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Home , End the Fed, Jack Hunter (radio host), Thomas Woods

1 Young American Revolution 2 June 2009 Contents June 2009 / Issue 02

4 Editorial Prelude to a Revolution 12 History Lesson By Gregory L. Schneider What Young Americans for can learn from Young Americans for Freedom 20 The Revolution Comes to CPAC Illustration by Anthony Rousseau By Patrick J. Ford Amid the has-beens of movement , stages an insurgency. 5 The Next Ron Paul? By Jack Hunter Governor Mark Sanford isn’t perfect— 23 Who Owns You? but he may be the anti-Obama we need. By David Gordon The philosophical justifications for liberty. 8 Audit the Fed! By Matthew Hawes 28 Who Killed Our Economy? From deals with foreign governments to inflating our currency, our ’s secrecy has been a cover for fraud. By Christopher Best : A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will 10 Tea Parties and Tax Revolts By W. James Antle III Make Things Worse Americans rebel against pork and big-government. by Thomas E. Woods Jr. 30 Conserving the Constitution 12 The Was Right By Dylan Hales The earliest 1960s radicals opposed “corporate liberalism” By Mark Nugent — as the Revolution does today. Defending the Republic: Constitutional Morality in a Time of Crisis Bruce P. Frohnen and 18 Enemy of the State By Kelse Moen Kenneth L. Grasso, eds. Emory’s Donald Livingston champions the cause Leviathan fears most—secession. 32 Art for Survival’s Sake By Jeremy Lott The Art Instinct: Beauty, 26 The Trouble With Burke By George Hawley Pleasure, and Human Evolution by Dennis Dutton The fight for liberty must be radical, not counter-revolutionary. 37 Liberty at the Oscars

34 We Don’t Need Another Hero By Franklin Harris By John Payne Alan Moore’s Watchmen remains a stirring warning against The award for pro-freedom film absolute power. of the year goes to…

3 Young American Revolution Prelude to a Revolution

o Rachel Mad- will concentrate on Tdow and the how to operational- rest of the left-wing ize those principles media, the anti-tax on your campus or Publisher tea parties of April in your community.) Jeff Frazee 15 were a cause for Within these pages mockery. To Fox you will find more Editorial Director News and the Re- than one perspec- Daniel McCarthy publican establish- tive on what the Deputy Editors ment, the parties soundest basis for Patrick J. Ford, were a reassuring Photo by Eric Slee opposition to execu- Edward King sign that all is forgiv- tive power, imperial en after the budget-busting years of Bush wars, and financial fraud is. Mastering the Art Director and the grassroots are once more enthusi- philosophy of liberty requires more than Matthew Holdridge astic about the GOP. Don’t believe it: the reciting talking points that might go down left-wing and right-wing statists are both easy on talk radio. There are issues of con- Illustration wrong. tention among liberty-minded people that Shane Helm, The Boston Tea Party of 1773 was no have to be pondered carefully. And build- Anthony Rousseau laughing matter: it was an act of civil dis- ing a successful anti-statist coalition means Contributing Editors obedience, a defiance of royal authority. bringing together people of very different W. James Antle III, Dylan Hales, The original tea party was a prelude to the viewpoints: libertarians, conservatives, George Hawley, Trent Hill, American Revolution. The protestors of anarcho-capitalists, and perhaps even (as Jack Hunter, Bonnie Kristian, April 15 (and the weeks before) also want Dylan Hales’s article suggests) decentralist Kelse Moen, John W. Payne a revolution—an end to unchecked federal leftists. YAL does not impose any single spending, asphyxiating taxes, and the on- set of doctrines on anyone—we welcome going debasement of our currency. Plac- the full diversity of young Americans who Young American Revolution is the official publication of Young Americans for Liberty (www.YALiberty. ards demanding “End the Fed!” could be love liberty and hate Leviathan. org). Subscriptions are $50 for one year (4 issues). seen at more than a few of the protests. This issue of YAR also presents some Checks may be made out to Young Americans for But tea parties are not enough. While of the most vexing questions that confront Liberty and sent to PO Box 2751, Arlington, VA 22202. thousands of the activists who gathered students of liberty. Is conservative icon Young American Revolution accepts letters to the editor and freelance submissions. Letters should on April 15 had sound constitutional Edmund Burke a radical enough figure be between 50 and 300 words. Submissions should views, many thousands more did not—as for anti-statists today? Should historically be between 700 and 2400 words. Letters and the easy acceptance of so many oppor- evolved or pure natural rights submissions may be edited for length and content. Write to us at [email protected] or PO Box tunistic politicians as speakers at these be our guide to liberty—or can the two 2751, Arlington, VA 22202. events demonstrated. And even some of paths be reconciled? How can we distin- Young Americans for Liberty is the continuation of the most well-informed protesters have guish ourselves as constitutionalists when Students for Ron Paul (SFP). In less than 8 months, not been given the tools necessary to make every power-grabbing politico, from Bush SFP established over 500 college and high school chapters in all 50 states and over 26,000 students their principles a political reality. The me- to Obama, claims to uphold the Constitu- joined the Ron Paul 2008 campaign. dia and government classes will continue tion? Don’t just accept the arguments our The mission of Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) to deride and co-opt the rebellious spirit authors make—if you have a better argu- is to train, educate, and mobilize youth activists of the tea parties so long as popular dissat- ment, write to us at [email protected] committed to “winning on principle”. Our goal is to cast the leaders of tomorrow and reclaim the policies, isfaction with the political system is only and make your case. candidates, and direction of our government. given symbolic, emotional outlets. For a To win on principle, we need to test our We welcome conservatives, real revolution, we need the right ideas and ideas rigorously—then put them to work classical liberals, and libertarians who trust in the the means to make them effective—to win in political campaigns and public policy. creed we set forth. on principle. The tea parties were just the first step. Opinions expressed in Young American Revolution This issue of the Young American Revolu- Now it’s time for the Revolution. are not necessarily the views of Young Americans for Liberty. tion looks at the tea parties and the revolt against the Fed and inquires into the deep- Copyright 2009 Young Americans for Liberty - �e Editors er principles behind both. (Our next issue

4 June 2009 The Next Ron Paul? South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford isn’t perfect— but he may be the anti-Obama we need.

Jack Hunter

South Carolina governor let’s-focus-on-spending plea was “slams GOP on eve of debate,” already a defining feature of his read the headline for The Politico, campaign was catapulted to star- and headline worthy it was. In dom during that debate by dar- May 2007, when every Republi- ing to buck his party on foreign can running for president (except policy, as Ron Paul explained to Ron Paul) believed the candidate a GOP and a nation something who was most bombastic about they had never heard before— his willingness to bomb foreign how U.S. interventionism resulted nations would win the GOP in “blowback” and contributed nomination, Republican Gover- to 9/11. Rudy Giuliani blustered nor Mark Sanford chastised his that Paul was blaming the U.S. for party for being blind to what he 9/11 and demanded an apology. believed was the most ominous Rudy never got it—and America threat on the political horizon. got the Ron Paul Revolution. Wrote Sanford: In looking for future Revolu- tion allies and leaders, one could On Tuesday, our state will do much worse than Sanford. host the first debate in the Sanford’s financial warnings South among the Republican South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford came long before any Wall Street presidential candidates. It’s my bailouts or stimulus packages. hope that this debate kicks off Sanford’s predictions were con- a much larger conversation sistently ignored during the same period Paul and market observer among the presidential candidates—and all Americans—on were making similar forecasts. All three men were the vital issue of government spending. Spending is one of dismissed or laughed at by pundits and politicians for their lack those prickly issues that the media has seemed to assign as of optimism, relentless “doom and gloom,” and “sky-is-falling” too boring, the pundits as too complex. (But) for the candi- . dates in this crowded field, the spending debate represents a That is, until the sky fell. As the economy faltered, Sanford real opportunity. It is a big issue that will make a difference in emerged on the national scene as a hard-line fiscal conservative every American’s life in the years ahead, and it’s an area that for whom more government spending was not simply undesir- has not been graced with leadership. Let’s face it: My party, able but an albatross. While being against stimulus spending is the Republicans, have been in control, and they have blown it all the rage among Republicans now that President Obama is in when it comes to government spending. the White House, Sanford was the only governor to plead with Of course, the debate that followed was about more spend- President Bush and Congress not to go forward with their own ing—and how each candidate (except Ron Paul) was willing to stimulus last year. Reported the Augusta Chronicle in November: spend even more billions to prolong and expand President Bush’s Let’s hear it for South Carolina’s GOP Gov. Mark Sanford. War on Terror. Ironically, the one candidate for whom Sanford’s

5 Young American Revolution Governors and mayors are holding out tin cups in Washing- from suspects upon an arrest for a felony was touted as a neces- ton in hopes of getting a chunk of yet another bailout pack- sary “law and order” measure by most Palmetto State Republicans age... Sanford made his plea too, but he wasn’t holding a tin and law enforcement, yet Sanford frustrated both by vetoing it. cup. He was the only governor to urge the House Ways and Sanford’s veto was eventually overridden, and in defying his party, Means Committee last Wednesday to drop the whole idea of police chiefs, countless newspaper editorials, numerous mayors, another bailout, or as it’s called in D.C.—a ‘stimulus pack- and more than a few of his constituents, the governor found age.’ himself on the same side as the ACLU and the NAACP—not exactly an enviable position for a Southern Republican governor. Sanford told the committee, “I’m here to beg of you not to Reported the Associated Press: approve or advance the contemplated $150 billion stimulus pack- age... this $150 billion salve may in fact further infect our econo- A new South Carolina law requiring DNA samples from my with unnecessary government influence and unintended fiscal people arrested on felony charges is overly intrusive and har- consequences.” kens to ‘totalitarian regimes,’ the governor said today as he The debate and eventual passage of Obama’s $787 billion joined with the NAACP to call for the rule to be changed. stimulus further elevated Sanford’s profile, but this time he was Law enforcement officials argue the new law will be more ef- joined in opposing it by congressional Republicans and a handful ficient than having to seek court orders to collect samples. By of GOP governors. In the ongoing media obsession with who that reasoning, Sanford said police could do their jobs even will lead the GOP, it’s worth noting that in contrast to Sanford, more efficiently if they didn’t have to obey the Constitution’s some of the most prominent names bandied about, particularly Fourth Amendment against unlawful search and seizure. governors like or Bobby Jindal, were not only more ‘With all due respect, efficiency—supposed efficiency—is than willing to accept federal stimulus packages and similar spend- the mark of totalitarian regimes,’ Sanford said at a news con- ing under President Bush but remain tepid at best in rejecting his ference today with Lonnie Randolph, president of the state legacy now. Says Sanford forthright of Bush’s massive spending, chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of “That is what ‘compassionate conservatism’ was about. It was a Colored People. ‘Again, we’ll look at any and all options as an disaster. Our niche is maximizing liberty.” administration to thwart this effort because, again, we think For Sanford, “maximizing liberty” has always been more than it breaks the premise of the American system, which is: One just empty, clichéd Republican rhetoric—it has defined his entire is innocent until proven guilty,’ the governor said. political career. With the possible exception of the PATRIOT Standing alone or in unpopular company is nothing new for Act, the Bush-sponsored Homeland Security measure REAL ID, Sanford, as he has always put his conservatism before personal an attempt to force states to adopt a new system of federal iden- or party expediency. When President declared, “the tification, has threatened to become the most sweeping infringe- era of big government is over” in 1996, it was in response to ment on Americans’ civil in recent memory. Sanford not the so-called “Republican Revolution” of 1994, when the GOP only joined a number of governors in rejecting the mandate (it swept the House and picked up eight seats in the Senate on prom- should be noted that while in Congress current Louisiana Gov- ises to bring fiscal responsibility back to Washington. One of that ernor Jindal voted for both the REAL ID Act and for making class, Congressman Sanford made news by sleeping on a cot in the PATRIOT Act permanent) but was one of the leading voices his Washington office to save taxpayer dollars (still occasionally of resistance. Sanford explained his opposition to REAL ID in theatrical, governor Sanford would later show up in the South a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Carolina Statehouse with two baby pigs to mock state lawmakers’ Chertoff: pork-laden budget) and stuck to his limited government promise, REAL ID represents another step against a limited federal unlike many of his colleagues. As National Public Radio recently government. Our greatest homeland security is liberty and, noted, “Sanford came to the Capitol with the torch-bearing troops yet, based on the history of civilizations, its biggest threat of but proved even more conservative than his is found in a central government that is too powerful. Our cohort. He often lined up with libertarian hero Ron Paul, even founding fathers were explicit in reserving first to individu- when no one else did. And unlike many who took the three-terms- als, then to states, all the powers that were not expressly del- and-out pledge, Sanford did his three and left.” egated to the federal government. As mentioned, they did Sanford’s dedicated libertarian-leaning conservatism is also, no this because they considered the biggest threat to liberty a doubt, what prompted him often to be the lone Republican to large federal government, and as a consequence, they put in vote with Paul against constitutionally questionable bills—every- place checks on its prerogative ... . The First Amendment thing from legislation protecting historical sites associated with guarantees Americans the right to assemble and petition their the Underground Railroad to numerous pork barrel projects that government, and in it there has never been a qualification would have benefited his district. On constitutional grounds, San- that said, ‘Only if you have a REAL ID card.’ I think it would ford was one of only two Republicans (do I have to say who the be best to let the Founding Fathers’ original work stand. other was?) who voted against a 1998 resolution calling for regime change in Iraq, and he opposed President Clinton’s war in Kosovo. While opposition to REAL ID was broad, Sanford’s concern Sanford told The American Conservative in March, “I don’t believe for civil liberties has remained steadfast even when unpopular. Re- in preemptive war…For us to hold the moral high ground in the cent state legislation that would require DNA samples to be taken world, our default position must be defensive.” Sanford has also

6 June 2009 long been an advocate for ending the U.S. embargo against Cuba, service but is often secretly reviled for refusing to play politics as which to date has been a rare position amongst Republicans. usual. (In 2004, the Republican-controlled South Carolina State- This isn’t to say that Sanford’s antiwar credentials stand up house overrode 105 of Sanford’s106 budget vetoes.) Among state to Paul’s, or that he is a noninterventionist in the strictest sense. Democrats, Sanford is also reviled, and I have heard some of the When Sanford appeared alongside Gingrich on in nastiest conversations in restaurants and bars directed at the gov- April, seemingly agreeing, although mutedly, with the former ernor—and guess why? For the same reason Sanford is disparaged Georgia congressman about “taking out” North Korea’s missile by his own party: refusing to play politics as usual, which means capabilities, the whole exchange left anti-empire admirers of the voting for pork and happily accepting whatever “stimulus” Wash- governor scratching their heads. Explained Sanford press secre- ington doles out. tary Joel Sawyer during a phone conversation, “To call Sanford In understanding Sanford’s exceptional yet old-fashioned Re- a ‘non-interventionist’ is not exactly true. But the threshold for publicanism, it’s worth contrasting him with another high profile him is so high, ridiculously high” for any military intervention or Palmetto politician, U.S. Senator , a man who often involvement that it’s hard to make the distinction. Sawyer brought finds himself on the opposite side of his governor’s conservative up that Sanford opposed both the Kosovo intervention and the agenda. It’s easy to see why the authoritarian-leaning Republican invasion of Iraq because he did not believe they were justified. Graham—who has butted heads with the libertarian-leaning gov- On the question of the North Korea missile test, Sawyer said ernor on everything from REAL ID to amnesty for illegal aliens, that Sanford meant what he said—Washington, D.C. cannot keep the Wall Street bailout to nationalizing banks—is more embraced talking tough to North Korea and never back it up. And if there by his party than Sanford is. Graham is the quintessential Repub- is a way for the U.S. to make good on its warnings without com- lican establishment candidate. Graham is also overwhelmingly mitting troops or invading a nation, Sanford sup- unpopular among the Republican rank and file—on ports it. talk radio, Graham’s name is spoken with the type That Sanford has a “ridiculously high” threshold of scorn usually reserved for Obama. It is widely for what justifies foreign intervention is comfort- believed that the only thing that saved Graham in ing—but if his elevated threshold is low enough the last election was the “R” next to his name and to include unwise, politically costly, and needless a $4 million war chest. (His opponent spent about attacks on nations like North Korea, Sanford may $23,000.) The deep-red state of South Carolina sim- leave Ron Paul supporters who are otherwise sym- ply doesn’t send Democrats to D.C. these days. pathetic to him wondering if he’s really any better But it might be sending a worthy Republican than the average Republican hawk. governor to the capital before too long. Speculation Sanford could lose a significant base of support about the 2012 presidential election is mostly aca- in the process. Paul himself highlighted his relation- demic, as even much-touted frontrunners like Palin ship with Sanford in Congress during his speech at were unknown nationally a year ago. The political the St. Louis regional con- world is constantly changing and today’s celebri- ference in early April. This is remarkable in itself, ties could easily become tomorrow’s footnotes. But considering that Paul spends more time attacking his Palmetto revolutionary? some things remain constant—real conservative spendthrift, Constitution-trashing, warmongering principles and the economic truth that spending colleagues than praising exceptions like Sanford. money that does not exist will invariably lead to di- Elected chairman of the Republican Governors Association in saster. Only a leader who possesses the former can possibly stop November, Sanford continues to raise his profile—and with it, the latter. speculation that he might run for president in 2012. Often men- There are few Republicans on the national scene whose con- tioned in the same breath as governors Jindal and Palin, Sanford servative principles don’t flap aimlessly in the wind depending on is markedly different precisely because his celebrity has nothing to which party occupies the White House. And there are even fewer do with race, gender, or the cult of personality. As the Republi- whose dedication to liberty—and recognition that economic free- can Party continues to hunt for personalities that might outshine dom is not separate but integral to liberty—demands that spend- the president’s in the next election, Sanford remains the anti- ing must stop, budgets must be cut drastically, and constitutional Obama—not only on fiscal matters but as a man too concerned freedoms are non-negotiable. Mark Sanford is among those few. about bringing budgets down to earth to worry about the pomp After four or eight years of Obama, America will no longer be and circumstance of Hollywood-style politics. Much like Paul, able to afford—quite literally—just another smooth talker, an- Sanford isn’t the most charismatic personality, yet his most ardent other pretty face, or a more politically correct GOP smile. Serious admirers remain such because of his ideas alone. crises call for serious leaders, and the future may demand much Sanford is the most popular politician in South Carolina—de- more than another nominal Republican. The country needs a true pending on whom you talk to. Among rank-and-file Republicans, conservative we can believe in. Sanford is adored. In my work in talk radio, trying to find a con- servative Republican who will disparage Sanford is like trying to “The Southern Avenger” Jack Hunter [southernavenger@southernavenger. find one who will talk down Reagan—it simply doesn’t happen. com] is a personality for 1250 AM WTMA talk radio in Charleston, South Within the state GOP establishment, Sanford is paid polite lip Carolina, a columnist for the Charleston City Paper, and a contributing editor for Taki’s Magazine.

7 Young American Revolution Audit the Fed! From deals with foreign governments to inflating our currency, our central bank’s secrecy has been a cover for fraud

Matthew Hawes

ne of the most amazing aspects dollars to financial institutions, yet it Oof the Ron Paul Revolution is the refuses to release the list of who re- diversity of the activists who have as- ceived the funds. When asked for this sembled from all manner of religious, information by Sen. Bernie Sanders at cultural, and political backgrounds to a Senate Budget Committee hearing, champion a common cause. Though Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke flat out we have our disagreements on the said, “No.” Can you imagine anyone finer points of various issues, we stand else getting away with such an answer united in support of reclaiming our to a congressional inquiry? Republic and restoring our Constitu- The Fed has loaned billions of dol- tion. lars to foreign central banks, but it will And one particular subject unifies our not provide details of these loans ei- movement like no other: economics. ther. And while the central bank does If you have attended a Ron Paul rally release the minutes of its Open Mar- in the past, you are well aware that it Ron Paul greets co-sponsors Congressman Bartlett ket Committee meetings to Congress, does not take long for the crowd to (left) and Congressman Thompson (right) they are provided weeks after the fact start chanting, “End the Fed!”—some- and are edited. thing you don’t hear at other political gatherings. Ron Paul’s 2008 The time has come to end the shroud of secrecy surround- presidential campaign returned the sound-money debate to the ing the Fed’s operations and hold it accountable to the American national stage and warned our country that a time of reckoning people for how it handles our money. would soon come as a result of the ’s loose mon- On Feb. 26, Congressman Paul introduced HR 1207, the Fed- etary policy and a Congress that mortgages our future for its own eral Reserve Transparency Act. This bill would require the Gov- political gain. ernment Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a full audit of In contrast, the mainstream media would have Americans be- the Fed by the end of 2010. lieve that no one could have foreseen the current economic crisis As Dr. Paul stated in his introduction of the bill: and that the is the root of all evil in our society. Those who preach the big-government gospel have wasted no time in “How long will we as a Congress stand idly by while hard- grabbing as many unconstitutional powers as the present econom- working Americans see their savings eaten away by infla- ic turmoil will allow them to assume. The Federal Reserve System tion? stands at the center of these power plays. “…Since its inception, the Federal Reserve has always oper- Since its inception in 1913, the Federal Reserve System has ated in the shadows, without sufficient scrutiny or oversight held sway over the creation of Amer- of its operations. While the conven- ica’s money and credit. This control, tional excuse is that this is intended coupled with Congress’s allegiance to to reduce the Fed’s susceptibility Keynesian deficit spending, has re- to political pressures, the reality is sulted in a 95 percent decrease in the that the Fed acts as a foil for the value of our dollar and a national debt government. Whenever you ques- approaching $11 trillion. (And that’s tion the Fed about the strength of before you add in trillions of dollars the dollar, they will refer you to the in unfunded liabilities awaiting us in Treasury, and vice versa. The Fed- decades to come.) eral Reserve has, on the one hand, Though it was created by Con- many of the privileges of govern- gress, the Fed has remained largely ment agencies, while retaining ben- unchecked and unaccountable in its efits of private organizations, such operations. as being insulated from Freedom of Information Act requests…” Over the past two years, the Fed has Campaign for Liberty volunteers sort 47,000 petitions loaned out over $2 trillion in taxpayer demanding a Fed audit Note that the GAO has conducted

8 June 2009 limited audits of the Fed in the past, ments and other central banks. which the Fed will use to try to boast With your help, Campaign for of its transparency. A close look at “How long will we as a Congress stand idly Liberty and Young Americans for Section 714 in Title 31 of the U.S. by while hard-working Americans see their Liberty will lead the fight to bring Code, however, reveals the full story. savings eaten away by inflation?” - transparency to an institution that According to that section, the GAO Ron Paul has helped to destroy our currency cannot audit, “transactions for or and plunge us into a roller coaster with a foreign central bank, government of a foreign country, ride of booms and busts. Campaign for Liberty has already cre- or nonprivate international financing organization; deliberations, ated petitions in support of HR 1207 for our members to send to decisions, or actions on monetary policy matters, including dis- their representatives and senators, and, as funds allow, we plan to count window operations, reserves of member banks, securities run newspaper ads and take to the radio and television airwaves to credit, interest on deposits, and open market operations; trans- spread the word about this historic legislation. actions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Within three weeks of its introduction, HR 1207 had attracted Committee; or a part of a discussion or communication among 30 cosponsors, (now it is up to 124, as of going to press) and the or between members of the Board of Governors and officers and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee has com- employees of the Federal Reserve System related to clauses (1)-(3) mitted to holding a hearing on the bill. Visit www.Campaignfor- of this subsection.” Liberty.com to stay current on our actions to get HR 1207 passed As Dr. Paul likes to say, the GAO is allowed to audit the Fed as by the Financial Services Committee and onto the House floor long as it does not audit anything the Fed actually does. for a vote. HR 1207 would remove these restrictions, allowing a full audit This effort is more than just a philosophical exercise. It is a for the first time in the central bank’s history. Its funding facilities, battle we can win. Congressman Paul has led the way, but it is up such as the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, Term Securities Lend- to us to finish the fight. ing Facility, and Term Asset-Backed Securities Lending Facility, would be opened to congressional oversight, and we could finally Matt Hawes is vice president of programs for the Campaign for Liberty. learn the details of the Fed’s arrangements with foreign govern-

9 Young American Revolution Tea Parties and Tax Revolts Americans rebel against pork and big-government

W. James Antle III

hen President Barack Obama flew to buy them liposuction, large-screen TV’s, or WDenver to sign the federal stimulus beer for their horses. Others made libertar- package—price tag: $1.2 trillion, counting ian arguments against the runaway govern- interest—into law, not everyone celebrated ment growth on display and the ever ex- the momentous occasion. Down the street panding sense of entitlement that fuels it. from the signing site, on the steps of the It’s a tradition that’s as old and American Colorado state capitol, a crowd of 300 gath- as the Republic. The protesters in Denver, ered to burn the bill in effigy. Jim Pfaff, a Mesa, and Washington are paying tribute to local taxpayers’ activist, condemned the the Boston Tea Party, an act of rebellion by “economic recovery” scheme as a “Ponzi American colonists against British taxation scheme, Madoff-style.” that eventually culminated in a successful The anti-stimulus protesters dined on Party time. Photo by Eric Slee. war for independence. But anti-tax protests roast pig, which symbolized the more than haven’t been confined to Bostonians dump- 96 percent of the bill that went toward spe- ing tea in the harbor. Periodic “tax revolts” cial-interest “pork-barrel” spending projects. They chanted, “No have often been a precursor to the electorate’s turn away from big more pork!” and “You don’t know stimulus!” One demonstration government in favor of fiscal discipline. leader even held up oversized checks to signify the $30,000 in debt Over 30 years ago, Californians were feeling oppressed by imposed by the stimulus on each American family. growing property tax burdens and the rising cost of government. It wasn’t the first time ordinary Americans had taken to the Activists Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann spearheaded a ballot initia- streets to rally against the Obama administration’s massive un- tive to cap property taxes in the Golden State, thereby limiting the funded federal spending—and wouldn’t be the last. On President’s political class’s claim on the wealth of California’s taxpayers. The Day in Seattle, blogger Keli Carender gathered 100 people deep in Jarvis-Gann Amendment appeared on the state ballot as Propo- the heart of Obama country to protest the price of the stimulus sition 13, benefiting from deep anti-tax sentiment. Yet the tax- package and the way it was rammed through Congress without payers’ outrage did not deter a coalition of big business and big meaningful debate. Like the event in Denver, activists wore pig government from mobilizing against the initiative. noses and feasted on pulled pork. They held up signs saying, “Say Former California governor Pat Brown told the Washington Post, no to generational theft” and condemning the “porkulus.” “If I were a communist, I would vote for Proposition 13.” Los CNBC commentator Rick Santelli took to the floor of the Chi- Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley warned that Proposition 13 “will hit cago Board of Trade and railed against the Obama administra- the city like a neutron bomb, leaving some city facilities standing tion’s plan to bail out irresponsible borrowers and lenders alike. virtually empty and human services devastated.” Even the presi- “How many of you people want to pay for your neighbors’ mort- dent of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce complained gage that has an extra bathroom and can’t pay their bills?” Santelli that the anti-tax initiative was “a fraud on the taxpayer that will asked, as traders hooted and cheered around him. “I’m thinking cause fiscal chaos, massive unemployment and disruption of the of having a Chicago Tea Party!” economy.” Santelli’s idea caught on. By one estimate, more than 150 anti- But the taxpayers still had their say. Proposition 13 passed with spending “tea parties” have taken place throughout the country. 65 percent of the vote as 70 percent of registered voters streamed According to official crowd estimates, 4,000 people turned out for to the polls. Property taxes were slashed by an average of 57 a rally in Cincinnati. Taxpayers protested in Chicago and in the percent across California. The massive layoffs of police officers, rain in Atlanta. Tea parties have also sprung up in less conserva- firefighters, and teachers that were predicted by the proposition’s tive areas, from Cleveland to Santa Monica. Even Washington, opponents did not come to pass. Unemployment across the state D.C. has gotten into the act, with 200 demonstrating in late Febru- did not rise. ary right in the belly of the federal beast. Proposition 13 was so successful that it was emulated in an- President Obama may have awakened a sleeping giant—the other, even more liberal state. At the time, Massachusetts had the American taxpayer. When he traveled to Mesa, Arizona to un- second-highest property tax burden in the country. Politicians re- veil his $100 billion to $200 billion mortgage bailout plan, he was peatedly promised relief in exchange for other revenue sources, greeted by nearly 500 protesters shouting anti-bailout slogans and but property taxes did not come down. “So by 1980,” anti-tax carrying signs. Some facetiously demanded that the government activist Barbara Anderson recalled in the Boston Globe, “we had a

10 June 2009 high income tax, a sales tax, a lottery, and high property taxes.” Not for nothing was the Bay State called “Taxachusetts.” Anderson’s Citizens for Limited Taxation and Government put a referendum question on the Massachusetts ballot that limited property taxes to 2.5 percent of a community’s value and held increases to 2.5 percent a year. Dubbed Proposition 2 1/2, it also cut the automobile excise tax from $66 per $1,000 to $25 per $1,000, provided an income tax deduction for renters, and banned the state from imposing new unfunded mandates on cities and towns. Tax-eaters did not cede money back to taxpayers willingly, however. “Battle lines were drawn: CLT, the Massachusetts High Technology Council, the Massachusetts Auto Dealers Association, and the National Federation of Independent Business against al- most everybody else,” Anderson wrote about the Proposition 2 1/2 debate. “Leading opponents were the Legislature, the Mas- sachusetts Municipal Association, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, and other public employee unions, various human service organizations, the Massachusetts Council of Churches, the , and, incredibly, the Massachusetts Association of Older Americans.” Union leaders asked which interested initiative supporters more: “Cutting taxes? Or cutting our throats?” Proposition 2 1/2 passed nevertheless, with the support of 59 percent of voters. Massachusetts voters also went for Ronald Rea- gan in 1980 and 1984. But the public-sector unions coordinated marches and still tried to oppose the initiative even after it became choice in the Middle East. law. They hoped to persuade the legislature to repeal Proposition Today, taxpayer groups benefit from better organization. There 2 1/2. A majority of governors since its enactment have vowed is a highly developed patchwork of state and national organiza- to veto any attempt to reverse or dilute the tax-limiting measure, tions willing to sponsor or endorse proliferating tea parties across however, and it still standards almost 30 years later in a state where the country. And networking technology makes it easier for con- the forces of big government remain powerful. As with Proposi- cerned citizens to organize even without establishment support. tion 13, the dire predictions regarding the state’s economy and The D.C. tea party alone had the backing of Americans for Tax basic government services were not borne out by the events. Reform, FreedomWorks, the , and Over the years, comparable initiatives have passed in states as Americans for Prosperity. But it was also substantially put to- varied as liberal Oregon and then-conservative Colorado. But the gether through a Facebook page set up by conservative journalist tax revolts brewing now differ in some important respects from J.P. Freire (full disclosure: an American Spectator colleague of this the ones that led to Proposition 13, Proposition 2 1/2, and the writer), with some promotional efforts by nationally syndicated Colorado Taxpayer Bill of Rights. All of those protests, culminat- columnist and pork donor Michelle Malkin and no small amount ing in ballot initiatives, were a reaction to high taxes after they had of Twitter chatter. already been imposed. The Obama administration hasn’t raised Organizations like Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty might be taxes yet and hasn’t completely spelled out what tax increases it able to harness their supporters’ Internet savvy and their ability to will seek. The president continues to pretend he will cut taxes for build coalitions with anti-bailout progressives that conventional 95 percent of the American people and that the tax increases im- conservatives might have trouble working with. Although for the plicit in his $3.55 trillion budget proposal will be levied against present even Republican voices seem open to a broader anti-tax the super-wealthy alone. The Bush tax cuts remain in force until and anti-spending coalition: “Now is the time for all good tax- 2011. payers to turn the tables on free-lunching countrymen and their Today’s tax rebels are sophisticated enough to understand that enablers in Washington,” Malkin wrote in a recent column. “Com- the bailouts, stimulus packages, and rescue plans can be paid for munity organizing helped propel Barack Obama to the White through deficits and inflation only for so long. This government House. It can work for fiscal conservatism, too.” spending will suck resources out of the real private economy now For every tax revolt that is successful, many more are quelled. and lead to higher taxes in the long term. In the past, economic Just ask the economic libertarians who organized against the esca- conservatives have had to wait for the tax burden to cripple the lating costs of the New Deal in the 1930s or the sponsors of the economy before they could generate any popular outrage. Or they 30 anti-tax initiatives that were defeated the same year Proposition have gone along quietly when Republican presidents have prac- 13 passed. But if this new movement prevails, it could create con- ticed borrow-and-spend economics, as long as a few modest tax ditions where “Tax, spend, elect” is a political slogan of the past. cuts accompanied the GOP’s massive new entitlements, record annual discretionary spending increases, and unfunded wars of W. James Antle III is associate editor of .

11 Young American Revolution The New Left Was Right The earliest 1960s radicals opposed “corporate liberalism”—much like the Revolution today

Dylan Hales

ccording to the popular my- somed during the Age of Aquari- Athology of the mainstream us have become commonplace on conservative movement, the the Right, they are far too broad “New Left” of the 1960s is re- in scope. The result has been a sponsible for almost all of this disproportionate demonization world’s current ills. As the story of a multifaceted movement goes, while brave American GI’s whose best instincts and brightest were sloughing through the hell minds were more quintessentially of Southeast Asia, ungrateful col- American than much of what lege kids and university brats were passes for conservatism today. burning flags and bras while im- Though often remembered bibing every illegal psychotropic as a bicoastal, big-city bonanza substance known to man. The (New York City, San Francisco) war against the Commies went the origins of the New Left lie in south with the culture, and only the American Midwest. The jump was successful, if point occurred on June 12, 1962, just temporarily, in saving us from , Goldwater speechwriter and New Leftist when the youthful congregants this endless hippie excess. of a beautifully random piece of Like most great historical myths, flyover country known as Port this one has some slivers of truth. Single parenthood, abortion on Huron, Michigan met to declare their independence from the demand, drug abuse, and much of the hedonistic behavior con- moribund and totally irrelevant consensus liberalism of the Ken- demned by the of the Reagan years did explode during nedy era. They represented a marked departure from the Old Left the 1960s. The unintended consequences of the sexual revolution of Soviet apologists and their obnoxious opponents in the anti- combined with the rise of organized identity politics to contribute Communist social-democratic center. At Port Huron, an equally heavily to the ascent of the federal welfare state under Presidents fractured but far more spirited authentic Left was born. Johnson and Nixon, as both presidents opposed socialism abroad Though much has been written about Students for a Demo- while embracing it at home. “Yes We Can!” was first the cry of cratic Society, the group that met at Port Huron, its rightful place that generation, a legacy that remains with us today. in history has never been fully established, primarily as a result of But what about the other truths, the rest of the story, and the a mainstream media that has consistently glamorized the worst best of the ’60s generation? Were all those students clamoring for aspects of SDS while obscuring its uniquely American character- a democratic society dangerous Marxoids devoid of manners or istics. The early days of SDS have been almost totally ignored, good sense? Could it be that a movement founded on a principled leaving one with the impression that the infamous Bill Ayers had devotion to “free speech,” a fierce opposition to the managerial been the epitome of the group from day one, when nothing could state, and a rigid do-it-yourself ethic lacked any qualities that this be further from the truth. generation’s youthful anti-statists could learn from? For those who associate that era with tear gas and townhouse Hell, no! explosions, the tranquility of the New Left’s opening salvos are Though indictments of the radical youth movements that blos- almost impossible to fathom, as the early stages of the movement

12 June 2009 were defined by a commitment to “participatory .” In some men come to occupy positions in American society the beginning, there was no market for the sort of personality cult from which they can look down upon, so to speak, and by that ultimately led to the movement’s implosion. Consensus deci- their decisions mightily affect, the everyday worlds of ordi- sion-making was a practiced principle and attempts to address the nary men and women. They are not made by their job; they root of youth alienation were the impetus behind most SDS posi- set up and break down jobs for thousands of others; they tions. As former SDS president Carl Oglesby noted in an interview are not confined by simple family responsibilities; they can with Reason: “SDS was founded to be a democratic organization, escape. They may live in many hotels and houses, but they are not to be socialist. Its most basic slogan was ‘People Should Be bound by no one community. They need not merely meet the Involved in Making the Decisions that Affect Their Lives.’ That demands of the day and hour; in some part, they create these was what SDS was about. Whatever decision gets made, it should demands, and cause others to meet them. Whether or not be democratic.” they profess their power, their technical and political experi- Collectivism was unquestionably an implied outcome of the sort ence of it far transcends that of the underlying population. of grassroots democracy favored by many of the young activists. But early SDS activism was not the bureaucratic, top-down model Though such criticisms were uncharacteristic on the liberal-left of the Old Left. In fact, this New Left was deeply contemptuous at the time, many conservatives of the era offered similar critiques of party lines and what their manifesto of principles—the Port of power. To cite just one example, ’s The Manage- Huron Statement—called “politics without publics”: rial Revolution propounded a theory that closely paralleled Mills’s. Unfortunately for conservatives of that time, Burnham’s fierce The American political system is not the democratic model anti-Communism led him to embrace the welfare-warfare state. of which its glorifiers speak. In actuality it frustrates democ- Mills and the New Left did not fall victim to such follies. racy by confusing the individual citizen, paralyzing policy dis- In exposing the nexus between big business and big govern- cussion, and consolidating the irresponsible power of mili- ment, Mills’s book became a bible of sorts for baby boomers tary and business interests. raised on the decommissioned scraps of World War II-era military Keynesianism. The children of the military-industrial complex In promoting this civic philosophy of volunteerism, the New Left was expanding on Jeffersonian concepts and cultural ideals had come home to roost, as all over the opposition in line with the thinking of conservatives like and to empire both home and abroad emerged as a dominant feature commonly associated with the Populism that had littered the same of youth culture. Midwestern landscape 60 years earlier. The Berkeley “Free Speech Movement” exploded in the fall of Like their Midwestern Populist forefathers, SDS was deeply 1964 after the University of California fiercely enforced a rule suspicious of the Eastern power centers and financial institutions barring political activities that weren’t directly subordinate to the that controlled the domestic and foreign policies of the Republic. two major political parties. Led by Mario Savio, an amalgamation Though they occasionally overreached and made rash decisions, of libertarians, liberals, conservatives, and all points in-between both Populists and the New Left sought to remove power from participated in several protests and sit-ins that resulted in ma- Washington and place it back into the hands of local agents who jor concessions by the university. In a series of speeches—one best understood the needs of their communities. of which was made on the roof of a police car holding another Self-declared enemies of “corporate liberalism,” the students at member of the FSM—Savio summed up the nature of the beast Port Huron had almost nothing in common with the Progressive in a style rarely seen before or since: “There’s a time when the movement that had taken over much of American Left in the early operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick 20th century. Whereas the Progressives of then and now sought at heart that you can’t take part! You can’t even passively take part! the extension of national power and the aggrandizement of bu- And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the reaucracy for the “public good,” early SDSers sought to “disman- wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus—and you’ve got tle the institutions” of social control and beat back the dangerous to make it stop!” tide of military statism. The later splintering of the movement The machine being discussed here wasn’t capitalism, it was the into various Maoist sects notwithstanding, the early days of the superstructure of the modern university and the cult of bigness New Left were spent bitterly opposing such orthodoxies and cri- that propped it up. Such decentralist rhetoric would resound again tiquing the notion that such grandiose concepts could ever deliver nearly 50 years later in the presidential campaign of a certain OB/ on their promises. GYN from the Gulf Coast of Texas. The oppositional sentiment expressed by the early SDS was The New Left also intersected with the various organizations foreshadowed in 1956 when the ideological godfather of the New and causes that made up the burgeoning Black Power movement. Left, C. Wright Mills released his magnum opus The Power Elite. Though ethnic identity movements are often seen as antithetical Like the Port Huron Statement, The Power Elite is an inherently to libertarian ideas, this myopic view only serves those who wish anti-Progressive text that takes a decidedly critical view of the to stymie real challenges to entrenched power. In the early days of corporatist state. According to the motorcycle-riding, hyper-indi- the radical civil rights movement, one could find a communitarian vidualist Mills: spirit sorely lacking in most of the establishment politics of the era, liberal or otherwise. As the means of information and of power are centralized, Consider the Chicago Chapter of the Black Panther Party.

13 Young American Revolution Though the group’s Marxist platitudes and support of Mao would he asked, “or are we ready to go it alone socially, in communi- be deeply at odds with libertarians from any period, that troubling ties of voluntarism, in a world more economic and cultural than rhetoric did not necessarily match the reality. Led by the fiercely political”? independent Fred Hampton, the Chicago BPP disavowed the cul- For conservative opponents of mass democracy, it is notewor- tural nationalist tendencies of other branches of the party and fo- thy that the “participatory democracy” of SDS was not mob rule cused explicitly on promoting street autonomy. Though Hampton at all, but an attempt to put the words of men like Hess into ac- was not known to shy from confrontation, he publicly disavowed tion. By disengaging from national politics and building a ground- the senseless violence of the Weatherman faction when that SDS up movement, the New Left was seeking a thorough devolution offshoot was still in its infancy. Just at the moment when other of America’s overgrown bureaucracies. The fear of “King Num- chapters of the Panthers were decaying into cesspools of violence bers” so eloquently guarded against by James Madison and friends and addiction, the Chicago outfit began to implement private wel- had no stronger (or stranger) practical adherents than the kids of fare systems and education programs which, not surprisingly, led SDS. to direct conflict with state authorities. When the Weatherman malcontents took to the streets, played When Hampton was murdered by the largest criminal gang in revolutionary, and destroyed , they didn’t win any the city on Dec. 4th, 1969 there was no punishment for his killers. recruits. Nor did the phony class-antagonism of the egghead (and There never is when the killers are state-sanc- Maoist) Progressive Labor Party faction of SDS. tioned agents. After Hampton’s political assas- By the end of 1968, the squabbling between sination, the chairmanship of the state party these groups and others led to the total destruc- was taken over by Bobby Rush, the last man to tion of the movement and the descent of many defeat Barack Obama in an electoral encounter. of its adherents into total madness. Given the At least the BPP produced someone who could radical ideas and real threats to power expressed beat Obama. What has the GOP given us? in the movement’s early days, it should surprise Though contemporary accounts tend to sepa- no one that government repression played a role rate the predominantly white New Left from the in this. Still, the ultimate responsibility lies with Black Power movement, the spirit of anti-au- those who corrupted an important and thor- thoritarianism was a shared and primary trait of oughly American cause and replaced it with yet both. Though the bombastic attitudes and Mao- another cause celebre. ist mania of the Black Panthers eventually led Despite the popular right-wing caricature of to that group coming to define the very worst the movement today—or the foolish canoniza- aspects of the time, the early Panthers embod- tion of the post-’68 hippie free-for-all by many ied the self-determinist envisioned by leftists—there are many worthwhile lessons to many early American conservative icons. The be drawn from the New Left. One could begin ten-point program of the party included many by asking a few questions relevant for our cur- overtly socialist proposals, to be sure, but its rent predicament. Must the term “community framework and implementation were a separate Carl Oglesby’s tale of the New organizer” be seen as a synonym for “commu- matter. Left nist”? Is it really beneficial to embrace bigness To put the Panthers and early New Left in and international grandiosity at the expense of perspective, how many modern-day proponents of the Second place and local custom? Do movements always have to be judged Amendment would actually form citizen militias to patrol the by their worst moments and most foolish figures? communities they reside in? How many would call for full and One can rightly criticize the welfare statism of much of the direct control over their children’s education? For that matter, how New Left or the later excesses of its adherents without abandon- many would seriously question the role of federal power at all? ing the notion that promoting civic values at the local level is an In organizing at the community level, the radical movements of approach worth adopting, cherishing, and promoting. At the very the ’60s touched on a principle often fetishized by conservatives least, surrendering the term “community” to the denizens of the but rarely practiced. “Home rule” as a cause worth actualizing, Daily Kos hardly seems like a winning political tactic—or one rather than something slick politicians merely pay lip service to, is with any relationship to the American political tradition conserva- a principle that liberty-minded youth ought to take to heart. It is tives so frequently tout. this sort of activity alone that can subvert the centralized political If one were looking to take the best aspects of the New Left structure, something that will become increasingly necessary if and the best aspects of the Old Right and create a fresh political our economic freefall continues. alternative out of them, one would find oneself smack dab in the At its heart, the best of the New Left went beyond mere criti- middle of the Ron Paul Revolution of 2008. And this is the best cism of institutions and cut right to the root problem—power hope we have. itself. In fact, it was a former speechwriter for , SDS convert Karl Hess, who provided the simplest explanation Dylan Hales [[email protected]] is a freelance writer from Charleston, of the problem. “Will men continue to submit to rule by politics, South Carolina. His blog, The Left Conservative, can be found at www. which has always meant the power of some men over other men,” leftconservativeblog.blogspot.com.

14 June 2009 15 Young American Revolution History Lesson What Young Americans for Liberty can learn from Young Americans for Freedom

Gregory L. Schneider

ne of the most interesting groups was the Intercollegiate Odevelopments of last year’s Society of Individualists (ISI), presidential contest was the which dispensed free books to mobilization of young people students and supported the for- on behalf of two candidates, mation of conservative clubs Barack Obama, who easily won on campuses. Through the late the election, and Texas con- 1950s several of these clubs gressman Ron Paul, a longshot helped set the stage for the to win the GOP nomination. Right’s movement into politics. An antiwar, pro-constitutional, A particularly galvanizing issue laissez-faire physician who has was an effort to remove a loy- served 10 terms in Congress alty oath from the post-Sput- and was the presidential nomi- nik National Defense Educa- nee of the Libertarian Party in tion Act. An odd organization 1988, Paul drew more interest with the benefit of hindsight, on campus than any candidate formed by two who save for Obama. While much of had interned at Paul’s support could be traced Students against the state—now and then and , the Student to his opposition to the wars in Committee for the Loyalty Oath Iraq and Afghanistan, his appeal mobilized conservative students with young people extended far beyond foreign policy. Paul is rep- on 44 campuses in the fall of 1958 to preserve the loyalty oath in resentative of a growing interest on the Right in returning to first the law. The argument of the two founding members, Douglas principles after years of Republican acquiescence to the goals of Caddy and David Franke, was principled—if students received liberal Washington. federal money for education in defense-related coursework in sci- One would have to go back almost 50 years to find a similar ence, shouldn’t they be loyal to the Constitution? Their argument student-led revolt on the Right. Ronald Reagan produced loyalty convinced enough politicians to defend the act that the loyalty among young Americans which translated into political support oath was spared. at the polls, as well as for his agenda of building up America’s After that victory, conservative students continued to look for military against the Soviets and revitalizing the economy. Yet his ways they could make a difference in politics. They found one administration never produced the intensity of campus interest in the growing influence of Barry Goldwater in the Republican engendered by the Paul campaign or by the campaign of Arizona Party. In March 1960, Clarence Manion—radio host and former Sen. Barry Morris Goldwater for the Republican vice presidential dean of the Notre Dame Law School—arranged for the publica- nomination in 1960. tion of Goldwater’s book The Conscience of a Conservative, which de- Back then, one of the strangest developments in American buted to wide acclaim. Young people devoured the book hungrily politics was the awakening of American youth to principles of and contributed to the cause by organizing Youth for Goldwater conservatism. Two important individuals in this awakening were for Vice President clubs. The drive received support from National Goldwater himself and William F. Buckley Jr., who founded Na- Review, and the push was on to get Goldwater nominated for VP tional Review in 1955 and whose writing and celebrity served as a at the August GOP convention in Chicago. But it was not to be. beacon drawing young people towards the conservative principles had already met with New York Governor Nelson espoused in the early years of his journal. Buckley launched the Rockefeller and had made a deal that liberal Republican Henry magazine out of a desire to combat the regnant New Deal liber- Cabot Lodge would be his running mate. Conservatives booed alism of American politics—to “stand athwart history shouting when the name was announced, leading Goldwater, in his speech stop!”, as he famously wrote in the journal’s opening issue, Buck- to the convention to say, “let’s grow up, conservatives.” He urged ley was a huge attraction on college campuses which (sadly) lacked his supporters to take back the GOP. Young conservatives did as much diversity of ideas then as they still do today. just that. Conservatives had organized youth groups to address the Over the weekend of September 9-11, 1960, at the Buckley paucity of non-liberal ideas on campus. Foremost among these estate in Sharon, Connecticut, a group of around 90 young con-

16 June 2009 servatives from around the country gathered to found a new na- Goldwater campaign, YAF continued to function vitally, recruit- tional organization named Young Americans for Freedom. The ing members, building its movement, and serving as shock troops students and several older conservatives present, dubbed OAFs for the conservative cause. (Old Americans for Freedom) by direct-mail impresario Marvin But as the Vietnam War escalated and the New Left focused Liebman, approved a charter called the Sharon Statement, which on antiwar organizing on campus, YAF began to split. Most YAF was written by Indianapolis News editor M. Stanton Evans en route members were anticommunist and were initially exposed to the to the conference and which stipulated the fusionist vision of the conservative movement through Buckley, National Review, ISI, or conservatives of the 1950s—traditional references to God bal- Goldwater. So it was no surprise that the majority of YAF mem- anced by a commitment to free-market economics and support bers remained committed to the Vietnam War. But a growing for the Cold War against international communism. They also number of libertarian students, who often came to their philoso- elected a national board and appointed Robert Schuchman as na- phy through the writings of , began to express doubts. tional director and Douglas Caddy as executive director. Some even began to look into alliances with the New Left over What is impressive about Young Americans for Liberty is how the war. They urged an end to the draft, which in fact the great much it has followed this now half-century old script. YAL has a majority of YAF members, as well as YAF advisors like Milton national committee, a statement of principles, and is publishing a Friedman and Russell Kirk, also supported. national magazine (much as YAF published a periodical called The The dispute between libertarian and conservative students New Guard). The goals of the organiza- erupted into a purge, however, at the tion are clear and well articulated and by 1969 YAF convention in St. Louis. Lib- every measure YAL should prosper both ertarians protested YAF’s position on organizationally and philosophically as the war, and one member incinerated it moves to combat statists of the Left, a replica draft card on the convention Right, and Center and defend individual floor. Conservative students heckled the liberty in American society. libertarians, calling them “laissez-fair- Yet as with any student organization, ies,” and there was talk of fisticuffs in it is imperative that the members stay the hotel hallways. Libertarian students away from factional politics and avoid gathered at the St. Louis Arch to pro- the conflagration of competing interests test the “fascist” tactics of YAF, with and cliques that eventually made YAF a speeches by former Goldwater speech- relatively ineffective organization. writer Karl Hess to rally the assembled Here too, history may be on YAL’s YAL Executive Director Jeff Frazee. Photo by Matt crowd. In the end, many of the radical side. In the early 1960s some competi- Holdridge. libertarians split from YAF, forming Stu- tion existed between YAF, which explic- dents for Individual Liberty (SIL). While itly defined itself as a conservative youth organization, and groups short-lived, SIL became the basis for the creation or revival of like the Young Republicans, which were party organizations for a variety of libertarian organizations and institutions outside of young people. And there were other tensions plaguing YAF. In my the conservative movement, including Reason and the Libertarian history of the organization, Cadres for Conservatism: Young Americans Party. for Freedom and the Rise of the Contemporary Right (1999), I document YAF’s internal tumult, at least over ideological differences, the disputes that erupted between the national board and officers subsided by the early 1970s, though it remained an organization and the chapters and state boards that were much more activist plagued by factional differences and disputes over power. By the and intent on fulfilling the goals of the Sharon Statement. Any 1980s, at the highpoint of conservative institutional power, YAF student organization should avoid what befell YAF early on, the was a shadow of its former self, suffering from charges and coun- lure of a national board ensconced in comfortable offices and tercharges of ethical and legal misconduct between national board spending lavishly on privileges it did not need to be effective. members. YAF still exists, but it is hardly the organization it was Eventually, fundraiser was brought in to help in the late 1960s, when it claimed as many as 80,000 members in stabilize the YAF national office, and he helped the organization hundreds of chapters and had active groups in just about every dramatically, employing techniques such as direct-mail solicitation, state. which he had learned from YAF advisor Marvin Liebman. YAL has a chance to avoid the perils that brought YAF down. Other factional fights in the early days concerned ideology and First, there will not be competing outside factions seeking to draw political power. Some feared that the was at- YAL into their orbit, as was the case for YAF in early 1960s. In tempting to gain control of YAF through a board member named those days, because YAF tried to represent almost the full spec- Scott Stanley. Other leading YAF members even had a dalliance trum of young activists on the Right, every external center of with the forces of Nelson Rockefeller, the liberal New York gov- power sought to co-opt it and thereby win control over the next ernor who was eager to use YAF for his own ends—an improb- generation of conservative leaders. Second, YAL may not so soon able match that garnered laughter and derision from former YAF face the temptations of power and politics that YAF did. YAF members when they discussed it some 30 years later. Fears of board members eventually bought their own national headquar- Birch or Rockefeller takeover did not hobble the organization, ters in Virginia. While it turned out to be a decent financial invest- however, and for its first four years, working on behalf of the

17 Young American Revolution ment, it never was a good use of resources for a student activist organization. Third, the Internet and better communications may keep factionalism to a minimum in a group like YAL, facilitat- ing understanding between the leadership and base of the group. Fourth, the organization is more focused on liberty and the beliefs of Ron Paul. YAF, like conservatism in general during the 1960s, was discordant, and its many mansions eventually split up once the communist threat diminished. But YAL faces unique dangers, too. Libertarians, as Brian Doherty documents in his splendid history Radicals for Capital- ism, tend to be very sectarian. YAL would do well to avoid the chronic sectarianism that beset just about every libertarian group in the 20th century. Anarchists and Objectivists and others should work together to create an effective organization, to build on the principles embodied in YAL’s mission statement. They should be ecumenical, and members should never allow one faction to dom- inate ideologically, or the effectiveness of YAL’s mission will be diminished accordingly. That is what happened to YAF. Absolute power and absolute ideology tend to destroy, if organizations suc- cumb to them, absolutely. Avoid those pitfalls, learn from history, and YAL should have a bright future. I wish you well.

Gregory L. Schneider is Associate Professor of History at Emporia State University and the author, most recently, of The Conservative Century: From Reaction to Revolution (Rowman and Littlefield, 2009) as well as Cadres for Conservatism: Young Americans for Freedom and the Rise of the Contemporary Right (NYU Press, 1999). Enemy of the State Emory’s Donald Livingston champions the cause Leviathan fears most—secession. Kelse Moen

rive a few minutes beyond the shadows of central Atlanta’s values that it advances are “private property, place, piety, humility, Dskyscrapers, past the prostitutes and panhandlers along Ponce, manners, classical liberal studies, rhetoric, and the importance of a and you will reach Emory University, the land of manicured lawns human scale to political order.” In short, conservative values. and marble buildings. And tucked away off the campus quad, you The conservative or libertarian college professor is a rare breed. will find Donald Livingston, professor of philosophy, lost in con- But here at Emory, Livingston is an even greater anomaly. He’s templation in his office, as he frequently has been since 1984. a voice of conservatism on a campus where, to the extent that A genteel South Carolinian with tweed coat and full white people care about politics at all, they are progressive by default; beard, his office in perpetual disarray and stacked with books by here, at bottom, the highest value is oneself. Livingston will spend dead white men, Livingston is both the quintessential Southerner hours talking to students about Calvinist philosopher and theolo- and the quintessential philosophy professor—but with a twist. He gian Johannes Althusius on a campus where people are always on is a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow but also an the go. Emory is no place to cultivate what Russell Kirk called “the associate at the Ludwig von , a Ron Paul supporter permanent things”: we are nothing if not impermanent. We are a who has spent much of his career addressing what he calls the collection of individuals on our way to somewhere else, whether “moral, legal, and philosophical meaning of secession.” Read: de- to business school or medical school or law school, and Emory fending the right to secede and condemning that Great Central- is just an impressive notch on our belts, a credential for future izer, Abraham Lincoln. Livingston founded in 1998 and still helps admissions departments. In this sense, Emory melds perfectly run the Abbeville Institute—named after fellow South Carolinian with the city of Atlanta itself, the city which was razed by General John C. Calhoun’s hometown—in order to promote the study of Sherman’s marauding army, only to be replaced by a skyline of Southern culture and values. The institute’s purpose is not to play shiny new buildings, populated by ambitious business profession- cheerleader in some regionalist competition or (if I may assuage als by day, yet empty by night. At Emory, the Yankee invasion the fears of the miseducated) to promote racism or slavery. The never stopped. We’re awash in would-be fashionistas from Long

18 June 2009 Island, fratboys from Massachusetts, and legions of amoral, high- A government of a few hundred elected officials presiding over intensity business schoolers. The result is that we have no shared a country of 300 million is simply dysfunctional, Livingston says. culture of our own. It can no more function as a republican government than a five- Toss into this mix me: a studious philosophy major from Bos- story tall man can function as a healthy human being. Thus, if we ton. In the fall of my junior year, I happened to sign up for a class want to reform government, we have to start dividing it. This is called Philosophy of Law taught by one Dr. Donald Livingston. I where Livingston differs from most mainstream libertarians. They was a Northerner whose primary libertarian influence at the time don’t think about the politics of size and proportion—only about was Ayn Rand, and Livingston’s class blew my mind. ending the war in Iraq or the Fed or the PATRIOT Act. “But Livingston believes that the divided society is the best society. even if we get rid of the Federal Reserve,” Livingston remarks, “The more masters we have, the freer we are,” he says. “And that “the ruling class will still find a way to get what it wants.” They is the most we can hope for.” Originally, that is what the whole have the power “to push one button and make 300 million people American Constitution was about. We would have a central gov- jump,” and that power cannot be diminished just by doing away ernment in Washington to ensure with its emanations. Only by physically di- among the states and provide for the com- viding power via secession or federalism can mon defense, but all other powers were left we regain control of ourselves. to the states, and within the states power But there’s another reason to support was divided between the cities, towns, and, division, Livingston says. Liberty requires in most, the church. The benefits here came a virtuous people, and the seeds of moral from the fact that the masters would be in virtue are in the family and the commu- perpetual squabbles with each other and no nity. They are the institutions that raise us, single master would gain enough power to and the character we develop in youth is oppress the rest of us. the character that will guide our conduct But that ended with the Civil War, which throughout our lives. The virtues that we Livingston calls “the real American revolu- learn from family and community are vir- tion.” Unlike the 1776 revolution—a con- tues of affection, self-worth, and personal servative revolt that kept our and rectitude. They instill in us virtues that make system of government intact and sought the State and all its enticements unnecessary. only to throw off a power that betrayed Who needs a welfare check when you were them—the Civil War effected a fundamental raised to work hard and know that, should change in American thinking. It shifted pow- financial catastrophe hit, you have caring er decisively and forever out of the hands of neighbors to fall back on? Livingston’s lib- the several states and into Washington. And ertarianism is the of Burke, while some of President Lincoln’s more dra- Hume, and Tocqueville—the libertarianism conian wartime measures—issuance of fiat that actually begets liberty. It comes from money and suspension of habeas corpus Livington’s Philosophical Melancholy and people who see themselves as participants in for instance—ended when the war did, the Delirium a moral universe, people who can clearly see system was by then in place to bring them right from wrong, who know that stealing back whenever our betters in Washington so desired. Later, of and murder are wrong whether they are committed by street-cor- course, they would so desire, and there was little any of us could ner thugs or agents from the IRS or CIA. do about it. That is the type of virtue in which we can only be raised. But This is why secession is so important. Nothing sends a message the State can better profit from weak and isolated people with no to power so well as literally leaving—and taking your land with strong moral values. Libertine “libertarians,” who just want the you. Thus for all those who genuflect before the altar of state freedom to have an abortion, practice witchcraft, or take LSD, are power, secession must be crushed. And it has been crushed, as in fact the perfect subjects for an oppressive State. Seeing them- Livingston readily admits. Now, whenever we consider division, selves merely as individuals with desires to be satisfied rather than we panic, he says. But this wasn’t always the way. The Declaration as moral actors, and incapable of seeing the value of the tradition of Independence is a declaration of secession from Britain. In in which they live, they fall into the pit of moral relativism and the 1850s, the city of New York considered leaving the Union to self-indulgence. And no one is so easily dominated as he who be- become a free-trade city, and New England threatened secession lieves there are no values worth defending. in 1804, 1808, and 1812. Maine, Kentucky, and Tennessee were There will still be those who claim that the central government created by seceding from other states. When Jefferson bought has been a force for good; that without it we never would have the Louisiana Purchase, he never expected the Union to extend abolished slavery, or ended segregation, or achieved equal rights from “sea to shining sea.” He assumed that new states would form for homosexuals. Even many conservatives and libertarians have but then secede from the larger whole, creating their own unions come to think of government as, if not a source for good, at least with distinct governments but that would be bound together by a the arena in which our liberties are to be won. The yelps of joy shared culture in an “empire of liberty.” from Beltway libertarians when the Supreme Court tossed gun owners a few crumbs in last summer’s Heller decision are testa-

19 Young American Revolution ment to this, as are the hordes of enthusiastic young conservatives who descend on the Imperial Capital for CPAC every year with grandiose plans to purge our Arlen Specters and Olympia Snowes and bring real, conservative values back to Washington. But as Dr. Livingston taught me, the very idea of legislating conservatism from above is fundamentally unconservative. The conservative order has to come from below, from our distinctive, organic communities. And although the central government has been able to squelch some of society’s uglier sides, are we really better off? Lincoln abolished plantation slavery, but he replaced it with the slavery of the income tax and the military draft. What- ever “gains” we make by appeal to Washington have the ultimate effect of increasing central power and turning the rest of us into beggars, palms out, asking, “Excuse me, sir, could you spare some rights?” Donald Livingston may be living at the wrong time. We are at the zenith of centralized power, which doesn’t seem to be decen- tralizing anytime soon. But then again, while the imperial worker bees buzz around the capital planning wars and bailouts under the immortal marble gaze of the Great Centralizer, forever enthroned before the National Mall, there are those of us, far away in a prov- ince he once conquered, who want to know what liberty really means. There’s never been a better time to learn the answer. And Livingston, the genteel old philosophy professor, can teach us.

Kelse Moen is a senior at Emory University. His column appears regularly in the Emory Wheel.

The Revolution Comes to CPAC Amid the has-beens of , Ron Paul stages an insurgency. Patrick J. Ford

nown across the right-wing still bears repeating: two major election Kspectrum as the most important defeats, the end of a horrid Republi- weekend for conservative activism, the can presidency, a colossal forfeiture Conservative Political Action Confer- of principle on the size and scope of ence (CPAC) was held in Washington, government, and dogmatic ties to an DC for the 36th time this past Febru- unsuccessful and unpopular war are ary, and with it came the Right’s leg- merely symptoms of the intellectual islative and philosophical baggage. In rot plaguing the GOP and its establish- its previous two years, the three-day- ment mouthpieces like National Review long CPAC felt like a pep rally for the and . Conservatism GOP and its demagogues. “Bush is my limped into CPAC this year in search homeboy” T-shirts were big sellers at of its base and itself, a wandering Mc- CPAC ’07 and ’08 while small govern- Candless, equal parts earnest and ar- ment Republicans like Ron Paul and rogant, self-conscious and confident. Mark Sanford were ignored in favor Dr. Paul educates CPAC. Photo by Matt Holdridge. Rather than aiming into Jon Krakauer’s of Dick Cheney and John McCain. “wild,” it searched for a way out of the President George W. Bush was the “highlight” of CPAC 2008. Yet wilderness and into the mainstream it had already entered and Cheney, McCain, and Bush were nowhere to be found this year. exited, having left nothing but bloated bureaucracy and thou- For those of us who attended in the past, CPAC 2009 felt akin to sands of war casualties in its wake. To borrow from a tired and arriving on the other side of Alice’s rabbit hole. Orwellian slogan of the Left, was CPAC representing change, or By now the plight of modern conservatism is well known but more of the same?

20 June 2009 Inside the Omni Shoreham Hotel, registration tables were lo- But if the CPAC attendee found his way to the adjoining Young cated outside the main exhibit hall, where numerous right-wing Americans for Liberty and Campaign for Liberty tables in the groups set up shop and were assigned spaces. From PalinPAC to exhibition hall, he found himself in an entirely different atmo- the National Rifle Association to Young Americans for Liberty, sphere. As typical as it may seem for an article published by YAL it is hard to argue that intellectual diversity was not present at to speak fondly of the organization’s presence at CPAC, it was the Omni Shoreham. But CPAC had humored the libertarian and clear to every attendee, friendly and unfriendly alike, that the en- traditionalist Right at previous conferences, too. The Libertarian ergy, enthusiasm, and creativity of the members of YAL and C4L Party has had a presence at CPAC for years, as has the Ameri- were unmatched throughout the conference. “You’re here loud can Civil Liberties Union. Ron Paul was given a speaker’s slot in and proud, that’s for sure,” said a polite younger woman wearing 2008 only to be upstaged by an establishment candidate (Romney) a Palin 2012 T-shirt. conceding the Republican nomination to another establishment C4L handed out literature and sold liberty-promoting merchan- candidate (McCain). Just as the GOP trots out the abortion issue dise while YAL sported a “Pop the Fed” dart game featuring color- to draw cautious pro-lifers to the polls—regardless of whether coded balloons for contestants to burst, with prizes correspond- the GOP has accomplished anything of substance on the issue— ing to the color of the balloon. Fake fiat currency was handed out CPAC has always given the alternative Right just enough attention for one color, while candy (gold) was handed out for another, with to ensure that when we go to the ballot box, noses held, we pull the big prize for hitting a smaller balloon being a Ron Paul-signed the lever for the lesser evil. Constitution. The point came across loud and clear, and was easily Initially, CPAC 2009 felt the same. An attendee, upon enter- one of the most popular activities in the exhibit hall. ing the exhibit hall, was greeted by “I feel like I’m in occupied territo- a host of dubious right-wing carica- ry,” said a YAL volunteer at the close tures: the College Republican hack of Day 1, and his sentiment seemed sporting slicked hair and pinstripes; shared by his colleagues. Senator Jim the Palin clone, beautiful in a short- DeMint spoke in the morning on skirt and dumb as a bag of hammers; Friday, Day 2, and DeMint, though a the prep-school neocon working the neocon through and through on for- Young America’s Foundation table, eign policy, is as eloquent a Senator still angry as hell despite eight years one will find on economic matters. of war and no end in sight; the slick Senator Coburn followed, though his businessman—a successful mover- presence was not as exciting, thanks and-shaker—far too old to be there to his notable sellout on the Wall and only stopping in before his ap- Street bailout. One of the lows of pointment at the massage parlor. The CPAC was Newt Gingrich’s speech. vitriol directed at Premier Obama It was familiarly pompous to anyone was palpable, and those who were si- The YAL and Campaign for Liberty booths at CPAC 2009. who has seen him speak before, but lent during the big-government Bush Photo by Matt Holdridge. the real spectacle was his entrance— administration and its gross expansion of the State now drew eye- an arrogant exercise in self-adulation where he entered from the rolls from those of us who spoke out at the time as they now back instead of the front (as every other speaker had) in order to harped endlessly on about . draw the drooling masses around him as he slowly made his way At least initially, the speaker list did not inspire. On Thursday, to the stage. It was a dark event to witness firsthand. John Bolton spoke before lunch with characteristic acrimony But Day 2 brought shafts of light as well. In anticipation of and took part in a book signing for his latest work, the bellicose Ron Paul’s speech to the CPAC floor, a serpentine line wrapped Surrender is not an Option. Joe (the Plumber) Wurzelbacher was a itself around the whole of the hotel. Even after the room reached guest on a panel discussing new media strategies for conserva- full capacity, which it did well before Paul appeared at the podium, tives. was the first major political figure to speak hundreds of people patiently waited in line for a chance to see the this year, and he decried the selfishness of a GOP that is far too man that sparked the energetic and eclectic “R3volution” of the dedicated to capitalism, without deigning to elaborate on his non- 2008 GOP primary. “They’re waiting for Romney!” shouted a de- sensical assertions that free enterprise is to blame for the country’s tractor working for the American Conservative Union. It was not economic mess. Dozens of Joe and Jane Sixpacks sat in an audi- true. As far back as the very end of the line, Paul supporters could torium to watch “Sarah Palin: Unplugged on the Media,” while be found, including two young men in their Citadel uniforms ar- , the only speaker of substance so far, was booed guing with a civilian “chickenhawk” who believed soldiers should during a panel addressing the Fairness Doctrine because he sug- be fighting and dying half a world away from home. “There must gested conservative media outlets should put as much effort into be bullshit in the water,” said the neocon as he retreated from the getting their facts straight as liberal ones do. All of these events argument, leaving the two Citadel students shaking their heads. and speakers, clearly pushed by the establishment Right, would At least the confrontation took place. Were it not for Ron Paul, suggest that the conservative movement is as likely to find itself these small but representative conflicts over the future of the reformed as any member of the Podhoretz family is likely to join movement would not have been in evidence. When he rose to the U.S. Marine Corps. speak that became clear to everyone in attendance. He argued that

21 Young American Revolution the Republicans, once in power, were as bad as the Democrats had free market,” he had a message for them: “Get out of the way!” been. He argued that the Federal Reserve, not the free market, was The crowd erupted. principally to blame for the financial crisis. He spoke of how em- Those in the room who “held liberty in their hearts,” as Judge pire and policing of the world expand and empower government. Napolitano said, couldn’t help but leave with a renewed sense of And no one booed. In fact, he was “greeted with thunder” accord- optimism. The liberty movement—an eclectic set of traditional- ing to a neoconservative blogger. “It’s good to be among friends,” ists, antiwar Republicans, libertarians, and anarchists—may be rel- said Paul, and those of us who fought through the Giuliani cackles atively small. But it is loud. It is educated. The liberty movement and Fox News jeers of the campaign couldn’t help but smile. Ron is, in the immortal words of Howard Beale, “mad as hell and not Paul was among friends at CPAC. going to take it anymore.” Paul’s speech was to be upstaged, but only by the very move- Day 3 brought , , , ment he had sparked. Campaign for Liberty held its Liberty Forum Rick Santorum, and that familiar sinking cynicism that those of us on the night of Day 2, a standing-room-only event packed with on the alternate Right have become quite accustomed to. Back to liberty donors and featuring Judge , historian the usual. But it remains to be seen whether the story of liberty’s Thomas E. Woods Jr., constitutional attorney Bruce Fein, director resurgence in the conservative movement will have such a dark of Larry Pratt, president of National ending. The “Pop the Fed” games need to turn into policy papers Right to Work Mark Mix, and the headline speaker, Dr. Paul. The and magazine articles and books and campaign speeches if the room was electric, featuring an educated crowd that booed the conservative movement is to be reoriented for good. This work Alien and Sedition Acts as well as President Lincoln’s suspension is in the hands of the young radicals who manned the YAL and of habeas corpus and George W. Bush’s notorious PATRIOT Act. C4L tables. They will determine whether great men like Ron Paul Thomas Woods addressed those who had awoken from the “eight will be “among friends” when they arrive at events like CPAC in years drunk” of the Bush years “with a hangover” and welcomed the years to come. them into the movement for liberty. But if those on the Right were going to “defend bailouts and bank nationalization, and tell us how sadly necessary it all is, or defend Ben Bernanke and the Patrick J Ford is a senior at the George Washington University, where he is Federal Reserve, as if that has anything whatsoever to do with a editor of The GW Patriot. He blogs at northernagrarian.wordpress.com.

22 June 2009 Who Owns You? The philosophical justifications for liberty

David Gordon

t doesn’t require much philosophical argu- is a mere matter of opinion that this outcome Iment to see that to launch a war in Iran would be a bad thing? Supporters of the fact- would be a bad idea or that to turn our econ- value gap have counterarguments, and I won’t omy over to Obama and his minions has little go further into the debate now. But at the very to recommend it. Many people have come to least it isn’t obvious that the gap exists. realize that something is radically wrong with If Rothbard is right about this, how do we our customary American politics, and liber- go on to arrive at libertarianism? Rothbard, tarianism, ably represented on the national taking his cue from Aristotle and St. Thomas scene by Ron Paul, has aroused great interest. Aquinas, maintained that a system of pre- According to libertarians, the role of govern- cepts——could be derived from ment should be reduced to a minimum, if not the needs of human nature. But he had to eliminated altogether; economic affairs, in par- confront an obvious objection. Aristotle and ticular, are impeded rather than helped by the St. Thomas, though philosophers of the high- heavy hand of the state. Given its sharp break est distinction, were hardly libertarians. How with conventional political views, the question did Rothbard then propose to get libertarian inevitably arises: does this way of looking at conclusions from their framework for natural politics rest on a sound philosophical basis? law? To some people, this query rests on a mis- Rothbard’s response to this question posed apprehension. One cannot properly inquire a fundamental challenge to an influential the- whether libertarianism, or any other political sis defended by Leo Strauss. In Natural Right system, is true or false. Questions of fact have Murray N. Rothbard, Mr. Libertarian and History, Strauss contrasted classical natural an objectively true answer: we can estimate, right to its modern successor. Classical natu- e.g., how likely it is that Iran will obtain a nuclear weapon; and, ral right stressed virtue and was oriented toward the polis, i.e., the if it does, whether the device is likely to be used against us. We relatively small city-state. Strauss held that modern natural right, as cannot, though, factually say whether it is good or bad that Iran found in Hobbes and Locke, broke with virtue and put in its place acquire this type of weapon. We may not want it to do so, but the individual pursuit of power and wealth. It was not concerned this merely is a preference. It makes no more sense to claim that with the good of man as the Greeks understood that notion. it is objectively better that Iran not obtain an atomic bomb than Rothbard emphatically disagreed. Though he had little use for to insist that vanilla ice cream is objectively better than chocolate. Hobbes, he thought that Locke had developed classical and me- To think otherwise is to commit the supreme sin of inferring a dieval natural law in a new and fruitful direction. Locke took self- value from a fact. David Hume long ago exposed this fallacious ownership to be the key principle of political philosophy: each pseudo-inference. person had the right to dispose of his own body and labor as he But is it really a fallacy? , the foremost 20th- wished. (One complication: Locke thought that at the most basic century libertarian and a major intellectual influence on Ron Paul, level, God owns everyone. It is only as regards other human be- did not think so. In his Ethics of Liberty, Rothbard, following Leo ings that each person owns himself. You do not have to answer Strauss, argues that Hume made a mistake. (As we will see later, to others how you understand God’s commands, but you do not Rothbard and Strauss diverged sharply on other matters.) Sup- have the right to kill yourself.) Further, individuals could acquire pose that you are waiting in line for a movie and, just as you are land by laboring on it: once someone did so, he had the right to about to reach the cashier, someone jumps ahead of you. Surely exclude others from using his property. Property acquisition, on it is right to say that he has behaved rudely. There are objective this view, does not depend on the state for its validity: property criteria for rudeness, and our miscreant’s act qualifies. Thus it is rights exist in the state of nature. a “fact” that he is rude; but is it not also true that using the term In placing so great an importance on individuals and their rights, “rude” carries with it a negative value judgment? The gap has dis- Locke did not, pace Strauss, break free from classical natural law. solved. He too addressed himself to the needs of human nature. For another example, let us return to Iran and nuclear weapons. On this foundation of self-ownership, libertarianism quickly Suppose that atomic war between America and Iran resulted in the follows. Once given individuals and the rights to property they deaths of millions of people. Is it really reasonable to say that it have acquired, no room remains for any other sort of rights. In

23 Young American Revolution particular, there are no welfare rights. To claim that the poor or to do so is caught in a “performative contradiction.” One could disabled had a right to help would be to aver that their infirmi- not make the statement, “I do not own myself ” unless the state- ties made them the masters of the labor and property of their ment were false. Just as one cannot say, “I am now dead” unless more fortunate fellow citizens. Rothbard certainly did not deny one is not now dead, so one cannot deny self-ownership without our moral duty to be charitable. (In this respect, he differed from being a self-owner. In order to make any statement, Hoppe claims, the egoist ethics of Ayn Rand.) Rather, what concerned him was one must own one’s own body. His argument has generated much the proper use of force, in his view the defining topic of political interest and controversy among libertarians, and whether he is philosophy. The duty to be charitable was one of many moral ob- right, you will have to judge for yourself. His argument stands ligations that one cannot use force to compel people to fulfill. squarely within the Kantian tradition: a principle of morality is What happens, though, if you think that Hume was right? Sup- held to be a requirement of reason. He derives other tenets of pose that there is a gap between facts and values and, accordingly, libertarianism using the same strategy, as readers of his books will natural law in Rothbard’s style must go by the board. Are there still see. good philosophical arguments for libertarianism? I have tried to show that several different approaches to moral- To answer this, it is imperative to grasp a key point that people ity can be used to support libertarian conclusions. One cannot often miss. Even if you cannot derive values from facts, it does ignore the fact, though, that most contemporary political philoso- not follow that ethics reduces to arbitrary preferences. There can phers reject libertarianism. Why do they do so? The most common be ground level, objective moral truths. In other words, some reason for skepticism about libertarianism is an argument found moral truths do not have to be derived from facts about the world. in the most influential book of the 20th century about political Just by thinking about these moral claims, we can grasp that they philosophy. In A Theory of Justice (1971), John Rawls assailed what are true. (This position in philosopher’s trade talk is called “intu- he termed the “natural system of liberty.” In a libertarian society, itionism.”) what you earn depends on the money that people are freely willing Aside from his main natural law arguments, Rothbard in Eth- to give you for your services. People with greater natural abilities, ics of Liberty also deploys intuitionist considerations. Isn’t it obvi- who are talented in ways that people value, will fare much better ously true that slavery is morally wrong? As Lincoln, not a favorite than people less well endowed with these gifts. Rawls contends among libertarians, rightly said, “If slavery is not wrong, nothing that this disparity is “arbitrary from the moral point of view.” Ti- is wrong.” Rothbard argued ingeniously that if you reject slavery, ger Woods earns millions of dollars because of his superlative and think through the implications of your rejection, you will see golfing skills. He did not acquire these skills through moral merit: that you must embrace libertarian self-ownership. If it is wrong he just happened to be born with extraordinary athletic aptitude. for some people to own others, what but self-ownership is left? Rawls thinks that Woods does not deserve to make more than Alleged third alternatives, such as contemporary that his less talented competitors. Inequalities, according to Rawls’s fa- fail to recognize full self-ownership, reduce to variants of slav- mous “difference principle,” are allowable only to the extent they ery. In an unlimited majority-rule democracy, the majority “owns” benefit the worst off. If Woods is allowed an exceptional income, each person, taken as a separate individual. If you are drafted into e.g., he will work more than he otherwise would. Doing so will the army by virtue of democratically sanctioned legislation, you make available more funds for redistributive taxation. are just as much a slave as if someone had bought you in a slave Rawls’s colleague gave the market. best answer to Rawls in his Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974). As he Yet another type of moral theory can be used to support lib- points out, Rawls treats individuals’ abilities as if they belonged to ertarianism. We have so far considered attempts to derive moral society collectively. Since, in Rawls’s opinion, you do not deserve truths from facts about human nature and claims that moral prop- to profit from your natural abilities, the value of these abilities ositions can directly be seen to be true. Some philosophers try to belongs to “society”—in effect, to the state. Such collectivism ill justify morality in a different way. Are there truths of morality that comports with the liberty that Rawls elsewhere in his book pro- reason requires us to recognize? Kant and his successors answered fesses to defend. with a resounding yes. Just as someone who affirms both sides of But Nozick strikes at Rawls with another, though related, fatal a contradiction has violated a requirement of theoretical reason, thrust. If one strips individuals of their talents and abilities, hold- so someone who refuses to accept the “categorical imperative” ing them to be morally arbitrary, what is left? Nothing but a bare has transgressed a demand of practical reason. self without attributes: any individual property will be deemed the The details of Kant’s argument need not detain us. I mention product of arbitrary influence from heredity or the environment. him only to provide the necessary background to understand the The proper subject of political philosophy, Nozick holds, is peo- argument advanced by one of Rothbard’s most important follow- ple as we really find them, not selves run through a sieve to drain ers, Hans-Hermann Hoppe. In his Economics and Ethics of Private them of what Rawls thinks they do not “deserve.” Property and other works, Hoppe offers a strikingly original argu- If several promising arguments support libertarianism, and the ment in defense of libertarian conclusions. (He arrived at this ar- main consideration advanced against it utterly lacks merit, is there gument by modifying work of his teacher Jürgen Habermas and not excellent reason for everyone who recoils at our present politi- of Karl-Otto Apel, both philosophers with very different political cal morass to give this philosophy his utmost attention? views from Hoppe’s.) Hoppe defends self-ownership by asking us to consider what David Gordon is a senior fellow of the Institute and editor happens if someone denies it. He says that anyone foolish enough of The Mises Review.

24 June 2009 25 Young American Revolution The Trouble With Burke The fight for liberty must be radical, not counter-revolutionary

George Hawley

dmund Burke, the late 17th-century libertarians would like to acknowledge. EBritish statesman who denounced the I should first note that there is nothing French Revolution, has long been a tow- conservative, and certainly nothing inher- ering figure in the conservative pantheon. ently Burkean, about the irresponsible bel- Burke has recently been especially favored licosity and governmental aggrandizement by those few conservatives who opposed we experienced during the Bush years. America’s messianic social-engineering ef- Russell Kirk, arguably Burke’s most prom- fort in the Middle East and who wish to inent American expositor, noted long be- return to a more humble, humane foreign fore they directed American foreign policy policy. It is easy to see why Burke is so much that the neoconervatives “have been rash beloved by antiwar conservatives and many in their schemes of action, pursuing a libertarians: his blistering critiques of the fanciful democratic globalism rather than Jacobins and their “metaphysical dogma” the true national interest of the United can be just as easily applied to modern-day States.” Kirk based his opposition to the ideologues (such as the neoconservatives) neoconservative ideology of “democratic who wish to remake the world in the image capitalism” on Burkean principles. of their own abstract ideas. But if Kirk was right, and the neocons Nonetheless, advocates of liberty and Was Edmund Burke unprincipled? are not really authentic conservatives, how peace do themselves a great disservice did they come to control the Republican by holding fast to Burkean principles. In Party and the American Right? Part of the the May 2008 edition of The Atlantic, liberal columnist Jonathan answer can unfortunately be found in the defects of Burkeanism Rauch, no friend of conservatism, compared the perpetually bel- itself, particularly that form of Burkeanism promoted by Kirk. ligerent Sen. John McCain, who was then running for the Repub- The notion that American conservatives follow an intellectual lican presidential nomination, to Burke. Rauch may have been tradition begun by Burke has become axiomatic. But this was not closer to the mark than most self-described Burkean conserva- always conventional wisdom. The American Right’s fascination tives would care to admit. with Burke can largely be traced back to 1953, when Kirk pub- To most antiwar conservatives and libertarians, Rauch’s argu- lished The Conservative Mind. This work, like many since, rooted the ment must seem patently absurd: war-mongering Republicans ea- origins of modern Anglo-American conservatism in Burke, who ger to spread democracy at gunpoint are far more intellectually and provided a framework for “the politics of prescription.” temperamentally similar to French revolutionaries like Condorcet Kirk noted that Burke’s political conservatism was based on and Robespierre than to the traditionalist Burke. Many traditional prudence and convention, rather than on abstract principles. conservative arguments against neoconservative madness are, af- Burke believed public policies should be founded upon tradition, ter all, built on appeals to Burkean principles of prudence and but he chose not to speculate as to any specific tradition’s ori- order. Yet it would be a mistake to dismiss Rauch’s point cavalier- gin, declaring, “There is a sacred veil to be drawn over the begin- ly. McCain and other mainstream Republicans represent Burke’s nings of governments.” Conservatives can find much to admire in principles better than most pro-liberty, anti-war conservatives and Burke’s work, and his Reflections on the Revolution in France—a literary

26 June 2009 assault on the Jacobins—remains one of history’s finest attacks on viathan has inveigled its way into every aspect of our daily lives. political radicalism. What we must remember, however, is that in A new explosion of state power during the Obama administra- Burke’s time, the status quo in England was culturally conservative tion will not represent a radical break with tradition—it will be as and the government was comparatively limited in its powers. That American as baseball and apple pie. being the case, his defense of tradition and precedent was also a Deference to precedent was a key component of Burke’s politi- defense of civilization and liberty. cal philosophy, and in that regard, McCain and the other ineffectu- Yet even if we admire Burke for what he said and did in his time, al mainstream Republicans are far more Burkean than small-gov- an important question remains: does Burke provide advocates of ernment, antiwar conservatives and libertarians. As Rauch noted liberty with sound guidance today? To answer that, it is useful when praising McCain for refusing to challenge the status quo: to look back to those conservative writers who disputed Burke’s The best way [to balance individual rights with social order], indispensability. Richard Weaver, a contemporary of Kirk’s and for Burke, was by respecting long-standing customs and in- like him one of the most important postwar conservative writ- stitutions while advancing toward liberty and equality. Soci- ers, was disturbed by the American Right’s Burkean turn. Weaver ety’s traditions, after all, embody an evolved collective wis- presciently noted that adopting Burkean principles and rhetorical dom that even (or especially) the smartest techniques would eventually rob the Right of of individuals cannot hope to understand its coherence. Burkean rhetoric, according to comprehensively, much less reinvent suc- Weaver, can be properly described as the “ar- cessfully. gument from circumstance”: One may argue with Rauch as to the degree This argument merely reads the circum- to which Burke desired “equality,” but the rest stances—the “facts standing around”—and of his description is accurate. The bloated accepts them as coercive, or allows them government spawned by the New Deal and a to dictate the decision. If one should say, century of hot and cold wars is now a long- “This city must be surrendered because the standing institution. Is anyone therefore sur- besiegers are so numerous,” one would be prised that the Left now appeals to Burke when arguing ... from present circumstances. The discussing domestic policies, and the neocon- expression “In view of the situation, what servative Right invokes Burke when excusing else are you going to do?” constitutes a sort and expanding our empire? The neoconserva- of proposition-form for this type of argu- tives may be dangerous ideologues, and liberal ment. Such argument savors of urgency Democrats may be power-hungry socialists, rather than perspicacity; and it seems to be but can anyone honestly say that they break preferred by those who are easily impressed with American political conventions? by existing tangibles. Russell Kirk warned American conservatives This form of argument was Burke’s hall- to be wary of ideologies, preferring instead mark. It has also been the most commonplace Burke’s anti-Jacobin masterpiece the Burkean reliance on vague principles and style of argument among American conserva- tradition. It is time to acknowledge that Kirk’s tives. In the past 60 years, the Right has “pru- advice is useless to us. If we want liberty and dently” abandoned one city after another to besiegers on the statist peace, we cannot rely on tradition, prudence, or arguments from Left. American conservatives may still have a political army on the circumstance to provide them for us. We need rhetoric founded field, but, in the name of prudence, expedience, and a “big tent,” on first principles, and true advocates of liberty must be commit- they have surrendered every great citadel and now find themselves ted to winning and governing on those foundations. with precious little to defend. In The Betrayal of the American Right, Congressman Ron Paul has provided an example of this kind Murray Rothbard noted that the Right in America once stood of leadership and rhetoric. Paul and his supporters stand on their fast against the welfare-warfare state. Conservatives have since principles, tradition be damned. Unlike Burke or contemporary abandoned that position. At the close of Bush II’s administration, mainstream Republicans, he is not “easily impressed by exist- mainstream conservative Republicans stood for nothing but per- ing tangibles.” He unashamedly declared his most recent book a petual war and imperialism and had lost all interest in combating “manifesto,” a word historically embraced by revolutionaries. Tra- government growth. Regrettably, their positions can now be justi- ditional conservatives, who, like Kirk, instinctively bristle at such fied on Burkean grounds. rhetoric, had better get over their horror if they sincerely wish Since World War II, the American Empire has steadily expand- to regain lost liberties. Paul’s outspoken extremism, not Burke’s ed. The “foreign entanglements” the Founding Fathers warned thoughtful discretion, is the American Republic’s only hope for us against have become a fixed part of the political landscape, revival. Tradition now only serves tyrants—we need a revolution. and there are few living today who can remember when this was not the case. At home, despite a half-dozen Republican presidents George Hawley [[email protected]] is a student at the University of expressing devotion to vague ideals of “limited government,” Le- Houston.

27 Young American Revolution Who Killed Our Economy? Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse Thomas E. Woods Jr., , 194 pages Christopher Best

eltdown, by Thomas E. Woods At times I wanted to run across the MJr., is a concise and compelling quad and throw it at people, yelling, account of the origin of the economic “Read this!” The only trouble was collapse. Relatively comprehensive de- that I couldn’t stop talking about it spite its brevity, Meltdown is perfectly for weeks. Meltdown provides enough accessible to the novice, providing in- facts and details for any person to un- sight into the economy at a time when derstand the economic crisis and the it is needed most. forces behind it. And Woods provides Americans have been fl oored by answers to the most pressing ques- this ever-deepening recession. They tions. For example, did greed kill the have defaulted on mortgages, lost economy? their jobs, and seen their investments Meltdown explains why the usual disappear practically overnight. So scapegoats do not provide a suffi cient the Obama administration is playing explanation for the market’s down- mother, waiting with a box of cook- fall. The prevailing opinion on the ies, a gallon of milk, and a cabinet economic collapse—I say prevailing full of medical supplies, ready to do only in the sense of popularity—is whatever it takes to bandage up their that corporate greed and lack of gov- scrapes and bruises. But as Woods’s ernment regulation were the primary account of the recession shows, the causes of the collapse. But as Woods government not only misunderstands and several other economic writers the economic crisis but caused it, and have noted, “blaming the crisis on Obama’s actions are only deepening ‘greed’ is like blaming plane crashes and prolonging it with a fruitless and on gravity.” costly strategy. Greed is a constant. Greed exists in Our political masters are respond- any economic setting. In fact, econo- ing to the crisis with vigor, backed by mists count on people to be greedy. what they perceive as electoral man- Economics operates on the axiom dates. They believe that they can put bandages on the Ameri- that every individual makes decisions that he believes will be can people and throw them back out into the economy. But the profi table—decisions whose benefi ts for the individual outweigh economy is burdened by a monetary system that doesn’t work, a the costs to him. People are always looking to make more profi t government that impedes the free market, and a central bank that (whether that profi t is fi nancial or merely psychological). In the has carte blanche to distort interest rates and economic conditions. classroom, these people are called economically rational. But on Fixing this mess will not be painless, and government efforts can the political stage, they are called thieves. only impede the market reconfi guration that needs to take place. Human nature did not change within the last several years. The Woods, an adherent of the of economics and economic collapse did not result from sudden surge of unchecked a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Instiute, explains why the greed. In truth, the economy cratered not because people were economic landscape is so unstable. It all comes down to market too greedy but because the government created opportunities that interventionism. Woods’s primary goal in Meltdown is to put Aus- would not have existed in a free market, and ordinary people— trian theory and its application to the crisis into an easy-to-under- from small businessmen to corporate leaders to salary-men—took stand package. One obstacle to confronting the crash, according advantage of the possibilities created by artifi cially low interest to Woods’s diagnosis, is that the government has designated the rates. The guilt here falls not on the economically rational, who economy as a subject that only the intellectual few can understand. saw opportunities to make profi t and indulged in them legally. The problem is that these people—the government, the Fed, and Rather, the blame belongs with the government that created those those economists who make excuses for them—are the very ones opportunities in the fi rst place. who ignited the crisis in the fi rst place. Of course, to defl ect attention from itself, the government Meltdown is a smashing success—accurate, lucid, a joy to read. likes to point to individuals such as Bernie Madoff, who destroyed

28 June 2009 his investors’ wealth with a Ponzi times not-so-silent) secondary scheme. But people like Madoff have agenda. The ancillary objective of always existed and always will. The “Human nature did not change within the this book is to proselytize for the Madoffs of the world represent so last several years. The economic collapse Austrian School and criticize those small a portion of the population did not result from sudden surge of who write it off as an impure sci- that the pretense that they could ruin unchecked greed.” ence for being grounded in logic the economy is absolutely ludicrous. rather than statistics. Meltdown of- Government also casts aspersions against a corporate culture ten attacks, explicitly or otherwise, other schools of economic where executives can make a hundred times more money than thought. This does not detract from the overall quality and accu- their employees. The government wags a finger (guess which one) racy of the work, however—non-Austrians will also benefit from at speculators and “Wall Street wiz kids.” And statists bring for- reading it. ward the usual suspects: the rich. They point to people who pros- Meltdown, all 194 pages of it, is the perfect counterargument pered during the economic crisis and call them unpatriotic, even to the mainstream’s perception of our economic problems. In- indecent. stead of White House rhetoric from Barack Obama, regurgitated But the real culprits are not the risk-takers who exploited the Keynesianism from the liberal media, or Republican contrarianism economic climate. In fact, those people are necessary for the from Fox News, Meltdown gives the reader a thoughtful analysis of economy. Woods reminds us that speculation “performs an im- the crisis, consistent with the highly articulate views of the Aus- portant social function, making the economy more efficient by trian School. Meltdown is ideal both for the economically savvy and speeding the pace at which prices adjust to coordinate supply and for those who don’t consider economics to be their forte. If you’re demand.” But in this case, the speculators expedited the inflation like me, you’ll swallow the book in a day and then come back to in the housing market—not because they were acting irrationally it again and again. Woods provides facts enough to ground his but because the Federal Reserve had altered market forces. theory in reality without diluting his message. The book is fasci- So why did the economy really collapse? nating and comprehensive, with each contention leading naturally The greatest strength of Meltdown is Woods’s comprehensive into the next, building a nigh irrefutable argument against central explanation of the reasons behind the crash. Woods points to economic planning and government interventionism. many factors, including the Community Reinvestment Act, the Bush administration’s push for an “ownership society,” the moral Christopher Best, a student at Occidental College, blogs at http:// hazard implicit in “government sponsored enterprises” (GSE’s) revolutioneconomics.blogspot.com. such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and, most important of all, the manipulation of interest rates by the Federal Reserve. Through all of these institutions, government worked to ex- pand credit. The Austrian School of economic thought teaches that the boom and bust cycle of the economy is the result of such artificially expanded credit. Woods provides a brief and incisive summary of how the busi- ness cycle works. He argues that the only way for a “cluster of errors” to occur is through economic planning by a central bank. When a central bank lowers interest rates, it necessarily defies the natural conditions of the market. When interest rates are set low by the market, that indicates that people want to invest now in long-term projects and spend money later. Low interest rates of- ten lead firms to make farsighted investment decisions. But when these rates are deliberately set low by the central bank, businesses receive a misleading signal. By lowering the interest rate, the central bank aims to incentiv- ize firms to undertake long-term projects. But to support long- term investment, consumers must postpone purchases they could have made in the present; their savings provide a supply of “loan- able” funds to firms. When interest rates are artificially lowered without this increase in savings, firms will make long-term invest- ments that cannot be supported or completed. “If the Fed manipulates the interest rate, we should not be surprised to observe discoordination on a massive scale,” writes Woods. The aforementioned “cluster of errors” can only occur when the Fed lowers interest rates. For all its virtues, Meltdown is hindered by a silent (and some-

29 Young American Revolution Conserving the Constitution Defending the Republic: Constitutional Morality in a Time of Crisis Bruce P. Frohnen and Kenneth L. Grasso, eds., ISI Books, 352 pages Mark Nugent

n American politics, everyone claims to inalienable rights that cannot be abridged by Ibe on the side of the Constitution. A government. The Constitution, according to return to our constitutional Republic was, the offi cial narrative, is a reactionary docu- of course, the predominant theme of Ron ment—its various checks and balances were Paul’s presidential campaign and is central to constructed to thwart the democratic will the alternative Right that has coalesced in its of the people and the egalitarian impulses wake. But mainstream politicians also claim that underlay the Revolution. But the Bill of to follow the Constitution, despite their sup- Rights was soon engrafted onto it, supply- port of unbridled judicial lawmaking, far- ing a legal commitment to individual rights. reaching regulation of virtually all economic This is where we get the idea of America activity, and global imperial crusades. Even a as a unique “propositional nation,” founded sincere call to return to the plain meaning of upon abstract, universal ideals, rather than the Constitution may yield more questions an actual set of communities bound to a than answers. How is the document to be in- specifi c place, time, and culture. terpreted, what commitments does it imply According to Carey and Kendall, “the su- for us as a nation, and what is the nature of preme symbols of the American tradition,” the Republic that it was designed to govern? as they were understood at the time of the George W. Carey, professor of govern- Founding, are “the symbols of a virtuous ment at Georgetown University, has dedicat- people through deliberative processes striv- ed his career to addressing these questions. ing to achieve and advance their declared Carey is arguably the pre-eminent constitu- purposes which involve, inter alia, better or- tionalist conservative alive today. Edited by dering with justice”—that is to say, the com- Bruce Frohnen and Kenneth Grasso, Defend- mon good. While the legislature is not con- ing the Republic: Constitutional Morality in a Time of Crisis is a collec- strained by formal rules (what Madison called parchment barriers) tion of essays examining Carey’s thought and offering refl ections concerning the protection of individual rights, it is restrained by on some of the primary themes of his scholarship. The editors’ its commitment to deliberation, consensus, and just laws. introduction and Frohnen’s essay “George Carey on Constitutions, This commitment expresses itself in the Constitution through , and Tradition” together provide a penetrating structural features that are designed to foster deliberation and con- overview of the full range of Carey’s academic work. sensus and to discourage oppressive measures from being passed Carey began his scholarly career by working closely with the by bare majorities. Moreover, while no exact boundary between political theorist Willmoore Kendall, who was a prominent, if state and federal authority is spelled out in the Constitution, the unorthodox, fi gure in the post-World War II conservative move- authority of Congress is limited to certain specifi c areas, leaving ment. After his mentor’s death in 1968, Carey assembled a series the states a broad measure of autonomy to govern themselves as of Kendall’s lectures, amplifi ed by material of his own, into The their citizens see fi t. Basic Symbols of the American Political Tradition, a classic text that In short, the Constitution as it was originally understood “is remains indispensable for understanding the religious and philo- clearly nomocratic in character, largely concerned, that is, with sophical matrix that gave rise to the Constitution. providing rules and limits for the government through which the A symbol, in this context, refers to a concept or commitment people express their will,” according to Kendall and Carey. But in by which a people conceives of its purpose in history. In Basic the modern conception, “the Constitution is increasingly viewed Symbols, Carey and Kendall examine the political tradition of the from a teleocratic perspective as an instrument designed to ful- early American Republic by tracing the evolution of its symbols fi ll the ends, commitments, or promises of the Declaration.” The through the history of the colonies, beginning with the Mayfl ower modern regime, in other words, prizes egalitarian ends over struc- Compact. These basic symbols eventually expressed themselves in tural and procedural means. the Constitution, , the Declaration of Independence, Carey’s career can be seen as a sustained defense of the older, and the Bill of Rights. “nomocratic” understanding of the Constitution and an examina- The “offi cial literature,” as Carey and Kendall term our errone- tion of its corruption into our modern “teleocratic” regime. In his ous modern-day understanding, holds that our supreme ideals as a scholarship on the Constitution, Carey pays particular attention to nation attain their archetypal expression in the Declaration of In- The Federalist, which he sees as an essential source for determining dependence: the equality of all men and their possession of sacred, the intended operation of the federal government and its proper

30 June 2009 relationship with the states. The Federalist also sheds light on the ized state). Canavan believes the roots of this development lie in “constitutional morality” that provides tacit rules for the opera- the social contract theories of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. tion of government unstated in the text of the Constitution, such These theories view “civil society as a mutual nonaggression pact.” as the respect and restraint each branch of government should But by removing decision-making power from states, towns, and show towards the prerogatives of the other branches. other sources of authority such as churches and families, central- In the early Republic, the legislature expressed the deliberative ization and judicial activism actually degrade those intermediate sense of the people, and therefore naturally predominated over institutions. “As the late George H. Sabine said,” Canavan writes, the other branches. But the task of representation was not re- “the absolute sovereign and omnicompetent state is the logical stricted to the legislative bodies, as Gary Gregg writes in his es- correlate of a society which consists of atomic individuals.’” say “No Presidential Republic: Representation, Deliberation, and The ideology that forms the core of liberationist Supreme Executive Power in The Federalist Papers.” While representatives Court decisions can also be seen as a triumph of one side of a cul- bring “a knowledge of the conditions and interests of their local tural divide over another, as Kenneth Grasso argues in “Religious constituency,” the Senate, being “further insulated from the pas- Pluralism and the American Experiment: From Articles of Peace sions that may from time to time sweep through the people ... to Culture Wars.” Colonial America was religiously pluralistic in introduces order and stability.” This leaves the presidency, through the sense that a wide variety of sects found their home there, but the power of the veto, to check “improper laws” and defend con- operated under a broad cultural consensus informed by the basic stitutional institutions from attacks emanating from imprudent tenets of that they shared. To accommodate the reli- congressional majorities. gious diversity of the United States, and to provide a measure of The derailment of the American political tradition, however, “civic unity” despite this diversity, the concepts of federalism and has resulted in a presidency that has attained vastly expanded limited government left the resolution of contentious moral is- power and initiative. This derives from a messianic aspect of our sues in the hands of states, local communities, and churches. The latter-day political tradition: an idealized America is presented not First Amendment is an expression of the “articles of peace” that as a virtuous people enacting wise policy through deliberation and place decision-making on moral and religious questions outside consensus but as a centralized state led by “an apostolic succes- the purview of the central government, whose authority extends sion of great leaders,” each moving America closer to an egalitar- only to secular matters. ian ideal. But the growth of both centralized, unlimited government and A particularly belligerent messianic ideology stemming from cultural secularism has undermined this consensus. For one thing, the corruption of our political tradition is , the dramatic expansion of government into such formerly private which Claes G. Ryn examines in his contribution to this volume, spheres as health care and education leads to intensified debate a trenchant essay titled “Neo-Jacobin Nationalism or Responsible and strife over issues such as abortion and religious observance Nationhood?” Despite their appropriation of the term “conser- in schools. Additionally, the “massive expansion of federal power vative,” the neoconservatives’ ambition to put the United States and a dramatic decline in the power and autonomy of state gov- at the forefront of a global democratic revolution places them ernments” robs “localities of their authority to handle matters at decidedly toward the left end of the political spectrum. Ryn labels the very core of their being.” them “neo-Jacobins,” after the radicals of the French Revolution, Much of this newly centralized authority emanates from the who also saw themselves as the vanguard of a violent struggle Supreme Court, “an institution significantly less equipped to suc- to liberate mankind—to force men to be free. The neoconser- cesfully navigate the treacherous waters of policymaking in a plu- vative movement finds itself unconstrained by a respect for the ralist society” than legislative bodies. In sum, the usurpation of Constitution or for the culture and traditions from which it arose. legislative powers by the judiciary and the displacement of state Despite the elevated rhetoric of neoconservative ideology, “the and local decision-making by centralized authority are both causes will to power is throwing off inner and outer checks,” Ryn writes. and symptoms of the disorder of our current regime. “Neo-Jacobinism is ultimately an ideological front for the desire Young Americans for Liberty and other institutions of the to dominate others.” freedom movement are now attempting to return to our constitu- While the neoconservatives primarily direct their aggression tional moorings. The deeply disordered conception of our system toward those hapless foreign populations stubborn enough to found in progressive and neoconservative notions has come to be resist “American values,” the modern Supreme Court focuses its institutionalized in our government and deeply entrenched in the destructive powers on the American people themselves. The ju- popular consciousness. Any kind of restoration of our old con- diciary has enabled the dramatic centralization of power in the stitutional norms will be a formidable task indeed. Reviving the federal government, and through its decisions on such issues as American Republic will require a deep and textured understanding school prayer, criminal justice, and abortion, it has removed some of the Constitution and the civil society for which it was created. of the most critical and contentious issues we face from the pur- Such an understanding requires renewed and continuing attention view of legislative deliberation. to the work of scholars such as George Carey and those who In his essay “Rights in a Federalist System,” Francis Canavan build upon his thought in Defending the Republic. attempts to trace the philosophical origins of the liberationist ide- ology that animates the Supreme Court’s self-imposed role as the interpreter and guarantor of an ever-expanding sphere of individ- Mark Nugent is an attorney and Web designer living in Arlington, Virginia. ual rights (administered, of course, by a vastly powerful central- He blogs at spinline.net/blog.

31 Young American Revolution Art for Survival’s Sake The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution Dennis Dutton, Bloomsbury Press, 279 pages Jeremy Lott

enis Dutton is a professor of philoso- teaser of this review might read: “What mat- Dphy at the University of Canterbury in ters more: that a book is enjoyable or that its Christchurch, New Zealand, but he’s had a argument proves correct? …more>>” greater impact on the American academy That was the question that bounced around than any dozen professors who have toiled this critic’s highly evolved brain like a long their whole careers in the United States. Dut- game of box ball as I read The Art Instinct: Beau- ton founded the journal Philosophy and Litera- ty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution. The argument ture, which frequently made headlines with its probably should matter more. But it’s rare to annual Bad Writing Contest. The idea was read a book aimed at a highly literate audience to mock turgid scholarly writing and thereby that is this laugh-out-loud funny. The experi- shame profs into using language in such a way ence turns what would have been an obvious that intelligent people could understand what answer into a moment of sober philosophical the hell they were talking about. refl ection: facts or funny? Hmmm. In 1998, the award went to University of And by funny, I mean mordant and dead- California, Berkeley post-structuralist philos- pan. Dutton gives us funny because it’s ob- opher Judith Butler for this peach of a pas- vious: “Medicine began from a pretheoreti- sage: cal understanding of health and disease; as a developed discipline, medicine has produced The move from a structuralist account in sophisticated theories and clinically effec- which capital is understood to structure so- tive cures, but not in ten thousand years has cial relations in relatively homologous ways it abolished the ordinary distinction between to a view of hegemony in which power re- robust good health and feeling nauseated or bleeding to death.” lations are subject to repetition, convergence, and rearticula- And funny because it’s unexpected: “In order to better understand tion brought the question of temporality into the thinking of how innate instincts interact with cultural traditions, I want to turn structure, and marked a shift from a form of Althusserian to another powerful universal instinct that has clear cultural impli- theory that takes structural totalities as theoretical objects cations: incest avoidance.” to one in which the insights into the contingent possibility Dutton gets so much right about so many subjects that one is of structure inaugurate a renewed conception of hegemony tempted to concede the central argument of his book as thanks as bound up with the contingent sites and strategies of the for not wasting our time. He doesn’t even get around to pressing rearticulation of power. his case seriously for over a hundred pages. The fi rst half of The Art Instinct is a quarrel about art in which Dutton cuts the knees If you didn’t make it all the way through that or get the gist, off of a host of art critics, anthropologists, and vulgar multicul- don’t feel bad. As Dutton wrote when he was bestowing top hon- turalists who insist that art is culturally constructed and that there ors on Butler: “To ask what this means is to miss the point. This can be no aesthetic universals. In refuting this, Dutton is by turns sentence beats readers into submission and instructs them that they are in the presence of a great and deep mind. Actual com- analytical and scathing. munication has nothing to do with it.” It’s the academic equivalent Analytical: It’s true the art instinct manifests itself differently of “Ignore the man behind the curtain!” in different cultures, Dutton concedes. He further acknowledges As enjoyable as Philosophy and Literature was, it was the growth that some modern art is so weird that it really is suspect. But he of the Internet in the late ’90s that really made Dutton’s name. comes up with 12 criteria that form a rough cross-cultural an- The most famous and most enduring of his online projects is Arts swer to the question, “What is art?” Art, he explains, involves (1) & Letters Daily (www.aldaily.com). These days, the site is owned “direct pleasure.” It takes (2) “skill and virtuosity,” a sense of (3) by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Arts & Letters Daily grew out “style,” and (4) “novelty and creativity” to produce. It is open to of Dutton’s “Phil-Lit” e-mail list. The simple site’s motto is veri- (5) “criticism” and involves (6) “representation” and (7) “special tas odit moras—truth hates delay. Six days a week, the site’s three focus.” Arts are a channel for (8) “expressive individuality” and news columns bring readers the latest in “ideas, criticism, [and] combine (9) “emotional saturation” with (10) “intellectual chal- debate.” lenge.” Artistic refi nement is furthered by (11) “art traditions and News sites pine for a link from the . Academic institutions.” Arts are an (12) “imaginative experience,” above all. journals and opinionated outlets pray for an Arts & Letters Daily Scathing: In chapter 4, “But They Don’t Have Our Concept of teaser. These are short squibs followed by a link to the article. A Art,” Dutton shows how critics who argue such things are con-

32 June 2009 fused about foreign cultures and often astonishingly ignorant of make art possible were preserved from this prehistoric era be- their own. “Despite the fact that jyonti paintings [by women from cause they proved useful in survival and reproduction. It’s ironic Uttar Pradesh] are straightforward, colorfully stylized depictions that Gould’s politics were of the Left, while the more determinis- of Hindu mythological themes ... [anthropologist Lynn] Hart in- tic Dutton is something a classical liberal. sists on using ‘producer’ instead of ‘artist’ and ‘visual image’ in- Dutton might well be right, but it’s hard to know for sure. Ste- stead of ‘art’ to refer to this work (if it is ‘work’),” Dutton writes. phen Colbert made light of Dutton’s highly speculative arguments He insists, sensibly, that if images look and function like art then when he interviewed the author on the “Colbert Report.” When they are, in fact, art. Dutton talked about the survival and reproduction advantages If you were inclined to believe that art is entirely culturally of our ancient ancestors’ imaginative abilities, Colbert quipped constructed, you will probably be less so after reading the first that cavemen “were using their imagination. Like imagine what half of The Art Instinct. Art is just too much a part of the history it would be like to not be devoured by a saber tooth tiger. What of mankind, in every era and every civilization, to deny Dutton’s would that be like? Think big!” and asked, “Is everybody doing argument. Tastes and traditions vary wildly. But with the excep- art just to get laid?” Colbert also asked, “Mr. Dutton, is there any tion of some excesses of modern art—think Andres Serrano, or chance that I am art?” Duchamp’s urinal—we can all recognize plays, movies, carvings, Sometimes the most unfair questions are the best ones. Dut- paintings, embroidery, poetry, decoration, storytelling, and the like ton’s perspective is informed by a school of thought called “evo- as art. lutionary psychology” that tries to understand the mind through There does indeed appear to be an art instinct, or set of in- the lens of human evolution. This approach has led to some im- stincts, that form an important part of human nature. Huns, portant insights. But even Dutton admits that some speculations Britons, and even neoconservatives can recognize this brute fact. of evolution psychology are far-fetched. He cites one example of Where Dutton is less persuasive, however, is in his theorizing linguist and evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker—who blurbs about where the art instinct came from. The late paleontologist this book—tripping all over himself in attempting to explain how Stephen Jay Gould argued forcefully that much of what makes us storytelling can confer evolutionary advantage. Dutton believes human is not an evolutionary adaptation but a by-product of that Pinker erred by reducing stories to their morals—after all, he ar- adaptation. According to Gould, our large brains are the adapta- gues, it would be fairly easy to drum those morals into people’s tion, and most of human culture is what painter Bob Ross would heads without the stories. Yet Dutton may be embarked on a simi- call a “happy accident.” larly reductionist project. The Art Instinct wants us to understand Gould admitted that we do have some instincts but contended art as a product of human evolution but, like Gould, I suspect that we are free from most evolutionary pressures that limit other there’s much more to it than that. animals. Dutton counters that humans are far more hardwired and that most of our circuitry was installed by evolutionary develop- Jeremy Lott is author of The Warm Bucket Brigade: The Story of the ments during the Pleistocene period. The human capacities that American Vice Presidency. His blog is JeremyLott.net.

33 Young American Revolution We Don’t Need Another Hero Alan Moore’s Watchmen remains a stirring warning against absolute power

Franklin Harris

ou can tell a work of fiction is influ- Soviet Union plunge toward seemingly in- Yential when other writers are still grap- evitable nuclear annihilation. pling with its implications nearly a quarter The main point of divergence between of a century later—usually with limited our 1985, which turned out comparatively success. well, and the 1985 of Watchmen is the ex- Since its publication in the mid-1980s, istence of Dr. Manhattan, the one cos- Watchmen has been the poster child for tumed hero in the story who possesses su- pop art that transcends its origins. Hav- perhuman abilities. With Dr. Manhattan’s ing garnered accolades usually reserved help, the U.S. wins the Vietnam War, a for highbrow literary fiction, Watchmen is victory that Nixon uses to become all but the reason we now refer to comic books as president for life. The Soviets, meanwhile, graphic novels. It birthed countless news- regard Dr. Manhattan as such a threat that paper stories with unfortunate headlines they’re willing to risk nuclear war to avoid like “Bam! Pow! Comic books aren’t just U.S. domination. for kids anymore.” It changed the aesthet- Dr. Manhattan, in short, changes ev- ics of superhero comics, both for better erything. As one character in the graphic and for worse. And this year, of course, novel observes, “It is as if—with a real it inspired a major motion picture that, live Deity on their side—our leaders have if nothing else, perplexed audiences ex- become intoxicated with a heady draught pecting the next “Dark Knight” or “Iron of omnipotence-by-association, without Man.” realizing just how his very existence has While “Iron Man” and “The Dark deformed the lives of every living crea- Knight” both deal with issues of power ture on the face of this planet.” and corruption, they ultimately side with Dr. Manhattan is the literal embodi- their vigilante protagonists. Superheroes, Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons ment of amoral power. Following the those movies tell us, are a good thing. accident that gives him his superhuman “Watchmen,” however, remains admirably faithful to its source abilities, he gradually becomes more and more removed from his material and comes to a different conclusion. Its costumed cru- humanity. Time, for him, has no real meaning because he can see saders are, at best, powerless when it comes to doing good and, past, present, and future simultaneously. As a result, death has no at worst, make the world a far more dangerous place. If, as Lord meaning for him, either. Thus he is the perfect tool for the politi- Acton said, power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts cians who seek to exploit him. absolutely, then unaccountable superhumans with near God-like The U.S. government in Watchmen maintains a monopoly on powers are not necessarily a good thing. Like a powerful central superheroes. A law bans costumed adventurers except for those government that is able to dominate local governments or an im- who work for the state, namely Dr. Manhattan and the more ag- perial presidency that co-opts powers properly belonging to Con- gressively amoral Comedian. The only masked crimefighter work- gress, superheroes upset existing power structures. “Who watches ing illegally is Rorschach. the Watchmen?” is a question with no obvious answer. Of the characters in Watchmen, Rorschach comes closest to be- It is little surprise, then, that anti-statists have latched onto ing a libertarian, although Moore’s portrait of libertarianism isn’t Watchmen, claiming it, along with the works of Ayn Rand and exactly flattering. Rorschach is brutal, malodorous, and, most im- Robert Heinlein, and the 1960s cult-favorite television series “The portantly, psychotic. Moore bases him on The Question and Mr. Prisoner,” as part of libertarianism’s artistic canon. A, two characters created by Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko, The graphic novel, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by an adherent of Ayn Rand’s Objectivist philosophy. Despite his Dave Gibbons, is set in an alternate 1985 in which the existence antiauthoritarianism, Moore is still a man of the political Left, of superheroes has turned the United States into a virtual dicta- and his Rorschach is a not-at-all-subtle critique of Ditko’s “right- torship. President Richard Nixon, having engineered the repeal wing” libertarianism. of the 22nd Amendment, is in his fifth term, and corruption and There are positive character traits hidden beneath Rorschach’s chaos are rampant. As gangs terrorize the streets, the U.S. and the psychosis, however. Rorschach believes in truth and justice, and

34 June 2009 he is uncompromising in his pursuit of them, which is why he ing up behind Iron Man and anti-registration heroes backing Cap- continues to work outside of the law even after the government tain America. criminalizes costumed vigilantism. He is, whether Moore likes it Although it is never spelled out explicitly in Civil War, the pro- or not, the moral center of Watchmen, and readers—not just lib- registration side has a point. What are superheroes anyway, except ertarians—gravitate toward him. Rorschach may be insane, but at unauthorized, unaccountable law-enforcement agents? Superhe- least he sticks to his principles, even in the face of death. roes don’t obtain search warrants. They don’t read suspects their Even as Moore’s Rorschach was capturing readers’ imaginations Miranda rights. If they screw up, they don’t face disciplinary ac- in 1986, Frank Miller’s daring interpretation of an old mainstay tion. And it’s almost impossible for a wronged party to sue them was doing the same, and for the similar reasons. for misconduct. Just try serving a court summons to the Hulk. In Published at about the same time as Watchmen, Miller’s The Dark short, all of the real-world problems associated with police mis- Knight Returns covers many of the same themes and is no less in- conduct are potentially worse when it comes to superheroes. They fluential. It casts a middle-aged Batman in the Rorschach role of exist outside the . uncompromising individualist and Superman in the Dr. Manhat- Against that possibility, the Superhuman Registration Act tan role of government stooge. Yet despite the dark tone of both seems, in libertarian terms, the lesser of two evils. Of course, the works, the similarities between Watchmen and The Dark Knight Re- lesser evil is still evil. Any law that can be abused eventually will be turns end there. Moore’s only solution to the problem of Dr. Man- abused. In our world, Republicans constantly pass laws they would hattan is for his superman to leave Earth, abandoning humanity never trust Democrats to enforce and vice versa. Each side, when to its own fate. Miller, however, has faith in superheroes, so long out of power, complains that the other is abusing the powers of as it is the right superhero. government. Yet when they swap places, the incoming party never Miller’s Batman is a quasi-libertarian anarchist, a genius who, repeals the laws that the other side abused. like the characters in Rand’s novels, uses his brain to thwart the In the Marvel Universe, Iron Man currently finds himself on brute, physical power of Superman and the state. Miller’s version the outside, on the run and wanted for crimes he didn’t commit. of Batman as an ordinary man prepared to stand up to seemingly Meanwhile, the villainous Green Goblin, in his civilian identity of omnipotent power has endured, inspiring everyone from libertar- Norman Osborn, has become leader of the government’s regis- ians to politically apathetic comics fanboys to subsequent Batman tration effort. If there is any consolation, it’s that Iron Man may writers. have learned his lesson. The libertarian/Randian themes are even more explicit in Mill- For all their efforts, no one writing superhero comics has yet er’s 2001-2002 follow-up, The Dark Knight Strikes Again. In the se- come up with an answer to Moore’s critique of superhero power. quel, Miller introduces Ditko’s The Question as a mouthpiece for Moore’s own solution isn’t really conducive to writing ongoing , of sorts. The difference here is that Miller’s version superhero comics. He sends Dr. Manhattan packing. Dr. Manhat- says, “I’m no Ayn Rander! She didn’t go nearly far enough!” tan decides to leave our galaxy—end of story. When all else failed, But can antistatists put their faith in even a libertarian super- Moore opts for abolition, which is, of course, what one would hero? The treatment of Batman post-Miller raises lots of red expect of any anarchist, of either the left-wing or the anarcho- flags. Just as Miller’s Batman developed a contingency plan to capitalist variety. take down Superman, Batman, as portrayed in more recent com- Perhaps that is why Watchmen maintains its resonance with ics, has formulated plans to deal with just about any superhero libertarians, despite Moore’s antipathy toward much of libertar- who, for whatever reason, might go bad. Unfortunately, time and ian thought. Unlike Miller, Rand, Ditko, and others who gave us again, Batman’s plans have fallen into the wrong hands, with di- idealized libertarian supermen who could fly in and save the day, sastrous results. For example, in the recent series Countdown, Bat- Moore takes a more radical, yet more realistic approach. His hero- man creates Brother Eye, an artificial intelligence to watch over all turned-villain, Ozymandias, is named so as to evoke the image of of Earth’s superpowered heroes and villains. As one might guess the broken idol in Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem of the same name. from Brother Eye’s Orwellian name, this ends badly when a covert Essentially, Moore is telling us to put not our faith in idols, even if government agency takes control of the AI for its own purposes. they’re wearing a smile and spandex. As a new generation of comic-book writers embellishes the The “Watchmen” movie and the renewed interest in the graphic ideas Moore and Miller first explored, it seems there is need for a novel couldn’t have been better timed. Several comic-book artists critique of even “libertarian” superheroes. Ultimately, even super- have taken to depicting President Barack Obama in superheroic heroes who operate without government sanction, so as to pre- terms. Alex Ross’s painting of the president striking a Superman serve their independence and integrity, run into problems because pose emblazons posters and T-shirts. Spider-Man and Obama do they still serve a law-enforcement function. They’re still append- the fist bump in a recent issue of Amazing Spider-Man. And for his ages of the state, if only unofficially. part, the new president seems happy to play up his heroic image, Marvel Comics’ recent Civil War story arc illustrates the point. as when he posed with the statue of Superman in Metropolis, After a battle in which a team of young superheroes accidentally Illinois. kills 600 civilians, the political leaders in Marvel’s fictional universe Whatever your politics, if you’ve grasped the message of Watch- take a page from Watchmen. They pass a law banning all costumed men, images like that ought to have you worried. superheroes except for those who agree to register with and work for the federal government. The Superhuman Registration Act Franklin Harris ([email protected]) is a writer and editor based splits the superhero community, with pro-registration heroes lin- in Alabama.

35 Young American Revolution 36 June 2009 Liberty at the Oscars The award for pro-freedom film of the year goes to...

John Payne

Note: This article contains spoilers for several films, so proceed and crime are not the path to a good life. with caution. This lesson is further reinforced by the arc of Salim’s life. After 2008 was a good year for film, particularly the types of films escaping from the clutches of Maman, both boys resort to crime that typically win over Oscar voters: dramatic, serious, and at least (although not all of their activities are criminal in a libertarian ostensibly profound. The release schedule from late October to sense) to support themselves. As they grow older, however, Jamal the end of December was more jam-packed with these movies chooses legitimate employment like working at a call center while than any time in recent memory. But it was not just the Oscar-sea- Salim delves deeper into India’s underworld. Of course, Salim’s son releases that grabbed the attention of the Academy of Motion choice ends up destroying him, while Jamal is rewarded for his Picture Arts and Sciences this year. A superhero movie—a genre efforts with both money and the girl. that usually isn’t even mentioned in the same breath as “the Acad- Another Oscar-winning film that has a somewhat hidden lib- emy Awards—received eight nominations and even managed to ertarian message is “The Reader,” for which Kate Winslet won grab one of the major awards with the late Heath Ledger winning the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role. The film’s plot is Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his disturbing portrayal of the more than a little convoluted, which is one of its major weak- Joker in “The Dark Knight.” Most importantly for our purposes, nesses (along with the unbelievable nature of its fundamental con- however, is that a number of Oscar contenders featured libertar- ceit), but the major point of interest for libertarians is the revela- ian themes. tion that Winslet’s character—Hanna Schmitz—was an SS guard Some of these themes were explicit. Any libertarian can ap- at Auschwitz. A large section of the movie focuses on her 1966 preciate seeing a president who grossly abused his powers get his trial with several other female guards. Hanna confesses to helping public comeuppance (“Frost/Nixon”), the struggle not to be ha- choose which prisoners would die and which might have the small rassed by the government for whom you sleep with (“Milk”), and luck of making it to the next culling. When the judge asks Hanna the exposure of a corrupt and unchecked police force by scandal if she realized she was sending these women to their deaths, she (“Changeling,” about which much more below). But in several responds that “there were new arrivals. New women were arriving cases, the libertarian ideas in these films are not so evident. all the time, so the old ones had to make room for the new ones. To take the most prominent example, consider the Oscars’ big .... We couldn’t keep everyone. There wasn’t room.” The statement winner, “Slumdog Millionaire.” If you are still unfamiliar with the is made as if she were tossing out old clothes or the week’s refuse, story, it follows the travails and ultimate triumph of Jamal Malik, not ending human lives. an orphaned boy from Mumbai, in his quest to reunite with the But here’s the rub: Hanna is not an evil woman. Both earlier girl of his dreams by winning on India’s most popular game show, and later in the movie she is portrayed as emotional and caring, yet “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” In one of the more unbelievable she carried out acts of tremendous evil. Thus the film raises again aspects of the movie, it is revealed that Jamal knows the answer to Hannah Arendt’s (one cannot help but wonder if the character’s each successive question because of different pivotal events in his name is homage to Arendt) point about the banality of evil: most life that just happen to come in handy in chronological order. Es- great acts of evil are not carried out by sociopaths or fanatics filled sentially, “Slumdog Millionaire” is Horatio Alger set in India, and with malice but by ordinary people who simply accept the jobs like an Alger story, it requires a strong dose of the suspension of they have been given. It is a sobering reminder that it is not so disbelief, but it also serves to reinforce the market-oriented values much individual wickedness that leads to great evil but overpow- of hard work and perseverance. ering institutions, like the state, and the strong tendency of people As Jamal and his brother Salim grow up without their mother, to trust that their own societies are morally right. they live as street urchins and meet Latika, the girl who will serve Finally, it would be impossible to write about libertarian themes as Jamal’s love interest throughout the movie. All three are even- in the past year’s Oscar-contenders without discussing Clint tually discovered living in a landfill and taken in by a seemingly Eastwood’s “Changeling,” which although nominated for three kind man named Maman, but it is quickly revealed that Maman Academy Awards did not win any. It is entirely appropriate that just takes in street children to form gangs of beggars to work Eastwood directed the year’s most libertarian film considering that the streets of Mumbai. Eventually, he decides to put out one of the actor-director is a self-described libertarian. According to the Jamal’s eyes because one-eyed children receive more money, but Advocates for Self-Government’s libertarian celebrity website, Jamal is saved by the daring actions of Salim, and they both es- Eastwood told Parade magazine in 1997 that “[a]buse of power cape, leaving Latika behind. Maman is one of the film’s primary isn’t limited to bad guys in other nations. It happens in our own villains, and by casting him as such, the film shows that begging country if we’re not vigilant. Those in power get jaded, deluded, 37 Young American Revolution and seduced by power itself.” Though many of his films have lectuals that almost all things—from the economy to schools to dealt with this issue, none has done more directly or forcefully reproduction—should be handed over to boards of experts so than “Changeling.” that they could be “rationalized.” Naturally, it followed that there The film is based on the true story of the disappearance of was no need to question these experts, and as this idea seeped into Walter Collins. After Walter had been missing for several months, the populace at large, people would simply assume that a person the police tell his mother Christine Collins—played by Aneglina (especially a woman) placed under the control of “experts” at a Jolie—that he has been found alive in DeKalb, Illinois. When the mental hospital by the police must be there for good reason. This police reunite Christine with her “son,” she recognizes that the leads directly into a point first made by the great libertarian thinker boy is not Walter, but the police insist that he has changed in the Thomas Szasz: psychiatry, particularly involuntary commitment, intervening months and she should take him home anyway. She can be used by the State as a weapon against those whose ideas initially agrees but is quickly convinced that the boy cannot be could be dangerous, or, in this case, embarrassing. Walter and returns to the police demanding they resume the search In the course of explaining how the LAPD had become a mur- for her son. The police respond by trotting out a doctor to exam- derous instrument for a gang to wipe out its competition, Rev. ine the boy given to Christine and to testify to the newspapers that Briegleb makes the most powerful libertarian statement in the the boy is indeed Walter and that Christine must just be reacting movie: “Once you give people the freedom to do whatever they emotionally to his return. With the help of popular Presbyterian want—as the Lord found in the Garden of Eden—they will do minister Gustav Briegleb—played expertly by John Malkovich— exactly that.” Of course, on the face of it, that is a very anti-lib- Christine decides to challenge the LAPD publicly with her own ertarian statement, but Briegleb is not talking about a freedom evidence. In order to avoid embarrassment, the police have Chris- restrained by the rights of others. He is talking about the freedom tine involuntarily committed to a psychiatric ward unless she signs to crush those who oppose you, about absolute power. Even in a a document stating that the boy in her care is Walter. year of many great libertarian films, “Changeling” is the strongest There are a couple of salient libertarian points to be fleshed indictment of that power. out here. The first is that this is an effective demonstration of the flaws in the very popular Progressive Era belief in the power of John Payne is a social studies teacher at East Carter County High School in experts. There was a strong consensus among Progressive intel- Southeast Missouri. He blogs at RoughOlBoy.com.

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