The owls are not what they seem! (how to spot an _Ju__.ly_19_91 V_ol_4,_No_6 $_4.0_0 endangered species)

(~iGerty is genera{{y Gom in stonny weather. JJ - .9l{e~ de rrocquevi{{e Morgan Silver Dollars • Pre-1900 • Mint State • $17.75 each!

Why Mint State Morgans I believe that prices for Mint State Morgans may are a Bargain Right Now never be this low again! That's why our numismatists by Patick A. Heller have been busy bargain-hunting, acquiring quality Morgan Morgan silver dollars in Mint condition are at historic dollars at prices so cheap that I know we will find ready low prices, offering the astute investor an excellent oppor- buyers. tunity for profit. While our supply lasts, we offer Mint State Morgan The rare coin market has risen substantially since its Dollars at the following prices: lows last November, but Morgan silver dollars are still Half Roll 10 Coins $18.50 each $ 185.00 available at very low prices. In all my years as a profes- Full Roll 20 Coins $18.00 each $ 360.00 sional numismatist, I have never seen such bargains 5 Rolls 100 Coins $17.90 each $1790.00 available. 10 Rolls 200 Coins $17.80 each $3560.00 And the funny thing is, the Morgan silver dollar is the 25 Rolls 500 Coins $17.75 each $8875.00 most popular silver coin with collectors. It's easy to see And to make the deal even better, the Morgan silver why collectors love these coins-- they are big, and they are dollars we offer were all minted in the 1800s! beautiful! All are in Mint State, personally graded by Allan And right now, they are also downright cheap! Beegle, our chief numismatist. And all are backed by our r------, exclusive guarantee: you may return any rare coin for a l Please send me the Mint State Morgan full, 100% refund for any reason, at any time within 15 I·Yes silver dollars that I have indicated I days of when you receive them. below. I understand all are minted prior to 1900, I and that I may return them for a full refund for any I We have acted quickly to take advantage of this situa- reason within 15 days of receipt. tion. We have carefully purchased a substantial quantity of I Half Rolls (10 Coins) @ $ 185 = I Morgan dollars at bargain prices, because we believe that -- Full Rolls (20 Coins) @ $ 360 = I this is the bottom of the market. I 5 Roll Lots (100 Coins) @ $1790 = Warning: Although we have accumulated a substan- I =10 Roll Lots (200 Coins) @ $3560 = I tial quantity of Mint State early Morgan silver dollars for this offering, we believe that there is a good possibility 25 Roll Lots (500 Coins) @ $8875 = I I that we will sell out completely. In this volatile market, it postage & handling $5.00 may be impossible for us to acquire additional coins with- I Total Enclosed lout raising our prices. Therefore, to avoid disappointment, I I recommend you telephone us if you want to reserve your I name purchase. I address I Act Today: Orders will be filled on a first come, first served basis. This offer is limited to stock on hand. I city/state/zip I To reserve your purchase and lock in today's price, I call me (or another LCS trader) toll-free at 1-800-321- I phone# 1542. Michigan residents call 1-800-933-4720. Or return Liberty Coin Service I the coupon below. No Michigan sales tax on sales deliv- I 300 Frandor Ave, Lansing MI 48912 L "If 1-800-321-1542 (Michigan 1-800-933-4720) ..I ered outside Michigan. ~ ---.------' ed L eb t July 1991 lnSl e 1 er y Volume 4, Number 6

4 Letters on what we should publish, when we should fight, why religion is irrelevant, and who is and is not a Stalinist. 7 Reflections on spawning bureaucrats, harvested yews, sipping saints, drunk fact-finders, a plethora of poets, and other examples from our modern bestiary. Features 17 Say "No" to Intolerance Milton Friedman examines two libertarian heroes-Rand and Mises-and finds not only feet of clay, but the besetting sin of the ideologue. 21 The Owls Are Not What They Seem R. W. Bradford discovers that the spotted owl-in whose defense timber harvests have been stopped in an area the size of four states-is not an endangered species, at all. 25 Making Peace with Environmentalists John Baden shows libertarians how not to offend environmentalists when talking about ecology. 27 Cleaning Up After Socialism: Depolluting the USSR Socialism leads not only to economic crisis, but to ecological crisis. James Robbins shows the size of the mess, why it happened, and the hope for recovery. 33 GiVing Capitalism a Test Drive David Friedman goes for a spin in a communist truck and a capitalist truck. 35 Class Warfare in Italy Scott Reid reads between the lines of Italy's medieval past, and learns a lesson about force. 38 I Am a Casualty of the War on Drugs Stuart Reges challenges the legitimacy of the War on Drugs, thereby revealing the war's latest casualty: free speech in the academy. The new McCarthyism has arrived. 41 A Long Way from Philadelphia Sheldon Richman visits Moscow, lectured communists on the death of socialism and listens as Russian intellectuals plot the liberation of the Soviet nations. 45 Economics After Socialism Mark Skousen talks with Robert Heilbroner, the famous socialist economist, about how far he is willing to repudiate socialism and what he really meant when he wrote "Mises was right!" 51 Tools vs Philosophy Karl Hess compares the historical importance of tools and ideas. Ideas come up short. Reviews 53 Socialism With a Drooling Face William Moulton puts the ravings of an American journalist in their place. 55 Liberal Obituary? Loren Lomasky takes a thorough look at the "post-liberal" notions of ex-libertarian scholar John Gray. 61 Ex-Nazis Say the Darndest Things ... and so do their professorial supporters. Richard Kostelanetz deconstructs the Paul de Man scandal, and Deconstruction as well. 63 Booknotes on good guys like Kraus and Mises, bad guys like Howe and Cannon, and those, like Reagan, whose reputations are still in the dock. 68 Final Words on the late Ludwig Lachmann, by Israel Kirzner. 65 Classified Ads 69 Notes on Contributors 70 Terra Incognita ~[L==ett==er==,s] Stl·mulate Nut-Shelled It seems to me that the arguments of those libertarians who supported the There is a world of good reading in Liberty ... and there has been Gulf War can be summed up in a single ever since Liberty began publishing! Whether you want to catch up on what sentence: "As libertarians, we favor limit­ you missed, stimulate your mind, or complete your collection, now is a ed government-that is, government good time to buy. Enjoy! whose powers are limited to policing the world with the lives and fortunes of the Back Issues of Liberty American people." Jacob G. Hornberger August 1987 Denver, Colo. • "The Films ofAyn Rand," by Stephen Cox • "Witch-Bashing, Book Burning, and Professor Harold Hill's Lessons in Practical Politics," A Question of Balance by Butler Shaffer You should not feel compelled to Plus reviews and articles by Ben Best, Ross Overbeek, Murray Rothbard, David Sheldon, print the views of those who were bam­ Timothy Virkkala, Ida Walters and others; and a short story by Jo McIntyre. (48 pages) boozled into supporting America's re­ October 1987 cent orgy of death in the Middle East. I • "The Sociology ofLibertarians," by John C. Green and James L. Guth can and do read this sort of effluvia in • "The Rise of the Statism," by Murray N. Rothbard the mainstream media, The Wall Street Plus reviews and articles by Mike Holmes, Tibor Machan, William Moulton, Jonathan Journal, the New Republic, etc. Saville, and others; and a short story by Franklin Sanders. (48 pages) I was attracted to the libertarian December 1987 movement after spending half a lifetime • "Libertarians in a State Run World," by Murray N. Rothbard • "The Most Unforgettable Libertarian I Ever Knew," by Karl Hess in the Middle East because it advocated Plus essays and reviews by Stephen Cox, Walter Block, Mike Holmes, Erika Holzer, Timo­ non-intervention abroad. The essence of thy Henderson, Mark Skousen and others; and a short story by David Galland. (56 pages) this is the notion that the government March 1988 lacks the right, or indeed the ability, to • "Libertarians & Conservatives: Allies or Enemies?" by John Dentinger & Murray Rothbard choose friends and enemies for its citi­ • "Free Speech and the Future of Medicine," by Sandy Shaw & Durk Pearson zens. The beauty of our movement is Plus reviews and articles by R. W. Bradford, William Catet Ross Overbeek, Stephen Cox, and that we will not endorse a process by others; and a short story by Raul Santana. (64 pages) which our wealth, our lives, our names, May 1988 or the power of the state are used to kill • "The ACLU: Suspicious Principles, Salutary Effects," by William P. Moulton people whom any individual citizen may • "Nicaragua: A Front Line Report," by Gary Alexander not wish to kill. Or so I thought. If Plus reviews and articles by Nathaniel Branden, Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, Sheldon Richman, James Robbins is so enamored of military David Ramsay Steele, David Brown, Ethan O. Waters and others. (64 pages) adventures abroad, he has the right, and July 1988 perhaps the duty, to join those adven­ • "Rebel Without a Clue: Lessons from the Mecham Experience," by Matt Kessler tures, preferably supported with funds • "Confessions ofan Intractable Individualist," by Jerome Tuccille Plus reviews and articles by Stephen Cox, Ross Overbeek, Murray Rothbard, Tibor Machan, voluntarily donated for the purpose. William Moulton and others; and an interview with L. Neil Smith. (80 pages) Meanwhile, Liberty must be an island September 1988 of sanity in a crazy world. When the gov­ • "Scrooge McDuck and His Creator," by Phillip Salin ernment, through its powers of manipu­ • "Liberty and Ecology," by John Hospers lation and deceit, manages to convince • "The Ultimate Justification ofthe Private Property Ethict " by Hans-Hermann Hoppe the people every few years that it is time Plus reviews and articles by Douglas Casey, David Friedman, Stephen Cox, Douglas Rasmus­ for another war, we must be able to turn sen, Murray Rothbard and others; and a short story by Erika Holzer. (80 pages) to Liberty for clear and unambiguous dis­ November 1988 cernment of truth. • "Taking Over the Roads," by John Semmens You do not "balance" your free mar­ • "The Search for We The Living," by R. W. Bradford ket articles with pieces extolling commu­ Plus writings by Murray Rothbard, Tibor Machan, Leland Yeager, John Dentinger, Walter nism or Nazism. Nor need you counter Block, Stephen Cox, Jane Shaw, James Robbins and others. (80 pages) your own wise anti-imperialist analyses January 1989 • "Public Choice: A Useful Tool," by Jane S. Shaw with war propaganda. • "High Noon for the Libertarian Party?" by Chester Alan Arthur William G. Kelsey Plus writings by Leland Yeager, William Niskanen, John Hospers and others; and a short sto­ Elgin, Tex. ry by Jeffrey Olson. (72 pages) Repugnant Arguments March 1989 Why did Liberty find it necessary to • "Ronald Reagan: An Autopsy," by Murray N. Rothbard present a "balanced view" of the most re­ • "What ifEverything We Know About Safety Is Wrong?" by John Semmens and Dianne Kresich continued on page 6 4 Liberty Your ind! • "The Wonderful Wizard of Liberty," by Ethan Waters N ovetnber 1990 Plus articles and reviews by Stephen Cox, Jeffrey Friedman, Tibor • "Opportunities on Freedom's Frontier," by Ronald Lipp Machan, David Steele, Michael Krauss, and others. (72 pages) • "Up From Armageddonism," by Stephen Cox May 1989 Plus articles and reviews by David Friedman, Robert Higgs, Sheldon • "Man, Nature, and State," by Karl Hess, Jr Richman, Richard Kostelanetz and others, an interview with Ed • "Public Choice: A Misshapen Tool," by Murray Rothbard Crane, and a symposium on investing. (80 pages) • "Ayn Rand: The Voice of Bitterness," by Justin Raimondo January 1991 Plus articles and reviews by Stephen Cox, David Gordon, Jane Shaw • "Gordon Gekko, Mike Milken and Me," by Douglas Casey and others; and a short story by Jeffrey Olson. (72 pages) • "Lies, Liberalism and Lip-Reading," by Loren Lomasky July 1989 • "A Pole Can Do It," by R. W. Bradford • "Viking Iceland: Anarchy That Worked," by David Friedman Plus articles and reviews by David Boaz, Ralph Raico, Lawrence Person • "The Myth of the Rights of Mental Patients," by Thomas Szasz and others; plus special election coverage. (80 pages) • "Nude Dancing in Memphis," by Michael Williams March 1991 Plus articles and reviews by Tiber Machan, John Hospers, R. W. • "Keep the Hot Side Tepid," by R. W. Bradford Bradford, Jane Shaw, Leland Yeager and others. (80 pages) • "The Myth ofWar Prosperity," by Robert Higgs September 1989 Plus articles and reviews by Richard Weaver, Jane Shaw, David Daniel­ • "Holocausts and the Historians," by Ralph Raico son, Jan Narveson, Krzysztof Ostaszewski and others. (72 pages) • "My Break With Branden and the Rand Cult," by Murray Rothbard May 1991 • "The Theology ofEcology," by Robert Formaini • "Journalits and the Drug War," by David Boaz Plus articles and reviews by David Friedman, Loren Lomasky, Gary • "California's Man-Made Drought," by Richard Stroup North, Jeffrey Tucker, Richard Kostelanetz and others. (72 pages) • "Something Anarchical in Denmark," by Ben Best November 1989 Plus a symposium on the GulfWar; and articles and reviews by John • "The Lost War on Drugs," by Joseph Miranda Baden, Richard Kostelanetz, Richard Miniter, Leland Yeager and • "Goodbye, Galactic Empire," by J.R. Dunn others; and a short story by Lawrence Thompson. (72 pages) • "Life With (and Without) Ayn Rand," by Tibor Machan Plus articles and reviews by Murray Rothbard, Loren Lomasky and ., others; and an interview with Russell Means. (72 pages) r------send me the back issues of Liberty January 1990 Please I have marked. I • "The Death of Socialism: What it Means," by R.W. Bradford, (foreign orders, add 50q: per issue) Stephen Cox, Sheldon Richman, and William P. Moulton Aug. '87, $4.00 __ Sept. '89, $5.00 __ I • "The Greenhouse Effect: Myth or Danger?" by Patrick J. Michaels Oct. '87, $4.50 __ Nov. '89, $4.00 __ • "The Case for Paleolibertarianism," by Llewellyn Rockwell Dec. '87, $3.00 __ Jan. '90, $4.00 __ I Plus articles and reviews by Charles K. Rowley, Richard E. Wagner Mar. '88, $4.00 __ Mar. '90, $4.00 __ and others; and an interview with Barbara Branden. (80 pages) May '88, $4.00 __ May '90, $4.00 __ I March 1990 July '88, $4.00 __ July '90, $4.00 __ • "Humanity vs Nature," by John Hospers Sept. '88, $5.50 __ Sept. '90, $4.00 __ • "Isolating the Error of Isolationism," by Stephen Cox • "Mencken: The Man vs the State of Opinion," by R. W. Bradford Nov. '88, $4.00 __ Nov. '90, $4.00 __ Plus articles and reviews by Richard Kostelanetz, Loren Lomasky, Jan. '89, $4.00 __ Jan. '91, $6.00 _ George Smith, Leland Yeager and others. (80 pages) Mar. '89, $4.00 __ Mar. '91, $4.00 __ May 1990 May '89, $4.00 __ May '91, $4.00 __ • "The Decadence ofConservativism," by William P. Moulton July '89, $4.00 _.__ Shipping: $1.00 • "A Population Crisis?" by Jane S. Shaw Total: Plus articles and reviews by R. W. Bradford, Karl Hess, Bill Kauff­ o My check is enclosed man, Richard Kostelanetz, Bart Kosko, Loren Lomasky, Leland Yeager and others; and poetry by Brett Rutherford. (72 pages) o Charge my 0 VISA 0 Mastercard Exp _ July 1990 Account # _ • "The Orwellian University," by Charles Thorne • "Conversations with Ayn Rand (part 1)," by John Hospers Signature • "The Conservation ofResentment," by Robert Sheaffer Plus articles and reviews by John Baden, Brian Doherty, David Friedman, Bill Kauffman, Sheldon Richman, James S. Robbins, Name Mark Skousen, Terree Wasley and others. (72 pages) Address September 1990 • "Conversations with Ayn Rand (part 2)," by John Hospers City • "RU 486 and Legal Wisdom," by Dr Ron Paul Plus articles and reviews by Michael Krauss, Stephen Cox, Richard State Zip _ Kostelanetz and others; and aficci6n by Harvey Segal. (72 pages) Liberty, Dept. B24, PO Box 1167, Port Townsend, WA 98368 .I L. ------July 1991

Letters (continued from page 4) thereof) of some kind of "Arab nation," or cent u.s. adventure into world politics? for fear of the possibility of an Arab­ How to The popular press has presented suffi­ Israeli conflict, or out of concern over the cient propaganda for the war without price of oil, as Robbins claims. need for airing any additional support in Libertarians did not object because we Subscribe the leading journal of freedom. are pacifists, because the Bush adminis­ Especially repugnant is the view tration continually changed rationaliza­ down the long "professorial" nose of Ste­ tions, or out of sympathy with leftist pap to phen Cox ("The Intellectual Poverty of about gays and the homeless, correcting the Opposition to the Drug War," May previous U.S. foreign policy blunders, etc. 1991). Somehow Cox finds the emotional as opined by Mr Cox. Liberty appeal of the "peace movement" less val­ Nor are we completely lost in defining id than the equally emotional view pre­ what constitutes a genuine threat in a stat­ Liberty celebrates the sented by the State. Is Cox suggesting the ist world as claimed by Mr Lomasky. I believe that it was incumbent upon diversity of libertarian 1967 peace movement, of which he was admittedly a part, somehow was more the three to show evidence either that the thought! logical and rational? United States was in imminent danger of Liberty tackles the tough problems. Cox seemed especially upset with the attack by Iraq (and it had better be con­ Every issue of Liberty presents es­ "war never solved anything" argument. vincing to justify the extraordinary move says studying current trends in po­ He seeks to deal a devastating blow by of taking such drastic pre-emptive action) litical and social thought; discus­ citing the demise of Hitler and Jefferson or else that libertarian non­ sions of the strategy and tactics of Davis. He fails to mention that wiping interventionism is a mistaken policy to social change; analyses of current out Hitler along with a few hundred begin with and that "defense" should be events and challenges to popular thousand Germans made way for Stalin's defined more expansively (as, for exam­ beliefs. Liberty also offers lively almost complete domination of Eastern ple, Jimmy Carter did in declaring the book reviews, fiction and humor. Europe for 40 years. Jefferson Davis was, free flow of oil through the gulf to be a You won't want to miss a single is­ among other things, fighting for self­ "vital national interest"). To do neither sue! determination for the South, in the spirit was inexcusable in a magazine of your usual high quality. Act Today! of the American Revolution. This little ef­ fort cost lives of only a half million or so Tim O'Brien Liberty offers you the best in liber­ Americans. Madison Heights, Mich. tarian thinking and writing. So A libertarian need not look far for don't hesitate. You have nothing to A Parable for Our Time reasons to oppose this war or any war in The Gulf War has shown me a liber­ lose, and the fruits of Liberty to recent history. War invariably increases tarian phenomenon I hadn't noticed. gain! the "health" of the State. If libertarianism Imagine this: a little girl has fallen into is the promotion of liberty, then libertari­ an abandoned well. She's crying, so she's Use the coupon below or call: ans should oppose al1Y event increasing still alive, but no one knows for how long. the State's power. The fire department is tunnelling nearby, C.R. Estes trying to intersect the shaft without 1-800-321-1542 Camarillo, Calif. knocking debris into it. It's all national Addressing the Real Issue news, and TV crews fill every motel. Where are the libertarians? Bringing I think the Libertarian Party platform coffee and sandwiches to the firemen and r ------.------, summarizes fairly well the libertarian po­ , Please enter my subscription I being generallyhelpful? .You know the sition on the proper role of the U.S. mili­ YeS • to Liberty immediately! I answer..They're picketing, posturing in tary: front ofthe cameras with signs protesting . 0 One Full Year (6 issues) $19.50 I "Any U.s. military policy should this use of taxpayer dollars. o Two Full years (12 issues) $35.00 I have the objective of providingsecurity Add $5 per year for foreign subscriptions. I for the lives, liberty and property of the continued on page 67 American people in the U.S. against the r name risk of attack by a foreign power." (em­ Letters Policy phasis added) address We invite readers to comment on Now I could understand (and, in­ articles that have appeared in Liber­ city, state, zip+4 deed, would even enjoy and appreciate) o I enclose my check (payable to Liberty) ty. We reserve the right to edit for arguments against this conception of for­ o Charge my 0 VISA 0 Mastercard length and clarity. All letters are as­ eign policy. However, I am incensed that sumed to be intended for publication your three pro-war libertarians never unless otherwise stated. Succinct, even made the slightest attempt to ad­ signature typewritten letters are preferred. dress it. Please include your phone number account # expires Libertarians did not object to the war so that we can verify your identity. Send to: Liberty, Dept. L24, out of concern for the existence (or lack 1. Box 1167, Port Townsend, WA 98368..1_ Wake lip call- Americans are obsessed with the in­ diate perils any woman risks who flirts with one of the significant, more concerned with the garments of power than Kennedy clan? -JSR with what power does. Witness the brouhaha over the recent hospitalization of Whose"diversity"? - The University of Chicago George Bush. Call me when he's dead. - TWV Law School recently had a one-day student boycott in favor of "diversity." Two things struck me about the event. The No new Taxo1- Among the more humanistic ratio­ first was the strangeness of protesting against a University nales presented by environmentalists for the preservation of by boycotting classes. It is rather as if I decided to punish my the Amazon and other rain forests is the potential that impor­ local supermarket for its misdeeds by filling up my shopping tant medical advances might be made utilizing chemicals de­ cart with groceries, paying for them, then going home with­ rived from rain-forest flora and fauna. One such drug out taking the groceries. Yet everyone involved, including recently has been found in the United States: Taxol, a deriva­ the local media, took the idea of the boycott seriously, which tive of the bark of the northwestern Pacific Yew, has been suggests a rather odd idea of the relation between the stu­ used successfully to combat ovarian cancer. Because it takes dents and the school. fifteen kilograms of bark to produce one gram of Taxol, The other interesting thing was the meaning of "diversi­ Pacific Yews are being hewn down with startling rapidity, ty." For the students organizing the boycott, it pretty clearly and this in turn has attracted the attention of environmental­ was shorthand for "hiring more black and female professors, ists who want to preserve the yew. The fact that the yew of­ admitting more black and female students." This suggests fers an important cancer-fighting tool would seem to the follOWing question: guarantee its future in any case, but the environmentalists "Suppose the school is considering hiring a new faculty don't want it preserved in managed plantations, but rather in member. You discover that he has expressed the opinion that its natural habitat, old-growth forests. So the upshot of this intelligence is to a considerable degree genetic, and that the situation seems to be that we have to preserve forests be­ distribution of intelligence probably varies significantly with cause they may contain miracle cures for human ailments, race and gender. Is this fact an argument for or against hiring but if we want actually to use them, we can't, because that him?" would mean cutting down the trees. I'm glad that's all If the real objective is intellectual diversity, the answer is straightened out. -JSR obviously "for." The opinion is a defensible one that is al­ most never expressed by faculty members, at least at my Actions vs words - I don't think anyone was sur­ school, so a new hire willing to defend it would make the fa­ prised that the Kennedy name has again been connected with culty more intellectually diverse. But I would give high odds abuse against women. The William Kennedy Smith rape in­ that most of the students boycotting in favor of "diversity" dictment seems part of the normal course of affairs for this would give the opposite answer. -DF family. And one cannot help but be touched by the naivete of the victim, who was surprised that no one reacted to her cries It depends on which wl1istle is blown- for help; after all, the Senator himself was in the next room! Let's see now. Progressives believe that public policy should (Perhaps at their next Presidential convention Republicans be conducted in the open glare of public scrutiny. We can chant, "Where was Ted?") But what is most interesting is learned that from Watergate and Iran-Contra and the the relative silence among feminists on this event, particular­ Pentagon Papers. So now that Timothy Maguire, a student at ly when NOW and other organizations have recently been at­ Georgetown University Law School, has discovered, while tempting to raise consciousness on the "date rape" issue. working in the records office, that the school has a secret pol­ Could it be that because of Kennedy patronage for their caus­ iey of admitting and promoting black students according to es in the halls of Congress the feminists turn a blind eye to different criteria than those applied to others and has re­ other, more seedy congresses in which the Kennedys are in­ vealed this policy in a magazine article (but without giving volved? One need only ask oneself what the reaction of names), left-liberals should laud him as a courageous whis­ Molly Yard would have been had a nephew of John Sununu tle-blower and hero, right? Well, no. You see, the policy in­ stood accused of rape at his family's "compound" in Palm volved gives grossly preferential treatment to blacks, and is Beach, while his uncle ignored the victim's cries of help. And therefore politically correct. To expose and implicitly criticize recall Senator Kennedy's vivid description of the alleged per­ the policy is to give support to racism, fascism and other bad ils that would have faced women and minorities in "Robert things. Therefore the PC elements at Georgetown are unani­ Bork's America"-were they any worse than the more imme- mous in their attempt to have Maguire expelled, and it ap- Liberty 7 Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991 pears that they may succeed. So beware: If you are ever go­ ly conducted a quick survey of two dozen ads in my Sunday ing to blow a whistle, blow it at some cert~fiably reactionary paper, and I wasn't able to find one without a possible trace policy, or you may end up being politically goddam incor­ of ambiguity. In fairness, though, advertising copy is seman­ rect. -WPM tically spartan compared to the contents of the speeches of Mr Bowerman's boss, George Bush, or even the text of Holy Of saints and sippers - "Take a little wine for Writ. Recall that it was St. Paul himself who declared, not thy stomach's sake," St. Paul advises his sidekick Timothy. without a hint of satisfaction, that he was "all things to all To the best of my knowledge, the remark passed without re­ men." Mr Bowerman, I trust, would not be amused. percussions. But though the apostle was intermittently way­ Is the Mondavi affair merely one further inane intrusion laid throughout his career by skeptical Pharisees and by meddlesome bureaucrats into the regulation of business? exasperated Romans, he never was challenged by the Bureau It is at least that, but I suspect it is more. It could not have es­ of Alcohol, Tobacco and· Firearms. St. Paul, meet Robert caped the notice of eager BATF functionaries that the admin­ Mondavi. istration they serve has, in recent years, offered some harsh For the past three years Mondavi wines have carried on comments on individuals' derivation of satisfaction via their backs an encomium to the cultural and historic signifi­ chemical means. Might they have suspected that an applica­ cance of wine: tion of conspicuous zeal would hold them in good stead in Wine has been with us since the beginning of civiliza­ tion. It is the temperate, civilized, sacred, romantic mealtime beverage recommended in the Bible. Wine has been praised for centuries by statesmen, philoso­ If Robert Mondavi is at liberty to appreciate phers, pocts and scholars. Wine in moderation is an in­ wine but not announce that fact to others, the free tegral part of our culture, heritage and the gracious way society has suffered another nibble. It is not only of life. But now BATF has banned the label. Why? the pursuit of commerce in wine that has been im­ The bureau has adopted a policy of rejecting label copy peded but also the commerce in ideas. that it may consider "untrue," "ambiguous," or tending to create a "misleading impression." According to Jerry Bowerman, BATF branch chief, the Mondavi statements run high places? Because the courts have given regulators the afoul of those criteria. Displaying philosophical sophistica­ right to censor commercial speech, the temptation to exercise tion not often evinced by federal functionaries, Bowerman that right when it is in their own perceived self-interest is notes, "Part of it says 'drinking in moderation.' The thing is, irresistible. what is moderation to one person is not moderation to an­ If Robert Mondavi is at liberty to appreciate wine but not other." He adds, "Although we agree that it is a positive announce that fact to others, the free society has suffered an­ statement, it only shows one side." other nibble. It's not only the pursuit of commerce in wine Is BATF surprised that a company's advertisement would that has been impeded but also the commerce in ideas. show only one side-its own? In fact, even that isn't quite ac­ Although the Mondavi case is, by itself, of little significance, curate; per governmental orders, the label carries a pre­ it stands as decisive refutation of the Court-approved theory scribed warning about dangers consequent on alcohol use. that commercial speech is different in kind from Still, selling wine violates no law, and enterprises engaged in "Constitutionally protected speech" and thus subject to the a licit trade are entitled and expected to promote their prod­ whims of governmental flunkies. Despite the Bowermans of ucts. May they, though, use words like "moderation" that this world, Mondavi is entitled to express their viewpoint, can mean different things to different people? Well, I recent- and when BATF refuses them that right we are all deprived of the opportunity to consider what they have to say. As St. Paul might observe, ''The good that they would, they do not." -LEL Horse trading in the USSR - Whatever one thinks of Mikhail Gorbachev's politics, one can't help but ad­ mire his tactical acumen. Just as it appeared that Gorbachev had been "captured" by the Stalinists in his government, he concluded a deal with Boris Yeltsin, his "main rival," thereby outflanking the Stalinists. Yeltsin threw his support behind the Gorbachev plan for Soviet Federalism and in return the Soviet President gave up control of the Siberian coal mines to Yeltsin. Such a deal! The next time the miners go on strike, which should be sometime this fall, they will be calling for Yeltsin, not Gorbachev, to step down. So in return for help­ ing him stamp down the Communists and setting up the "Congratulations -I got your sentence reduced Federal plan favored by Gorbachev, Yeltsin received a heap from tar and feathers to crazy glue and confetti." of troubles of which Gorby was gladly rid. Gorbachev may 8 Liberty NE\V FROM LIBERTY FUND, INC. THE STATE OF THE UNION: Essays in Social Criticism By Albert]ay Nock Edited and with a Foreword by Charles H. Hamilton "In a time of raucous and often mindless debate, it is a double pleasure to read Albert]. Nock-forwhat he says and for the way he says it. Here is social and intellectual criticism at its best, fron1 a thinker who will surely climb in due course to his proper place in the American pantheon." - - jacques Barzun "AlbertJay N ock has a charming way ofbecoming an event in a person's life. His writings unleash the instinct for the humane life and sow the seeds of self-education which, after all, is the only kind of education there is." - Edmund A. Optiz, Foundation for Economic Education 340 + xxx pages. Foreword, selected bibliography, acknowledgments, index. Hardcover $20.00 0-86597-092-0 Paperback $7.50 0-86597-093-9 LibertyPress, 1991 Also Available THE RATIONALE OF CENTRAL BANKING By Vera C. Smith Foreword by Leland B. Yeager "Vera Smith's book remains an authoritative and accurate summary of the theoretical arguments for and against free banking, a subject that has recently received renewed attention." - Milton Friedman, Hoover Institution This work gives a balanced and perceptive account of the 19th-century debates over central banking versus free banking through an historical survey of the arguments in England, Scotland, France, Germany, and the United States. 214 + xiii pages. Foreword, preface, appendix, bibliography, index. Hardcover $20.00 0-86597-086-6 Paperback $8.00 0-86597-087-4 LibertyPress 1990 NEW THE ETHICS OF REDISTRIBUTION By Bertrand de Jouvenel Introduction byJohn Gray "Only Hayek has rivaled Bertrand de Jouvenel in demonstrating why redistributionism in the democracies inexorably results in the atrophy ofpersonal responsibility and the hypertrophy of bureaucracy and the centralized state instead of in relief to the hapless minorities it is pledged to serve." - Robert Nisbet, author ofThe Questfor Community 100 + xviii pages. Foreword and preface to the 1st Edition, introduction, appendix, index. Hardcover $12.00 0-86597-084-x Paperback $ 5.00 0-86597-085-8 LibertyClassics, 1990 Please send me: Quantity o Enclosed is my check or money order made Ordered Title Edition Price Amount payable to Liberty Fund, Inc. The State ofthe Union Hardcover $20.00 o Please send me a copy of your current Paperback $ 7.50 catalogue. 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Indiana residents add 5 % sales tax Mail to: LIBERTY FUND, INC. Department GG 112 Total 7440 North Shadeland Avenue Prepayment required on all orders not for resale. We pay book Indianapolis. IN 46250 rat/postage on prepaid orders. Please allow approximately 4 weeks for delivery. All orders from outside the Unitea States must be prepaid in U.S. dollars. Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991 not be a Capitalist, but he knows a thing or two about horse taken the most flak. In the course of laying out a one­ trading. -JSR hundred year program for reforming the school-quite an act of hubris for a collectivist-she decried education based Thriving Leviatl1an - For nearly a decade we on male-oriented vertical thinking, which focuses on "excel­ had to put up with complaints about something that never lence, accomplishment, success and achievement," and happened, namely, the Reagan administration's drastic dis­ would rather the school inculcate lateral thinking (common mantling ofthe federal welfare state. Yes, the Reaganauts did to women and minorities, allegedly), in which "learning is attempt a little deregulation, almost all of it during the first not seen as mastery, but as our connection to the world." term and most of that a carry-over from Carter administra­ While Ms McIntosh's lack of mastery is manifest, the situa­ tion initiatives. Still, to be fair, one must admit that the tion suggests a model for any proponent of sweeping social Reagan administration did slow down the growth of regula­ reforms. Whenever such schemes are dreamed up, they tion and discretionary nondefense spending relative to the should be applied only to the children of the reformers. If trends established during the previous two decades. With they don't work out, fine. Only the families responsible for the election of Ronnie's errand boy, one might have expected them will suffer. If they do work out, then maybe in a hun­ more of the same. dred years other people will choose to get involved-that is, But no. Not even close. During the first two years of the if they are tired of excellence, accomplishment, success and Bush administration, discretionary nondefense spending achievement. -JSR grew faster than during any administration since FDR's. Bush's cadre of establishment Republican advisers, cabinet Gassing his own people, the sequel- In secretaries, and their minions have galloped stride for stride the last issue of Liberty, I confessed that I had been fooled by with the spendthrifts who compose the Congress. the U.S. Army: its spokespersons had made numerous state­ Nor have the bureaucrats been left behind. According to ments to the effect that Iraq's army was extremely potent and the "unified agenda of federal regulations," as cited in the any U.S. invasion would take a terrible cost in American New York Times (28 April 1991), the Bushmen are preparing blood, and like any good patriotic American I had believed them, only to feel foolish when the U.S. Army took care of the Iraqis like a skid-row bum kills a bottle of Thunderbird. I During the first two years of the Bush adminis­ should have realized I was being lied to, I confessed, because tration, spending grew faster than during any ad­ I knew that (a) the military had no compunctions about ly­ ing; and (b) the military had every motivation to lie. ministration since FDR's. Bush's cadre of In that same issue, I reported that, contrary to President establishment Republican advisers, cabinet secretar­ Bush's public statement and the repeated theme of those ies, and their minions have galloped stride for stride seeking to demonize Saddam (all the better to slaughter his with the spendthrifts who compose the Congress. people), a study by the U.S. Army War College had conclud­ ed that Saddam had not, in fact, ever gassed the Kurds. A few days ago, I got a letter from Mr John R. Carter of EarlySVille, Virginia about the gassing-the-Kurds controversy: a record number of new rules. To be exact, 4,675~ which is up "When the news of Halabjah [where the Kurds were from an average of about 4,000 a year between 1983 and by someone] first appeared, Saddam Hussein was our 1988. The Times reports that the new rules range far and gassed wide, including such critical areas for the government's guid­ ally and a long-time recipient of U.S. aid. Clearly the incident was an embarrassment to our government. As all govern­ ing hand as "peanut marketing quotas, tobacco price sup­ ports, restrictions on imports of honeybees and zebra ments are wont to do, ours proceeded to take steps to miti­ gate the blot on the escutcheon of our good friend Saddam mussels, auto emission standards, child labor rules, restric­ Hussein. tions on fishing for black rockfish off the coast of Washington "Look at the source of the study that white-washed and rules for disposing of tissue from dead whales." Thank God for the bureaucrats. Without their beneficent Hussein: the U.S. Army War College. Would you care to intervention, we'd have dead whales everywhere-a situa­ argue with me if I were to assume that the U.s. government commissioned it?" tion almost as noxious as the politicos who spawn these stinking regulations. -RH Mr Carter was too diplomatic to point out that I had been fooled again. But his point is well-taken: when Saddam was Not with my kids you don'tf - Although our "friend," he was a good guy, not the sort of fellow who Brookline, Massachusetts may compete with north-west would gas anybody (except maybe the Iranians, who were Washington D.C. for record liberal democratic voting per­ subhuman demons at the time); when Saddam was our ene­ centages, its citizens aren't totally backward. When the my, he was the sort of person who would "gas his own peo­ Brookline School Committee undertook reforms to multicul­ ple," a claim that helped demonize him so that the American turalize the public school curriculum, parents came down people would not get upset at our armed forces killing hard. It seems that the sorts of reform policies that these left­ 100,000 Iraqis, many of them innocent civilians. liberals support in the abstract for the nation as a whole The question remains: who did gas the Kurds? The an­ aren't the kinds of things they would like foisted on their swer, I fear, will never be known. There is testimony that the own children in their own schools. Peggy Means McIntosh of Iranian air force dropped the gas. There is also testimony that Wellesley College, a consultant for the Brookline Schools, has the Iraqi air force was the culprit. The parties involved all 10 Liberty Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991

have axes to grind, and none have moral compunctions Saddam's forces could annihilate them, the troublesome against lying to achieve their ends. The Kurds wanted to con­ Kurds insisted on fleeing into the mountains, where they de­ vince the U.s. that they are helpless victims of Saddam de­ posited themselves in squalid camps and proceeded to die by serving U.S. assistance, which provides them with a strong the thousands from hunger, exposure, and disease. motive to convince us of the Saddam-the-gasser-of-his-own­ Of course, no part of this unfortunate event should be at­ people theory. The Iraqis wanted continued U.S. aid in their tributed to the magnificent American military effort, which war of aggression against Iran, so they had reason to blame confined itself to such manifestly justified activities as (what the gassing on Iran. The Iranians wanted the U.S. to believe U.S. pilots described as) the "turkey shoot" of thousands of that Saddam was a war criminal, so they had reason to blame the gassing on him. The U.S. government, however, had a double-bladed ax to grind: When Saddam was our pal, he In the Oval Office all is well. The latest poll was innocent; when he was our enemy, he was guilty. Which leads me to conclude with the same words as I shows an 80 percent approval rating for Bush closed my original piece. "What ought we conclude from and a headline in the New York Times informs this? At the very least, we should remember to take the state­ us, IIPride in Victory Lingers, if Clouded by ments of our government and military leaders with a grain of salt, especially when they incite us to war. Or maybe a moun­ Middle East Chaos and Kurds' Agony." Who tain of salt." Good advice. I wish I'd taken it myself. -RWB says crime doesn't pay? Shooting down the Patriot - No one can for­ get the raving about the astonishing effectiveness of the defenseless Iraqis trapped in an enormous traffic jam on the Patriot missiles, which were said-remember, all we actually road from Kuwait City to Basra. Needless to say, the God­ saw were some lights in the televised sky-to have streaked fearing U.S. leadership never intended to jeopardize the pa­ flawlessly to intercept the Iraqi Scuds, thereby demonstrating thetic Kurds, not even when urging them to rise up against the worth of all the high-tech weapons ever built and the wis­ Saddam's government, clearly implying that U.s. forces dom of proceeding forthwith to develop Star Wars. would assist them in throwing off their longtime oppressor. Like a lot of other claims dished out to a credulous public It was just a little slip-up that the U.S. forces then stood by by the government's propagandists, the Patriot's perfor­ with arms folded while Saddam's army slaughtered the hap­ mance seems to have been rather less impressive than we less Kurdish rebels. were led to believe. Information compiled by the Israelis President Bush later admitted that he had not anticipated shows that casualties and damage caused by Scuds increased Saddam's fierce attack on the Kurdish and Shiite rebels; nor after the deployment of the Patriots. In the pre-Patriot peri­ had he expected a massive Kurdish exodus. In the words of od, 13 Scuds arriving at Israeli cities wounded 115 persons an anonymous administration official, "How could we have and damaged 2,698 apartments; in the post-Patriot period, 11 anticipated this?" Scuds arriving at Israeli cities wounded 174 persons, killed How indeed? The Bush government decided to unleash four, and damaged 9,029 apartments. the most powerful military attack in history against a country U.S. authorities claim that 45 of 47 Scuds fired at Israel torn by ethnic and religious conflict and surrounded by hos­ and Saudi Arabia were intercepted. But these claims use a tile nations, each with its own intrigues projecting into Iraq. loose definition of "intercepted" that does not mean de­ Yes, how could Bush and company have known what would stroyed or kept from causing damage on the ground. Not happen after the shooting stopped? How could anyone have only did parts of the Scuds, including in some cases the war­ known? heads, continue on their way after being "intercepted," caus­ But given this irreducible uncertainty, wouldn't a modi­ ing great damage on impact with the ground, but the Patriots cum of caution have been in order? Too brimming with tes­ themselves sometimes fell back to earth and exploded. tosterone to delay their mock-heroic rush to war, Bush and According to MIT professor Theodore Postol, who has his lieutenants plunged headlong into the witch's cauldron of studied the Patriot for years and recently testified before the the Middle East, with no clear idea of what would happen House Armed Services Committee, "It is possible that if we next, with no plan for putting the shattered pieces back to­ had not attempted to defend against Scuds, the level of re­ gether, with no conception of the quagmire they would be sulting damage would be no worse than what actually oc­ stuck in after their "victory." curred." His conclusion: "when you strip away the hoopla, So now the U.S. government, supercop of the New World there's not a lot there." Order, is stuck there, too deeply involved to extricate itself. Perhaps, after all, the Patriot and Star Wars do have much But let's be fair; if it has not succeeded completely, still it has in common. -RH achieved much. It has left Kuwait a fetid, burning wasteland unfit for human habitation. In the wake of the glorious The Law ofUnanticipated Consequences American victory, hundreds of thousands of people are - As I write, celebration of the glorious U.s. victory in the dead-thank God, few Americans, the only ones who really war against Iraq seems to have quieted somewhat. Just count-vast numbers wounded or sick, millions threatened when all red-blooded Americans were looking forward to by epidemic diseases; the Gulf is polluted with oil, the skies the greatest Fourth of July festivities ever, the damned Kurds darkened by dense smoke, the land and buildings of Kuwait had to go and spoil it. Not content to stay put in Iraq, where and Iraq devastated, hundreds of thousands (maybe mil- Libe!ty 11 Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991 lions) of Kurds and Iraqi Shiites reduced to refugees if they ist or they are applied only in very extreme cases involving survive at all. And Saddam Hussein, Bush's personal reason alcohol-related fatalities or habitual offenders. Needless to for plunging the nation into war, is still in power. say, drunk drivers are not executed in El Salvador, where the But in the Oval Office all is well. The latest poll shows the maximum sentence for such an offense is a one year suspen­ respondents give Bush an 80 percent approval rating, so it sion of one's license. The Swedes impose fines and, in more appears that he'll still be laughing as election day approach­ severe cases, up to six months in jail. In Turkey, although re­ es. The headline in the New York Times (21 April 1991) in­ peated offenses can earn up to three months in jail, the prob­ forms us, "Pride in Victory Lingers, if Clouded by Middle lem is not regarded as a serious one and there are few East Chaos and Kurds' Agony." Who says crime doesn't prosecutions. The twenty mile ride seems to be a folk myth, ~~ -~ as is the humiliating photo caption attributed to Australian newspapers. Even the USSR, whose drunken-driving laws Drllnk witll power - For years the coterie of pro­ are complex, imposes jail time only against those who are fessional busybodies calling themselves Mothers Against "repeatedly found in a state of intoxication" while operating Drunk Driving (MADD) has, along with its other tactics of a vehicle. Licenses can, in the most serious cases, be suspend­ fear and harassment, distributed a list that purports to give ed for up to five years. The gap between MADD claims and the punishments meted out to drunk drivers in various for­ reality is similar right down the line. eign countries. Most of the penalties listed are considerably H turns out that at least some MADD officials were aware more severe than those which are typical in the United of the problems with their claims. Maria Chaloupka, assistant States. The purpose, of course, is to chastise us Americans for director for public affairs at the organization's national head­ our hideous leniency toward this particular type of quarters, told a Detroit News interviewer that attempts had transgressor. been made in the past to verify some of the information In its most recent form, the table includes such alleged which had been compiled by various staff members, but policies as the following: In the Soviet Union, the intoxicated without success. In addition, there have been occasional let­ driver has his license revoked for life. In Turkey one is driv­ ters from foreign embassies complaining about the negative en twenty miles into the country by the police and made to images of their respective countries that the Mothers were walk back to town to accompanying public chastisement. spreading. Micky Sadoff, MADD's national president, gave Sweden is said to impose a mandatory sentence of one year the excuse that such lists have been around so long that their at hard labor. In France, one is presented with a one-year authenticity has been taken for granted. term plus a fine. EI Salvador, in an effort to cut down on re­ One suspects that "fabricated" would be a more accurate cidivism, is said to execute first offenders by firing squad. In verb than "compiled," and that the length of time that some­ Costa Rica, we are told, the gendarmes remove the offend­ thing has been "around" is not a particularly scholarly criter­ er's license plates for a year. The Aussies, relying on the ion. But let that go. The important question is, why do people power of public obloquy, supposedly print the names of mis­ do these things? What leads to such vulgarization of dis­ creants with the heading "He's/She's drunk and in jai1." course and argumentation? Obviously, there is a tendency And much more along these lines. These claims have been so among many advocates of a cause to bolster a weak case by heavily pushed that they have found their way into many means of what Huck Finn called "stretchers." There is also a other outlets, including teachers' manuals, police reports, more sinister attitude, typified formally by Marxism but restauranteurs' legal advisories, and The Law Enforcement probably as old as human thought, which simply holds that Journal of the Police Officers Association of Michigan. They if one's cause is just, one need not adhere to any standards in have been widely used in legislative debates and in informal implementing it. In addition, many people implicitly follow a discussion. sort of "warm fuzzy" approach to belief-Le., if I hear or The problem is that upon investigation almost all of this read something that gives off good, non-threatening vibes, and makes me feel better, it's true, or at least it's information proves to be false. Either the penalties don't ex- true enough for me. Whatever the mixture of motives, and whatever one thinks of this particular organization, the whole affair leaves a bad taste in the mouths of those who value truth. The use L-L of falsehoods to bolster a cause generally proves dysfunction­ al over the long haul, and sometimes at once, especially in a L L society given to open discussion. To quote an old saw, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but everyone is not l l entitled to his own facts." -WPM L L War weary - In the May issue, Bill Bradford ex­ pressed some surprise at readers' reaction to Liberty's Gulf War coverage. He noted that readers were accusing Liberty of being "horribly one-sided," but, ironically, some of these out­ raged readers considered Liberty anti-war and others consid­ "This is your last chance, Ferguson - Get out here and ered it pro-war. jump with me or you're fired!" I understand these readers' feelings because I, too, had 12 Liberty Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991 some problems with Liberty on the war. I thought that Liberty This was demonstrated very well by Sheldon Richman in opposed it; but this impression was based more on my recol­ his essay "No Victory for Liberty," in the last issue. He provid­ lections of previous writings of Liberty editors than on what ed many practical, a posteriori reasons to oppose the war in the they actually put on paper in the March issue. I think this Persian Gulf. But his one paragraph on first principles (pp 26­ happened because, while the war was going on, I didn't want 27) was spectacularly under-argued. And his conclusion was to read very intensively about why we shouldn't have gone glaringly unconvincing. Consider: liThe basic principle of a to war. I didn't want to be reminded by people as knowl­ decent, not to mention libertarian, foreign policy must be the edgeable as Robert Higgs that the one constant of war is an same as that of the physician's oath: Do no harm." ever-expanding state; or see Bradford point out the discrep­ I submit that this prescription is neither decent nor liber­ ancy between George Bush's support of a small monarchical tarian. In fact, Richman himself seems to disagree with it. family and his failure to support the struggling Lithuanians. The first sentence of the paragraph concedes: "1 am willing to Such facts are too painful and demoralizing for someone who stipulate that a reasonable moral code would not condemn simultaneously is thinking that, given Saddam Hussein's ac­ someone for killing an innocent person when it was the only tions, the U.s. government may have made the right choice. way to save his own life." Well, isn't it also okay, under cer­ Had Saddam Hussein captured Saudi Arabia, he would have tain circumstances, to put in harm's way-and even kill- had $50 billion or so in annual oil revenues, which would have armed him for even greater harm. Only after war was "over" (in some dimensions), and the Libertarians are people of principles. Like devastating aerial bombings had receded into history, was I Herbert Spencer, we are not content until our ar­ willing to take a more objective look. And, of course, I found a priori out that some libertarians actually supported the war. But I guments are put into form. With foreign also had to face up to the 667-1 kill ratio and Bradford's soul­ policy, however, this is not as easy as most seem to searching over why he believed the military's claims about think. It is not enough simply to make the equation Iraqi strength, to mention just a few of the sad idiosyncrasies "Non-interventionism equals non-aggression." of this war. As I see it, the fundamental moral problem is that any war leads some people to their deaths or to permanent injury, and innocent bystanders (and what philosophers call "innocent it is unclear (at best) whether the people who make the deci­ shields") in order to repel an aggressor? sions have the right to send them. The tragic deaths of inno­ Those who give a negative answer to this question trou­ cent civilians I place on the head of Saddam Hussein, who ble me. What are they willing to fight for? Will they cave in could have prevented the deaths at any time (no one has sug­ to every cleverly contrived threat? gested that he initiated a just war). Those who say the question is irrelevant to the Gulf War But the American military deaths are the result of a deci­ because Americans were never threatened also trouble me. sion made by George Bush. The fact that our armed forces are Are they so opposed to that 01' bugaboo, altruism, that they voluntary, not based on a draft, trims the magnitude of the are opposed on principle to charitable defense? If they see a vi­ decision, but only slightly. Was he right to send them? I don't olent conflict, do they have no impulse to use physical force know. to stop the fighting? Does "live and let live" also always When a war is justified, a large number of people benefit mean "live and let die"? from the deaths of soldiers. They benefit because a tyrant is And I wonder: Are those who say my question only ap­ rebuffed and future tyrants are warned off future aggression. plies to individuals, but not states, so utopian that only the The Gulf War is probably such a case. But the question is most radical of arguments applies to our current world? I re­ whether the benefit to others justifies the coerced deaths, and spect these people only when they refuse their social security I don't have a philosophical framework that tells me this is checks and cease driving on public roads (and then only for so. All I can do is be grateful for the sacrifice made by those the consistency of their folly). Contrary to one of our letter­ soldiers and hope that in some very large sense they have not writers this month, Prof. Lomasky's "Give Bush His Due" died in vain. -JSS dealt with this problem as it relates to the issue at hand. I need not rehash the good professor's argument. There are good rea­ Wars for liberty - a posteriori For those seeking a moral rule about foreign intervention, sons for libertarians to support a foreign policy of political I offer the following: "Intervene in those conflicts when a) it neutrality, or "isolationism." For one thing, there is a very is in your interest to do so, and b) you have good reason to strong correlation between foreign intervention and the loss believe you can make the situation better, and the resulting of individual liberty. For another, the costs of war often ex­ peace just." - TWV ceed the costs estimated by war's advocates, and the benefits are generally far less. Where is John Galt? - Twice last week, a uni­ But libertarians are people of principles. Like Herbert formed representative of the U.S. government brought me in­ Spencer, we are not content until our arguments are put into formation on the location of Galt's Gulch, the secret hideout a priori form. With foreign policy, however, this is not as easy in the mountains of Colorado for the heroes of Ayn Rand's as most seem to think. It is not enough simply to make the Atlas Shrugged. equation "Non-interventionism equals non-aggression," and First, Tim W. Ferguson reported in The Wall St Journal that let it go at that. GaIt's Gulch was "somewhere nearby" Colorado Springs. Liberty 13 Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991

Then Freedom Network News reported that Fort Collins is suicide." The plane disappeared into a valley: "The bottom of "Galt's country, located near where Ayn Rand located her re­ the valley looked like a stretch of the earth's crust mangled in treat in Atlas Shrugged." the days when the earth was cooling, left irretrievable ever Now it's a fact that Fort Collins and Colorado Springs are since." The level of the ground "in this part of Colorado" was about 120 miles apart, so unless the word "near" means at 8,000 feet. As she flew lower, down to 8,700 feet, "The flash least 60 miles, it is pretty clear that at least one writer got it of light that hit her had no source." She had crashed into the wrong. Of course, Atlas is a work of fiction, so one might force field that camouflaged Galt's Gulch. think its author took a few liberties with geography; perhaps So, heading southeast from northeast Utah over high her description makes it impossible to figure the location of mountains, where the ground level was 8,000 feet, she had the Gulch any more precisely. found Galt's Gulch. Depending on the exact location of To think in such a way is to underestimate Ayn Rand, Afton, Utah, there are only three possible mountain ranges whose pride as a craftsman would not allow such inaccuracy. over which she could have been flying: the San Juan, the La In fact, we know fairly accurately where Galt's Gulch was lo­ Garita or the Sangre de Cristo. cated: somewhere in southwestern Colorado, almost certain­ 2. Barbara Branden tells us in her authoritative biography ly in the San Juan Mountains, about 175 west of Colorado of Rand, "For the location of Atlas Shrugged's Atlantis, the Springs and 250 miles southwest of Fort Collins. hidden valley where the men who have gone on strike spend We have two sources for this information: a month together each summer-they call it 'Galt's Gulch'­ 1. Rand tells us where Galt's Gulch is in Atlas Shrugged. Ayn had studied a Union Pacific Railroad map until she Though her description is not terribly precise, with a little found an isolated valley high in the most uninhabited section of the Rockies. She and Frank drove to the location of the val­ ley in Colorado-and found, to their astonishment, that there The next time you travel through Colorado and was a beautiful little town there, the town of Urey." someone tells you that you are near "Galt's There are a couple of problems with Branden's account. Gulch," check your premises. Or a road map. For one thing, railroad maps generally show the locations of towns, as almost certainly would the road map that Rand and her husband used (assuming they didn't head into the analysis we can figure it out. Dagny Taggart, Atlas's heroine, wilds of Colorado without a map), so it seems unlikely that finds herself marooned in Colorado on a train abandoned by Rand was"surprised" to find the town. And there is no town its crew "about eighty miles from the Oklahoma line." or city in Colorado named ''Urey.'' Oklahoma's border with Colorado is only about 50 miles But before we dismiss Branden's account altogether, we long; plainly, she is in southeastern Colorado. Since the train should consider the source of her information. A primary was westbound, she was likely somewhere fairly close to the source of Branden's biography, and almost certainly the New Mexico border. source of this passage, was a transcription of taped inter­ Dagny finds an airport, buys a plane, and flies "north­ views with Rand that Branden made in the early 1960s. There west" to "Afton, Utah." Afton is a fictional city. But it evi­ is, in the San Juan Mountains, lying at about 8,000 feet above dently lies somewhere in extreme northeastern Utah, else a sea level, a beautiful town named Ouray, but pronounced flight northwest from southeast Colorado wouldn't get there. ''Urey.'' In its physical setting, Ouray almost duplicates As soon as she lands in Afton, she learns that the man she Galt's Gulch. The country around Ouray is so wild and beau­ came to see had just left. She follows his aircraft, heading tiful that it is easy to imagine how even a nature-hater like "southeast toward the highest mountains that obstruct the Rand could be overwhelmed by it. Nearby are several moun­ path of the sun." She follows it for some time-Rand doesn't tains of more than 14,000 feet, and the road south of Ouray tell us how long-until she sees the plane she is following rises to more than 11,000 feet. That road is US-SSO, a highway "dropping, toward a ground she could not see and dared not that could very well be incorporated into the trip from New think of. Like remnants of broken jaws, strings of granite York to Los Angeles during the course of which Rand visited dentures stood between her ship and his; she could not tell "Urey." what lay at the bottom of his spiral motion. She knew only Of course, "Galt's Gulch" is fictional, and it is impossible that it did not look like but was certain to be, the motion of to identify its exact location. But we know that Rand mod­ eled it on a place like Ouray. And we know that she located it in a place like Ouray, except more isolated. It seems very plain from Rand herself and what we know of her that Galt's Gulch was located in the San Juan Mountains, somewhere near Ouray. So the next time you travel through Colorado and some­ one tells you that you are near "Galt's Gulch," check your premises. Or a road map. -RWB The scribbling on the wall- A teenager from Los Angeles, Daniel Bernardo Ramos, has been suspected of "If you think it's bad now, just consider the millions of kids growing up right now with Pee-Wee Herman as a role model!" writing the word "Chaka" 10,000 times on other people's 14 Liberty Imprimis- The Monthly Newsletter Of Challenging Ideas Is Free.

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HILLSDALE I Ii' II LOLLEGE Views From AHeartland Campus Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991 property. Soon after he was sentenced to spend 1500 hours what definition of "poet" could possibly express the distinc­ cleaning up graffiti, he was arrested for trespassing. A wide­ tive character of the persons whose "readings" I see adver­ tip marking pen was found in his vicinity. tised under such titles as I don't care much about Daniel Ramos, but I do care about TWELVE SANJOSE POETS a remark that his mother made in an interview with the LA or Times. NINETEEN POETS AGAINST CENSORSHIP. "'1 don't know what to do, my head is like this,' Maria I'm against censorship, too, but the idea of nineteen poets Ramos said, holding up a clenched fist and visibly trying not in the same place at the same time strikes me as evidence ei­ to cry. [Daniel's] friends, she said, call him up on the tele­ ther of a miracle or of an amazingly loose definition. Name, if phone 'every 10 seconds. They tell him, JlWhat you do is art." you can, nineteen poets who lived at any time in the nine­ He believes it."' teenth century, and anywhere on this continent. Mrs Ramos thus characterized, as well as anyone ever "Poet" is now a generic term. has, the central problem of recent cultural phenomena-their There are other generic terms. "Artist" is one. How many total lack of defining character. "artists" live in your town? Many times more, I'll bet, than the I'm not saying, of course, that contemporary culture has artists who lived in fifteenth-century Florence. How many no characteristics. It's loud. It's ugly. Sometimes it even smells times have you seen a news story about, say, someone being bad. We know what rap music sounds like, what Madonna run over by a truck, and the witness happened to be "Joe looks like, what performance art sometimes smells like. Jones, 39, artist"? But all the characteristics in the world don't add up to de­ This does not mean that Joe performs any actual artistic fining character. This is only culture because somebody's friends say that it is-and they can say that about anything. work. He probably dresses like an artist, smokes like an artist, Coleridge observed that the question "What is poetry? is sneers like an artist, and his friends call and tell him, "What so nearly the same question with, what is a poet? that the an­ you do is art." swer to the one is involved in the solution of the other." But Some people go all the way, of course. They are Willing to stand on a stage and demonstrate their opposition to Jlcensor­ ship" by making noise, throwing colored objects, or trying to Guest Reflection embarrass the audience. Is this "poetry," or is it "art"? It's hard to tell. Although both "poet" and "artist" are generic The utility ofenvy - Most Liberty readers are terms, there's a genus that unites even these loose baggy mon­ probably aware of the significant role of envy in laws at­ sters: the art person. And there's an even more inclusive cate­ tacking the "rich" in the U.S. and other countries and of gory: the political person, the person who is obsessed with how this emotion is playing a significant role in prevent­ "political statements." ing economic reforms in Soviet bloc countries. I have of­ Almost all art persons are obsessed in this way, even ten wondered how this emotion works and why it is so though the statements have nothing to do with voting or any powerfully built into humans. What function does it other aspect of the political system. They presuppose as little serve? study of political ideology as contemporary "art" presupposes A few months ago, I was listening to a news report of Raphael or Matisse. They are merely demonstrations of the discussing U:S. diplomats leaving Iraq, and it mentioned kind of person one is-a member of the "art community." that they were flying first class. It raised my hackles Certain members of the art community get lucky. They get when I heard that because I often have to fly coach be­ noticed by rich people. They get written up in journals and get cause of the high cost of first class and I knew that, at grants from the government. They spend their time talking least to some extent, my taxes were being used to pay for about how the government wants to shut them up and about the diplomats' tickets. Feeling this envious emotion, it how Bush has "all our names on his list," pending the time got me to thinking. It may be that envy is an emotion when he "turns his imperialism inward." that made sense when there was a communal "pot" of The remaining members of the art community are indistin­ available resources, because then if somebody had more, guishable from these people, except in their failure to get you had to have less. Such a feeling might still make lucky. The unlucky ones spend their lives working behind the sense for government wealth transfers, but not for counter in coffee houses, where they talk about how the gov­

wealth earned in a free market. Most people have not ernment wants to shut them up and about how Bush has IIall learned to distinguish between them, hence, people con­ our names on his list," pending the time when he "turns his tinue to feel envy when others become richer through imperial,ism inward." market activity. What happens to real artists, the ones who can actually The bottom line is that, just as people can use a televi­ create works of art, the ones who are really distinguishable sion without understanding anything about how it from one another and from all the people who perform the pe­ works, America has become rich but Americans don't culiar and no doubt difficult act of pretending to be something know why. This vital knowledge must become more that they can't even understand. widespread if we are to avoid the destruction of much of I don't know what happens to the real artists, and when I our wealth. -Sandy Shaw think about it, I feel like Mrs Ramos, holding up her clenched fist. -SC 16 Liberty Talk

Say liN0" to Intolerance by Milton Friedman

When Prof. Friedman gave this talk at the 1990 Future of Freedom Conference, he was introduced as one of the three "great libertarians" of this century. An appropriate

introduction, for his subject was the two other IIgreat libertarians."

Thank you very much. I'm embarrassed by that introduction and by your wel­ coming of me, because I'm afraid that you might not be quite so enthusiastic at the end of the talk. The virtue of being among people with whom you agree fundamentally is that you can talk about some of the harder issues, which you don't want to talk about in other circles. I want tonight to talk about basic liber­ values that I believe we stand for. This is a complicated and difficult tarian beliefs and values. (l refer to my­ Why do I regard tolerance as the problem. Let me give an extreme exam­ self as a liberal in the true meaning of foundation of my belief in freedom? ple. I am on Golden Gate Bridge and I that term: a believer in freedom. How do we justify not initiating coer­ see someone getting ready to jump. Unfortunately, we've had to use the cion? If I asked you what is the basic He's going to commit suicide. Am I en­ word "libertarian" because, as philosophy of a libertarian, I believe titled to use physical coercion to stop Schumpeter said, "As a supreme if un­ that most of you would say that a liber­ him, assuming that I am capable of intended compliment, the enemies of tarian philosophy is based on the doing so? On the libertarian basis of the system of private enterprise have premise that you should not initiate not initiating coercion, one would have thought it wise to appropriate its force, that you may not initiate coer­ to say no. Yet I am sure that most of label.") As a long-time liberal­ cion. Why not? you, like me, would stop him if we libertarian, I am puzzled by a paradox. If we see someone doing something could. We'd grab him. We'd justify On the one hand, I regard the basic wrong, someone starting to sin (to use that temporarily by saying "He doesn't human value that underlies my own a theological term) let alone just make really intend to do that and it's irrever­ beliefs as tolerance, based on humility. a simple mistake, how do we justify sible and we've got to stop him from I have no right to coerce someone else, not initiating coercion? Are we not sin­ doing something irreversible." because I cannot be sure that I am right ning if we don't stop him? Only two We grab him. We hold on to him. and he is wrong. On the other hand­ bases for a negative answer occur to And he gives a perfectly plausible rea­ and this is the paradox-some of our me that make any sense. One-which I son why he wants to commit suicide. heroes, people who have done the regard largely as largely an evasion-is Are you going to let him go? In princi­ most to promote libertarian ideas, have that there's no virtue in his not sinning pIe you should say yes. In practice, I been highly intolerant as human be­ if he's not free to sin. That may be true. doubt very much that many of us, as­ ings, and have justified their views But then, that doesn't apply to me. It suming that we had the power to hold (with which I largely agree) in ways may be no virtue for him. That doesn't him, would just let him go. that I regard as promoting intolerance. mean I should let him sin: am I not sin­ What this demonstrates, fundamen­ Equally important, as I have observed ning when I let him sin? How do I jus­ tally, is that no simple principle is real­ the libertarian movement, there's a re­ tify letting him sin? I believe that the ly adequate. We do not have all the lated strand of utopianism in the liber­ more persuasive answer is, can I be answers, and there is no simple formu­ tarian movement that I believe is also sure he's sinning? Can I be sure that I la that will give us all the answers. productive of intolerance and is funda­ am right and he is wrong? That I know That's why humility, tolerance, is so mentally inconsistent with the basic what sin is? basic, so fundamental. Because the Liberty 17 Volume 4, Number 6 Jul1991

only way that we can get a little closer cussed moral philosophy in depth with they were observed, you would regard to those· fundamental principles is by either of the two men. 'My impression,' as sufficient to contradict your view." being tolerant,. by considering and re­ she was to say, 'was that von Mises did And vice. versa. Then we can go out specting the opinions of people who not care to consider moral issues, and and see which, if either, conclusion the disagree with us. Henry was seriously committed to al­ evidence contradicts. The virtue ofthis And yet, as I've already said, how truism.... We argued quite violently. modern· scientific approach, as pro­ can we square that with the intolerance At one point von Mises lost his patience posed by Popper, is that it provides a demonstrated by people who deserved­ and screamed at me. We did not part way in which, at least in principle, we ly are heroes to libertarians? There is no enemies-except for von Mises at the can resolve disagreements without a doubt in my mind that Ludwig von moment; about a year later he and I met conflict. Mises has done more to spread the fun­ at a conservative dinner and his wife So much for von Mises. That's a damental ideas of free markets than made peace between us.'" very brief statement and I recognize The important thing to me is less that it doesn't do justice to either praxe­ their intolerance in personal behavior ology or Popper. But that's not relevant than the philosophical doctrines on here. It is of course desirable to which they claimed to base their views, The same thing is true of Ayn Rand, have a vision of the ideal, of which seem to me to be fundamentally as her phrase about Hazlitt's supposed Utopia. But we can't stop a source of intellectual intolerance. So commitment to altruism suggests. Rand there. If we do, we become a far as von Mises is concerned, I refer to did not regard facts as relevant, as ways his methodological doctrine of praxeol­ of testing her propositions. She derived cult or a religion, and not a liv­ ogy. That's a fancy word and it may everything from the basic proposition ing, vital force. seem highly irrelevant to my topic, but that A=A. And from that follows every­ it isn't at all. Because his fundamental thing. But if it does, again, suppose two idea was that we knew things about Objectivists, two disciples of Ayn Rand, any other individual. There is no doubt "human action" (the title of his famous disagree, or that a disciple disagrees in my mind that nobody has done more book) because we are human beings. As with her. Both agree that A is A. than Ayn Rand to develop a popular a result, he argued, we have absolutely There's no disagreement about that. But following for many of these ideas. And certain knowledge of the motivations of for one reason or another they have dif­ yet there is also no doubt that both of human action and he maintained that ferent views on another subject. How them were extremely intolerant. we can derive substantive conclusions do they reconcile that difference? There I recall a personal episode, at the from that basic knowledge. Facts, statis­ is no way. And that's the basic reason first meeting of the Mont Pelerin tical or other evidence cannot, he for the stories that Barbara Branden Society-the founding meeting in 1947 argued, be used to test those conclu­ tells in The Passion of Ayn Rand about in Mont Pelerin, Switzerland. Ludwig sions, but only to illustrate a theory. what happened when people disagreed von Mises was one of the people who They cannot be used to contradict a the­ in any minute detail with Ayn Rand. was there. I was also. The group had a ory, because we are not generalizing I believe that there's an enormous series of discussions on different topics. from observed evidence, but from in­ paradox there. But don't misunderstand One afternoon, the discussion was on nate knowledge of human motives and me. Nothing I say lessens my admira­ the distribution of income, taxes, pro­ behavior. tion in any way for the role that both gressive taxes, and so on. The people in That philosophy converts an assert­ von Mises and Rand played in promot­ that room included Friedrich von ed body of substantive conclusions into ing the ideas of liberty and free markets. Hayek, Fritz Machlup, George Stigler, a religion. They do not constitute a set And yet I believe that they teach both a Frank Knight, Henry Hazlitt, John of scientific propositions that you can positive and a negative lesson. The neg­ Jewkes, Lionel Robbins, Leonard argue about in terms of empirical evi­ ative lesson is that we must beware of Read-hardly a group whom you dence. Suppose two people who share intolerance ifwe're going to be really ef­ would regard as leftists. In the middle von Mises' praxeological view come to fective in persuading people. The writ­ of that discussion von Mises got up and contradictory conclusions about any­ ings of both Rand and Mises-and said "You're all a bunch of socialists," thing. How can they reconcile their dif­ much libertarian literature-take for and stomped out of the room. ference? The only way they can do so is granted that hard questions have easy You need only read Barbara by a purely logical argument. One has answers, that it's possible to know Branden's The Passion of Ayn Rand, a to say to the other, "You made a mis­ something about the real world, to de­ fascinating book, to recognize that what take in reasoning."·And the other has to rive substantive conclusions, from pure­ I've said applies to Rand as well. say, "No, you made a mistake in rea­ lya priori principles. Barbara Branden tells a story that refers soning." Suppose neither believes he Let me take a real example. How to both Rand and von Mises: "One eve­ has made a mistake in reasoning. many times have you heard someone ning, the Hazlitts [that was Henry There's only one thing left to do: fight. say that the answer to a problem is that Hazlitt, whom I mentioned] invited Karl Popper-another Austrian, like you simply have to make it private Ayn and Frank to dinner with Dr and Mises and Hayek-takes a different ap­ property. But is private property such Mrs von Mises. The evening was a dis­ proach. If we disagree, we can say to an obvious notion? Does it come out of aster. It was the first time Ayn had dis- one another, "You tell me what facts, if the soul? 18 Liberty Special Issue THE WELFARE STATE: REFORM OR ABOLITION?

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I have a house. It belongs to me. much resources to operate as are neces­ facing up to that responsibility. You fly an airplane over my house, sary, and it doesn't do a good job when It is of course desirable to have a vi­ 20,000 feet up. Are you violating my it does. So it's clearly a failure. sion of the ideal, of Utopia. Far be it private property? You fly over at 50 In the Future of Freedom from me to denigrate that. But we feet. You might give a different an­ Foundation's Freedom Daily, for can't stop there. If we do, we become a swer. Your house is next door. You September 1990-again, a group that cult or a religion, and not a living, vital have a hi-fi system. You play your hi-fi is doing good work and is making an force. These comments apply, I be­ at an enormously high decibel count. impact-Jacob Hornberger wrote, lieve, to the largest socialist enterprise Are you violating my private proper­ "What is the answer to socialism in in the U.S. as well. That is, of course, ty? Those are questions to which you public schools? Freedom." Correct. national defense. Like everyone else in can't get answers by introspection or But how do we get from here to there? this room, I am appalled by the waste asking whether A is A or not. They are Is that somebody else's problem? Is of the defense industry. I am sure that practical questions that require an- that a purely practical problem that if you and I could only run it, we we can dismiss? The ultimate goal we could do it for half the money, and do would like to get to is a society in it a lot better. But although I have tried Am I a statist I as I have which people are responsible for for many years to figure out a way in been labelled by a number of li­ themselves and for their children's which we could run defense as a pri­ schooling. And in which you do not vate enterprise, and despite the hopes bertarians I because some thirty have a governmental system. But am I of some anarchist libertarians like my years ago I suggested the use of a statist, as I have been labelled by a son, that we can, I have to admit that educational vouchers as a way number of libertarians, because some after some 30 years now, he's never of easing the transition from thirty years ago I suggested the use of been able to persuade me that we educational vouchers as a way of eas­ could. I suppose that just shows how socialism to freedom? ing the transition? Is that, and I quote intolerant I am. At any rate, simple slo­ Hornberger again, "simply a futile at­ gans like "The market will take care of tempt to make socialism work more it" or "noninterventionism" do not re­ swers based on experience. Before solve the hard problems. We may very there were airplanes, nobody thought efficiently"? I don't believe it. I don't believe that you can simply say what well agree on the direction we want to of the problem of trespass through air. go in, but just how we're going to go So simply saying "private property"is the ideal is. This is what I mean by the utopian strand in libertarianism. You there and how far we're going to go, a mantra, not an answer. Simply say­ that's a much more difficult problem. ing "use the market" is not an answer. cannot simply describe the utopian so­ Let me give you two recent exam­ lution, and leave it to somebody else ples that also are relevant to the same how we get from here to there. That's theme-utopianism. I'll touch on them not only a practical problem. It's a The writings of both Rand very briefly: vouchers and negative in­ problem of the responsibilities that we and Mises-and much libertar­ come tax. Re vouchers-and I'm now have. ian literature-take for granted The same issue arises with respect speaking of schooling vouchers­ that hard questions have easy schooling is, next only to national de­ to welfare, social security and the rest. fense, the largest socialist enterprise in It may be that the ideal is-and I be­ answers I that it's possible to the United States. And it is clearly as lieve that it is-to have a society in know something about the real much of a failure as the socialist enter­ which you do not have any kind of world, to derive substantive prises in Poland or Hungary or major or substantial governmental sys­ Czechoslovakia or East Germany. It ­ tem of welfare. Again, nearly thirty conclusions, from purely a pri­ shares the characteristic features of years ago I suggested, as a way of pro­ ori principles. those failures. The characteristic fea­ moting a transition from here to there, ture of socialist failure is that you have a negative income tax as a substitute a group, the nomenklatura, who do very for and alternative to the present rag Let me close by noting that admir­ well, you have masses who do very bag of welfare and redistributionist ers of von Mises seldom quote the fol­ poorly, and the system as a whole is .measures. Again, is that a statist solu­ lOWing of his statements: "Govern­ highly inefficient. That's exactly the tion? I believe not. We have participat­ ment as such is not only not an evil but case with our school system. Those of ed in a society in which people have the most necessary and beneficial insti­ us who happen to live in high-income become dependent on government tution, as without it no lasting cooper­ suburbs, as well as high-paid teachers hand-outs. It is irresponsible, immoral ation and no civilization could be and teacher-administrators, do very I would say, simply to say, "Oh well, developed and preserved./I Now that's well out of the system.The poor suck­ somehow or other we'll overnight an idea to chew over. Thank you very ers who live in the ghetto or who don't drop the whole thing." You have to much. 0 have any money, they do very poorly have some mechanism of going from The foregoing is an edited transcript of a talk out of the system. The system as a here to there. I believe that we lose a given to the International Society for Individual whole takes two or three times as lot of plausibility for our ideas by not Liberty in August, 1990. 20 Liberty Essay The Owls Are Not What They Seem by R. W. Bradford

Extinction of a species is a horrible thing, and no decent human being would want to be part of it. The northern owl has been declared "threatened" and an area the size of four states set aside for its survival. What could be wrong with that?

Extinction is forever. When the final breeding pair of a species dies, that species will never exist again. This fact is profoundly moving to most people. If a species becomes extinct, it means that we will never again see it, never be able to benefit from it. And more. Extinction means that a species is lost not only to man, but to Extinction is forever. To protect the owl from the threat the entire ecosystem of which it is a That is why most of us support of extinction, the U.S. Fish and part. The extinction of a species might government action to protect species Wildlife Service last year declared ap­ mean environmental disaster. facing extinction. That is why there is proximately 3.2 million acres off-limits When we were children we a broad consensus in support of the to logging and development establish­ learned of fantastic creatures of long Endangered Species Act, which em­ ing a permanent old-growth habitat to ago, strange flying creatures with powers the federal government to take ensure the survival of the northern wingspans of Learjets, giant reptiles of action to prevent extinction. spotted owl as a species. An official of awesome visage, predators armed I live on the edge of America's a timber association, worried about with tusk, tooth and claw, an astound­ most magnificent forest, the temperate the livelihood of loggers and their ing variety of creatures with all sorts rainforest of majestic Douglas fir, hem­ families, suggested that perhaps the of odd anatomies. We also learned of lock, ferns and mosses that blankets Iumberman should be declared an species that became extinct recently the Olympic Mountains. This forest is "endangered species." His sugges­ because of man: the passenger pigeon, the home of a few thousand people tion-which may have been a joke for whose flocks once blackened the skies who earn their living from harvesting all I know-was quickly denounced of America's midwest, the dodo bird timber and from tourism. It is also the by spokespersons for several environ­ of the Indian Ocean. We saw films of home of the northern spotted owl. mental preservationist organizations. the whooping crane, big, goofy look­ It is said the northern spotted owl After all, loggers and their families are ing birds of strange beauty; we were is threatened with extinction. Last not a separate species; they are Homo told that they were nearly extinct, but summer, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife sapiens, just like other Americans. that we were working to save them. Service determined that the northern On April 26, the Fish and Wildlife We are glad to learn that the spotted owl is a "threatened species," Service declared another 11.6 million whooping crane is surviving, because meaning that its survival as a species acres protected. People who earn their we find the prospect of extinction­ will be protected by the U.s. govern­ living from the timber industry were particularly extinction caused by ment. The northern spotted owl is a outraged. The area closed to human man-to be odious. We feel sorrow for shy creature; it Iives only in the old activity is as big as Massachusetts, the species lost. We will never again growth forest. Its survival is threat­ New Hampshire, Connecticut, and enjoy their beauty. We will never ened by human encroachment. When Rhode Island combined. According to know whether an extinct species loggers harvest an area, that area is no timber industry experts, the move will might have contained in its body a longer habitat for the northern spotted put 100,000 people out of work. substance that could cure cancer. owl. 'Government experts estimate that Liberty 21 Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991

30,000 jobs will be lost. I don't have, one of my favorite trailheads. So I put breed them in zoos." Since the spotted much fai th in either of these "expert" the matter aside as one of life's small owl of the North"vest is the same as the estimates-the "science" of economic mysteries. spotted owl that is prospering in prediction seems bogus to me-but it When the government closed the Colorado, Texas, Utah, Arizona, New does seem plain that the impact of the additional 11.6 million acres to protect Mexico and Mexico, breeding them in exclusion of human beings from this the northern spotted owl, I remem­ captivity isn't necessary to save the huge area will have dramatic and un­ bered my curiosity over the matter. I species. Apparently, Secretary Lujan is pleasant consequences for a lot of called my local library for a copy of the not aware that Strix occidentalis-in human beings. Endangered Species Act, and was re­ whose defense his department is will­ The spotted owl has been in the ferred to a law library. The ESA is ing to ban human beings from an area news a lot longer in the northwest, lengthy and verbose, too expensive to the size of four states-is not a' separ­ where I live, than it has nationally be- copy, so I spent an hour or two looking ate species. He made the same mistake through it. that I (and probably most Americans) The law contained the key to the made: he inferred from the fact that the mystery of the northern spotted owl: northern spotted owl has been consid­ Secretary Lujan is not A "species" includes any subspecies ered for protection under the aware that the northern spot­ of fish or wildlife or plants, and any Endangered Species Act that the north­ ted owl-in whose defense his distinct papulatian segment of any ern spotted owl is a separate species, species of vertebrate fish or wildlife department is willing to ban which might be able to be saved by that interbreeds in nature ... "endan­ captive breeding. human beings from an area the gered species" means any species which is in danger of extinction ... What will be the fate of the loggers size of four states-is a not a There you have it. According to the and owls of the Pacific Northwest? Not separate species at all. Act, "species" does not refer to what a surprisingly, loggers are incensed by biologist means when he says "spe­ the loss of their livelihood. Northwest cies" or what ordinary people speak­ Congresspeople have raised a hue and cause the people liable to be hurt live ing the English language mean. The cry on their behalf, and many people around here. When it first cropped up, survival of the spotted owl, aka Strix are beginning to see the folly of some I was curious to know whether I had occidentalis, is in no way endangered or aspects of the Endangered Species Act. ever seen a northern spotted owl while threatened. But the habitat of the spot­ If construed and wielded properly the hiking in the mountains. Bird­ ted owls who live in the Pacific ESA can prevent just about any human watching is a hobby of mine and owls Northwest is receding. This is all the activity anywhere, just as it has in this are among my favorites, hard-to-find ESA requires. case. and rather mysterious. So I got out my As Congress sees it, a "subspecies" By including "subspecies" and copy of Roger Tory Peterson's A Field or a "distinct population" is a "spe­ "distinct population" in the definition Guide to Western Birds. To my surprise, cies." By this same logic, I suppose, a of "species" and by defining "harm" to I could find no listing for the northern subcommittee is the same thing as a a species to include encroachment on spotted owl. The closest I could find committee, a submarine is the same as its habitat, all that one needs to do is was the "spotted owl," or Strix occiden­ a marine, and substandard is the same identify a single species that cannot talis. So I checked my copy of The as standard. We may not like it, but survive changes in its habitat in a Audubon Society Master Guide to like they say in those public service an­ given area, and the Fish and Wildlife Birding, a three volume set. In volume nouncements about draft registration, Service can regulate human activity (or 2, I again found the spotted owl (Strix "it's the law." ban it altogether) in that area in order occidentalis), but no mention of the Now it may be that I should not to ensure the survival of the "distinct northern spotted owl. The habitat of have been surprised to learn that "spe­ population." Strix occidentalis seemed to include that cies" as used in the' Endangered This is exactly what is happening. of the northern spotted owl: "Pacific Species Act has a different meaning Buoyed by their success in closing the Coast from S.W. British Columbia to S. from the term as used by biologists or forests of the Northwest, preservation­ California. Also in mountains of S. ordinary people. Perhaps I am just ig­ ists are pushing to remove human hab­ Colorado, extreme W. Texas, Utah, norant: as a public citizen, I ought to itation elsewhere. The salmon that Arizona and New Mexico; Mexico keep up on Congressionally-mandated spend most of their lives in the Pacific south to Michoacan." This seemed con­ linguistic legerdemain. Ocean return to spawn to the same fusing: was Strix occidentalis the bird But one thing is plain: I had a lot of streams in which they were bred; there­ that was the subject of controversy? company in my ignorance. fore they constitute a "distinct popula­ Bird-watching is only a minor According to an article in The tion." There are streams in Idaho in hobby for me, however, and I have no Economist, Secretary of the Interior which the population of salmon has de­ particular connection to the timber in­ Manuel Lujan, the man in charge of en­ clined sharpIy since civilization came dustry-aside from cursing the hard­ forcing the Endangered Species Act, to the Columbia River basin. To protect driving logging trucks on forest roads has responded to the crisis with a "sug­ each of these many "species," the dams when I am driving in the mountains to gestion to net some of the birds and on the Columbia River that provide 22 Liberty WHY SHOULD YOU BE READING FREEDOM DAILY?* ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1990-91 ISSUES OF FREEDOM DAILY (PHOTOCOPIES) AND ADDITIONAL ESSAYS-One Dollar Each

1 January: "An Introductory Message 8 August: "The Sanctity of Private Prop­ 16 April: "Reflections on National Service" from Jacob G. Hornberger"; "An Introductory erty" by JGH; "Is Liberty Too Extreme?" by by JGH; "Politically Correct Thinking and Message from RichardM. Ebeling"; "Self­ RME; "The Income Tax: Root ofAll Evil" by State Education" by RME; "Are Compulsory Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson; and Frank Chodorov; and RME's review of Tell School Attendance Laws Necessary?-Part 2" RME's review of The New Realities by Peter the World: What Happened in China and Why by Samuel L. Blumenfeld; "Why Not Separ­ F. Drucker. by Liu Binyan. ate School and State?" by Leonard E. Read; and RME's review of Economics on Trial by 2 February: "Fighting Plunder with Plunder 9 September: "Letting Go of Socialism" by Mark Skousen. in Poland" by JGH; "Free Market Money­ JGH; "The Impossibility of Socialism" by Instead of Political Manipulation" by RME; RME; "Sinking in a Sea of Buts" by Leonard 17 May: "Gun Control, Patriotism, and "Visions and Ideals" by James Allen; and E. Read; and RME's review of The Awa­ Civil Disobedience" by JGH; "Something RME's review of Discovery, Capitalism and kening ofthe Soviet Union by Geoffrey Hos­ Must Be Done!" by RME; "Are Compulsory Distributive Justice by Israel Kirzner. king. School Attendance Laws Necessary?-Part 3" by Samuel L. Blumenfeld; and RME's review 3 March: "Forget the Alamo (and the 10 October: "Racism, Control, and Rock of This Hemisphere of Liberty by Michael Flag)!" by JGH; "On the Edge of Hyper­ and Roll" by JGH; "Racism and the Market Novak. inflation in Brazil" by RME; and RME's Process" by RME; "Discrimination" by F.A. review of Free Persons and the Common Harper; and RME's review of Preferential ADDITIONAL ESSAYS BY Good by Michael Novak. Policies by Thomas Sowell. JACOB G. HORNBERGER 4 April: "The U.S. Government-Guilty as 11 November: "The Vietnam War" by -One Dollar Each Charged" by JGH; "The Economics of the JGH; "Foreign Policy and Foreign Wars" by 18 "The Compromise of Silence" Drug War" by RME; "The Morality of Drug RME; "Conscription" by Daniel Webster; and 19 "Principles and the Constitution" Controls" by Thomas Szasz; "An Open Letter RME's review of Rock Around the Bloc by 20 "An Open Letter to Russell Kirk" to Bill Bennett" by Milton Friedman. Timothy W. Ryback. 21 "How Bad Do You Want to be Free?" 22 "War for Peace in the Middle East" 5 May: "Dying for Freedom in Panama" by 12 December: "Christianity and Freedom" 23 "Conscience, Patriotism, and the Persian by JGH; "Yes, Virginia, There is No Santa JGH; "Panama and the Canal: Children of Gulf War" Claus" by RME; Charity: Biblical and Poli­ American Imperialism and Socialism" by 24 "Omnipotent Government and the Per­ tical" by Russell Clinchy; and RME's RME; "The Conquest of the United States by 1. sian Gulf War" Spain" by William Graham Sumner; "Patri­ review of The Ethics of Redistribution by otism" by Herbert Spencer. Bertrand de Jouvenel. ADDITIONAL ESSAYS BY 6 June: "Democracy vs. Constitutionally 13 January: "The Sanctity of Private Prop­ RICHARD M. EBELING Limited Government" by JGH; "Freedom's erty-Part 2" by JGH; "Free Trade vs. Pro­ -One Dollar Each Greatest Challenge" by RME; "The United tectionism" by RME; "The Tariff Idea" by 25 "Europe's Future in the 1990's" States and the Roman Empire" by Lawrence W.M. Curtiss; and RME's review of Free 26 "The Political Economy of the French Reed; "We Have Socialism, Q.E.D." by Mil­ Market Morality by Alexander H. Shand. Revolution" ton Friedman. 27 "Education, Businessmen and Economic 14 February: "The Preservation of the Bu­ Freedom" 7 July: "The Forgotten Importance of Civil reaucracy" by JGH; "Democratized Privilege: 28 "Lithuania: Stalin's Victim Wants a Free Liberties" by JGH; "The Heritage of Eco­ The New Mercantilism" by RME; "The Roots Market Future" nomic Liberty" by RME; "The Bill ofRights" of Limited Government" by Alan Barth; 29 "Down a Slippery Slope of Kuwaiti Oil: by Hugo Black; "Give Me Liberty" by Rose "Thought and Purpose" by James Allen; and American Military Intervention in the Wilder Lane. RME's review ofCapitalism by Arthur Seldon. Middle East" 15 March: "Why Americans Won't Choose 30 "Inside Lithuania" Freedom" by JGH; "The Origin of Democ­ 20 or more ratized Privilege" by RME; "Are Compulsory One-year Subscription School Attendance Laws Necessary?-Part I" selections: $20. by Samuel L. Blumenfeld; and RME's review To Freedom Daily - $15 of UnfinishedBusiness by Clint Bolick. ($20 Foreign) *WE DON'T COMPROMISE.

o Enclosed is $15 ($20 foreign) for a one-year subscription to Freedom Daily. MC/yISA # Exp. _ o Enclosed is my payment for the following 1990-91 issues of Freedom Daily NAME _ (photocopies) and essays by Jacob G. Hornberger and Richard Ebeling (One dollar each or $20 for 20 or more selections): ADDRESS----- _ 1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 2 6 10 14 18 22 26 30 CITY/STATE{ZIP _ 3 7 11 15 19 23 27 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 Mail to: FFF, P.O. Box 9752, Denver, CO 80209 (303-777-3588). Volume 4, Number 6 Jul 1991

both power and water will need to be mals and plants live everywhere. To tion. The social and private cost of removed. Without power or water, the protect every "distinct population" of preservation of wilderness is simply people of the Columbia River basin every species or subspecies is tanta­ too high for people on the margin of won't last long. mount to prohibiting human activity subsistence. The radical preservationists may be altogether. This process has pretty well exter­ overplaying their hand. They may pull How are those of us who treasure minated wilderness in China and off the ban on logging, but I doubt wilderness to react to all this? The first India, and threatens the remaining they will get all the dams along the thing we must do is reject the radical wilderness elsewhere. At the present Columbia removed. The more pres­ preservationist argument on environ­ time, the wilderness of Madagascar­ sure they put to use the Endangered mentalist as well as humanist grounds. and the unique endangered species Species Act to prohibit human activity, It is simply not viable in the long term: the more they endanger the law itself. we cannot reasonably expect human Already, they have managed to annoy beings to sacrifice their own lives and The pre-civilized practition­ The Economist, normally quite sympa­ prosperity in favor of other animals. thetic to environmental concerns. In a We have to realize that the decisions ers of radical preservationism report on the controversy headlined we make are economic decisions: there -unlike their civilized ana­ "Owlmageddon," it noted that "envi­ are advantages and disadvantages to logs-have an economic incen­ ronmentalists have grown increasingly the alternatives we choose between, shrill" and described the situation as a and some of the choices we make will tive for their beliefs: for hunter­ "tragi-comedy in which the spotted have the effect of changing the animal gatherers, failure to preserve owl has been mysteriously trans­ populations with which we live. The the wilderness means starva­ formed into a sacred cow." radical preservationist argument is tion, since the wilderness is the The same line of thinking that the fundamentally anti-human. radical environmentalists have used to We must also remember that rejec­ sale source of the food and close 14.8 million acres to human activ­ tion of the radical preservationist argu­ other products that they hunt ity could be used to perpetuate slums. ment does not mean that we must and gather. Just imagine: the "inner-city rat," a dis­ accept the other extreme. It is quite tinct population group, depends on its possible to appreciate the beauty in na­ habitat of rundown housing, un­ ture, to enjoy wilderness at a profound that it harbors-is being rapidly de­ healthy sanitary conditions, and the level, to be sensitive to the possible wide availability of garbage. Any ac­ stroyed. The only way of protecting harm from environmental damage, the remainder that seems to show any tion that alleviates these conditions while eschewing the absurdities of the would impact the habitat of the inner- promise of success is subsidy from radical preservationists. We should re­ wealthy Western nations. member that to preserve wilderness, In a certain sense, wilderness pres­ we need not preserve all wilderness or ervation is a luxury good; that is to say, The argument that preserva­ roll-back civilization; we can preserve only those who are prosperous will tionists are using, if applied nature on a selective basis; we can re­ care enough to preserve wilderness. spect nature, work hard to learn its For this reason, those concerned with consistently to its logical con­ mysteries, and do our best to preserve survival of wilderness should also be clusion, has the effect of pretty what we increasingly value. concerned with the prosperity of man­ much banning all human ac­ We should also remember that as kind. "Environmental sensitivity," as wilderness recedes, civilized people John Baden has observed, "is hostage tivityeverywhere. will value what remains more highly, to human prosperity and security." and will preserve it if they can afford Of course, there exist pre-civilized to. The problem of diminishing wilder­ human beings who practice religions city rat, thereby threatening its survi­ ness is self-limiting. Similarly, as spe­ that revere wilderness as much as do val as a distinct population. Therefore, cies-not subspecies or distinct the radical preservationists. The pre­ every sort of change-from govern­ populations-are threatened with ex­ civilized practitioners of radical preser­ ment slum clearance to gentrifica­ tinction, the incentives to save them vationism-unlike their civilized ana­ tion-must be prohibited. will increase. These incentives to pro­ logs-have an economic incentive for The argument that preservationists tect wilderness and wild species work their beliefs: for hunter-gatherers, fail­ are using, if applied consistently to its only in a prosperous society. ure to preserve the wilderness means logical conclusion, has the effect of In a poor society, wilderness starvation, since the wilderness is the pretty much banning all human activi­ doesn't really have a chance. As the sole source of the food and other prod­ ty everywhere. Every activity of population grows, the wilderness is in­ ucts that they hunt and gather. human beings has an effect on the exorably destroyed: when the alterna­ Some radical preservationists­ environment for the simple reason that tive is starvation, people prefer to clear those who understand the full implica­ we are a part of the eco-system. And land in order to harvest its timber and tions of their beliefs-advocate a re- "distinct populations" of various ani- animals and to bring it under cultiva- continued on page 26 24 Liberty Guide

Libertarians and Environmentalists by John Baden

How we see them, how they see us, what they can learn from us, what we can learn from them, and why we are natural allies.

Why are so many people who are sincerely concernecl about the environment put off by what we classical liberals and libertarians have to say about environmental issues? The reason, I think, lies in the ways that classical liberals approach environmental issues. Classical liberals tend to see environmental issues primarily in the context of their social philosophy, a so- ;>.-.:«9".-«««::xw:•.;...~-.;««O:«~«O:«~:««.;.;.;.."«'I. ..."«·X«':.;«.:.;.;, cial philosophy that most environmen- nomic grounds. These approaches are classical liberals not only are wrong­ talists find sterile or outright seldom constructive and rarely win they are wrong in a way that often mysterious. allies. alienates them from potentially con­ Like most Americans, environmen- The Watermelon approach. We structive coopcration with people who talists are mystified by the notion of in- note that some environmentalists have support environmental groups. dividual rights that many classical a Marxist-collectivist agenda, that they The Scientific Critique approach. liberals sec at the root of their social phi- are "watermelons"-green on the oUlo­ Many classical liberals note that some losophy. Whether this is the result of side but red on the inside. In this view, enviros grossly exaggerate ecological our failure to enunciate that philosophy enviros use green paint to camouflage problems, thereby kindling and exploit­ adequately or their failure to give indi- and legitimize an authoritarian, often ing people's fears. And this charge is vidual rights theory sufficient consider- "red" agenda. These "watermelons" undeniably true, in some cases. For ex­ ation or of the inadequacy of individual use environmental concerns to legiti­ ample, the Natural Resource Defense rights theory itself remains open to mize the imposition of their preferences Council exploited alar (and the celebrity question. But the fact remains that when upon others by means of political coer,­ status of Meryl Streep) to expand its classical liberals or libertarians respond cion. If citizens see huge impending ec­ membership and budget, and when it to a specific environmental concern (e.g. ological losses, they are much more had finished the job, its public relations the deterioration of the ozone layer) amenable to expanding the power and firm boasted about its successful enviro with talk of individual rights, we may authority of government. £lim-flam. as well be speaking Sumerian as far as This response holds some validity: Classical liberals observe that advo­ most environmentalists (and most other certainly Barry Commoner, Lester cates of immediate and radical environ­ people as well) are concerned. Happily, Brown, and other prominent environ­ mental reform often discount the libertarians and classical liberals realize mentalists assert that today's environ­ benefit of scientific research; they ne­ this, and seldom respond to environ- mental crisis demands extreme actions glect, for instance, the substantial disa­ mentalist concerns with the theoretical backed by governmental force. But it is greement among scientists on issues case for an ethic of individual rights. also plain that many environmentalists like global warming, and simply de­ Environmentalists start with goals are not championing the growth of clare the issue settled and demand ac­ and evaluate proposals for reform government-Randall O'Toole, for ex­ tion now. But good science is cautious largely in accord with the intentions of ample, has been severely critical of thl~ and modest in its claims, and is not in­ the advocates. National Forest Service because of its clined to issue dire warnings of catas­ Yet we often criticize environmental bureaucratic short-sightedness. By trophe or even significant change. thinking on political, scientific or eco- viewing all enviros as "watermelons," This response to the environmental 1.:::======Liberty 25 Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991

challenge is often valid, and though it is What economists think of as the strength ments function; most environmentalists certainly intellectually respectable, it is of their discipline-its wertfreiheit, or have insight into how the natural world not always appropriate: most environ­ value-free-ness-is perceived as cold­ functions. Classical liberals are more mental criticisms have scientific founda­ heartedness and indifference. And envi­ sensitive to issues of human freedom; tion. To many environmentalists, scien­ ronmentalists are moved more by the environmentalists to ecological integri­ tific criticism sometimes sounds like an ty. I am convinced that each group can apologyfor environmentaldegradation. learn from the other, that environmen­ The Economic approach. Many clas­ Classical liberals should re­ talists can benefit from liberal insights sicalliberals observe that environmental­ member that they share an in­ into economics and politics and that ists don't appreciate the power and classical liberals can benefit from envi­ value of economics in understanding tellectual heritage with most ronmental insights into ecology. and solving environmental problems. environmentalists: the con­ As classical liberals, we seek institu­ Their preference for government inter­ cepts of spontaneous order, ad­ tions that value honor and civility while vention betrays an ignorance of the types holding the individual accountable for of incentives that governmental manag­ aptation and evolution are his or her actions. We should also sup­ ers face when managing an institution, central to both. We also share a port incentives and voluntary coopera­ enterprise, or eco-system. They tend to healthy skepticism toward poli­ tion as means to ecological integrity. We classify environmental disasters as mar­ should promote a more environmentally ket failures rather than political failures. tics and large institutions and sensitive culture for reasons of liberty as Thus the catastrophic management of so­ concentrated power. well as ecology. called "National Forests" by the When working with environmental­ Department of Agriculture is blamed not ists, we must be modest in our claims of on the perverse bureaucratic incentives spiritual and ethereal than by considera­ authority and sensitive to their wisdom forced on the forests' managers, but on tions of efficiency and productivity. and insight. This is basic decency, and the private enterprise system. What is needed: eminently liberal. We understand that Once again, there is considerable va­ an integrated approach "watermelons" exist as a minority with­ lidity to this criticism, but it is not terribly Classical liberals should remember in the environmental community and convincing to environmentalists, who that they share an intellectual heritage we understand the importance of sci­ fear that environmental damage would with most environmentalists: the con­ ence as a check upon unconstrained vi­ continue unabated in the sort of society cepts of spontaneous order, adaptation sions of ecotopians. However, when that liberals advocate. Their worries are and evolution are central to both. We working with environmentalists we not without foundation: some who claim also share a healthy skepticism toward need not belabor these points. Instead, the mantle of classical liberal economics politics and large institutions and con­ we should stress how our approach seem to argue for the right to pollute. centrated power. And most of us are yields environmental quality while pro­ This approach also often alienates en­ seeking the same goal: the freedom of moting individual liberty. vironmentalists with its apparent sterili­ self-actualization in an environment of The key task for classical liberals is ty. The economic approach seems to ecological integrity. to foster institutions that harmonize lib­ neglect the importance of considering Classical liberals have important erty with ecology. Success requires the communitarian or ecological values. insights into how society and govern- cooperation of environmentalists. 0

Bradford, liThe Owls Are Not What They Seem," continued from page 24

turn to such a society. But the likeli­ has been stimulated by the existence of as their numbers and political power hood that civilized people will choose taxes on land and by the subversion of grow, wilderness will tend to recede. to return to pre-civilization is negligi­ property values. Vesting government But private owners determined to keep ble, if the demonstrated preferences of with control of land can preserve wild­ their land wild can do so irrespective of human beings, whether newly civilized erness only so long as those who want the political situation, provided they or long-civilized, are any indication. wilderness preserved are in political have absolute title to their land, free The challenge we face is not· how to controlof the state. You can't buy politi­ from taxation and the threat of confisca­ drive humanity back into pre­ cal control, you can only rent it, and the tion. The assault on private ownership civilization as recommended by the rent must be paid over and over.* and control ofland that seems pandemic Earth First! bumpersticker "Back to the Aspopulationgrows, the constituen­ in the Western world shortens the time Pleistocene!", but how to maximize en­ cy favoring development will increase; horizons of landowners, encouraging vironmental values in a way consonant them to develop in order to gainbenefits * This was illustrated nicely by the experience that may be lost if they lose title to their with the survival and prosperity ofciv­ of those opposing building the Alaskan ilized human beings. pipeline. The proposed pipeline had been land. And taxes on real property in­ In my view, the best way to do so is stalled for years when the 1973 Arab oil em­ crease the cost ofowning wilderness to a to maximize the ethos of liberty and the bargo occurred, but in a matter of a few point where few landowners can afford days, Congress authorized the pipeline legal protection of private property. The under political and economic pressure, and it, and provide constant and vivid re­ destruction of wilderness, for example, environmentalists lost all they had gained. minders of that cost. 0 26 Liberty Report

Cleaning Up After Socialisll1: Depolluting the USSR by James S. Robbins

Socialism spelled ecologic disaster of a magnitude dreamed of only by anti­ capitalist doom-sayers. Now that capitalism has a chance in the Soviet Union, it is time to see whether the environment does, too.

With the collapse of socialism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and in the wake of Mikhail Gorbachev's campaign for openness and economic reforms, an ecological catastrophe has come to light that dwarfs any of the pollution problems faced by the United States or Western Europe. Seventy years of state owner- ship of the means of production has wasted resources, polluted and dried push the environment further. But there by the will of man, but rather could at up waterways, made air unbreatheable were more important factors at work. best be guided towards socialistic goals. and brought radiation sickness to the In contrast to the Marxist argument They favored continuing the semi-free peasants and workers of the proletarian that centralized, socialized industry is New Economic Policy; some, including paradise. Those environmentalists in more efficient and thus less polluting Bukharin, wanted even fewer economic the West who lay the blame for world­ than industries working in the "anarchi­ restrictions. The "teleologists," on the wide environmental damage on capital­ cal" market order stands one of the old­ other hand, were of the opinion that ist development and call for stringent est arguments against communal markets were the creation of man, state controls might benefit from look­ property: what belongs to all belongs to whether unconsciously or not, and thus ing at the cumulative effects on the none, and instead of all caring for the could be shaped as humans dictated. environment of the most complete form common property, none will. This was They favored rapid industrialization, of government control in history. Aristotle's argument against the com­ collectivization of agriculture, and a 1 The Environment under munalism of Plato's Republic. In fact, completely centralized, planned Central Planning because no one owns it, common prop­ economy.2 erty will be the first to be abused, and at The Soviet pollution problem is par­ After eliminating his rivals, Stalin tially the result of the sheer size of the the highest cost to both the abandoned NEP and took up the teleo­ Soviet Union. With such expansive ter­ environment and the people. This gen­ logical program, which guided Soviet ritories to exploit, Moscow probably erally was the case in the Soviet Union. economic thinking until the Gorbachev did not believe that pollution would The emphasis on production over all era. Five-year-plans were drawn up, ever be much of a problem. Waste prod­ other factors began with the organiza­ forcing industrialization and collectivi­ ucts, solid, liquid or gaseous, would tion of the centralized, socialist econom­ zation upon the Soviet population. simply be swallowed up in the Soviet ic structure during the first years of the Thereafter, Moscow directed every facet fastness. In the early days of Soviet in­ Stalin regime. Since the death of Lenin, of economic life, in theory at least. dustrialization, this may have been factions within the Communist Party (Soviet black markets always provided true: production levels were relatively had debated the future course of the a significant portion of foodstuffs and low, and cumulative effects of pollution Soviet economy. The "geneticists" some light manufactured goods.) The had yet to come into play. Perhaps the (whose ranks included Stalin, at first) Party composed the Plan, giving indi­ lack of immediate, severe negative re­ believed that state economies were or­ vidual ministries control over whole sults encouraged Soviet planners to ganic entities that could not be shaped sectors of the economy. At the end of Liberty 27 Volume 4, Number 6 Jul 1991

the state organizational chains were the Laws" each focused on specific sectors Party and KGB purview, after all), it plant managers and other overseers, of the environment, e.g. the was not about to face production lim­ upon whose shoulders fell the inglori­ Fundamental Law on Water Pollution itations because of environmental ous task of making production levels Control (1970), the Fundamental concerns. meet the Plan. If they met or exceeded Forestry Law (1977), the Fundamental In sum, Soviet environmental laws goals, they were given bonuses; if they Law on Protection of Wild Animals have had little effect, and it is doubtful failed, they were disciplined or sacked. (1980) and the Fundamental Law on Air whether they were ever intended to be Thus the self-interest of every plant Pollution Control (1980). These laws anything more than a propaganda de­ manager was to raise his output regard­ were passed in the Presidium (the pre­ vice. Like the pre-Gorbachev laws on less of the method or the costs to other perestroika Soviet Parliament) and imple­ immigration (which promised free plants, the community, or the environ­ mented through regulations by the vari­ movement of peoples), or RepUbliC ment. ous Soviet state ministries represented membership in the Soviet Union (which Here was the root of the problem. in the Council of Ministers. allowed secession), Soviet environmen­ Stalin had put in place a system geared But there was a vast gulf between the tal legislation promised a great deal, but towards increasing production (and laws and actual practices. The detailed lost most of its force in the administra­ supporting the Party/State apparatus) environmental protection code had tive process. Despite the claims of the with no appreciable oversight except practically no effect on polluters or pol­ Communist leadership, saving the that which monitored output. Managers lution. Often the agency charged with environment was not a primary concern were allowed to use practically any enforcement was the same ministry re­ of the Soviet state; maximizing industri­ means to achieve their goals; the state sponsible for the problem. Ministries al and agricultural production, the pri­ were not allowed to compromise pro­ mary enemies of the environment, was. duction targets for environmental rea­ sons, and the persistent failure to The Scope of Environmental The Bolsheviks set the tone achieve those targets provided further Damage of Soviet resource policy by de­ disincentives to curb pollution (since ex­ Environmental degradation in the termining that all resources pending ultra-scarce resources in the at­ Soviet Union dwarfs that in any non­ tempt further decreased production). socialist industrialized country; the only were aI/free gift of Nature," Those few independent agencies in comparable damage can be found in the thus the state's for the taking. charge of monitoring pollution had 1'.2­ Soviet-dominated states of eastern power or means of enforcement. Europe. Overlapping administrations created Water pollution is the most immedi­ bureaucratic paralysis; there were over ate ecological problem in the Soviet simply didn't care about external costs 25 agencies involved in environmental Union. In 1988, only about thirty percent like environmental pollution. As a con­ management at the Union level in 1984. of the USSR's sewage was treated to sequence, although environmental deg­ (Lake Ladoga, near Leningrad, fell standards that would be considered radation was pandemic in the Soviet under the jurisdiction of about 100 dif­ minimal in the West. Fifty percent was Union, it was not even viewed as a ferent agencies.) Most enforcement was improperly purified, and twenty percent problem for most of the Soviet era. left to local agencies, which were either not treated at all.s As a consequence, it When ecology became an interna­ subordinated to powerful Ministries, or is risky to drink the tap water in many tionally sensitive topic during the 1970s, powerless to stop them. Some Ministers Soviet cities, which lack the necessary the Soviets claimed to be in the van­ who failed to apply the laws to protect treatment technology. Investment in guard in environmental protection. In the environment were publicly chastised pollution control or treatment devices their view, capitalism was less orga­ and occasionally sacked-especially if has never been high on the Party list of nized, more exploitative, more wasteful they were in political trouble for other priorities, and where facilities are availa­ and thus less environmentally healthy reasons-but they never had the oppor­ ble, they are often not properly main­ than socialism. This theme quickly be­ tunities, the powers, the incentives, or tained or even functioning. came a central theme in Soviet "green" even the inclinations to meet the stan­ The Soviet Union has plenty of propaganda, and was a part of its inte­ dards of Soviet environmental laws. water, but most of it is located in grated campaign against the Western And with no independent judiciary (or Siberia; 75% of the population and 70% democracies.3 any judiciary in the proper sense of the of Soviet industry is located in an area Although the Soviets claim that their word), there was no way for private citi­ that contains only 16% of the Soviet environmental protection policies began zens to bring about change from below. Union's water. The centrally planned, with Lenin, the first broad-based envi­ An additional problem was the bureaucratic ministries have been una­ ronmental laws were passed in 1972, Soviet military, whose production of ble to redistribute water economically. when the need for some sort of protec­ both conventional and nuclear arma­ Even greater strains are placed on the tion became manifest.4 By the early ments accounted for a great deal of pol­ Soviet water supply by the inability of 1980s, the Soviet leadership could point lution. Maintaining a sizable military the Soviets to recycle water: although to the most complete set of environmen­ force was a top priority for Moscow the United States actually uses more tal protection laws of any industrialized throughout the post-war period, and water than the Soviet Union (551.2 cubic state. Soviet ecology was ostensibly pro­ though the military factory system was kilometers in 1985, compared to 364.9 tected by a series of "Fundamental not wholly independent (it came under cubic kilometers in the Soviet Union in 28 Liberty Volume 4, Number 6 Jul 1991

1988), 77% of the water used by the nearly 100%, and the Aral Sea has lost Gorbachev the plan was dropped, and United States is returned to the over two-thirds its original volume, and though it occasionally reappears in the environment after processing; in the nearly 40% of its surface area. Forty academic press, few take it seriously. It Soviet Union, half the water is rendered years ago, the Aral Sea was the world's is, however, illustrative of the lengths to totally unrecoverable, which places fourth largest lake; now it ranks sixth which the "teleological" mentality will greater strains on the water supply.6 and is continuing to shrink. Toxic salt­ go to attempt to bend nature to its will. The Soviet Union irrigates as much dust blown up from the exposed sea­ The Aral Sea is not the only body of cropland as the United States, but the ir­ bed has been deposited 1000 kilometers water facing peril in the Soviet Union. rigation canals are of poor design. In distant, and airborne dust has been cited Pesticides, heavy metals, and oil prod­ some areas, 60% is lost. Furthermore, ir­ as the cause of eye and throat diseases. ucts have taken a heavy toll on the rigation is poorly monitored and une­ Some of the diverted water becomes Caspian Sea, severely threatening the ven; some areas have been over­ contaminated in the cotton fields by fer­ sturgeon in the world's largest lake. irrigated and turned into swamps, while tilizers and pesticides, and instead of This is an important consideration for flowing to the Aral Sea, enters the water the Soviet Union, since caviar earns the table. This has created severe health Soviets $1-$2 billion annually in hard problems, including rising local infant currency. (The Soviets have attempted With no independent judici­ mortality rates (often from contaminat­ to ameliorate the loss of the sturgeon by ary (or any judiciary in the ed breast-milk)? Ironically, the de­ introducing hardier Mississippi River creased size of the Sea has reduced its paddlefish.) The Black Sea is mostly proper sense of the word) I there ameliorating effect on the local weather, dead, killed by pesticide and fertilizer was no way for private citizens and the growing season has contracted, runoff from the Dnieper and the to bring about change from forcing some cotton growers to switch Danube, industrial wastes from sur­ to cultivating rice. Thus the subordina­ rounding factories, and pollution from below. tion of the environment to production intense naval operations. has harmed both. Uzbek nationalists Not all major bodies of water in the have protested the cotton monoculture Soviet Union have been severely de­ others receive too little water. The Soviet and called for its overthrow.8 Moscow graded, however. Lake Baikal, the deep­ irrigation system was constructed pri­ has relented somewhat on cotton pro­ est lake in the world (5,712 ft) and home marily to support cash crops, most im­ duction levels (bringing them down to to several unique species of animal life portantly cotton, which is grown across rates that are at least realistic, Le., those including the world's only freshwater the south of the Soviet Union. The most that the region had been fulfilling any­ seal, has survived relatively unscathed dramatic victim of this policy has been way), but the Aral Sea continues to by pollution. But waste water and de­ the Aral Sea. shrink, and Soviet experts believe it will bris from two nearby pulp and paper The Aral Sea, which is mostly in disappear around 2010.9 Uzbekistan, was once home to a respect­ The Soviets planned even more envi­ able fishing industry and the center of ronmentally disastrous hydrological In 1988, only about thirty Uzbek agricultural life. This changed projects, the most notable of which was with the coming of cotton, which was the Water Diversion Project. First con­ percent of the USSR's sewage introduced by the Tsar after conquering ceived by Stalin, it would have diverted was treated to standards that Central Asia, then re-imposed by Lenin the courses of entire rivers in Siberia, so would be considered minimal after the Revolution. The social structure that those now flowing to the north and of the entire region was reshaped to­ emptying into the Arctic Ocean would in the West. wards one goal: maximizing cotton pro­ instead flow south to Central Asia. This duction. The major consumer of cotton idea was left dormant until the was and is the Soviet military. Cotton is Brezhnev era, when detailed plans were combines have raised concerns. The fa­ also an important hard-currency export drawn up for the construction of the cilities were constructed in the early crop. The Soviet imposition of the mon­ necessary canals. But political debate 1960s as part of an effort to exploit near­ ocultural cultivation of cotton was no over the necessity and reasonableness of by timber resources (20% of all the different than any other colonial regime the plan sharpened. Russian nationalists world's trees are in the Soviet Union). in which a European power harnessed objected that many historic sites would However, the effort met unexpected an Asian or African people to produce be flooded, and ecologists warned public opposition; only two of the the agricultural raw materials to feed against damage to fish habitats and in­ planned combines were constructed, production at the center of empire. creased levels of salinization in areas be­ and they were fitted with special pollu­ The Aral Sea and its tributaries, the reft of fresh water. Western scientists tion control devices to protect the lake.ll Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, became concerned about the effects on Whether Baikal was saved by aroused seemed a limitless source of water for ir­ the arctic region; with drastically de­ citizens is moot, however. Baikal is dot­ rigation, and in the 1950s Soviet engi­ creased fresh water input, salt concen­ ted with the vacation dachas of power­ neers began rerouting water to open trations could melt portions of the polar ful government officials, as it has been new lands for cultivation. But by the ice cap and have severe effects on since before the Revolution. The worries 1980s the limits had been reached. worldwide climate patterns and ocean of these politicians that their private re­ Current diversion of tributary waters is levels.10 With the accession of treats would be fouled by industrial pol- Liberty 29 Volume 4, Number 6 JuI 1991

lution may have had more influence Air pollution is a greater problem in Chernobyl, nuclear power has come than the complaints of environmentally Soviet cities. A 1979 Soviet environmen­ under increasing scrutiny both in sensitive people. tal publication stated, "Of all the other Moscow and at the local level. New pro­ Because of these limits, and its re­ national capitals, Moscow, the largest in­ jects have been halted, and power sta­ moteness, Lake Baikal has so far been dustrial and cultural centre of the Soviet tions under construction have been spared most of the problems faced by Union, has the cleanest air.,,14 Ten years placed on hold, particularly in the the Aral, Black and Caspian seas. While later, the Soviet government admitted Ukraine, which hosts one-third of Soviet it has not been turned into a chemical that 50 million people in 102 Soviet cit­ nuclear plants. In the fall of 1989, the ies were exposed to air pollutants that Ministry of Nuclear Power and the exceeded national standards. Industries Ministry of Medium Machine Building have become cleaner recently by switch­ (the agency in charge of the production Heavily polluted water has ing from coal to natural gas, but pollu­ of nuclear weapons) were merged to been diverted to settling ponds tion rates are still high. There are some form the Ministry of Nuclear Power in the nearby Solzan gully, smoke and particle control systems op­ Generation and the Nuclear Industry. erating at Soviet power stations, but This Ministry, like most of the products which is now filled with toxic there are few systems for neutralizing of perestroika, was supposed to be more sludge. A mudslide or an sulfuric and nitrous gasses, so while the open and responsive to environmental earthquake (real possibilities in quantity of particulate matter in the air problems, but reform has been slow be­ is declining, the quantity of gasses is cause of pressures from the military, this area of high seismic activi­ increasing.15 which uses breeder-reactors in power ty), or heavy rains and spring Transportation accounts for approxi­ stations as its source for plutonium for flooding, could send the sludge mately 60% of Soviet air pollution. nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union has Soviet cars run on leaded gas without recently allowed international inspec­ directly into Lake Baikal, with emission control devices, and emission tion of its nuclear facilities, and when disastrous consequences. standards are rarely if ever enforced. plants have passed minimurn standards, Attempts to deal with the problem have the international approval has been ranged from increasing the use of tun­ used against local governments and bath, Lake Baikal still faces environmen­ nels under cities (to trap pollutants) to anti-nuclear groups, countering their tal problems. Wastewater from the banning some forms of motor transport. claims that power plants are unsafe. paper combines, even after treatment, Solid waste, mainly produced by the Where nuclear projects have been has harmed Baikal's animal life. The epi­ mining industry, accumulates at the rate scuttled, the Soviets have turned to coal shura crayfish, for example, which itself of over a billion tons annually, and the and hydro-power to make up for the de­ acts as a cleansing agent by filtering total accumulation has displaced and ficiency. This has posed new challenges. water through its gills, has been endan­ rendered useless about 40,000 square ki­ Soviet coal plants are notoriously dirty, gered by the pollution, and "crayfish lometers of agricultural land.16 Because and increased coal mining amplifies en­ cleansing" has dropped by 7%.12 Some Soviet agriculture is already overextend­ vironmental and health woes associated of the untreated or untreatable water has ed and is not likely to be expanding into with the mining industry. While hydro­ been diverted to settling ponds in the new areas soon, and because much of power is normally considered a "clean" nearby Solzan gully, which is now filled the solid waste problem is centered near alternative source of energy, decaying with toxic sludge. A mudslide or an the Siberian coal mines, this is not as wood debris in areas flooded by dam earthquake (real possibilities in this area desperate a problem as the other forms construction have raised phenol levels of high seismic activity), or heavy rains of pollution. However, the seepage of in the water to as much as ten times ac­ and spring flooding, could send the waste into the water table will have cepted concentrations. (Phenol is ab­ sludge directly into Lake Baikal, with long-term negative effects on the sur­ sorbed through the skin and can cause disastrous consequences. One possible rounding wilderness areas, as well as damage to the central nervous system, approach to the problem (mentioned in more immediate effects on the health of liver and kidneys). Furthermore, ill­ Pravda) is diverting the pulp mills' efflu­ the miners and those who live nearby. timed releases of water from the dams ents into the Irkut River, where a higher The Chernobyl nuclear disaster con­ have altered the natural currents of silt content would help absorb impuri­ tinues to produce environmental policy streams and rivers, damaging season­ ties. Local Party officials want to change fallout. In January, 1990, the Ukrainian sensitive plants and animals, especially the combines' specialization to some­ government issued a decree authoriz­ migratory birds and fish. thing people in the region can use, such ing· the evacuation of radiation­ as furniture. But environmentalists contaminated villages in the Zhitomir Recent Reform Efforts would just as soon close them down.13 and Kiev oblasts. These areas were at Efforts to change Soviet ecological Air pollution is a serious problem in the first thought to have escaped contami­ priorities began in the early 1980s, when Baikal region. Dust and gas emission nation, but persistently abnormal back­ members of the Writer's Union of the from the paper combines cover over ground radiation levels, high levels of USSR, most notably Russian Nationalist 2,000 square kilometers. The dust is kill­ cesium in milk and mounting incidences Valentin Rasputin, began publicly to op­ ing broad stands of fir trees in the area, of radiation-related diseases forced the pose the River Diversion Project.18 After the very resource that the combines were government to take action.17 the disaster at Chernobyl, international constructed to exploit. Because of the long-term effects of scrutiny was brought to bear on Soviet 30 Liberty Volume 4, Number 6 Jul 1991

environmental conditions, and the place, especially allowing local govern­ longer would the offender be an un­ Soviet domestic press took a new, re­ ments to keep funds raised from fines touchable state Ministry, but a private form-oriented line. Grass roots environ­ imposed on polluters. (Under the old owner. This would also give the owners mental groups began to form system, the money was placed in a gen­ incentives to find less polluting methods nationwide, and Gorbachev, in his drive eral fund, which discouraged local of production, and thereby avoid sanc­ to make the Soviet economy more pro­ enforcement.) tions and legal remedies. Even a half­ ductive, and perhaps realizing that eco­ Fyodor Morgun, the agency's first di­ way measure, like turning over control nomic reform could not be pressed rector, told the 19th Party Conference in of enterprises to local governments without attention to the looming ecolog­ July, 1988, that "for a whole era our could have substantial impact, since ical catastrophe, began to institute ad­ party and professional propaganda have they would also lack the power and re­ ministrative reforms. been intolerably passive as far as eco­ moteness that characterizes State In 1988, the Soviet Union took its logy is concerned. For many decades, ministries. most important steps towards coming to the environment has been undergoing grips with its pollution problems. A catastrophic pollution...." 20 However, joint Central Committee and Council of Morgun, a Party apparachik, was not par­ Ministers resolution from January ("On ticularly well-suited for the task of over­ The Soviet Union did not the Radical Transformation of the hauling the environmental protection get into its current situation System of Natural Conservation in the system, and in 1990 he was replaced by because of a lack of regulation Country") identified several major prob­ Nikolai Vorontsov, a zoologist who had lems in the Soviet Union's environmen­ opposed the Lake Baikal pulp mills as or state power. tal policy, such as the failure to consider President of the Conservation Section of environmental factors when formulating the Moscow Society of Naturalists. development goals, insufficient coordi­ Vorontsov became the highest-ranking Gorbachev's campaign for restruc­ nation of protective agencies, failure to non-Party Soviet official since the turing the Soviet economy promises hold enterprises responsible for the pol­ Revolution. His appointment has raised some of these changes. The 1987 Law on lution they cause, the absence of envi­ hopes among environmental activists, State Enterprise contained some positive ronmentally sound technologies, lack of but without corresponding changes at measures, such as raising charges for the commitment in central government the lower levels in Goskompriroda, the use of natural resources (which will dis­ agencies, inadequate prosecution of vio­ outlook is not terribly good. courage waste), and establishing fines lators of environmental laws, and insuf- It is doubtful that simply passing for toxic discharge. The state monopoly more government regulations will miti­ on the production of pollution abate­ gate the problem. As political scientist ment technology will be eliminated in Soviet environmental laws Barbara Jancar has written, "the Stalinist hopes of fostering competition and stim­ regimes with their one-party monopo­ ulating development. But like so many have had little effect I and it is lies are at the extreme end of a regulato­ of the perestroika-based innovations, doubtful whether they were ry philosophical spectrum which has these changes haven't been sufficiently ever intended to be anything dominated environmental. thinking or completely implemented by the cen­ more than a propaganda de­ since the 1970s.,,21 The Soviet Union did tral government and have met with re­ not get into its current situation because sistance from lower levels. VIce. of a lack of regulation or state power. Further market-sensitive reforms Rather, it was the centralized govern­ would do a great deal towards solving ment, which adopted policies based on the Soviet Union's pollution problems. ficient attention to the problem paid by the needs of the ruling oligarchy with­ The lack of a rational system of prices mass media and the educational system. out consideration of long-term effects or encourages waste, because natural re­ In order to counter these deficiencies local concerns, which caused the Soviet sources are not distributed according to and implement the new policies, the environmental nightmare. their true value, but by fiat. The State Committee for Environmental Although the formation of Goskom­ Bolsheviks set the tone of Soviet re­ Protection (Goskompriroda) was formed, priroda was a step forward in environ­ source policy by determining that all re­ centralizing most of the duties which mental regulation, so far no action has sources were a "free gift of Nature," previously had been spread among vari­ been taken to reduce the powers of the thus the state's for the taking.22 The inef­ ous agencies.19 Goskompriroda was em­ polluters to damage the environ-ment in ficiency of the Soviet system is reflected powered to require detailed analyses, the first place, which would entail abol­ by relative rates of resource use: com­ similar to environmental impact state­ ishing the Ministries that control Soviet pared to the United States in raw materi­ ments, before major projects are under­ industry and agriculture, and turning als per unit of national income, the taken. It was also given the power to control over to private owners. This Soviet Union uses 2.3 times more oil and bring action against polluters, the first would not of itself end pollution­ natural gas, 3.1 times more steel, 2.8 such agency ever to have that preroga­ capitalistic states have suffered environ­ times more chemical fertilizers and tive. Since its Moscow staff totals less mental damage from private action­ twice the electrical power.23 Allocation than five hundred, Goskompriroda relies but it would make the violators of the based on private ownership and real heavily on regional officials. New incen­ law more accessible to the regulatory prices would encourage enterprises not tives for local action have been put in authorities and to the courts, since no to waste resources, but to find more effi- Liberty 31 Volume 4, Number 6 Jul 1991

cient ways of using them. And with the While increased foreign aid to the Soviet Books (1969), pp. 119-223. elimination of central economic plan­ Union will no doubt help stem the worst 3. See Joan DeBardeleben, The Environment ning, enterprises would be freed of pro­ of the pollution problems, the long term and Marxism-Leninism, Boulder, CO: duction quotas imposed by Moscow, solution must be found in market mech­ Westview Press (1985). which engendered waste through the anisms, not state-to-state programs. 4. Vladimir Chudnov, Nature Conservation in the USSR, Moscow: Novosti Press Agency promise of "bonuses" for overproduc­ Joint-ventures between Soviet gov­ Publishing House (1975). tion, and allowed to find rational market ernment- or privately-owned anti­ 5. D.J. Peterson, "The State of the niches. pollution enterprises and United States Environment: the Water," Report on the In the meantime, local environmental firms would give Americans an opening USSR 2(11), March 16, 1990,pp.14-19. groups continue to be the most effective into this developing market, while also 6. Ibid. guaranteeing capable oversight and 7. James Critchlow, "Desertification of the quality control. Allocation of cleanup Aral Region: Economic and Human funds by the United States government Damage," Radio Liberty Research Bulletin, Cleaning up after socialism or by corporations to independent envi­ August 26,1987. will be a difficult task, but not ronmental groups in the Soviet Union 8. "Central Asia Without Siberian Water," an impossible one. Americans (instead of to Moscow) would help see Environmental Policy Review 1(1), June, to it that the funds are actually used in 1987, pp. 23-32. can play an important part in the projects for which they were intend­ 9. See R.W. Bradford, ''We Will Bury the Environment," Liberty 3(5), May, 1990, pp. seeing that the job is done ed. As in any dealings with the Soviet 11-12. right, and by helping reform Union, there are few clear roads for free 10. Peter Sinnot, 'Water Diversion Politics," market action. The best that can be Radio Lt"berty Research Bullett"n, August 17, the Soviet economic system done, for now, is to try to minimize the 1988. from the bottom up. damage caused by state interference in 11. "Lake Baikal: The Pollution Continues," private efforts to deal with the ecologi­ Current Digest of the Soviet Press 38(2), pp. cal dilemma. 12,19. Continued support for democratic 12. Ibid. No doubt many epishura have been agents for change, if only by stopping killed because of concentrations wood new projects that threaten to pollute, reforms in the Soviet Union is another important aspect of the environmental pulp and other impurities which have and calling into question the need for clogged their gills during the "cleansing" program. More democratization will those currently under operation. process. have the effect of making certain the "Green" candidates have also been elect­ 13. 'Writer vs. Minister on Baikal Pollution," problems are not swept under the rug, ed to the Congress of People's Deputies. Current Dt"gest of the Soviet Press 38(7), pp. as they had been in the past; so long as They don't wield effective power, but 5-7,22. Even Pravda admits the Irkut di­ local governments, special interest version scheme would be a '1esser of they do use the Congress as a forum for groups and private citizens in the Soviet evils" approach. discussion of environmental issues, Union have some access to the reins of 14. Yuri Sinyakov, Standing Up for Nature, helping prevent ecological problems power, they will be able to keep public Moscow: Novosti Press Agency from being censored or ignored. debate alive, and to press for necessary Publishing House (1979), p. 29. reforms. In the long term, democratic re­ 15. "Environmental Budgets in the USSR and Aid From Abroad Various East European Countries," The United States and Western forms will open the way for private con­ Environmental Policy Review 1(1), June, European countries have taken some in­ servation action, which is the only true 1987, pp. 33-37. terest in the environmental problems solution to the problems the Soviet 16. Barbara Jancar, "Democracy and the plaguing the Soviet Union. This is the Union faces. Environment in Eastern Europe and the result, in part, of Western interest in see­ Cleaning up after socialism will be a Soviet Union," Harvard International ing the Soviet economy move towards a difficult task, but not an impossible one. Review, Summer, 1990, p. 13. market orientation, and, particularly in The long-term solution to the problem 17. David Marples, "Zhitomir Residents Express Concern Over Radioactive the case of Europeans, of an attempt to of pollution lies in privatization of prop­ erty and the creation of an independent Fallout," Report on the USSR 2(4), January forestall the Soviet problem from 26, 1990,pp. 25-27. judiciary, so that every perpetrator of spreading over the border any more 18. "1986: The Year of Public Criticism," than it has. (Eastern European nations environmental damage can be taken to Environmental Policy Review 1(1), June, have been the primary recipient of aid court by·those he harms. Americans can 1987, pp. 12-22. for pollution control thus far, because of play an important part in seeing that the 19. Pravda, January 17, 1988, pp. 1-2. their proximity to Western Europe and job is done right through helping reform 20. Quoted in Marjorie Sun, "Environmental the relative amenability of their govern­ the Soviet economic system from the Awakening in the Soviet Union," Science, ments to cooperate in reducing bottom up. 0 26 August 1988, pp. 1033-1035. 21. Jancar, op. cit., p. 59. pollution.) 22. DeBardeleben, op. cit., pp. 248-252. The Soviet Union provides a poten­ Notes 23. Igor 1. Altshuler and Iurii N. Golubchikov, tially vast market for United States pol­ 1. See Aristotle, The Politics, Ernest Barker "Ecological Semi-Glasnost," Environ­ lution abatement technology and translation, London: Oxford University mental Policy Review 4(2), July, 1990, p.5. expertise. Pollution cleanup is a longer­ Press (1982), pp. 48-56. Given problems of GDP calculation and term but still viable enterprise in which 2. Alec Nove, An Economic History of the currency conversion difficulties, these fig­ U.S. companies may seek to invest. USSR, Middlesex, England: Penguin ures can only be used as rough indicators. 32 Liberty Explanation

Giving Capitalism a Test Drive by David Friedman

The advantages of limited government - or even private government ­ need not be explained by recourse to confusing philosophical jargon. Simple, practical economics does the job quite nicely.

One argument often made against complete laissez-faire is that government in­ tervention is needed to provide commonly used facilities such as roads and sidewalks and to deal with such mundane externality problems as the conflict between my desire to play loud music at night and my neighbor's desire to sleep. One reply sometimes made by libertarians is that most such problems can be ments. In any proprietary community, ment around, if libertarians approve dealt with by proprietary communi­ the contract is likely to contain ar­ of such institutions when they are ties. The developer who builds a rangements by which the signatories called condominium associations or group of houses also builds the local can joint!y modify it in order to deal proprietary communities, why do we streets and sidewalks; each purchaser with new circumstances. disapprove of them when they are receives, along with his house, the The existence of such institutions called governments? right to use the common facilities and raises an interesting question: In what One possible answer to this ques­ to have them maintained. Each pur­ sense are they not governments? As a tion is to invoke libertarian ideas of chaser also agrees, when purchasing, British acquaintance put it to me, his natural rights by arguing that the pro­ to pay his share of the cost of such relationship with his condominium as­ prietary community, unlike the gov­ maintainance, according to some pre­ sociation and his local authority are es­ ernment, came into existence without set formula. sentially the same. Each of them has violating anyone's rights. The devel­ Such private arrangements, which authority over his behavior as a result oper bought the land from its owners are in fact quite common, can· deal of his decision to live in a particular and resold it to purchasers who had with externalities as well. A colleague place-an apartment in the condomin­ agreed to the government-like restric­ of mine used to point out that in his ium in the local authority. Each impos­ tions included in the purchase con­ (private) community he could not re­ es rules on him. Each "taxes" him­ tract. The local government, on the paint his front door without the per­ although the condominium does not other hand, came into existence be­ mission of his neighbors-that being call the money it collects for mainta­ cause, at some point in time, a majori­ one of the terms of the contract for nance and repairs taxes. Each can ty of the inhabitants (or possibly a that particular community. In a condo­ change the rules and the taxes im­ rnajority of the citizens of some larger minium, which is essentially the same posed on him by similar, democratic political body within which it is locat­ arrangement packed into a single methods-a vote of his fellow citizens ed) decided to create it-thus impos­ building, the contract is likely to in­ in the one case, his fellow residents in ing their rules on everyone already clude procedures for resolving dis­ the other. While the condominium as­ living there, whether or not he agreed. putes among neighbors as to what sociation may be a useful solution to a That is a possible answer, but I do behavior in one apartment inflicts un­ set of problems, in what sense is it a not think it is one likely to convince reasonable costs on adjacent apart- private solution? Or, to turn the argu- many non-libertarians, nor is it one Liberty 33 Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991

that I find terribly interesting. The pur­ who build good trucks are likely to lose votes no, he will not be under that par­ pose of this essay is to offer another an­ money, and often other things as ticular set of institutions, if he votes swer, and one that does not depend on well-since the result of building good yes he will, so he has a substantial in­ our particular view of rights. There are trucks is likely to be not meeting your centive to investigate the institutions good practical reasons why the way in assigned quota for the month. Even be­ before he buys-or at least to check which the "government-like" institu­ fore checking out the trucks, we have a out current property values and the tions came into existence matters, quite good reason to expect that the commu­ current condition of common facilities aside from the question of whether nist truck will be worse buH,t. In partic­ in previous communities sold by the anyone's rights were violated in the ular, -we can expect that it will be same developer. That argument is one process. heavier-since quotas were frequently of the reasons why not only commu­ set, not in number of trucks, but in tons nist trucks but even democratic social­ of trucks. ist trucks are likely to run worse than My SUSpICIon is that local Precisely the same answer can be capitalist trucks. made for the difference between the One of the most important charac­ governments are bigger than "government" of a condominium or teristics of a government is its size. The proprietary communities for proprietary community and the larger average American lives under a local much the same reason that government within which it is located. government ruling at least tens of communist trucks are heavier The private developer who created the thousands, perhaps hundreds of thou- former had a private incentive to de­ than capitalist trucks. sign the best possible political institu­ tions. What he was selling, after all, was both a house and a share in a The preference for capitalist To see the reasons, consider the fol­ "government." The more attractive the trucks is not merely a matter of lowing question: You wish to buy a form of the community association ap­ ideology. A sensible commu­ truck, and have a choice of two. One peared to the purchaser, the higher the nist would also prefer capitalist was built in Detroit, one was built in price he would be willing to pay for the the Soviet Union. Which do you house. trucks. Indeed, communists choose? It could be argued that a similar who had the opportunity to Most people would choose the capi­ constraint applies to the political insti­ shop in the West routinely talist truck. Why? Both are trucks. If tutions that create and modify local demonstrated their preference they are identically built, they should governments. The.voters, after all, also function in exactly the same way­ want to live under desirable institu­ for capitalist goods. why does their history matter? Why tions, so the political entrepreneur who should we care about the ideology of a is creating a new local government or truck? modifying an old one also has an in­ sands, of citizens. The averageinhabi­ The answer, of course, is that the centive to try to create attractive insti­ tant of a condominium or proprietary two trucks are not identically built. tutions. That is true to some degree, community, I would guess, lives under The capitalist truck was built under a but much less than in the case of the a "private government" of about a system of institutions in which people proprietary community. There are rea­ hundred citizens. I doubt this is an ac­ who build bad trucks are likely to lose sons why democracy does not work cident. My suspicion is that local gov­ money. The communist truck was built nearly as well as capitalism. ernments are bigger than proprietary under institutions in which people For one thing, the individual voter communities for much the same reason has very little in­ that communist trucks are heavier than :::1 centive to try to capitalist trucks. ~ c::J find out whether The preference for capitalist trucks ~ the proposed politi­ is not merely a matter of libertarian ~ ... c cal changes are ac­ ideology. A sensible communist would o tually in his also prefer capitalist trucks. Indeed, p interest, since his communists who had the opportunity c:J vote has only a to shop in the West-an opportunity I: small chance of de­ frequently given as a reward for party .... ,.. " .. o termining what ac­ loyalty and other communist virtues­ tually happens. The routinely demonstrated their prefer­ individual purchas­ ence for capitalist goods by buying er, on the other them in as large a quantity as possible. hand, "votes" by More recently, what used to be the buying or not buy- Communist world has demonstrated "Sire, some of us feel that we're not getting enough individual ing a house in the its preference for capitalist trucks on a attention ..." community. If he somewhat larger scale. 0 34 Liberty Hermeneutic

Class Warfare in Italy Or: How I Became a Libertarian on My Honeymoon by Scott J. Reid

In this benighted age of complacent statism, those who explore or profess liberal ideas tend to the intellectual end of the personality spectrum. They are far more inclined to read a book than to watch sports on TV or go shopping at the local mall. I am no exception to this rule. When my bride, Poh Lan, and I went to Italy on our honeymoon, I dragged along two fa t books on social theory. By the time blocks in downtown New York City. dered how there could have been so we were halfway through our visit, I Perhaps the definition of tower was many noble families in such a small had read enough, and I had seen being used somewhat generously in town, but it seems that these were the enough ancient fortresses, dungeons making this claim. On the other hand, aristocrats of the entire surrounding and torture chambers to arrive at the if you visit the crypt of the young girl, countryside-perhaps even of an area rather conventional liberal realization Saint Fina, who was made into the as great as that of the nearby Republic that politics is, and always has been, town's patron saint, it is possible to of San Marino, for San Gimignano was about the struggle of competing inter­ gaze upon the nearest thing to a pho­ as much an independent city-state in tographic view of the town as it ap­ est groups to use the coercive appara­ the era of the towers (c. 1100-1350 tus of the state to milk each other and peared in the days of the early A.D.) as San Marino is today. In those Renaissance. There, upon the walls of days, every city in Tuscany was a for­ the rest of the population. By the time the tomb, is a fresco by no less an art­ est of towers. Bologna still has two of we arrived at the Iittle hilltop town of ist than Ghirlandaio of the young saint them, although they have started to San Gimignano in Tuscany, I found upon her deathbed, and through a lean precariously over the centuries, that I had become sophisticated painted window it is possible to gaze and may not stay upright much enough to read the story of the clash of aut onto the town as it looked in the longer. long-dead classes and interest groups 1400s. Ghirlandaio, like all of the early The towers have survived here, just by looking at the architecture they Italian discoverers of the magic of per­ said Let's Go (my travel book), because had left behind. This means, I suppose, spective, was fascinated with his new­ the city-state of San Gimignano lost its that I was well on my way to becoming found ability to reproduce scenery independence to Florence before the a full-blown bore at cocktail parties. and cityscapes exactly as he saw them. popolani (the "people," Le. the mer­ San Gimignano's fifteen stone tow­ So there is a very good chance that chant class) could take power as they ers are its claim to fame and tourist what he preserved in paint is a near­ eventually did in most of the other success. There once were seventy-two, photographic vision of San Gimignano city-states of Italy. Upon gaining con­ so I was assured, although it is hard to as it appeared over 500 hundred years trol of the state, one of their first acts imagine that so many relatively large ago. The town was in those days a for­ was to tear down the towers which buildings could have been stuffed into est of towers, a miniature premoni­ had been both status symbols and for­ such a confined space. The whole tion, in brick and stone, of Manhattan tresses for their rivals, the landed aris­ town, which is tidily nestled within or downtown Montreal. tocrats. San Gimignano, Town of Fair the confines of an ancient stone wall, The towers were built by the fami­ Towers (a colorful and overpriced pic­ covers an area equivalent to five or six lies of the local nobility. At first I won- ture-book) informed me that the tow- Liberty 35 Volume 4, Number 6 Jul 1991

ers were saved again at a later date by burning off the equivalent of what we through by an injunction of the munici­ a punitive zoning law passed by the would call government surpluses. But pal/national government that nobody occupying Spaniards against new con­ in addition, a landed aristocrat could could build higher than the Torre struction within the city walls. Were it not be without his family seat, his Grande (big tower), which is attached to not for this injunction, the towers country manor. the town hall/national legislature, and would have been replaced by baroque Of course, it would have been most stands over 170 feet tall-high enough palazzi. This may be the only recorded distressing to see your family's country to give me asthma for a week, when I instance in history of any good coming palazzo burned down every time there tried climbing it. This law was, inciden­ out of a municipal zoning law. was a petty war. This was a perennial tally, the earliest non-biblical height­ The rest of the story of San problem in medieval Italy, which had limitation statute of which I am aware. Gimignano's towers I had to piece to­ no equivalent to the united (if tyranni­ The other, and equally intriguing, gether on my own. In medieval, agrari- cal) governments of France or England, reason for the construction of the tow­ under which the magnates could build ers was San Gimignano's splendid sprawling country houses like commercial success. Its position on the It must have been most dis­ Hampton Court before getting their main road would seem to have yielded heads lopped off by the king. The only substantial rewards, for the town ex­ tressing to see your noble fami­ spot where a grand house could be panded sufficiently to necessitate the ly's country palazzo burned safely built was within the walls of a construction of a second wall outside down every time there was a fortress, which is what San Gimignano the first. The merchants who profited petty war. Medieval Italy had more or less was. from the trade along the road presuma­ The town's location was well cho­ bly brought wealth to the entire com­ no equivalent to the united (if sen, providing both security and munity. However, they were after a tyrannical) governments of wealth. It was on an easily defensible bigger prize than just increased profits France or England, under hilltop, and standing along what was (and the attendant increased taxes): in those days the main road between they would have liked to seize control which the magnates could Rome and the north, with the result, of the government. build sprawling country hous­ presumably, that tolls could be I come from the merchant class my­ es like Hampton Court before generated. self, so I can sympathize with them. No Within the confines of the town doubt the old landed aristocracy was getting their heads lopped off walls, space was at a premium and milking the commerce of San by the king. grand villas on the Roman or Gimignano for all it was worth. Having Florentine models could not be con­ Iived off the backs of their serfs for so structed. Nor, indeed, could anything long, they could conceive of nothing that took up space. Thus, prestige ac­ more natural than enjoying the fruits of an, feuding Italy, the nobles could not the merchants' labor as well. live securely on their estates because of commodation could only be provided the perpetual danger of war between by building up. This same phenome­ the dozens of petty city-states of the non produced, at a somewhat later day. The aristocrats wanted to live date, the tall narrow palazzi of Venice, Not ideally constructed for well. It could probably be stated as a that Poh Lan and I had been much warfare, the towers were not general rule that they would, whenev­ amazed by when we had first seen meant to dispel armies, just ri­ er possible, spend the entire surplus of them the week before. The buildings of their serfs' production upon them­ San Gimignano predate those of oters. In the same way modern selves-probably mainly on luxury Venice, however; the techniques of the states place steel plates on and prestige, since it seems unlikely day did not permit the creation of the their tanks but only relatively that the unstable economy provided great works of architectural art which many opportunities for the productive the Venetians made their homes. So, light body armor on their riot investment of this surplus. Since, as building for size and prestige was the police. Adam Smith notes in one of his tan­ only way to go. This was one reason gential observations in The Wealth of for the construction of towers. If the Nations, the purchase of expensive bau­ family next door had a tower 100 feet But here was a problem. The serfs bles such as jewels and works of art tall, there simply was no question of lived outside of the city walls. Should was difficult in the fragmented feudal you settling for one which was only 80 they rebel, they would have been no economy, the nobility had to devote feet tall. One particularly ambitious in­ more of a threat to the aristocrats than their efforts to other forms of con­ dividual planned to set a new height the Florentines and Siennese whom the sumption. One possibility was the record with a pair of perfect!y matched walls .had been buHt to hold back. holding of great feasts, and any stu­ twin towers-which still stand and Indeed, poorly armed and poorly orga­ dent of medieval European history bear a remarkable resemblance in mini­ nized, they would have seemed a great must naturally think of gratuitous war­ ature to New York's World Trade deal less threatening. The merchants, fare, crusading, and the like as ways of Center-only to be thwarted part way however, lived within the walls. In 36 Liberty Volume 4, Number 6 Jul 1991

such a small town there was no hope level. The doorways that led to these San Gimignano's days of glory, except of segregating the merchants into a are still visible, high above the ground, the technology of exploitation. A state ghetto or of driving them entirely out and the Torre Grande is to this day must still defend itself on two fronts, of the town. connected to the next building by an against the outer world of competing With the popolani perpetually on enclosed pedestrian bridge over a states and against its own citzens as the verge of launching a coup d'etat, the stone archway. well. However the modern state, thou­ homes of the aristocratic oligarchs had sands of times larger than the tiny re­ to be transformed into miniature for­ publics of medieval Italy, is able to tresses. This was the second function Given sufficient knowledge hide its apparatus of coercion behind of the towers. No matter that they the vastness of geography. We only were not ideally constructed for war­ of the way the world works, it heard that we were strangling Iraq; we fare (for example, the arrow-slits at the is possible to read the architec­ did not see it in person; we did not summit of the Torre Grande afford a ture of a dead society like one smell the burned flesh. The water can­ clear view of the neighboring square, nons that will keep us in line if we get but not of the base of the tower it­ reads the Congressional Record: too rambunctious are tidily kept out of self)-they were not meant to dispel between the lines. eyeshot until needed. The state still armies, just rioters. In the same way rules, as it always has, through the that modern states must place steel threat of violence, but it is the extor­ plates on their tanks but only relative­ What I found most interesting was tionist's threat, vague and menacing, ly light body armor on their riot po­ the way in which the conflicts defining never fully in our view. How very dif­ lice, the rulers of San Gimignano were the state apparatus and the economic ferent and wonderful it was to visit a willing to use lighter and less efficient environment came to be written in the place constructed in the days when the protections against their internal ene­ artifacts left behind. Given sufficient tools of oppression had been solid and mies than against their international ri­ knowledge of the way the world works, immobile, and where the true relation­ vals, who had to face the truly it is possible to read the architecture of ship of man and state was plain for all formidable city wall. Nonetheless, in a dead society the same way one reads to see. By the time we left San recognition of the danger that the mer­ the Congressional Record: between the Gimignano for our next destination, I chants could gain control of the streets, lines. The long-passed Republic of San was a confirmed libertarian, and Poh the towers were interconnected by a Gimignano seems like a metaphor for Lan was probably wondering what she system of aerial walkways, some of the societies of the modern world. had gotten herself into, marrying such them fifty feet or more above street Nothing has really changed since a peculiar bird. 0

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What happens when a university teacher challenges the authority of the state? Not much, unless you get the ear of Drug Czar Bob Martinez, in which case you lose your job.

Six months ago I set out to test the limits of government control over universities by speaking out in favor of the right to use drugs. Drugs have been a positive influence in my life and I know from my own experience that the government's propaganda campaign grossly distorts the reali­ ties of drug use. The final straw came for me last October when the federal government, under the provisions of were not allowed to threaten the even argued that Stanford should re­ the Drug-Free Schools and Communi­ rights or property of others). This poli­ spond to the government's political ties Act, forced Stanford University to cy has worked extremely well at move by enacting the new policy but adopt a new stricter alcohol and drug Stanford, illustrating that when you not enforcing it. policy in order to continue to qualify give people freedom, they behave Coincidentally, another incident for federal funds. more responsibly than they do in an that has become important to my story My experiment became very real atmosphere of mistrust and happened just after Thanksgiving. I on April 12th, when national drug regulation. was at the airport waiting for the bus "czar" Bob Martinez all but demanded To protest the new policy, I wrote that goes to Stanford when a former an article for The Stanford Daily in student asked me whether I'd be will­ that Stanford University, my employ­ which I discussed my views on drugs, ing to advise him about whether to ex­ er, fire me. Today I find myself at the my opposition to the new policy, and periment with a drug called MDA that center of a controversy about drugs, my intention to violate it. I chose my I had mentioned in my article. We had free speech, the relationship between backpack as a battleground, because it an hour-long conversation in which he universities and government, and the seemed to be a good symbol of my told me about his previous experienc­ relationship between universities and concern over privacy. If they can limit es with LSD and marijuana and his their faculties. what's in my backpack, I reasoned, particular fears about MDA. I told him I have been at Stanford for over ten then they can require me to take a that his two fears (addiction and loss years. One of the elements of the drug test and they can limit what stu­ of control) were bad reasons to avoid Stanford philosophy that I have come dents do in their dorm rooms (actions MDA and that my own experiences to appreciate most is its decision to that I consider incompatible with the with the drug were excellent. In es­ treat students as adults. Stanford's university's mission). So I mentioned sence, I advised him to try it. This con­ previous policy on alcohol and drug in the article that I had carried illegal versation on the bus, which occurred use was to respect the privacy of stu­ drugs in my backpack while on cam­ off school property and at the initia­ dents, faculty, and staff-as long as pus and that I would do so in the tion of the student, became the focus people behaved responsibly. This, I future. of the public controversy-even think, is a libertarian attitude and Stanford ignored my article, as I though it is not covered by Stanford's Stanford's definition of responsible be­ expected. Nobody at Stanford wanted alcohol and drug policy or by. the havior was almost always drawn the new policy anyway and I think Drug-Free Schools and Communities along libertarian lines (i.e., individuals everyone hoped to ignore it. Some Act. Liberty 38 Volume 4, Number 6 luI 1991

I decided to test the waters a bit moment you look rather silly at erage of two and a half hours. more by writing a letter to several gov­ Stanford to me and the numerous stu­ My backpack is probably the most ernment officials to see whether they dents that I talk to. photographed backpack in history, but could prod Stanford into taking action. I included all of my correspondence to almost all of the news stories and de­ I enclosed my article and, to make Bucknam in my letter to Martinez and bate has centered on advocacy. them angry, I mentioned that the uni­ a copy of my previous article. In responding to an editorial in The versity had not reponded to it. Three weeks later I received a Stanford Daily that supported my right I heard second-hand that Ronald phone call from a reporter for The to express my opinion on drugs, Bucknam of the Drug Prevention Pro­ Washington Post, asking for my com­ Stanford President Donald Kennedy gram in Higher Education was very ment on Martinez' letter to our univer­ said that "we are talking about con­ angry about my letter and that he was sity president. I hadn't heard of the duct and riot protected speech. While trying to get people in Washington to letter, so he explained the situation to the distinction is not always simple, it do something. But nothing happened. me. Martinez had written to Stanford Drug Czar William Bennett left office expressing concern about me and re­ the same week I launched my letter minding the university of its legal re­ Stanford has been coerced campaign, so I never wrote him. I did sponsibility: "In all candor, I would nothing further for several months, find it beyond comprehension that a into becoming a partner in the mostly because my attention was di­ man who openly professes to have en­ war on drugs, extending the verted by the Gulf War. But towards couraged an undergraduate to ingest government's ability to punish the end of March I wrote Bucknam an­ MDA could continue to enjoy faculty other letter to let him know that privileges at a pace-setting institution drug users. That is a big step Stanford still had not taken action and like Stanford University. I was myself backward for this institution that I was giving dorm talks explain­ a teacher for many years. I can think of and for the future of freedom in ing my views on drugs. no action more radically at odds with this country. Shortly after Bob Martinez was the responsibilities an educator has to sworn in as the new national drug his students." As I walked out of my class on the czar, I sent him a letter as well, telling is not-as The Daily editorial sug­ him that it was "about time that I in­ afternoon of Friday, April 19, I was gests-true that words, or even 'per­ cluded you on my list of government handed a letter explaining that I had sonal conversation,' necessarily officials to harass." I was in a whimsi­ been placed on administrative leave constitute protected speech. Criminal cal mood that day and went on to say pending an investigation. Within an conspiracy, incitement and other long­ that "I am doing everything I can to hour, the university had broadcast a established crimes are primarily verbal, make fools of you." Much has been press release announcing my suspen­ but that does not protect those who made of the "rudeness" of my letter to sion (oddly, they hadn't even bothered commit them from prosecution and Martinez, so let me quote a bit to give to inform my boss or the chairman of punishment ... It seems unconsciona­ you an idea of the challenge I posed to my department). ble for responsible persons on this cam­ him: The whirlwind of national attention pus to recommend the use of illicit The students that I talk to find it began on Sunday when the drugs." very encouraging that I can so openly Washington Post ran an article on my House Narcotics Chairman Charles defy government and Stanford policy protest and the government's re­ Rangel issued a press release about me without reprisal, proving my point sponse. Fortunately, Mike Isikoff, the on April 24th arguing that"free speech that such policies have an effect only reporter for the Post, framed the debate is one thing, but speaking freely about to the extent that people, out of fear, as a question of how the war on drugs an illegal activity such as drug abuse voluntarily change their behavior. I will be waged at universities, particu­ do not fear any of you, I have not and drug possession should not in any larly as it relates to freedom of speech changed my behavior, and nothing way be rewarded." (Of course, I never bad has happened to me. On the con­ and academic freedom. The next week asked to be rewarded; I suspect Rangel trary, my stand against you has and a half was one of the most hectic wanted me punished.) brought me additional respect, new times of my life. The Washington Post The media did a fairly good job of friends, and an apparently endless begat National Public Radio, The Los reporting what I had done and why I stream of invitations to discuss my Angeles Times, and The New York did it. But my critics (for example, beliefs with students who are trying Times, who begat CNN news, who Congressman Rangel) have distorted to make tough decisions about begat CBS Evening News, who begat my words and done their best to side­ whether or not to experiment with CNN's "Crier and Company" and track the issue. They tried to reduce drugs and/or whether or not to take "Crossfire," and so on. I quickly be­ my case to an argument about crack the risk of continuing to use drugs in came the most popular speaker on light of government persecution. cocaine and heroin, even though I am If your office gives you any power campus. I have spoken at nineteen not a user of either, nor have I ever to try to force me to change my be­ dorms since the story broke, with an publicly or privately advocated their havior, I suggest that you apply it im­ average attendance of 50-60 people use. In an attempt to portray the issue mediately, because right at the and the discussion going on for an av- as government protection of the weak Liberty 39 Volume 4, Number 6 Jul 1991

and helpless, they talk about the Universities should be the citadels free speech. But, of course, Bush was "kids" and "impressionable young­ of "reason and free inquiry." Faculty denouncing only attempts by leftists to sters" at Stanford whom I might lead members should never be censured for intimidate free speech. Suppression of astray. the opinions they express, even if free speech by rightists and by I'm sure they would have attacked those opinions involve recommending Republicans is just fine, as subsequent my professional record had they been the breaking of university policies or events were to demonstrate. able, even though it is not really rele­ laws. In certain circumstances, I sup­ On May 10, the university in­ vant to the fundamental questions in pose, speech can cross over into con­ formed me that my employment my case, but they have been frustrated duct in cases of libel or incitement. But would be terminated effective May to find that my job performance is such cases should be handled by the 15th. They chose not to fire me over quite good. Stanford President court system and not by the university. the advocacy issue, although they ex­ Kennedy gave me an award six years (My legal advisor, incidentally, has pressed concern about it. They fired ago for "Outstanding Service to told me that I am not guilty of any me because of my admission that I had Undergraduate Education"; the fol­ such crime). lowing year, the Dean of Engineering Unfortunately, many faculty mem­ gave me the "School of Engineering ber do not share this view. In a recent All I have done is talk, and Distinguished Advisor Award"; and poll Stanford faculty members were the undergraduates recently voted me asked, "Do you think that recommend­ the government can't take me one of their top twelve favorite ing that a student should use an illegal to court for that. So they have instructors. drug is punishable conduct or protect­ punished me by forcing Stan­ I stirred up this controversy be­ ed free speech?" The results were: 54% ford to fire me. cause I think the government is going punishable conduct, 28% don't know, about the business of purveying its and 18% free speech. Things haven't view of the truth in a way that is en­ changed all that much since the carried illegal drugs in my backpack tirely wrong. I share Jefferson's view McCarthy era. In 1949 Stanford's presi­ and the fact that I had once not pre­ that ideas should compete freely with dent Wallace Sterling explained why vented two underage students from each other and that if you perceive communists ought to be excluded from ordering a before-dinner drink at a res­ that someone is spreading untruth, Stanford's faculty: "I doubt very much taurant. I will file a grievance, but I you should fight him by telling the that a member of the Communist Parry doubt that I will manage to change truth, not by resorting to coercion. As is a free agent. If he is not a free agent, their minds. Jefferson eloquently argued in Notes on then it would seem to follow that he The backpack and the issue of my Virginia: cannot be objective. If he cannot be ob­ not preventing students from drinking Reason and free inquiry are the only jective, he is by definition precluded are just excuses. This is most evident effectual agents against error. ... from being an educator." from the fact that they did nothing in They are the natural enemies of error, At the same time his administration November-not even write a letter of and of error only. Had not the was pressuring Stanford to fire me, concern-even though I had broadcast Roman government permitted free President Bush was making a speech to the entire campus that I was carry­ inquiry, Christianity could never defending free speech on campuses at ing illegal drugs in my backpack. They have been introduced. Had not free the graduation ceremony for the didn't act until Bob Martinez wrote a inquiry been indulged at the era of University of Michigan. "Ironically, on letter five months later. It seems clear the Reformation, the corruptions of the 200th anniversary of our Bill of that their action was motivated by Christianity could not have been Rights, we find free speech under as­ purged away. If it be restrained now, government pressure, not by a desire sault throughout the United States, in­ the present corruptions will be pro­ on their part to censure me over the tected, and new ones encouraged. cluding on some college campuses," he backpack. Was the government to prescribe to said. "Disputants treat sheer force­ I have never been found guilty of a us our medicine and diet, our bodies getting their foes punished or expelled, drug-related crime. The head of the would be in such keeping as our for instance-as a substitute for the Stanford Police stated publicly that he souls are now. Thus in France the power of ideas. Throughout history, at­ can't even get a search warrant issued emetic was once forbidden as a medi­ tempts to micromanage casual conver­ based on what I've said. All I have cine, the potatoe as an article of food. sation have only incited distrust ... done is talk, and the government can't Government is just as infallible, too, We all should be alarmed at the rise of take me to court for that. So they have when it comes to systems in physics. intolerance in our land, and by the punished me by forcing Stanford to Galileo was sent to the inquisition for growing tendency to use intimidation fire me. Stanford has been coerced into affirming that the earth was a sphere: rather than reason in settling becoming a partner in the war on the government had declared it to be as flat as a trencher, and Galileo was disputes." drugs, extending the government's obliged to abjure his error. .'.. It is Had Bush changed administration ability to punish drug users. That is a error alone which needs the support policy? For a fleeting moment, the big step backward for this institution of government. Truth can stand by thought occurred to me that Bush had and for the future of freedom in this itself. come to appreciate the importance of country. 0 40 Liberty Travel

A Long Way from Philadelphia by Sheldon L. Richman

In the halls of the Communist Party Central Committee, supporters of indi­ vidual liberty plot the transformation of the evil empire into a free society.

You know you're in a different world the moment you enter the Moscow airport. The walls are a dingy brown and the lighting is too dim. When we arrived at mid-afternoon, there was hardly anyone about. It felt like a ghost town. The contrast with the airport in Frankfurt, where I had switched planes, couldn't be more stark. Frankfurt airport is like a popu­ lar shopping mall. There are shops of ing through my belongings revolting. me to bring four passport photos to all kinds, even a pornography shop. I would not make a good Soviet work the following day so that my Crowds bustle all over. The atmos­ citizen. visa application could be submitted. phere is bright and lively. A week earlier I did not even Time was short. The application My first emotion in the Soviet know I would be going to the Soviet would have to be sent in immediately. Union was anxiety. A Soviet officer Union. I had joined the Cato Institute I felt a rush of excitement, until I re­ looked at my passport and visa for the staff just weeks before. Ed Crane, called that my passport had long ex­ first time, then raised his hand and Cato's president, mentioned the up­ pired; I had not been out of the told me to wait. "Uh oh, what does he coming conference and casually asked country for about 15 years. Besides, it want from me?" I thought. I hadn't no­ if I'd like to go. I confess that I experi­ was in a safe-deposit box somewhere ticed a group of people approaching enced mixed emotions. A chance to in Philadelphia. I had heard that you the door. He was stopping me to let see the USSR on the eve of its capital­ could get a passport in one day if you them in first. He waved me on. I felt ist revolution was too tempting to were willing to stand in line for hours. relieved. turn down. But I'm not one who likes So first thing the next morning I head­ I went to Moscow to attend a con­ to rough it. I've heard enough about ed to the passport office in ference on perestroika co-sponsored by the conditions there to know that a Washington, D.C., and told the clerk the Cato Institute, along with the visit is no luxury vacation. The water that I needed one-day service. "You Independent University and Komso­ should not be used even for brushing will need a letter from your employer molskaya Pravda, the newspaper of the teeth. Their food is of dubious quality. saying that you must have it," she Young Communist League. Because And the chance of being caught in an said. Okay, I thought, I'll play their we were there on quasi-official busi­ upheaval always exists. I prefer to game. In about an hour I had an im­ ness, we were afforded VIP treatment watch such things on CNN. At any pressive letter signed by Ed Crane ex­ at the airport. This meant our luggage rate, I did not expect to actually be in­ plaining that my presence at the would not be searched. We didn't vited to go. I had no role in the confer­ conference was indispensable. I had know this until we arrived and I was ence; the trip didn't seem like a perk the passport by 3:30 that afternoon. Ed immensely relieved to hear it. It's not one is liable to get a couple of weeks Crane's name can move bureaucracies. that I had anything in my bags I into a new job. At least, in the USA ... shouldn't have had (just loads of food One week before departure, I got a So there I was standing in the VIP and bottled water), but I found the call at my home from Cato's confer­ lounge at Moscow airport being greet­ thought of some Soviet goon rummag- ence director, Julie Riggs, instructing ed, along with my traveling compan- Liberty 41 Volume 4, Number 6 Jul 1991

ions, our co-sponsors and several stu­ what looked like a camera pointing to­ the drop of a hat. (The problem would dents who would graciously be at our ward the ground. In the United States be getting me to stop.) "Sure," I said. service for the next few days. They of­ this would indicate automatic doors. The meeting ended. I returned to my fered coffee. Hmm, I thought, coffee is These doors you had to open yourself. room and scribbled some notes on my made with water. "No thanks," I said. Were the door openers broken? Or topic. It was nearly time for the open­ (Silly me. It is made with boiled water. were the cameras watching us? Inside ing reception. Soviet coffee turned out to be quite the hotel, an ivory-colored staircase The reception room was actually good, if you like it strong.) climbed to the lobby. On either side charming, with porcelain chandeliers When our visas and customs dec~ was an escalator: neither was operable and wall fixtures. In the middle of the larations were checked (we had to during our stay. The lobby had a gran­ room was a table laid out with caviar, state that we had no guns or narcotics) deur about it. Another ivory staircase ham, other foods, Stolichnaya vodka, and our bags retrieved, we were led to swept to the second floor. On the first and a delightful lightly carbonated landing was a white bust of Lenin. pear drink. I picked over the food care­ We checked into our rooms. By fully-maybe too carefully-knowing By Moscow standards, the Moscow standards, the rooms of the that I had a jar of Skippy chunky pea­ Oktyabrskaya might be the tops,. but nut butter upstairs in case I didn't get rooms of the Oktyabrskaya they would have a hard time beating enough to eat. Aside from our travel­ might be the tops, but they your local Motel 6 out on the highway: ing party, which included Cato friends would have a hard time beating one narrow bed, no wall-to-wall car­ from around the country and one from pet, a couple of ugly towels in the South Africa, the reception was for the your local Motel 6 out on the bathroom, and the worst toilet paper Soviet citizens and journalists who highway: one narrow bed, no you have ever seen. (That's another would be attending the conference. wall-to-wall carpet, a couple of thing you. bring with you.) The room Our guest speaker was Vladimir ugly towels in the bathroom, was clean, however, and some interest­ Bukovsky, the famed Soviet dissident ing accoutrements were provided: and exile who had recently been al­ and the worst toilet paper you both regular and shortwave radios be­ lowed to return to Moscow for his first have ever seen. sides the rotary telephone, television visit in over 15 years. Bukovsky is an (Soviet programming stinks), and a earthy, friendly man, who regaled us refrigerator. with stories of his visit to his boyhood a bus for the trip to our hotel. You'd After nosing around the room, I un­ school. He told us the latest Gorbachev think that if any thoroughfare in a packed my clothes, freshened up, joke: Gorbachev looks at a portrait of major city would get special attention changed, and headed down to the hall himself and says, ''Well, do you think it would be the one from the airport to where our conference would be held. they will remove us?" The portrait re­ the heart of town. Not in Moscow. As The Cato people--Crane, Roger Pilon, sponds, "Me they will remove. You we traversed this main road, we were and Jim Dorn, who put the conference they will hang." There is talk in appalled by the sheer ugliness all together-were going over the pro­ Moscow about a proposal for a around. Run-down housing projects gram, which had to be revamped to ac­ "round-table discussion" on the coun­ squatted on every block. Mortar was commodate the Soviet speakers. I was try's crisis involving all the factions. crumbling. Windows were broken. expecting at most to chair a panel on Bukovsky is against it. He ends his talk There were no lawns; just mud. Dazed foreign policy. (Cato's foreign policy by saying he's glad he "never negotiat­ people trudged to who-knows-where. director, Ted Carpenter, was supposed ed with communists." (This didn't sit Nothing was attractive. The Visible to do that, but he became ill the day we well with another reformer, who later Hand was everywhere in evidence. were to leave. I was prepared to pinch would snipe that the view of the Soviet About the only thing that stood out hit.) But on entering the hall, I learned Union must be much better in was a newly opened Pizza Hut. The that the foreign policy panel had been Cambridge, England, where Bukovsky day was overcast. Just as well: sun­ scratched. Only one foreign policy ex­ lives.) light would have been out of place pert was originally on the program Our conference formally began the here. and he didn't show. Instead, we would next morning. The turn-out was fabu­ In a while, the bus passed through have three panels on economics over lous. The room was filled and news a gate and up a drive to our hotel, the two days. This was appropriate; the cameras lined up across its width Oktyabrskaya, built in the Brezhnev conference titIe from the beginning along a center aisle. The first panel, ti­ years for the Central Committee of the was "All the President's Men: tled ''What Is To Be Done?" featured Communist Party and said to be the Perestroika Yesterday, Today, and both good guys and bad guys: Gavriil best hotel in Moscow. Lately it has Tomorrow." Popov, the free-market mayor of been open to Westerners, as a source of Ed turned to me when I entered. Moscow; Grigori Yavlinsky, former badly needed hard currency. The "Could you give a ten-minute talk to­ deputy to the Russian prime minister; Oktyabrskaya had a stately look to it. morrow on the knowledge problem?" Vadim Bakatin, former minister of in­ Yet I noticed little things. Over each he asked. Happily, it was one of the ternal affairs and a member of the door at the entrance, for example, was three or four topics I can speak on at Presidential Council; and Yegor 42 Liberty Volume 4, Number 6 Jul 1991

Ligachev, former member of the hall built for the Soviet Communist system crush you, I said. "This system Politburo and the leading reactionary. Party's Central Committee, lecturing could crush anyone," one of the men Ed Crane greeted the audience, on why socialism cannot be reformed said. ''The fucking communists," the saying it was time to get beyond and why, as Mises and Hayek had other added. I offered to send them "Gorbachev's tired old statist cliches." long ago explained, an industrial econ­ copies of Ayn Rand's We The Living. This prompted Bakatin to shoot back omy was doomed without private They had never heard of Ayn Rand. that there was no need for "Mr ownership of the means of production. That night we were taken to the Crane's cliches" either. About all I couldn't tell how my remarks were Kremlin to see a ballet. It was nice, but Bakatin could do was urge the country being received, but I could hear the many of us were restless and wished to to "calm down." Ligachev, the unre­ translator turning my English into walk around. We left at intermission constructed communist, said that the Russia as his voice was piped into the country had been doing fine before spectators' ear pieces. All I could think Gorbachev tinkered with it and that of was how far-literally and figura­ There I was, sitting on the the Communist Party could solve the tively-this Jewish kid from Philly had problems. No one in the audience ap­ come. stage of a hall built for the peared to take this seriously. Bakatin I explained to the audience that Soviet Communist Party's and Ligachev, who were invited by since the market, through prices, uses Central Committee, lecturing the Soviet sponsors, said what was ex­ knowledge held by all members of so­ pected of them. What disappointed us ciety, capitalism embodies respect for on why socialism cannot be re­ was what the good guys had to say. the people, unlike socialism, which op­ formed and why an industrial Popov, who had become known as a erates as if the people know nothing economy was doomed without radical free-market advocate, said that worth knowing. As I closed my re­ the government must protect the peo­ marks, I noted that there will be many private ownership of the means ple "from the extremes of the market." excuses for not privatizing the country, of production. All I could think He called for an "administrative but that the reformers must clearly ar­ of was how far this Jewish kid state," like the Japanese state, which ticulate the necessity of property from Philly had come. would "interfere" to combat monopo­ rights. "Take the advice," I said, "of ly and other bad things. He said the that great capitalist company Nike, country is not prepared for a "long whose slogan is 'Just Do It.' Ladies and and walked to Red Square, where we and painful transition" to a market gentlemen, Just Do It!" made wisecracks in front of Lenin's economy. Yavlinsky made similar During the question-and-answer mausoleum. (One of the Russians as­ statements. session, an American reporter for sisting us during the conference, a The morning session, in sum, was a United Press International said that charming young woman named Irena, downer. If the good guys were this when business is left alone you get told me that some students had been bad, what hope was there? How could things like the S&L crisis. Roger Pilon arrested a few weeks earlier for using the liberal forces decide on means if leaned over to me and whispered, their bodies to spell. out the Russian they couldn't agree on ends? Things "Leave it to an American reporter to be equivalent of "Fuck Lenin" outside the picked up in the afternoon, however. the biggest jerk at the conference." He mausoleum.) We had a beer at the the Boris Pugo, the minister of internal af­ explained to the reporter the role of bar of the Intourist Hotel before head­ fairs, didn't show. That left Roger government deposit insurance in in­ ing back to the hotel. Pilon, who would chair the panel; demnifying the S&L managers against The next day, at the final session, Ruslan Khazbulatov, Russian loss. The reporter responded that it we finally heard what we came to President Boris Yeltsin's first deputy; sounded like the government had in­ hear: radical free-market declarations. and me. Pilon opened with an impor­ deed left business alone. Later he re­ The panel, chaired by Jim Dorn, con­ tant statement laying out the legal re­ fused to listen when I tried to explain sisted of Stanislav Shatalin, author of quirements of a private-property that the problem was that the govern­ the SOD-day plan for a market econo­ economy: an independent judiciary, ment had failed to leave the rest of us my that was rejected by Gorbachev protection of property and contracts, alone. last September; Nikolai Petrakov, for­ etc. Khazbulatov followed with re­ At the end of the session many mer chief economic adviser to marks praising Adam Smith. I was Soviets came to me to ask questions: Gorbachev, who resigned because he next, with my talk on the calculation Was I ever a communist? How long had been ignored; Alexei Emelyanov, problem, pointing out that without had I been studying communism? a pro-market reformer; Vasily property there was no exchange, with­ Should the government have any role Selyunin, a liberal economist; Larisa out exchange there were no (true) pric­ in the economy beyond protecting Piyasheva, a radical liberal economist es, and without prices there could be property rights and contracts? They and a Cato adjunct scholar; and IIya no economic calculation. Hence the were eager to get books on the subject Zaslavsky, a local legislator and liberal failure of socialism. and learn more. Two young men said activist. Some highlights: Emelyanov: It was an unforgettable experience. they would like to become business­ "We swerved from the natural road in There I was, sitting on the stage of a men, but they could not. Don't let the 1917.... We robbed the peasants of Liberty 43 Volume 4, Number 6 Jul 1991

their land." Selyunin: ''The industries his wife and child to the McDonald's in Lenin's birthday, my South African belong to the people and should be re­ Moscow, where it cost him an average friend Hylton Appelbaum, Irena, her turned to them.... No, we don't need Russian's weekly salary to dine. Later boyfriend Kiril and I tooled around socialism." Shatalin: "I sayan unequiv­ that evening our traveling party went Moscow, seeing the sights-the KGB ocal yes to private property.... We to a state-owned restaurant where we building, the Bolshoi Theater-and must de-ideologize the economy." were served excellent appetizers and stopping at stores where real Zaslavsky: "Capitalism should be built then steak and limp french fries. The Muscovites shop. How depressing: in this country. It cannot be done with­ company made up for what the cuisine dim and decrepit, the selection pitiful­ out pushing the Communist Party out lacked. ly limited, the lines long. People stand of power." Petrakov: "I am opposed to The cab ride home provided one of in the stores trying to resell at marked economic dictatorship. I support eco­ the best anecdotes of the trip. Our driv­ up prices what they just stood in line nomic freedom." er, a 65-ish man, was wearing a to buy. This saves others from waiting. Philadelphia Phillies cap. I pointed to Who said the Russians need to learn it and said I was from Philadelphia. I entrepreneurship? We lunched on A bust of Lenin was two ru­ didn't expect him to understand, but cheese-bread and dumplings at a pri­ he replied in broken English that his vate co-op Czech restaurant. Irena, a bles I or eight cents. It sits on niece lives in the suburb of Bala translator, and Kiril, a physician, are my desk at the Cato Institute; I Cynwyd. Ed Crane asked him if there young and idealistic. Naturally they tell people it is Mitch Miller. would be a revolution in the country. want out of the Soviet Union. They His face lit up as he said, "June," add­ would like to get married, but they ing, "Yeltsin!" He explained, I think, can't afford an apartment. "I don't The session was exhilarating. There that Nostradamus had predicted the want my children to grow up here," revolution. Ed then asked if he had might be hope for this country yet! Irena says. The American immigration Our afternoon was free. Some of us ever heard of larisa Piyasheva. quotas are tight, so they plan to try for went to the Arbat, a pedestrian street "Economist," he said. He then started South Africa. where people sell souvenirs, primarily naming the radicals, as though he had later that afternoon, we went to the lacquer boxes and "matryoshka" dolls, been to our conference: Selyunin, office of Komsomolskaya Pravda for a those nesting wooden dolls. Certain Zaslavsky, and so on. But this wasn't meeting with the editorial staff. They merchants would accept dollars, but all. He next picked up from his seat an greeted us with espresso and pastries. only on the sly. There was no lack of article he was apparently reading and They were eager to learn about the re­ entrepreneurship. Men and women said, "Brutzkus." Boris Brutzkus was a quirements of a free marketo We were vigorously hawked their wares, point­ Russian critic of the Soviet system who eager to hear what they are thinking. ed out the advantages of shopping at understood Mises' refutation of social­ The editor said their goal is the eco­ their table, and kids tried to sell "mili­ ism. If this is typical of the cab drivers, nomic education of the people. We left tary watches" or to bum chewing gun. the country may straighten itself out fearing that they feel they have all the (I carried lots of Nestle's Crunch for quickly. time in the world to debate their prob­ these occasions.) When I told one ven­ For Americans everything was lems and that they can discuss means dor that he was a capitalist, he told me cheap. The official exchange rate has without first agreeing on ends. in broken English that this was not so: been raised from 6 rubles to the dollar Our flight from Moscow was sched­ capitalism meant high prices; his prices to 27 rubles to the dollar. A large meal uled for 6:15 the next morning. We had were low. I gave him a Cato button might cost 100 rubles or under four to leave the hotel at 4 o'clock. I didn't that said, in Russian, private property dollars. Souvenirs were also a steal. I get much sleep. Before checking out of and capitalism. (People all over bought a large "matryoshka" doll for the room I spread out on the desk all Moscow were wearing these buttons 300 rubles, about 11 bucks. A bust of the food and candy I was leaving. A by the time we left.) We saw a few peo­ Lenin was two rubles, or eight cents. surprise for the maid. I also left my ple making speeches or satirizing (It sits on my desk at Cato; I tell people American toilet paper. Gorbachev along the street, indicating it is Mitch Miller.) With the help of a There was snow on the ground as a nonchalance that presumably did not Russian I bought two beautiful mili­ we made the trek by bus to the air­ exist before glasnost. tary officer's hats-at about 40 cents port. Lines at customs were long, but That evening we held the closing apiece. When I was totalling up my we got VIP treatment again. Because reception, but the guest speaker, for­ buys for the U.S. customs declaration, I of the weather, the airport had been mer foreign minister Eduard realized that the souvenirs I bought, in­ closed, and they had to de-ice the Shevardnadze, never showed. Why, I cluding several toys for my three kids, Lufthansa DC-I0. As we took off I felt do not know. It was nonetheless a came to about 15 dollars. (In defiance some relief to be departing. A short memorable evening. With the help of of Soviet law, I brought about 330 ru­ while after take-off the German pilot Fortune magazine's bureau chief, Paul bles home with me, primarily because came on the public-address system Hofheinz, I chatted with Petrokov, a jo­ it wasn't worth the 12 bucks to stand in with welcome words: we were leaving vial man who also betrays a pessimis­ line to reconvert them.) Soviet airspace. All of us burst into tic fatalism. He explained that he took On our last day in the Soviet Union, applause. 0 44 Liberty Conversation Economics after Socialism: ,Mark Skousen interviews Robert Heilbroner

Last September, economist Robert Heilbroner resigned from the socialist movement, say­ ing "Socialism has been a great tragedy of this century . .. Mises has won." Libertarian econ­ omist Mark Skousen wanted to know more about Heilbroner's change of mind.

In a recent series of articles in The New Yorker, Robert Heilbroner: I never had any particular high expectations for Heilbroner shocked the socialist world by announcing his the Soviet Union. I had been to the Soviet Union and I en­ resignation. The debate between capitalism and socialism is visioned this very creaky bureaucratic inefficient opera­ over, he declared. "Capitalism has won!" Later, he boldly tion. The Soviets seemed to be in a steady state, just stated, "Socialism has been a great tragedy this century." clinking along, producing small quantities of bad consu­ Such statements would not make headlines if they were mer good.s and large quantities of quite good military made by a free-market economist, but when they come fr0D! goods. That's what everyone, including me, thought. But the Norman Thomas Professor of Economics at the New no one expected a collapse! Nobody-not the CIA, not School for Social Research, we all take notice. Heilbroner, a any foreign intelligence-foresaw this collapse. So it took respected thinker, is the author of many influential books, me by surprise. including The Worldly Philosophers, the most popular book Skousen: You wrote your first article about the collapse of ever written on the history of economics. socialisrn and the triumph of capitalism before the Berlin Mark Skousen is an economist of a very different sort. Wall was torn down. After receiving his PhD. from George Washington Heilbroner: I think it was very clear from 1988 that things University in 1977, Skousen made an unorthodox career were going poorly in the Soviet Union and the Eastern choice: he became an financial writer. He advanced very Bloc. I remember having dinner with Peter Bernstein [co­ quickly in the field, and by 1980, he was editor of one of the author of The Debt and the Deficit] and we were talking most-widely-circulated investment advisory newsletters about what's going on in the Soviet Union. He said the and remains today one of the most influential investment system there just doesn't work. And I said, that's right, writers. Along the way, he has written a number of best­ that's right! That's what really sparked my first piece. We selling investment books. He is currently Adjunct Professor are witnessing an extraordinary living example of a sys­ of Economics and Finance at Rollins College in Winter Park, tem breaking down. Mises was right. My article made a Florida, and is also the author of two books of serious eco­ big splash. nomic thinking, Economics on Trial and The Structure of In Eastern Europe, there began talk about some kind of Production. radical b~ansformationfrom a planned society to a market Skousen and Heilbroner met in Heilbroner's beautiful 2­ society--market society is a euphemism for capitalism. story apartment on Park Avenue in Manhattan, on April 8, What was unforeseen was Gorbachev giving the green 1991. light. I didn't expect the move to a market society without having a revolution. I thought there'd be a gradual deteri­ Skousen: You've made some startling statements recently oration of planning. about the collapse of socialism. "The debate between so­ Skousen: In Paul Samuelson's 1989 edition of his famous cialism and capitalism is over. Capitalism has won." textbook, Economics, he wrote, "The Soviet economy is Also, "Socialism has been a great tragedy this century," proof that, contrary to what many skeptics had earlier be­ and "Mises was right." Doesn't this represent a dramatic lieved, a socialist economy can function and even thrive." reversal in your philosophy? Do you think this kind of statement is an embarrassment Heilbroner: There's no question about it. These are state­ to the economics profession? ments I wouldn't have written five years ago. Heilbroner: We felt, and I still do feel, that a command Skousen: Did you expect communism to collapse economy is like the military. The army is very good at economically? moving mountains and doing what the Pharaohs did, Liberty 45 Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991

building large scale monuments. They build thousands of your change of heart? In a recent issue of Dissent, a forum miles of railroads and large dams. They brought about for radical thinkers, they seemed to be ... massive industrialization and mobilized the masses, and Heilbroner: No. I'm a member of the board of Dissent. I they did it very well and very rapidly, or else they never made the point that just because socialism has lost does not would have held off Hitler. mean that capitalism has won. We're not out of the woods Socialism can do that. What socialism can't do is to pro­ yet. duce the complex array of goods requiredonce a society Skousen: Isn't it true that the socialist camp is in a state of leaps from a peasant society to an early industrial society. crisis, and they are groping to redefine socialism in this It's very hard to run the damn thing with the absence of post-socialist era? One suggested that socialism is nothing market signals. more than market capitalism with a sense of community. Skousen: Isn't that what the Austrian economist Ludwig von Heilbroner: Well, the question is, what's left of the idea of so­ Mises predicted fifty years ago? cialism? We know it's not what was in the Soviet Union, Heilbroner: I went back and read Mises and Hayek. They not Hungary or Czechoslovakia. Maybe it's Sweden. That's closer to my idea of socialism. But there's really no answer right now. /I['m I'm certainly not as naive as [was. But just Maybe socialism is nothing more than the best kind of as skeptical as [ ever was about the difficulties of capitalism. I'm not afraid of the word socialism. Socialism capitalism. II has always had very high moral objectives even though it has been besmirched by Soviet atrocities and belligerence. To me socialism as a democratic ideal has always stood for said that central planning couldn't work, but I don't think equality and justice. they're really clear about why it breaks down. Oskar Lange Skousen: You've written the most popular book ever on the and other socialists had naive notions about the way the story of economics, The Worldly Philosophers. I believe it's command economy could function, that when inventories sold 3 million copies. Based on your new views, what would go up, they'd cut prices, and that would solve the would you change? problem. That's not the way it works. Heilbroner: Very little. There's almost nothing in the book Skousen: You are really the first one in the socialist camp to about socialism. admit that your views about capitalism have changed. Here Skousen: But maybe there should be. you are the Norman Thomas Professor of Economics at the Heilbroner: I don't think so. I revised it rather recently. New School of Social Research, a hot bed of socialist Skousen: In your latest edition, you quote Joseph thinking ... Heilbroner: Socialist, I don't know. It certainly is a hot bed of Schumpeter, one of your teachers at Harvard, who was institutionalist thinking, New Deal thinking. very pessimistic about the future of capitalism and predict­ Skousen: What has been the reaction to your articles about ed that socialism was the wave of the future. the triumph of capitalism over socialism? Heilbroner: In the 1940s, he said, "Can capitalism survive? Heilbroner: It made me either famous or infamous. Many No, I do not think it can." conservatives quoted me, I got a lot of favorable letters. But Skousen: Obviously he was wrong. I knew I was going to run this risk of being considered a Heilbroner: Oh, yes, very wrong. Schumpeter was convinced turncoat. that socialism was the wave of the future because corporate Skousen: In the 1930s, the Keynesian revolution really caught management would be afraid of taking market risks. The on when several influential economists, such as Alvin game wouldn't be worth the gamble. But Schumpeter real­ Hansen at Harvard ... ly didn't care about the demise of capitalism. He consid­ Heilbroner: He was one of my professors when I was an un­ ered himself a preferred member of the talented elite, who dergraduate there. could make socialism run even better ,than capitalism. I Skousen: ... changed sides from being a classical economist now have an entire chapter devoted to Schumpeter and his to being a KeyneSian. Do you see yourself in the same role, contradictions. He's a wonderful man. except in the other direction? Skousen: Your book has a chapter on Marx, a chapter on Heilbroner: That's a hard question. I'm not trying to hedge it, Keynes, and a chapter on Schumpeter, but you do not even I'm trying to find the right way to answer it. I'm certainly mention Mises, and hardly quote Hayek at all, yet these not as naive as I was. But I'm just as skeptical as I ever was Austrian economists have proven to be prescient. Don't about the difficulties of capitalism. I think there's a range of they deserve greater exposure to students of economics? outlets for capitalism. I don't think economic growth is the Heilbroner: There's two characters here, Mises and Hayek. I only criteria for success. Fairness and justice are essential, spent the summer reading Hayek, his book The Constitution too. I think of some of these modern-day welfare states of Liberty. He doesn't call himself a conservative, and he which can produce very remarkable results. Austria is very doesn't sound at al1like a conventional economist. Hayek welfarish, very state managed, very conservative and very rationalizes; he has this remarkable picture of the market successful. But there isn't a socialist left in Austria. That's system generating information so that people can do the what I call successful capitalism. I'm a great believer in wel­ things they need to do. He writes very beautifully. I find fare capitalism. that when Hayek is good, he's very good. But it's slow, Skousen: Have your socialist colleagues been very critical of hard reading. 46 Liberty liThe high-beta think tank of the '90s will be the free-market libertarians at the Cato Institute." - Lawrence Kudlow, "Money Politics," March 25, 1990

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On the other hand, I find Mises impossible. I just don't school in your book. Why? buy the practicality of his theory of praxeology. I can't take Heilbroner: The trouble with Friedman is that his approach is his book, Human Action, seriously. He said that socialism is completely non-revolutionary. For Friedman, capitalism has impossible, but he was not terribly convincing to me. He no past and no future. It has no tendencies, no trends. It al­ was so dogmatic. ways lives within the shadow of being subverted by some Skousen: Aren't all the great economists dogmatic? Is that an power-crazy bureaucrat. So I don't take Friedman seriously excuse for you and Samuelson and others to ignore the as an historical economist. Austrians? Students can go through an entire course in eco­ Skousen: How do you view the future of capitalism over the nomics and never hear the names of Mises and Hayek. next 30 years? Heilbroner: I doubt that about Hayek. Mises is a special case. Heilbroner: Capitalism is, and always has been, in a state of Skousen: Haven't you contributed to the neglect of Mises? crisis. This is the great problem of our age. Capitalism is go­ Heilbroner: In my day, hardly anyone read Mises and ing to continue to produce dynamic results, both good and bad. If it works very badly, I don't know what to do next. Skousen: To what extent do you think the government rather "What socialism can't do is to produce the com­ than the capitalist system is responsible for these crises? Do plex array of goods required once a society leaps you buy any of that argument? from a peasant society to an early industrial society. Heilbroner: Not much. It's very hard to run the damn thing with the ab­ Skousen: Take Friedman's argument that the Great Depression was not caused by the market, but by monu­ sence of market signals." mental blunders by the government's central bank. The money supply shrunk by a third. Do you accept his thesis? Human Action, nobody that I can know of. His book on so­ Heilbroner: I think it's very close to what happened. I'm quite cialism is generally regarded by most people as so ill tem­ sure that many government efforts backfire. When govern­ pered, so overdone. ment pushes button A, you don't always get result A. They Skousen: You don't think you were biased in The Worldly push B, and get something else. On the other hand, what Philosophers by failing to include the free-market movement Friedman, Hayek, and Mises don't say, and what I do say is (the Chicago School and the Austrians) in the 20th century? that tremendous problems come out of the workings of the Heilbroner: The purpose of The Worldly Philosophers was to market. Problems from ecology to the banking crisis. To represent, as best I can, the existing body of thinking out deal with these problems, you have one of two choices. You there. I could have included all sorts of crazy people lurk­ can do nothing and let the problems run their course, which ing in the shadows of economics ... may be very dangerous, or you do something. It's either Skousen: But you chose Veblen over Mises, over Friedman. laissez faire or intervention by the state. Heilbroner: Veblen is a major personality in the history of ec­ We know that intervention never produces quite the re­ onomics. You can't say that about Mises. I can show you a sults we expect. Take deregulation. It produces both good library full of books on Veblen. It isn't that I made it up. It and bad results. We have the hub system in the airlines, wasn't arbitrary. I mentioned Galbraith in passing, but I'm which a lot of people don't like. We have deregulation of not a big fan of Galbraitho AT&T, which I hate. Skousen: So you don't feel you were biased in your selection of economists? Heilbroner: I have my biases, my beliefs. When I went to col­ "Hayek has this remarkable picture of the market lege I was a liberal ... everybody was a liberal in the 1930s. system generating information so that people can do Later on in my thirties and forties I became more of a radi­ cal. I felt that liberal analysis was too shallow. Later on yet the things they need to do. He writes very beautiful­ in the fifties and sixties, I became more conservative. And ly. I find that when Hayek is good, he's very good. I've been all three ever since. On the other hand, I find Mises impossible./I Skousen: In your recent articles about the triumph of capital­ ism and the tragedy of socialism, you make constant men­ tion of Mises and Hayek. I always come back to the dynamics of the system, which Heilbroner: That's true. Just recently now, there has been a is not always foreseeable. I dimly foresaw an ecological cri­ reemphasis in the Austrian school. Economists like Don sis coming. There seems to be an increasing concern that Lavoie [at George Mason University] are doing some inter­ something is going on. It's not being produced by the gov­ esting things. He's very bright. ernment, it's part of the natural workings of the system. Is I don't know the Austrians that well. I grew up at a time the market going to take care of this by itself? when the Austrians were ignored. As social philosophers, Skousen: Peter Drucker argues that in order for a nation to they never had any impact. solve environmental problems it must be wealthy. You be­ Skousen: I hear that Mises and Hayek are having a biginflu­ come wealthy through market capitalism and then you deal ence in Eastern Europe. with the environmental issues. Heilbroner: Yes, they are quoted a lot. And so is Friedman. I Heilbroner: Yes, he might be right. don't know what's going to happen in Eastern Europe. Skousen: You have said that socialism as a theory is dead. Is Skousen: Speaking of Friedman, you also ignore the Chicago Marxism also dead? 48 Liberty INDEPENDENT FROM BUREAUCRACY

That Every: Man Be1\.rmed The Evolution of a Constitutional Right

Stephen P. Halbrook ======-*

THAT EVERY MAN BE ARMED FREEDOM, FEMINISM, The Evolution of a Constitutional Right AND THE STATE STEPHEN P. HALBROOK Edited by WENDY McELROY The power inherent in firearms has created Foreword by LEWIS PERRY controversy over the right of the citizenry to The issues that gave birth to the women's own weapons throughout western civilization. movement before the Civil War are still That Every Man Be Armed is the most with us today. Freedom, Feminism, and complete work ever assembled on the phi­ the State demonstrates that from sex and losophy, history, and legal precedent that the birth control to business and science, American citizen's right to possess arms is as government has been the real obstacle fundamental as is freedom of speech. preventing women from achieving freedom and equal rights. "The needfor careful, impartial information makes Stephen Halbrook's book especially welcome. ... The "Freedom, Feminism, and the State is an exciting book is comprehensive and well-written." collection. McElroy's analysis helps explain why so -GEORGE WASHINGTON LAWREVIEW many women feel non-commital toward the modern feminist movement." "The encyclopedic book on the Second Amendment, it is -JENNIFER ROBACK must reading for all those interested in the right to Professor ofEconomics possess firearms." George Mason University -DON B. KATES, JR., Esq. Author, Restricting Handguns "No one who reads this volume can ever doubt again that women have been oppressed by men who "That Every Man Be Armed is the first scholarly have teamed up with the state powers ofthe day to treatise that is both comprehensive and in-depth. " . keep women down." -JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW -ANNE B. ZILL AND CRIMINOLOGY Director, Women's Campaign Fund

Index • 288 pages • Paperback • Item #1160 Index • 250 pages • Paperback • Item #8029 $14.95 plus postage ($2.00/book), CA residents add sales tax $19.95 plus postage ($2.00/book), CA residents add sales tax The ~ INDEPENDENT , INSflTUTE

The Independent Institute, Dept. AE7, 134 Ninety-Eighth Avenue, Oakland, CA 94603 Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991

Heilbroner: No, I don't think Marx is dead. The Soviet sys­ real question is, what do they borrow it for? Ifyou could tem is dead. There isn't really anything left to it. But of show that we borrow money for good things, such as re­ Marx's entire opus of writings, only one percent is about building the cities, who would complain? Then you socialism. He was primarily interested in capitalism, and wouldn't have this silly business about crowding out. It isn't what he said about capitalism is I think very profoundly crowding out, it's just shifting over. Instead of building a important. private plant you build a public plant. I came to terms with Marx when I wrote a little book, Skousen: But what if the government is spending most of the Marxism: For and Against. What got me into trouble with deficit on the military? It's just poured down the sands of both the right and the left was the word "and." I was both the Arabic desert. ... for and against Marx. What I like about Marx is his view of Heilbroner: By the same token, when you reach the end of a philosophy and history. Marx stressed capitalism's inter­ dish of ice cream, that's it. nal dynamics, the essence of capitalism. I don't see how Skousen: It's consumed, but nobody's being killed or de­ you can be an economist unless you've absorbed that. But stroyed. Somebody's enjoying the ice cream. There's a big difference. Heilbroner: It isn't that I pooh pooh the deficit. I pooh pooh liThe trouble with Friedman is that his approach the alarmists, people wringing their hands about the deficit. is completely non-revolutionary. For Friedman, What I really call for is an examination of what the deficit is capitalism has no past and no future. It has no ten­ spent on. We may disagree on what is good. Herbert Stein is dencies, no trends. It always lives within the shad­ a conservative economist who thinks you should count mili­ tary assets like tanks as a part of capital public wealth. I ow of being subverted by some power-crazy don't think so. bureaucrat. So I don't take Friedman seriously as Skousen: You're not bothered by the fact that the Treasury an economist." can raise all the money it wants at 8%, while major corpora­ tions, who are in the business of providing consumer goods and capital, have to pay 10%, 12%, even 15% and are strug­ what I'm against is the Marxisms, the connection with so­ gling to raise funds? Aren't you concerned about the crowd­ cialism. The revolution toward socialism, I've never ing out effect of large Treasury financing? bought that. What comes out of this process, as Marx de­ Heilbroner: It's a question of risk differential. scribes it, could be very ugly. Skousen: No, it's also a question of supply of capital. But Marx has a lot to say about the capitalist system. Heilbroner: American corporations can get capital anywhere There is a tremendous tendency today by conventional in the world these days. economists to see most problems descending out of the Skousen: Not if they can't afford the interest payments. blue. On the conservative side, they descend from the Heilbroner: Don't kid yourself. Companies who have to pay government. On the liberal side, they descend from an oil 13% just don't have good bonds. They aren't safe. shock or something outside the system. But it's really all Skousen: A recent study found that 80% of all new capital fi­ the workings of the system, the technology of the market, nanced in the 1980s was government related. You don't the striving, the pushing, the shoving, and all that. think that's a problem for corporate financing trying to com­ I wrote a column a long time ago in which I said that it's pete with the government? common to speak about inflation as an ailment. But it's not an ailment. It's the way the system works. It isn't sick or well. That's just the way the system works around the world. You see how it works and then you change the HI don't think Marx is dead. The Soviet system is dynamics. . dead. There isn't really anything left to it. But of Skousen: You mentioned inflation, which brings up the Marx's entire opus of writings, only one percent is book you wrote with Peter Bernstein, which has had a about socialism. He was primarily interested in capi­ profound impact. When it first came out in 1963, it was called A Primer on Government Spending. The new edition talism, and what he said about capitalism is I think is called The Debt and the Deficit. The Federal deficit is now very profoundly important." approach $500 billion a year, if you include off-budget items. Haven't we reached a crisis stage because you and other economists are apologists for the deficit, saying that Heilbroner: One of the reasons the Treasury market is so large it really doesn't matter? is that there's tremendous demand for government securf.. Heilbroner: Not quite. The deficit is a very scary word. But ties. The New School for Social Research as well as other in­ I've always felt that youhave to look at it from the per­ stitutions park money there because it's sure money. spective of national wealth. How big is it compared to na­ When Britain reduced its national debt under Thatcher a tional wealth? And, you know, we're right in the middle few years ago, there was a tremendous liquidity squeeze in of the range, same as Canada and Japan. London. People need those pieces of Treasury paper to do Skousen: But it's moving up as a percentage of national business! wealth. Skousen: What's your vision of the world in the beginning of Heilbroner: All capitalist governments borrow money. The the 21st century? continued on page 69 50 Liberty Contention

Tools vs Philosophy by Karl Hess

Ideas have consequences. And a life of their own. But tools are the embodi­ ment of ideas so practical that their "own life" is, inevitably, ours as well.

Social and political philosophers analyze the world and try to clarify aberrations in the way we behave. They collect and interpret raw data on group behavior. Economists, especially those who actually are interested in economics and not in ward politics, help us understand why we cannot get rich by taking in each other's :e:::::::::::::::::::o::o::::::::=::::: :e::::c:::e::e:::::::::1 ::::e::::::::::::: :: :::::::::c:::::: locoeD::::::: :ee::::::::: ::::::::::::»»X«o»"..:««o~ laundry or why we are unable to build a solid customer base by cheating and pIe had been established. Humans The Chinese nobility was said to overcharging if there is market entry for could derive energy to do work from have rejected the use of gunpowder for competition. non-human, even inanimate sources. war (perhaps to keep the warring field The various sorts of social scientists Even the discovery of fire seems pallid safe from gun-toting peasants.) The provide the contentions among differ­ beside this. Fire did not become a Europeans did not reject firearms. They ent ways of controlling or liberating source for energetic work, as a replace­ were worried about the egalitarian tools, property, and produced wealth. ment for the ox, until years and years English long bow. And neither ban nor But not one of them, so far as I can see, later, when technologies of smelting bother stood a chance against the roar­ has ever by a theoretical statement, or and then the steam engine were devel­ ing whirlwind of human ingenuity, opinion, fundamentally changed the oped. One brought the Iron Age. The whence came the boom of the powder way we live together. other brought the Industrial Revolution. and the swoosh of the shaft. They formalize the rhetoric of histo­ Now those were changes. If all nuclear weapons finally are Social and political scientists tell us banned, this will not contradict the ry's vocabulary. They are the most why we should live differently. Philo­ point. The energy source will persist­ highly lauded of intellectuals and even sophers try to explain the scientist's safer, cleaner. The missile delivery sys­ seem to define the term itself. prescriptions. tems will endure-perhaps to carry the But consider: What was the first Tools change the way we live. mail, tourists, and ores back from the great transforming idea that turned hu­ Philosophies are powerfully held asteroids. Only a particular mechanism mans from draught animals to creatures opinions. They can organize systems to of nuclear detonation will be banned­ with enough time on their hands to con­ command the use of the tools in this and even that could be quickly revived template rhymed speech and develop way or that way, to how they are to be in some political windshift or fairly eas­ civil manners, the common law, music, used by this bunch of people or some ily stored away in some high-tech sur­ and space travel? other bunch. vivalist's cabin in the woods. Tools are It was not Plato's notion of a philos­ No tool, once conceived, has ever immortal. opher prince. It was not Aristotle's com­ been known to have been successfully None of the great philosophers mon stonemason's notion that A is A. banned or monopolized except locally have had the impact on this living The great idea-the one that made and temporarily, by any philosophy, world as has the mass production of human ascent to the stars inevitable­ law, or any other sort of opinion-no the automobile-the inevitable devel­ was the horsecollar or ox yoke. It was matter how powerful or popular the opment of merging the first nonhuman the agency of the first transfer of human opinion. motor, the non-human animal, with the need for energy to a non-human source. Tools eventually prevail whether altogether human device, the cart Once the ox was yoked, the nuclear tur­ you or your political theory like it or (whether the cart was intended to roll bine could not be far ahead! The princi- not. on wheels, skids, oiled logs or the Liberty 51 Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991

bones of dead slaves). In the 1660s there were at least 50 flew. The Bolsheviks gave us their ver­ There may be 73,000 PhDs granted major treaties and wars. Politics was sion of Oriental despotism (how neat!); to prove that unless we had kings, sweeping the earth. At the same time, the Wright brothers showed us that queens, the Magna Carta, or the u.s. Isaac Newton described the differential highways could be almost infinitely Constitution,. we never would even calculus. When war becomes just a dim flexible skyways. Any real arguments have had the automobile. memory, some part of some mission about the world changing going on I disagree. I believe that once a tool into deep space probably will be en­ there? Certainly, the thousands killed is demonstrated, and once that someone hanced by the calculus. If war persists, by thugs had their lives changed. finds that it makes his or her work easi­ the calculus will help us hit targets bet­ Certainly the airplane was a major kill­ er or more effective, the tool will, like it ter. Of ideas developed at the time it ing tool. But the world, and all who or not, be used. has clearly more clout than the socio­ survived, moved just a tad closer to Engineers devise things that do politico ones. human understanding through human work for us and they can do this, often, In 1760 the British imposed the contact-and also a bit closer to leaping without understanding exactly how all Stamp Act on Americans while Watt off into space itself. Who really had the of the parts work or why. perfected the condenser that made the long-term right stuff, the Dayton me­ Ifit works, it works. steam engine possible, the Industrial chanics or the Kremlin killers? Do I think that social and political Revolution inevitable, and America a The most powerful contrast for me scientists should be banned from even productive powerhouse. But score a big is between two events in 1962: while having opinions about tools? Absolutely one for an idea here. America was the U.S. mission was being established not. Do I resent that they, more than founded on the idea of individualliber­ to "save Vietnam," Crick, Wilkins, and any other intellectuals, easily promul­ ty. No wonder it perfected the Watson got their Nobel Prizes for de­ gate those opinions and cajole or force Industrial Revolution. scribing the molecular structure of others to follow them? Damn right I do. Perhaps the American Revolution is the DNA. Thanks to those three peaceful Do I want my buddies in the tool only social-political idea that can equal the men, not to raging armies, the world room to make all of the decisions about world changing ideas of science and will never be the same again. Speaking tools? Don't be a ninny. Tool users technology. merely as a member of the race in­ should form their own opinions and The French Revolution? I do not feel volved, I could not be more exalted or then have to negotiate with other users it can stand up as a world-changing excited by the prospect. as to what to do about it-in roughly force against even one of the technolog­ Ordinary people in the ordinary the way the rules of the road at sea ical developments of the time, say communities of their lives change the were worked out by merchant seamen Whitney's cotton gin or, a few years way they behave on the basis of the who had far more important work to do later, his development of the manufac­ tools available to them or that they de­ than to be harassed by pet behavioral turing technique of interchangeable velop for their special purposes. theories, conflicting signals, and colli­ parts for mass-produced machinery. The tidal change in the status of sions. (Incidentally, the arena in which The Russian Revolution and subse­ women, at least in the Western world, such negotiations are carried out could quent tyranny was not diminished by had been an idea for centuries. But only be called a marketplace.) ideas so much as by appetites and prac­ when computers unisexed symbol ma­ I yearn to redirect to the people who ticalities. People wanted material nipulation, when machine shops be­ change the world, the praise they things. Free markets provide such came cybernated, when muscle was deserve. things. They are proven practices more replaced by mind in more and more of Three hundred years before the birth than ideologies. the work we do, did the change actual­ of Christ, Euclid stated his Elements, The market and owned property is more ly happen. making it more practical to measure ancient than any currently popular ideolo­ The idea of throwing off collectivist land for ownership, to design better gy, even Christianity. totalitarianism certainly galvanized re­ sails, to make navigation more depend­ A substantial black market in cars sistance in Eastern Europe where able. Euclid could be said to have and car repairs surely helped pave the people obviously want to change the opened the door to the modern world. way for perestroika which, in turn, must way they behave. But it has been Christ has influenced millions, of now face the truly radical pressures of phones, faxes, copying machines, mo­ course. But the behavior of those mil­ material appetites fanned by faxed, dems and computers, tape recorders, lions has not changed much. They still photocopied, video-taped and personal­ radio, and television-the tools-that lie, cheat, steal, and kill with abandon=­ ly computed information. The Eastern made it possible for the idea to become ironically, often in Christ's own name. European peoples yearning for freedom effective, and in a relatively_peaceful In about 1000 AD, Venice consolidat­ are yearning for, admittedly, an ab­ manner. The pacification of revolution ed its empire in the Adriatic. Ho hum, stract idea; but they are yearning for it through the tools of communication is just more empire building made lofty in hope of using today's marvelous an epic change in the way humans with some new political rhetoric. At the tools and earning the material rewards behave. same time, the mathematician Sridhara associated with the tools. At any rate, for what it's worth, I proposed the concept of the zero in In 1903, when Lenin and Trotsky urge consideration of this proposition: number theory. Zero is one important formed the Bolshevik faction of the Listen to the ideas, of course, but follow reason you can count to twenty without Russian Social Democratic Party, the the tools to see if and how the way we taking off your shoes. Wright brothers' plane successfully work and live is going to change. 0 52 Liberty The End of Laissez-Faire: National Purpose and the Global Economy Af­ Office in these regards.) The institu­ ter the Cold War, by Robert Kuttner. Knopf, 1991, xii + 304pp., $22.95. tions and policies may have other bene­ fits, in terms of efficiency or humanity, but such factors are secondary. Another Kuttner belief is that the ab­ sence or uncertainty or inapplicability of economic theory in any particular sit­ Socialism With uation automatically devolves to a need for massive government intervention. Since he thinks that theory is pretty a Drooling Face much a chimera, such "need" for inter­ vention is well-nigh constant and total. Kuttner also believes that America suffers from a peculiar inability to strike a balance between central eco­ William P. Moulton Kuttner's books are always a mite difficult to review, since they contain nomic planning and a certain necessary very little fact or analysis. Rather, they amount of personal and entrepreneuri­ We older libertarians, for whom the are works of passion. Kuttner is a man al freedom. "In most modern econo­ Goldwater campaign is a living memo­ with a very strong commitment to a mies, the instruments of government ry rather than an historical footnote, al­ few core ideas. These ideas, rather than have been refined to make constructive ways had a special place in our hearts (or at least more than) any particular social partnerships possible.... Foreign for John Kenneth Galbraith. I mean, we facts or events or reasoning, animate governments, far more explicitly really hated the sonofabitch. Well, JKG his conclusions. Of course he is not enmeshed in their private economies is still around, but he's old now, and unique in this. And in fairness to Kutt­ than ours is, have proven that it is pos­ does possess a certain style and wit. ner we must grant that-though statist sible ... to pursue a broad public People a lot worse have come down the to the core-he is not in the extreme good." This is a very Galbraithian no­ intellectual pike since then, so some of constructivist tradition of St Simon, tion-foreigners are said somehow to us have moderated our rancor toward George Bernard Shaw, or Sidney and have a talent for "rationalizing" their the towering Scots-Canadian econo­ Beatrice Webb. He does not demand economies and societies, while Ameri­ mist. I, for one, simply don't think that the world be entirely remade ac­ cans stumble along in a fog of chaos, about him much anymore. cording to the dictates of an abstract waste, and uncertainty. What is need­ 1'm no longer one of those people concept; in fact, he considers himself to ed, Kuttner suggests, is a reinvestiga­ who have a psychological need to con­ be a highly practical man, evincing a tion of government "as a dispenser of centrate their perception of evil and er­ strong disdain for economic theory. He services but more fundamentally as an ror on a specific human focus. If I were does, however, accept the basic statist instrument of democratic decision mak­ so inclined, however, one contempo­ assumption that central control and di­ ing" in governing the economy. rary candidate for my focus would be rection are desirable. This seems to be The prosperity and free markets of syndicated columnist (and former eco­ more an attitude on Kuttner's part than the Pacific rim nations present a prob­ nomics professor) Robert Kuttner. His a formal ideology, but he applies this lem for conventional left liberals, which previous books include an attack on the prejudice throughout his writings. Kuttner solves by arguing that the suc­ tax revolt of the 1970s (Revolt of the Among the core beliefs that per­ cess of these economies is the result of Haves, 1980), an argument on behalf of meate and animate The End of Laissez­ central planning of a protectionist and egalitarianism as the key to economic Faire is the notion that statist institu­ quasi-mercantilist nature. His attempts prosperity (The Economic Illusion, 1984), tions and policies are good in them­ to isolate the aspects of central econom­ and a passionate plea for leftist acade­ selves-that they promote our sense of ic control which, supposedly, are the micians and media people to drop their community, bind us together within a causative agents of the success of Ja­ pretense of nonpartisanship and neu­ penumbra of shared values, experienc­ pan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Malay­ trality and become open activists on be­ es, and emotions and, in fact, make us sia, and Hong Kong are feeble and half of the Democratic Party (The Life of what we are as citizens. (In other writ­ diffuse. He seems only dimly aware of the Party, 1987). He is also economics ings, Kuttner has especially empha­ the serious and extensive economic editor of The New Republic. sized Social Security and the Post scholarship indicating that governmen- Liberty 53 Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991 tal planning in these countries, whatev­ who are still in the thrall of a vision of face." Economic matters should be er its intentions, has been a hindrance, ever-larger factories and mills churning treated as part of a unified national, not a boon, to their development. out a few basic products, Kuttner has and even global, policy. This means re­ Much more importantly, he fails to trouble dealing with the knowledge strictions not only on domestic entre­ deal with an obvious question: why do and communications revolution that preneurship, but on the free movement many Third World nations combine has largely erased the significance of of goods among nations. We need com­ central planning and massive economic national borders and has turned the prehensive industrial policy. Strong in­ intervention with poverty and stagna­ planet into an economic community in dustries must be fostered, weak ones tion? According to the Kuttner thesis, which nations can run but cannot hide either protected or eased out of their Tanzania, Cuba and India should be from the rigors of international compe­ misery. Everything must, of course, be prosperous. The answer, of course, is tition. Kuttner believes that it's both reregulated. Credit must be allocated obvious. Economies with a strong free­ possible and desirable for major econo­ by central authority. And on and on. market orientation do well; those with- mies to achieve some sort of stability The astute reader can pretty much flesh and wage-price balance by hunkering out the rest. down behind trade barriers. His con­ If all this sounds like a hodge­ tempt for economic theory seems to podge, it is. When one rejects the no­ Foreigners are said somehow leave him confused and lost here, as it tion of the market as a natural order, to have a talent for "rationaliz­ does so often. the advocacy of piecemeal, jerry-built ing" their economies and socie­ Virtually all economists recognize policies is virtually demanded. In clas­ ties, while Americans stumble the mutual benefits of free trade, but sical Marxist terms, Kuttner is a "re­ Kuttner is blind to this understanding. formist"; that is, he believes that along in a fog of chaos, waste, He wallows in a sea of disparate policy capitalism can be gradually mutated and uncertainty. recommendations, thanks to his histori­ into something else without sudden cism and concrete-boundedness. Thus revolutionary change. And of course it he alleges that in the case of semicon­ can be. The irony is that people such as ductors, "for the moment, retaining Robert Kuttner, who reject the horrors out such a policy do not. All of the mer­ of the fully implemented Soviet-style cantilism, protectionism, subsidies, and restoring U.S. capacity in that cru­ cial sector takes priority over liberaliza­ command economy, tend nevertheless credit allocation, cartelization, and the tion of markets as a systemic goal." On to outdistance Marxists in terms of be­ like advocated by Kuttner are, to the lief in the omnicompetence of the state extent they are applied, just screw-ups the other hand, "in other countries and at other times nations may decide that to bring about perfection. Marxists at and irritants in relation to the overall least believe in certain ineluctable laws picture. They help a few industries, but interventionist subsidies and other hinder many, and contribute nothing market manipulations are imposing positive to economic performance. costs that exceed benefits." Which brings us to the final big Kuttner's confusion here perfectly His arguments against free Kuttner idea: protectionism, or more illustrates the problem of argumenta­ trade seem to be slogans left precisely in his case, the use of protec­ tion with those who dispense with the­ tionist policies as a primary tool of a ory altogether. In the absence of theory, over from Dick Gephardt's national industrial policy. His argu­ or at least an examination of the context abortive presidential cam­ ments on behalf of "managed trade," as of any given economic phenemon, in­ paign: We need fair trade, not he prefers to call it, are stale and com­ terventionism in any given area seems monplace. Most seem to be slogans left to make sense. After all, if people are free trade. Japan has trade bar­ over from Dick Gephardt's abortive poor, whip up some extra money and riers, so why shouldn't we? presidential campaign: We need fair give it to them. If prices then rise, im­ Uncle Sam is being played for trade, not free trade. Japan has trade pose price controls. If jobs then begin to barriers, so why shouldn't we? Uncle disappear, create new ones. And so on. Uncle Sucker. .. Sam is being played for Uncle Sucker. After all, if nothing is connected and Free trade keeps unemployment, and everything is possible, why not man­ the threat thereof, acute enough to en­ date the minimum wage at $50 per of historical development, while left­ sure labor discipline. We are exporting hour and the price of bread at 5rt a loaf? liberals of the Kuttner type tend to as­ decent American jobs and McDonaldiz­ When one abandons any attempt at sume the state can accomplish anything ing the domestic work force. comprehensive theoretical understand­ and everything, providing of course The primitivism of Kuttner's think­ ing, one also abandons any hope of that experts like themselves are in ing is especially evident in his argu­ grasping the intricacies of concrete charge. This may be termed the "If only ments for protectionism and for a situations. I and a few people just like me were national policy of picking "winners" What, finally, does Kuttner advo­ given absolute power, everything and "losers" among industries and cate in terms of American economic would turn out all right" syndrome. technologies. Although he is not in the policy? Let's call it a kind of retarded The End of Laissez-Faire provides a same class as those aging Marxoids Marxism-"socialism with a drooling marvelous illustration of how the rejec- 54 Liberty Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991 tion of any such principles leads to an called practical men of affairs are usual­ is one that gives expression to the interlocking directorate of error (and ly in the unknowing grip of the ideas of whole gamut of virtues: "a sound mind terror). Richard Weaver remarked that long-dead academics. The example of in a sound body" and all that. This con­ ideas have consequences, and John Robert Kuttner lends strong support to ception of the compossibility of values is Maynard Keynes observed that so- both aphorisms. 0 underscored by Socrates' assertion that all the virtues are one and, more than two millennia later, romanticism's in­ Liberalisms: Essays in Political Philosophy, sistence that the full flourishing of an by John Gray. Routledge, 1989, ix + 273 pp., $29.95. individual is the development of all his potentials. A life in which some capaci­ ties are developed at the expense of others is thereby stunted. Berlin rejects both commensurabili­ ty and compossibility. Neither within Liberal Obituary? an individual life nor a political order, he maintains, is a frictionless harmony among all goods attainable. One neces­ sarily makes choices that close off some institutions of a liberal polity. It is only options as they open others. For exam­ Loren E. Lomasky in the twelfth, "Mill's and other liberal­ ple, the pious humility of a monk can­ not be combined with a freebooting isms," originally published in 1988, that warrior's courage. To opt for one sort It is my melancholy duty to inform he begins to display serious reserva­ of life-and its accompanying virtues­ the readers of Liberty that, for the sec­ tions with the liberal project as such. is necessarily to reject others. Moreo­ ond times in recent months, a notable That dissatisfaction is brought to a ver, this setting of a personal direction exponent of libertarianism recants. (The head in the volume's "Postscript: after cannot be charted via a convenient other is Robert Nozick, The Examined liberalism" in which he purports to "ex­ mapping of values that displays their Life: Philosophical Meditations).* John hibit in a systematic and detailed way relative preferability. No monolithic Gray is best known for his Mill scholar­ the failure of liberal ideology" (p. 240) standard of value can guide choice be- ship, culminating in Mill on Liberty: A and sketch the contours of a viable Defence (London: Routledge & Kegan post-liberalism. Precisely because Paul, 1983), in which he advances a Gray's engagement with liberal strikingly original interpretation of thought has been so continuous and Like a suitor finally grown Mill's advocacy of the liberty principle, substantial, the capital sentence he now disenchanted after a long finding it both consistent with the con­ pronounces over it merits attention. sequentialism of Utilitarianism and in­ courtship, Gray is inclined to trinsically well-conceived. His search Gray Areas magnify newly perceived for foundations adequate to a liberal or­ Although Gray has oscillated under der next focused on Hayek, whose the sway of diverse influences, the two flaws. work he characterized as an "attempt thinkers whose impact has been most to restate liberal principles in a form pronounced and persistent are Isaiah appropriate to the circumstances and Berlin and Michael Oakeshott. From cause each mode of life embodies a temper of the twentieth century Berlin, whose works include the enor­ standard distinctly particular to it. One [which] has yielded a body of insights mously influential ''Two Concepts of must, willy-nilly, choose-and do so in wholly comparable in profundity and Liberty," Gray adopts Berlin's under­ the face of the fact that what one for­ power with those of his forbears in the standing of moral life as necessitating a goes are genuine human goods. Com­ classical liberal tradition."t The twelve choice among values that are incommen­ mitment to a mode of life is thereby previously published essays of Liberal­ surable and incompossible. Though these costly and, because that is so, choices isms appraise the contributions to liber­ words may not be part of ordinary vo­ are momentous, sometimes tragic. al thought of Isaiah Berlin, Karl Popper, cabulary, the concepts are easily under­ What do incommensurability and Herbert Spencer, John Rawls, and Mi­ stood. "Commensurable" means incompossibility entail for political chael Oakeshott, as well as providing "judged by a common standard," or, structures? Berlin maintains that they reexaminations of Mill and Hayek. In roughly speaking, "measurable." Mor­ are supportive of liberal society; al­ the first eleven of these, Gray extracts alists from the dawn of philosophy though liberalism is no more able than themes that he finds supportive of the have thought that life's goods can be any alternative political structure to se­ weighed against one another or ranked cure the totality of value, it is uniquely on a scale of better and worse. "Com­ open and receptive to value­ * Cf "Beyond Philosophy," by Loren E. Loma­ competition. That is, the preeminence sky, Liberty, November 1989, pp 61-64. possible," on the other hand, means t Hayek on Liberty (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, "compatible." Moral thinkers often of liberty, conceived as nonrestriction 1984), pp. 1-2. argue that a maximally satisfactory life of options, does not represent an arbi- Liberty 55 Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991

trary placement of the value of liberty tion that the manufacture of command­ tainable, it is difficult to provide a ratio­ vis-a-vis all others but rather the dispo­ ing principles for the conduct of politics nale for not acting directly to achieve sition at a political level to countenance is an illicit trade, amounting to the in­ maximum overall utility. This is a gen­ rather than cut off competition among trusion of rationalism into politics. By eral disability of theories that attempt values. This disposition is sustained by "rationalism" Oakeshott means the to combine a theory of rights that pro­ an understanding that there can exist view that only what can be stated in ex­ hibits sacrificing the interest of some no Olympian height from which all plicit, theoretical terms merits recogni­ persons for the sake of others with a contending forms of life can be neutral­ tion as genuine knowledge; it is the consequentialism that aims at maximiz­ ly and dispassionately evaluated. Rath­ product of an imperialistic scientism ing overall well-being. The upshot of er, any alleged Archimedean point (epitomized by the logical positivism of these three considerations is that "no itself encapsulates a distinctive commit­ the 1930s) that condemns as irrational 'one very simple principle,' of the sort ment to some virtues and principles at practices not hewing tightly to the Mill tried to state and defend in On Lib­ model of the natural sciences. Those in­ erty, can possibly be derived" (224). stitutions, customs, and ways of life un­ Gray is more sympathetic to Mill's Liberal principles rule out able to produce on demand a "other liberalism," characterized as paternalistic or perfectionistic comprehensive justification of their fit­ those elements congruent with the phi­ tingness are classified by the rationalist losophies of Scottish enlightenment appeals I but they neither can as superstitious recrudescenses merit­ thinkers and such French liberals as nor should be expected to ing neither regard nor preservation. Tocqueville and Constant. Despite sketch once and for all the In Liberalisms' pivotal essay, ''Mill's Gray's announcement that he will set boundaries of impermissible in­ and other liberalisms," Gray turns the out the contours of this alternate strain, Oakeshottian critique of rationalism that promise remains curiously unful­ terference. against Mill, whom Gray characterizes filled; instead, he presents Rawls' theo­ as vacillating uneasily between two lib­ ry as the preferable, yet still unavailing, eral doctrines. The strand predominant alternative. Reprising the discussion of the expense of others. Liberal society is in On Liberty and Principles of Political "Contractarian method, private proper­ the repudiation of both the moral mon­ Economy, culminating in the attempt to ty and the market economy" (161-198), ism of Plato's Form of the Good and a formulate "one very simple principle" Gray credits Rawls with avoiding the millenarianism in which all discord is for the regulation ofliberty within civil pitfalls of a maximizing consequential­ ultimately swallowed up in a perfect society, is found to be bankrupt, failing ism, substituting for Mill's harm princi­ and complete harmony. for at least three reasons. First, Mill's ple the greatest equal liberty Unlike Berlin, Gray does not accept harm principle provides at best only requirement (and, in writings subse­ the proposition that liberalism is the necessary and not sufficient conditions quent to A Theory of Justice, moving to a most appropriate political response to for the restriction of liberty; it tells us the plurality of incommensurable val­ that we may limit individual liberty ue. Already in the 1980 essay, "On neg­ only to prevent harm to others, but it ative and positive liberty," he suggests, neither indicates which circumstances Evidently Gray believes that "It might be thought, for example, that constitute harms of the relevant sort the superficial hospitality liber­ the advocacy of value-pluralism and of nor does it specify how great an impo­ alism extends to value plural­ the priority of liberty are not mutually sition on liberty is justifiable in order to supportive ... but rather pull in differ­ preclude those harms. Thus it "tells us ism conceals a deeper-seated ent directions" (65-6). This will be so if what we may not do, but not what we intolerance. sanctioning a perpetual competition ought to do" (221). Second, Mill's indi­ among a diversity of values itself com­ rect utilitarianism presupposes our petes with the advocacy of other values ability to make well-founded judg­ disaggregated listing of basic liberties), as primary: that of communal solidari­ ments concerning aggregate social wel­ and with constructing a genuinely po­ ty, perhaps, or of equality. fare. That contention is notoriously litical doctrine that avoids moral pro­ Gray's suspicion of liberal creden­ troubled by the problem of interperson­ vinciality. Nonetheless, claims Gray, tials deepens under the influence of al utility comparisons but, as argued by "Rawls' move fails, and its failure car­ Oakeshott. For Oakeshott, as for Berlin, Berlin and Joseph Raz, it is impugned ries with it the coherence of liberalism diversity among modes of human expe­ at an even more fundamental level by as that political philosophy devoted to rience is the primary datum. But Oake­ the existence of incommensurable and the priority of liberty, however shott rejects as vain the attempt to incompatible possibilities within an in­ conceived" (231). formulate a principle of liberty that will dividual life. Third, Mill's liberty prin­ It fails for three reasons. First, there definitively regulate the interplay of ciple is vulnerable to infiltration by is no reason to attribute fixity to Rawls' contending practices. This is not be­ claims of aggregate welfare. Although list of basic liberties. Within any partic­ cause of any disinclination on Oake­ we have reason to believe that adher­ ular political culture, the importance of shott's part to prize liberty but is rather ence to noninterference will generate a various liberties waxes and wanes; the consequence of an abiding convic- lesser sum of utility when more is at- privileging in theory those that enjoy 56 Liberty Volume 4, Number 6

predominance at some (inevitably arbi­ shifting currents of political life, rather trary) one time is unduly conservative. than mechanically steering by a naviga­ Learn at Second, the contents of basic liberties tional chart into safe harbor. are underdetermined by the theory of Life Without Principles Liberty justice as fairness; it provides no coun­ Like a suitor finally grown disen­ sel for ascertaining whether, for exam­ chanted after a long courtship, Gray is Liberty offers full-time internships ple, pornography falls under the inclined to magnify newly perceived to students of all majors interested in protection of freedom of expression. flaws. For example, against the Hayeki­ journalism, writing, political philoso­ Third, it is disputable whether even for an claim that a liberal order is most phy or public policy. Positions are a societal time-slice, one may nonarbi­ conducive to the growth of welfare­ available at all times of the year. trarily order liberties into the two ex­ enhancing knowledge, he responds, "it For further information, write Lib­ clusive categories of basic and non­ is far from clear that developments in erty, PO Box 1167, Port Townsend, basic. In that case, claims Gray, "liberal­ medicine ... have tended to enhance WA 98368. ism itself becomes indeterminate and the quality of human life on balance" barely coherent." This, he adds, is "a re­ (241). Such hyperbolic skepticism is in­ sult that undermines liberalism in both herently unconvincing and tends to ob­ The Liberty Poll its revisionary and its classical scure his more interesting contention What Libertarians Think formulations" (232-3). that growth of theoretical knowledge Gray's retreat from liberalism is may be conjoined with, indeed encour­ The first detailed study of what liber­ brought to provisional closure in his tarians think about life, government, age, a diminution of practical knowl­ God, sex, heroes ... and how they "Postscript: after liberalism." Three lib­ edge. Moreover, his newly-found eral strategies, exemplified in the writ­ would deal with some serious moral conviction that the liberal project is problems. Now complete with data from ings of more than a dozen theorists, are bankrupt prompts a string of off­ the original poll to Liberty subscribers sketched and criticized. Each is held to handed dismissals of liberal variants. and the poll of Libertarian Party fall short of justifying its pretensions of The force of these single-sentence ver­ members. providing universally valid founda­ dicts is more epigrammatic than argu­ $4.00 each, ppd.; $3.00 each for 5 or more copies. tions for political practice. Gray diag­ mentative. Yet despite the frenetic pace Liberty Publishing noses the upshot to be a liberal reason of the "Postscript," Gray's second at the end of its tether, forced to recog­ PO Box 1167 thoughts present what may reasonably Port Townsend, WA 98368 nize itself as no more than the outcrop­ be taken to be the single most serious ping of one ungeneralizable moment of contemporary challenge to liberal the development of Western political thought. Unlike communitarian nostal­ life. It is, however, our particular inheri­ gia for a fabricated era of unquestioned The Sociology of tance, and were its products simply ex­ moral certainty, Gray's post-liberalism cised from post-liberal politics, the forthrightly acknowledges that it is our the Ayn Rand Cult result would be a shambles. Instead, destiny to live amidst a plurality of mo­ Murray Rothbard's controversial monograph Gray commends what he calls a "Post­ ral conceptions and that political life for on the nature of the Rand Circle in its hey­ Pyrrhonian" mode of political inquiry, us must be an exercise in accommodat­ day. Must reading for anyone interested. in to be characterized by a finely-grained ing diversity rather than a retreat to Objectivism, cultism, or the history of the li­ "phenomenology of the forms of moral neo-medieval cloisters. If this is a form bertarian movement. and political life we find among us" of conservatism, it is neither a God­ $4.00 per copy, ppd. (263), but minus recourse to the abstrac­ and-Country Know-nothingism, nor Liberty Publishing tions and counterfeit systematicity that supportive of an oppressive central PO Box 1167 have heretofore gripped liberal political state apparatus, nor a doctrine of socie­ Port Townsend, WA 98368 culture. He prescribes, crediting Oake­ ty as a hierarchically structured social j------, shott and David Hume, attention to the organism. What it seeks to conserve are "No freernan shall ever be conventions of primordial moral prac­ predominantly practices formed under tice combined with a pragmatically the sway of liberal individualism, dis­ debarred the use ofarms." Hobbesian quest for sustainable articles pensing only with their illegitimate Thomas Jefferson (back) of peace that might modulate conflicts philosophical progeny. among inescapabably plural concep­ The following four charges seem to tions of the good. Individual liberty is, be at the heart of Gray's indictment of of course, one of the moral ideals that liberalism: • white T-Shirt infuse our inherited institutions, but it Liberal­ • preshrunk 1. Spurious universality - heavyweight is not automatically to be assigned pri­ ism represents itself as prescribing uni­ 100% cotton ority over all others. The task, to bor­ versally valid principles for the • sizes S,M,L,XL I row Oakeshott's metaphor, is that of organization of political life when it is I • $12 per shirt + I $2 shipping per order achieving ongoing balance so as to re­ instead no more than the distillation of I one localized form of civil life. I IDEALOGO™. PO Box 897T. Mtn View, CA 94042 main afloat among the perpetually : Please indicate size, and allow 2to 3 weeks for UPS delivery. IL Your satisfaction is unconditionally guaranteed. _ Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991

2. Value pluralism - Although liber­ tion. How any political system could in this direction overcomes the liberal al theory ostensibly embraces diversity, satisfy both demands is hard to see. If presumption against interference; the there exist intrinsically valuable forms the scope of normative standards is alleged harmfulness of pornography of human life that can neither be ac­ very broad, then it cannot reasonably seems to me an instance in which that commodated by a liberal order nor ac­ be demanded of them that they provide burden conspicuously fails to be satis­ commodate it. an algorithmic decision procedure for fied. The point, though, is that such de­ 3. Inversion of theory and practice ­ the resolution of'all possible conflicts. terminations cannot be made at the Liberalism professes faith in the ade­ Whether or not liberalism should be level of abstract theory and that taking quacy of a set of regulative principles understood as claiming to prescribe this lack of determinateness as in any for the governance of political life, but universally (a question to which I turn way damaging to liberal credentials is whatever cogency principles enjoy de­ below), Gray correctly notes that it unreasonable. Reflection on how the rives from particular practical presents itself as considerably more pornography debate actually tends to judgments. than a synopsis of local procedures. be framed within a liberal individualis­ What degree of determinateness can it tic political culture illustrates quite be expected to display? If liberal princi­ clearly the error of Gray's claim that a To suppose that liberals ples were entirely neutral among com­ principle of free expression is impotent. peting moral demands, then they We observe that a premium is placed must be blind to goods that would indeed be a practical nullity. It on construing the trade in pornogra­ thrive under other forms of does not follow that liberalism must phy, however implausibly, as one in government is to misconceive ape a Benthamite calculus to avoid va­ which specifiable harms are imposed cuity. Principles can carry weight with­ on assignable, nonconsenting victims. the logic Of. liberal justifica­ out uniquely prescribing. They do so in That way one can be both liberal and a tion. virtue of functioning as a normative fil­ smiter of smut. The principle is not vac­ tering device that allows passage to cer­ uous, but it does not adjudicate issues tain considerations but not others. Such of who is harmed by what. There is, we principles do not, however, obviate the might say, a division of labor in politi­ 4. Indeterminacy - A liberty princi­ cal life between high-level theory and ple is inevitably indeterminate, unable need for prudence and fine-grained dis­ particular application, and it is obtuse to distinguish in nonarbitrary fashion crimination at the level of ground-floor decision-making. toexpect the former to do the job of the between protected activities and those latter. Liberal principles rule out pater­ liable to curtailment. An example may help clarify this nalistic or perfectionistic appeals, but The objections are mutually rein­ point. Gray faults liberal theory for its inability decisively to resolve disputed they neither can nor should be expect­ forcing. If all possible forms of human ed to sketch once and for all the boun­ flourishing were able to coexist within questions surrounding issues such as pornography, euthanasia, and abortion. daries of impermissible interference. a liberal order, then a claim on its be­ I turn next to Gray's allegation that This is to misconstrue significantly the half to universality would be plausible. liberalism professes a universalism it is status of foundational normative prin­ However, because individuals may unable to substantiate. The cogency of ciples. The priority of liberty does not, have reason to value modes of life to the criticism varies depending on by itself, establish which actions·are to which liberal sociality is necessarily an­ which liberal theorist is under consider­ count as illicit intrusions into individu­ tagonistic, they similarly have reason to ation. Admittedly, a strain of Wilsonian als' protected sphere. What it does ad­ reject the proclaimed bindingness of optimism exists, commending always judicate with tolerable clarity is the liberal principles. Modern Western in­ and everywhere the institutions of lib­ admissibility of reasons submitted as dividualism is one among a multitude eral democracy. Mill edges closer to bearing on the disputed issue. The con­ of structures within which human be­ this position than most political philos­ tention, say, that a taste for pornogra­ ings have lived worthwhile lives, giv­ ophers, but even he denies application ing us reason to preserve and extend its phy is debased and therefore merits no of the liberty principle to "those back­ protection, or that immersion in por­ traditions. These, however, do not as­ ward states of society in which the race cribe. unvaryirig··.priority to··liberty but nography harms its consumer, are sum­ it~elf may be considered as in its non­ ratherincorporatea diversity of moral marily rejectable irrespective of age," leaving their governance instead goods·· that•. resist .Procrustean theoriz­ whatever evidence can be gathered to to "an Akbar or a Charlemagne, if they ing. Nollone very simple principle" can support their truth, while a claim that are so fortunate as to find one. ,,* Oth­ jt1s'tic~ int~rnalcomplexity do to the of pornography harms women and thus ers, including Kant, Rawls, Hayek, and ~ivilassociation and the. strain of trying merits restraint is at least the sort of James Buchanan are yet more circum­ to adjudicate.· all ··conflicts in terms ·of proposition which, if true, can be ac­ spect in their cautions concerning the such a monolithic maxim is palpable. knowledged in a liberal society asa jus­ prior buildup of social capital requisite If these charges constitute an inte­ tification for a ban on pornography. for a stable liberal order. grated package, they nonetheless are in Nothing, of course, is easier than Gray can, then, ascribe to liberal the- tension with each other. Gray faults lib­ simply to assert the existence of some eralism both for a hubristic universality vaguely specified harm and I do not and for a lack of determinate applica- mean to suggest that every artful effort * J. S. Mill, On Liberty, Chapter 1. 58 Liberty Volume 4, Number 6 ory at most an avowal of conditional may believe that the omission is not ac­ Up from Libertarianism universality, the desirability of a liberal cidental. I am unaware of any credible by D. G. Lesvic order for any society capable of institut­ liberal theorist who maintains that no ing and maintaining it. A Weimar Re­ authentic human good may be served public, fatally riven with cancers by a nonliberal regime. Human beings rendering it unable to ward off the need security of person and property; Brown Shirts, need not be counted po­ provision of these is not, of course, the ...answers the Austrian School economists litically successful no matter how hos­ monopoly of one form of government: with their own words! pitable it may have been to liberty a justification of liberal government is, during its brief lifespan. This is not in simultaneously, a justification of liberal The Political Economy Club of Los Angeles 5668 <;:ahuenga Blvd., #313 any obvious sense to fall into Pollyan­ government. Nor is an ability to sur­ North Hollywood, CA 91601 naish optimism. mount the state of nature the only posi­ More plausible is the diagnosis that tive attribute of illiberal regimes. $4.00 ppd. liberalism suffers from incurable valua­ Tyrannies may address themselves, of­ tional myopia-and this seems to be ten more successfully than free socie­ the gravamen of Gray's indictment: ties, to patronage of the fine arts, Liberalism, which in its applications sustenance of meaning-conferring re­ AynRand and to personal conduct aims for tolera­ ligious faith, promotion of the martial tion and even [sic] pluralism is in its virtues, and making the trains run on Her Movement political demands an expression of in­ time. Although they thereby promote In an exclusive interview, tolerance, since it denies the evident authentic human values, they nonethe­ Barbara Branden reveals intimate truth that many very different forms less remain tyrannies. details of life inside Rand's circle. of government may, each in its own Advocacy of liberalism need not The fascinating topics include the way, contribute to an authentic mode deny all value to these accomplish­ weird psychological manipulations of human well-being. From the first, ments. Indeed, to acknowledge rights within the group, the expulsion of liberalism has always strenuously re­ that serve as side constraints is neces­ sisted this commonplace observation, members in kangaroo courts, the since it cannot but undermine the sarily to commit oneself to forgoing glaring errors in Nathaniel claim to universal authority of liberal­ valuable outcomes that might other­ Branden's memoir about his affair ism as a political faith-a claim which wise be attained (for. example, those with Rand, and Rand's fight in a exhibits the structural similarity of lib­ that could be achieved via making peo­ posh Manhattan restaurant with eralism to the evangelizing Christiani­ ple do what's good for themselves, Alan Greenspan. ty of which it is the legitimate whether they want to or not). To sup­ This account, expanded from its offspring. (239) pose that liberals must be blind to original printing in the January Gray finds liberalism hoist by its goods that thrive under other forms of 1990 Liberty, includes information own tolerationist petard insofar as it re­ government is to misconceive the logic that cannot be found in any other fuses to accord legitimacy to nonliberal of liberal justification. source. And it is available only or illiberal governmental forms. In at Third, and most fundamental, Gray from Liberty Publishing. fails to support his characterization of $4.00 per copy, ppd. liberalism as a distinctive "faith" aim­ Against misanthropes with­ ing to advance its own projects under Liberty Publishing the guise of a bogus tolerationism. Li­ PO Box 1167 in and Ayatollahs without, ar­ bertarianism, as well as most other lib­ Port Townsend, WA 98368 maments offer better defense eral variants, explicitly withholds from than arguments. So far, so the state an entitlement to favor diffe­ good. But Gray is mistaken in rentially some rights-respecting pro­ jects at the expense of others. Celebrate the 1991 supposing that this spotlights a Individuals, acting severally or jointly, lacuna peculiar to liberalism. are, it goes without saying, free to do Bill of Rights Bicentennial so. Here is another respect in which lib­ •••and defend your rights eral politics essentially incorporates a by promoting public aware~ess•.• normative division of labor. Liberalism least three respects the accusation is does not, of course, maintain a studied with a Bill of Rights T.. Shirt contestable. First, as noted above, any neutrality among all projects: a display from IDEALOGOI universality claimed by liberalism is of impartiality between the would-be conditional. The analogy to evangeliz­ murderer and his intended victim is no Featuring the original manuscript on front and ten ratified amendments on back. Parchment color, ing Christianity is, in that respect, not part of the liberal prospectus. The posi­ preshrunk, heavyweight, 100l ?;:) cotton T-Shirts. sustainable. tive role of the state is understood to be Available in S, M, L, XL sizes for $12 per shirt plus $2 shipping. Second, Gray cites no text exhibiting the protection of individual rights, pri­ IDEALOGO™ • PO Box 897T • Mtn View, CA 94042 a denial of "the evident truth" and one marily or exclusively understood as Please indicate size, and allow 2 to 3 weeks for UPS delivery. Your satisfaction is unconditionally guaranteed. Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991 claims to noninterference within a mo­ mode of life that is unable to thrive sion to argue that liberal civil associa­ rally protected zone in which individu­ within a liberal milieu, no argument tion satisfies this standard, or that illib­ als are free to pursue those projects that (whether concerning the universality of eral forms of government necessarily are distinctively their own. human rights or the knowledge­ fail to do so. I note only that Gray's This is not an unfamiliar concep­ enhancing attributes of civil society or charge of spurious universality is be­ tion; indeed it is the one that Gray en­ the principles of justice to which indi­ side the point. Whatever may be the dorses in the early essays of Liberalisms. viduals would assent behind a veil of case for evangelizing Christianity, po­ Evidently he now believes that the su­ ignorance) will provide them sufficient litical philosophers need not accept as perficial hospitality liberalism extends reason to abandon the way of life that an article of faith that all souls are to value pluralism conceals a deeper­ is theirs. Ever since Socrates attempted salvageable. seated intolerance. "It is obvious," he to demonstrate in The Republic that "jus­ I turn finally to Gray's post-liberal writes, "that many virtues and excel­ tice pays," political philosophy has Pyrrhonism. Despite the presence of a lences are weak or absent from liberal sought for the perfect reformatory ar­ few evocative remarks, these half doz­ gument, one capable of placing reluc­ en paragraphs of constructive political tant compliants in a logical armlock of theory are too sketchy and impression­ The absence of a vibrant "Be moral or be miserable!" from istic to support more than the most cau­ trade in buggy whips does not which no egress is possible. However, tious critique. Clearly they are meant to notes Gray, "the spectacle of the retired be an elucidation of the Oakeshottian rnean that trust-busters ought torturer or well-defended tyrant bask­ primacy of practice over theory, the to be on the lookout for a trans­ ing like a lizard in the sun of his self­ negative half of which is to be portation cartel. esteem and the affection of his family accomplished by exorcising the myths tells another story." It is, he charges, that have heretofore sustained liberal "one to which the liberal mind is deaf" institutions. The positive component is a "return to history, in which we seek societies. The virtues of a courtier, of a (260). So construed, the charge of spuri­ to uncover the genealogy or archae­ warrior, or of a pious peasant, presup­ ous universality accuses liberals of ad­ ology of our present forms of life and to pose a social order which cannot coex­ vertising their credo as one that provides to every rational person con­ understand them as historical crea­ ist with a liberal society" (260). tions" (263). Gray's point appears to be that pro­ clusive reasons for acceptance when, in fact, the liberal package suits no more Supposethat the archaeological pro­ fessions of openness by a political cul­ ject were carried off with virtuoso flair: ture to diverse manifestations of than one localized moment of political life. The advertisement is deceptive; how would that resolve the problem of human flourishing are falsified if there political decision-making? To catalog are modes that fail to find accommoda­ more than that, it is self-deceptive. every nuance and wrinkle of the tradi­ tion within it. Even restricting attention If this is indeed Gray's argument, it seems to me to be correct in every re­ tions we have inherited (and, in an era to forms of flourishing that do not in­ of free cultural trade, those that we herently incorporate encroachments on spect but one. He aptly diagnoses liber­ alism's susceptibility to the illusion have imported) does not inform us the like flourishing of others-Carlos which of these have historically pro­ the Terrorist; Batman's nemesis, the that the form of civility it champions moted welfare and which retarded it, Joker-the claim is unpersuasive. In necessarily commends itself to all ra­ tional agents. Liberal thinking may let alone which today remain vital.* free regimes as well as in free markets, Protagonists on all sides of sharply dis­ simply afford no handle to grasp the some enterprises wax and others wane. puted issues will be able to muster ele­ preferences of some individuals. This Open entry is not rendered a sham ments of tradition that may credibly be even when it is largely predictable that is a hard fact, but not a fatal flaw in liberalism. Against misanthropes with­ certain products will not enjoy suffi­ * It may be useful to imagine Mr. Gorbachev cient market demand to prosper; the in and Ayatollahs without, armaments surveying the residue of Soviet history in absence of a vibrant trade in buggy offer better defense than arguments. So search of guidance for how to move to the whips does not mean that trust-busters far, so good. Gray is mistaken, though, next state of his policy of perestroika. If he ought to be on the lookout for a trans­ in supposing that this spotlights a lacu­ finds-as indeed he would-that the gu­ portation cartel. Similarly, a shortage of na peculiar to liberalism. Normative lags, Lubyanka executions, and Katyn For­ justification cannot move the immo­ est massacres dominate whatever shreds of pious peasants is not a reliable sign of freedom may have briefly characterized Le­ intolerance to that form of life. (It bile; every polity confronts the necessi­ nin's New Economic Policy, should that in­ would, if the shortage were the conse­ ty of protecting itself against those cline him toward a reaffirmation of Stalinist quence of a ban or prohibitive tax on who are deaf to appeals of reciprocal practice? Would a demonstration of the rari­ piety, but that is not Gray's claim.) To forbearance. A more realistic standard ty of civil association within the Russian ex­ shift metaphors, an open society is not for justification is that it provide, to perience imply that liberalization is an each person with an interest in cooper­ illegitimate foreign import? (I hasten to note committed to making itself into a mu­ that a consistent theme of Gray's writings is seum for the preservation of fragile so­ ating with those who are themselves an unqualified opposition to totalitarian cial forms. amenable to cooperation, terms each barbarisms. These queries are not meant to Gray's point may at bottom be this: has reason to acknowledge as satisfy­ suggest otherwise, but neither is their ad to individuals who are wedded to a ing that interest. This is not the occa- hominem thrust entirely accidental.) 60 Liberty Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991 taken as supporting their case. Conser­ modes is overly ambitious and underly the emptiness of his post-liberal phe­ vatism is one authentic response to tra­ sustained, Gray has identified several nomenology of morals, John Gray has dition, but so also are reform and junctures at which reconsideration is given us the most trenchant critique of reaction. (And for societies that claim called for. I am convinced that, despite liberal theory that we possess. 0 revolutionary antecedents, a return to history may take a distinctly radical Signs ofthe Times, by David Lehman. Poseidon, 1991, $21.95. shape.) This is indeterminacy with a vengeance! Gray faults liberalism for its inabili­ ty to resolve definitively debates sur­ rounding pornography, abortion, and euthanasia, yet is there reason to be­ Ex-Nazis Say lieve that a post-liberal politics will en­ joy more success in this regard? If the Damdest Things anything, one might suspect, it will be more deeply enmired in perplexity. I argued previously that liberal princi­ newspaper. More than one of these arti­ ples can at least filter out inadmissible Richard Kostelanetz cles expressed antisemitic sentiments reasons, but moral phenomenology is typical of that time and place and, alas, unreservedly promiscuous. Thus it is Sub-titIed "Deconstruction and the not too different from those found in normatively barren. To catalog every­ Fall of Paul de Man," David Lehman's scattered writings by Ezra Pound and thing is to adjudicate nothing. It is vain Signs of the Times is engaging literary T. S. Eliot, among other modernist he­ to hope that by bringing a microscope journalism, where the author is allotted ros. Were that not scandalous enough, to traditions our quandaries will find sufficient space to present a wealth of further research revealed that, once in themselves resolved. Rather, what is re­ research, along with his own opinions, America, de Man had lied about his quired are both high-level and interme­ in a generally readable style. His first wartime past, not only portraying him­ diate principles through which subject is the growth in America of a self as a participant in the antifascist re­ assessments of relative justificatory French-born literary theory called De­ sistance, but also identifying himself as weight can be made. These principles construction; his second, more remark­ the son, rather than the nephew, of the are, I remain convinced, fundamentally able subject is the curious career of its quisling intellectual, Hendrik de Man. liberal. principal American advocate, Paul de It was also discovered that the younger Final Verdicts Man. de Man left behind in Belgium a wife What we have here, I believe, are Born in Belgium in 1919, de Man with three of his sons, as well as a the provocative yet unformed thoughts showed up in New York City in the late bankrupt art-book business that had of a theorist very much in transition. 1940s, working at a Doubleday book­ put his father into debt. Though he may Gray, after years of patiently winnow­ store. He befriended Iiterary power­ not have legally married this mother of ing libertarian themes, has come to de­ houses who recommended him to one his sons, he clearly did not obtain a di­ spair of a successful consummation and another until he became, successively, vorce before marrying an American leaps forthwith into a moral phenome­ an instructor at Bard College, a Junior student in the early 1950s. The irony is nology from which principles have Fellow at Harvard, a professor of Com­ that these revelations made de Man far been exiled. His headlong rush in the parative Liberature at Cornell, and, more famous in death than he had ever "Postscript" through more than a doz­ even though his publications were re­ been in his life. en liberal formulations is laced with markably fe~N, a Sterling Professor at While Lehman is fairly knowledgea­ one-line summary verdicts that are ele­ Yale. Just after he died of cancer late in ble about American cultural life, he gantly barbed yet quite resistible. I do 1983, a younger colleague, Jonathan misses a central Belgian truth, which is not see that they do any lasting damage Culler, once of Yale, then and now of the traditional antagonism between the to liberal aspirations. Cornell, told the professors gathered at Flemish-speakers and the French. Most Despite its too-precipitous verdicts, the annual year-end meeting of the European radio stations are friendly Liberalisms is a significant work of sub­ Modern Languages Association that de concerns, whose employees regularly stantive political philosophy. Its previ­ Man's passing was a major cultural greet one another in the hallways. But ously published essays are subtle and tragedy. the one in Brussels is different: its head­ searching treatments of important liber­ Four years laterI a Belgian graduate quarters is divided into two wings, al thinkers and liberal motifs. Our un­ student, who initially admired de Man, with the French on one side and the derstandings of Mill, Berlin, and Hayek discovered that from mid-1940 to No­ Flemish on the other. The French wing are notably enriched as a consequence vember 1942 de Man had contributed is RTBF, the Flemish, BRT, and you're of Gray's investigations. His conclud­ over 170 articles to the principal advised to address your letter to a ing second thoughts are no less instruc­ French-language collaborationist news­ Flemish-speaking employee at BRT tive. Although the proclamation of the paper and a dozen more to the (and a Frenchman at RTBF); otherwise, bankruptcy of liberal theory in all its principal Flemish-language pro-Nazi your letter won't be delivered. I once Liberty 61 Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991 asked the French producer of new mu­ his publishers followed the predomi­ truth is that a lot of people are guilty of sic programs about his Flemish counter­ nant scholarly process of accepting the simple sin of failing to use their part, whom I met separately. He replied only unsolicited manuscripts that are heads. curtly, "It is easier to work with Bulgar­ then submitted to editorial committees. Lehman attributes de Man's rise to ians." Employees in the hallways look This reluctance to risk peer-review two factors-his personal charm and at the floor sooner than greet one anoth­ leads me to believe that de Man must the publication of articles so difficult er, I guess for fear of using the wrong have been one of those writers who they must be taught. The first explana­ language. In such a divisive culture it is think they should precede their work tion is insufficient, as many people are scarcely surprising that, as one young into publishing situations, rather than charming (while hierarchical academia Flemish colleague told me recently, letting their work precede them, which seems more comfortable with both means that even in America de Man butt-kissers and egregiously difficult must have been, and thought of himself personalities than other American insti­ Lehman attributes de Man's as, a professional butt-kisser. tutions); the second is more credible. It rise to two factors-his person­ To my mind, de Man's principal sin has often been said of post-T. S. Eliot was not his succumbing to the de­ poetry that it was obscure enough to be al charm and the publication of mands of collaborationist newspapers destined for the classroom; it would not articles so difficult they must but propagating subterfuges that sur­ be read otherwise. De Man's essays be taught. I think there is a vived his lifetime. That they were hid­ have a similar quality, which accounts den so long brings up what I, in third reason: de Man's ability for why they appeared not in intellectu­ contrast to Lehman, take to be the al periodicals comparable to Partisan to marshall the support of pow­ bigger, more collective scandal of this Review or Liberty but publications erful people whose own reputa­ history-that de Man was not caught whose subscribers are 99% professors tions would be jeopardized if before he died. Why hadn't another lit­ or their institutions. This accounts for erate Belgian connected the Yale profes­ why deconstruction has had no visible the truth about his past got sor to the author of articles that were impact upon the writing of contempo­ out. written under the same prominent rary literature or even the frontline crit­ name? (Remember that all this hap­ icism of it. pened within our lifetimes.) What I think there is a third reason, which "Many Flemish intellectuals supported should we make of the silence of was de Man's evident ability to mar­ the Germans at the beginning of the Georges Poulet, a distinguished literary shall the support of powerful people War, because the French [Belgians] scholar and frequent guest-professor whose own reputations would be jeop­ treated us so badly." In this context, here, whose half-brother Robert Poulet, ardized if the truth about his past got the most indicative essay in the post­ de Man's newspaper colleague during out. I see him as another example of humously published collection of de the war, was sentenced to death in July Man's Wartime Journalism, 1939-1943 1945 and then, after the sentence was (University of Nebraska, 1988), is the commuted, exiled? (Lehman mentions De Man must have thought last, "Northern and Southern Dutch neither Poulet.) And what about J. Hil­ Literature of Today," in which de lis Miller, who popularized Poulet be­ of himself as a professional Man, whose mother tongue was Flem­ fore becoming a 'proponent of butt-kisser. ish, praises southern Dutch (Le., Bel­ deconstruction and, after the revela­ gian) as "a healthier stem" than tions, a fierce point man in the attack northern (Netherlands) for having re­ on de Man's critics? that pantheon of basically speckled sisted French influences. Buried in footnote 20 of Cynthia people who succeed because they per­ Regardless of whether young de Chase's contribution to Responses is the suade enough colleagues to take a vest­ Man was an antisemite, he was surely remarkable revelation that de Man in ed interest in their success. In the an opportunist, articulating the preju­ 1969, just prior to coming to Yale, told literary world, such colleagues are usu­ dices of his immediate circumstances. Harold Bloom about his wartime anti­ ally publishers, like Jean-Paul Sartre's As his pre-war colleague Edouard Col­ semitic article, even offering to make a Gallimard or his associates on the inet put it in Responses: On Paul de copy for Bloom, who refused it. Why monthly Les Temps Modernes. Here the Man's Wartime Journalism (Univ. of Ne­ hadn't authorities at such reputed "re­ collaborators ,were other professors, be­ braska, 1989), "Paul was convinced, as search institutions" as Harvard, Cor­ ginning with Theodore Weiss, who rec­ were the majority -of Belgians at the nell, and Yale investigated de Man's ommended de Man to Harry Levin, time, that the Germans had won the wartime past? Or at least suspected his who had de Man appointed a Junior war." With this thought in mind, con­ reticence about those years? After all, Fellow at Harvard, then as now Ameri­ sider what I take to be the most reveal­ American intellectual life is a fairly crit­ ca's most prestigious grant for a young ing fact about his American career­ ical world, thanks to our continuing scholar. Later supporters included Ge­ that most of his articles appeared in commitment to free speech, with repu­ offrey Hartman, who campaigned for magazines or commemorative vol­ tations being continually questioned, as de Man's coming to Yale, and Jacques umes that extended invitations. Few of well as promoted and demoted. The Derrida, the North-African-born 62 Liberty Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991 founder of French deconstruction, who tices diverge dramatically from their of America's most popular program made de Man his principal American promises. from the 1950s to the 1980s, Willis Con­ spokesman. (Lehman fails to note that In Jerusalem several years ago, I wit­ over's Jazz Hour, which has always fa­ all these backers were Jewish in back­ nessed a question-and-answer perfor­ vored 1950s jazz with minimal ground and that, to my recollection, mance between the great god Derrida announcer commentary, and then won­ none has ever lost his job for coura­ and a mostly academic audience, all dering whether he could talk, and geously challenging his immediate cir­ speaking non-native English. It was think, as Parker played.) What separ­ cumstances, which is what in retrospect quite a lively show. Whenever Derrida ates Derrida and his followers from tra­ we think de Man should have done.) got a question, you could see him fum­ ditional literary criticism is this Once the wartime scandals were re- ble for the beginnings of an answer, but commitment to improvisatory thinking, once he got on track, an elaborate di­ with all of its possibilities and, alas, gression followed, at once elegant and limitations. To my mind, de Man's prin­ idiosyncratic, until he reached a pause. This book is about "signs," to be You wondered whether he would then sure, but less about the times in general cipal sin was not his succumb­ turn to the left or to the right, each than the universities and individuals ing to the demands of seeming equally valid, only to admire involved. You wonder what might collaborationist newspapers the next verbal flight that led to another have happened if evidence of the lies roadstop, with similarly arbitrary choic­ had emerged during de Man's lifetime? but propagating subterfuges es before continuing or concluding. My suspicion is that the same vested in­ that survived his lifetime. Question after question, he improvised terests would have come to his defense, similar rhetorical gymnastics. because American academia today is This form is familiar, I thought to less a profession with self-correcting vealed, the latter two, especially, myself. It resembles 1950s jazz, epito­ mechanisms designed to remove the rushed to defend their colleague's mized by Charlie Parker's solos­ bad apples than the air-headed equiva­ memory; they had to do so to protect elegant in individual riffs, but ultimate­ lent of the teamsters' union, prepared their investments. ly inimitable and pointless. (Remember­ to go to bat for a fellow worker, no mat­ I would be remiss if I did not say ing Derrida's origins, I had the image of ter his sins-all illustrating the nihilism something about deconstruction. To him in North Africa listening to Voice of the tenure system. 0 my Anglo-Saxon head, the books of Derrida, as well as his followers, are unreadable. They become less inpene­ trable, I'm told, if you are accustomed to reading French theory, especially in Booknotes the original but even in translation; for experience of frogthink, or in this case frogwrite, especially in the authoritari­ In reading former White House cor­ an setting of a classroom, becomes the Beware the Bogus Insight ­ respondent Lou Cannon's President best preparation for further frogspeak. I The frequent reader of biographies and Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime (Simon think deconstruction has something to character sketches soon realizes that & Schuster, 1991, 948pp., $24.95), I was do with highly speculative, if not fanci­ there are certain boilerplate phrases and descriptions that can be trotted out struck by a couple of examples of this ful, analyses that find a subtext in con­ technique. Cannon places considerable flict with the main text, one on almost any occasion. Though these pre-digested analyses can be positive in emphasis, as have a few other Reagan interpretation being as good as another observers, on the fact that Reagan, nature, they are perhaps more frequent­ in a purportedly anti-authoritarian though a friendly man, has few close ly used when the writer is trying to spirit. Since most American proponents friends. This is always given as a criti­ denigrate a subject ... and realizes his are securely tenured, you can be sure cism, with an underlying assumption case is weak. Thus, if a man is success­ that the one hierarchy not challenged is of the subject's coldness and insinceri­ ful and prosperous he can be said to be that of the universities and that, this ty. Yet I wonder: how many people fundamental hypocrisy limits their greedy and materialistic. If he is sober, have more than a few "close friends"? "radicalism" to rhetorical gestures clean-living and free of scandal (e.g., Is it really possible to have a multitude aimed exclusively at the peanut galler­ David Souter) it can be alleged that he of close friends? After all, there are only ies of academia. It is in such is aloof and distant from the concerns 24 hours in a day. In the case of Reagan authoritarian hypocrisy, and precisely of ordinary people. If a woman (e.g., a we are, in addition, dealing with a man in such hypocrisy, that I see a connec­ certain recent First Lady) is neat and who has led a busy life for over fifty tion between academic deconstruction meticulous in her dress and appear­ years. Isn't his having only a few inti­ and the other purportedly anti­ ance, it is easy to portray her as a glitzy mates merely what one would expect? authoritarian opportunisms of our airhead with no concern for substance. As an extension of this theme, Can­ time, among them fascism and, let's be The list could be extended almost non states that aides, speechwriters, frank, communism-all of whose prac- indefinitely. and the like "came and went in Wash- Liberty 63 Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991 and Sacramento, without altering his of perhaps a dozen volumes of Die Fack­ essay in English, I wonder about the purposes or changing his conception of el, the first Kraus book to appear here, quality of translations, also by several himself." Think about this for a moment. No Compromise (1977), came from the hands, in the Zohn book. Whereas the Isn't Cannon merely saying that Ronald publisher Frederick Unger, likewise a most famous Kraus aphorism is known Reagan is steadfast in his views and Viennese. Though its translations, by to me (through Thomas Szasz) as "Psy­ character? Would we really want a presi­ several hands, were often inept (the choanalysis is the disease of which it dent who "altered his purposes" or opening essay should be titled "Acro­ claims to be the cure," here the render­ "changed his conception of himself" eve­ nyms," rather than, as it is, "Initials"), ing is, "Psychoanalysis is that mental ill­ ry time a new staffer got his ear? certain sentences strike me as classic ness for which it regards itself as Ifthere is a lesson here, it may be this: even with dashes of clumsiness: "People therapy." That is so inferior there is rea­ when you read about a public person, would rather catch venereal diseases son to question everything else. Indeed, look for real insights, if the author has than forego their cause, for it is still easi­ given Kraus' commitment to clear ex­ any to offer. Beware the all-purpose, pre­ er to be cured of them than of the inclina­ pression as a moral imperative, inept fabricated analysis. tion unintentionally to catch them." translations are doubly sinful. -William P. Moulton In These Great Times (Harry Zohn, Szasz's book, Anti-Freud (Syracuse ed., University of Chicago, 1990, 263 pp., University, 1990, 180 pp., $12.95), which Another Father For Us All - I $14.95) is the first American edition of a originally appeared in 1976 as Karl Kraus first read about Karl Kraus (1874-1936) collection that, though edited by a Bran­ and the Soul Doctors, provides a fuller in­ in the concluding chapter of Erich deis professor, was published initially in troduction to Kraus' activity, focusing Heller's The Disinherited Mind (1957), an Montreal in 1976 and then reprinted in upon the continuing quarrel with Freud introduction to modern German litera­ Great Britain in 1984 before its appear­ and his followers. An appendix to Anti­ ture that was popular in colleges thirty ance here. For anyone who has not read Freud is fresh translations, by Szasz and years ago. As the editor of his own mag­ Kraus before, a good place to start is "In his brother residing in Germany, of only azine, Die Fackel (liThe Torch"), Kraus Praise of a Topsy-Turvy Life-Style," in a few aphorisms. These are superior was the equivalent of H. L. Mencken, which he portrays his personal habit of enough to suggest that, more than a half­ roughly his contemporary, and yet more sleeping during the day while writing century after Kraus' death, we are still versatile, producing satire, plays, and through. the night. His principal ratio­ waiting for a definitive English transla­ translations, in addition to a steady nale is that "stupidity gets up early; that tion of his rich and terribly sympathetic stream of iconoclastic essays. is why events are accustomed to happen­ intelligence. -Richard Kostelanetz Heller made great claims for this fig­ ing in the morning." As a result, by the ure, a Viennese writer who was a succes­ time he arises and visits his favorite cafe A Contribution to the Critique sor to Sigmund Freud and a precursor of for the evening newspapers (remember of Political Economy - The Ludwig Wittgenstein. Heller indulged he is writing before the advent of continu­ concept of Mark Skousen's new book Ec­ such superlatives as "an elemental spiri­ ous radio news), he is able to get a long­ onomics on Trial: Lies, Myths and Reali­ tual force in the beauty-parlor of the er, less hysterical perspective on the ties (Business One Irwin, 1991, 314pp, soul" and "an untranslatable rare fusion day's activities. $21.95) sounded like a dream come true: of spontaneity and subtlety, of ethical in­ Given such procedures of epistemol­ he set out, he explains in his acknowl­ tegrityand intellectual complexity" equal ogy, it is scarcely surprising that Kraus is edgments, to "simply but thoroughly to Kierkegaard and Kafka. In the years particularly piqued with the sins of jour­ dissect the large number of dubious the­ since I read that Heller essay, Kraus be­ nalists, beginning with reporters who de­ ories .• and questionable doctrines taught came one of those names that flashed in scribed WWI battles without actually in the [economics] classroom." Toward my mind as I entered a bookstore, pre­ seeing them. As Unger explained, "He this end, he surveyed the top 10 most pared to buyand especially read. pinpointed and attacked abuses in poli­ used economics textbooks on the college Though nearly every German­ tics, in the administration of justice, as level, and set out to debunk the mistakes speaking intellectual has in his or her li­ well as in art and literature, as they were and distortions contained therein. brary a handsomely boxed recent reprint presented in the press. He held the press I took a course in economics using accountable for these abuses one of the books on Skousen's hit list, because it was the press that five years ago, during my freshman year aided and abetted the all but of college. I came out relatively un­ universal corruption." It is also scathed. But this was mostly because I important to note that he custo­ let nearly all of it (a standard muddle of marily attacked individuals Keynesianism and econometrics) slip who exemplified sins, rather from my brain over the next two years than pursuing the safer, always before developing a genuine interest in more fashionable but ultimate­ learning about economics. Skousen's ly less effective path of dueling book, happily for me, is organized to hit with abstractions. No wonder I concepts in the same order I hit them in find in Kraus an intellectual fa­ my coursework, so this book would 'B~/oo ther I'd known about but had make a good companion for someone not recognized before. taking collegiate economics in the stan­ "I have some change, yes, but it's hardly loose." While pleased to have this dard manner. 64 Liberty Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991

Skousen's approach, which he is seventy years in the academy and an French writer L.-F. Celine to include careful not to ideologically label, is large­ equal amount of time editing a political quotations from more recent, superior ly Austrian. This is the approach of quarterly that is perennially begging for Celine translations. (The truest mark of choice for most libertarians, because of money, both positions surely at the cost privilege is, of course, that you can get its insistence on individualism and· sub­ of intellectual independence. A pro­ away with faults for which the under­ jectivism in economic analysis, and its in­ fessed radical, he conveys in these pages class-in this case students-would be sistence that forceful interference with profoundly conservative views of art penalized.) In spite of his repeated the free expression of subjective values and behavior. A professed literary mod­ claims in the preface to wide interests, in economic choices will result in a less­ emist, he dislikes most of the most inno­ Howe's criticism is limited, on one hand, ening of prosperity and a misallocation vative writers of the 20th century (the to modern literature, to the exclusion of of resources. exceptions being William Faulkner and the other arts, and, on the other, to unex­ Skousen is not the world's clearest or James Joyce, the academics' favorites), ceptionalleft-wing complaints. most engaging writer, and Economics on instead preferring variations on nine­ He reveals a similar limitation in Trial definitely assumes some previous teenth-century social realism. Perhaps equating American Jewish history with exposure to economics, as its concept im­ this taste accounts for his noticeably lim­ his own group-the descendants of Yid­ plies, so it shouldn't be anyone's ited appreciation of irony, among other dish-speaking immigrants from Eastern introduction to free market economics; if subtleties of modern literary art. Europe-to the neglect of other Jewish it is, it will probably not convince. It Though a city-eertified "distin­ Americans.- (Compare this to, differences would be useful, though, to the intelli­ guished professor," purportedly setting in ratios notwithstanding, a history of gent student who takes Econ 101 and an example for aspiring scholars, Howe Black Americans that focused only on wonders how it is that savings can be doesn't have sufficient scholarly integri­ West Indians.) The implicit assumption is good for individuals yet bad for the ag­ ty in reprinting a 1950s essay on the that the otherJews aren't worth acknowl- gregate "economy." (Skousen exposes the Keynesian paradox of thrift as being not paradoxical at all, but simply mud­ dled, mistaken thinking based on a mis­ understanding of the linkage between IClassified Advertisements saving and investment and a simplistic, demand-side view of how businesses make production decisions.) Classified Advertising is available for 25¢ per word, plus $1.00 per insertion. 10% discount Skousen also makes hay of standard for six or more insertions. Payment must accompany order. Please specify classification. explanations of inflationary recessions, multipliers and the real value of a gold the power of the state. To learn more about it, standard. He also discusses subjects Books write Jane Shaw, Political Economy Research more concrete and empirical: national Free list of used books for sale. 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This is too optimistic Dimension of Freedom now in paperback: $6.00. ans, anarchists, outlaws, since 1979, now in­ of Skousen, it seems to me; he himself MG Publications, Box 2108, Reseda, CA 91337­ cludes news summary: "my libertarian mail." explains why Austrian thinking is ig­ 2108. $8.00 for 6 issues, sample $1.00. Box 29-LB, Hiler nored by most modern economic think­ Discount Books: Up to 50 percent off. All Branch, Buffalo, NY 14223. ers (its free-market orientation, its new! Mencken Award winner ''Wartime,'' only Bigger print now in The (Libertarian) Con­ disdain for mathematical models, and $15. "After Apartheid," $10. "Other Path," $9. nection, open-forum magazine since 1968. Sub­ Over 400 titles: politics, history, biography, in­ the "bitter ad hominem attacks" in which scribers may insert one pagelissue free, vestment, sci-fi, self-help, cosmology, film, thea­ unedited. Lots of stimulating conversation. Mises sometimes engaged, which has ter, etc. Also: "Question Authority" buttons, Eight issues (one year) $20. Strauss, Box 3343Z, poisoned the whole method in the eyes stickers, 3/$4. "Bill of Rights: VOID" posters, VA 22038. of most economists). -Brian Doherty $10,2/$15,3/$20. Send SASE for extensive cata­ log. FPA, Box 15548, Columbus, OH 43215. Personals The Epitome of the Fake - In Business Gay libertarian man, 30, trim, nonsmoker, is his newest book, Selected Writings (Har­ interested in friendshipI relationship with simi­ court Brace Jovanovich, 1990, 490 pp., Mailing list for rent! Rent the list of attendees lar man. Boxholder, PO Box 191231, San Francis­ $30.95), Irving Howe demonstrates once and delegates of the 1987 Libertarian Party Presi­ co, CA 94119. dential Nominating Convention. Call (206) 385­ again that he is the epitome of the fake­ 5097. Records the guy who isn't what he says he is. A Principles of Objectivism, 20-volume set, proponent of the independent intellectu­ Literature #849, mint condition, autogaphed. Best offer. al life (epitomized by his touchstone Ed­ Free-Market Environmentalism offers ways RECORDS, clo 2534 Durant Avenue, Berkeley, mund Wilson), he has spent half of his to protect the environment without adding to CA 94704. Liberty 65 Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991 edging. Similarly, for all his appearances less that of an intellectual, exploring is­ authoritarian or hypocritical. It is not as a publicist for Jewish-American litera­ sues relating to one's own life (or those surprising that Howe is particularly be­ ture, he acknowledges remarkably few of similarly situated), than a publicist, loved by those who can hold similar the writers belonging to that category, whose most natural format nowadays is contradictions in their heads, successful typically missing many of the best (be­ not the critical review but the book sometime lefties whose lives differ dras­ ginning with Gertrude Stein and Irvin introduction. tically from their professed values, Faust). A proponent of social opportuni­ An admirer of writers who have tak­ whose doings deviate regularly from ty, he has participated in efforts to elimi­ en professional risks (epitomized by their sayings, who read him mostly to nate competition in his own profession, George Orwell, another touchstone), he find the hypocrisies of their outlook re­ beginning with attacks on the Commu­ has shown remarkably little courage in affirmed. By now Irving Howe has be­ nist writers (mostly Jewish) in the fifties, challenging his faithful audience or im­ come a litmus test for discovering continuing with attacks on younger writ­ mediate editors; rarely does he risk any readers who are, shall we be frank, like­ ers (again mostly Jewish) in the sixties professional move they might find unac­ wise fakes. -Richard Kostelanetz and seventies. ceptable. (Contrast him to Allen Gins­ A self-described "born outsider," he berg, say, or, more closely, Leslie A. Mises for the Millions - Lud­ had regarded the business of writing as Fiedler or even Murray Rothbard.) What wig von Mises is, I believe, the most im­ a vehicle for being accepted, for "mak­ is thus disagreeable is not his individual portant social theorist of this century. ing it," typically flattering persistently opinions, which are piously "humanis­ His contributions to our understanding the powers upon whom his success de­ tic" and thus rarely unacceptable, but of how society functions are enormous, pends. His career prescription is simply the inflationary pretense encasing them. and his development of praxeology is a saying strongly, at times colorfully, Characteristically, he opens his commer­ magnificent achievement. Happily, most what his audience wants to near-sort cially published autobiography A Mar­ of his writing is readily available. Hu­ of the liberal literati's Jesse Jackson. A gin of Error (1982) in conversation with a man Action, his magnum opus, has been professed socialist, he has long earned fellow "democratic socialist," the coura­ in print more or less continuously for enough money to place him in the top geous and independent Italian writer Ig­ more than forty years, and his other im­ 5%, if not higher; and he lives, indica­ nazio Silone, with whom Howe has little portant works are also nearly all in tively, not among the working or bohe­ in common other than his political print. mian classes but on New York's Upper beliefs. Mises' life was long and extraordi­ East Side. That explains why, for all of Though preaching to the converted narily productive. In addition to his his purported identification with the un­ may fatten a critic's wallet, it eventually scholarly writing, he also wrote for the derclasses, he has sought the machinery limits his or her influence. The principal general public. This is a good thing, for of personal power and its abuses. professional achievement of Selected much of his academic writing is ... well Having succeeded, he now has the Writings is that certain essays are reprint­ ... a bit recondite. Curiously, his most outlook of someone professionally au­ ed for the second and third time by a readable book, Liberalism (Jena: Gustav thoritarian, knocking down competitors commercial publisher. In the end Howe Fischer, 1927; New York: Van Nostrand, as you would ambitious students with has had not a literary career, but a pub­ 1962) is one of his most radical. In it, for views contrary to your own, toward the lishing career. The two are not the same. example, one will find no hint of the pe­ end of wishing to expand or at mini­ The former should be based upon signif­ culiar justification of the military draft mum to preserve one's privileges. That icant thought and discovery; the basis of that somehow found its way into Human economic anomaly accounts, as well, for the latter is the production of prose that Action. It also contains an eloquent argu­ why he should be a socialist with little fits snugly into the columns of whatever ment for the legalization of drugs, expli­ understanding of economics, beginning magazine and can later be sold between citly including hard drugs like heroin. with the economics of his own life. Nor hard covers. There is nothing intrinsical­ For some reason, Liberalism seems less does he risk an education in economics, ly wrong with devoting your life to giv­ widely read than his other works, which because that would force him to ask self­ ing publishers what they want, but there is too bad: Liberalism belongs on the disturbing questions. His mind-set is is something disingenuous about claim­ reading list of every person who values ing you are really doing something else. human liberty or wants to understand Interestingly, though Howe speaks con­ how a free society functions. stantly of his intellectual career, his Mises also occasionally wrote articles * New and classic books, name does not appear in any general and essays for newspapers and maga­ unabridged audio books, videos, games, & collectibles. (nonsectarian) intellectual history zines. Bettina Bien Graves has collected * History & biography, known tome. and the Foundation on Economic Educa­ literature, philosophy, eco­ nomics, privacy & personal One would like to think Howe has tion has just published a valuable an­ finance, humor & political satire, self-defense, war & learned something in the forty years of thology of Mises' journalistic efforts, peace, the family, children's writing selected here; but absent from along with·· a few miscellaneous previ­ books, and much more. 111I.Call for FREE Catalog! his upwardly mobile life has been the 0usly unpublished (in English, anyway) kind of professional suffering that papers and addresses. Economic Free­ Liberty1ree shocks a more humane intellectual into dom and Intervention (FEE, 1991, 263pp, Review and Catalogue AE8 questioning whether he may have been $29.95 hc, $14.95 sc) may not be Mises at 134 Ninety-Eighth Avenue, Oakland, CA 94603 wrong or inconsistent or unnecessarily his best, but even second-rate Mises is :I I' Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991 better than the writing of most econo­ case a bit more rigorously in Human Ac­ drich von Hayek, W. H. Hutt, Israel mists or social thinkers. tion, but this piece is more readable. It Kirzner, Murray Rothbard and others. This is not to say that Economic Free­ certainly should give pause to economic Economic Freedom and Intervention is a dom and Intervention is mostly second­ advisors or investors who think an un­ valuable collection of the miscellaneous rate Mises. Much of it is very valuable. derstanding of Austrian economics will Mises, of value to every serious student For example, his 1956 essay "The Plight help them with their investments. of Mises or Austrian economics, and­ of Business Forecasting" presents a con­ Also very valuable is a compilation thanks to its incorporation of many jour­ cise discussion of why neither econo­ of Mises' reviews, introductions and nalistic pieces-of interest to anyone mists nor anyone else can make scientific comments on books. Here we find who cares about human liberty. predictions of the future. Mises made the Mises' comments on Adam Smith, Frie- -R. W. Bradford

Letters, continued from page 6

Taxation is surely wrong, but some­ Well, Maybe Next to Last I concluded years ago that I would thing else is wrong too. What is it? In "Only in Albania" (Reflections, never have an abortion and that if any­ Tom Porter May 1991) J. S. Robbins describes Alba­ one else wanted one, it was a matter be­ Reseda, Calif. nia as "the last Stalinist state." What tween that person and her doctor. Money Where the Mouth Is about North Korea, Cuba, Ethiopia? The willingness-nay, eagerness­ Please cancel my subscription. I was name withheld by request of these writers to determine the moral surprised and dismayed to find in your Ann Arbor, Mich. correctness of someone else's private May issue four articles supporting the and personal medical decisions seems U.S. military intervention in the Persian Another Casualty out of place in a publication called Gulf. Statist viewpoints of course Thank you for the excellent article Liberty. abound in magazines everywhere. I ex­ by David Boaz "Journalists and the Richard B. Allen pected Liberty to be my singular source Drug War" in the May 1991 issue. The Houston, Tex. of the libertarian perspective. "War on Drugs" is in reaIity a war on Labor Theory of Value? Libertarians oppose the initiation of American civil liberties. It is the most the use of force except in self-defense. In the letter you titled "Moral Cor­ serious threat to liberty since McCarthy ruption, Anyone?" (January 1991), Wil­ The four authors, all self-proclaimed "li­ and so far appears to be an unopposed liam Vandersteel explains that rational bertarians," support extorting my mon­ juggernaut. It's only a matter of time ey in the form of taxes to pay for their people have no desire for unearned before the remake of! "Reefer Madness" wealth because wealth derives its value war. If they love intervening in the Per­ with the cast of "21 Jump Street" shows sian Gulf so much, why don't they fly to from the work embodied in it, therefore up at our neighborhood theaters. unearned wealth has no value, there­ the Middle East and join the fight, or at Recently, I have heard a barrage of least pay for the action themselves? fore no rational person wants anything "public service" messages from the he didn't earn. Why force me to pay against my will? "Partnership for a Drug-Free America" I take it that Mr Vandersteel never, John Wahl, M.D. on the local radio station. These spots ever stoops to pick up a quarter lying Columbus, Ga. show a contempt for truth that would in the street, and indignantly returns all The last Refuge turn Paul Joseph Goebbels, propagan­ gifts. da minister of the Third Reich, green Just what is wrong with defining Joy Beeson with envy. They are run so frequently "patriotism" as expressing one's blind Voorheesville, N.Y. obedience to the commands of one's rul­ that Ihave stopped listening to the sta­ ers, rather than belief in the philoso­ tion. I find it especially offensive that Ruth vs Haugen phies upon which one's nation was as "public service" announcements Babe Ruth's drinking was never "in founded, as Robert Higgs argues? these spots can run unchallenged, un­ violation of the U.S. Constitution" ("Two Kinds of Patriotism," May 1991) like the "political announcements" ("Who do you think you are, Babe After all, doesn't "patriotism" literal­ they actually are. Ruth?" May 1991) because the 18th ly mean "love of father"? Most Ameri­ Charles S. Reavis Amendment did not outlaw the use or cans are, frankly, latent homosexuals Dallas, Tex. possession of alcohol, but only its man­ and sado-masochists. They continue to ufacture, transportation and sale. re-elect by 98% the very rulers who Not My Problem ... The foundation for current law on screw them. And Americans are Iiterally As a new subscriber, I missed all of possession of marijuana lay on an inter­ aroused as they watch the President the letters and articles that prompted national treaty, the Single Convention standing so straight and narrow on TV, the first four letters in the May 1991 is­ on Narcotic Durgs, which was devised like an erect penis. And they revere their sue concerning abortion. From the by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics with phallic-shaped missile, named after a names, itappears that all four writers the specific intent of shoring up its con­ word meaning "love of male authority." are male. I have news for you guys­ stitutional authority. Scott Garfinkel abortion is not your problem and it is Dale Gieringer Brookline, Mass. not your business. Oakland, Calif. Liberty 67 Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991 Final Words

On December 17, 1990, Ludwig M. Ludwig M. Lachmann Witwatersrand, Lachmann was clearly Lachmann, one of the most important expressing a view of economics largely influences in the contemporary revival 1906-1990 built upon Mises (whose recently pub­ of Austrian economics, passed away in lished Human Action he was to review en­ Johannesburg, South Africa, after a long tain central elements in his rich, lifelong thusiastically a year later in Economica). illness, just weeks short of his 85th birth­ exploration of the social sciences. I am When, in an act of rare kindness to a day. Ludwig Lachmann spent a long, abundantly aware of the additional diffi­ lonely young Misesian, Lachmann first productive life pursuing the study of the culties surrounding this hasty, prelimi­ wrote to me in 1961, he was most explicit social sciences in general, and of eco­ nary statement; my feelings of profound in his commitment to "praxeology" and nomics in particular, with single­ affection and admiration for Ludwig to its Misesian character. Yet, as the years minded dedication, penetrating insight, Lachmann, recollecting some thirty passed, it became clear that for and utter intellectual honesty. years of personal friendship and corre­ Lachmann the subjectivism of Mises Born in Berlin in 1906, Lachmann spondence, render me a most imperfect (and even more so, the subjectivism of studied in Berlin and Zurich, obtaining judge; to complicate matters even fur­ Hayek) came to seem incomplete. The fo­ the degree of Doctor rerum politicarum ther, I had, for twenty out of these thirty cus of Lachmann's intellectual attention from the University of Berlin in 1930. He years found myself locked in a friendly began to shift from Mises to Shackle. In came to England in 1933, and pursued (but quite insoluble) disagreement with his letters to me of the sixties Lachmann research under Hayek at the London Lachmann on certain fundamental had described Shackle as an important School of Economics and subsequently points of economic understanding. It writer who should be seen as a potential­ at the University of London. A period of will be for future scholars to provide the ly valuable ally; but after Shackle's service as a faculty member at the full scale, dispassionate historical and Epistemics and Economics (1972) it was University College of Hull was followed critical assessment that the prolific work clear that Lachmann saw its author as by his appointment, in 1949, to the chair of Ludwig M. Lachmann so richly de­ embodying that perfection of subjectivist of Economics and Economic History at serves and demands. insight towards which Mises provided the University of Witwatersrand, The central thread running through only the first approach. (See Ludwig M. Johannesburg, South Africa. In 1972 Lachmann's work is, unquestionably, Lachmann, "From Mises to Shackle: An Lachmann became Professor Emeritus, his radical subjectivism. He believed Essay," Journal of Economic Literature, and spent a substantial part of the subse­ that economic understanding calls for March 1976). The major shortcoming in quent fifteen years (until the spring se­ recognition, not merely that external the Austrian literature, Lachmann main­ mester of 1987) as a visiting Research events influence human action only as tained, was its failure to extend subjecti­ Professor in the Austrian Economics they have been filtered through the hu­ vism to encompass expectations. It was Program at New York University, this man mind, but also that each human Shackle's great virtue, in Lachmann's having been made possible by far­ mind is active and idiosyncratic in inter­ eyes, that, by underscoring the subjecti­ sighted Moorman Foundation financial preting external events and in thus ar­ vism of expectations, he decisively un­ support. At a gathering held at New riving at what it knows and what it moored human action from any York University celebrating his eightieth expects. It was this conviction that led deterministic constraints imposed by ex­ birthday in February 1986, Professor him, as early as 1959, to assert that as ternal events. Lachmann was presented with a fests­ "soon as we permit time to elapse we Despite his differences with the chrift (Subjectivism, Intelligibility, and must permit knowledge to change, and Austrians, it should be emphasized that Economic Understanding, New York knowledge cannot be regarded as a his enormous personal and professional University Press, 1986) in which twenty­ function of anything else." In his most admiration and respect for both Mises four scholars from around the world recent works, Lachmann pursued the and Hayek were never in question. paid him tribute. In the course of more implications of this insight with a con­ Neither, oddly enough, was his dedica­ than a full half century of vigorous re­ sistency undeterred by what some have tion to the classical liberal ideals of free search activity, Lachmann wrote five considered the nihilism towards which markets and limited government, books and monographs, and scores of he appeared to be gravitating. though it often seemed even to his journal articles. (A valuable survey of Lachmann was never one to concern friends that his own radical subjectivism that work up until 1976 was provided himself with conforming to current in­ undermined support for these institu­ by Walter E. Grinder as the Introduction tellectual fashions and fads. Even where tions. It was with the Austrians that to Ludwig M. Lachmann, Capital, intellectual honesty led him to question Lachmann found the common ground Expectations, and the Market Process, the positions maintained by writers for needed to accomplish what he saw as Kansas City: Sheed, Andrews and whom he had enormous regard, he nev­ his overriding intellectual and scholarly McMeel, 1977). er flinched. duty-the nurturing of a younger gener­ Though it is far too early to attempt In fact there seems to have occurred a ation of economists impervious to what any full assessment of the emergence, steady deepening, or radicalization, of he held to be the blight of late twentieth development, and completion of Lachmann's subjectivism during the last century economics, the distortions Ludwig Lachmann's work, I shall en­ forty years of his life. In 1950, in his inau­ wrought by viewing economic phenom­ deavor in what follows to capture cer- gural lecture at the University of ena through the spectacles of determin- 68 Liberty Volume 4, Number 6 July 1991

istic, mechanical, general equilibrium models. This he saw as his life's goal. In [.;::::====N=o=t=e=s=o=n=C=o=n=t=r=ib=u=t=o=r=s===~J the sixties he could have been pardoned for seeing this goal as almost beyond John Baden is chairman of the Foundation for Soho district, has written many books and reach. (In a poignant passage in a 1969 Research on Economics and the Environ­ articles about contemporary culture and letter to me, Lachmann wrote: "If we ment and a rancher from Gallatin Gateway, art. Montana. two start quarrelling, what becomes of Loren E. Lomasky is Professor of Philosophy "Baloo" is the nom de plume of Rex F. May, a praxeology?/I) Yet at the time of his at Bowling Green State University, and au­ cartoonist whose works frequently appear thor of Persons, Rights, and the Moral death, barely twenty years later, he in The Wall Street Journal and other Community. could (and did!) look with calm satisfac­ publications. William P. Moulton works with words and tion at the scores of younger Austrian R. W. Bradford is editor of Liberty. trilobites in a quaint town in northern scholars and colleagues in this country Stephen Cox is Associate Professor of Michigan. and abroad including especially, Gerald Literature at the University of California, Stuart Reges is a computer scientist, formerly O'Driscoll, Mario Rizzo, Don Lavoie, San Diego. employed as a lecturer at Stanford and Stephan Boehm whose economic Brian Doherty is a journalist and musician liv­ University. perspective had been profoundly affect­ ing in Gainesville, Florida. Scott J. Reid, a vice president of a Canadian ed by his patient, sparkling teaching and David Friedman is the author of The Machinery department store chain, has travelled with writing. He could point to the revival, in of Freedom, Price Theory: An Intermediate his wife to many exotic places, including universities around the world, of appre­ Text, and numerous articles. Asia, Europe, and Port Townsend, ciation for those subtleties in economic Milton Friedman, a Nobel Laureate in Washington. understanding that emerge from a rec­ Economics, is a fellow of the Hoover Sheldon L. Richman is Senior Editor with the ognition of the need to proceed beyond Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace Cato Institute. "subjectivism as the expression of 'hu­ at Stanford University. James S. Robbins is a writer and foreign policy man disposition' to subjectivism as a Karl Hess is the only editor of Liberty quoted analyst living in Massachusetts. manifestation of spontaneous action./I in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. Jane S. Shaw, former economics editor of Ludwig Lachmann was the eternal in­ Robert Higgs is Thomas F. Gleed Professor of Business Week, lives and writes in Business Administration at the Albers Bozeman, Montana. tellectual optimist. In his voracious and School of Business, Seattle University, and Sandy Shaw is a research scientist and co­ extraordinarily retentive reading, he dis­ the author of Crisis and Leviathan. author of the best-selling book Life covered nuggets of truth in the writings Israel M. Kirzner is Professor of Economics at Extension. of thinkers with whom he disagreed New York University, and the author of Mark Skousen is an investment advisor and most vehemently. Out of these, building The Economic Point of View, Competition & economist living in Florida. His most re­ on the work of his intellectual heroes, Entrepreneurship and other books and cent books include The Structure of Weber, Mises, Hayek, Hicks, and articles. Production and Economics on Trial. Shackle, Ludwig Lachmann constructed Richard Kostelanetz, a resident of New York's Timothy Virkkala is assistant editor of Liberty. an edifice of economic understanding peculiarly his own. In erecting this edi­ Skousen, "Economics After Socialism," continued from page 50 fice and actively nurturing a sympathet­ ic audience for subjectivist economics Heilbroner: Who the hell knows? I do national economy could be open to until only weeks before his passing, take ecology very seriously. manipulation. Second, Keynes's rather Lachmann made his lasting intellectual Skousen: Do you envision an Orwellian benign view of the future of capital­ contribution to the understanding of so­ future with a totalitarian government ism, you know, interest rates will go ciety and-perhaps in ways that he did monitoring every citizen's action? down, more goods will be produced, not himself ahvays quite appreciate-to Heilbroner: No. I have a picture in and so forth. I think it's a little shal­ the understanding of how the market which humanity around the globe fac­ low, but I like it. society can systematically foster that so­ es enormous challenges having to do Schumpeter is more interesting and cial coordination upon which human with ecological survival. It will have to more imaginative, but I don't think he well-being depends. make radical changes in its energy ever had the policy impact Keynes has We have lost a delightful, encyclo­ sources. had. And now in this modern era, pedic colleague who told us the truth Skousen: Are you optimistic about a there is no successor to Schumpeter. with white-hot passion discreetly new Europe, with the breaking down Not even the people on the left have clothed in the most elegant old-world of political and military barriers, an any scenario. They have scenarios of courtesy. How we shall miss this stern open economy? capitalist breakdown. They have sce­ but beloved teacher, this warm, but Heilbroner: I'm very bullish on Europe. narios of mounting tensions in the ever-honest friend! Skousen: Is Keynesianism dead? world. But they have absolutely no vi- -Israel M. Kirzner Heilbroner: Oh, I don't think so. Keynes sion beyond the present scene. 0 An earlier version of this obituary appeared in the is a major figure. He changed the vo­ The foregoing is an extended version of an inter­ Winter 1991 Institute Scholar, a publication of cabulary of economics. He made two view that appeared in the May 27, 1991 issue of the Institute for Humane Studies. significant contributions: First, that the Forbes magazine. Liberty 69 r

Prince Edward Island, Canada New York Horticultural note from Canada's smallest province, as reported Evidence that multi-national corporations believe in the afterlife, by Macleans: Canada's Weekly Newsmagazine: as reported in the Seattle Times: Residents of Prince Edward Island can be fined up to $25,000 for Sony Corporation invited ragtime pianist Eubie Blake to accept its growing potatoes without government pennission under a new law. "first Legendary Innovator Award,tt adding that his presence at the Special "Potato Police" have been given the right to use force to search award ceremony would enable him to be "introduced to industry people without warrant the backyards of residents of the province. who can be instrumental in furthering" his career. Blake, however, could not attend the ceremony. He died in 1983 at United States ofAmerica the age of 100. The sad state of American public policy, as reported by the Tokyo Detroit News: Breakthrough in the science of psychology, as reported by AFL-CIO chairperson Lane Kirkland described the proposal to re­ NHK-TV: duce tariffs and trade barriers between the United States and Mexico as Research scientists have proven that the application of eye makeup "a disaster worthy of Stalin's worst." is an effective treatment for clinical depression. Aspen Hill, Md. Dallas Advance in the humanitarian treatment of animals, as reported Scientific note from the Lone Star State, as reported in the by the Milwaukee Journal: Dallas Morning News: The organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Gail Huitt, hairdresser for Texas governor Ann Richards, explains (PETA) rescued 76 rabbits from Montgomery Village Intennediate the secret of Gov. Richards' extraordinary hairdo: "I rat the tar out of it. School in Gaithersburg, Md, where it claimed the animals were treated I spray the hell out of it. We get it up there. We defy gravity." inhumanely. PETA found homes for 28 of the rabbits, placed 29 in an animal sanctuary, and killed the remaining 18 rabbits. "The euthanasia Shihezi Province, China was carried out with a great deal of concern," a spokesperson said. In a Sociological advancement in the workers' paradise, as reported related move, PETA sued to prevent the euthanasia of two monkeys at a in the Farmer's Daily: research laboratory in Louisiana. A man and wife who had moved into a pigpen in order to evade Traverse City, Mich. government regulations limiting their offspring to one, were evicted along with their four children, and the pigsty bulldozed. They were Bad news for good little boys and girls, as reported by the practicing "illegal birth warfare." Traverse City Record-Eagle: Police here arrested the Easter Bunny during his morning break at Birmingham, Ala. the Cherryland Mall, charging the famous bunny with failure to pay Evidence that proportionality and sober judgment may not be child support. The Bunny was not handcuffed. the sole guides in American jurisprudence, as presented by the Alexandra, New Zealand Associated Press: District Judge Jack Montgomery, in response to Mayor Richard Ar­ More bad news for bunnies, as reported by the Associated Press: rington's charge that he is soft on criminals, raised the bail for Isaac Pe­ The city of Alexandra, which calls itself "the rabbit capital of the terson from $5,000 to $9,000,000,000,000, or about three times the na­ world," held a mass shooting of bunnies as part of its annual Easter Fes­ tional debt. tival. Cash awards were made to those who killed the most. Washington, D.C. Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The Army discovers reasons to sympathize with ancient scribes, A new challenge for court procedure, as reported by the whose errors were written in stone, as displayed in the non-cuneiform Associated Press: columns of the Detroit Free Press: After Penny Pellito, of Miramar, sued the Home Depot on grounds Fourteen sUlVivors of the Vietnam War are listed among the dead at that an injury she sustained in its hardware store had "impaired her abil­ the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. A spokesman for the Army said that

ity to 'block out pain,Itt defense attorney James Zloch asked the judge the errors appear to be the result of"typing mistakes," and would not be to order her not to use her "psychic powers to read the thoughts of wit­ corrected. nesses and jurors." Judge Paul Marko III refused the motion. Easton, Pa. Aukland, New Zealand How trial by jury protects citizens' rights, as reported in the Easton (Pa.) Press: The consequences of neglecting household safety, as reported by When shoppers attempted to enter several local stores, they were the Detroit News: stopped by deputy sheriffs and forced to identify themselves and show Brian Arthur Purnell, 46, who cut his little finger in a domestic acci­ proof of their identity. They were then asked whether they were county dent two years ago, and receives state support because of the disability, residents and whether they had immediate vacation plans. Those who has filed a claim for additional disability payments with the State Acci­ answered yes to the first question and no to the second were taken into dent Compensation Corporation: "I cannot play 10-pin bowling because custody and taken to court where they were impaneled on a jury. it is painful to hold the ball, lovemaking is impaired because of the irri­ tating pain in my hand, and I am also concerned I could break the finger (Readers are invited to forward newsclippings or other items for in a fight or something, so I keep out of the bars I used to go in." publication in Terra Incognita.) 70 Liberty iPOTS The same America, the Pe politica

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