threat to genuine free trade. seas. The pro-NAFTA environmental­ mental implications of the way goods President Bush deserves much of ists' goal is to extend regulation across are produced. "Social and environmen­ national borders. tal dumping" were concepts alien to the blame for this. It was he who ac­ American environmentalists have traditional trade policy. cepted the environmentalists' view that already begun to extend their trans­ Under NAFTA, Canada, the United NAFTA required special provisions to national influence. The Basel Conven­ States, and Mexico are to harmonize manage trade's environmental impact. tion extends the American confusion their environmental laws, are obligated When Clinton was elected president, over the actual risks associated with to enforce their domestic environmen­ the environmental lobbies demanded "hazardous" wastes to world trade, tal laws, and are discouraged from ra­ that these provisions be given en­ making it far harder for Third World tionalizing existing environmental laws forcement "teeth" - hence, the treaty's countries to contribute to responsible when such reforms might be perceived infamous side agreements. Not surpris­ waste management. The Marine Mam­ as "environmental dumping" - sacri­ ingly, NAFI'A is now supported by mal Protection Act, a domestic U.S. law, ficing the environment for competitive most major environmentalist groups. was nonetheless used to restrict the purposes. NAFTA eliminates the dis­ They believe it grants them major new tuna trade with Mexico. The Conven­ tinction between the good and the pro­ powers over global ecological issues. tion on International Trade in Endan­ duction method used. Under NAFTA, Are they right? gered Species has limited Third environmentalists are allowed to scruti­ Most free traders believe they are Worlders' ability to commercialize ­ nize the environmental practices of not. Alan Reynolds of the Hudson Insti­ and thus, ironically, to preserve - their Mexico, the U.S., and Canada to ensure tute, Brink Lindsey of the Cato Insti­ wildlife; the African elephant is a poig­ that they are not"unfair!y subsidizing" tute, Ed Hudgins of the Joint Economic nant example. The Rio Earth Summit their industries with low environmen­ Committee (Republican Staff), Wesley triggered a flurry of international agree­ tal compliance costs. Smith of the Heritage Foundation, and ments along the lines of the earlier­ How serious a threat are these new even Milton Friedman see these side enacted Montreal Protocol. All these implicit powers? One indication is the agreements as mere warts on a good laws pose serious threats to economic fact that the Natural Resources Defense deal - foolish and costly, but largely and technological development. But Council, the Environmental Defense irrelevant to the larger issue of expand- their effect is limited. Most trade re- Fund, the National Wildlife Federation, Liberty 27 Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

the World Wildlife Fund, the National age plants throughout the nation mandates, for example, can be modi­ Audubon Society, and Conservation In­ aren't meeting their cleanup goals, fied by the state and such changes ternational have all endorsed NAFfA many urban regions are air "non­ are not subject to EPA challenge. and are fighting for its passage. These attainment" areas, and so forth. NAF­ However, if such rule changes im­ organizations have been extremely TA empowers any citizen or environ­ prove the economic competitiveness adroit in the past at exploiting the com­ mental group to call for an of firms in the area (a probable result plexities of ambiguous language and investigation at any time. Why pro­ of any rational environmental law) elaborate adVisory studies and panels vide the American environmental the change could be seen as an at­ to gain power over the U.s. economy. groups and foreign trading competi­ tempt to "waive or derogate from" As an example, consider the creative tors any new rationales for old pro­ environmental standards to retain in­ conversion of the Clean Water Act's tectionist policies? vestment - a NAFTA no-no. The "navigable waterways" language into • NAFfA encourages ever more strin­ EPA is already the most powerful bu­ the restrictive "no net loss of wetlands" gent environmental regulations. reaucracy in the history of our na­ policy. Note, also, that these groups ne­ NAFTA encourages "harmonization" tion. Is it wise to grant this agency gotiated and wrote these side agree- of the three governments' environ­ still more power? mental, food-safety, and inspection These complex commitments are to regulations (NAFTA Articles 714, be backed up by a new, sprawling, tri­ The pro-NAFTA environ­ 906). It also specifically allows coun­ national bureaucracy called the Com­ tries to have higher (not lower) stan­ mission on Environmental Coopera­ mentalists' goal is to extend dards than their competitors, and tion, funded by the three governments regulation across national bor­ specifically bars nations from lower­ at an unspecified level. The commission ders. ing their standards to advance har­ will wield the authority to stigmatize as monization. The side agreements an environmental criminal any nation­ specify that the "laws and regula­ al, state, or provincial government tions prOVide for high levels of envi­ which fails to "effectively" enforce its ments - shouldn't we take what they ronmental protection" and "strive to own environmental laws. A govern­ wrote seriously? Finally, remember that continue to improve those laws and ment so targeted can be punished with these agreements will be implemented regulations" (Side Agreement Article fines of up to $20 million per offense. by an administration governed in envi­ 3). For such reasons, we argue that Punishment can also take the form of ronmental matters by Al Gore and NAFTA requires upward harmoniza­ trade sanctions, with tariffs reimposed staffed by individuals who, in the tion of environmental rules. What words of the Washington Post, are else can harmonizing disparate rules "greener than the Jolly Green Giant!" with none being lowered mean? But enough theory - let us turn to •NAFfA will make it more difficult NAFTA furnishes new lev­ the exact language of NAFTA. The ex­ to rationalize regulations. NAFTA ers of power to existing ene­ tensive commitments contained therein specifically discourages nations from are enough to make any friend of liberty relaxing environmental laws ("waive mies of liberty. shudder. Among these new challenges: or otherwise derogate from") to at­ •NAFTA creates new pressures to tract or retain investment (NAFTA tighten regulatory enforcement. As Article 1114). "Intent" is a very diffi­ and NAFTA's trade and investment Senator Baucus has pointed out: cult concept to determine in practice benefits suspended. "NAFfA's side agreements obligate and, clearly, many rationalizations of The threat is not that independent each country to enforce its environ­ environmental policy might be criti­ Naftacrats will run roughshod over na­ mental laws, and they prescribe pun­ cized by environmental activists on tional sovereignty, but rather that NAF­ ishment if enforcement is ineffective" these grounds. NAFTA grants them TA furnishes new levers of power to (see, for example, Side Agreement ample opportunity to oppose such re­ existing enemies of liberty. The history Articles 5 and 24). NAFTA also man­ forms. All environmental rules have of state environmental agencies is in­ dates"appropriate governmental ac­ economic impacts; many environ­ stru.ctive. Often, such agencies allied tion" to effectively enforce laws, such mental rules achieve little or no themselves with the national EPA to as on-site inspections, searches and good; yet, they remain cha~pioned encourage rules far more stringent than seizures, administrative orders, fines, by important environmental organi­ necessary for their state. How likely are imprisonment, and closure of facili­ zations. Do we wish to strengthen national EPAs to defend their econo­ ties (Side Agreement Article 5). their ability to block reform? mies against the excessive regulation Such rules might seem reasonable • NAFfA expands the EPA's power NAFTA encourages, given that such until one realizes that Virtually all over states and localities. The EPA pressures can only expand their power U.S. environmental laws are selec­ currently has no power over state and influence? tively enforced. There are over 300 and local environmental laws that The commission's staff is supposed "endangered" species that have not are enacted independently of any to conduct studies designed to support yet been "protected," municipal sew- federal mandate. Local recycling "sustainable development" (whatever 28 Liberty Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994 that is), promote the use of "economic "free trade or protectionism" frame. Ec­ Perot's steady, ignorant warnings of instruments" (taxes and subsidies) to onomic liberty cannot be advanced by massive job loss, even the viable politi­ efficiently achieve environmental goals, creating new procedures to restrict it. 0 cal constituency for NAFTA's wan, hes­ increase the use of life-cycle analyses to itant steps toward freer trade is being encourage "better" products, and what­ lost. The time to deal protectionism a ever other matters it may decide (Side crushing blow is now - if protection­ Agreement Article 10). The NAFTA Pass it and Move On ists win this battle, free traders will secretariat will be prompted, bolstered, have to face a juggernaut that can be and bullied by the environmental Brian Doherty halted only with the greatest effort. H lobbies, operating through non-govern­ NAFTA goes down, protectionism will mental advisory committees. Here, as It isn't just Ross Perot and his amen cor­ reign supreme in America's political in so many areas of public policy, the ner of yahoo protectionists who are life. The Buchanan/Perot logic will taxpayer will pay for "public participa­ beating the drums for stopping the next lead to increased trade barriers tion" grants to ensure that "progres­ North American Free Trade Agreement. against other Third World nations. sive" groups may promote their pro­ Now free traders are finding the treaty It was a mistake to negotiate regulation agenda. fatally flawed as well. Flawed NAFTA NAFTA in the first place, but now that On a deeper level, free marketeers certainly is, but defeating it would be it's here, its death will mean death for should look beyond the language of letting the best kill the better, and free trade as a viable political stance for NAFTA to the larger alliance the agree­ would destroy the cause of free trade decades. This is the reality free traders ment embodies. Beltway environ­ for at least a political generation. And must face. mentalists have recognized the funda­ so I find myself in the unenviable posi­ Certainly, there is not a lot to cheer mental reality that their old alliances tion of defending NAFTA. about in NAFTA as it is. Fighting for it with Big Labor protectionists were not I've raised the question of NAFTA's requires more defense than offense. going to accomplish the goal of interna­ purity myself, in an article for the Janu­ tional regulation - Big Labor is a dy­ ary 1993 Reason. The article mocked the ing force in American politics. So absurd bureaucratese in which NAFTA Let's not refuse to take any they've shifted their strategy; now, they is written and pointed out the many embrace Big Business protectionists. places where it falls far short of ideal steps toward our destination That alliance is logical for Big Business, free trade. It doesn't eliminate anti­ just because they don't take us which already copes with complex en­ dumping laws; its rules of origin are vironmental rules. Rising environmen­ needlessly restrictive and require too there immediately. tal and safety standards offer Big much record-keeping paperwork from Business protection from both domestic importers and exporters; it creates too entrepreneurs and foreign competitors. many new bureaucratic boards; it con­ Luckily, attacks on NAFTA are usually By legitimizing a new protectionist tains the awful giveaway Article 801, typical protectionist nonsense from the force, NAFTA turns green locusts on which allows a return to old tariff rates likes of Perot, or else paranoia­ the already drying fields of internation­ if an import surge causes "serious inju­ mongering by those portions of the al economic growth. ry, or a threat thereof, to a domestic free-trade Right whose sense of propor­ NAFTA represents a massive turn­ industry." tion vanishes in the face of environ­ ing point. In· many ways, the nation When Reason's editor asked me to mentalism - a threat magnified a now faces a situation similar to late sum up whether, on balance, I still thousandfold by their own fervid imag­ nineteenth-eentury America, when thought passing NAFTA was a good inations. Accusations are flying that such new federal regulatory bodies as thing - not an ideal thing, but, given NAFTA's new side agreements will al­ the Interstate Commerce Commission present political realities, a good thing low supranational bureaucracies to were created to supplant ineffective -I reluctantly said yes. Tariffs will overturn local or state regulations for­ state controls over "robber baron" capi­ drop, and the example of largely open ever. These arguments are based more talism. International trade is forcing trade between an advanced industrial on a Bircher-level fear of the devilish business to be far more competitive economy and a Third World one suc­ cleverness and power of environmental than it would prefer. As Dwight Lee ceeding to everyone's benefit is impor­ lobbies to get their way against the ex­ and Richard McKenzie point out in tant in the larger battle for worldwide plicit language of the treaty and the Quicksilver Capital, firms quickly disin­ open markets. Even after the addition side agreements. (They even argue that vest in nations that impose oppressive of objectionable labor and environmen­ leading environmental groups' public regulatory and tax burdens. NAFfA tal side agreements, I still, reluctantly disagreement over NAFTA's merits is a addresses that "problem" by creating a but with certainty, say yes to NAFTA. premeditated good cop-bad cop rou­ framework that might well grow, as the Here's why. While my ideal for my tine, as if these groups jealously com­ EC bureaucracy did, into an interna­ country is unilateral elimination of peting over a limited audience of tionally cartelized economy. trade barriers, regardless of what other supporters are going to immolate them­ Free marketeers should not be mis­ nations do, there is no political constitu­ selves in the service of International En­ led by the NAFfA debate's simplistic ency for such a move now. Thanks to vironmentalism. The Natural Resources Liberty 29 Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

Defense Council has lost more mem­ what? Are our sovereign laws to be contain a lot of counterproductive non­ bers over its pro-NAFTA stance than overturned by these global environ­ sense that has no place in a soi-disant any other issue in its history.) mental cops? free trade agreement; and, contra Roth­ Article 3 of the side agreement rec­ No, then the disputing countries bard, I don't support NAFTA out of a ognizes "the right of each Party to es­ have to agree on an action plan to alle­ knee-jerk reaction to those magic tablish its own levels of domestic viate the pattern. H no agreement is words, "free trade." I support it, warts environmental protection and environ­ reached, or an agreement is reached but and all, because it represents the crea­ mental development policies and prior­ tion of a (mostly) free trade zone be­ ities, and to adopt or modify tween three different nations of vastly accordingly its environmental laws and differing levels of economic develop­ regulations." It goes on to exhort par­ Flawed NAFTA certainly ment; because a defeat may strangle ties "to improve these laws," but this is, but defeating it would de­ Mexican economic reform in the crib; language bears no legal weight. The stroy the cause offree trade for because a victory for it will be a stand­ guarantee of sovereignty, however, is ing reproach to neanderthal protection­ airtight. The Commission on Environ­ at least a generation. ism; and because its flaws do not mental Cooperation, envisioned by outweigh its benefits. some of the anti-NAFfA forces as a Yes, exclusive free trade agreements bunch of green stormtroopers bashing broken, a fine of up to $20 million can distort "natural" trade flows, as I've down the doors of bewildered Middle be levied against the offending country. heard some supposedly sophisticated American shopkeepers, is in reality And if this isn't paid, NAFTA trade Misesians argue - but in a world of na­ merely a debating society for considera­ benefits can be suspended up to this tion-states, all with some protectionist tion of environmental questions relat­ $20 million limit. barriers, "natural" trade flows cannotbe ing to NAFTA's signatories. It has no Free traders have made further spe­ discerned. Let's not refuse to take any direct investigatory powers. cific arguments, alleging that the treaty steps toward our destination just be­ And if a "persistent pattern of fail­ restricts our freedom to lower environ­ cause they don't take us there immedi­ ure ... to effectively enforce ... envi­ mental regulations. I don't have the ately. NAFTA is a mess; it's filled with ronmental law" relating to trade space to rebut them all here. Suffice it unnecessary bureaucratization; it's not between the NAFTA nations is found to say, they all rely on misreading hora­ pure free trade. Let's pass it and move - and if that "persistent pattern" is not tory language as legally binding and ig­ on, strengthened, to fight further battles a "reasonable exercise of discretion" noring language that explicitly reserves for free trade, instead of crawling off to and does not come from "bona fide de­ sovereign rights in setting environmen­ lick our wounds, crippled by the shrill cisions to allocate resources to ... other tal standards to the signing parties. political castrati named Buchanan and environmental measures" then Certainly, all of these side agreements Perot. a

Medianotes, continuedfrom page 17

a new weekly feature, "Timeswatch," written by neocon pun­ mitted to refuse sexual advances. dit Hilton Kramer, editor of The New Criterion and himself a (2) Another news article (September 28) dealt with the former arts columnist for the New York Times. Kramer's two L.A. policemen in the Rodney King case who had been premise is that, in consequence of recent key staff changes, the railroaded in the federal double-jeopardy trial. A lower court Times is becoming a major organ of political correctness. decided that they could be set free on bail until their final H so, this is very bad news. Papers around the country as pleas were heard. The Times writer wrote: "Although Ser­ well as the electronic media tend to take their lead from the geant Koon and Officer Powell have remained free through Times. Unfortunately, my daily Times reading more and more the two trials, the two [black] men accused of beating the confirms Kramer's verdict. Take two items featured as news in truck driver, Reginald O. Denny, have been held in jail since recent days. being arrested in May 1992, with bail set as high as (1) A front-page story on September 25 deals with the no­ $580,000." This "perceived inequality" has angered many in torious "sex harassment" code adopted at Antioch College. the black community, according to the Times reporter. No­ This code mandates that, in any sexual encounter, the initia­ where in the article does the reporter point out that the two tion of each new "level" of activity must receive the explicit young thugs were accused, not simply of beating Denny, but verbal consent of the other party. The article, written with an attempted murder. obvious radical-feminist slant, reports the initial reaction of The New York Times has never really been objective, es­ male students as follows: "The boys were appalled. 'If I have pecially when it comes to foreign affairs, and most especial­ to ask those questions I won't get what I want,' blurted one ly whenever Israel is involved. Now bias infects every story young man." As for the "beneficiaries" of the new code: "The haVing to do with race, sex, and their ramifications girls, for their part, were trying on the idea that they could throughout our culture. America should be on the alert: have sex if they wanted and refuse it if they did not." Yes, of "the newspaper of record" is on its way to becoming a PC course - before this new code, girls at Antioch were not per- rag. -RR 30 Liberty Analysis After the Election, Ie De1uge by Scott J. Reid

Canadian voters removed 98.7% of their ruling party's members of parliament and elected more than 100 new members who sympathesize with succession. How long will Canada survive?

Connoisseurs of Canadian history - all three of them - are aware that 1993 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the mailbox bomb blast that announced the arrival on the politickl scene of Canada's very own separatist terrorist party: the Front de liberation du Quebec. The FLQ has long .since departed the political scene, but this anniversary year's fed- eral election has brought into parlia- Commons before and after the vote: two new regional parties. The Bloc ment another separatist party, the Party Pre-election Post-election Quebecois will, by virtue of its two­ seat lead over Reform, become Her Bloc Ql.lebecois, plus a contingent of P.C. 154 2 Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Lucien quasi-libertarians from the Canadian Lib. 79 178 Bouchard, the Bloc's leader, cam­ West in the form of the Reform Party. N.D.P. 43 9 paigned on a platform of leading The two new parties have caused a B.Q. 8 54 Quebec to 1/real power." That means blast of their own, in the form of the Ref. 1 52 spectacular implosion of the govern­ he'd prefer independence,. but will There are four points of interest here. ing Progressive Conservative Party. settle in a pinch for substantially larg­ The most obvious one is the complete But the sudden death of the er transfer payments to his province. Conservatives, who were reduced in decimation of the ruling Progressive Writing in Liberty two years ago, I this election from 154 seats in the Conservatives. The second - a bit of predicted that the Bloc would win all House of Commons to just two, is a side issue to the main events taking 65 of the Quebec seats in which only half the story. The 1993 election place in Ottawa - is the radical French-speakers form the majority. As witnessed the complete disintegration downsizing of the New Democratic it turns out, Bouchard did not quite of the old Canadian party system. Party. The last time Canada's socialist pull off this trick, but his party did Under this system, the Liberals and party sent a contingent this small to win nearly three-quarters of Quebec's the Conservatives alternated in build­ Parliament Hill, talking pictures were seats and all but one of the seats in ing governing coalitions founded on a recent innovation. What cut the which there is no immigrant or winning all the seats in Quebec and NDP down to size was the fact that English-speaking component. (These about a third of those in English nobody in the party seems to be two groups voted almost 1000/0 for Canada. This arrangement was the in­ aware that the 1930s have ended. Jean Chretien's Liberals.) Of the nine­ formal glue that, more than any for­ Canadian political culture has been teen Quebec seats that did go to the mal institution, held Canada together. evolVing over the past few years to­ Liberals, more than half will have rep­ One of the by-products of its collapse, ward a more free-enterprise-oriented resentatives who themselves are im­ therefore, will be the breakup of the outlook, but the New Democrats re­ migrants or English-speakers. country. main trapped in an Old Left time This means that for only the sec­ The extent to which things have loop. ond time ever in Canada's history, a been changed by the election of Surprises number three and four majority government will come to October 26 can be seen by comparing come with the arrival in Ottawa of Ottawa without any substantial repre­ the seat count in the House of over 100 untested legislators from the sentation from French Canada. Only Liberty 31 Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

once (1917-21) has a party ever gov­ are more conscious oftheir minority po­ in 1962. These rebellions took the form erned with a parliamentary majority sition than English-speakers are of their of voters sending contingents of third­ despite having suffered a decisive de­ majority status; hence, French-speakers party MPs to Ottawa; each time, the feat in Quebec. There have been sever­ tend to vote more cohesively. The result Liberals and Conservatives were able al short-lived governments that is that, in any given election, Quebec's to fight off the challenge through a included only a few MPs from the seats all tend to go to a single party, combination of high-minded appeals French province (1926, 1957-58, 1962­ while English Canada's are divided be­ to national unity and guttural warn­ 63, and 1979-80), but in each case the tween the winner and the loser, with a ings that true power lies in being rep­ absence of a strong contingent of few English seats going to the NDP as resented in the governing party. Quebec MPs was not accompanied by well. It thus made good political sense It is almost certain that the Liberals a massive majority of the seats of the for both the Liberals and the will attempt to use such tactics once Conservatives to devote most of their again to reestablish the status quo ante attention on satisfying Quebec's collec­ in the next federal election. But first, tive concerns, even if this meant alienat­ Canada has to stay in one piece for the The 1993 election witnessed ing much ofthe rest of thecountry. next five years. This should be quite a the complete disintegration of The loser in this struggle would challenge. the old Canadian party sys­ wind up with about 600/0 of the votes in English Canada, while the winner The Year(s) of tem. One ofthe by-products of would cobble together a coalition of al­ Living Dangerously its collapse will be the breakup most all the seats in Quebec and only a Two wedges seem likely to drive of the country. third or so of English Canada's seats. Canada apart in the period between Mackenzie King, for example, served this election and the next. First is the as prime minister for over 20 years way in which the Bloc Quebecois and the Reform Party will be forced by English-speaking prOVinces. Therefore, with a career average of 860/0 of Quebec's parliamentary seats and less their supporters into positions of per­ each government was unable to garner petual confrontation. Second is the an absolute majority of seats in the than 400/0 of the popular vote in the rest of the country. His electoral coali­ complete lack of mutual sympathy and House of Commons, and was swiftly understanding between Canada's two swept away.* tion involved winning Quebec and the west while freeZing out Ontario. It is nations, which has taken the form of a When the Party Ends said he used to pray his candidates in new nation-threatening mythology. That French and English Canadians The idiosyncratic outcome of Toronto would be defeated, for have never understood each other very October's election signals the end of Toronto always voted for the loser. the electoral coalition that has domi­ Similarly, Pierre Trudeau governed nated Canadian politics since 1867. For for 16 years from a Quebec-Ontario well over a century, Canada's parlia­ axis that froze out the west. With the This year's election has mentary system had been dominated exception of his first election in 1968, by an unusual party structure. As in when he carried a bare majority of the brought into parliament a con­ the United States, the federal scene seats in English Canada, Trudeau was tingent of quasi-libertarians was dominated by two large parties: a perpetual loser outside Quebec. In from the Canadian West in the the Liberals and the Conservatives. his final election in 1980, Trudeau won form ofthe Reform Party. (The NOP, known until the 1960s as every seat but one in Quebec and only the Cooperative Commonwealth Fed­ 73 of 207 in the rest of the country ­ eration, emerged as a third player in just better than one-third. By this time, the 1930s only to get perpetually stuck his party held only two seats west of well is illustrated by the title of the in third place.) What was uniquely the Ontario-Manitoba border. Brian classic Canadian novel, Two Solitudes. Canadian was the two major parties' Mulroney repeated Trudeau's feat ­ In the past half decade this mutual in­ century-long struggle with one another only this time, it was the west that was comprehension has given rise to two to gain control of an electoral coalition in and Ontario that was out. extraordinary myths that will help that could only be maintained by alien­ Throughout this period, the system split the country. ating the greater share of voters in was self-maintaining. There were occa­ French-speakers are unanimous in Canada's English-speaking majority. sional populist revolts against the stat­ their belief that they were collectively The coalition was based on a single, us quo - in English Canada in 1920, stabbed in the back by the representa­ simple factor. French Canadian voters there again in the 1930s, and in Quebec tives of English Canada in November 1981. On the night of November 4, then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau * The government of R.B. Bennett (1930-35) constitutes a partial exception to this rule. and nine of Canada's ten provincial Bennett governed with a parliamentary majority but only one third of Quebec'S seats. Still, premiers cut a deal to amend the con­ this was enough to give him a respectable level of Quebec representation in his caucus stitution. The one premier who was left and cabinet. out of the deal was Rene Levesque of 32 Liberty Volume 7, Number 2 Janura 1994

Quebec, who was sleeping in his hotel Quebecois MP even accused Chretien rather than cronyism. He had never as the final deal was being patched to­ of haVing stabbed Quebec in the face. been secretive about his separatist be­ gether.t Quebec was frozen out of the It will be hard for a man saddled with liefs, and when, after two years in the federal constitution, which is Widely such an image to mount a credible cabinet, it finally appeared that in order regarded in the province as therefore fight against Quebec separatism, par­ to keep his high salaryand chauffeur he being an illegitimate document. One ticularly when the separatists are led would be required to be silent and sup­ other key element of the story is that by the popular Lucien Bouchard. portive of policies repugnant to his con­ Jean Chretien was Trudeau's chief con­ English Canada will be limited in science, he chose instead to resign. stitutional negotiator at the time. Thus, its ability to deal rationally with Moreover, it is odd that he should be re­ it was the man who is now becoming viled for stabbing Mulroney in the prime minister who allegedly adminis­ back, when the Tories' disastrous tered the final traitorous blow to his The real question is not so October 25 defeat is mostly attributable own province. to millions of Canadians' desire to stick There isn't much truth to the myth. much if Canada will break up, their own knives into the Conservative The reality is that Rene Levesque did or even when, but rather: In Party, as an act of revenge against its not take part in the constitutional nego­ what manner? much-despised former leader. tiations in good faith, so it would have Of course, it should be clear that been impossible to produce any kind these myths have less to do with Jean of consensus with his agreement. Chretien and Lucien Bouchard them­ Bouchard, thanks to an equally spuri­ Levesque himself knew this, and by selves than they do with the two men's ous piece of popular mythology. the end of 1983, only two years after roles as symbols of the deepest misun­ Bouchard, a former college buddy of what is now called the "night of the derstandings between Canada's two Mulroney's, was recruited by his long knives," he announced that he communities. Exactly how the two friend into federal politics in 1988, and men are supposed to negotiate with was no longer a separatist, and that was given a high-profile cabinet post. one another when every action they Quebec should regard Canada as a As the Meech Lake constitutional ac­ undertake in the future will be inter­ "good bet" ("un beau risque"). cord was unraveling in early 1990, preted as proof of one myth or another, Moreover, in 1981 nearly all Quebec Bouchard announced that he was re­ is not clear. MPs voted in favor of the constitution­ signing his cabinet post and leaVing al amendments. Public opinion in the Conservatives to set up his own The Best-Laid Plans Quebec at the time was neither wildly separatist party. Thus was the Bloc of Mice and Federalists supportive nor dramatically opposed Quebecois born. Despite his formidable reputation to the new amendments. The English-Canadian view is that among English-speaking Canadians, The myth itself sprang to life dur­ Bouchard knOWingly deceived his best Lucien Bouchard is actually a condi­ ing the inconclusive "Meech Lake" friend, accepting Mulroney's invitation tional separatist, meaning that he is constitutional negotiations of 1987­ to join federal politics because he willing to oppose secession if he is con­ 1990, when Prime Minister Brian planned all along to sabotage national vinced that Quebec's interests can be Mulroney and Quebec Premier Robert unity. In pulling the plug on Brian better-served in a united Canada. Bourassa repeatedly emphasized how Mulroney when he did, Bouchard is Likewise, his party gained the votes Quebec had been betrayed in 1981. accused of having deliberately under­ not only of the separatists, but also of They seem to have made this claim in mined the chances for a successful con­ the many Quebecois federalists who order to make their own rather patchy stitutional settlement. He is regularly believe that the heightened threat of in­ last-minute compromise seem like a accused by normally intelligent news­ dependence can be used simply as a historic righting of terrible wrongs. In paper columnists and television pun­ tool to force Ottawa to make conces- the end the Meech compromise died a dits of being a traitor, and it is well-deserved death, but the myth of occasionally suggested that he has no the night of the long knives lingered right to sit in parliament as the leader 77-zoving? on. Today it has the effect of making of the opposition. Jean Chretien the most unpopular man A more accurate telling ofthe events If so, we understand that in Quebec, where he is widely regard­ of 1988-90 shows that Bouchard was things may be a bit topsy­ ed as a sort of bastard hybrid between unique among Mulroney's cabinet col­ turvy right now, but it really is im­ Marcus Brutus and Uncle Tom. One leagues in standing up for principle portant for you to send us your new address in­ formation. Ifyou don't, the Post Office is liable to rip off the cover of your magazine, send us the correction, and charge us for the service. Ifyou wish to receive Liberty without inter­ t Things were actually a little more complicated than this. High-pressure negotiations had ruption, please notify us of your new address been underway since November 2, and Levesque had been gradually growing more isolat­ four weeks in advance, enclosing your current ed from the group of seven other premiers who together had been blocking Trudeau's ef­ mailing label to expedite the process. forts at an amendment. The deal reached on the night ofthe fourth was really just the last Send to: Liberty tL. stage in this process of isolation. A good in-depth review ofthese events can be found in PO Box 1181 -llqh 1_ David Milne's book The Canadian Constitution (Lorimer, 1989). Port Townsend, WA 98368 .c, (~S! Volume 7, Number 2 Januar 1994

sions to their province. For the Bloc's middle, and unable to effectively re­ Like Bouchard, Meciar maintained that federalist supporters, this will prove to spo~d to either without offending one this flow of wealth was too stingy, and have been a disastrous miscalculation. or the other of the two language groups, would have to be greatly increased ifit The reason: Bouchard is challenged will be Chretienand theLiberals. was to become acceptable. Like in his role as leader ofthe official oppo­ To these short-term factors can be Bouchard, he offered nothing in return sition by Preston Manning of the added the longer perspective. In a for this money, save the promise to Reform Party. Just as the Bloc sense, Canada in crisis circa 1993 is no hold off on independence for another Quebecois has no ties with the rest of different from the panic-stricken nation year or so, at which time even more ex­ the country, the Reform Party has none that faced the aftermath of that first travagant demands would be placed. withQuebec; indeed, it is prohibited by FLQ bombing 30 years ago, that bowed The Czechs reacted to these de­ its own constitution from running can­ down under martial law in the October mands precisely the way I expect didates there. This means that, unlike Crisis of 1970, that expected to be brok­ English Canada will react to Bouchard: Chretien, Manning has no incentive to en apart by referenda on Quebec inde­ they refused. Czech public opinion ­ support the kind of compromises that pendence in 1980 and in 1992. All these led by a Preston Manning-like figure, Quebecers will expect from Ottawa as moments of high drama are really just Vaclav Klaus, who like Manning led a the price ofremaining in Canada. peaks in a single, unending national party with strong roots in the Czech Manning is already under tremen­ unity crisis that can be traced as far Republic and no base at all in Slovakia dous political pressure to serve as the back as the failed rebellion of 1837, - turned in favor of expelling guardian of English Canada's inter­ when Louis-Joseph Papineau tried to Slovakia. Suddenly Meciar found him­ ests, since it is widely assumed that the establish an independent French­ self negotiating secession rather than new Liberal government will simply Canadian republic. extended transfers. I'm not sure he was throw money at Quebec. An article The real question, then, is not so particularly unhappy about this change published just before the election, in much if Canada will break up, or even of events. At any rate, by autumn of the October 11 edition of Alberta when, but rather: In what manner? last year it was clear to all that the fed­ Report, states this view squarely: "With There are dozens of models from the eration could not be saved, and on Jan­ the Bloc Quebecois determined to past century to inspect, and the past uary 1, Slovakia became independent. wring every last concession out of the few years have given us dozens more. The key elements are all there for a Confederation before leading its prov­ The results of the recent election give repeat performance in Canada. Besides ince out, separatists may well win the us good reasontobelieve thatinits early the close Slovakia/Quebec, Meciar/ balance of power in a parliament dedi­ stages,Canada'sbreakup will closelyre­ Bouchard, and Klaus/Manning paral­ cated to appeasement." The magazine semble thatofCzechoslovakia. lels, there is the matter of public opin­ cover features photographs of Here's how the parallel works. ion in English Canada. Two years ago, Manning and Bouchard with the head­ Prior to its dissolution in January of a federal investigation (the "Citizens' line, "Blocking the Bloc: if the BQ this year, Czechoslovakia was a federa­ Forum on Canada's Future") discov­ holds the balance of power, who'll tion of two linguistically distinct terri­ ered that less than 300/0 of English stand up for English Canada?" tories. In June of 1992, parliamentary Canadians were Willing to maintain na­ Thus, the most dramatic fireworks elections were held, and the Slovaks tional unity "at any cost" and that 5­ in the new Parliament will probably be voted in a nationalist party led by cur­ 100/0 favored tossing Quebec out on its exchanges between Bouchard and rent Slovak president Vladimir Meciar. ear. Last year, !J1ost of English Canada Manning. Adding to the tensions will The nationalists were, like Lucien refused to be intimidated into voting be the fact that Preston Manningcannot Bouchard, conditional separatists, will­ "Yes" to a series of radical constitution­ speak French, while Bouchard will ing either to lead their country to inde­ al reforms designed to propitiate probably get fed up trying to explain pendence or be bribed not to go. Quebec public opinion, even though himself in English to a perpetually un­ Slovakia, like Quebec, was a long-time the country's entire elite class warned sympathetic audience. Caught in the recipient of federal transfer payments. that a "No" vote would drive Quebec to separate. Faced with the alternatives of offending Quebec or saddling them­ selves with the constitutional mish­ GRANl) mash dreamed up by their politicians, English-speaking Canadians realized that there really do exist fates worse CANYON than the breakup of the country. The next few years will provide II~_..."".-r-r- endless opportunities to ponder once again this bit of wisdom. This means that, for the first time, there is a realis­ tic possibility that English Canada will simply fold its arms and wait for Quebec to leave. 0 34 Liberty -.Update

Presidential Malpractice by R. W. Bradford

After ten months of hype, the Clintons finally reveal the details of their plan for health care. The diagnosis? You better hope you don't get sick. And you can expect to be poorer, in spirit, in finances, and in health.

President Clinton has finally unveiled his long-awaited health care program. Like a megalomaniacal Santa Claus, stymied by a Congress that seems able to recognize pork when it sees it, Bill Clinton had decided to focus his attention on the medical care crisis after his "economic stim- ulus" package was eviscerated by ~im'l. _ Congress. "The only thing we'll really have to give the American people is Magaziner's plans for mandatory uni­ compliance with budgets set by the health care," he confided to one gov­ versal "insurance" managed by gov­ National Health Board, which will be ernment official. And so it came to ernment-organized cartels was "in appointed by the president. By con­ pass that Clinton chose to make his sync" with his own. "By the time trolling how every dollar is spent, the health care plan the central achieve­ [President Clinton] talked to me about cartels will determine what doctors ment of his presidency, the crowning the job," said HHS Secretary Donna and medical researchers will do. They glory that would buy him a place in Shalala, "he was already clear on what will control also what medical care history and popularity sufficient for he wanted to do and how.... It was each American will receive and from re-election, perhaps this time with a pretty much ruffles and flourishes whom each of us will receive it. majority of the popular vote. after that." The only issues the task force was But the "reforms" Clinton is offer­ While the task force was leaking left to wrestle with were public rela­ ing us are worse than the problem it­ proposals that it was pretending to tions and funding. The first task was self. The very way in which his health consider and the press was full of easy - after all, the panel itself was a plan was devised should be a tip-off. speculation about the secret member­ PR stunt. Funding, on the other hand, Remember the health care task force ship of the task force, Magaziner was was rather tricky. Every time a new - that panel of 511 "experts," all but given power to control virtually every­ tax was suggested to pay for the re­ one an employee of the government? thing the task force did. "Mr forms, support for the entire program Remember all its debate and discus­ Magaziner alone decided what num­ receded. Only in August did the task sions, all the different ideas paraded bers to crunch and when," The Wall force come up with a solution: simply before it, the careful weighing of dif­ Street Journal reported, "and only he tell the American public that the sys­ ferent options? was allowed to see everything." Not tem won't require anyone to pay for it, Well, it turns out that was all a surprisingly, the task force ended up except for cigarette smokers and prof­ sham for· public consumption. In fact, recommending exactly what Clinton iteering price-gougers. Mr and Mrs Clinton had devised their and Magaziner had decided on more In short, the high-profile task force health care plan even before they took than a year earlier. Under the plan, appointed to investigate the health office. in January. Indeed, by February employers will be required to buy care crisis and develop solutions was a 1992 - almost a year before his inau­ comprehensive health care packages fraud. It was not engaged in investiga­ guration - Clinton agreed to put Ira for their employees from huge health tion and the only thing it proposed Magaziner in charge of medical care care cartels, called "regional allianc­ was a plan that had already been de­ reform because he knew that es." These cartels will spend money in cided upon by the president and his Liberty 35 Volume 7, Number 2 Januar 1994

wife. At a cost to taxpayers of millions the costs of medical care for their em­ 1978. Under this law, if the common of dollars, the task force engaged in an ployees and their employees' families. practice of an industry is to treat work­ elaborate charade for the sole purpose The uncontrollably rising cost of this ers as independent contractors, the IRS of selling the Clintons' program to the "fringe benefit" threatens the profitabil­ is to treat them as independent contrac­ public. ity and even the viability of many large tors. If the Clintons' medical care legis­ businesses. By legislating an end to lation is enacted, that "safe harbor" will What's Being Proposed these contractual obligations, the be abolished, the IRS will be able to re­ The Clintons' plan calls for expand­ Clintons have prOVided a powerful in­ classify virtually any independent con­ ed benefits at virtually no cost. centive for big business to support their tractor as an employee, and businesses Everyone will be covered, even if they plan to nationalize medical care. will have no alternative but to nego­ are unemployed or work for a firm that Indeed, The Wall Street Journal figures tiate, appeal, and litigate. cannot afford to pay for the mandated that big businesses will be able to pock­ That hasn't gotten much play in the et 200/0 to 300/0 of the funds they have press, of course. But then, with a plan set aside to prOVide future medical care this big, it's almost impossible for most Most Americans figured for employees. busy reporters to keep up with all So far, most opposition has come that's in it, or to reason out all the im­ that after saving only-God­ from smaller businesses, who generally plications of what they do know. This knows-how-many billions of do not provide medical care as a fringe has made the media unhappily suscep­ dollars each year, the cost of benefit. Paying 7.90/0 of wages for tible to even more government manipu­ health care may seem like a bargain for lation than usual, with White House health care would go down for a big corporation that currently pays players setting the agenda for most virtually everyone. Now it 150/0, but it's pretty expensive for small coverage of the debate. businesses that currently provide no It is worth noting that it was not turns out that for more than until October 28, some 281 days after 100 million Americans the health care benefits at all. In order to re­ duce small-business opposition, the formally promising Americans "health cost will increase. Clintons propose an outright subsidy care reform," that Bill Clinton con­ that prOVides coverage to their employ­ fessed that his plan will increase the ees for a tiny fraction of the price big cost of medical care for some 40% of all businesses will pay. Whether small Americans, and that he released this in­ program. And the benefits to those al­ formation, not in one of his nationally businesses will buy into the proposal ready insured by the government will telecast addresses to the American peo- be greatly expanded. At present, those remains to be seen. There is a strong covered by government medical care pOSSibility that the new subsidy will programs are no longer covered if they prove to be ephemeral: as expenses for retire early. Nor are their prescription the program rise and the public clam­ The president acknowledges drugs paid for. Nor is long-term hospi­ ors for cutting costs and closing loop­ talization. Under the Clintons' propo­ holes, the subsidy will be a likely early that current Medicare and sal, medical care during early target for elimination. Medicaid programs waste retirement, prescription drugs, and And even if it survives, it will not more than $40 billion per year, long-term hospitalization are guaran­ make up for another blow to small teed to all Americans. These are all business embedded in the Clinton plan. yet he proposes to help finance very popular and extremely I refer to its provisions for enterprises his much larger program by expensive. which try to reclassify employees as eliminating this waste! How will all this be paid for? "independent contractors" in order to According to the Clintons, extend­ avoid the tax liability for their medical ing insurance to 37 million uninsured care. To prevent this form of tax mini­ Americans and expanding the coverage mization, the Clintons' legislation pIe, or an appearance on Larry King of the insurance of the other 220 million grants the IRS broad powers to define Live, or any of his wife's high-profile Americans can be paid for by increas­ who is and who is not an independent appearances, but in the obscure ing cigarette taxes and squeezing $285 contractor. At first inspection, this may Congressional testimony of one of his billion of waste out of the medical care sound like a pretty minor change in the minions. programs the government already law. But it's not. How many times during those 281 runs. The bottom line for most Like most definitional issues, the days did Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham Americans, Clinton asserts, is that they question of whether a person is an em­ Clinton, or one of their subordinates ex­ will get more and pay less. ployee or an independent contractor plain how much money the program But one group of Americans is des­ has long been a confusing and convo­ will "save"? how much "wasteful red tined to get much less and pay a lot luted matter. After years of expensive tape" will be "eliminated"? how it more: employees of major companies. argument and litigation, Congress sim­ would eliminate "duplication of servic­ Under the present system, many major plified the matter by enacting "safe har­ es"? and "bureaucracy and paper­ firms have agreed to pay Virtually all bor" provisions in the Revenue Act of work"? 36 Liberty Volume 7, Number 2 Januar 1994

Not surprisingly, most Americans and research cuts, the National Health studies of Inuit and Cree natives in made the logical inference that after Board will almost certainly cut re­ northern Quebec demonstrate lower ac­ saVings of only-God-knows-how-many search. Triage has very visible victims, cess to health care, lower life expectan­ billions of dollars each year, the cost of people who can appear on television cy, and higher infant mortality rates for health care would go down for virtual­ and tell their sad tale of how they were those groups. ly everyone. Now it turns out that for denied medical care. People who die The reductio ad absurdum of central­ more than 100,000,000 Americans the because research was discontinued or ized triage administration was reached cost will increase, it the administra­ when Canadians discovered that dogs tion's qUietly admitted estimate of were getting CAT scans faster than October 28 is accurate. But then why people were. It is illegal in Canada to should this figure have any credibility, The Clintons' plan amounts pay extra money for more immediate coming as it does after 281 days of in­ to a gigantic scheme to oligop­ treatment, but there was no law pro­ tensive public relations efforts (i.e. lies) olize and ration medical care, hibiting pet owners for paying extra to designed to convince people that virtu­ get quick CAT scans for their dogs, ally everyone's medical costs will go made palatable by underesti­ and hospitals could see no reason why down? mating costs, glossing over their equipment should not be used controls, and convincing peo­ during off-hours to raise funds for Harsh Reality needed improvements. As a result, rich The president's proposal empowers ple that they can get some­ canines could get medical services for his National Health Board to control thing for nothing. which people had to queue up for costs. This will be a tall order. All months. human experience suggests that gov­ Did the Canadian authorities, when ernment control raises costs, thanks to this story was reported, allow people mismanaged by the government are its inherent inflexibility, inefficiency, the same right dogs had? Of course not. not nearly as visible. And medical and waste. Consider the historical They simply extended human restric­ progress will continue for a while, record. When Medicare was proposed tions to cover dogs as well. Now no thanks to research already well under­ in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson esti­ one gets after-hours CAT scans, and the way or completed but not yet available mated that in 1990 the program would to consumers. The time lapse while hospitals must get by without the addi­ cost a total of $8 billion. The actual cost tional funding. progress slows down will obscure the in 1990 was $98 billion - more than fact that the slowdown is a result of the This is not to say the Widespread twelve times higher than LBl's Clinton program. denial of needed medical care will projection. But triage is inevitable, for costs will begin as soon as the Clinton program is Most people are at least vaguely rise inexorably under a system offering enacted. There is always a gap between aware of the government's well­ universal health care at no direct cost to implementation of a policy and its con­ established record of waste and ineffi­ the consumer - even after research is sequences. The implementation of ciency. What other organization buys eliminated. And it will come gradually, Medicare and Medicaid in the mid­ $1200 hammers or allows a significant as it has in other countries with similar 1960s made government the biggest number of its employees to work half systems. In Britain, for example, people force in the medical care industry and days at full pay? Its record in the ad­ over 65 are frequently denied treat­ led inevitably to massive waste. But it ministration of medical care is abysmal, ment; in general, in nations with social­ took a quarter century for the mount­ a fact admitted even by the administra­ ized medicine, the elderly are the first ing waste and costs to become evident tion, which acknowledges that current to be denied care when resources be­ to most people. During much of that Medicare and Medicaid programs come too scarce. British citizens are reg­ period, it seemed like the laws of eco- . waste more than $40 billion per year. ularly denied life-saVing treatment: nomics had been repealed. Americans (And the president proposes to help fi­ every year, around 9,000 British kidney enjoyed what they always liked to call nance his much larger program by patients are refused renal dialysis or a lithe best health care system in the eliminating this waster) The task force needed transplant, and as many as world": extensive care available at itself flushed away millions of dollars 15,000 people with cancer and 17,000 practically no cost to practically in its charade of investigating various heart patients cannot get the treatment everyone. solutions to the crisis, when it had in they need. Canadian patients often Though not immediate, the results fact long ago predetermined its have to wait months for treatment that were indeed inevitable. Now that the conclusion. would be available within days in the consequences of the first major govern­ In the end, there are only two ways relatively freer medical markets of the ment incursion into health care are fi­ that a centralized medical bureaucracy United States. nally becoming evident, the advocates can control costs: by limiting medical Sometimes the rationing falls along of government intervention propose research and by limiting what diseases racial lines. In Canada, beneath the sur­ yet another incursion as the solution. and injuries will be treated and which face shimmer of political correctness, This Clinton program will ultimately patients will get care. minorities regularly find themselves on make the situation worse. But, as in the Faced with a choice between triage the losing end of medical rationing: '60s, it will buy time. Once again, it Liberty 37 Volume 7, Number 2 Januar 1994

will appear - for a while - that the intensify th~ problem. tal, set your broken bones, and provide program is working. Eventually, medi­ you with physical rehabilitation, then it cal research will come to a virtual halt Big Brother Is Watching You has a vital interest in minimizing the and triage will become widespread. By There is one more way in which the risk of injury while you ski. Indeed, an the time this next "crisis" hits, advo­ government will attempt to control activity as dangerous as skiing might cates of government expansion will no costs in a socialized or cartelized sys­ best be made illegal altogether. doubt propose yet another statist tem. Every American's leisure activi­ Do you eat French food? C'mon, "solution." ties, eating habits, sleep patterns, everyone knows that stuff is high in The Clintons' plan amounts to a gi­ entertainment preferences - ultimate­ cholesterol. Should you be allowed to gantic scheme to oligopolize and ration ly, every activity a person engages in­ eat it if I have to pick up the tab for medical care, made palatable by under­ has an effect on one's health. If the cost your open heart surgery? estimating costs, glossing over con­ of medical care is paid by the govern­ Do you get a full eight hours of trols, and convincing people that they ment, the government will have a legit­ sleep every night? No? Well, you're in­ can get something for nothing. It is imate interest in regulating or viting all sorts of health problems, and plain that this is no solution to the prohibiting activities that harm one's it isn't fair to make me and others (who medical care crisis. More government health - all in the name of "controlling all get our full eight hours) pay for your spending, higher taxes, mandatory in­ costs." refusal to have good personal habits. surance, cartelized buying groups, Do you ski? Well, if the government Do you engage in sex? Everyone greater regulation - these can only is going to pay to haul you to the hospi- knows that diseases are sometimes

Taking our medicine • ••

Dole Invictus - "The emperor would stop those headaches, all right. Face) will have any bad effects what­ Constantine," wrote Jasper Ridley in It is in this light that we should con­ soever on their own political goals. Statesman and Saint, "with the best in­ sider Republican politicians' well­ The funny thing is that, about one tentions, had issued a decree which intentioned attempts to assuage public minute after the most influential prOVided that no one could be convict­ anxieties about "the health care crisis" Republicans decided to go along with ed unless he admitted his offence; but by prescribing their own programs of the principle of health-care-as-a-right, the result was to introduce the practice socialized medicine. These programs some of the ugliest of its chickens start­ of interrogating the defendant under would have their benefits, of course. ed hopping home to roost. The torture." They would benefit the small (but, on Republicans' archenemies - people The world is full of Constantines, television, constantly growing) seg­ like Ted Kennedy - started using that people with good intentions who some­ ment of the American population that newly enshrined national principle to how neglect to ask themselves the most is too poor or lazy to avail itself of pri­ tum every left-liberal program you can obvious questions about the effects of vate insurance and is somehow un­ think of, from gun removal to kinder­ their optimistic plans. reached by current multi-billion-dollar garten "sex-harassment" education, There are people in this world who government programs. They would into a "health care" imperative. believe that government can take also prOVide a psychic benefit to every The interesting question is, How money away from productive activities middle-class imbecile who believes that many of the Republicans are too dumb and give it to unproductive activities the government has a moral duty to to know what they're doing, and how without causing any loss in production. procure health "security" for everyone. many of them are smart enough to un­ There are people in this world who The incidental effects of these well­ derstand the consequences but are just believe that government can make intentioned programs would consist saying, "What the hell"? drug use criminal, without increasing -Stephen Cox crime. only of vastly increased expenditures, There are people in this world who uncontrollable entitlements, rationing A Question for Hillary - believe that government can take guns of vitally needed care, and an enor­ Somehow, no invitations to Ms Rod­ away from law-abiding citizens, with­ mous increase in the power of the fed­ ham Clinton's press conferences on her out increasing their vulnerability to the eral government. plan for a government takeover of the use of guns by citizens who are not I'm not picking on Democrats now; health care industry have found their law-abiding. they're beyond hope on this issue, and way to me. But sometimes I fantasize For. Constantine's people, good in­ always have been. I'm picking on the about the questions I would ask her: tentions extend only to beliefs; they do Republicans, the self-anointed party of Madame Health Care Czar, if your not extend to thought. Would you rely small government, private enterprise, health care program is made law of the on the good intentions of a doctor who individual responsibility, and free­ land, who will provide you and Mr believed that he could cure your persis­ market economics, who now cannot im­ Clinton with medical care? Will you be tent headaches by administering a agine that their Just a Little Bit Less of swept off in a helicopter to the Walter strong dose of strychnine? Well, it Clintonism (or, Socialism with a Kansas Reed Hospital or Bethesda Naval 38 Liberty Volume 7, Number 2 Januar 1994

spread by sexual intercourse. And for wants the government regulating every to public hospitals for medical care and women, sex is a notorious way of get­ aspect of his orher private life. cannot pay their bills, thereby costing ting pregnant, complications of which If you think this is alarmist, think the taxpayer money. (e.g., giving birth) are very expensive. again. Even without fully socialized Indeed, the implication that govern­ The logic here is precisely the logic medicine, the same argument has often ment ought to outlaw unhealthy behav­ that subject all colleges and universities been used very effectively to diminish ior or mandate healthy behavior is to federal regulation: so long as the personal freedom. Consider the debate included in the public discussion of the government provides loans or aid to so about mandatory helmets for motorcy­ bill. It provides the logic for imposing a much as a single student, the govern­ clists. In Virtually every state where tax on cigarette smokers of 3.75( per ment has a right to regulate. The same these laws have been considered - i.e., cigarette that they purchase. Cigarette logic justifies the requirement that in every state - someone raises the smokers should pay more, it is argued, building contractors doing government point that while not wearing a motor­ because they willfully engage in an un­ work follow certain business practices cycle helmet may indeed be dangerous, healthy habit which increases the cost (e.g., pay prevailing union wages), and it is dangerous only to the person who of providing them medical care. a million other impositions of does not wear the helmet, so what busi­ (Curiously, most people seem to accept regulations. ness is it of the government anyway? this argument at face value, without So anyone who supports the gov­ And in every case, someone points out any empirical verification. Has anyone ernment takeover of medicine should that some of the motorcyclists who get researched the cost of treating cigarette think real hard about whether he or she head injuries from accidents are taken continued on next page

•• . from politicians drunk on power

Hospital to be treated by the finest spe­ age." The enlployer will not continue to dosed by the employer's unwillingness cialists, like previous presidents and employ a worker whose pay package - and in the longrun, financial inability their families? Or will you have to wait costs more than the value of the work­ - to employ anyone whose services in line at your local HMO, where you er's labor services. When the pay pack­ cost more thanhe is worth. will eventually get to see an overworked age contains nothing but money wages, As usual, a politician's claim that and undermotivated physician whose the choice is simple: If the employer ex­ people will get something for nothing chiefconcern is keeping the cost of treat­ pects the value of the worker's labor via Robin Hood government has no ment he metes out under the allotInents services to be greater than the amount substance. In reality, no worker can you set? -R.W. Bradford of the money wages, then enlploying gain from such a mandate for long, and the worker makes economic sense - it all those who prefer to receive a pay Faulty Clintonomics - In package containing more money rather pitching his proposals for reforIning adds to the employer's expected net in­ corne. Employers hire additional work­ than the mandated insurance coverage health insurance, President Clinton has - or to choose their own insurance ben­ relied on the redistributionist claim that ers up to the point where the value of the services of the last worker hired is efits and provider - will be worse off currently uninsured workers will bene­ after the adjustment. -Robert Higgs fit because their employers will be equal to the cost of the last worker's pay forced to provide coverage. Small busi­ package. What Are We Refonning? - ness owners, lobbying hard against this Key point: the ernployer doesn't care In order to sell his health care "reform" feature of the Clinton plan, apparently whether employment costs take the plan, Bill Clinton has been travelling agree that mandated coverage would form of $X of money wages or $O.5X of around the country holding "town impose a new burden on them. Hardly money wages plus fringe benefits cost­ meetings." In Tampa, a day or two after anyone seems to understand the basic ing $O.5X. Either way, the employer Clinton announced his program, a man economics of mandated employee must bear a cost of $X, and makes em­ told a heart-rending story about his benefits. ployment decisions accordingly. daughter, who had recently had brain In reality, except during a short pe­ If the government requires an enl­ surgery. He had $128,000 in unpaid riod of adjustment, the full costs of ad­ pIoyer who previously did not provide bills, and she needed yet more expen­ ditional mandated benefits, whether health insurance coverage costing $Y to sive treatment. The president was sym­ they be health insurance or sOInething do so, the cost of the employment pack­ pathetic; it was the kind of poignant tale else, will be borne by employees in the age becomes $(X+Y) to compensate for that gains support for his proposals. form of equivalent reductions of money the mandated expense of the health Before the meeting was over, wages or other benefits. Workers who coverage. Clinton was able to offer some consola­ expect to gain at the expense of their So other workers will find the value tion to the man and to the audience. He reported that the hospital where the employer are in for a jolt. of their previous pay packages reduced daughter's surgery had been per­ The economics is simple. In ex­ most likely by a reduction of money formed would continue to provide care change for labor services, the employer wage, or they will be unable to find em­ provides the worker a costly "pay pack- ployment. All other outcomes are fore- continued on next page Liberty 39 Volume 7, Number 2 Januar 1994

smokers versus the cost of treating non­ Cannabis sativa is a felony, despite the status and powerlessness than of any smokers? It seems to me that most of fact that alcohol is linked to hundreds objective costs the government bears the diseases consequent of cigarette­ of thousands of illnesses and deaths for their habit. smoking strike at an earlier age than each year, while marijuana is practical­ So we can expect that heterosexual the diseases of non-smokers, are very ly benign. Or the same reason that mo­ relations between man and wife will be often relatively cheap to treat, and torcyclists must wear helmets and the allowed, but other forms will not, de­ shorten the length of time that medical occupants of automobiles do not ­ spite the fact that the cost to the public care must be paid for: cigarette smok­ surely, wearing full-faced helmets treasury of pregnancy and birth will be ers tend to die in their 60s or early 70s would cut the rate of injuries to auto­ far greater than the cost of treating sex­ of inoperable cancer, instead of linger­ mobile occupants as well as motorcy­ ually transmitted diseases. ing into decrepitude and a need for clists. Or that selling crack cocaine is The logic of the welfare state has al­ long-term care.) subject to much greater penalties than ready done away with the notion that Of course, what will happen under selling powdered cocaine - the effect any economic activity is genuinely pri­ government-run medicine will not be on health is the same, but crack is cus­ vate and therefore not subject to gov­ so rational as I suggest. The unhealthy tomarily sold by African-Americans, ernment regulation. If the Clintons get habits of minorities will be proscribed, powder by white guys. For that matter, their way, the idea that personal habits but the unhealthy habits of the majority the rank discrimination and punish­ are private and therefore exempt from will not, for the same reason that im­ ment meted out to cigarette smokers is government regulation will die as well. bibing alcohol is legal and imbibing surely more a matter of their minority Goodbye, Privacy 'What Are We Reforming?" continuedfrom previous page But the Clinton plan's threat to civil liberties goes much deeper than that. for her - including another operation, point of this whole exercise, with its One police-state measure will go into if necessary. centrally planned reallocation of re­ effect as soon as the White House's pro­ What happened? Did the president sources, its price and service controls, posal becomes law. wave his royal magic wand? No; it's and its higher taxes. Yes, there are prob­ I refer to the provision that every­ just that that's what normally happens lems with health care delivery today, one covered by the program - that is to Americans who are uninsured or caused in part by government interfer­ to say, everyone in the country - be re­ who cannot otherwise pay their bills. ence in the insurance market, in part by quired to carry an identity card con­ taining a computer-readable record of They receive medical care anyway, and medical licensing, and in part by mal­ all aspects of his or her medical history. the hospital or doctor (or both) absorbs practice costs. But Clintonism will only In order to achieve this, the National the costs. make matters worse. Health Board would "enforce unique In other words, haVing no health in­ If these proposals become law, identification numbers for consumers." surance is not the same as having no Americans will find out - as Russians All Americans will be required to carry medical care. One study, cited by Fred discovered with meat and shoes - that Barnes in American Spectator, indicated the card with them at all times. I a right to something that is no longer haven't yet got my copy of the 1800­ that in 1988, the 16.60/0 of the non­ available is not as good as a charitable page legislation, so I'm not sure what elderly population who are uninsured donation of something that is. penalties will be imposed on someone accounted for 11% of the country's per­ -Jane S. Shaw apprehended without the card. But it sonal health care expenditures. In other seems clear that anyone with the prop­ words, the uninsured are being served. Business Economics? - In a erly programmed credit card reader They may not obtain the same amount public attack on the health insurance who got hold of your card could ac­ of care insured people do. They may industry, which had the audacity to quire all the details of your medical his­ delay taking their children to the doc­ suggest in its TV spots that the admin­ tory - including any history of past tor until it is absolutely necessary. But istration's proposed reforms would psychological counseling, abortions, they receive care. Some of them, un­ limit consumers' choices, Empress treatment for sexually transmitted dis­ Hillary observed that insurance compa­ doubtedly, pay their bills. In other eases, alcoholism, or other information nies "like being able to exclude people cases, hospitals wait for payment you consider to be highly private. from coverage because the more they (sometimes for years), negotiate lower Which raises the question: What can exclude, the more money they can fees, or write off the bills as unpayable. will stop a prospective employer or make." So how did this health care steam­ granter of credit from demanding your roller, fueled by the claim that 35-37 Say what? card and reviewing your medical histo­ million people are uninsured, develop If Hillary were right, companies ry? The Clinton proposal says the data such momentum? Economist Richard could make the most profit by exclud­ would be protected by "national secur­ Stroup has suggested that, basically, ing everyone from their coverage. ity safeguards" and open only to "au­ zealots in the White House have decid­ Evidently some aspect of the insurance thorized persons, for authorized ed that medical care should be a gov­ business has eluded the Empress's purposes, at authorized times." But ernment-guaranteed right, and they grasp (but not her control). these can be pretty thin protections. It want everyone else to agree. That's the -Robert Higgs seems that everyone from my insu- 40 Liberty THE CELEBRATE LIBERTY AUDIO TAPES 80 HOURS OF DEFINITIVE LIBERTARIAN POLICY WONKISMI READ THE FINE PRINT AND DISCOVER THE GREATEST BARGAIN IN LIBERTARIAN POLICY AND POLITICAL ADVOCACY ON THE MARKET TODAYI

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2 Joe Kriilt CamplS Org.wzing Tacties 3 Dr. VaJ Lambson (BYU): Concrete proposals for movilg bY..-ds a laissez·faire economy. 43 John Famularo: lP Headqu..-ters Systems: AnaJysis ...d Critique 4 Vilce Miler: Aworld perspective on sep.ntistldevokl'on movern.,ts 44 Or. Thomas Szasz: Diagnosis, [bease, & Dependency; It. Paliticization of HeaJIt 8 Gr...dStategy/Fuhn of the lP: David Bergland. David Nal.... Ed Clark. Steve Daabad'l 45 Mark Skousen: Persuasion \'S. Coercion 7 Dr.l..-ry Dodge: FUA into !he 90s 46 R...daI O'loole: Marketizilg the Forest Service 8 Robert Ana. Wilson: Q.!anllm Psychology 47 Dr. George Ayiltey: Africa Betrayed. 9 Ballot AccesslPres. Campaigns: Dick Bodcle,Perry Wilis,Scott Ueberman.BiI Redpalt 48 Or. Ron Pa~ 10 Or. Ylli Twin: Amena at Risk: Evdution from Demcoracy to 8lleaucracy 49 Terree Wasley: What has governm.,t done to 011 heallh car.? 11 .1m Hucler: Gay Rights & Ubet1arianism 50 CtIlck Olson: Who is the lorex? An expoei'on of free market enworrnentaJism. 12 Rick Arnold: lniliah., Referenda, Corrnpondence Campaigns 51 Irwil Sd'Iiff: How the government breaks its own law coIecting inoome taxes. 13 Dr. Nany lord: lbertarianism and law 52 The next Generation: Adllll Dick, Br" Givot MatIhew Block, Natalie and Francile Uoyd 14 New Hompshir. Speaks! Rep. Don Gorman, Cal W8lbllton, Finley Roflhaus. Andy Bcrsa 53 Tm Rita: RlII1ilg to make a poilt 15 Mary Ruw.t Uberty, Unity, Cornmurity 54 James Ostowslci: Tlird P..-ties and the Fullre of lberty. 16 Jacob Hornberger: Ptina~. VI. Expediency 55 Or. Wal. Block: Water, Water, Wa. (envircnnental issues) 17 Dr. John Hosper.: ContoversiaJ Issues for libertarians 5&'61 DIIk PearsonSMdy Shaw (two tape preeentation) 18 Gala Opening Ceremony lI'ld Keynote Adetes. by Tom.a C1.k 57 Jack G

rance company to the university I at­ tion measure. It was killed largely by that "the devil is in the details," virtual­ tended has wanted my social security the efforts of Martin Anderson, then an ly conceding the substance of the plan. number, and on more than one occa­ advisor to the president. Anderson is But the devil is not in the details. sion I have attempted to invoke the fed­ currently carrying on a one-man cru­ The devil is in the plan itself, in the eral law that restricts the use of my sade against Clinton's I.D. card in his goal of the plan. This is not the time to social security number to taxpayer very fine syndicated column. But in the mince words. If there ever was a time identification and social security busi­ morass of seemingly larger issues, this for leadership, this is it. And leadership ness. In a few cases, these busy-bodies one may be overlooked. does not consist of conceding the goals have complied, if only after putting me of the opposition and quibbling over through a fair amount of trouble. ("No Conservatives Dodge minutia. one's ever made this request before. the Issue You'll have to see Mr So-and-So about Against all of this, the Republican The Wrong Road this. I think he'll be back next week, but opposition has offered only craven sub­ Will Americans buy the plan? In the check with his secretary. In the mean­ mission. After months of proclaiming, public opinion polls taken a few days time, I amnot authorized to issue you a against all evidence, that there is no after the program was officially an­ library card.") Usually, the response is, health care crisis at all, they have nounced, a modest majority supported "Well, you don't have to give us your it. But that support may only last as number. But we don't have to admit long as the notion that most will get you to this university." better care for less money. And it is Furthermore, your medical data Under Clinton's plan, the doubtful that people will believe that will be backed up in a huge national government will have a legiti­ for long. database. Once again, access to it will mate interest in regulating Medical care comprises about 150/0 be protected by "national security safe­ of the American economy. Is it a wise guards" and open only to "authorized every American's leisure activ­ policy to turn such a huge industry persons, for authorized purposes, at au­ ities, eating habits, sleep pat­ over to management by a single presi­ thorized times." Which means that terns, and entertainment dentially-appointed board? Will such a someone wanting it will have to make a board be able to prOVide fleXibility or small bribe to an official of one of the preferences. entrepreneurship? Will it have the fore­ bureaus that has "authorized" access to sight to finance worthwhile research it, just as today private detectives rou­ and tomanage that research efficiently? tinely get information from "private" turned around and conceded all the Is a medical industry managed by gov­ tax returns. major points of the Clintonian pro­ ernment more likely to resemble the al­ And once a uniform national identi­ gram. The current conservative "alter­ most miraculous progress of computers ty card is mandated for all Americans, native plan," based on a proposal by over the past 30 years, or the what are the chances it will not be used Stuart Butler of the Heritage incompetence, mismanagement, feath­ for other purposes as well? Like police Foundation, involves vast increases in erbedding, and waste that character­ data? Or information on how often you taxes, bureaucracy, and regulation. Its ized the Soviet economy? leave the country? Or a record of how only advantages are that it allows a lit­ The root of the problem of ever­ current your tax payments are? Or any tle more choice than the White House's escalating medical costs is government information about you that any bureau program, and that it incorporates the li­ subsidy of medical care - not just for of the government believes it should bertarian notion of Individual Medical the poor and elderly, but for ordinary maintain? Accounts. citizens as well, through the tax incen­ A similar proposal for a national How much difference is there be­ tives given large employers. So long as identification card was floated by the tween the Democratic and Republican those subsidies are in place and no ef­ Reagan administration as a immigra- proposals? Two days after Clinton an­ fective limits are placed on them, de­ nounced his health care program, Newt mand will continue to grow and costs Gingrich, the aggressive conservative will continue to escalate. The problem FEEI> congressman from Georgia, appeared of red tape is caused by feeble govern­ YC::>UR with Clinton lackey George Stephan­ ment attempts to control costs, by plac­ S<>~L opoulos on PBS's Charlie Rose show. ing limits on procedures covered and You need spiritual fuel Gingrich was so uncritical of the presi­ requiring hospitals and physicians to Quality fiction is the dent's agenda that Rose had difficulty report in detail their services. richest source distinguishing Gingrich's views from The solution to these problems is THE RADICAL ROMANTIC Stephanopoulos'. By show's end, Rose not to redouble government subsidy has what you need declared their debate a "lovefest." and control. The solution is to radically For sample issue And what of Fred Barnes, who as reduce - aye, to eliminate - govern­ send $5 postpaid to recently as May was proclaiming in the ment subsidy and control. Alas, neither American Spectator that the medical care the Clinton administration nor its con­ THE RADICAL ROMANTIC 12226 Pacific Ave. #1 crisis did not exist? His most salient servative opposition is willing to take Mar Vista, CA 90066 comment about the program has been that road. 0 Polemic

Thuggery, Left and Right by David Horowitz

What's the difference between a left-wing thug and a right-wing thug? All the cash and respect the Academy can give.

It is a cliche of politics that extremes meet: there are fascists on the Right and fas­ cists on the Left. With the close of the Cold War, however, we seem to have grown tolerant toward one end on the spectrum. The fascists on the Right are as visible and noxious as ever, of course. The dif­ ference is that Nazi skinheads don't get grants from the National Endowment for the Arts or the New York policemen, before being re­ of town. California Arts Council; they are not leased on a technicality. At Portland State University a year encouraged and supported by I called the evening's organizer ago, my talk was also chaperoned by university administrators and they do and asked him why a public critic of six armed security guards whom the not have documentaries glorifying the Panthers like myself was not in­ university administration had placed their antics on PBS. Left-wing fascists vited. He said he had thought of in­ at my disposal, apparently knowing do. viting me, but if I spoke "there would what to expect from their student rad­ I was put in mind of these dispari­ be fistfights" and he didn't want any icals. This time it was the officially rec­ ties by an event in Los Angeles last violence. The threat of violence did ognized Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Friday. It was a "town meeting" and not come from me, a middle-aged Alliance that led the charge. No mat­ panel discussion at the Beyond grandfather who did not even throw ter that I had come into Oregon to op­ Baroque Literary/Arts Center, spon­ a rock during the entire 196Os. pose the infamous Proposition 9, sored by the two agencies mentioned A day earlier, I had spoken at which would have declared homosex­ above. The evening's subject was "The Yale, where my student hosts had to uality "perverse, unnatural, immoral, legacy of the [Black] Panthers," a fas­ hire half a dozen armed security and wrong." That wasn't enough for cistic gang of the '60s that became fa­ guards to ensure my safety and the gay fascists who came to obstruct mous by preaching violence. The theirs. The precautions proved pru­ my talk, which was not politically cor­ Baroque Center program was set dent. Although my speech invoked rect enough for their tastes. against "the issues of police brutality, the legacy of Martin Luther King in And obstruct they did. They sat and racism, gang violence" - hot top­ decrying all forms of racism, I did ex­ twenty across holding up giant plac­ ics in Los Angeles. I had recently writ­ press critical attitudes toward affir­ ards which said "Pig," "Lies," "Bigot" ten a long article ("Black Murder Inc.") mative-action double standards and every time I uttered a thought. They on the trail of mayhem and murder toward the same Black Panthers. A shouted, stood up to harangue, and in that the Panthers left in their wake leader of the Yale Black Student one case actually screamed at the audi­ during their glory days in the '60s and Alliance spoke up from the audience ence, "He's killing women, he's killing '70s, but although my name appeared to comment: "We can't allow you to women!" This particular outburst was in the news release announcing the say things like that." At the same time in response to my criticism of the cur­ event, I was not invited to participate. white and black members of a group rent safe sex campaign. I recalled anin­ Instead, the panel consisted mainly of calling itself "Zulu Nation" threat­ terview I had conducted with a Center Panther die-hards, including a man ened the students who invited me for Disease Control official who said who had spent 19 unrepentant years that if they were going to bring speak­ that virtually 100% of sexually trans­ in prison for machine-gunning two ers like me to Yale they better get out mitted AIDS between males is trans- Liberty 43 Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

mitted anally. The conclusion I drew plined for uttering words that are films glorifying the Black Panthers, was thatwarning people about the dan­ deemed "insensitive" or otherwise po­ and not a single one indicating the gers of unprotected anal sex would be litically incorrect. But there are no cases murders and crimes they committed or preferable and more effective than dis­ of left-wing groups, who regularly use deploring their calls to political vio­ tributing condoms to heterosexual high physical obstruction and violence to si­ lence. When Communist hacks like school kids who - if they avoided anal lence their opponents, being similarly Angela Davis or Panther capos like for­ sex - were notreallyatrisk. disciplined or even censured. mer party chair Elaine Brown are pro­ My experiences, of course, are not Demagogues who have made pub­ filed in the View sections of the unique. A survey of "Racism 'on lic threats of violence a staple of their nation's press, they are treated with Campus" in a recent U.S. News and discourse - Louis Farrakhan, Sister the utmost respect as champions of the World Report recounts the story of a Souljah, Khalid Muhammad - are not voiceless and powerless. David Duke junior at the University of North only welcomed to the nation's elite and Nazi skinheads spout a parallel Carolina who wrote a sarcastic letter to campuses by left-Wing organizations message of rebellion and hatred, and the school paper opposing a demon­ but paid exorbitant sums out of gener­ can also be held to represent a commu­ stration planned by black students. al student fees to reward them for their nity that is voiceless and powerless, Two black students accosted the jun­ appearances. A David Duke could not but no self-respecting newspaper edi­ ior and knocked him down. "Im­ show his face on a college campus, let tor would think of treating them with mediately I knew the letter got pub­ alone get invited and paid. respect. lished," the writer remarked, apparent­ And what is true on the campuses When a nation's public discourse is ly retaining his sense of humor. is also true in the culture at large. subject to threats and intimidations by The point is that students on college When ACT-UP vandals desecrated a political fascists, democracy is in trou­ campuses today expect violence from mass at Saint Patrick's Cathedral (a vi­ ble. It is time to end the double leftist groups. And leftist groups perpe­ olation not even the Communist gov­ standards that have nurtured this trate violence and intimidate oppo­ ernments of Eastern Europe attempt­ thuggery. It is time to recognize fas­ nents because they know there will be no ed), the outrage was celebrated in a cists, whether they are on the Left or consequences. Across the country entire film called "Stop the Church," which on the Right, and to withdraw respect fraternity chapters are suspended, was shown on public television sta­ from those who preach hatred and vio­ kicked off campus, and otherwise disci- tions like KCET. PBS has aired five lence in our public life. 0 Letters, continuedfrom page 26 roughly, was "In a celebration marked once admired as exemplary reporting they get to court. by a parade of imitators, the White were nothing more than textbook exam­ That's a big IF. I've been covering House ceased being a dog house and ples of lousy journalism. this issue for almost two years in became a cat house." I have never However, I do think NPR's report­ Financial Privacy Report. I've inter­ heard a more apt commentary on the ers are superior in one respect: honesty. viewed dozens of victims, and the sad Clinton presidency. They may be biased, but they are open fact is that most people who have prop­ I also appreciate the greater depth about it, far more so than many other erty seized under these laws will never NPR gives which I cannot get on com­ denizens of the news media. By not get their day in court. The government mercial stations. The inclusion of BBC putting up any pretense of objective requires such complicated and expen­ reports and reports from other areas and intelligent journalism, they are not sive legal procedures to file a challenge gives me a better feel for the currents nearly as obnoxious (at least in this re­ that most people simply give up with­ affecting events in the world. Its movie gard) as their commercial counterparts. out a fight - and the government reviews are the only ones I've agreed BrentPahde keeps the booty. with. Jacksonville, Ill. Consider the difficulties most asset One-sided? With a point of view? confiscation victims face: Probably yes - that's why I also watch Not Much Better • Hiring a competent forfeiture law­ CBS and CNN and read World Press Stefan Herpel's article about Austin yer to defend you can cost tens of thou­ Review, Reason, Liberty, and other publi­ v U.S. ("Justice Forfeited, Justice sands of dollars, up front - that's cations. Anyone that relies on one Reclaimed," October 1993) missed an prohibitively expensive for most confis­ source is shutting themselves off from important point. By so doing, it gave cations. Attorneys almost never take knowledge, truth, and reason. your readers the wrong impression . these cases on contingency. And be­ Tom Slaughter about the impact of this decision. cause these are almost always civilsei­ Jackson, Mich. The Austin decision will have virtu­ zures, you will not be able to get a NPR, Nol ally no impact on police seizures. All court-appointed lawyer. As a former devotee of All Things ~ the Supreme Court decision said was • You also usually need to post a Considered, I found Glenn Garvin's criti­ that people who have their property bond - typically 100/0 of the value of the cisms of NPR to be uncomfortably true. confiscated under the so-called asset seized property. Incredibly, this bond is Since I am a former copy editor, I am forfeiture laws can raise an eighth to pay the government's expenses in embarrassed to admit that stories I amendment challenge to the seizure if continued on page 69 44 Liberty Delineation

The Inevitability of the Welfare State by Todd Seavey

Can liberty be achieved in a democratic world? Or do the institutions of modern democracy lead inexorably and perversely down the road of the wel­ fare state?

It may be true that a social order based on individual liberty and private proper­ ty rights is conducive to the greatest happiness of the populace, but that doesn't mean one is likely to develop. A massive welfare state, with its heavy regulations and government-mandated transfers of property, is more likely to emerge. The libertarian reader will prob­ ably disagree. Surely a system based agreement on a few ground rules; ing nothing from the government ­ on strict property rights is easily main­ welfarism requires agreement on ­ for a farmer to oppose all government tained, compared to, say, a fascist or nothing, really. spending except farm subsidies, for a socialist system. Those could only The welfare state does not require musician to favor radical cuts in exist­ "work" in the unrealistic case where a majority of Americans to think, "A ing spending but lobby for one new people were homogeneous in their de­ system of ambiguous property rights, department to subsidize the produc­ sires and willing to be directed from large amounts of collectively held re­ tion of oboes. on high. The virtue of the libertarian sources, farm subsidies, food stamps, Economists of the public choice system is that it requires people living a government-run space program, school predict that such people are under it to agree only on a few moral etc., is a good idea." It is enough that likely to put more effort into lobbying and legal ground rules, leaving other each of various little groups adds its for their new programs than any of matters up to individual choice and own accretion to the grander thing ­ the rest of us who foot the bill are like­ voluntary action. No detailed, unify­ even if each group despises every part ly to put into lobbying against them. ing vision of society, whether conser­ of the system that does not directly Most of us don't even know what it is vative, "liberal," or anything else, serve its own narrow interests. This we're paying for - how would we would be necessary. What system might be called the Perotista Paradox, know where to begin lobbying? So could be easier to maintain? after the supporters of Ross Perot, so government grows in a thousand little The answer: the welfare state. many of whom denounce the waste­ burrowing directions, one for each Welfarism is a process of contend­ ful mess that is the American welfare group's particular special benefit. The ing for the disposition of wealth, of di­ state - but who also would turn generally held desire to do something verse interest groups fighting over around and say, "But I should still get about limiting such benefits doesn't shared resources, each constantly fi­ my unemployment benefits." (Or matter a bit. nagling to change the rules to their small business loan, or union-dictated A libertarian system requires a own advantage. For it to survive, not contract, or research and development modicum of self-restraint, something one of its citizen-subjects need ap­ subSidy, or socialized health insu­ which is often in short supply. The prove of it as a whole or think the rance, or whatever.) welfare state thrives on confusion, government is doing a good job. All the welfare state needs to sur­ disagreement, and self-serving politi­ Fascism and socialism demand cultu­ vive is each interest group making cal pressure, of which there is plenty. ral unity; libertarianism requires just one exception to the rule of ask- This difference gives welfarism a Liberty 45 Volume 7, Number 2 Januar 1994

major competitive advantage over or economics or politics." Indeed, such result, from each individual's self­ libertarianism. intellectual bankruptcy is now admit­ interested viewpoint, will occur if every­ ted by nearly all parties - witness the body shows some restraint; the second Postmodernity and the 1992 presidential race. best if you act selfishly before your fel­ Minimal State Society's confused division into low prisoners do; the worst if you There are many definitions of post­ micro-ideologies and one-issue politi­ show restraint and they don't - is the modernism, but they all include one cal movements results in large meas­ condition in which citizens of the wel­ important concept: today's complex so­ ure from the diversity that capitalist fare state find themselves. ciety is unable to settle on anyone sin­ freedom allows. But capitalism can be Notwithstanding enlightened self­ gle moral theory or way of seeing the undone by its own mutant offspring. interest and the goodness of greed, the world. "Postmodern society" is a 'con- Speaking of mutant offspring, I've world is going to be a miserable place noticed that members of my twenty­ if everyone uses and abuses. But in a something age group - or at least the world in which most people already members of the pseudo-intelligentsia do, what is the good person's incentive At American universities, with whom I have contact - are less not to jump in and get his share of the membership in a recognizable inclined than their elders to consider spoils? From this perpetual trough-run sect is the vital prerequisite "special interests" a pejorative term. comes the welfare state. (It certainly They either regard it as a neutral term didn't come from an excess of altruism for claims to a moral. high like "different sectors of society" or as - the problem isn't that interest ground - or for political au­ a positive term akin to "marginalized groups are trying to give things away!) thority, which functions as a groups." Just as there are multiple ide­ It's a jumbo-sized prisoner's dilemma, ologies, so too they feel there are multi­ with each of us haVing to be wary of stand-in for morality. ple and conflicting demands on the 250 million fellow prisoners' self­ state. (On the bright side, the notion serving behavior. that all political demands can be an­ In the postmodern world of the fusing jumble of competing ideologies, swered seems to have fallen by the welfare state, it is much more tempting with any radical new view forced either wayside.) for your sect to seek special govern­ to remain a marginalized part of the In a society increasingly comforta­ ment favor for itself than for it to show babble or to mainstream itself by water­ ble with the idea that we all fall into moral restraint and refrain from using ing its vision down. warring interest groups and increas­ the state's looting apparatus. The last Postmodern ideas were first articu­ ingly uncomfortable with talk of uni­ thing proponents of liberty should do lated to explain trends in contemporary versal values and moral restraints, the in such a situation is encourage the no­ art. Over the last half-century, more welfare state triumphs by default. tion that selfish factional loyalty is in­ and more artists have played with per­ A free society requires consensus, if evitable, or that it is the basis of all spectives, juxtaposition, and blurred "only" on the idea that state power "morality." There's a disturbingly boundaries between "high" and "pop" should be kept to a minimum. But short step from "pluralistic" morals to art and between art and mass produc­ postmodernism has made adherence to condoning interest-group thievery. tion. Such artistic ventures began to universal (and very specific) human move from the highbrow world to the rights virtually impossible. Attempts Bitter Tiers: popular plane in the 1960s; by the to create such a consensus rub against At War with the Amish 198Os, they were the stuff of television the grain of the times. If our morals were shaped by tribal commercials and MTV montages. loyalties alone, we would live in a Perhaps the climax of postmoderni­ The Prisoner's Dilemma world of embattled little communities. ty occurred during the Reagan-Bush of the Welfare State Consider this scenario: period: intellectuals and campus radi­ If I am a typical member of any in­ I keep low to the ground as machine­ cals anointed themselves guardians of terest group in late-twentieth-century gun fire strafes the com stalks behind various marginalized groups, taking up America, my political foresight is not me. Sixty yards ahead of me is the the fight against what they saw as a likely to extend far enough for me to source of the shots: a gun nest has conservative cultural orthodoxy. And see that liberty is in my group's long­ been set up in the midst of an over­ then they, too, came to be seen as a term interest. turned horsecart. The carcass of the dangerous orthodoxy. But even if it is, why should I be the horse lies nearby. Its owner - by the In one sense, postmodernity is over. one to set an example of respect for looks of him an Amish sympathizer from outside the war zone, rather The apocalyptic novelty of ideological property rights and self-help if no one than a native Amish - crouches be­ gridlock has worn off. People are no else is going to be so restrained? I'm hind his weapon, eyeing the com longer impressed when intellectuals just denying myself all those useful field. I recognize him now as a politi­ and artists attempt to shock us by revel­ funds - funds that are going to get cal science major I knew in college. ing in confusion and schizophrenia, grabbed by the pro-oboe lobbyists. It's little surprise to me he went over saying, "See? We don't have the slight­ This so-called prisoner's dilemma to the other side. As I watch, he est idea how the world works, or ethics - the situation in which the optimal makes a critical error, straightening 46 Liberty Volume 7, Number 2 Januar 1994

up to scratch his beard and pull an­ Since then, I've learned to respect moral agents second. At American uni­ other cartridge from his grey, button­ others' rights. I understand now that a versities like the one Jacob and I at­ less battle-overalls. functioning civil society is built on the tended, membership in a recognizable "Here's one for Sarge, corncob boy," many voluntary associations and sub­ sect is the vital prerequisite for claims I mutter, squeezing off several communities through which people to a moral high ground - or for polit­ rounds. As the sunman, hit, pitches live their lives and get things done ical authority, which functions as a forward, sunlight catches the triangu­ without government. I'm undecided, stand-in for morality on campus. lar orange reflector on the back of his horsecart and I'm blinded for a mo­ Pluralism is a fact of life, but moral ment. I hear the dying gunman pray postmodernism we can encourage or for forgiveness as he catches me in discourage. I think it should be discou­ the chest with a spray of bullets. All Stealth libertarianism won't raged. Yes, it invites us to embrace ide­ goes black. work: by the time you convince ological diversity - but every micro­ The political science student de­ people to privatize the subway ideology can easily become a special scribed in the above scenario is a real interest group's call for special protec­ person. He is firmly committed to indi­ system, they'll have national­ tion or government subsidy. vidual rights, but has lately found him­ ized the buses and maybe auto­ Tribal loyalties mixed with non­ self fascinated by the Amish, and by the ideological political drift do not bring a mobiles too. free society. The formula leads instead somewhatcommunitarian idea that itis the self-determination of groups (such to the post-postmodern gridlock we see now, and eventually, perhaps, to as the Amish) that is the best bulwark the battlefields of Amish country. against a homogenizing Big Govern­ though, about the value of the post­ ment. This friend of mine - let's give modernist practice of assuming that each sect and community has its own Missionaries among him the SUitably Amish-soundingpseu­ the Vikings donym Jacob Levy - has been known "legitimate" moral code. Jacob Levy would say that the proliferation of sub­ So how does one go about changing to wear a broad black hat and, when I the cultural consensus? In the world of first met him, a long-and-shallow, cultures, ethnic enclaves, and so forth is a good thing. The coexistence of so micro-ideologies and one-issue interest mustacheless beard. It is not farfetched groups, one tempting path is to address to imagine Jacob, in a world governed many groups with different ideologies, he'd say, encourages people to think of one issue at a time (first school choice, wholly by tribes, joining an Amish one. then a privatized post office, etc.) slow­ morality in a two-tiered way. On the This chilling scenario could have been ly convincing people of the inefficiency lower level, there are the competing my fate were it not for the fact that we of governmental solutions until you've sects, each with its own vision of the live in a society with a lingering belief stealthily turned them into free­ good life, and on the upper tier is the in universal individual rights that tran­ marketeers - sideways, as itwere. scend tribal loyalties. overarching structure of individual But stealth libertarianism won't As for me, I began to count myself rights that permits all these groups to work: by the time you convince people part of the tribe of godless humanists get along without attacking each other. to privatize the subway system, they'll back in high school, long before I gave The first amendment would be on the have nationalized the buses and maybe much thought to political theory. Little upper tier, the Catholic rule about fish automobiles too. The kudzu vine of understanding the importance of social on Friday on the lower. government grows too fast for a Iittle tolerance, I dreamt of "liberating" the The trouble with this sort of think­ pruning here and there to make much Amish youth from their backward, su­ ing is that in America right now, the difference. It must be pulled out at the perstitious, anti-technological way of top tier is losing out to the bottom. root if it is to be removed at all. That life, preferably at gunpoint. I hope my Perhaps that is inevitable when people means spreading a more fundamental Amish readers can forgive the excesses think of themselves as belonging to a message than "Privatize x" or "Stop of my youth. sect first and to the general universe of subsidizing y" - we must have the courage (and public relations skills) to say, "The welfare state is a bad idea and we should get rid of it." This is a much more ambitious task, compara­ ble to being a pacifist missionary among Vikings. Government in a relatively demo­ cratic society is not a far-away place from which edicts are beamed at a hor­ rified and innocent populace. It is an expression of people's varied and con­ tradictory wants - or at minimum, an expression of what they'll let their "Where'd you get the neat back scratcher?" continued on page 54 Liberty 47 Perspective

Abortion, Reproductive Technology, and Feminism by Wendy McElroy

Not all feminists are pro-choice.

Since the dawn of the second wave of feminism - the current revival, which began in the 1960s - the movement has focused much of its energy on a woman's right to con­ trol her reproductive functions. And if there is a success story for second-wave feminism, it is - or was - the pro-choice campaign to secure safe and legal abortions. Now, reproductive rights have fal­ the IUD as sinister in themselves; I rape. When it comes to abortion, they len on hard times. In every state of the began to see them, though, in con­ have been strangely muted. Some rad­ union, a woman's right even to infor­ text, as part of a larger system ... ical feminists clearly state that they mation about abortion is being seri­ they are part of a particular phrasing are pro-choice, but save their energies ously challenged. Yet response to the of the role of reproduction in society for issues like pornography. Others geared to production and consump­ pro-life crusade has been ineffective. are openly critical of the pro-choice Where is the pro-choice tide of tion, and a particular phrasing of the problem of women's bondage to elements of feminism. protest? Why have relatively few con­ their own bodies. (Twist and Slwut, In her essay ilLiberalism and the temporary feminists taken up the fall­ Susan Cream, ed., Second Story Death of Feminism," Catharine Mac­ ingbanner? Press, 1992, pp. 157-158) Kinnon seems unconvinced that legal Feminism's political content has access to abortion was really a victory significantly changed. The current How has second-wave feminism drifted so far from its '60s roots? for women. After all, abortion had women's movement no longer offers been legalized as a privacy right, and an overwhelmingly friendly home for Part of the answer is that these roots were liberal, and that ideology is radical feminists are inherently suspi­ abortion - or any other aspect of re­ cious of the private realm in which no longer dominant within the move­ productive technology. such perceived outrages as the free ment. Since the late '70s, radical or so­ market and traditional marriage Anti-Choice Feminism cialist feminism has profoundly occur. For radical feminists who rally influenced the ideological direction of The abortion issue has been badly under the banner lithe personal is po­ muddied by high-profile radical femi­ the entire movement. Radical femi­ litical," any appeal to privacy rights is nists like Gena Corea, who attacks vir­ nism considers women's oppression, merely a mask for patriarchy. Mac­ tually every form of reproductive as a class, to have its source in the Kinnon writes: technology from abortion to in vitro twin evils of patriarchy and capital­ fertilization (IVF). Corea is not a voice ism. All issues concerning women are While the women's movement had alone; in "In His Image: Science and processed and analyzed according to ... identified the private as a pri­ mary sphere of the subordination of Technology," Heather Menzies claims this theory. women, Roe v Wade had decriminal­ that even birth control, that apparent Although radical feminists are nu­ ized access to abortion as a privacy bastion of women's liberation, is part merically in the minority, they have right. A movement that knew that and parcel of patriarchy: effectively defined such popular is­ the private was a cover for our pub­ I didn't immediately see the pill or sues as comparable worth and date lic condition was suddenly being 48 Liberty Volume 7, Number 2 Januar 1994

told - and saying - that the abor­ woman's right." This is antagonistic to context of patriarchal capitalism. For tion right was our right to the same radical feminists' agenda of class rights centuries, they say, white male culture privacy. If you forgot what this and class interests. Self-ownership sees has dominated the field of reproduc­ movement knew, this seemed like a social struggle as a fight for individual tion, which is now being used in yet good thing. ... (The Sexual Liberals rights, where every woman claims au­ another way to control women. and the Attack on Feminism, Dorchen tonomy and choice - not as a member To radical feminists, access to abor­ Liedholdt and Janice G. Raymond, OOs., Pergamon Press, 1990, pp.6-7) of an oppressed subclass, but as a full tion is at best a token thrown to and free member of the human race. women to make them falsely believe To the hundreds of thousands of Such rampant individualism runs they are liberated. At worst, it is medi­ women who say the personal is person­ against the collectivist grain of radical cal experimentation and social control al- that is, to those who claim Roe v feminism. To Corea, the notion that re­ conducted by men on the bodies of Wade benefited them as individuals ­ productive choices are "a private mat­ women. Reproductive technologies, radical feminists throw a nod of ac­ ter" merely "contributes to the split once considered liberating, are now knowledgement. #Yes," they say, #you being called tools of oppression. High did receive an incidental benefit. But, on the list of these allegedly false free­ in doing so, you asserted not your au­ doms are the new opportunities for in­ tonomy, but your place under patriar­ Radical feminists have so fertile women, such as IVF and chy." Twiss Butler comments: muddied the abortion issue surrogate motherhood. For any woman who has been able to that it can no longer command get the abortion she needed, the bene­ The Patriarchal Web fits of the reform are obvious and a clear focus and be the rally­ In a sense, this approach is inevita­ genuine. Not at all ironically, howev­ ing point it was in the '60s. ble. Radical feminism is an ideology er, but quite as intended by the men devoted to examining power and op­ who devised it, granting women a pression. Power is in the hands of pa­ sex-neutral right to privacy in repro­ ductive matters was like granting between private and public life which triarchal males; oppression is the women expensive, limited, and easily reinforces women's oppression" (Made traditional lot of women. The radicals revocable guest privileges at the ex­ to Order, Patricia Spallone and Deborah contend that this oppression is reflect­ clusive men's club called the Lynn Steinberg, eds., Pergamon Press, ed in every institution of society. Thus, Constitution. In contrast, men's mem­ Oxford, 1987, p. 7). According to this any radical feminist analysis of repro­ bership in this club is a birthright, argument, since women live within a ductive technology will concentrate on possibly retroactive to conception. social context, they have an obligation patriarchal abuses of power. ("Abortion and Pornography," SexUilI As it is, their critique is given some Liberals, p. 117) to make decisions that will further women as a class. The individual is credibility by the very real abuses that Andrea Dworkin goes one step far­ less important than the many. do exist. As Elayne Rapping has point­ ther and almost accuses '60s feminists 2. Pro-choice is a call for reform, not ed out: of selling out. For Dworkin, the right to revolution, and revolution is the radi­ Birth control ... has always been com­ abortion was merely a bribe contemp­ cal goal. In the '60s, the campaign for promised by the social and economic tuously offered by patriarchy under abortion rights was expressed in terms context in which it was developed the guise of liberalism: of "repeal" or "legalization"; activists and distributed. Health risks, unequal access by poor and Third World [T]he left says ... "Well, what we'll worked through the system in order to women, and sterilization abuse of do is that we will allow you to have modify existing institutions. By con­ an abortion right as long as you re­ women who want to have more chil­ trast, such radical feminist causes as dren than society wants them to have main sexually accessible to us. And if comparable worth call for nothing you withdraw that accessibility and are well-known facts.... ("The Future short of a total overhaul of the present start talking this crap about an auton­ of Motherhood," Wamen, Class, and omous women's movement, we will economic, political, and social system. the Feminist Imagination: A Socialist­ collapse any support that we have The abortion-rights victories of the Feminist Reader, Karen V. Hansen and ever given you ... Because if your '60s and '70s seem to contradict the Ilene J. Philipson, eds., Philadelphia, Temple University, 1990, p. 543) abortion right is not going to mean radical claim that the oppression of sexual accessibility for us, girls, you women can only be corrected by But radical feminism claims that it can't have it." And that's what sweeping away patriarchy. H such a is not just poor and Third World they've been doing to us for the last victory can be achieved within the sys­ women who are disempowered by cur­ fifteen years. ("Woman-Hating Left tem, whither revolution? rent birth control. All women are op­ and Right," SexUilI Liberals, p. 29) 3. Nor do radical feminists counter pressed by it, because it contributes to Why do radical feminists criticize the arguments of the pro-life move­ the political structure by which men the pro-choice stance one would expect ment. Rather, they process abortion as subjugate women. all feminists to support? Three reasons they process every other feminist issue. Again, some data supports this stand out: Abortion is placed in the much wider claim. Some doctors advocate perform­ 1. The pro-choice case rests on the context of reproductive technology, ing a caesarean section, even against principle of "a woman's body, a which is then placed in the still wider the pregnant woman's will, if the Liberty 49 Volume 7, Number 2 Januar 1994

fetus's well-being is deemed to require gerous forms of reproductive technolo­ Sally Shuttleworth, eds., Routledge, it. In several cases, women who have gy includes sperm donation, by which 1990, pp. 120-121) refused caesareans have been com­ a woman conceives with sperm donat­ This view indicates something of a pelled to submit to the surgery under ed from someone other than her shift within radical feminism itself. In court order, with police escorting them spouse or significant other; egg dona­ 1970, radical feminist Shulamith into the operating room. Dr Margery tion, by which a woman conceives Firestone, in her pivotal book The Shaw has ominously suggested that with an egg donated by another Dialectic of Sex, suggested that the new child abuse laws be expanded to in­ woman; embryo adoption, by which a technologies would free women. Was clude "fetal abuse." According to donated egg and sperm are cultured she wrong? Her contemporary follow­ Shaw, a woman might have no right to into an embryo; embryo freezing; ers say yes. The new reproductive tech­ bring a "defective" fetus to term or sperm and egg freezing; and embryo nologies, they say, inherently oppress even to become pregnant if she is the screening. The condemnation extends women in two fundamental ways. "wrong" genotype. Moreover, wo­ even to Electronic Fetal Monitors, First and foremost, reproductive men's eggs may have to meet quality which have been heralded as a break­ technologies have been created by control standards to ensure they are through in fetal care. men; in the context of patriarchy, this not defective. A woman older than, Although infertile women and cou­ makes the technologies inescapably op­ say, 35, might constitute a "defective ples flock to clinics that offer such tech­ pressive to women. The fact that some intrauterine environment," jeopardiz­ nology, radical feminists react to these women and well-intentioned men may ing the fetus's right to be born sound. procedures with unalloyed hostility. work in this field does not prevent it Indeed, a report issued by the Consider these statements of Corea's: from being oppressive, for the simple American Fertility Society in The new reproductive technologies reason that individuals cannot change September 1986 argued that not every- represent an escalation of violence patriarchy by participating within it. In against women, a violence camou­ Rebecca Albury'S words: flaged behind medical tenns. (lithe Some women have been socialized by New Reproductive Technologies," the profession. "Male control" To radical feminists, access p.85) doesn't essentially mean control by to abortion is at best a token Embryo flushing is another of the individual men, it means control thrown to women to make new reproductive technologies. You which benefits men more than artificially inseminate the woman, women most of the time. Far from them falsely believe they are flush the embryo out of her, and then each man exercising personal authori­ liberated. insert the embryo into another ty, things are much more complex. woman. That's done in cows. (p. 87) We live in a network of power rela­ [Regarding surrogacy:] A man's de­ tions that both defines "masculinity" sire to have a genetically related child and ensures the success of individu­ one has the right to reproduce. Among becomes a "medical indication" for als and activities that reinforce the those who could be left out: women in buying a woman's body. Such terms definition. (Australian Left Review overpopulated nations, women unable sanitize the sale of women and re­ number 89) move the reader emotionally from to care for their children, women with Gena Corea dismisses the notion what is actually going on. (p. 89) "defective" genes, and women who that the new technologies are bringing might violate proper prenatal care. The chorus of criticism is growing. hope to women who feel devastated by Feminists of all stripes are under­ Reproductive technology has not only infertility. Such claims are merely "the standably horrified. But the radical been placed in an ideological context, sugar coating on the pill" - reproduc­ feminist critique of the new technolo­ but has also been given an appropriate­ tive technologies are about "control­ gies is not based on the fact that they ly dark history. In her essay ling women, controlling child can and have been abused. They con­ "Feminism, Medicine, and the production, controlling human evolu­ tend that the technologies are in and of Meaning of Childbirth," Paula A. tion." Of equal importance, they are themselves abuses committed against Treichler describes the genesis of what about "making money" and "setting the bodies of women. They are inher­ she calls "medicalized childbirth": up corporations." (Reconstructing ently oppressive because they have Certainly reproductivity in childbear­ Babylon: Essays on Women and been created and administered by ing was linked to the labor-intensive Technology, Patricia Hynes, ed., Indiana white male culture. needs ofboth colonialism and capital­ University Press, 1991, p. 57) In the '60s, feminists gleefully ism, interests that have at once placed The second way in which the new looked forward to the day when con­ childbirth withinthe realmof the pub­ technology is said to oppress women is lic interest and given the state certain ception could take place without a by marginalizing their role in the birth oversight responsibilities.... Thus is man. Now that this day has arrived, ideology linked in tum to capitalism, process. Janice G. Raymond explains: radical feminists maintain that such industry, and thefree market- which As women's reproductive processes advances merely give patriarchy en­ provided economic support for medi­ become disembodied by the NRTs hanced opportunities to control calized childbirth. (Body/Politics: [new reproductive technologies], this women's bodies. Women and the Discourses of Science, adds another layer to the cultural A partial list of these allegedly dan- Mary Jacobus, Evelyn Fox Keller, and image that women's bodies are there 50 Liberty Volume 7, Number 2 Januar 1994

for the taking - this time by medical are discarded, which doubled, which women's productive and reproduc­ technology. The female body be­ altered. When I say this, am I being tive labor, where "reproduction" is comes less and less part of the paranoid?" (41) broadly construed to include sexuali­ woman's creative ground of exis­ Corea asks a question that must not ty, family life, and kinship fonnations tence. Rather it becomes bound by its as well as the birthing which biologi­ be disInissed out-of-hand: will women use value. ("Fatalists and Feminists: cally reproduces the species. [The They are Not the Same," Made to have the option to refuse technologies? sex/gender system] appears to be a Order, p. 62) Here she is echoing a genuine concern, fundamental variable, organizing so­ especially with the growing tendency Thus, the "medicalization" of child­ cial life throughout most recorded to put the health of the fetus above the history and in every culture today. birth exploits the body parts of women autonomy of the pregnant woman. (Quoted in Imprimus, June 1990) (their eggs, wombs, etc.) while making Corea has set the stage for discussing pregnant women almost irrelevant to But this is only the tip of the op­ the key issue - choice. In dealing with the process. Radical feIninists warn: pressive iceberg. Women are exploited this sticky question, it is useful to ex­ Women are losing the monopoly of not merely by reproductive technolo­ aInine the two institutions most criti­ power they once enjoyed over the pro­ gy, but by all technology, science, and cized for their involvement in women's cess of giving life. And the final insult reproductive choices: medical technol­ is that women are told that the new re­ ogy and the free market. productive techniques give them more, To say that I can break a not less, control. Choice and Technology contract with impunity simply Confronted by infertile women to It is true that reproductive technolo­ whom reproductive technologies bring because I have second thoughts gies offer ethical problems as well as hope, Elisabeth Beck-Cernsheim as­ I I practical opportunities. It is also true is in essence to say that no serts that the procedures actually rob that the medical establishment, with contract exists at all. government support, has a long histo­ ry of oppressing women. Its persecu­ A truly radical feminist tion of female healers stretches back to medicine. In article after article, book Europe's age of witchcraft. More re­ after book, "patriarchal" research and should argue for more com­ cently, American doctors persecuted science is critically characterized as mercialization of reproductive midwives and folk healers, at the same "controlling" the environment rather technology. time barring women from universities than being"open" to it, linking validi­ and other institutions that would have ty to reproducible results, relying on enabled them to practice nledicine. evidence instead of experience, using Even if the last few decades have seen deductive rather than inductive logic, them of hope and joy. For example, great strides, no one can blame women and seeking to dominate, not to accept. when women undergo IVF, sex and for retaining a healthy paranoia. Nor is By contrast, "feIninist" research and conception become "a combination of it difficult to understand their antipa­ science is characterized as holistic in its dutiful exercise and competitive sport" thy to the rising rate of hysterectoInies, approach to health, woman-centered in which "sensuality, spontaneity, caesarean sections, breast implants, and opposed to male domination, and love" and other technically irrelevant and the like. offering validation to women's aspects are lost ("From the Pill to Test But again it must be emphasized: experience. Tube Babies," p. 35). Whatever benefits the radical felninist attack is not based In her essay "Theorizing about individual women believe they have on the actual or possible abuses of the Theorizing," scholar Dale Spender dis­ received, the fact is that reproductive reproductive technologies. Techniques cusses the extent to which subjectivity technology has damaged them, both as like IVF are not accepted or rejected is to be embraced: individuals and as members of a class. based on empirical evidence of wheth­ If everything I know is "wrong," that Birth, radical feminists claim, is a er or not, on balance, they benefit is, if there are no absolutes, no truths, natural process that should take place women. They are rejected because they only transitory meanings imposed by without medical intervention, for such (allegedly) spring from and add human beings in the attempt to make sense of the world, then "wrong" be­ intervention benefits not the woman strength to a particular socioeconomic comes a meaningless category. but the medical and political establish­ system - a system that cannot be re­ Instead of being frightened that formed because it in and of itself is an ment. In a dystopian view of the fu­ something I am arguing for as truth, abuse. Those who believe that science ture, Corea speculates on the horrors as right, as logic, may in fact be of reproductive technologies and how and rnedicine can be value-free are at wrong, I am starting from the other they will inevitably give over control best naive, say the radicals, for all cur­ end and arguing that I know it is tem­ of women's bodies to men: they "will rent knowledge is based on the perpet­ porary and inadequate. I ant then be used to control which kinds of uation of patriarchal values and searching for the "errors," the human beings are produced by deter­ assumptions. Sandra Harding writes: "flaws" that will help me to refine. (Body/politics, p. 28) mining which sperm comes into con­ It is a system of male-dominance tact with which egg, which embryos made possible by men's control of Of course, despite rejecting objec- Liberty 51 Volume 7, Number 2 Januar 1994

tive truth, radical feminists seem to claims that (1) women must fully con­ these technologies have been influ­ claim absolute knowledge when it trol their reproductive functions, yet enced by their culture. The mere fact comes to the evils of patriarchy and the (2) certain reproductive choices are that their culture is advanced enough damage that reproductive technology unacceptable. Common sense dictates to have such procedures influences has done to women. Because that if women have the right to say no their choices. People are affected by reproductive technology has been de­ to reproductive technology, they must their environment. That's a truism. veloped by men, it is prima facie and ax- also have the right to say yes. And if a But Beck-Gernsheim and company woman requests a procedure, pays the are saying much more than this. They bill, and Willingly undergoes it, com­ claim that society has narrowed mon sense indicates that she has con­ women's possible courses of action Heather Menzies claims sented to that procedure. If radical down to unacceptable alternatives, and that birth control is part and feminists say that consent is not that, given the climate of social oppres­ parcel of patriarchy. present, the burden of proof falls firm­ sion, women cannot be held responsi­ lyon their shoulders. ble for the choices they make. Consider By way of proof, radical feminists Gena Corea's view of women who claim that women who use reproduc­ wish to carry the fertilized eggs of an­ other rather than carry her own: "No iomatically deemed to be against the tive technology are not really choosing force will be required to get us to ac­ interests of women. Accordingly, only in a meaningful sense of that word. cept the donor eggs - that is, to pro­ women who have been damaged by Those who point to the overwhelming hibit us from reproducing ourselves. these techniques are given a voice in evidence of consent are ignoring the Control of consciousness will do quite radical feminist literature. The vast fact that women have been oppressed well." number of women who have benefited for centuries. The limited and negative Apparently, cultural influence is so are given no voice at all, or are only range of alternatives that patriarchy potent and women are so weak­ heard to be discredited and dismissed. currently allows cannot truly be called minded that we easily lose the ability Women who use surrogate mothers choices. to make decisions about our own bod- are said to be enslaving the wombs of For example: in "From the Pill to others; women who request IVF are Test-Tube Babies," Elisabeth Beck­ placed on the same level as lab animals Gernsheim claims that the new tech­ undergoing experiments. nologies cannot expand choice be­ Pro-choice feminists seek to To condemn and prohibit the new cause they are "embedded in social expand women's alternatives. reproductive technologies, radical fem­ institutions, and individual choices are inists have to somehow demonstrate made within a social system that re­ Radical feminists want to nar­ that the women who flock to use them wards some choices and punishes oth­ row women's alternatives by are not truly exercising either choice or ers." She further argues that the new eliminating the Nunaccept­ control over their own bodies. Thus we reproductive technologies violate the hear ad hominem attacks on any femi­ democratic process necessary to a free able" ones. nists who suggest, for example, that society. The growth of technology has women who embrace surrogate moth­ been so rapid and uncontrolled, she erhood are really choosing to do so. says, that it has imposed a new social ies. Fortunately, radical feminists ­ Janice Raymond's opinions are typical: order on women without having to go strangely immune from cultural influ­ ence - are there to take up the slack. There's a lot of pseudo-feminist rhet­ through duly elected officials or being oric of freedom and choice that masks put to a vote. the essential slavery of surrogacy. In analyZing Beck-Gernsheim's ar­ The War on Contracts And there's a conscious manipulation gument, it is necessary to extend the Since the essence of woman's choic­ of language and reality that happens courtesy of taking her seriously. It is es - the vehicle by which they are when defenders of surrogacy use the necessary to assume she truly believes translated into society - are written rhetoric of "procreative liberty," that abortion, birth control, and NF agreements, radical feminism is also knowing that many women will reso­ are legitimized by the will of the ma­ waging war against "wrong" contracts. nate with this phrase because of the jority and not by the decisions of indi­ Phyllis Chesler's comments exemplify feminist emphasis on reproductive this: choice articulated around the vidual women. It is necessary to abortion issue ... Judge Sorkow him­ assume she actually believes that a Some feminists said, "We must have self equated the "right" to be a woman's technological choices con­ a right to make contracts. It's very im­ surrogate mother with the right to cerning her body should be a matter portant. If a woman can change her have an abortion. ("Sexual and Re­ for"duly elected officials." mind about this contract - if it isn't enforced - we'll lose that right!" ... productive Liberalism," The Sexual So: how can taking choice out of Liberals, p. 111) They didn't consider that a contract the hands of individuals and putting it that is both immoral and illegal isn't But radical feminists cannot so easi­ into the palms of politicians possibly and shouldn't be enforceable. They ly escape the haunting issue of choice. prevent "social control"? didn't consider that businessmen There is a real tension between their It is true that women who use make and break contracts every sec- 52 Liberty Volume 7, Number 2 Januar 1994

ond ... Only a woman who, like all is, in the most important sense, unin­ too can be true of any contract. Both women, is seen as nothing but a sur­ formed, and any decision after that, parties are pursuing their own per­ rogate uterus, is supposed to live up compelled by a pre-existing contrac­ ceived interests. to - or held down for - the most tual commitment, the threat of a law­ Some feminists raise yet another suit, and the inducement of a $10,000 punitive, most dehumanizing of con­ objection. Surrogacy, they say, creates tracts. No one else. Certainly no man. payment, is less than totally volun­ a class of women who can be bought as ("Mothers on Trial," The Sexual tary. Her interests are of little concern Liberals, p. 101) to those who controlled this breeders, stripping them - and all transaction. women - of dignity. Testifying before Consider the most common objec­ This does not so much invalidate the House Judiciary Committee of the tions to surrogacy contracts. One is State of Michigan in October 1987, that the surrogate is selling herself (or, surrogacy contracts as invalidate the Janice Raymond declared: at least, her womb) into slavery. But possibility of any contracts whatsoev­ how is renting out one's womb differ­ er. Consider what the court deems to I am here today to testify against this bill that attempts to regulate surroga­ ent in kind from renting out any other indicate a lack of informed consent. cy but, nonetheless, establishes surro­ parts of one's body, as a secretary, law­ First, the surrogate doesn't know how she will feel about the baby until it is gate contracts as legal and binding. yer, proofreader, or chemical engineer? My position is that surrogate con­ A slave loses not only the use of his or tracts should be made unenforceable her body, but also his or her moral and as a matter of public policy, and that legal jurisdiction over it. Surrogate The pro-choice case rests on they reinforce the subordination of mothers do not. women by making women into re­ Radical feminists also object to sur­ the principle of "a woman's productive objects and reproductive commodities. rogacy contracts on the grounds that body, a woman's right. II This the surrogate cannot give informed ...A surrogate arrangement offers is antagonistic to radical femi­ no dignity to women and therefore consent. This contention is insulting to nists' agenda of class rights cannot be called a real right. It vio­ each and every woman, not merely lates the core of human dignity to those who are involved in surrogacy. It and class interests. hire a woman's body for the breeding is just another way of saying that of a child so that someone else's women don't know their own minds genes can be perpetuated. and can't be trusted with control of born. That could be said about almost Apparently, no one has the right to their own bodies. Men have told any contract. H I sell my family home, I do anything that might damage their women this for centuries. Now radical do not know how much I will miss the 1/dignity" - as defined by Janice feminists mouth the same old patriar­ memories it holds until I no longer live Raymond, of course. challine. there. H I contract to produce paint­ Moving past this emotional re­ ings, I don't know how emotionally Choice and the Marketplace sponse ... part of the radical feminist connected I will feel to my works until In her essay·"Commercial Sur­ objection hinges on the current vague­ they are executed. H I agree to mow rogacy," Linda Whiteford sketches the ness of the surrogacy contract, which someone's lawn on Saturday after­ rationale behind rejecting the "money often does not specify the rights and noon, I don't know how personally im­ motive" in surrogacy: duties of those involved. For example: portant that free time might be to me Commercial surrogacy exploits socio­ who will care for a baby born de­ until Saturday rolls around. To say that economic class differences, using fi­ formed? Does the surrogate agree to a I can breach a contract with impunity nancial need and emotional need as caesarean if the fetus is in danger? simply because I have second thoughts currency. The exchange of money What remedies are available for breach is, in essence, to say that no contract transforms surrogacy from an altruis­ of contract? Without definition of these exists at all. tic gift between sisters or friends into terms, informed consent may be a But, protests the court, the surro­ baby-selling or womb-renting and problem. gate is "compelled by a pre-existing powerfully affects social relation­ ships. The exchange of money for sur­ But even with these questions re­ agreement" and "the threat of a law­ solved, the heart of the objection re­ rogacy codifies power and class suit" into complying with the surroga­ inequities between those who can af­ mains: the claim that surrogates, by the cy contract. But that is almost a ford to buy new life and those who very nature of their contract, cannot give definition of a contract: an agreement sell their ability to create life. The ex­ informed consent. In this, radical femi­ that binds a person and leaves him or changes of money for surrogacy cate­ nists are in agreement with that bas­ her vulnerable to legal remedy if gorizes people as buyers and sellers, tion of patriarchy, the court system. breached. To say that these factors con­ categories based on socioeconomic Ruling on the 1988 Baby M surrogacy stitute coercion is to say that contracts differences. (New Approaches to case, the New Jersey Supreme Court in and of themselves are coercive. Human Reproduction, Linda Whiteford stated that a surrogate The court's last argument - that and Marilyn L. Poland, eds., West­ view Press, 1989, p. 149) ... never makes a totally voluntary, the interests of the surrogate 1/are of lit­ informed decision, for quite clearly tle concern to those who control the In other words, the fact that a sur­ any decision prior to the babys birth transaction" - is equally weak. This rogate needs money invalidates her Liberty 53 Volume 7, Number 2 Januar 1994

contracts. But it is precisely those who A truly radical feminist should strengthens those who oppose abortion need money who most need the right argue for more commercialization of re­ rights. to contract for it! To tell a poor woman productive technology. For this is noth­ (4) They have so muddied the abor­ she has no right to sell her services ­ ing more or less than a woman's right tion issue that it can no longer com­ as .a waitress, a nurse, or a surrogate to use and dispose of her own body in mand a clear focus and be the rallying mother - destroys her economic self­ a manner that profits her, be that profit point it was in the '60s. determination. Her services may be the monetary reward or an infant in her Can anyone really believe that in­ only thing she has to leverage herself arms. creasing the choices available to out of poverty. She needs the right to women is actually a form of oppre­ contract far more than the rich and Competing Agendas sion? Who does not remember how powerful do. By attacking reproductive technolo­ birth control and abortion, whatever Radical feminists' hostility to indi­ gy, radical feminists have hindered the their incidental flaws and abuses, liber­ vidual choice and support for class pro-choice movement in several ways: ated.vast numbers of women from the rights has led them to reject the free (1) Their arguments apply with tyranny of involuntary motherhood? market. Instead, they turn to the gov­ equal force against abortion. The con­ Who can view that as just another ernment for justice. But it has been tention that all modern medical tech­ white male fraud? government that has persecuted niques are the creations of patriarchy The debate about reproductive women through the centuries. It leaves little doubt as to where surgical technology is really about choice. Pro­ burned them as witches, said they abortion stands. choice feminists seek to expand could not own property, banned infor­ (2) They have splintered the move­ women's alternatives. Radical femi­ mation on birth control, committed ment and made a concerted effort nists want to narrow women's alterna­ healthy and rebellious girls to insane against the pro-life agenda unlikely. tives by eliminating the "unac­ asylums, condoned domestic violence, (3) They have joined hands with the ceptable" ones. banned women from universities. religious Right, which opposes surro­ Nothing less than the principle of "a Government has thoroughly demon­ gacy almost as much as it does pornog­ woman's body, a woman's right" is at strated itself an enemy of women. raphy. This unholy alliance only stake. H it is lost what remains? Cl

Seavey, liThe Inevitability of the Welfare State," continued from page 47

elected officials get away with. That's ethical relativism. H cultural questions a narrow range of topics are con­ why thrOWing the current crop of elect­ not directly involVing coercion were ir­ demned loudly by rival sects and, espe­ ed bums out would do little to change relevant to maintaining liberty and cially, the self-styled guardians of the way our governmentbehaves. We'd human happiness, it would be appro­ "diversity" fighting off the "fascism" of still have the same culture, expecting priate to treat them as ethically neu­ cultural homogeneity. the same things from the state. tral. But that is not the case. The I'm not sure this cultural battle is This is also why neither anarchist philosophy to which a subculture ad­ one that liberty's defenders can win ­ bombs, nor a miraculous meteor strike heres today - its respect for life, its or one they are intellectually well­ on D.C., nor a coup, nor House skepticism about authority, its attitude equipped to fight - but it is the only Resolution #XYZ, nor the election of a toward profit-making, its concept of battleplan with a chance of creating a Ross Perot can solve the problem. Soon the individual - inevitably affects its free society. after blowing up the capital or electing attitude toward the use of coercion Still, who knows? History is not a budget-cutter, our statist culture and state power in the future, as well just the sum of its major trends. It also would replicate previous conditions. as its level of tolerance for random vio­ contains countless unpredictable inci­ Removing Beijing from the planet lence and theft. dents which sway opinion and alter would not turn the Chinese into capi­ the expected course of events. A partic­ talists (though it might help) and re­ The Cultural Battlefield ularIy bad government scandal, the moving D.C. would not make our For that reason, libertarians must be passage of a blatantly oppressive law, culture libertarian. in the culture business. They must at­ or the sudden adoption of libertarian Opponents of the welfare state tempt to forge a broad consensus causes by Hollywood celebrities could must, then, concern themselves with against the use of initiated force ­ still spark an anti-statist groundswell. messy and vague questions about what both public and private - to solve And even then, the problems I've kind of culture is conducive to liberty problems. This is a sobering thought, as outlined will remain. Perhaps by the and what virtues need to be fostered to it makes the pretense of cultural neu­ twenty-third century, America will be keep a free people free. trality, behind which economic and po­ libertarian. But such a social order will Unfortunately, many of the free litical-science analyses can often hide, always be harder to create and sustain market's defenders try to avoid cultu­ impossible. In this era, people engaged than the easy drift that is welfare sta- ral questions, almost to the point of in forging a cultural consensus even on tism. Cl 54 Liberty The Dream and the Nightmare: The Sixties' Legacy to the Under­ drive those shared behaviors. Simply class, by Myron Magnet. William Morrow, 1993,256 pp., $20.00 (he). put, the underclass suffers from a cul­ Madness, Heresy, and the Rumor ofAngels: The RevoltAgainst ture of irresponsibility. Remember the Central Park wilding the Mental Health System, by Seth Farber. Open Court, 1993, xviii+266 pp., $17.95 (se). of April, 19891 A gang of kids - six were finally brought to trial - went on a rampage, ending in the gang rape and attempted murder of a young woman. These boys are Exhibit A in Magnet's prosecution. They were not, he informs The New Conservative us, "typical underclass kids. Instead of being the offspring of teenage welfare Welfare State mothers, some came from intact fami­ lies, most had working parents, and around half lived in a building report­ ed to have a doorman. One attended a were adopted by the cultural elite and private school." So what was going on? Jesse Walker dispersed through the rest of society, The six youths ... were borderline bringing tragedy and hopelessness to characters in many senses of the What does the old cliche "freedom the lower classes. The legacy of sexual word. Four of them lived on the very entails responsibility" mean? According freedom, the drug culture, and the ethic margin of Harlem, right at the comer to your run-of-the-mill civics textbook, of instant gratification is today's decay­ of Central Park, overlooking but utter­ it means that, just as the government al­ ing inner city, where civic order has ly separate from the world of afflu­ ence that lines most of the park lows us certain liberties, it demands ob­ completely broken down. perimeter. Their building was rela­ ligations in return. The text might go on Or so says Magnet. But while his to display a list of freedoms ("the right tively new and well-kept, but its door­ analysis has its strengths, it ultimately man, universally invoked in the to a secret ballot") and a list of responsi­ fails to confront either the ambiguous bilities ("if you're 18, register for the newspapers as a totem of middle­ legacy of the 1960s or the larger, com­ classness, was only a security guard, draft") - two columns linked only by plex interplay of freedom, responsibili­ and most of its apartments, though oc­ the mediation of the state. ty, and social order. cupied by working people, were gov­ Which is all nonsense. To be free is ernment-subsidized. The private­ to be responsible for one's own actions, The Poverty of Culture school student? He'd recently been and to be responsible, one must be free and the Culture of Poverty enrolled in a $1000-a-year Harlem pa­ to make choices. Choice without conse­ Opportunities for economic mobili­ rochial school after he'd been sus­ quences is called license; consequences ty still exist, and most poor people pended from the public school he'd without choice, slavery. In today's civ­ don't stay poor. But some do, "a popu­ previously attended for carrying ics-book, two-column social order, we lation whose poverty remains chronic, weapons. have both. H you want to experience even intergenerational, and whose be­ The families of the youths ranged from a hairbreadth out of the under­ life among the licentious slaves, neither havior doesn't include the common­ class, with many underclass cultural free nor responsible, wander through a place first steps toward upward characteristics, to full-fledged work­ typical government school, mental hos­ mobility" (Magnet, 40). These are the ing class.... pital, or public housing project. underclass, defined as much by failed It wasn't the welfare system that Myron Magnet did just that, and families and broken neighborhoods as made these six indicted youths what wrote The Dream and the Nightmare, a by economic hardship. The underclass they turned out to be - or poverty or harsh, poetic, sometimes brilliant, usu­ has never been precisely defined; it is drugs or school-leaving. It was that ally infuriating tome that demonstrates more a collection of symptoms than a they lived all their lives in an under­ both the power and the poverty of neo­ firm category. For Magnet, what separ­ class community and continually conservative thought. All horror novels ates these people from the nonunder­ drank in its values. (Magnet, 69-70) must have a villain, and Magnet's- is a class poor is culture - the folkways A strong argument, so far. But what biggie: the counterculture of the 196Os. transmitted from generation to genera­ produced those values? How could a That era's antinomian values, he says, tion and the commonly held values that community's notions of right and Liberty 55 Volume 1, Number 2 January 1994 wrong go so rabidly amok? that was only just cooling and solidify­ Needless to say, the two are linked. [C]rime takes on the closest links to ing as the baby boom was coming to Since the turn of the century, more and culture. For though the whole govern­ consciousness." Magnet's conclusion: more social functions have been taken mental structure of force and threat ­ "The problem wasn't that the under­ out of the hands of intermediary insti­ police, judges, and prisons - is a key class was too isolated from mainstream tutions by the state and its ranks of cre­ means by which society restrains ag­ culture, but rather that it was too pow­ dentialled professionals. The process gression and crime, it isn't the princi­ erfully influenced by it" (Magnet, 68). took off in the Progressive Era, with pal means. ... The most powerful But what was this "mainstream cul­ mUnicipal "reform," in which control of curb isn't force at all: it is the internal ture"? Magnet is blurring the boundar­ local services was transferred from inhibition that society builds into each peISon's character, the inner voice ... ies between three very different sets of neighborhoods to a professionalized that makes the social contract an inte­ people in order to support a rather ten­ gral part of our deepest selves. uous argument. ... This is a cultural matter, a matter First, there are the social critics who of how people bring up their children, emerged in the late '50s and the '60s as In Liberal Democrat My­ a matter of the messages that get rebels against Organization Man socie­ thology, the Great Society was passed from the community to the ty and advocates of greater individual parents and thence to the children. freedom. Magnet singles out a handful a valiant effort to wipe out The object is to transmit the necessary of these for criticism, with mixed prohibitions against aggression to poverty by providing decent each individual and to win each indi­ results. education, housing, food, and vidual's inner, positive assent to the Second, there is the New Frontier/ shelter. In the real world, it social endeavor. (Magnet, 157) Creat Society explosion in government The underclass does not transmit activism - a phenomenon rooted in was an enormous political pat­ and has not received these necessary precisely what the first group of critics ronage program. messages, says Magnet. Welfare, ex­ was rebelling against. Chronologically panded by left-liberal cultural revolu­ speaking, Wilson's demographic data tionaries, tells them they are not could be attributed to this as easily as it civil service; licensure, which restricted responsible for their own plight. En­ could to the "cultural revolution." entry to elite (and some non-elite) voca­ demic single motherhood, made main­ Last, there is the media-created tions; and education reform, which stream by the sexual revolution, mass counterculture of the baby boom. This represents the social critics' actual both centralized public education and effect on the larger culture, and thus created a means for separating the pro­ should be most important for Magnet's fessional class from the uninitiated. The All horror novels must have thesis. But he spends almost no time welfare state is the modern organiza­ with it at all. tion of once-decentralized social func­ a villain, and Magnet's is a I believe that the crisis of the under­ tions; its bureaucrats are its main biggie: the counterculture of class springs only barely from the third beneficiaries. the 19605. group, mostly from the second, and not The vastest expansion of the welfare from the first at all. And Magnet him­ empire was Lyndon Johnson's Creat self is a lot closer to the second group Society. In Liberal Democrat Mytholo­ than he realizes. For all his anti­ gy, the Great Society was a valiant ef­ prevents strong families that can pro­ bureaucratic, individualist rhetoric, the fort to wipe out poverty by providing vide necessary socialization. And how solutions he proposes often amount to decent education, housing, food, and (he continues) can anyone keep their in­ just more of the same. shelter to everyone in America. H it nate aggressive urges intact while high failed, it only did so because the public, on crack - the final fallout from the Welfare Empires hampered by skinflint conservatives/ '60s drug culture? Consider the data Two characteristics are common to the Vietnam War/the tax revolt/ gathered by James Q. Wilson, Magnet every underclass setting. One is the sunspots (take your pick), didn't cough urges us: with the baby boom, the "rise breakdown of community, of the vol­ up enough dough. in welfare dependency was 600 percent untary associations and intermediary In the real world, the Creat Society greater than experts would have pre­ institutions that nestle and nurture so­ was an enormous political patronage dicted from the change in the popula­ cial order. A "bad neighborhood" is program. "Needs" were defined by the tion's age profile," and "the rise in one where this spontaneous commons "helping professionals," not poor peo­ crime, over 1200 percent greater. Clear­ is progressively disintegrating, or else ple; bureaucracies were built by men ly the baby boom generation made so being twisted into something perverse, and women as self-interested as anyone decisive an impact not just because it like violent gangs. else. Honest ideologues like Michael was large, but especially because it was The second characteristic is the Harrington prOVided a rationale for so different. A huge cohort grew up ever-intrusive hand of government. spending money, not an impetus. Con­ formed by a new culture - a new set Public housing, public schools, AFDC, sider this statistic: of values, beliefs, and institutions - 551 - welcome to the welfare state. The "nonprofit" human service sector 56 Liberty Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

(not counting hospitals and institu­ Myron Magnet is concerned about parents? Four? Five? Not real parents, tions of higher leaming) in New York the survival of the work ethic. He sees of course; I'm talking about extended City in 1982 received $10.6 billion dol­ it dying in underclass communities, families. Is it better to be raised by a fa­ lal'S. The largest single source of reve­ and blames the influence of the coun­ ther and a mother than by a mother, a nue for that sector was government terculture. But what about the influ­ grandmother, and an uncle? Is a hetero­ contracts. ... Had just 10 percent of ence of a system that treats work as a sexual couple innately superior to a ho­ that money been given directly to bureaucratic rigamarole, just another mosexual one? poor families [rather than routed. ritual to go through before the client The correct answer is, "It depends." through the charity complex], weHare can get her benefits? As far back as the It benefits would have doubled in New depends on who these people raising York. (Funiciello,37) nineteenth century, one workhouse set the kids are, how they/re going about its charges a-busy carrying logs back the job, and what the kid's needs are. Put on your public-choice hats. Who and forth across a yard all day for no Perhaps the nuclear family is an ideal benefits from a system like that? Who is discernible purpose other than to teach form. Perhaps it is not. Perhaps - and supposed to benefit? Poor people, or the value of work. The "value" of this here is a radical, subversive notion, im­ their keepers? labor escapes me, but I'll hazard a plying human diversity and other The professional dolers and plan­ guess as to its effect: the inmates ners and social engineers now face an learned to dissociate work from useful interesting double-bind. On the one activity, to jump docily through hoops hand, they owe their power and bud­ on demand, and to feel surly resent­ All right, so two parents are gets to the presence of poor people, and ment toward the whole concept of pro­ have an incentive to find (or create) better than one. How about ductive activity. Today's "training" for three parents? Four? Five? more of them. On the other hand, their jobs that aren't the jobs available is sim­ job, in the ever politically fierce opinion ply the same process, modernized. of the public, is to get people offthe dole. Punitive imposition of "responsibil­ The way out of the is "workfare." fix ity" is no substitute for the real thing. sneaky concepts that tend to trip up "Workfare" - and "learnfare," and This all reminds me of a conversa­ neat scientific models - perhaps it/s all the other permutations - still re­ tion I had with a schoolteacher once. ideal for many people, adequate for quires lots of government spending; "'Maybe, if a student doesn/t want to most, and completely inappropriate for Wisconsin's recently enacted system ac­ learn to read, you should just let him a few. tually costs more than its predecessor. be illiterate for a while," I suggested. This is the sort of talk Magnet At the same time, it requires welfare cli­ "Perhaps he/ll eventually want to read, blames for the current crisis. But he's ents to attend job training sessions ­ once he finds out the consequences of barking up the wrong tree. The same often for jobs that aren't there, or which not knowing how." revolution that meant misery for the ordinarily provide their own non­ "Consequences?" she exclaimed. children of broken families, means joy subsidized training - or to "work" "We've tried consequences. We haven't for children and spouses escaping abu­ (working raising kids doesn't count) or come up with any that work!" sive family members, for homosexuals to attend school. Studies have shown and bisexuals now allowed to form that most people lifted off the welfare Doing OUf Own Thing, stable relationships, and for many, rolls this way usually drift back; it Which May Be the Nasty many more. The family, like all inter­ seems that government planners are in­ Magnet is also concerned about the mediary institutions, is constantly capable of figuring out just what jobs it future of the family. This is under­ evolving. It is just as destructive to is useful to train people for. But no mat­ standable. In general, children benefit freeze that evolution as it is to abolish ter - that just keeps the cycle going. from haVing more than one parent. the institution itself. H you're wondering why no one Two-parent families are usually strong­ But the modern welfare state subsi­ thought of this before, the answer is er and more stable than one-parent dizes single motherhood - and, indi- that they did - remember CETA? And households. Single par- even without such programs, an infor­ ents would need neither mal client-recycling process, dubbed wage-work nor welfare "churning," has been common for a checks if they were sup­ long time. People eligible for welfare ported by working are simply cut off, arbitrarily, then rein­ spouses. H the family is stated a few months later. disappearing, a non­ Programs like these erode freedom governmental safety net in obvious ways - the freedom of the is being destroyed. taxpayer who cannot keep what he or But let's stop and she has earned as well as the freedom consider this for a mo­ of the welfare recipient who must en­ ment. All right, so two dure the prying eyes of Big Sister. But parents are better than they also erode responsibility. one. How about three ''Walter, we never talk any more!" Liberty 57 Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994 rectly, papa-was-a-rolling-stone-style the wall of one of the tenements completely lack the checks and inhibi­ single fatherhood. Evolution requires across the street. tions exerted by eye-policed city not just experimentation, but a feed­ As I watched from our second-floor streets. Oacobs, 42-43) back mechanism as well, and subsidy window, making up my mind how to Shielded from external eyes, denied shorts the feedback loop. In that con­ intervene if it seemed advisable, I saw it was not going to be necessary. From the mixed uses that bring a constant text, the family revolution has had the butcher shop beneath the tene­ turnover of internal eyes, public hous­ some negative effects. ment had emerged the woman who, ing attracts vandalism and violent Yet a simple-minded return to the with her husband, runs the ShOPi she crime. Still worse, planners' innate ina­ allegedly good old days would only was standing within earshot of the bility to replicate the unplanned order unsolve old problems. Magnet's odious man, her arms folded with a look of of the busy street prevents the subtle proposals - massive group shelters for determination on her face. Joe Cornac­ interplay of private and public space Ja­ unwed mothers, where professionals chia, who with his sons-in-law keeps cobs elsewhere demonstrates is neces­ the delicatessen, emerged about the sary for cohesive community. Instead, same moment and stood solidly to the other side. Several heads poked out of projects devolve into collections of If you want to understand the tenement windows above, one cliques, devoid of a common, public was withdrawn quickly and its owner life. where the Commentary crowd reappeared a moment later in the Jacobs' book was published in 1961. is coming from when noth­ doorway behind the man. Two men The patterns she was describing then ing's happening in the Middle from the bar next to the butcher shop continue today, in sharper and uglier came to the doorway and waited. On forms. Is it too obvious to mention that East, Magnet's book is a fine my side of the street, I saw the lock­ planning, zoning, and public housing smith, the fruit man, and the laundry place to start. have taken off since 1961? Is it unthink­ proprietor had all come out of their shops and that the scene was also be­ able that this ongoing usurpation of ing surveyed from a number of win­ community self-government could have contributed to the underclass will teach them proper child-rearing dows besides ours. The man did not and children will be cared for in gov­ know it, but he was surrounded. No­ problem? ernment day care centers - won't body was going to allow that little girl Is it irrelevant that she was observ­ to be dragged off, even if nobody solve a thing. Why institutionalize poor ing this process years before Magnet's knew who she was. (Jacobs, 38-39) women and their children? Isn't that "cultural revolution" existed for more what led to the present difficulties? Streets flourish with varied, over- lapping uses, the messy tapestry of a Blood in the Streets diverse and disunited crowd. A block Last but not least, there's the head­ with different kinds of businesses "Workfare" requires lots of line-grabbing territory of crime and draWing in different people at all differ­ government spending; Wis­ drugs. We've come a long way since ent times of day and night is a block consin's recently enacted sys­ the days William Julius Wilson de­ with lots of "eyes" on it, in Jacobs' scribed in his famous opening to The phrase, creating an unconscious net­ tem actually costs mQI.!:. than Truly Disadvantaged, when IIblacks in work of mutual surveillance and public its predecessor. Harlem and in other ghetto neighbor­ safety. hoods did not hesitate to sleep in parks, Covernment planning and zoning, on fire escapes, and on rooftops during by eliminating mixed use, can cripple than a handful of bohemians and hot summer nights in the 1940s and this most basic community process. gypsies? 1950s, and whites frequently visited in­ Government urban renewal, by de­ The biggest boost to crime rates, of ner-city taverns and nightclubs" stroying old neighborhoods, can kill it. course, has come from the war on (Wilson, 3). Government public housing does some­ drugs. When drugs are outlawed, only How could that sort of safety be thing even worse: outlaws have drugs - gang members maintained? Jane Jacobs' observations [Consider] the peculiarities of another who now monopolize the drug trade, may shed some useful light on the and figurative kind of street - the addicts who must steal to buy their nar­ topic: corridors of high-rise public-housing cotics at inflated prices. Just as alcohol The incident which attracted my at­ projects, those derivates of Radiant prohibition dramatically increased ur­ tention was an apparent struggle go­ City. The elevators and corridors of ban violence, so has prohibition of mar­ ing on between a man and a little girl these projects are, in a sense, streets. ijuana, heroin, and cocaine. of eight or nine years old. The man They are streets piled up in the sky in A subtler process is also going on. seemed to be trying to get the girl to order to eliminate streets on the Drug laws have created a narcotics sub­ go with him. By turns he was direct­ ground and pennit the ground to be­ ing a cajoling attention to her, and come deserted parks. culture, forced from the social main­ then assuming an air of nonchalance. ... These interior streets, although stream by legislative fiat. A community The girl was making herself rigid, as completely open to public use, are where drugs are the social glue is not children do when they resist, against closed to public view and they thus likely to encourage intelligent, moder- 58 Liberty Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994 ate use of the chemicals, integrated into tha~ incentives are not insignificant. He Erving Goffman, R.D. Laing, and novel­ a broader lifestyle. As Stanton Peele has understands the law of unintended ist Ken Kesey. These men are part of a pointed out, the greatest factor in deter­ consequences - at least so far as his larger tradition of post-psychiatric mining who becomes an addict is opponents' ideas are concerned. Most thought that continues to this day, most whether or not the drug user has any­ importantly, he understands the signifi­ recently with Seth Farber's excellent thing better to be doing with his time, cance of culture. He knows that human Madness, Heresy, and the Rumor of any firmer centers in his life. In a drug­ beings are neither isolated economic Angels. oriented subculture, he probably calculators nor malleable slaves to their According to Magnet, Szasz et al. doesn't. economic status and physical environ­ are out to erase alII/suppression of im­ So the problem is not the drugs ment. Values do matter. pulse," to grant the mad license to do themselves, but irresponsible use of But ultimately, Magnet is just an­ whatever they please, no matter how drugs - and limiting people's freedom other Great Society reformer. He socially disruptive. Their ideas took helps create a culture of irresponsibili­ mouths free-market criticisms of social­ over psychiatry and led to the deinsti­ ist planning, but is quick to use the gov­ ty. But far be it from Magnet to suggest tutionalization of thousands of patients, ernment to achieve his own ends. He relegalization. creating a sorry population of danger­ will retain the welfare state, only slight­ ous homeless psychotics in serious Not Quite Great ly reformed - leaner, meaner, and need of treatment. So far, I've been sketching out a li­ called something else. Occasional bursts All this is nonsense. These writers of caution notwithstanding, Magnet's bertarian alternative to Magnet's neo­ (Laing is a possible exception) urge the book is really a call for a Pretty Good conservative analysis. I should admit, restoration offreedom and responsibility; Society, a workfare-warfare state. however, that he makes several good Szasz, for one, is a leading critic of the Nowhere is this more clear than in points. use of the insanity plea to acquit crimi­ his chapters about homelessness and His discussion of several issues ­ nals - hardly a call for licentiousness. the Hmentally ill." notably, the failure of affirmative­ The critics' ideas have had influence in action and compulsory-integration The Manufacture of Madness some circles, but have never been more schemes - is right on target. He under­ When Myron Magnet writes about than a hated curio within the psychiatric stands that state socialism is a failure, mental illness, he saves his most irate establishment, as Farber's book makes that government bureaucracies are red glares for institutional psychiatry's clear. As for deinstitutionalization and wasteful and self-perpetuating, and critics - specifically, Thomas Szasz, homelessness - well, we'll deal with

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POWER INVESTING that issue shortly. First, let's take a look at net.) Coffman based his conclusions on what these men actually said. extensive anthropological field research THE COLLECTIVISTS ARE KILLING Szasz's critique of psychiatric coer­ in a D.C. mental hospital, where he saw THE ECONOMY. BUT YOU CAN cion, set out in The Myth ofMental Illness psychiatrists inducing "crazy" behavior, PROSPER WITH THIS FAST TRACK and other books, rests on two general unaware of their role in creating the INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY. principles. The first is that "mental ill­ symptoms they were treating. ness" is a metaphor; minds can only be Farber traces these criticisms further, A professional futures market "sick" in the sense that economies can. to the family therapy movement of the speculator (and writer on Objectivism "Schizophrenia," "paranoia," "manic de­ and Libertarianism) will soon offer 195Os. Their research showed that, even private managed accounts to quali­ pression," et cetera ad infinitum are not outside of the asylum, much "crazy" or fied investors. No minimum account illnesses in the sense of cancer or AIDS. "pathological" behavior was an individ­ size. Fees based on percentage of They are behavior-patterns with any ual's expression of otherwise unexpressi­ profits. Original, sophisticated, number of possible causes. Even that is ble concerns - fear of the family highly-leveraged trading system; fully stretching it a bit - these are not precise­ splintering apart, or just of "an impend­ computerized; massive database; ly defined behaviors, but ever-shifting ing transition to a new phase in the indi­ thirty-five years of experience. collections of symptoms, heavily depen­ vidual or family life cycle" (Farber, 125). dent on the preconceptions of the diag­ Critics of psychiatry and critics of You still have time to preserve and nosing psychiatrist. Thus, for example, welfare are not often grouped together. enhance your capital base with our ... when someone currently does a But Charles Murray has built his career unique recession-proof and de­ study of so-called schizophrenics, no­ on this same insight: self-destructive be­ pression-proof investment program. body takes any indicator, any dependent havior can be a rational response to per­ Extensive documentation is available. variable from past work, to use as a cri­ verse incentives. terion for schizophrenia in theprocess of GOLDEN HARVEST setting up the experimental group. They Farber's Case FUTURES RESEARCH still take recourse to using the diagnosis Yeah, right, you say. I've seen the mad, 6190 Spring Arbor Road given the person by the psychiatrists. pissing on the street, yelling incomprehensi­ Jackson, Michigan 49201 Since the person is typically given differ­ ble scatology at passers-by. You're telling me 517-750-2500 ent diagnoses by various psychiatrists, the researcher will take the one chosen there's method to their 111adness? by a majority of the diagnosers. Thus, no There isn't any single reason for so one has yet found a way to say, "Let's many of the homeless to be so disturbed The Liberty Poll use this external criterion that has been and deranged. It can be a reaction to found valid." (James Mancuso, quoted hopeless circumstances and personal in­ What Libertarians Think in Farber, 137-138) competence. For many, it's a byproduct The first detailed study of what Szasz's other guiding principle is sim­ of extreme drug abuse. For some, it libertarians think about life, govern­ pIy the classical liberal standard of rule could be, as the psychiatric propagan­ ment, God, sex, heroes ... and how of law. H someone is not harming anyone dists tell us, a biological condition. Physi­ they would deal with some serious else, but happens to hear disembodied cal problems - e.g., brain damage ­ moral problems. voices, that's his own affair. One should can indeed affect human behavior. But if $4.00 each, ppd. not lock up a nonviolent man who hears something's wrong with my brain, I'd $3.00 each for 5 or more copies. spirits for the same reasons one does not just as soon bypass the psychiatrists and Liberty Publishing lock up a nonviolent man who believes their diagnostic labels, and go straight to PO Box 1181 that an enormous, gaseous being named a neurosurgeon. Port Townsend, WA 98368 "Yahweh" regularly intervenes in athlet­ The neurosurgeon, after all, will ex­ ic contests. Some of my best friends ­ amine my brain before he tinkers with it. decent, competent people - pray during The psychiatrist will examine only my How To Answer basketball games. Some others, equally behavior - and with remarkably con­ Those Tricky decent and competent, tell me they speak strained vision. And the tinkering he or Questions with spirits and gods. Who am I to im­ or she then prescribes may destroy me. prison them? (For the record, the disem­ Do I exaggerate? Examine the testi­ by BiD TomlinJOn bodied voices often bear good advice, mony of psychiatric survivors, gathered A practical, hands-on guide for Li­ and I've seen some pretty miraculous in Seth Farber's book. bertarian activists and candidates. 80 three-point shots.) Each of Farber's first seven chapters pages of invaluable advice and an­ Other writers ruade related points. is an interview with a woman or man swers. $8.00 including postage & Erving Coffman pointed out in Asylums who has undergone coercive psychiatric packing. that, as strange as the behavior of mental treatment. Each story is relatively recent, Cameo Press patients may appear to outsiders, it belying the common notion that reform­ Box 1311 - 1124 Lonsdale Ave. makes coherent sense in the context of the ers "fixed" the mental health system in North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 3J5 asylum. ("Cultural relativism can hardly the '60s and early '70s. Each storyteller CANADA get more extreme than this," sneers Mag- suffered personal crises - family prob- Volume 7, Number 2 ••••••••••••••••••••• • • lems, or spiritual unrest, or difficulty continues to self-medicate to this day, • • moving from one phase of life to an­ controlling dosage and setting herself. • • other. Each was diagnosed as mentally H that was all there were to psychi­ : Wantto · sick, then checked into an institution atric drugs, only anti-chemical puritans • with its own crazy procedures. Each, would object. But when potentially : restore eventually, was coercively committed. dangerous and rarely useful medica­ Each was forced to take psychothera­ tions are forced into people's body · eapitalism peutic drugs which, in all cases, ren­ against their will, all who believe in jus­ dered the patients genuinely tice and liberty should protest. and dysfunctional. Each had trouble extri­ Myron Magnet does not. freedoln? cating him- or herself from the mental It's a Mad Mad health system, often voluntarily recom­ For a sample mitting themselves when the personal Mad Mad Myron ofour monthly publication crises continued - giving up freedom Magnet attacks Szasz and company in order to escape responsibility. Each in two ways. One is to tell a series of Freedom Daily has since declared independence from horror stories about crazy homeless send one dollar to: the system, and stopped taking the people the police refuse to lock up. drugs the professionals told them they These fall into two general categories: Future of Freedom Foundation would be unable to survive without. people who constantly threaten to hurt 11350 Random Hills Road or kill someone and then do so, and Each has indeed survived, and grown Suite 800, Fairfax, VA 22030 stronger. people who make a real nuisance of Or call (703) 934-6101, Why interview strong-willed, attrac­ themselves urinating on the street, tive survivors instead of the crazy who screaming at strangers, and generally Fax (703) 803-1480. crap on city sidewalks? Because, Farber disturbing the peace. WE DON'T COMPROMISE! says, Unfortunately for Magnet's argu­ ment, there already exist means of deal­ ... all of [the interview~] manifest­ ing with folks who do these sorts of ed the behaviors typically construed by psychiatrists as symptoms of se­ things - means which don't have any­ vere mental illness. These individuals thing to do with psychiatry. H the po­ are exceptional primarily in the sense lice do not act to stop people who carry that they are forerunners and that around axes making violent threats, or ••••••••••••••••••• they can and will serve as role models who make the public sidewalks unliva­ for other psychiatric survivors who ble, that may say a lot about the police, will follow their example and refuse but it says little about psychiatrists. to allow mental health professionals Magnet's other attack is to blame to destroy their dignity and induct psychiatry's critics for the deinstitution­ Learn at them into careers as mental patients. alization disaster - and, by extension, (Farber, xvii) for homelessness. It is people like these who defy the "Deinstitutionalization" refers to medical model of madness. the release of thousands of onetime The remainder of Farber's book is a mental patients from state mental hos­ IILibertyl1 damning collection of evidence, an ac­ pitals over the course of the 1960s and count of the ways the medical model of 1970s. In theory, the patients were to go Are you interested in work­ the human psyche goes wrong and the to new, government-funded communi­ ing as a journalist? Would you ways in which people have resisted its ty mental health centers. In fact, most like to improve your writing constraining vision of human potential. of those centers were never buHt, and and editing skills? It is a moving, fascinating tour de force. the ones that were, were embarrass­ Liberty offers full-time, paid Some psychiatric intervention may ments. Most ex-inmates subsisted in internships at all times ofthe do some good, of course, and we all cheap private quarters, usually single­ should have the right to contract for room occupancy hotels. In the early year. Interns are involved in all whatever therapeutic servi(:es we wish. I '80s, urban renewers started knocking aspects ofediting and publish­ have a friend who b~gan taking a psy­ the SROs down, causing the remaining ing Liberty. chiatric medication fifteen years ago, out hotels to raise their rates and leaVing For information, write: of concern for her drainingly manic be­ many former patients on the streets. R W. Bradford, Editor havior. It calmed her down, but had the For the record, while many civil li­ Liberty alarming extra effect of weakening her bertarians supported deinstitutionaliza­ PO Box 1181 creativity and her desire to write. After tion on Szaszian grounds, the process Port Townsend, WA 98368 careful consideration,·she decided that itself emerged from pressures on state this was an acceptable trade-off. She budgets. Not, mind you, that spending January 1994 , Libertarian was ultimately curbed. State hospital ture - is itself a social circumstance. Republicans expenditures fell only three percent be­ Doesn't he realize that it is the culture tween 1969 and 1981, while federal of the asylum that Coffman is writing Subscribe to spending skyrocketed from $1 billion in about? 1963 to over $17 billion in 1985. Adjust­ There is a very real connection be­ 1{f,pu6acan Li6erty ed for inflation and number of patients, tween Magnet's declaration that the Magnet tells us, this is a fourfold in­ homeless are "mentally ill" and his di­ crease. The hospitals had been willing The libertarian effort for agnosis of underclass "pathology." His California's Prop. 174 to send patients packing, but not staff, solutions are also strikingly similar: in yet another demonstration that the commit the mental cases to psychiatric School Choice in Michigan by State Rep. Dave Jaye welfare state exists to serve itself, not institutions, put poor mothers into gov­ its clients. ernment shelters. Congressional Votes on According to Magnet's figures, Abolishing Selective Service Compare this to Madness, Heresy, about 405,000 patients were deinstitu­ and the Rumor ofAngels. The psychiatric New Jersey & Virginia Elections tionalized during the '60s and '70s. He survivors Farber interviews have all News on Gov. Carroll Campbell, also estimates, reasonably, that there managed, after much pain, to reassert Gov. William Weld, Mayor Dick, are between 300,000 and 360,000 home­ control over their lives. Each very dif­ Riordon, & Sen. Orrin Hatch less people in America. Later, he quotes ferent story had that same object: to re­ Plus Interviews, Book Reviews, ten NIMH studies that "consistently gain control. That meant being free, and Editorials, and Activist News show that around one third of the that meant being responsible. Neither homeless - well over 100,000 souls if side of the equation is neglected. Calls Full 1 Year Membership - $20.00 the homeless total 350,000 - suffer for irresponsible, just-do-it, screw-the­ 6 issues, plus special mailings. from severe mental illness" (81-82). I consequences self-destruction may Send to: Republican Liberty Caucus have not seen these studies, but I have have come from some countercultural 1717 Apalachee Parkway, Suite 434 to wonder what kind of methodology quarters, but if these critics of the psy­ Tallahassee, FL 32301 allows one to assert that a third of the chiatric establishment represent Mag­ homeless are mentally ill without, in net's "cultural revolution," he's looking Questions or for Sample Call: the process, discovering the actual in the wrong part of town. (713) 867-9060 number of mentally ill homeless peo­ 50 what can I conclude, ultimately, paid political ad by RLC ple. But even accepting that figure, and about Magnet's opus? It is (the review­ even accepting the literal existence of er said slyly) schizophrenic. There's r------, mental illness, that leaves over 300,000 good in it and bad; it's part of the prob­ The Sociology of deinstitutionalized patients who are lem and part of the solution. Sometimes the Ayn Rand Cult not on the street. it stands for liberty and self­ Where are they? I don't know. It is government; sometimes, for imposing by Murray N. Rothbard not in the interests of institutional psy­ "responsibility" without a trace of Read the perceptive, provocative, chiatry to track their progress. freedom. notorious analysis of the Ayn Rand At any rate, it's clear that deinstitu­ Mostly, it's interesting as a cultural movement in its heyday! tionalization helped fuel the homeless­ document. Magnet speaks for a lot of Send $4.00 to: ness problem. But the broader lesson, I intellectuals of a certain right-'wing Liberty Publishing think, is to not knock down 5ROs. stripe. If you want to understand where PO Box 1181 the Comntentary crowd is coming from L Port Townsend, WA 93868 .J The Neoconservative when nothing's happening in the Mid­ Paradox dle East, this is a fine place to start. All this leads us to the central para­ Farber's book, on the other hand, is dox of Magnet's book, and the greatest a testament to liberty and to the in­ strength of Farber's. domitable human soul. Long after the At one point, Magnet criticizes Erv­ institutions it exposes collapse under ing Coffman for espousing "the idea their own weight, it will deserve to be • HUMOR, ROCK, FILM, TELEVISION, JAZZ, that character and behavior are nothing read. 0 • POLITICS, ART, YOUTH, COMICS, DRUGS, but products of the social circumstanc­ FICTION, FOLK, FUNK, EXPERIMENTAL Other texts quoted in review: • JOURNALISM, POETRY, REVIEWS, THEORY, es in which people are immersed" • CRITICISM, FASHION AND MUCH MORE. (Magnet, 85). That's a straw-man at­ Theresa Funiciello, "The Poverty indus­ • FOR ONE-YEAR (4 ISSUES) OF AMERICA'S try," Ms., November/December 1990. • LIBERTARIAN CULTURE MAGAZINE ($19), tack. Of course character and behavior Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life ofGreat SAMPLE ISSUE ($5), OR have more than a social basis; biology, • INFO PAMPLET ($1), American Cities, Vintage Books, 1961. • SEND A CHECK too, plays a role. William Julius Wilson, The Truly Disadvan­ TO: But stop and think a moment about taged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and 71115th St SE Dept. L-l Myron's complaint. Magnet's favorite Public Policy, University of Chicago Press, Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 explanation for our nation's ills - cul- 1987. ------Voice Mall/Fax (319) 365-2491. ------Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

Miles From Nowhere, by Dale Duncan. Viking Penguin, 1993,320 pp., neeshpuram, Oregon, the once-bustling $22.50 (he). religious commune, now inhabited only by a garrulous caretaker; and Gerlach, by 1992, 278pp., Visions Upon the Land, Karl Hess, Jr. Island Press, Nevada, which a sign in a local bar $22.00 (he). identified as "where the pavement stops and the West begins," a slogan one sees on the walls of many isolated western towns; and Chloride, New Mexico, ghost-town home of the late li­ Miles/rom bertarian journalist George Boardman. In fact, I have visited every county in the West at least once, but the thinly Understanding populated areas remain my favorites. I love the weirdness of the people, the weirdness of the geography, the weird­ ness of the solitude. Larry DeRieux, who owns most of R.W. Bradford But somehow, my take on the nearly Fields, Oregon, and hopes to develop uninhabited sixth of the United States is the tiny (population 9), extremely iso­ quite different from Duncan's. Duncan In Miles From Nowhere, Dayton DW1­ lated (nearest town 120 miles) town in is forever a foreigner in these places, can tells the story of his visits to "Amer­ Oregon's high desert into a thriving isolated by his own condescension from ica's contemporary frontier," by which tourist center. He visits Big Water, the people he meets. And he doesn't he means the extremely thinly settled Utah, and talks to Alex Joseph, the ren­ even have a clue to his isolation. places of the American West. More pre­ egade polygamist Mormon who runs This is hardly surprising. He got the cisely, he defines the contemporary the town with the aid of his nine wives. idea for the book and for his travels frontier as those cOWlties in the West There's a lot of offbeat information with a population density of less than from a suggestion to him by A.M. Ro­ in the book, and it is reasonably well­ two persons per square mile, and he senthal, a former editor of the New written. It manages to be amusing with­ thoughtfully provides an appendix list­ York Times and a qUintessentially elitist out taking on the facetious tone of so ing their names, populations and popu­ lation densities. This definition of many contemporary travel books. And frontier is not his own, he explains. It it mostly avoids the pretentiousness Duncan is forever aforeign­ comes from Robert Porter, superinten­ from which so many "serious" travel dent of the 1890 census, who used two books suffer. This is saying a lot for a er in these places, isolated from persons per square mile as the thresh­ travel book. the people he meets by his own old of "settled" versus "unsettled" I love America's thinly-settled plac­ condescension. country. es and the people that live there. Like His tour of the contemporary fron­ Duncan, I have a database on my com­ tier takes him to places very few tour­ puter listing America's thinly populat­ ists ever see, places with strange nmnes ed counties (though my limit is one urbanite. He put on his "gimme" cap, like Fields, Mentone, Big Timber, and person per square mile, rather than outfitted a GM Suburban with a top Quemado - tiny communities, with two). Like Duncan, I have traveled to camper, studied Frederick Jackson fewer residents than a single apartment these lightly populated places, and Turner's "The Significance of the building in a medium-sized city. These have talked to the people who live Frontier in American History," and tiny towns are strange in more than there. I have visited Fields several consulted with the Department of Agri­ name: they are inhabited by strange times, though only once since the culture's "guru" of students of rural people who do strange things. And paved highway was put in in 1990. I America. Duncan talks to them. visited with the locals in Loving Then he hit the road in a camper he He talks, for example, to people County back in 1984. I have visited Big got to keep expenses down and to pro­ who live in Loving County, Texas, Water, and interviewed the residents, vide shelter in places so remote that they which holds the distinction of being failing to interview Mayor Joseph only lacked motels. He was genUinely sur­ both the nation's least populous county because he was "too hung over" from prised to learn that there were motels al­ (107 residents) and most thinly popu­ the previous night's drinking (in the most everywhere (even in Fields, lated (0.16 people per square mile). words of one of his wives, who also Oregon) and that where there were They tell him how most of them live off serves as City Attorney). I have also none, people were happy to offer hiIn taxes paid by owners of gas and oil .visited Denio, Nevada, where a lady space to unroll his sleeping bag indoors wells within the county, and that the told me she had relocated from Cres­ - perhaps even in a guest room - and county's political battles are so acrimo­ cent City, California, because there that motels were very cheap ("an aver­ nious that most everyone in the county were getting to be too many people in age of twenty dollars," he says incredu­ hates most everyone else. He talks to that tiny, isolated coastal city; and Raj- lously). Perhaps guys who pal around Liberty 63 Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

with editors of the New York Times find is that there is no frontier to speak of in the people who live in these sparsely it is surprising that people are hospita­ America. These thinly populated areas settled areas on their own terms, he in­ ble or that motel rooms might cost only are not frontiers between the settled sists on interpreting them within the $20. But it's not to anyone who knows and unsettled, the civilized and uncivil­ framework of his academic and elitist more ofAmerica than its urban centers. ized. They are simply areas where very prejudices. His vision is impaired by It never occurred to Duncan that few people live because of an extreme his own lack of empathy and his self­ low population density might not be shortage of water or an extremely in­ preoccupation. tantamount to frontier. The simple fact hospitable climate. Unwilling to accept I doubt this is much of a problem for most readers of Miles From Nowhere, r------, the overwhelming majority of whom probably share Duncan's prejudice and complacency. And as I said, the book is readable and amusing, just the sort of Early Liberty book that can convince an urban elitist that he has come to understand the 0.2% of Americans who live in the gen­ Indulge your mind with the pleasure and stimulation of early Liberty. Or uine boondocks. Maybe one day it will complete your collection of the most exciting libertarian magazine. The first is­ be made into one of those slick pseu­ sue is a reprint; all others are original printings. Enjoy! do-documentaries on PBS.

Medicine," by Sandy Shaw & Durk Pear­ August 1987, 4Bpp., $4.00 Like Dayton Duncan,• Karl Hess, Jr • "The Films ofAyn Rand," by Stephen son • "The Majority vs the Majoritarian: comes to the thinly inhabited west Cox • "Life or Death in Seattle," by Murray Robert Bork on Trial," by Sheldon Rich­ N. Rothbard • "The Mystery Man ofthe Li­ man • Plus reviews and articles by R.W. with certain preoccupations. Hess is a bertarian Movement," by Ben Best • Plus re­ Bradford, William Cate, Stephen Cox and range ecologist, and his focus in Vi­ views and articles by Ross Overbeek, Butler others. sions Upon the Land is on the issue of Shaffer, Ida Walters and others. May 1988, 64pp., $4.00 land ownership and control. Unlike October 1987, 4Bpp., $6.00 • "Ayn Rand: Still Controversial After All Duncan, Hess succeeds in coming to • "The Sociology ofLibertarians," by J. C. These Years," by David Ramsay Steele & Da­ terms with the sparse West, despite the Green & J. L. Guth • "TheApostasy of vid Brown • "TheACLU: Suspicious Princi­ fact that he is an academic who holds a Robert Nozick," by Ethan O. Waters • ples, Salutary Fffeets," by William P. Ph.D. "The Rise ofthe State," by Murray N. Roth­ Moulton • "The Two Libertarianisms," by Hess's narrative of his exploration bard • Plus reviews and articles by Stephen Ethan O. Waters • Plus reviews and articles by Gary Alexander, Nathaniel Branden, Erika of the sparsely populated West and the Cox, William P. Moulton, Mike Holmes, people who live there succeeds where Jonathan Saville and others. and Henry Mark Holzer, Jeffrey Rogers Hum­ mel, Sheldon Richman, Franklin Sanders and Duncan's fails because Hess was will­ December 1987, 56pp., $3.00 others. ing to relate to people on their own • "Libertarians in a State-Run World," by terms, rather than interpreting them Murray N. Rothbard • "The Most Unfor­ July 1988, BOpp., $4.00 • "Confessions ofan Intractable Individualist," according to his prejudices. While gettable Libertarian I Ever Knew," by Karl by Jerome T uccille • An interview with L. Neil Duncan visited motel operators, cafe Hess • "Easy Living in the Bahamas," by Smith· David Ramsay Steele on Robert An­ waitresses, and others who inhabit the Mark Skousen • Plus writing by Walter ton Wilson's critique ofNatural Rights Block, Erika Holzer, Stephen Cox and others. edges of the roads that intersect the "Rand-Bashing: Enough is Enough," by Ross hinterland, Hess visited people whose March 1988, 64pp., $4.00 Overbeek • Plus reviews and articles by Ste­ home is the land. He talks about the phen Cox, Tibor Machan, Bill Kelsey and • "Libertarians & Conservatives: Allies or Ene­ people who live out of sight of the others. mies?" byJohn Dentinger & Murray Roth­ roads - people who tend stock, who bard • "Free Speech and the Future of For information on later back issues, see adver­ mine, who harvest timber, who live off tisement on back cover. the land. So while Duncan talks at length to Circle each issue you want, and add $1.00 shipping &: handling per order (foreign orders add SOt per issue). Fill in the appropriate information below. Larry DiRieux, who envisions a tourist destination resort in his roadside fief­ o My check is enclosed dom of Fields, Oregon, Hess talks at Charge my: length with Joe and Susan Fallini who run cattle on the 1,OOO-square-mile o VISA 0 Mastercard Name Twin Springs Ranch in the Nevada Address desert, far from the nearest road. Until Signature a year before Duncan's interview, lar­ City AccoWlt# ry DiRieux was a tourist who liked to State Zip _ travel around the West in his recrea­ Expiration Phone # tion vehicle; he purchased the town of L Send to: Liberty, Dept. B38, PO Box 1181, Port Townsend, WA 98368 ~ Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

Fields to fulfill a dream (Fields of est shippers. So much for the argument sence, many people liVing in remote Dreams?). Joe and Susan Fallini have that the government monopoly on mail areas would be denied service except lived on the land all their lives, as had delivery is justified because in its ab- at exorbitant cost. a their parents and grandparents before them. Of course, Visions Upon the Land is The Salnurai, the Mountie, and the Cowboy: Should America not a travel book; it is an exploration of Adopt the Gun Controls ofOther Democracies?, by David B. Kopel. public policy alternatives. But if you Prometheus Books, 1992, 407 pp., $28.95. want a feel for the land and the people who live there, Hess's book is a very good place to start. It is perhaps the most elegantly written book on public policy that I have ever encountered. My Heroes Have Hess's policy prescriptions derive from his understanding of the Ameri­ can West's culture. His book explores Always Been the history of Western land tenure and the uneasy relations between the gov­ ernment and those who work the land. Cowboys He proposes an intriguing synthesis of a radical property-rights approach with the insights of ecology. Almost alone among "environmental historians," he understands the role of human ecology Clark Stooksbury and throws out questionable, unsup­ within the grander ecosystem, and of­ ported assertions - e.g., that "guns purchased by law-abiding adults for fers ideas more engaging than the sim­ I'm not one of those people who has 'protection' increasingly end up in the plistic, elitist human-bashing that often always been surrounded by firearms. backpacks of schoolchildren." Its only characterizes ecologists' writings about For most of my adult life, I have had lit­ "In the West. tle interest in shooting. When I was a strong argument comes at the end: Marine reservist, a weapon ("gun" is for Britain, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, some reason a dirty word in the Marine Japan, and Australia, for example, pri­ Duncan's book contains• two episodes Corps) was something I often had to vate citizens generally must have a li­ that may be of particular interest to li­ clean for hours at a time even if I did cense to own a firearm and must bertarians. His portrait of Alex Joseph, not get to shoot it. But something funny submit to a background check. Rela­ the polygamist mayor of Big Water, happened on the way to the rifle range, tively few licenses are granted." Other Utah, is typical of Joseph's media ap­ the very last time I qualified with the western democracies have strict gun pearances in that it nowhere mentions M-16: I discovered that I enjoyed shoot­ control; as a result, they have less Joseph's Libertarian Party ties. Indeed, ing. Shortly after that I bought a hand­ crime and violence. The syllogism is it reports that Joseph and his family are gun, and I look forward to the day I can simple and logical. "anti-government conservatives," who buy an AR-15 - the civilian version of In The Samurai, the Mountie, and the "vote Republican, although they con­ the weapon I spent so much time clean­ Cowboy, David Kopel surveys the histo­ sider themselves libertarian." Joseph is ing and so little time shooting as a ry and practice of gun control around one of the few government officials in Marine. the democratic world, and deals a seri­ the United States elected solely on the Imagine my surprise when I discov­ ous blow to this ploy. He examines the Libertarian Party ticket. ered that some people do not think that experience of Japan, Switzerland, Brit­ In his report on the Big Bend coun­ I should be allowed to own one. The ain, Canada. and the U.S., among other try of Texas, Duncan describes a couple AR-15 is an "assault weapon," you see. nations, focusing on the effect of cultu­ of days spent with a local United Parcel It is an evil instrument that no civilized ral factors as well as gun laws on vio­ Service driver, who sometimes drives person should possess or own. lent crime and gun ownership. for hours to deliver a single package Gun control is a difficult issue to get which had been shipped from thou­ a handle on. Its advocates only infre­ Japan sands of miles away for a sum of less quently spell out firm reasons for their The close relationship between cul­ than three dollars. UPS loses money on position; it is difficult to answer their tural factors and violent crime and such transactions, the driver explained, arguments because they so rarely make guns is illustrated nowhere better than but the firm delivers to every address any. A recent Los Angeles Times edito­ where Kopel begins his study - Japan. in the country, including the obscure rial is a good example. It asks goofy The Japanese have succeeded in creat­ ranches and settlements of the Big Bend questions like "isn't it now obvious that ing a virtually crime-free society: country, in response to the demands of the national culture of guns and vio­ Tokyo is the safest major city in the major mail order firms, some of its larg- lence borders on a kind of addiction?" world. Only 59,000 licensed gun own- Liberty 65 Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

ers live in Tokyo. Per million inhabi­ legal constraints and particularly be­ and some dangerous chemicals. The tants, Tokyo has forty reported mug­ cause of their social authority. (45) discovery led to front-page newspa­ gings a year; New York has eleven Japan has an authoritarian and con- per stories about (non-existent) anar­ thousand. The handgun murder rate is chist arsenals all over the east end of formist culture in which American­ at least 200 times higher in America London. than Japan. The official homicide rate style civil liberties simply do not exist. The police caught up with London's in Japan in 1988 was 1.2 homicide cas­ Every home in Japan is subject to regu­ anarchist network on January 3, 1911 es per 100,000, while in America it was lar searches. Japanese law allows police at 100 Sidney Street. The police threw 8.4 ... Japan's robbery rate is 1.4 per officers to search the belongings of any stones through the windows, and the 100,000 residents. The reported Ameri­ citizen judged "sufficiently suspectable anarchists inside responded with rifle can rate is 220.9. (p. 22) to carry or bring a firearm, a sword, or fire. Seven hundred and fifty police­ Japan is also the least armed of the a cutlery," or if the person is "likely to men, supplemented by a Scots Guard countries Kopel examines. As of 1989, endanger life or body of other persons unit, besieged Sidney Street. Winston by judging reasonably from his abnor­ Churchill, the Home Secretary, ar­ rived on the scene as the police were mal behavior or any other surrounding firing artillery and preparing to de­ circumstances" (23). The Japanese po­ ploy mines. Banner headlines About 3,0% of all police lice have the authority to interfere in throughout the British Empire were shootings in /New York City the lives of all Japanese citizens: "In already detailing the dramatic police twice-yearly visits, officers fill out Resi­ confrontation with the anarchist nest. are either accidental or in vio­ dence Information Cards about who Churchill, accompanied by a police lation offorce policy. lives where and which family member inspector and a Scots Guardsman to contact in case of emergency, what with a hunting gun, strode up to the relation people in the house have to door of 100 Sidney Street. The inspec­ each other, what kind of cars they tor kicked the door down. Inside were the dead bodies of two the Japanese people held about 27,000 own" (24). rifle and 493,OOO'air rifle and shotgun li­ anarchists. "Peter the Painter" was In spite of the low level of crime, all nowhere in sight. London's three­ censes (21). Handguns are completely is not well in Japan. This nation that man anarchist network was de­ prohibited and rifles can no longer be places a high value on conformity pays stroyed. The "Siege of Sidney Street" purchased legally. The process for ob­ for it with a suicide rate of 21.1 per turned out to have been vastly over­ taining a shotgun license is complicated 100,000 persons, compared to 12.2 in played by both the police and the and onerous. the United States (407). Ironically, some press. (72-73) One might conclude from this that American advocates of gun control It was against the background of he who says A must say B, and that the argue that it would reduce the suicide episodes like this, the upswing of au­ low crime rate in Japan is the result of rate. thoritarianism during the First World gun control. But as Kopel repeatedly War, and concern about aliens and rev­ points out, social and cultural factors Britain olutionaries that the British Parliament are more important in controlling At the turn of the twentieth century, enacted the Firearms Act of 1920. The crime: both gun control and crime were virtu­ Act allowed handgun and rifle sales Japan's gun control does play an im­ ally non-existent in Britain. A series of only to those who demonstrated portant role in the low Japanese crime hyped-up events and media scares "good reason" (74). rate, but not because of some simple gradually paved the way for stricter relation between numbers of guns Along with strict gun control, a cul­ laws. One of the more lurid accounts ture hostile to self-defense has and levels of crime. Japan's gun con­ sounds like something masterminded trol is one inseparable part of a vast emerged. Knife control and dog con­ mosaic of social control. Gun control by our own Janet Reno: trol are now seriously debated. The underscores the pervasive cultural In December 1910, three London po­ British have even had their own ver­ theme that the individual is subordi­ licemen investigating a burglary at a sion of Bernhard Goetz: nate to society and the government. Houndsditch jewelry shop were mur­ In March 1987, Eric Butler, a fifty-six­ dered by rifle fire. A furious search The same theme is reflected in the ab­ year-old executive with British Petro­ began for the Russian anarchist be­ sence of protection against govern­ leum Chemicals, was attacked early lieved responsible: "Peter the Painter" ment searches and prosecutions. The one evening in the subway. Two men ... The police uncovered one cache of Japanese police are the most powerful came after Butler, as one witness de­ on earth, partly because of the lack of arms in London: a pistol, 150 bullets, scribed: "Strangling him and smash­ ing his head against the door; his face Statement of Ownership Management and Circulation (required by 39 U.s.c. 3685) TItle of Publication: Liberty. Ptblication Number: 002132 Date ci fiJinR: SePt. 30, 1993. Frequency ci Publicatioo: Bi-monthly. Number of issues published annually: 6 Annual Subscription was red and his eyes were popping price: $19.50. Compfete malling address ofKnown Office of Publication: 1532 Sims Way, #3, Port Townsend, WA 98368. Complete mailing out." No passenger in the subway address of the Headquarters or General Business Office of the Publishers: PO Box 1181, Port Townsend, WA 98368. Full name and com­ plete address of the Publisher, Editor and Managing Editor: R.W. Bradford (publisher It editor), TImothy Virkkala (managing editor), Ub­ did a thing to help him. "My air sup­ erty Publishing, PO Box 1181, Port Townsend, WA 98368. Owner: The Invisible Hand Foundatioo. Known Boodholders, Mortgages, and Other Security Holders: Nooe. Total Number of Copies Printed-{average issue during the previous 12 mooths): 8551; (issue nearest filing ply was being cut off," Mr Butler tes­ date): 10700. Sales through dealers and camers, street vendors and counter sales-(average): 2138; (issue nearest filing date): 7707. Mail St.bscripti~average): 5602; (issue nearest filing date): 6251; Total Paid and/or Requested-{average): 7740; (issue nearest filing date): tified, "my eyes became blurred and I 8958. Free Distributioo by Mail, Carrier, or Other Means--(average): 68; (issue nearest filing date): 51. Total Distribution-{average): 7800; feared for my life." Concealed inside (issue nearest filing date): 9009. Copies Not Distributed: Office use, left over, unaccounted, spoiled after printing-{average): 449; (issue nearest flUng date): 1691. Returns from News Agents--(average): 308; (issue nearest filing date): O. Total-(average): 8551; (issue nearest 61­ Mr Butler's walking stick was a ing date~ 10700. -Icertify that the statements madebyme above are correct and complete: (signed) TImothy Virkkala (managing editor) Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

three-foot blade. Butler unsheathed holders can still possess "assault weap­ plications are routinely accepted. Un­ the blade. "I lunged at the man wildly ons" like the AR-15 because Canadian like elsewhere, the licensing process is with my swordstick." He stabbed an gun owners resisted when the govern­ not used as a pretense to deny weap­ attacker in the stomach. (86) ment tried to place it on the restricted ons to people. In many Swiss cantons, Butler was convicted of carrying an list. Citizens of several American states, concealed carry is unrestricted; in oth­ "offensive weapon." such as New Jersey, cannot. ers, an easily obtained permit is re­ In Great Britain, unlike the United The Canadian law has had little ef­ quired. There is no difference in the States, guns are considered possessions fect on crime. The Canadian govern­ level of crime between the two groups of the upper classes. This perception has ment has claimed that the 1977 law of cantons. madeguncontrol more popular inclass­ caused a decline in the murder rate; in The Swiss attitude towards fire­ conscious Britain. The shotgun, or "toy fact, it had been declining for three arms is reflected in two common say­ of the landed gentry" (78), was once vir­ ings: "if weapons are a token of power, tually unrestricted buthas become hard­ then in a democracy they belong in the er to possess legally inrecent years. The American cowboy is ex­ hands of the people," and /lif the gov­ Canada ernment cannot trust the people, the actly the wrong kind of person people cannot trust the government" Our neighbor to the north has strict for the society desired by bu­ (286). Kopel mocked American gun gun laws and a relatively low rate of vi­ control advocates for draWing falla­ olent crime. Not surprisingly, it is often reaucrats, statist politicians, cious conclusions from the Swiss cited as an admirable example of gun and the cultural elite. experience: control. But Canada is a vastly different country than the United States; several First of all, Handgun Control [Inc.] should oppose the handgun prohibi­ factors in its history make its culture years before the law took affect (151). less firearms-oriented than America's. tion laws in Washington, D.C., Chica­ The rate of robbery increased after the go, and other cities - since the Canada was peacefully granted its in­ passage of the law (151). Switzerland experience "proves" that dependence in 1867, as opposed to se­ lenient licensing is all that is needed curing it in a war. Indeed, many Switzerland to stop gun crime. Second, Handgun Colonial loyalists had fled to Canada Gun control advocates will want to Control should work to repeal laws during the American Revolution, horri­ scrutinize Switzerland as little as possi­ that prohibit Americans from owning fied at the violent revolt. Then there is ble. To say that Switzerland has taken howitzers, anti-aircraft guns, and oth­ the fact that, when Canada expanded a different course than most other na­ er military weapons by anyone who westward, it sent the mounties out be­ tions is an understatement. The little can meet the simple requirements for fore the settlers. confederation has used its strong mili­ a license. And thanks to the "howit­ The current Canadian firearms law tia and mountainous terrain to main­ zer licensing" system, there is no was passed in 1977 - and tightened in tain peace, sovereignty and neutrality howitzer crime in Switzerland ... 1991 at the urging of Kim Campbell, for hundreds of years. Military service Lastly, Handgun Control should re­ verse its policy and work for repeal of then justice minister, later prime minis­ is mandatory for men in Switzerland, America's ban on the possession of ter, and recently described on Washing­ and many homes possess fully auto­ fully automatic firearms manufac­ ton Week in Review as a "strong matic assault rifles. In the words of tured after 1986. Handgun Control advocate of individual liberty." This Metternich, "Switzerland does not should push America to adopt the law created a licensing process in have an army, it is an army." Swiss policy: having the government which the holder of a Firearms Acquisi­ Switzerland, with its very low rates sell automatics at discount prices to tion Certificate can purchase any unre­ of crime and high levels of gun owner­ anyone with an easily obtained stricted rifle or shotgun (143); ship, disproves the nonsense notion permit. (292) handguns and restricted rifles require a that guns them- more stringent process. selves cause crime "Restricted weapon" classification and violence. In is as rational in Canada as the hysteria Switzerland there over "assault weapons" is in this coun­ are two million try. In 1983, for example, Canada's cab­ firearms - includ­ inet put the FN-FAL rifle, a Korean ing 600,000 fully War-era Belgian semi-automatic, on the automatic assault restricted list despite the fact that it had rifles - among a been implicated in only one crime, a population of six bank robbery in 1962. Despite the stere­ million people otype of Canadians as milquetoast con­ (283). A certificate formists, only about 3% of the gun's is reqUired to pur­ ------..-- Bal,. owners complied with the registration chase a handgun, requirements. Indeed, Canadian FAC but nearly all ap- "Dad, where did I come from1" Liberty 67 Volume 7, Number 2 January 1994

Switzerland has a homicide rate of from the hip" (383). Furthermore, the tory includes valuable debunking; his 1.1 per 100,000 that rivals disarmed Ja­ United States, despite all of its big gov­ revisionist discussions of frontier safe­ pan's rate of 0.8 per 100,000. Swiss ernment, is still freer than any of the ty, vigilante justice, and the Hatfield­ rates of robbery and rape are higher other nations he examined: McCoy feud go a long way toward re­ than Japan's but their burglary rate is It is truethatAmerica protects the right futing those who only trust guns in the less than half. to bear arms more vigorously than oth­ hands of uniformed Hexperts." Indeed, Kopel is no pro-gun pollyanna. He er nations do. America protects most armed police officers are often less reli­ does not argue that the Swiss approach other rights better as well. The United able than private citizens in protecting should be applied in the U.S.; in fact, States is the only nation with a mean­ the public safety. About 3()O/0 of all po­ he claims the opposite. It is not Swit­ ingful exclusionary rule to prevent lice shootings in New York City are ei­ zerland's gun laws but its culture and court room use of illegally seized evi­ ther accidental or in violation of force traditions that account for its low crime dence.... The extensive Miranda rules policy. Also, "when police shoot at rate. But its experience does disprove that protect suspects from being forced criminals, they are 5.5 times more like­ the proposition that guns cause crime. to confess would be unimaginable in ly to hit an innocent person than are ci­ other nations. Speech is freer inAmeri­ America vilian shooters" (380). ca, and government secrets more dis­ More importantly, Kopel argues Guns are ubiquitous in the Ameri­ coverable. While other countries have that gun-toting police officers do not Official Secrets Acts, America has the can national experience. As Kopel make credible advocates of gun con­ Freedom of Information Act, which al­ points out, expressions based on fire­ trol. The two most disarmed countries arms pervade the American language: lows the U.S. government to keep far in Kopel's study Oapan and Great Brit­ "Shot in the dark; big shot; going off fewer secrets than the governments of other democracies. (386) ain) have the least heavily armed po­ half-cocked; ... keep your powder dry; lice forces. How can an American cop top gun; straight shooter; ... shoot Kopel's treatment of American his- carrying a high-capacity 9mm or a .357 revolver seriously argue that hand­ guns don't provide effective protection against criminals? II Classified Advertisements II Cowboy Power The United States, Britain, Japan, Classified Advertising is available for 35¢ per word, plus $1.00 per insertion. 100/0 discount and Canada all have national myths for six or more insertions. Payment must accompany order. Please specify classification. about armed heroes on horseback. In Japan it is the samurai swordsman; in Why Abortion Violates Rights $1.00 and Business Opportunities SASE, please. Libertarians for Life. 13424 Hatha­ Britain the medieval knight; in Canada the red-coated mountie; in the United Toll the Bell of Freedom! Have a message? way Drive, #22, Wheaton, MD 20906, 301/460­ Take it nationwide with unique business oppor­ 4141. Doris Gordon, National Coordinator. States the cowboy. The Japanese and tunity that really delivers. Earn income, full or Merchandise British icons are heavily-armed mem­ part time. Call or write for FREE details. 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Radio Japanese, Britishers, and Canadians Literature Attn: East Coast Libertarians! There is a ra­ may need their heroic noblemen and Directory of Libertarian Periodicals, up­ dio show for you. The Jason Lewis Show can be selfless bureaucrats to protect them. dated latest edition, lists around 150 titles, with heard on 1110 WBT-AM from Charlotte. Up and down the East Coast. Monday through Friday They can keep their damned samurai addresses, other information. All believed to be and mounties if they have to. But I'm presently publishing. $3.00 postpaid, $4.00 over­ from 11:00 pm till 2:00 am (EST). This may be the seas. Jim Stumm, Box 29-LB, Hiler Branch, Buffa­ best radio talk show in America! Tonight, at an American. My heroes have always lo, NY 14223. 11:00 pm turn your A.M. radio dial to 111m been cowboys. 0 68 Liberty Volume 7, Number 2

LettersI continued from page 44 building their case against you. In other words, you have to payboth for your Notes on Contributors lawyers and for the government's law­ yers before they'll even consider letting you challenge a forfeiture. Chester Alan Arthur is Liberty's politi­ William P. Moulton is, among other • You have just 10 to 30 days (de­ cal correspondent. things, a Republican Party activist pending on the jurisdiction) from the in Michigan. time a forfeiture notice is sent to you to "Baloo" is cartoonist Rex F. May's fa­ file your legal challenge. This deadline vorite pseudonym. Ours too. Ross Overbeek is a computer scientist and a frequent visitor to Russia. information is buried in fine print lega­ John Bergstrom is a cartoonist in Cali­ lese in the forfeiture notice, and many fornia. Ralph Raico is Professor of History at State University of New York, people simply let the deadline pass David Boaz is executive vice presi­ Buffalo. without realizing it, thus giving up dent of the Cato Institute and co­ their right to a hearing. editor of Market liberalism: A Par­ Scott J. Reid is a Reform Party activist But if you somehow surmount all of adigm for the 21st Century. and author of Canada Remapped. those obstacles, and make it to court, Sheldon Richman is senior editor of the R. W. Bradford is editor of Liberty and you might be able to challenge the con­ Cato Institute. lives in a lightly inhabited town. fiscation of your property as "exces­ James S. Robbins is a writer and foreign Douglas Casey is author of Crisis In­ sive" under the eighth amendment. policy analyst in Massachussetts. vesting for the Rest ofthe Nineties. As far as I can tell, the Austin deci­ Todd Seavey is a writer living in New sion has had absolutely no impact on Stephen Cox is author of Love and Log­ York and a columnist for Reason. police seizures so far. In fact, new sei­ ic: The Evolution ofBlake's Thought. Jane S. Shaw is a senior associate of the zure laws are pending before Congress, Brian Doherty is assistant editor of Political Economy Research Center. including one buried in Clinton's health Regulation. care plan. Sandy Shaw is co-author of Freedom of Robert Higgs is author of Crisis and It will take a lot more than a couple Informed Choice: The FDA vs Vitamin Leviathan and other books and ar­ of namby-pamby Supreme Court deci­ Supplements. ticles. sions to overthrow these confiscation James M. Sheehan is a policy analyst at laws. In the meantime, your readers David Horowitz is a former editor of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. need to take steps to protect their assets Ramparts and a current editor of Fred L. Smith, Jr. is president of the by increasing their financial privacy. Heterodoxy. Competitive Enterprise Institute. Michael H. Ketcher Bill Kauffman is author of Every Man Gerry Spence is a well-known attorney Financial Privacy Report a King and the forthcoming Coun­ and author of From Freedom to Burnsville, Minn. try Towns ofNew York. Slavery. N. Stephan Kinsella practices law in Clark Stooksbury is editorial intern and My Back Pages the Houston office of Jackson & house Gun Nut at Liberty. Please cancel my subscription to Walker, L.L.P. Timothy Virkkala is assistant publisher your magazine. It is not that I disagree and designated semiotician of with what is being said, but that I have Wendy McElroy is a fellow at the In­ Liberty. neither the time nor the desire to read dependent Institute and editor of about the craziness of the world. Yes, I Freedom, Feminism, and the State. Jesse Walker is assistant editor of Liberty. may be sticking my head into the sand, but it is very fine sand of my choosing, thank you very much. I am getting on In the next Liberty: with my life, doing the things that are "Chaos and Liberty" - Pierre Lemieux defends chaos theory; very important to me, and I don't have J. Orlin Grabbe defends chaos in general. the time to carryon the almost altruist "A Rose By Any Other Name" - Who was Rose Wilder Lane, crusade of libertarianism. and why are so many people trying to suppress uncomforta­ Let's face the numbers. There are ble facts about her? R. W. Bradford reports. more narrow-minded people with big egos wanting desperately to shape the "Secession as a First Amendment Right" - If we really separate world than there are people who know church and state, what will be left of the state? Robert Nelson better. The momentum is too great for gives a surprising answer. me (or people like me) to change. The "Toad Trainers and the American Dream" - John Briggs takes fastest way to correct this, though the high road in education criticism and Earl Butz apprecia­ probably painful, is to let the system tion. collapse. "American Gulag" - John Hospers surveys America's high-tech Toby Giles torture chambers. Mountain View, Calif. Liberty 69 11111 C (0) g 1111 i fl fDl

Olympia, Washington Sacramento Celebrating diversity in the Pacific Northwest, as reported in Division ofpowers, described in the Milwaukee Journal: the Seattle Times: Police citations for illegally camping homeless people are routine­ ly voided by the court clerk because they lack home addresses for the Governor Mike Lowry's pitch for diversity in the workforce in­ accused. cluded a "short invocation" by Harold Belmont, a spiritual leader of the Suquamish Tribe, who spoke for 45 minutes, referring to ltis­ Chicago panics as "half-breeds" and whites as "honkies." Religious niche marketing, reported in the Jacksonville (TIL) Journal-Courier. Menominee Falls, Wisconsin Moraine Valley Baptist Church has altered its services in order to A very merry Christmas indeed, as reported by the Associat­ attract more ofthe congregation to its church services. At one recent ed Press: service, Chicago Bulls music filled the air as an announcer boomed, A Salvation Army bell ringer collecting money for Christmas "And now... the starting lineup." Two pastors' height, weight, and was arrested for selling marijuana to high school students while on qualifications were rattled off as they jogged on stage, slapping their lunch breaks. hands. Washington, D.C. Chicago Dispatch in the war against waste and abuse, from the Sage advice, cited by the Associated Press: Milwaukee Journal: "You're going to fmd a lot of gimmicks out there," said Mike Kuman, who trains psychics at the S1. Michaels College of Meta­ Al Gore's National Perfonnance Review, which lists ways to cut physics. "All types ofweird people are saying that they're psychics." costs by "reinventing government," cost $60,000 to print. Had stan­ dard paper and one-color ink been used, printing costs would have been only $IStOOO. Wisconsin Innovative regulatory reform in the upper midwest, reported Blackpool, England in the Milwaukee Journal: Britain's quiet war against quiet terror, reported in the State Rep. Johnnie Morris-Tatum has proposed a ban on large Dallas Morning News: beer bottles as a measure to cut down on excessive drinking. The British government has proposed to abolish a criminal sus­ pect's right to silence. "The so-called right to silence is ruthlessly Italy exploited by terrorists," said Home Secretary Michael Howard. The thin blue line that separates civilization from anarchy, as "What fools they must think we are. It's time to call a halt to this reported by the Associated Press: charade." Police fined an eight-year-old boy $32 when he was caught with­ Oregon out a receipt for an ice cream cone. Progress in public education, described in the DetroitNews: Thailand When Rob Spooner discovered several basic errors, including an incorrect fonnula for gravity, in his daughter's high school science Eminent domain in the space age, reported in the Detroit textbook, the publishers infonned him the mistakes were needed to Free Press: simplify the mathematics for "enriched, average, and remedial stu­ A 37-pound, metallic, football-shaped thing plummeted from the dents alike." sky into Phetchabun, Thailand in June. Villagers erected an altar of bamboo where it fell and have been praying there for good fortune. Ohio The object itself was seized by the Thai government, citing laws that objects falling from the skyt including "all objects from other plan­ Dispatch from the frontlines of the war on drugs, reported in ets," are state property. the Lake County News-Herald:

Local policet the Ohio National Guard, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations, a surveillance helicopter, and several televi­ Rockford, Ill. sion crews swarmed Randy Sciria's home Thursday after officials Latest advance in apodictic paleolibertarianism, from the es­ thought they saw marijuana growing behind his house. The plants say "Nationalism and Secession," by Hans-Hermann Hoppe, in turned out to be pine trees. Chronicles: A Magazine ofAmerican Culture. "Now, whenever a central government permits immigration, it al­ Dhaka, Bangladesh lows foreigners to proceed - literally on government-owned roads Mass mobilization in Asia, described by the Associated - to any ofits residents' doorsteps, regardless ofwhether these resi­ Press: dents desire such proximity to foreigners. 'Free immigration' is thus to a large extent forced integration." "Let's unite to kill rats and save food grains," shouted about 300 demonstrators as they marched through Dhaka, the capital of Ban­ (Readers are invited to forward newsclippings or other items for gladesh, waving bamboo sticks with dead rats nailed to them. publication in Terra Incognita.) 70 Liberty Stitnulate Your Mind! • "P.C. or B.S.?" by Meredith McGhan • "Acid Rain and the Corrosion of Science," by Edward C. Krug with Liberty back issues • "Who Really Wrote Little House on the Prairie?" by William Holtz (continued from back cover) Plus writing by Karl Hess, Jane Shaw, Lawrence White, Randal O'Toole, and others; and an interview with Pat Buchanan. (72 pages) Volume 4 May 1992 September 1990 • "Clarence Thomas: Cruel and Unusual Justice?" by James Taggart • "Conversations with Ayn Rand (part 2)," by John Hospers • "Hong Kong: Free Markets, Full Employment," by Mark Tier • "Is Environmental Press Coverage Biased?" by Jane S. Shaw • "Divorce, CzechoslovakStyle," by Vojtech Cepl and Ron Lipp • "The Pro-Life Case for the Abortion Pill," by Dr Ron Paul Plus writing by Eric Banfield, Karl Hess, David Horowitz, Daniel Klein, Plus articles and reviews by Michael Krauss, James Robbins, Richard and others; and fiction by J. Orlin Grabbe. (72 pages) Kostelanetz, and others; and a ficci6n by Harvey Segal. (72 pages) July 1992 November 1990 • "Christians and Libertarians in a Hostile World," by Doug Bandow • "Smokes, But No Peacepipe," by Scott Reid • "Returning America's Roads to the Market," by Terree Wasley • "Sex, Drugs, and the Goldberg Variations," by Richard Kostelanetz • "The 'Lock' on the Electoral College," by David Brin • "Why is Anyone Virtuous?" by David Friedman Plus commentary on the L.A. Riots, and writings by David Kelley, Le­ Plus articles and reviews by Robert Higgs, Leslie Fleming, Alexander land Yeager, George H. Smith, and others. (72 pages) Tabarrok, Sheldon Richman, and others; and an interview with Ed Crane. (80 pages) Volume 6 January 1991 • "Meltdown: The End of the Soviet Empire," by David Boaz, James September 1992 Robbins, Ralph Raico, and Jane S. Shaw • 'War on Drugs, War on Progress," by James Ostrowski • "Gordon Gekko, Mike Milken, and Me," by Douglas Casey • 'Wilderness, Church and State," by Robert H. Nelson Plus articles and reviews by Michael Christian, Ralph Raico, Loren Lo­ • "H Execution Is Just, What Is Justice?" by J. Neil Schulman masky, and others; plus special election coverage. (80 pages) Plus writing by Martin Morse Wooster, Ethan O. Waters, Jane S. Shaw, William Mellor III, and others; and an index to back issues. (80 pages) March 1991 • "TheMyth ofWar Prosperity," by Robert Higgs November 1992 • "The Life ofRose Wilder Lane," by William Holtz • "The First Time: I Run for the Presidency," by John Hospers • "The Strange Death of the McDLT," by R.W. Bradford • "Europe's Money Mess: We've Heard It All Before," Leland Yeager Plus articles and reviews byJan Narveson, Jane Shaw, Richard Weaver, • "The Mystery of the Missing Detectives," by David Justin Ross Linda Locke, Krzysztof Ostaszewski, and others. (72 pages) Plus articles and reviews by Gabriel Hocman, David Kelley, Daniel Klein, Richard Kostelanetz, Loren Lomasky, and others. (80 pages) May 1991 • "Christiana: Something Anarchical in Denmark," by Ben Best February 1993 • "Journalists and the Drug War," by David Boaz • "A Feminist Defense of Pornography," by Wendy McElroy • "California's Man-Made Drought," by Richard Stroup • "Is Feminism Obsolete?" by Jane S. Shaw Plus writing by John Baden, Scott Reid, Leland Yeager, and others; and • "Eastern Dystopia, Western Myopia," by Ronald F. Lipp a short story by Lawrence Thompson. (72 pages) Plus election coverage, and writings by RW. Bradford, Bill Kauffman, John Hospers, James Ostrowski, John McCormack, and others. (80 July 1991 pages) • "Say 'No' to Intolerance," by Milton Friedman • "I Am a Casualty of the War on Drugs," by Stuart Reges April 1993 Plus articles and reviews by David Friedman, Loren Lomasky, Sheldon • "Clinton and the New Class," by Douglas Casey Richman, Karl Hess, Richard Kostelanetz, and others; and Mark • "How To Cut Your Taxes by 75%," by R. W. Bradford Skousen's interview with Robert Heilbroner. (72 pages) Plus writings by Mark Skousen, John Hospers, Bill Kauffman, and oth­ ers; and an interview with Roy Childs. (72 pages) June 1993 VolumeS • "Who Benefits from the Clinton Program?" by Harry Browne September 1991 • 'Waco: Holocaust, American-Style," by R.W. Bradford • "Stalking the Giant Testes of Ethiopia," by Robert Miller • "Understanding the State," by Albert Jay Nock • "GNP: A Bogus Notion," by RW. Bradford Plus writing by Leland Yeager, Jonathan Saville, Randal O'Toole, Bart • "50 Really Stupid Ways to Save the Earth," by Karl Hess Kosko, and others; and other reviews and articles. (72 pages) Plus articles and reviews by Bart Kosko, Frank Fox, John Hospers, August 1993 James Taggart, Mark Skousen, and others. (72 pages) • "The Ungreening of the Media," by Jane S. Shaw November 1991 • "How Do I Hate NPR? Let Me Count the Ways," by Glenn Garvin • "The Road to Nowhere," by David Horowitz • "What Happened in Waco?" by Loren Lomaskyand R.W. Bradford • "Women v the Nation-State," by Carol Moore Plus writing by David Boaz and others; other reviews and articles; poet- • "Thelma and Louise: Feminist Heroes," by Miles Fowler ry by Marc Ponomareff and fiction by J. Orlin Grabbe. (72 pages) Plus writing by Robert Higgs, Leland Yeager, and others; and a short story by J. E. Goodman. (80 pages) Volume 7 January 1992 October 1993 • "The National Park Disgrace," by RW. Bradford • "Crackdown on the Electronic Frontier," by Brian Doherty • "Sex, Race, and the Single Gentleman," by Richard Kostelanetz • "TheSupreme Court and the American Police State," by Stefan Herpel • "America's Bipartisan Apartheid," by Brian Doherty • "White liberals Can Jump," byWilliam P. Moulton Plus writing by Leland Yeager, David Friedman, Henry B. Veatch, Jane • "The Real Health Care Crisis," by R.W. Bradford Shaw, Karl Hess Jr., and others. (80 pages) Plus writing by Greg Kaza, Stephen Cox, and others; aphorisms by Isa­ March 1992 bel Paterson; and other reviews and articles. (72 pages) • "Albert Jay Nock: Prophet of libertarianism?" by Stephen Cox Information concerning the first volume (six issues) ofLiberty can be found on p. 64. Stimulate Your Mind! There is a world of good reading in Liberty! Whether you want to catch up on what you missed, provide intellectual relief to your friends (or enemies!), or complete your collection, now is a good time to buy. Enjoy! Volume 2 • "What if Everything We Know About Safety Is Wrong?" by John Sem­ September 1988 mens and Dianne Kresich • "Scrooge McDuck and His Creator," by Phil Salin Plus articles and reviews by Stephen Cox, Jeffrey Friedman, David Ram­ • "Liberty and Ecology," byJohn Hospers say Steele, Sheldon Richman, and others. (72 pages) • "The Ultimate Justification of the Private Property Ethic," by Hans­ Hermann Hoppe May 1989 Plus reviews and articles by Douglas Casey, Murray Rothbard, L. Neil • "Man, Nature, and State: Free Market Slogans are Not Enough," by Smith, and others; and a short story by Erika Holzer. (80 pages) Karl Hess, Jr • "The End of the Secular Century," by Murray N. Rothbard November 1988 Plus articles and reviews by Stephen Cox, David Gordon, Justin Raimon­ • "Taking Over the Roads," by John Semmens do, and others. (72 pages) • "The Search for We The Living," by RW. Bradford 1989 Plus articles and reviews by Walter Block, Stephen Cox, John Dentinger, July • "Viking Iceland: Anarchy That Worked," by David Friedman James Robbins, and others. (80 pages) • "The Myth of the Rights of Mental Patients," by Thomas S. Szasz • "Fetal Rights: The Implications," by Tibor Machan Plus articles and reviews by R.W. Bradford, John Hospers, Jane S. Shaw, Jeffrey Tucker, Leland Yeager, and others. (80 pages)

Volume 3 September 1989 • "Holocausts and the Historians," by Ralph Raico • "My Expulsion from the Rand Cult," by Murray Rothbard • "Abortion Without Absurdity," by R.W. Bradford Plus articles and reviews by David Friedman, Richard Kostelanetz, Loren ., Lomasky, Gary North, Jeffrey Tucker, and others. (72 pages) November 1989 I • "The Lost War on Drugs," by Joseph Miranda • "Life With (and Without) Ayn Rand," by Tibor R. Machan Plus articles and reviews by Loren Lomasky, Michael Christian, Richard Kostelanetz, J.R. Dunn, R.W. Bradford, and others; and an interview I with Russell Means. (72 pages) January 1990 I • "The Greenhouse Effect: Myth or Danger?" by Patrick J. Michaels • "The Case for Paleolibertarianism," by Llewellyn Rockwell • "In Defense of Jim Baker and Zsa Zsa," by Ethan O. Waters I • "The Death ofSocialism: What It Means," by R.W. Bradford, Murray Rothbard, Stephen Cox, and William P. Moulton Plus writing by Andrew Roller, David Gordon, and others; and an inter­ I view with Barbara Branden. (80 pages) March 1990 I • "The Case Against Isolationism," by Stephen Cox • "H.L. Mencken: Anti-Semite?" by R.W. Bradford • "Libertarian Intellectuals on Welfare," by George H. Smith I Plus articles and reviews by Sheldon Richman, Richard Kostelanetz, John Hospers, Loren Lomasky, Leland Yeager, and others. (80 pages) May 1990 I • IIConservativism in Its Latter Days," by William P. Moulton Account # • IIA Population Crisis?" by Jane S. Shaw Signature • IIKilling as Therapy," by Thomas Szasz I Plus articles and reviews by Bill Kauffman, Richard Kostelanetz, Robert Name Higgs, Bart Kosko, Loren Lomasky, and others. (72 pages) Address I July 1990 • "Conversations with Ayn Rand (part 1)," by John Hospers City • IIIf You Believe in Dentistry, Why Should You Mind Having Your I Teeth Knocked Out?" by William P. Moulton State __Zip at foreign buyers add SOt per issue • liThe Orwellian University," by Charles Thome Liberty, DeptB38, PO Box 1181, Port Townsend, WA 98368 .I Plus articles and reviews by David Friedman, Bill Kauffman, James Rob­ L ------bins, Mark Skousen, John A. Baden, and others. (72 pages)