The Man From Mars Who is this guy challenging Lech .....Ian_ua.....ry_199_1 V_o_14,_N_o3 $4_,00 Walesa, anyway?

''5!{{ ofourgreatness was 60rn ofLi6erty. II -John Peter .9l{tge{tf Mint State $5 Liberty $225!

During the past few weeks, the only $225. ly small, averaging less than 300,000. collapse of the organized market for That's the lowest price in more The $5.00 Liberty was issued at a so-called "investor" coins has created than a decade! time when the United States was on a an unprecedented opportunity to ac­ Much rarer than $20 Liberty gold standard. Gold coins were the quire certain classic, old U.S. gold or $20 St Gaudensl sinews of the prosperity that free men coins at remarkably low prices. The $5.00 Liberty is much rarer acting in an economy free from gov­ U.S. gold coins have long been ernment control could create. considered the "blue chip" of rare than the popular (and more expen­ sive!) $20 St Gaudens or $20 Liberty. And the $5 Liberty circulated coins. And for good reason: they widely, unlike the $20 gold coins The chart at the bottom of the page have a long term track record of safe­ which were held as reserves by banks. compares the rarity of these three gold ty and capital gain that goes back As a result, it is much rarer today than decades. coins. By every measuring standard, the its relative mintage figures would An unprecedented bargainl $5.00 Liberty is the rarest of the three. suggest. In terms of average mintage, the $5 But the panic in the market for ex­ Liberty is more than 3 times rarer than Professionally Certified tremely high grade certified rare the $20 Liberty and almost 5 times rar­ This offering of $5.00 Liberty gold coins has carried over even into blue coins consists solely of specimens cer­ er than the $20 St Gaudens. In terms of chip markets. tified as MS-61 by the Professional total mintage it is 70% rarer than the As a result, right now the $5.00 Coin Grading Service, and hermetical­ $20 Liberty and 16% rarer than the $20 Liberty is available in Mint State at ly sealed in PCGS holders for your se­ StGaudens. curityand protection. And in terms of PCGS certified Mint State specimens, it is more than 3 This opportunity times rarer than the $20 Liberty and al­ may not last long. most 12 times rarer than the $20 St Bargain situations like the $5.00 YES! Liberty often end quickly. Wholesale Gaudens. Please send me the Mint State $5.00 Lib­ prices have already stabilized. When erty gold coins I've indicated below. I A coin of beauty wholesale prices move upward, we understand that all coins have been in­ and historic significancel dependently graded and authenticated will be forced to withdraw our offer. by PeGS, and are backed by LCS's guar­ The $5.00 Liberty was designed by Act today! To confirm your pur­ antee. Christian Gobrecht, the most impor­ chase, and to lock in today's price, call tant coin designer of the 19th century. LeS toll-free at 1-800-321-1542. (Resi­ $5.00 Liberty, (1839-1908), Gobrecht's classically beautiful Liberty MS-61 @ $225.00 each = dents of Michigan call 1-517-351­ design graced the $5.00 gold coins un­ 4720.) Or return the coupon below. Postage &: handling: $5.00 til 1908-1onger than any other u.s. No sales tax on sales delivered out­ gold coin. side Michigan. Total: --- The $5.00 Liberty is also the only As always, LCS guarantees a full U.S. coin that was minted at all seven refund with no questions asked for different U.S. mints. Despite the long any rare coin returned within 15 days Name period of issue, mintages were relative- of receipt. Address

City/State/Zip Coin Mint State Mintage Mintage Phone Population Total Average Liberty Coin Service $5.00 Liberty 14,595 60,483,607 297,949 300 Frandor Avenue $20.00 Liberty 50,249 103,828,017 918,832 Lansing, MI 48912 1,434,450 (800) 321-1542 $20 St Gaudens 171,189 70,290,333 -de Ll-bert January 1991 Insl y Volume 4, Number 3

4 Letters on taxes, schooling, altruism, philosophy, and scoops. 7 Reflections on peace-loving sports fanatics, clueless politicians, sloganeering artists, Marxists and I(u I(luxers in symbiosis, the Iron Lady, lip-sunk singers, and other oddities. Features 13 ..A Pole Can Do It" R. W. Bradford lifts the veil of mystery, lies, and disinformation surrounding the controversial Canadian Libertarian Party's candidate for Poland's-yes, you read that right, Poland's-presidency, Stan Tyminsky. 20 The Explicit Social Contract Robert E. Alexander presents the "fine print" of America's present polity for all to read-and sign. 21 Election 1990: How Freedom Fared Chester Alan Arthur surveys the November elections and appraises the state of mind of the nation's electors; Gene Berkman puts the Californian election in a nutshell 32 The Production of Virtue In a Free Society David Friedman explains why--<:ontrary to common belief-people would be nicer in a market society than in more authoritarian systems. 33 From Russia, With Surprise David Boaz visits Moscow to discuss freedom, and the politicians listen. 35 Marxism, Uberallsm. and the State Ralph Raico explains the meaning of liberty to those who have gone without. 39 A Hero of Our Time James Robbins polishes off the glowing reputation of Nobellaureate Mikhail Gorbachev, and finds reasons for resisting the urge to become a dictator buff. 43 Abortion and Feticide Eric Schendel argues for legalized abortion and against socialized medicine. 46 Ues. Uberallsm. and Up-reading Loren Lomasky makes a "cheap philosophical point" regarding the recent budget fiasco. Stephen Cox adds his money's worth. 49 The Hope In the SChools Karl Hess presents us with an encomium on the unsung heroes of the public schools. 51 Gordon Gekko, Mike Mllken and Me Douglas Casey explains Wall Street ethics (such as they are). 56 Rothbard's Ubertarlanlsm Chris M. Sciabarra surveys the critics of Murray Rothbard, finds a common thread, and wonders: is something about to unravel? 63 A Master of Black Dots and Strange Timbres Richard Kostelanetz profiles one of America's greatest composers, Lou Harrison. 65 The Bonfire of the Subsidies Michael Christian finds something good about the European Community, Maggie ("Iron Lady") Thatcher's qualms notwithstanding. Reviews 67 Why the Academy Falls William Moulton measures W. W. Bartley's Unfathomed Knowledge, Unmeasured Wealth. 69 The Sick Man of Europe Jane Shaw excavates among the ruins of the Soviet Union. 71 Anarchy's Ughter Side Lawrence Person on a science fiction writer's vision of skatepunks, UFOs, and guerrilla capitalism. 72 Uncivil War R. W. Bradford notes that the victors are still writing the history in his review of PBS's 'The Civil War." 74 Booknotes on baseball, economics, individuality, and breasts. 77 Notes on Contributors 78 Terra Incognita L==ett==er~s] ,==[ Stl-mu'late A Taxing Idea Sheldon Richman (''My daughter Jen­ nifer has been seized by the state," No­ There is a world of good reading in Liberty ... and there has been vember 1990) asks when the government ever since Liberty began publishing! Whether you want to catch up on what will send him tuition tax credits so that you missed, stimulate your mind, or complete your collection, now is a "someone besides the rich can avoid ... good time to buy. Enjoy! citizenship indoctrination." I am a little concerned with the popu­ Back Issues of Liberty larity of tuition tax credits among liber­ August 1987 tarians. Aren't tuition tax credits really • "The Films ofAyn Rand," by Stephen Cox redistributed tax monies collected from • "Witch-Bashing, Book Burning, and Professot Harold Hill's Lessons in Practical Polities," all property owners, not only those who by Butler Shaffer have children? At this time this money Plus reviews and articles by Ben Best, Ross Overbeek, Murray Rothbard, David Sheldon, goes to support the public schools. With Timothy Virkkala, Ida Walters and others; and a short story by Jo McIntyre. (48 pages) tuition tax credits, some of the same mon­ October 1987 ey, collected the same way, would go to • "The Sociology ofLibertarians," by John C. Green and James L. Guth individual families to be used for educa­ • "The Rise of the Statism," by Murray N. Rothbard tional alternatives. Why should property Plus reviews and articles by Mike Holmes, Tibor Machan, William Moulton, Jonathan owners who do not have children be Saville, and others; and a short story by Franklin Sanders. (48 pages) . forced to support Mr. Richman's choice December 1987 of private education any more than they • "Libertarians in a State Run World," by Murray N. Rothbard are currently coerced into supporting the • "The Most Unforgettable Libertarian I Ever Knew," by Karl Hess public schools? Plus essays and reviews by Stephen Cox, Walter Block, Mike Holmes, Erika Holzer, Timo­ thy Henderson, Mark Skousen and others; and a short story by David Galland. (56 pages) Instead of spending so much of his time trying to undo what other educators March 1988 • "Libertarians and Conservatives: Allies orEnemies?" by John Dentinger and Murray Roth­ feel needs to be done to Jennifer, why not bard take that time and energy to create a • "Free SPeech and the Future of Medicine," by Sandy Shaw & Durk Pearson home learning environment where Jenni­ Plus reviews and articles by R. W. Bradford, William Cate, Ross Overbeek, Stephen Cox, and fer can explore and grow in the same ef­ others; and a short story by Raul Santana. (64 pages) fective way she no doubt did prior to her May 1988 entrance into the Virginia educational • "The ACLU: Suspicious Principles, Salutary Effects," by William P. Moulton monopoly? Homeschooling has become • "Nicaragua: A Front Line Report," by Gary Alexander available and legal in virtually all the Plus reviews and articles by Nathaniel Branden, Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, Sheldon Richman, states precisely because so manyordi­ David Ramsay Steele, David Brown, Ethan O. Waters and others. (64 pages) nary people have refused to allow the sei­ July 1988 zure of their children by the state, and • "Rebel Without a Clue: Lessons from the Mecham Experience," by Matt Kessler have given up belief in the inevitability of • "Nicaragua: An End to Intervention," by William Kelsey mass education. • "Confessions ofan Intractable Individualist," by Jerome Tuccille Plus reviews and articles by Stephen Cox, Ross Overbeek, Murray Rothbard, Tibor Machan, Dave Meilstrup, William Moulton and others; and an interview with L. Neil Smith. (80 pages) Santa Fe, N.M. September 1988 Medical Scoop • "Scrooge McDuck and His Creator," by Phillip Salin Kudos for scooping other opinion • "Liberty and Ecology," by John HosPerS journals with Dr Ron Paul's analysis of • "My Dinner with Gus Hall," by William P. Moulton • "The Ultimate Justification ofthe Private Property Ethic," by Hans-Hermann Hoppe the non-abortion uses of the so-called Plus reviews and articles by Douglas Casey, David Friedman, Stephen Cox, Douglas Rasmus­ "abortion pill" (September 1990). The New sen, Murray Rothbard and others; and a short story by Erika Holzer. (80 pages) Republic's look at the same issue in its November 1988 cover story on Nov 26, was three months' • "Taking Over the Roads," by John Semmens later than yours and not half as good. • "The Search for We The Living," by R. W. Bradford Ronald Armstong Plus writings by Murray Rothbard, Tibor Machan, Leland Yeager, John Dentinger, Walter NewYork, N.Y. Block, Stephen Cox, Jane Shaw, James Robbins and others. (80 pages) January 1989 EI Supremo • "Public Choice: A Useful Tool," by Jane S. Shaw I enjoyed the interview with Ed • "High Noon for the Libertarian Party?" by Chester Alan Arthur Crane (November 1990). Plus writings by Leland Yeager, William Niskanen, John Hospers and others; and a short sto- continued on page 6 ry by Jeffrey Olson. (72 pages) 4 Liberty Your ind! March 1989 • "Of Smokestacks and Rhinos," by Robert Higgs • "Ronald Reagan: An Autopsy," by Murray N. Rothbard Plus articles and reviews by R. W. Bradford, Karl Hess, Bill Kauff­ • "WhatifEverything We Know About Safety Is Wrong?" by John man, Richard Kostelanetz, Bart Kosko, Loren Lomasky, Leland Semmens and Dianne Kresich Yeager and others; and poetry by Brett Rutherford. (72 pages) • "The Wonderful Wizard ofLiberty," by Ethan Waters July 1990 Plus articles and reviews by Stephen Cox, Jeffrey Friedman, Tibor • "The Orwellian University," by Charles Thorne Machan, David Steele, Michael Krauss, and others. (72 pages) • "Conversations with Ayn Rand (part 1)," by John Hospers May 1989 • "The Conservation ofResentment," by Robert A. Sheaffer • "Man, Nature, and State," by Karl Hess, Jr Plus articles and reviews by John Baden, Brian Doherty, David • "A Conspiracy of Silence: Uncovering the Media's Election Night Friedman, Bill Kauffman, Sheldon Richman, James S. Robbins, 'Coverage' Policy," by Margaret M. Fries Mark Skousen, Terree Wasley and others. (72 pages) • "Public Choice: A Misshapen Tool," by Murray Rothbard September 1990 • "Ayn Rand: The Voice of Bitterness," by Justin Raimondo • "Is Environmental Press Coverage Biased?" by Jane Shaw Plus articles and reviews by Stephen Cox, David Gordon, Jane Shaw • "Conversations with Ayn Rand (part 2)," by John Hospers and others; and a short story by Jeffrey Olson. (72 pages) • "RU 486 and Legal Wisdom," by Dr Ron Paul July 1989 Plus articles and reviews by Michael Krauss, Stephen Cox, Richard • "Viking Iceland: Anarchy That Worked," by David Friedman Kostelanetz and others; and aficci6n by Harvey Segal. (72 pages) • "The Myth ofthe Rights ofMental Patients," by Thomas Szasz November 1990 • "Nude Dancing in Memphis," by Michael Williams • "Opportunities on Freedom's Frontier," by Ronald Lipp Plus articles and reviews by Tibor Machan, John Hospers, R. W. • "Up From Armageddonism," by Stephen Cox Bradford, Murray Rothbard, Jane Shaw, Leland Yeager and oth­ • "Meanwhile, Back at the Farm," by Leslie Fleming ers. (80 pages) Plus articles and reviews by David Friedman, Robert Higgs, Sheldon September 1989 Richman, Richard Kostelanetz and others, an interview with Ed Cr e, and a symposium on investing. (80 pages) • "The Taboo Against the Truth: Holocausts and the Historians," by RalphRaico r , • "My Break With Branden and the Rand Cult," by Murray Rothbard send me the back issues of Liberty • "Indefining the Future," by Richard Kostelanetz ------• "The Theology ofEcology," by Robert Formaini I P ease I have marked. I (foreign orders, add 50~ per issue) Plus articles and reviews by David Friedman, Loren Lomasky, Gary Aug. '87, $4.00 __ May '89, $4.00 __ North, Jeffrey Tucker, Timothy Virkkala, and others. (72 pages) I I November 1989 Oct. '87, $4.50 __ July '89, $4.00 __ I Dec. '87, $3.00 __ Sept. '89, $5.00 __ I • "The Lost War on Drugs," by Joseph Miranda • "Goodbye, Galactic Empire," by J.R. Dunn I Mar. '88, $4.00 __ Nov. '89, $4.00 __ I • "Beyond Philosophy," by Loren Lomasky May '88, $4.00 __ Jan. '90, $4.00 __ • "Life With (and Without) Ayn Rand," by Tibor Machan I July '88, $4.00 __ Mar. '90, $4.00 __ I Plus articles and reviews by Murray Rothbard, Michael Christian Sept. '88, $5.50 __ May '90, $4.00 __ and others; and an interview with Russell Means. (72 pages) I Nov. '88, $4.00 __ July '90, $4.00 __ I January 1990 Jan. '89, $4.00 __ Sept. '90, $4.00 __ • "The Death of Socialism: What it Means," by R.W. Bradford, Ste- I Mar. '89, $4.00 __ Nov. '90, $4.00 __ I phen Cox, Sheldon Richman, and William P. Moulton Shipping: $1.00 • "The Greenhouse Effect: Myth or Danger?" by PatrickJ. Michaels I I Total: • "The Case for Paleolibertarianism," by llewellyn Rockwell My check is enclosed • "How Rockefeller Soaked the Poor," by Richard Kostelanetz I Charge my 0 VISA 0 Mastercard Exp _ I Plus articles and reviews by Charles K. Rowley, Richard E. Wagner, David Gordon and others; and an interview with Barbara Branden. I ccount # _ I (80 pages) March 1990 I I • "Humanity \IS Nature," by John Hospers • "Isolating the Error of Isolationism," by Stephen Cox I I • "Capitalism without Democracy, Hong Kong without Hope," by R. K.Lamb I I • "Mencken: The Man \IS the State ofOpinion," by R. W. Bradford Plus articles and reviews by Richard Kostelanetz, Loren Lomasky, I I George Smith, Leland Yeager and others. (80 pages) I I May 1990 ______Zip _ • "The Decadence ofConservativism," by WilliamP. Moulton I I • "A Population Crisis?" by Jane S. Shaw I.Li rty,------Dept. B21, PO Box 1167, Port Townsend, WA 98368 .I Volume 4, Number3 January 1991 Letters (continued from page 4) cally proceeds from the altruist philoso­ tember, 1990). I wish he would write a Whether Libertarians like the man or phy. Thebasic motivation ofaltruism is book about her so people could get a tobe the beneficiary of the sacrificial of­ not, Ed probably has done more to fur­ glimpse of her as seen through his eyes. ferings altruism preaches. Greed is the This might show her in a more balanced ther their cause than any other individu­ al in recent years. Also, the Cato Insti­ aspiration tothe unearned. Analtruist and human light-emphasizing her life's tute probably ranks as the most effective equatesworth with value and he mista­ major preoccupation-than did either of the Brandens' books. of all libertarian organizations. kenly believes that to acquire a material asset for free, thatis, without having I also wish is that Hospers had report­ K. C. Blair earned same, will bring him happiness ed that there are many academic philoso­ Santa Fe, N.M. and wonders whyitneverdoes. phers not influenced by Rand who never­ Rock Solid Rights Need No When a young child is first told that theless share her vision of philosophy. Excavation he must never steal, the inevitable mes­ Indeed, many of the classical philoso­ From the interview with Ed Crane: sage is conveyed that to acquire that phers, such as Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Bradford: "What rights do people which one has not earned is a desirable et al (even Kant) held out hope for a con­ bring into society?" objective and this, of course, is precisely structive philosophical undertaking, even Crane: "Rights to life, liberty, and the wrong message. A rational upbring­ as they carried out a great deal of critical property." ing would teach a child that, for some­ analysis. Even Bertrand Russell ap­ Bradford: "Where do these rights thing to be ofvalue, it must be earned. proached philosophy with an eye to find­ come from?" All forms of mysticism have an altru­ ing answers to fundamental questions Crane: "Oh, come on, Bill" ist base and, as religion in one form or and even believed that propositions of the That's it!!! Rights to life, liberty, and another is still pervasive, the desire of sort Hospers treats as "heuristic maxims" property form the central axiom of p0­ something for nothing is common may in some sense be statements that litical philosophy. All attempts to de­ among most believers. It is this wrong could be true about the world (in general rive these rights from some underlying motivation that drives people to steal, or about its basic constituents). principles, such as natural rights, utili­ commit fraud or even participate in IfHospers thinks that "philosophical tarianism, or extrapolations, interpola­ gambling. To the rational mind, gam­ formulas ... merely give us 'philosophy tions, or deviations on those themes, are bling represents making an investment on the cheap'," then by his account there elephant shit. where you know beforehand absolutely are many very prominent figures in the Life, liberty, and property (rightfully that the odds are against you, so on that history of philosophy who tried to get by obtained-not stolen) are the bedrock of ground alone one is disinclined to gam­ with cheap philosophy-Hegel, Kant, libertarianism. Ifyou dig deeper all yo~ ble. But a rational person also doesn't Marx, to name just three who tried to will find is magma. gamble because of his lack of interest in come up with generalizations or basic Millard H. Perstein the remote possibility that he might sud­ truths about reality as a whole or as such. Sedona, Ariz. denly acquire a windfall without having Isn'tthere room for grand theorizing, earned it. News stories are legion with something attempted in a sketchy wayby Moral Corruption, Anyone? the grief and disasters that have befallen Rand, and also for meticulous, detailed In "Why is Anyone Virtuous?" (No­ winners of lotteries. This should come as scrutiny? I advocate pluralism about vember 1990), David Friedman explains no surprise because the one ingredient . styles of philosophizing-some suit some why he believes most people are moti­ that could insure happiness is lacking. folks, others other folks, but most ofthem vated to be virtuous and act honestly. I The rational person, motivated by can be done well or badly. When done believe he fails to credit the basic reason self interest, has no incentive to seek the well, they have their value. And apropos why any person, motivated by rational unearned and hence cannot be tempted Hospers's championing of critical philoso­ self-interest, has no incentive to act other to a non-virtuous act. On the contrary, as phizing-does not criticism presuppose than with the highest integrity. his concept of value is inseparable from some valid criteria for assessing theories, To make my case I must give credit the need to earn his reward, he lacks all hypotheses, concepts, distinctions, etc.? to Ayn Rand for identifying altruism as aspiration for the unearned. In dealing Why should we not attempt to identify the moral corruption that it is. with his fellow man he is a trader, seek­ those criteria? And might not there be To a rational mind, a material asset ing values in voluntary exchange to mu­ some very fundamental criteria with has no value unless it has been earned, tual profit, neither seeking or offering some kind ofbase in "the nature of reali­ that is, unless the asset has been acquired the unearned. Therefore, the basic moti­ ty" itself? And perhaps we can come to in exchange for the fruits of his labor. To vation of the rational mind to be virtu­ learn even that. a rational mind, to quote the senior ous is the recognition that this is the only I hope that the sadness I detected in Friedman, "There Ain't No Such Thing path to happiness. Hospers's concluding paragraph is not a as a Free Lunch" and something ac­ William Vandersteel primary state of mind for him vis-a-vis his experiences with Rand. My much less quired for nothing has no real value. Alpine, N.J. Happiness proceeds from achieving prominent but somewhat similarly disap­ one's values and, if productive achieve­ The Philosophical Mosaic pointing personal relationship with her is ment is man's noblest activity, then the I read with very great pleasure and clearly overshadowed by the good for­ earnings ofone's efforts represent the interestJohn Hospers's account of his tune of having encountered her. highest value one can achieve. encounters with Ayn Rand ("Conver­ Tibor Machan The motivation to theft or fraud logi- sations With Ayn Rand," July and Sep- Auburn, Ala. 6 Liberty I wanna hold your hand - Feel like a little in­ income tax forms, previously unneeded in the workers' para­ nocent hand-holding? Then stay clear of Cincinnati. dise. In keeping with local custom. I suggest the ''kollect­ Commedore C. Canyon and John K. Harden were busted by ivizor." -MH alert officer Marty Polk, who saw them holding hands in a parked car in Eden Park, in flagrant violation of a 1974 Ohio Entrepreneurship as crime - Repercussions of law prohibiting "disorderly conduct for creating a physically events in the Middle East have given us new insights into our offensive situation." rulers' delusions of competence. Senator Lieberman of Little matter that there was not one case of the law being Connecticut provided one example on the TV show Crossfire enforced since it was enacted in 1974, or that sitting quietly in of October 23, 1990. He complained that emotions, hunches, a parked car is hardly a "physically offensive situation"i and worries had been driving the price of oil. Maybe the envi­ Officer Polk saw his duty. Could this be a case of deliberate sioned shortages would not occur after all. It was too soon for harassment of homosexuals in the wake of the Mapplethorpe prices to respond. The market just was not working right, and flap? No way, according to Polk-he said the situation would he had introduced a bill to impose criminal penalties. have been as offensive had it involved a man and a woman. Lieberman evidently did not understand that all econo­ Well, I guess Officer Polk had never been to Eden Park before, mizing and all entrepreneurial activity necessarily look to the where this sort of outlandish hand-coupling has been going future. on for years, between members of the same or different sexes, Libertarians should cite examples like this one in response married or unmarried, and even interracially. to calls for "industrial policy" (or whatever its latest fad name I myself have engaged not only in premarital interdigita­ may be). Besides the dubious economics of such policies, we tion but even osculation with a woman in Eden Park, in the should emphasize how they blend politics with business. Do presence of police officers, without once being cited for such a we really want to give more power to people whose grasp of socially disruptive display. When the Cincinnati Symphony economics is as pathetic as Senator Lieberman's? -LBY Orchestra holds evening concerts in the Park, people spread out blankets on the grassy hillsides and sit with arms and legs Have it Fidel's way! - Another indication of the entwined, and some even snuggle. Simply outrageous. But it revolution sweeping the socialist world is the opening of took two men sitting in a car holding hands while one con­ ''McCastro's,'' the unofficial name for the new Cuban state­ soled the other over the death of a relative to finally get the owned fast-food burger joint. The Havana restaurant is very law enforcement authorities moving. And we are to believe popular, but those who want to "hold the pickle, hold the let­ that this was not a case of selective prosecution and legal ha­ tuce" had better remember just where they are. McCastro's rassment? It's a good thing Judge Joseph Luebbers threw out isn't Burger King, and special orders are illegal. -JSR the charges, otherwise the Cincinnati Police would have to ar­ rest practically the entire city just to prove they aren't hypo­ A game to end all games - During the same crites. -JSR week in which Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize, two candidates leapt to the head of the For Jesses' sake - Why is it that opposition to affir­ queue for next year's award. Under the orchestration of mative action injects racism into an election campaign, but coaches Lou Holtz and Dennis Erickson, football teams from support for it does not? -SLR the universities of Notre Dame and Miami succeeded in mak­ ing their way through the tunnel leading to the field and then Demokratization - According to a recent Wall St. conducting practice without a single punch being thrown. Journal article the only police item now in abundant supply in Those unaware of the history of the teams' encounters may the Soviet Union is the PR-73 rubber truncheon. This useful find this unremarkable, so I note for their benefit that the gadget goes by the ever-so-ironic name of "demokratizator." event is roughly comparable to Yitzhak Shamir and Yasser You can't say those Ivans don't have a sense of humor. Arafat getting together for a cordial game of bridge. The Since imposition of an income tax is high on the list of coaches deserve congratulations; it is up to the wise men of nearly every Western expert offering advice on "moderniz­ Oslo to determine if they merit more. ing" the Soviet economy, an income tax will likely be among Football is a game of physical conflict in which for each the first "reforms" implemented for the benefit of the New winner there is a loser, so it is no surprise that contests fre­ Soviet Man, ere .. Taxpayer. The KGB is ready to function as quently take on the character of mini-wars. Genuine animus the IRS. Few real changes will be needed, aside perhaps from against the players on the other team seems to be conducive fresh supplies of "demokratizators." to peak performance on the field. However, it is not only I wonder what snappy term the Soviets will come up for within the confines of athletic stadiums that loathing trans- Liberty 7 Volume 4, Number 3 January 1991 lates into maximum exertion; the same phenomenon apparent­ This is all quite obvious, and it has inspired me toward ly characterizes the pursuit of social policy. For example, an some fanciful thinking about an America where the only art administration convinced that controlled substances are detri­ form with skilled practitioners remaining is that of filling out mental to the health and productivity of American citizens grant applications to the federal government. We could have finds educational messages a woefully inadequate means for neo-classical grant applications (an attractively-proportioned, communicating that concern. Nothing less than declaration of powerfully built young man carved from pure marble, exud­ a ''War on Drugs" will do. Appropriations adequate to equip a ing confidence and ability, draped with a sandwich-board sign medium-sized army are solicited from a thoroughly complai­ reading "Give me money"), and Dada grant applications sant Congress in order to bring ''Public Enemy #1" to heel, im­ ("Give me money. Watch your overcoat.")-the possibilities prisonments beating the number recorded by the South are endless. It's a disturbing and absurd world, and it's just African regime during the darkest days of Apartheid duly fol­ the sort of world that public supporters of the NEA deserve to low, and supposedly friendly foreign governments are desta­ live in. -BD bilized so as better to pursue the enemy. Taking a cue from Mao's Cultural Revolution, children are publicly praised for The Victory of Central Planning Over turning in traitorous parents. When these efforts are observed the Chaos of the Market, Chapter 11.- to yield minimal results, commanding general Bush, ably sec­ Leningrad city officials, in an effort to ward off starvation as onded by cheerleader Bill Bennett, whips up the troops to fur­ the Soviet food distribution system continues to crumble, im­ ther exertions by calls for secret strikes against users and plemented food rationing for the first time since the German public executions of dealers. encirclement during World War n. Other cities are expected to There is, of course, nothing new in this rendition of policy­ follow suit. But Leningraders are lucky. Imagine what it as-war. While fighting a hot war in Vietnam, Lyndon Johnson would be like if, in addition to all their other troubles, they declared a cold War Against Poverty at home. Each disastrous­ had to put up with exploitation by the marketplace. At least ly misfired. Who can forget the egregious Jimmy Carter's char­ under socialism food is chea~at least it would be cheap, if acterization of his administration's energy policy as the "moral there were any. -WPM equivalent of war"? (To give George Bush the credit that he is due, his pursuit of oil supplies features a considerably more Jennifer, the sequel - And now, another episode realistic similitude of war.) And if I may be permitted the in­ of The Indoctrination of Jennifer: A Saga of Government Schools. sertion of an autobiographical note, I began my graduate stud­ When we last left Jennifer, 7 years old, she was being forced to ies in philosophy as the recipient of a National Defense recite the pledge of allegiance by rote and was being warned Education Act fellowship, content in the knowledge that I was that selling drugs was grounds for expulsion. She entered first ensuring the security of my country by pondering Leibnizian grade able to read and to do simple addition, but many of her monads and the existence of other minds. classmates were just beginning to read and apparently unable There maybe a good sociobiological explanation of why to count to ten. So naturally Jennifer was held down to the ordinary policy pursuits so routinely escalate into pseudo­ lowest level. What's worse, the teacher was using the look-say declarations of war. Perhaps we are genetically programmed method of reading. At a parents' night early in the school year, to apply ourselves maximally only when primal aggressive she explained that she reads a simple story to the kids over urges are tapped. Even if that is so, I note that an instinct and over until they memorize it. Then she has them recite the which may have well-served our Neanderthal ancestors has story from memory while sliding their fingers under the proved itself to be of dubious efficacy in dealing with contem­ words on the page. "That's reading," she told parents. "That's porary conundrums. Too often when we tap the arsenal of rhe­ bullshit," I thought as I sat listening to this. She then explained torical armaments we end up shooting ourselves in the foot. that she encouraged them to write about the stories read to What we need, I suggest, is a war on wars on whatever. them. Some kids, she explained, are only able to draw the Oh yes: Notre Dame won a 29-20 victory over a Miami characters. ''That's writing, too," she said. ''Let me outta here," team which, deprived of its customary pregame brawl, I murmured to myself. After that we learned that this "teach­ seemed remarkably listless. -LEL er" planned to teach the kids addition-ready for this?-using calculators. That's the math equivalent of look-say. We insist­ Just say, "Dough" - Cant, like clothing, has its ed that Jennifer be moved up to second grade. fads and fashions, and the most au courant these days is the Things of course haven't improved. The cultural side of line that goes, in its most placard-ready form, "Say no to gov­ this education is actually worse than the academic side. ernment-approved art." Jennifer recently told us that she was reqUired to wear an Well, yes, I say, and nod approvingly and thoughtlessly, as American flag pin everyday so that she would think about our I suppose I am meant to. Of course those using this slogan in­ troops in Saudi Arabia. Luckily it broke and they haven't giv­ tend it as rhetorical heavy artillery in the war to save the en her another. We complained to the principal, who assured National Endowment for the Arts from content restrictions in us it was supposed to be voluntary. (I can just imagine the file its federal funding of artists and art institutions. So what they the principal has on us.) We opted her out of a "values" pro­ really want is not an end to government-approved art; rather, gram that is little more than pro-state propaganda against they desire an expansion of it, to reach as far as the eye can see drugs, alcohol, tobacco and caffeine! (The principal thought and the hand can grasp. They want more government­ we must have made a mistake.) The schools are now the van­ approved art, and more thoughtlessly government-approved guard of a goddam temperance movement. Just the other day art. Jennifer displayed some other knowledge she was imparted: 8 Liberty Volume 4, Number 3 January 1991 mean people are cutting down the rain forests, killing animals prevent. But, as always, the State feels that any crisis situa­ and making the planet hotter. Somehow the schools left out a tion, real or imagined, excuses the use of any means possible few details. I can't take it anymore. We're probably going to or conceivable to meet its goals, whatever they may be, and begin homeschooling real soon. -SLR never mind what the Constitution might have to say about it. And crises are everywhere, as any newspaper reader is "lU5t Check·tng, M'a am"- My home town of aware. Childcare crises, Mid-East crises, S&L crises-and the Gainesville, Fla., has recently received some unusual national police-like minds of our "leaders" will forever be ready to ex­ media attention for a nightmarish reason: Two months ago, cuse any action made in the wake of these crises with the cas­ within a three day period, some person or persons brutally ual assurance of police spokesman Ernie Leggett. We, murdered and mutilated five Gainesville college students, whether citizens of Gainesville or just the United States, four females and one male. should not be calmed by this nonsense. We should be ap­ This sort of occurrence, of course, creates public panic and palled. -BD disturbance. Never have I been in the center of so many con­ fused, scared and angry people, and never have I witnessed at Another one bites the dust - The direct mone­ such close range and high speed the sociology of rumors. And tary cost to the American people of the Iraqi border build-up never have I witnessed so much frightening credulity dis­ will be reduced the first year, perhaps by half, because of con­ played on the part of normally intelligent, thoughtful people. tributions from Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the exiled People were ready to believe anything they heard, apparently Kuwaiti regime and the United Arab Emirates. But this mon­ using adrenalin as their only epistemological standard. If a ru­ ey will come at the expense of constitutional integrity. The ad­ mor made them more frightened than before, they believed it. ministration wants the Pentagon to be able to collect and Body counts ballooned upwards in the public imagination; re­ spend any money raised from foreign sources without the ap- ports of unlikely and gruesome mutila- proval of Congress. Legislation to that ef­ tion methods abounded. The fect has been introduced. Thus, the stonewalling of police investigators people's theoretical representatives, to fueled the fires of rumor. whom the Constitution gives control of Understandably, people begin to feel the purse strings, would lose nearly all somewhat grateful for the presence of authority over the administration's mili­ police in these circumstances. o UP tary adventure. This would complete the Government's primal hold on the public o f)()WN reprehensible process begun by Harry imagination-as the preserver of civic or­ Truman in 1950: now a President will be o PAAJIC.J der and safety-is in the forefront, and able not only to get us into a war without people forget what a shoddy job it gener­ Congress's passing a declaration, he will ally does at maintaining that civic order. be able to fight the war without Indeed, no one has yet been arrested Congress's appropriating the money. In or charged with the crime, though an un­ "Bal" the process of creating a new world order, fortunate student who happened to be arrested in the wake of George Bush is destroying the separation of powers, such as it the crimes for assaulting his grandmother and who had a his­ is, at home. -SLR tory of mental illness has been fingered in the public imagina­ tion and in newspaper headlines as a "prime suspect." Still, no Your people, sir, are a great beast ­ more murders have occurred, or at least been discovered; so Feeling sorry for an entire police force is rare enough, in my perhaps the large increase in police patrols around town has case at least, to warrant a brief explanation. done part of the job that they are supposed to be there for. The police force for whose members I now feel con­ But, as in all government activities, they can't resist doing strained to shed a figurative tear or two, is that of the District just a little bit more. Though all reports of the forensics of the of Columbia. murder scenes indicate that there are no fingerprints or other First of all, its members are on the front line of William obvious features to link suspects with the crime, police patrols Bennett's maniacal, wrong-headed, losing, costly, destructive around Gainesville have taken to performing random stops war on drugs. They must watch virtually helplessly as the and fingerprintings of bikers and pedestrians. Florida capital's murder rate ascends to new international records. Highway Patrol spokesman Ernie Leggett admits that there Warring over turf in the government mandated monopoly on isn't any particular reason they are doing this, any suspicion drugs-making criminals the exclusive purveyors-is the ad­ they are trying to allay: "It's a cursory check," he is quoted as mitted cause. saying in the Gainesville Sun, ''We're stopping people in the And most lately, they must put up with injuries and hate­ area if there are any questions why they're there.... This is filled demands for probes and punishments because they not being done in an accusatory way." Apparently he intend­ dared protect the civil rights of a group of unlovely people, ed this remark to ameliorate people's anger, and stave off at­ the Ku Klux Klan. tention from the American Civil Liberties Union. The Klan was awarded a license to parade prominently I could understand if they were checking people who they through downtown Washington (a license that survived sub­ had reason to believe were suspects; but they are merely using stantial court squabbling>. The Peoples' coalitions, unions, a panic situation to excuse random, causeless searches and fin­ and federations against this or that went into maximum out­ gerprintings, the sort of thing our Bill of Rights was meant to rage that someone of whom they did not approve had been Liberty 9 Volume 4, Number3 January 1991 awarded the right to do exactly what The Peoples' coalitions, ently handguns, are showing up not only in the possession unions, and federations had long demanded for themselves: of criminals, but at off-the-record gun shows and among na­ the right publicly to demonstrate no matter how unpopular tionalist paramilitarly units. The central government has the cause of the demonstration might be. ~n offering ,to. buy black market gUllS on Cl. po-name basis, Now that the marching shoe is on the other foot, The and in July declared a period of amnesty for those who People are howling in rabid fury. turned in their weapons at the police stations (20,000 hand­ Just as bad is the grotesque reasoning used to justify the at­ guns and three tons of military explosives were surren­ tacks against the police who were protecting the Klan dered). According to informal Soviet sources, buying a marchers: machine gun is easy in the larger cities. It's all the Klan's fault. Now, a question for anti-Second Amendment activists in If the Klan hadn't been so bold as to want to strut its ob­ the United States. If the USSR has been unable, in a culture noxious stuff in public then The People wouldn't have had to with no strong tradition of individual ownership of individ­ attack the police to exercise their special privilege of beating ual weapons, to keep its people from being, in the words of on people (lower case) and restricting freedom of expression an editorial in Komsomolskaya Pravda, "armed to the teeth," and assembly. do you really believe that Americans will be willing to sur­ After all the years of agony in establishing the right to render their guns. Or, are you willing to propose an even protest in public (government) space, The People have taken a more repressive legal system than that of the Soviet Union in big, violent step toward trashing the entire concept because of order to accomplish your goal? -WPM their most egregious insistence upon a double standard. Protest, it now seems, has to be approved by The People. The Wrestling with Israel - No one can fully un­ People's Republic of China would understand. -KH derstand what is going on in the Middle East, especially the animosity toward the United States, without grasping the Cant and recant - "It turns out, of course, that significance of American support for the creation and contin­ Mises was right." No, that is not Murray Rothard. It is socialist uation of the state of Israel. Americans typically don't want Robert Heilbroner in the Sept. 10 issue of The New Yorker. In to hear about this; they've been cynically taught that it is his article "After Communism," Heilbroner honors Mises as anti-Semitism. he contemplates the collapse of the Soviet Union and specu­ But to the Arabs, who have several times been cheated lates about what is to follow. He doesn't get Mises' argument out of self-determination, Israel is merely a new form of against communism quite right: "no Central Planning Board western colonialism. While the promoters of the state in the could ever gather the enormous amount of information need­ early days assured the Arabs that their rights would be re­ ed to create a workable economic system" is how he para­ spected, they told other audiences, as Chaim Weizmann put phrases it. What Mises said was that without a real price it, that they wanted Palestine to be as Jewish as England is system rational calculation is impossible. Heilbroner's para­ English and America is American. The UN arrogantly divid­ phrase is actually one of Hayek's weaker formulations. But ed Palestine, giving 57 percent to the Jews there, though they Heilbroner does seem to understand that the problem is relat­ were less than a third of the population and had bought less ed to prices. He shows this when he writes that the Soviet than 7 percent of the land. Under this gerrymandering, the economy was inefficient "when projects had to be joined into Jewish part had an Arab population of just under 50 percent. a complex whole-a process that required knowing how Without their consent, these Arabs had imposed on them much things should cost. Then, as Mises foresaw, setting pric­ what they reasonably regarded as a foreign western-backed es became a hopeless problem, because the economy never government, an occupying power. Since then, the Israelis stood still long enough for anyone to decide anything correct­ have used every pretext to expand their territory, killing and ly." This is pretty close for someone like Heilbroner, and he uprooting innocent people in the process. But only does add, ''There is no doubt that the market is an astonishing Palestinians trying to take back something that was stolen solution to the problem of creating a workable economic from them are called terrorists. The Palestinians who re­ system." mained are second class citizens, which is to be expected; af­ But all this does not mean that he now favors capitalism. ter all, it is a Jewish state, that is, it is for the benefit of Jews, For him, capitalism still has booms and bus~s'1J.lassunemploy­ not Arabs. Until we understand this .situati.on.and stop sup­ ment, and - of course - Environ-mental Degrada-tion. porting Israel, Americans will remain the targets of Arab Heilbroner still has much to learn and should keep on reading hostility and violence. -SLR Mises. In Eastern Europe, he writes, the ideal economic system "will possess the vitality of capitalism without a class of pow­ Comparative Integrity - In 1989, Milli Vanilli, erful capitalists, a substantial amount of government guidance a pair of corn-rowed pretty boys, were awarded a Crammy without a corps of bureaucrats. It may have a stock market but by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for not a casino." -SLR "best new artist." But the group's status as "best" was quick­ ly challenged: while offstage at a New Jersey concert, the al­ leged singers' alleged voices sounded over the speakers, Where is the Soviet Rifle Association? inspiring New Jersey Assemblymen Neil Cohen and Joseph - Soviet officials have recently been complaining of the vast Mecca to propose labeling legislation for "live" concerts that number of illegal guns that are in the hands of the supposedly feature vocals lip-synched to tapes. disarmed populace. These weapons, most of which are appar- Then, in mid-November, Frank Farian, the producer of 10 Liberty Volume 4, Number 3 January 1991 the Vanilli boys' 7 million-selling Girl You Know It's True LP So the Senate Ethics Committee hired itself a special pros­ revealed in a press conference not only that the duo lip­ ecutor to investigate. Not surprisingly, he found a trail of synched to tapes at their live shows, but that the tapes weren't corruption repulsive even by the lax moral standards of even of their own voices. They weren't singers at all. When Washington, D.C. Three days before Thanksgiving, Keating's they let their success go to their heads-they declared after Senators responded. The "constitituent service" argument winning their Crammy that they were more important than . was gone, and in its place was a new argument: Senators Bob Dylan- and demanded to actually sing on the planned would never take any action to harm their own reputations. follOW-Up, Farian took action. He would make a new record ''The notion that I would risk my reputation and the rep­ with the people who actually sang on the first one, and Rob utation of this body, which I love, by raising money in any Pilatus and Fab Morvan, the frontmen, were out of luck and a improper way," said Sen. Cranston, "is simply prepos­ job. terous." Walter Duranty, the Moscow correspondent for the New The crooked Senators seek to deflect the charge from York Times during the thirties, wasn't a pretty boy, and themselves to the Senate itself. The idea is to make the mem­ doubtless sported a more conservative haircut than Rob and bers of the investigating committee, also members of the Fab. But he too was a complete fraud. While fully aware of Senate, into allies by equating attacks on crooks in the Senate the facts about the Ukrainian famine created by the policies with attacks on the Senate. This defense is bogus, of course. of Joseph Stalin, he chose not to report them because of his Keating's Senators are not accused of the picturesque charge professional dependence on the good will of Uncle Joe. As of being members of the U.S. Senate-they are accused of in­ the Times's man in Moscow, he had prestige and an "in" terfering with an enforcement action against a criminal be­ with the world's most powerful dictator; why risk that for cause the criminal had given them money. the sake of something as silly as reporting the facts accurate­ The second argument is sillier still. "The notion that I ly and fully? would risk my reputation is preposterous." By this theory, no I'm sure Rob and Fab thought along the same lines. They person of good reputation would ever commit a crime. When were beloved of pre- and immediately post-pubescent young a prominent member of the community is accused of murder­ ladies the world over, they had accolades heaped upon them, ing his wife, does anyone buy the theory that it is impossible and they were getting rich. Why rock the boat for the sake of for him to be guilty because he would not risk his reputation? the truth? The simple fact is that crooks most often engage in their crimi­ Duranty also was honored for his perfidy. He was award­ nal acts because they don't think they will get caught. This is as ed the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for his coverage of the 'Soviet true for big-time criminals with good reputations as it is true Union. for petty criminals with bad reputations. And it is true, I be­ Here, unfortunately, is where the eerie similarities in the lieve, for U.S. Senators who engage in criminal acts as well. lives of Rob, Fab and Walter diverge. Mere days after Farian's Neither of these arguments are original. Richard (''1 am revelation of the actual professional accomplishments of Milli not a crook!") Nixon used exactly the same arguments in de­ Vanilli, the Nation Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, fending his role in the coverup of the Watergate burglaries. in a show of integrity, withdrew the Crammy. This was the His accusers were attacking the institution of the presidency, first time in history that an "artist" had ever been stripped of he said, and besides, why would he risk his reputation by the award. committing a petty crime? These arguments didn't save Years after the revelations of Duranty's lies-by scholars Nixon: his reputation went down the toilet, he resigned one such as Robert Conquest, the personal witness of Ukranian step ahead of impeachment, and was saved from time in the refugees, and now even revisionist revelations from the Soviet big house by a pardon from his successor, a man he had ap­ government itself-the Pulitzer committee has still not seen fit pointed to office. to revoke Duranty's prize. Ordinarily one would not expect Keating's Five to have The episode illustrates what I have long suspected: that any better luck with this argument than did Nixon. But there the pop music industry has a stronger sense of honor and in­ was one major difference between the situation of Keating's Five and Nixon's: Nixon was a Republican President who tegrity than the journalism industry. It is a fact that consumers was investigated, accused of the products ofeither industry should keep in mind. -BD and judged by Democrats in Congress; Keating's Five are bipartisan members of the Senate "We are not a crook" - When it first ·became being investigated, accused and judged by other bipartisan known that five U.S. Senators who had accepted gigantic members of the Senate. It will be interesting to see whether "campaign contributions" from savings-and-loan cacique the same justice that applied to Nixon will apply to Keating's Charles Keating had intervened with Federal regulators inves­ Five. -RWB tigating the fraud that Keating had perpetrated, thus delaying King in context - Reports that Martin Luther King the end of Keating's operations and costing taxpayers billions Jr., as a graduate student, may have plagiarized his academic more, the Keating Five responded that that they were just pro­ work are disappointing, but not crushing. (I say "may have" viding "constituent services." The suggestion that they were because despite a lack of footnotes, he reportedly always list­ helping Keating in the same way that they help a widow ed his sources in his bibliographies.) But let's assume the whose social security check was lost in the mail amused the worst: what does that mean? It should not detract from King's more cynical ("the same sort of services they would provide many virtues. He was one of the first prominent opponents of to anyone who funnels hundreds of thousands of dollars their the Vietnam War. He won his fame through an eminently li- way"), but virtually no one took it seriously. Liberty 11 Volume 4, Number 3 January 1991 bertarian act: he inspired and organized a boycott of the mu­ Needless to say, the new tax was not popular, especially in nicipal bus system in Montgomery, Alabama, because a city towns with Labour governments. It prOVided the radical left ordinance compelled blacks to sit in the backs of buses. His an opportunity to organize fairly extensive protests, which opponents were those who had long used state power to vio­ dominated British news for some time. Mrs Thatcher's popu­ late blacks' right of free trade and association. This was a time larity plunged. of laws, for example, against interracial marriage; a time when Mrs Thatcher anticipated that there would be a negative police connived at lynchings and the bombings of churches reaction. But she knew that she didn't have to face re-election and homes. As Clint Bolick wrote in Changing Course, "King until 1992. This, she hoped, would be long enough for the ben­ was an intellectual heir to Locke and Jefferson, Garrison and efits of her plan-the reduction of wasteful spending by local Douglass, Washington and DuBois. As did all his predeces­ governments-to become manifest to voters. sors, King consistently drew upon the Declaration of Mrs Thatcher will not have the opportunity to see whether Independence as the highest expression of his civil rights vi­ she was right. Weak-kneed Conservatives found encourage­ sion." As King put it, "there are certain rights that are neither ment in the public's initial negative reaction to the poll tax confirmed nor derived from the state." When some blacks measure and found the nerve they needed to bushwhack Mrs preached racial hatred and violence, King preached racial peace and nonviolence. "Black Power," he said, was "racism in reverse." However fuzzy his notions of freedom and nonvi­ Mrs Thatcher is not the kind of conservative we olence, he summed up the essence of individualism when he are accustomed to in the United States. Unlike said that people "will be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." The civil rights move­ Mrs Thatcher I American conservatives are always ment has certainly got off this track. But we shouldn't let that ready to compromise and even abandon their prin­ overshadow King's achievements. As Bolick suggests, we ciples in the face of the slightest opposition. should use the best in King to make civil rights an individual­ ist concept again. -SLR Thatcher over the European issue. Bushwhacked on Downing Street - The Both issues that resulted in Mrs Thatcher's sudden expul­ excuse for the repudiation of Margaret Thatcher by her sion were issues on which she had courageously taken well­ Conservative colleagues was her reluctance to surrender as reasoned positions-principled positions, pursued with cou­ much sovereignty to a united Europe as other countries were rage, in the face of Widespread opposition, positions aimed at surrendering. weakening the power of the state. Mrs Thatcher had reservations from the start about the p0­ Her repudiation is an occasion for sorrow for libertarians litical and economic union of Europe, and for good reason. and classical liberals. Having made miraculous progress in reversing Britain's head­ This is not to say that Mrs Thatcher is a libertarian. Her long plunge into socialism, she feared that joining with social­ record on civilliberties is terrible: she acted to restrict freedom ist countries in a political union might undo the good she had of the press and the rights of the accused, and even shifted the done. burden of proof to the defendant in certain criminal cases. Her Of course, the European question was only the excuse for primary motivation is not the enhancement of human liberty. her ouster. Her rejection by her own party was made possible She is a political conservative; that is, she has advocated poli­ by a decision she had made that had proved unpopular to cies of less government intervention in the economy and more many British subjects: the replacement of property tax as the government intervention in matters of civil liberties. basis for funding local government with a "poll tax." The poll But Mrs Thatcher was not the kind of conservative that we tax was a courageous attempt to advance her pro-eapitalist are accustomed to in the United States. The difference lay not agenda in the face of stubborn opposition from some town in stated goals, but in courage to pursue them. Like Mrs councils, which were controlled by the Labour Party. Thatcher, American conservatives advocate economic freedom The problem was that as Mrs Thatcher and her party had and balanced budgets. Unlike Mrs Thatcher, they seem always rolled back the power and size of government at the national ready to compromise these goals and to abandon them in the level, many cities with Labour governments had stepped in face of the slightest opposition. and taken over the same idiotic government programs she Twenty-five years ago, Reginald ''Rab'' Butler, then the had abolished nationally. Local government programs were fi­ Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Conservative government nanced by property taxes, and property ownership in British of Harold Macmillan, explained that in Britain the word "con­ cities is far from universal. So the burden of expensive pro­ servative" didn't refer to the opposition to government control of the economy as it did in the United States. British grams rested on a minority, often a tiny one. Needless to say, Conservatives were more flexible; they recognized that a so­ this made the programs palatable to most voters, who enjoyed cialized economy was here to stay, unlike American conserva­ their largesse without having to pay for them. tives (then typified by Barry Goldwater) who hoped to roll Mrs Thatcher's solution to the problem was to put a flat back the state's power over the economy. tax on all residents of a town. Now if a city government want­ Somehow, in the mid-1970s, at a time when anti-state feel­ ed to have an expensive new program, all of its residents ing in Britain seemed at its low point, Mrs Thatcher had man­ would have to pay for it. To keep their taxes down, she be­ aged to convince enough of her fellow Conservatives that lieved, most people would withdraw support for the profli­ gate spending of the local councils. continued on page 31 12 Liberty Report

IIA Pole Can Do It" by R. W. Bradford

Polish-Canadian libertarian Stan Tyminski exploded onto the world's stage by knocking off the Prime Minister of Poland at the polls. While the the establishment media in the u.s. and in Poland curse him as an insidious "outsider," suspiciously "unknown" to them, he is not unknown to Liberty's editor.

"Lech Walesa's hopes for a quick decision at Poland's presidential polls have been frustrated," said the NBC television newsman. "The culprit is a datkhorse candidate who has spent the last two decades in Canada and Pern." "The voters of Poland were clear- ly confused," added correspondent cally elected president. He is a liber­ he went into business for himself, Tom Pettit. "Lech Walesa, the hero of tarian, and has already received more founding a small firm that designed Solidarity, was denied a clear-cut vic­ votes than any other libertarian in computer systems for factories and tory ... Prime Minister Tadeusz history. Who is Stan Tyminski? power plants. His business pros­ Mazowiecki was humiliated, finish­ Where did he come from? Why is he pered. By 1980, he was financially in­ ing a poor third. Voters rejected him running for the presidency of dependent and looking to broaden and went for this man: Stan the Man Poland? Why did so many Poles vote his horizons. Tyminski. Democracy is complicated, for him? And why are the television A few year earlier, he had read a as Poland is learning." newsmen so hostile toward him? magazine article about an orphanage "Tyminski's appeal was illusion," in Peru that seemed to be doing good CBS news chimed in, "giving people Tyminski The Man work, and he had begun making con­ the hope that they wouldn't have to Stanislaw Tyminski decided to tributions. In 1981, he decided to visit suffer the pains of economic reforms run for the highest office in Poland Peru and see first hand how itoperat­ anymore and that like Tyminski they only 44 days before election day. ed. could become rich." He had left his native Poland in He spent some time in Peru. That's how Stan Tyminski burst 1969 on a student visa with only $5 in Before long, he founded a firm to upon the consciousness of Americans his pocket. "It was clearly visible that haul fuel by barge to Iquitos, Peru's on the evening of Nov 25: he was a Poland was one big labor camp," he port on the Amazon River, deep in "culprit" who had "humiliated" Lech recalled twenty years later, "with the rain forest. Petro Rapido was Walesa, "the hero of Solidarity," and borders and barbed wire and dogs. profitable until the Peruvian Army Tadeusz Mazowiecki, "the man who The average salary was $25 per confiscated his barge, ostensibly for led Poland's first year of freedom," month at that time. I lost most of my use in its war on drugs, leaving him by tricking the voters of Poland, who friends because they became with a loss of nearly a million dollars. are only "learning about democracy," Communists.... My mother wrote to This trauma prompted him to jour­ with an "illusion." me and asked me not to come back." ney into the rain forest and live with As I write, Stan Tyminski is in the After. a short stay in Sweden, he the natives. "Stan got very close to midst of a brutal campaign to be moved to Canada and began to build the people and many of their mystic elected President of Poland. By the a new life. He found a menial job in a ways," his business partner in time you read these words, he may radio store, then moved on to a posi­ Canada told the New York Times. very well be Poland's first democrati- tion with Hewlett-Packard. In 1974, "I've been told that Shirley MacLaine Liberty 13 Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

went through a similar experience puter terminal. Rand and the economics of Milton and wrote about it." Tyminski him­ Despite his prosperity, Tyminski Friedman. He was ready to get in­ self wrote, "In my travels in the jun­ was not one for conspicuous con­ volved in politics. gle, I found myself on the brink of sumption. In 1987, he purchased a In May 1989, he heard a brief news hungry death and I had to learn to eat modest home for $250,000 in Toronto. item on the radio about an anti-tax live ants and worms from palm "His kids go to the same school as my demonstration. He called the station trees." kids do, which is just down at the end and found out that the demonstration Tyminski returned to Iquitos, of the street," his neighbor D'Arcy was organized by the Libertarian where he founded a cable-TV compa­ Dunal says. "Outwardly he obViously ny and settled down. He married a was doing quite well in his business, young Peruvian woman and began to but there was no sign of lots of The event that radicalized raise a family. When he could find no wealth. He doesn't drive a Mercedes­ good restaurant open on Sunday, he Benz or something like that. He drives him was a reassessment of his went into the restaurant business. a Chrysler mini-van, and his wife has house in Toronto which result­ Dissatisfied with the quality of local a Honda." ed in a bill for $65,000 in produce, he founded a farm to pro­ His neighbors remember him as a taxes. He contested it; ulti­ vide produce for his restaurant. pretty ordinary guy: "Stan was very Eventually, he also began a radio tele­ friendly, solid sort of neighbor. And a mately the city sent a bailiff to phone company. pleasant guy to talk to ... While gar­ seize his house. In 1985, he returned to Canada, dening in the back yard he mentioned where he continues to oversee his that he loved gardening and that he business interests both there and in had a farm in Peru. He has a farm Party. He contacted that group and at Peru, eventually adding a farm and a here and he used to grow com and once felt he had found an ideological tropical fish store to his Canadian in­ pumpkins and he'd be up there work­ home. terests. In 1987, he returned to his na­ ing on weekends and give everybody The Libertarian Party that tive Poland, where he founded a in the neighborhood com and pump­ Tyminski joined was deeply in debt, kins at Halloween and stuff. It was thanks to extremely optimistic spend­ quite a friendly gesture." ing on the 1988 election campaign, "Stan is very friendly, solid By 1990, Stan Tyminski was in a and many thought it might go under. sort of neighbor, a pleasant guy position that most people would In May 1990, only 30 people attended envy. He was living a comfortable life to talk to. While talking in the its national convention in Toronto. with his beautiful wife and three chil­ Weighing heavily on the minds of back yard one day, he men­ dren, made secure by his income from most delegates was the question of tioned that he loved gardening business interests on three continents. whether the party ought to attempt a and that he had a farm in Peru. But he was not content. major campaign in the next federal election. The leading candidate for He has a farm here also and he Tyminski the Politician Party Leader, George Dance, argued used to grow corn and pump­ For one thing, he remained a that the party lacked sufficient re­ kins and he'd be up there work­ Polish patriot. He had left Poland be­ sources; given the failure of the previ­ ing on weekends and give cause it was socialist, but he contin­ ous campaign and the enormous debt ued to hold a strong affection for his that it had caused, his argument everybody in the neighborhood native land. For another, he was in­ seemed persuasive. But two other corn and pumpkins at creasingly unhappy with political Ontario delegates disagreed: Roma Halloween." trends in his adopted country: Kelembet and Daniel Hunt believed Canada seemed to be heading toward that the only way to progress was to socialism. campaign aggressively. small computer company, to be man­ The event that radicalized him, ac­ They were plainly in a minority, aged by a relative. cording to his friend George Dance, but they had not come to the conven­ Transduction, the firm he had was a reassessment of his house in tion unarmed. They brought with founded in the mid-1970s, continues Toronto which resulted in a bill for them proxies from 68 other delegates to prosper. Its clients include Ontario $65,000 in taxes. He contested it; ulti­ and their friend, newly recruited Hydro, the giant electrical utility, and mately the city sent a bailiff to seize member Stan Tyminski. Dofasco, one of Canada's biggest his house. As a businessman, he Proxies had traditionally been al­ steel companies. In 1986, hadn't cared much for government in­ lowed at conventions of the LPC, but Transduction won an award for the terference and taxes; as a Pole, he had never before had anyone brought in best Canadian product at the witnessed the destructiveness of so­ enough to control the voting. The Canadian High Technology Show, for cialism at first hand; and he had read Chair ruled the proxies ineligible to the "Black Beast," an industrial com- the radical libertarian fiction of Ayn vote; this ruling was appealed to the 14 Liberty Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

convention. Proxy votes were not al­ Poland, he told his Canadian friends, Ontario Libertarian Party announced lowed on the issue. Eventually, a every family has a dog, and no matter that he would be the keynote speaker compromise was reached: the new how hungry the family gets, the dogs at the party's annual meeting on Nov Party Leader would have to receive a always eat well. Similarly, no matter 24. It noted, "He is the author of a majority of both the delegates present how poor the people of Poland got, best-seller in Poland, Sacred Dogs, and and the proxy votes. the bureaucrats always lived well at , is being touted in the media there as a There were four candidates for the expense of tax-paying Poles. possible presidential candidate. There Leader, but most support centered on In August, he attended the meet­ is, though, one slight problem: he has George Dance and Tyminski, who fa­ ing of the International Society for his sights set on being Prime Minister vored an aggressive, expensive na­ Individual Liberty in San Francisco, of Canada, as the Leader of the tional campaign. In a recent where he met many libertarians for Libertarian Party of Canada." interview, George Dance recalled the the first time. One Canadian libertari­ His neighbors got their first hint of convention: an recalls the meeting: his political activism in September, Stan ended up running against me. He didn't create an immediate im­ when he put up a yard sign for the He did an enormous campaign and pression. He talked mostly then Libertarian Party's candidates in the impressed a lot of people. The big about the problems he had inherited election for the Ontario Provincial difference was strategic. I was say­ when he took over the party. He Parliament. His neighbor D'Arcy ing that we have to build up the seemed to be down on everybody Duna! recalls: grass roots-build up the member­ else who had preceded him, which is ship-before we can make a serious usual. As to his actual political be­ He was just putting up a libertarian election effort. He favored a big liefs or orientations he really didn't sign, and I said, "Geez, Stan, you are campaign centered around the Party say anything at all. I also heard him supporting the Libertarian Party?" Leader. A big media campaign. The give a short presentation at the con­ That's when he told me that he in big argument against that was that vention. Again, he spoke mostly fact was the president [sic] of the the party can't afford a big cam­ about the disarray the Canadian party. We just had a casual discus­ paign like we tried that in 1988 with Libertarians were in. sion about the Libertarian Party. He a big advertising budget, which re­ Meanwhile, he had finished his said he enjoyed the group and had sulted in a huge deficit. Stan's an­ book (which was co-written with been to some a their conferences and swer to that was, ''Well, what if I Polish reporter Roman Samsel). But things like that. We kind of got made a donation?" That was a he could not find a publisher. going and I read one of their flyers clincher. More or less he'd pay for and we got discussing it. He mainly Undaunted, he went to Poland and liked the party for the ideas that peo­ his whole tour, his whole campaign. published the book himself, staying That's what impressed people. ple had. As I understand it it's very Stan and I have worked pretty much to the right, favoring lack of strongly together. I don't have any government control, freedom of the doubts about his principles. I con­ On Oct 12, Tyminski called individual, and less taxes, so indi­ sider myself an intellectual and I viduals would be able to be more ef­ thought he could use a little more his friend Roma Kelembet and ficient and the country would be intellectualism. But on the other told her that two different better off. hand, I thought I could use a little Polish groups-the Green Party The Libertarian Party of Ontario more of what he had, which is drive had a budget of $12,000 for the cam­ and determination. and a labor union in Gdansk­ paign, which didn't include any Tyminski was elected Leader of had called and asked him to run money for radio advertising. the bankrupt party. But he remained for President. But he was not Tyminski strongly believed that radio almost unknown among its members. comfortable with those groups. advertising would help the campaign, A prominent LPC member told me so he contributed $4,000 to pay for it. last week, ''Tyminski came out of no­ Over bowls of soup in a local Libertarians didn't win any seats, but where-I mean, nobody knew him. restaurant, Kelembet suggested, they did amass 25,426 votes in the He's as much a mystery man to me as "Why don't you run as an inde­ province, up 88% from their previous he is to everybody else." pendent?" attempt in 1987. But Tyminski was the sort of per­ Meanwhile, the pressure on son who got things done. Inspired by Tyminski to run for Poland's presi­ the thinking of other libertarians and dency increased. On Oct 12, Tyminski by The Trouble With Canada, by on to manage its advertising and pro­ called Roma Kelembet and told her William Gairdner, a book that ap­ motional campaign. It became a best­ that two different Polish groups-the plied libertarian economic thinking to seller. Green Party and a labor union in the problems faced by Canada, he de­ Before long, he was being touted Gdansk-had called and asked him to cided to write a book about the prob­ as a possible presidential candidate in run for President. But he was not lems of Poland. He named his book Poland. At first, he dismissed the comfortable with those groups. Over "Swiete Pay," or Sacred Dogs. In idea. The Autumn 1990 Bulletin of the bowls of soup in a local restaurant, Liberty 15 Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

Kelembet suggested, 'Why don't you what the masses feel ... The masses by established press organizations run as an independent?" release all their anger through me!" would not be counterproductive," the Walesa and his followers, meanwhile, New York Times reported, "since for The Presidential see Mazowiecki and his administra­ many years Poles say they have Campaign tion as hopeless intellectuals, "jajo learned not to trust what they read in It took only a moment for glowy" (eggheads). the newspapers or see on television." Tyminski to make up his mind. At 5 One point Mazowiecki and a.m. the next morning, he was on a Walesa agree on: the program of free­ plane to Poland, where he hired a market and high taxes. Both men Everywhere his message was staff and went to work. He had only have also paid homage to Marshal the same. "[ am a capitalist. 11 days to gather the 100,000 signa­ Pilsudski, the Polish revolutionary Freedom works. I make a good tures needed to be on the ballot. He who led Poland to independence in and his staff got the signatures. 1918 and returned as its dictator a income, and my employees The Poland whose presidency he decade later. According to the New rtUlke a good income. Poland returned to seek is a nation writhing York Times, some of Walesa's cam­ needs capitalism." in pain. The government of Prime paign posters have been photo­ Minister Mazowiecki has instituted graphed in such a way that they broad economic reforms, designed to "evoke old pictures of the marshal," This view was echoed by change Poland's economy from state and Walesa has statues of Pilsudski Krzysztof Ostaszewski, a Polish emi­ control to free market and to repay prominently displayed in both his gre at the University of Louisville, its debt to the International home and his office. Mazowiecki who keeps in close touch with events: Monetary Fund. Prices have been de­ aired a television commercial starring "Everybody is united in attacking controlled and allowed to rise to the dictator's granddaughter, who is Tyminski. Just the day before the elec­ market levels. Privatization has married to a senior official in the tion, everybody was attacking begun. This has done away Mazowiecki government, saying that Tyminski. I have to tell you that this with shortages. But at the same it is Mazowiecki "whose personality is absolutely amazing, how this sort time, taxes have been increased. As a most closely resembled her grandfa­ of curtain· is drawn before Tyminski. result, many people, especially the ther's," and claiming that "Corporal The Polish media do not want to say poor, have been unable to afford the Walesa" was no Marshal Pilsudski. anything about him. It's like I am liv­ bread that is now readily available in Despite the fame Tyminski had ing again in a Communist country be­ gained from his book, he was way be­ cause this is the way opposition hind Walesa and Mazowiecki. He leaders were treated when He campaigned aggressive­ campaigned aggressively, financing Communists ruled. This is the way ly, financing the campaign the campaign from his own savings. Walesa was treated in 1984, and this "Money isn't everything," he said. He is the way Kuron and Michnik were from his own savings. "Money traveled about Poland, everywhere treated in 1977." isn't everything," he said. giving the same message: "I am a cap­ Walesa, who had earlier predicted italist. Freedom works. I make a good that he would get 80% of the vote, income, and my employees make a told a crowd he would move away the stores. Under the program, in­ good income. Poland needs capital­ from Poland if Tyminski was elected. come has been slashed by 40% and 1 ism." A member of Prime Minister million people thrown out of work. The other candidates and the news Mazowiecki's cabinet resigned to de­ At the same time, there has been a media ignored him or laughed at him. vote his energy to attacking major split within Solidarity, the But on November 11, a poll showed Tyminski. labor movement that spawned the that he had pulled into third place, On Nov 25, the people of Poland anti-communist revolution. Lech with 15% of voters supporting him, voted for President for the first time Walesa, its charismatic leader, turned and the laught~r stopped. On in more than six decades. Walesa fin­ against Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the November 18, the poll showed that he ished first, with 39% of the vote. man he selected to be Poland's prime had moved into second place, favored Tyminski finished second, the choice minister. Better educated Poles tend by 23%. He had passed the Prime of 23% of voters. Prime Minister to see Walesa as "a kind of Slavic Minister in popularity. Mazowiecki finished third with 17% Juan Peron," as Victoria Pope has The Polish press went crazy. In a of the vote. Walesa had been forced written in The New Republic. 'Walesa burst of wild charges, newspapers ac­ into a runoff election on Dec 9. And hates the allusion to the Argentine cused Tyminski of evading the mili­ his opponent would be Tyminski, by dictator, but he defends his position tary draft, of being kept out of the now dubbed "the man from Mars" by with a line that would have made army because he was insane, and of the hostile press. Peron proud. He says he is simply a being a terrorist. "But it was unclear Tyminski had achieved the impos­ spokesman for the people: 'I speak whether the attacks on Mr. Tyminski sible. In a matter of only 44 days, he 16 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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CAT () S p () NS () REN R () L L !vi E ,r I () R \ 1 Please enroll me as a Cato Sponsor at the following level of support: o Benefactor ($2,500) 0 Patron ($1,000) 0 Sustaining ($250) o Regular ($100) 0 Introductory ($50) o Please send me information on corporate/foundation support. o My check is enclosed (payable to Cato Institute). o Charge my 0 VISA 0 MasterCard Account # _ Signature _ ------(1\0 ~Er:-ss------S--t-a~te~~~~~~~~Z~iP~=~~=~~=-~-=--~=-=.,..._

______RNsrfJITUTlE '"-- 2_2_4_Se_c_oD_d_S_tr_ee_t_S._E_.,W_as_h_iD_gt_o_D,_D_.C_._20_0_03_<_20_2_)54_6-_0_2_00_F_a_x_<2_02_)_54_6-_07_2_8 ~ Volume 4, Number3 Janu 1991

had moved from Canada to Poland, (their only experience is with the back seat, judging from news reports declared his candidacy for the Communist Party); his success as a and his interviews on American and Presidency, obtained 100,000 petititon businessman is very attractive; and Canadian television. For example, signatures, and convinced nearly a the hysterical attacks on him may when asked by a Canadian television quarter of Poland's electorate to vote have backfired. interviewerer on Nov 27 about his for him, ousting the incumbent prime lIaltemative" to the plan now in place, minister and forcing a runoff election Hardball Politics Tyminski answered: with Lech Walesa, who the day be­ Politics in Poland is a nasty busi­ First of all, we have to develop our fore the election, had announced that ness. The Walesa campaign has re­ own strategic plan of development he would withdraw from the race if peatedly charged-as if this were a which is compatible with the best he failed to get a majority. crime-that Mazowiecki is a Jew, de­ traditions of our own nation. We Walesa reacted like an angry fa­ spite Mazowiecki's persecution as edi­ have to look for assets which are ther to his failure to gain a majority. tor of a Roman Catholic newspaper competetive on the international His first reaction was to renew his during the years of Communist rule. market. We have to show the world threat to withdraw from the race, as if that, united as a nation, we can grow So it should not be surprising that the and prosper, and we have to show attack on Tyminski has been vicious. the international investment commu­ The day after the election, for ex­ nity that we are responsible as a na­ "Everybody is united in at­ ample, state-run radio invited listen­ tion, and this way we will attract ers to call in with any revealing foreign investment. And the next tacking Tyminski. Just the day information on Tyminski, about, for step will be technology. We have to before the election, everybody example, his involvement "with a grow it in our country. And after was attacking him. This is ab­ drug cartel or the KGB." At a press that, I hope, we will have prosperity. solutely amazing. The Polish conference the follOWing day, It may very well be that this Tyminski was asked, "Could you vagueness is a conscious strategic de­ media do not report anything please explain accusations that you cision. According to George Dance, about him. They only attack are an agent of the KGB, that you are Tyminski spoke at a Libertarian Party him. This is the way opposition sick with epilepsy, that you are in­ open house in Toronto last summer volved in the drug trade in South about the surprising victory of leaders were treated when America and that each time you trav­ Communists ruled. This is the eled to Poland in the 1980s you trav­ way Walesa was treated in eled through Tripoli, Libya, where The state-run radio invited 1984, and this is the way you picked up your visa?" These Kuron and Michnik were treat­ charges are, of course, baseless. The listeners to call in with any only "evidence" that Tyminski has revealing information on ed in 1977." been involved in drugs, for example, is that he once lived in Peru; the "evi­ Tyminski, about, for example, dence" of his KGB ties is apparently his involvement "with a drug to punish the Polish people for deny­ nothing more than his willingness to cartel or the KGB." ing him a majority. After sulking for increase trade with the Soviet Union. a day, he announced he would re­ The Tyminski campaign has made main a candidate, and reiterated his some irresponsible attacks of its own. threat to leave Poland if Tyminski is Tyminski repeatedly used the word Alberto Fujimori over Mario Vargas eventually elected. In the wake of his "treason" to describe the policies of Uosa in Peru's presidential election: defeat, Prime Minister Mazowiecki Mazowiecki, which seems like an He originally supported Vargas resigned his office and endorsed overstatement of the situation. And Llosa, but got disillusioned. He was Walesa. Tyminski's campaign manager for impressed by the fact that Fujimori Why have so many Poles support­ Canada told me that "there's a sub­ came out of nowhere and won. And stantial rumor that Walesa has been a he was unimpressed by Vargas be­ ed Tyminski? Certainly, his outspok­ cause he blew this big lead. en pro-capitalist views have been an collaborator with the secret police," Practically and strategically, he was important element in his appeal, as apparently in hopes that I urge others impressed by Fujimori's saying very has his aggressive, American-style to believe it. little, speaking in generalities, mere­ campaign. But there are other impor­ One criticism against Tyminski ly being a fresh face. I think that's tant factors: Walesa and Mazowiecki seems to have some validity: his pro­ what he's trying to copy in Poland. discredited themselves with an in­ gram for Poland is vague. Early in his The vagueness charge has been credibly dirty campaign; Tyminski's campaign, Tyminski aggressively ad­ trumpeted by his critics in the U.S. independence from political parties vocated lower taxes and less bureau­ news media, but is hardly mentioned appealed to many Poles who dislike cracy, but since his victory over in Poland, where the more scurrilous the whole notion of political parties Mazowiecki, this program has taken a charges predominate. Curiously, his 18 Liberty Volume 4, Number 3 January 1991

American critics seldom mention that Tyminski is an energetic and decisive like Fujimori, confounded the experts Walesa is equally vague. (On the businessman, who has started and and won his election. Canadian broadcast mentioned successfully managed a number ofen­ As I write, the Polish press and the above, one of the experts on Poland terprises, making a small fortune in international media are unanimous in commented, "The thing about the process, and who is determined to writing off any chance that Tyminski Walesa is that he has made promises reduce taxes and eliminate bureaucra­ will be elected. But they were also in every single direction. This is not cy. "A Pole can do it," he tells the vot­ unanimous earlier in insisting that he new. This is how he's always been. ers. A Pole can be a success, make would be unable to topple He has a tremendous faith in himself, money, even become rich. Mazowiecki in the first round of vot­ that he can make all these different The parallels between Tyminski's ing. At least one observer of Polish promises, and at the precise moment campaign and Alberto Fujimori's politics predicts that Tyminski will he will know what to do. This ego­ campaign for the presidency of Peru win the election. In an interview on mania with him ... This is almost go well beyond campaign strategy: Nov 30, Krzysztof Ostaszewski told theology. I think he really believes both were political unknowns who me, "The momentum is incredible. that he is God's vessel working in caught the news media by surprise, Walesa's recent official announce­ Polish history." And on an ABC both upset much better known oppo­ ments are full of fear. He is afraid of Nightline program that raked nents with international reputations, losing this election very much. He Tyminski over the coals for his both were percieved by voters as speaks in a very negative way. He vagueness (after repeating charges good economic managers in part be­ says we can't do such a crazy thing. I that Tyminski was a drug dealer and cause of their association with a pros­ think that Tyminski is going to win. a lunatic, and calling him a liar), perous foreign country. This is going to be one of the most ex­ Chris Wallace acknowledged that By the time you read these words, citing developments of the 20th Walesa "is doing the same thing." you will know whether Tyminski, Century." Walesa himself acknowledges his vagueness. ''Walesa says one thing in the morning and something else in Tyminski, Libertarianism and the u.s. Media the afternoon. Do not listen to Walesa's words too closely," Walesa Tyminski's involvement in the li­ sponded by pointing out that an ABC said of himself. (He habitually speaks bertarian movement dates back only reporter in Toronto had earlier quoted of himself in the third person.) 18 months. This inexperience, com­ a Polish-Canadian leader as saying he bined with some of the press reports Tyminski's Canadian Libertarian hadn't heard of Tyminski, and quick­ friends are frustrated by his vague­ on his campaign, has led some liber­ ly asking Tyminski another have-you­ tarians and classical liberals to doubt stopped-beating-your-wife question. ness. After an interview on Canadian Tyminski's libertarianism. The best The show closed with comments television, one sent him "a telegram evidence on the case can, I think, be by Jeffrey Sachs, the Harvard econo­ giving him shit ... he seems to be found among his colleagues in the mist whose program Tyminski has dancing on coals all the time, and I Libertarian Party, who seem quite criticized, who denounced don't like it." Another told me that convinced of his libertarianism, al­ Tyminski in these words: '1'he man is he had been trying to get him on the though some express doubts that it a chronic liar ... I was amazed at the phone to urge him to be more explicit extends consistently to all matters of number of lies that he told just in the in his policy recommendations. civil liberties. His candidacy so far, short interview that you had." What I am not so sure that Tyminski's has done little to publicize libertarian lies had Tyminski told: "He never refusal to spell out his progam is a ideas, through no fault of his own. said in Poland that he was a political mistake. Neither candidate has pre­ Between Nov 25 and Nov 28, I figure. He made just the opposite sented a detailed program, and I see made a systematic attempt to monitor point-that he was a businessman. In little evidence that the Poles want all the U.S. television network cover­ fact he's hardly a political figure in one. On the main issue-the age of the campaign. The LP was one sense. He's the head of an extre­ Solidarity program of moving to­ mentioned only once, Tyminski him­ mist right-wing party in Canada-so ward free markets in an environment self brought it up in response to one extreme, so much on the fringe, that of high taxes and heavy bureaucra­ of Chris Wallace's insulting questions it's never won a single seat in the cy-their views are well known. And about his alleged insanity and drug Canadian Parliament." Obviously, as human beings, Tyminski and dealing on ABC's Nightline: "Let's Prof. Sachs was more than a little Walesa present a sharp contrast: talk about something else. I'm the upset at the rejection of his economic Walesa is a politician, who believes leader of a legally registered opposi­ program. he embodies the Polish people, confi­ tion party in Canada-the Of course, the hysteria of dent that he can perform whatever Libertarian Party of Canada, and I'm "experts" like Sachs and the American miracles are needed to see Poland well known in Canada, as the leader news media will have little impact on through troubled times ahead; of this small party." Wallace re- the decisions of Poland's voters. 0 Liberty 19 SOCIAL CONTRACT between an individual and the United States Government

WHEREAS I wish to reside on the North American continent, and WHEREAS the United States Government controls the area of the continent on which I wish to reside, and WHEREAS tacit or implied contracts are vague and therefore unenforceable,

I agree t.o the following t.erms: SECTION 1: I will surrender a percentage of my property to the Government. The actual percentage will be determined by the Government and will be subJect to change at any time. The amount to be surrendered may be based on my income, the value of my property, the value of my purchases, or any other criteria the Government chooses. To aid the Government in determining the percentage, I will apply for a Government identification number that I will use in all my maJor financial transactions. SECTION 2: Should t.he Government. demand it., I will surrender my liberty for a period of t.ime determined by the government and typically no shorter than two years. During that time, I will serve the Government in any way it chooses, including military service in which I may be called upon to sacrifice my life. SECTION 3: I will limit my behavior as demanded by the government. I will consume only those drugs permitted by the Government. I will limit my sexual activities to those permitted by the Government. I will forsake religious beliefs that conflict with the Government's -determination of propriety. More limits may be imposed at any time. SECTION 4: In consideration for the above, the Government will permit me to find employment, subject to limits that will be determined by the Government. These limits may restrict my choice of career or the wages I may accept. SECTION 5: The Government will permit me to reside in the area of North America that it controls. Also, the Government will permit me to speak freely, subject to limits determined by the Government's Congress and Supreme Court. SECTION 6: The Government. will attempt. t.o protect. my life and my claim t.o t.he propert.y it has allowed me to keep. I agree not to hold the Government liable if it fails to protect me or my prop.erty. SECTION 7: The Government will offer various services tome. The nature and extent of these services will be determined by the Government and are subject to change at any time. SECTION 8: The Government will determine whether I may vote for certain Government officials. The influence of my vote will vary inversely with the number of voters, and I understand that it typically will be miniscule. I agree not. t.o hold any elect.ed Government officials liable for act.ing against my best interests or for breaking promises, even if those promises motivated me to vote for them. SECTION 9: I agree that the Government may hold me fully liable if I fail to abide by the above terms. In that event, the Government may confiscate any property that I have not previously surrendered to it, and may imprison me for a period of time to be determined by the Government. I also agree that the Government may alter the terms of this contract at any time.

sIgnature date

© Copyright 1989 bv Robert E Alexander. Mav be copied and distributed freely. Report Election '90: How Freedom Fared by Chester Alan Arthur

Every two years, America goes through the same ritual. Every two years, sta­ tism becomes more deeply entrenched. Then again, maybe not.

The 1990 elections promised to be exciting and important. Early in the cam­ paign, Republicans cautiously predicted smaller losses than usual for mid-term elections, or even gains, but their optimism was shattered by the budget talks, which enabled the Democrats to paint the Re­ publicans as the party of the rich. At the same time, voters were becoming aware of the mega-billion dollar cost of cially to those who seek to advance changes in the initiative process be ap­ the savings-and-loan crisis and of the liberty. proved by the voters, a measure to make tax increases more difficult, and role that many incumbents played in Liberty and the Ballot Box a measure to subject governments to the debacle. Political libertarians, especially When the votes were counted, the same regulations on dumping toxic those who run for office on the Liber­ chemicals as private businesses. Voters however, the results looked a lot like tarian Party ballot, are generally per­ the same old stuff: voters re-elected also supported a measure to allow the ceived by voters as radicals whose state to put prison inmates to work for practically all incumbent Congressmen political programs are outright danger­ and Senators. Democrats gained seven private firms to pay their upkeep and ous to Americans. Curiously, however, damage to victims. (Many California seats in the House and one in the Sen­ when given an opportunity at the bal­ ate. These were a bit less than normal libertarians disagreed with their lot box to pass laws or amend their for mid-term elections, but within the party's stand on this last measure.) state's constitution, the majority of vot­ normal range. On average, 57.4% of Californians ers in 1990 seemed to agree with the li­ For most election analysts, the 1990 voted for the LP-endorsed position. bertarian position more often than not. election was significant more for what To investigate whether this is a na­ Consider, for example, the state­ didn't happen than for what did. tional trend, I made a list of 32 ballot 'What did yesterday's election wide ballot propositions decided upon measures in states other than Califor­ prove?" asked the New York Times. by California voters. The Libertarian nia in which I could identify a clear li­ "Nothing ... The voters' biennial Day Party of California endorsed specific bertarian position. Included in the of Decision turned mostly into a day of positions on 28 ballot propositions survey were all the state-wide elections foregone conclusions." The Seattle dealing with a wide variety of regula­ that were reported in the New York Times began its election headline story, tory, tax and constitutional issues. Times and USA Today. Voters agreed "Never mind the rascals. Throw the The state's voters agreed with the with the libertarian position on 23 of 32 pundits out ... instead of dumping LP-endorsed position on 22 of the 28 issues, including 13 of 17 taxing/ their incumbents, voters re-elected issues1 including all seven taxing­ spending measures and six of seven en­ [two local congressmen] and all their spending issues, both regulatory is­ vironmental/land use measures. congressional colleagues-most of sues, four of six administrative issues, On average, non-Californians cast them by comfortable margins." and nine of eleven bond issues. Voters their votes for the libertarian position Despite the media perception that disagreed with the LP position on six 55.6% of the time. Included in this av­ the 1990 election was a dull affair, issues: small majorities favored bond erage were some crushing defeats for there were developments of major im­ issues for veterans and schools, voters libertarian positions: only 16% of Flori­ portance to all Americans, and espe- rejected a measure to require that da voters opposed a mandatory three- Liberty 21 Volume 4, Number 3 January 1991

day waiting period for handgun pur­ billion environmental bond measure; for this disparity. First, it costs money chasers, only 31 %of Nebraska voters Missouri voters rejected a "natural to clean the environment or to increase favored a measure to limit increases in streams" measure that would have publicly owned wilderness or parks. government spending to 2% per year, banned dams and restricted use of 52 While everyone favors a cleaner, and only 33% of Oregon voters sup­ rivers; South Dakota voters rejected a healthier environment and more parks ported a broad educational choice measure that would have required per­ and recreational land in the abstract, measure that would have weakened mits for mining operations in the Black not everyone wants to pay for them. the monopoly of government-owned Hills; Washington state voters rejected Secondly, the public is gradually be­ a state-wide land control measure that coming aware that some so-called mandated regulators be environmental­ environmental problems

House can expect to lose 10 to 20 seats translate into many votes. It is not cer­ elected to the Senate originally as a in the House of Representatives in an tain whether voters saw through the idealistic left-liberal and advocate of off-year election, but Republicans were scam the Democrats were trying to put the poor and oppressed. optimistic for their chances as 1990 over on them, or rejected the appeals In light of the budget mess and the began. That optimism began to fade to the base emotion of envy, or the Re­ savings-and-Ioan scandal, it was not when President Bush backed down on publicans convinced most voters that surprising that public opinion polls his "no new taxes" pledge last spring their rhetoric aside, the Democrats fa­ showed a considerable anti-incumbent and began negotiations for deficit re­ vored higher taxes for everybody. But feeling. Yet when the dust had settled, duction with the Democrats that control one thing is certain: when the votes nearly all incumbents were re-elected, both houses of congress. The agreement were counted, the Democrats gained leading many pundits to conclude that that came out of the budget summit only a single Senate seat and seven the public's dissatisfaction with "poli­ raised taxes and made minor cuts in House seats. tics as usual" was over. welfare benefits offered old people At the same time, voters were wit­ RIP ... "Politics as Usual" under Medicare. The measure was re­ nessing the disastrous savings-and­ It is a serious mistake to interpret jected in the House by Democrats anx­ loan scandal. Congressional foolish­ the low mortality rate of Congressional ious to curry support from old people ness on this issue in the past decade incumbents as evidence that voter sat­ and Republicans not wanting to back will likely end up costing the taxpay­ isfaction was reasonably stable. Con­ down on taxes. In the wrangling that ing voters something in the neighbor­ gressional mortality is only one followed, the Democrats discovered a hood of $500 billion. The episode measure of dissatisfaction, and not a new tactic: blame the deficit on the "mil­ illustrated the inherent corrupting ef­ particularly good one. The political lionaires who don't pay their fair share" fect of the power possessed by Con­ deck is stacked so strongly in favor of and insist that any tax increases sock it gress, as five Senators faced charges of incumbent congresspeople that the re­ to the wealthy. With the airwaves inun­ intervening with regulators on behalf moval of an incumbent is almost un­ dated by campaign ads portraying Re­ of an insolvent and arguably fraudu­ known. Consider some of the publicans as supporters of the lent savings-and-Ioan association in advantages that incumbents enjoy: millionaires, Democrats picked up in exchange for .."campaign contribu-' 1) The vast power of their office the polls and expected much bigger tions" of hundreds of thousands of stimulates campaign contributions gains than usual. (The Democrats never dollars. The episode was made more from special interests, often amounting mentioned that the income tax designed repulsive by the participation in the to hundreds of thousands of dollars per to "make the millionaires pay their fair corrupt activities by John Glenn, the election. share" kicked in at less than $50,000.) first American to orbit the earth and a 2) In most states, congressional dis­ Somehow, this appeal didn't seem to national hero, and Alan Cranston, tricts are gerrymandered to fit the spe-

of Kansas voters who cast their ballots for second congressional district. The Dem­ As a result of their dependency on independent Christina Cline-Carnpbell, ocratic incumbent, Al Swift, was widely NES, both the Times and USA Today se­ and the 10% of voters in Oklahoma who regarded as ~ shoo-in. He averaged 86% riously mis-reported the results of the cast their votes for independent Thomas of the vote In his most recent two re­ race. Swift was not elected with the Ledgerwood. elections. The Libertarian Party nominat­ comfortable majority that they report­ NES also missed the boat on votes for ed Bill McCord, who wasn't expected to ed. He received only a bare majority of LP senatorial candidates. It reported the put up much ofa fight. NES madea deci­ the vote. Had the Libertarians and Re­ votes of only one LP Senate candidate-in sion to count and report the votes only of publicans supported the same candi­ Hawaii: 1.4%. Swift and his Republican opponent. date, there is a strong possibility that Compare that to the LP candidates Because they were completely de­ the seemingly invulnerable Swift would whose votes were not reported: pendent on NES for election returns, the have lost. Delaware...... 1.0% New York Times and USA Today knew How many other third party and in­ dependent votes were missed by NES? Montana 2.5% nothing of McCord's vote, and recorded New Hampshire 3.7% How many other misleading and inac­ the final vote as follows: New Jersey...... 0.7% curate election returns were published South Carolina...... 1.9% Al Swift (Oem) 84,282 55% by the New York Times, USA Today, the Texas 2.3% Doug Smith (Rep) 67,642 45% television networks, and your local average...... 2.0% It looked like a tighter race than newspaper? There is no way to tell. Again, the unreported candidates got most people expected, but it didn't look Aside from the re-porting service for Li­ a much larger vote share than the report­ like a very close race. But here are actual bertarian Party votes set up by volun­ ed candidates. vote totals including votes for Libertari­ teer LP members, there is no way to get In some races, the NES's choices result­ an candidate Bill McCord: the information. -CAA ed in its causing its members to report elec­ Al Swift (Oem) 84,282 50.8% tion results that were simply inaccurate. Doug Smith (Rep) 67,642 40.8% Note: For more on the NES, see 11A Conspiracy One such case occurred in Washington's Bill McCord (Lib) 13,831 8.3% ofSilence," Margaret Fries, Liberty, May 1989. Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

cific needs of incumbents. suddenly found themselves with the the control of candidates and activists. 3) Incumbents are allowed to cam­ highest vote totals of their political The success of LP candidates in 1990 paign at public expense by sending careers. was substantially the result of public newsletters and other advertising to Across the nation, there were 28 dissatisfaction with current politics. In constituents free of postage charges. seats in Congress that were contested the wake of the savings-and-loan crisis 4) Incumbents have staffs of em­ by candidates of the Libertarian Party and the corrupt politics of the budget ployees paid at taxpayer expense who and both major parties in both 1988 and "solution," voters were willing to look work on "constituent relations" and 1990. The LP candidates did better in beyond the Republicans and Demo­ other activities designed to increase 1990 than in 1988 in 27 of those 28 erats on their ballots and vote for the voter support for incumbents. races. The average LP share of the vote Libertarian Party. 5) Incumbents function as ombuds­ total in these districts in 1988 was 1.6%. Other important exogenous factors men for constituents in matters involv­ In 1990, the LP share averaged 3.2%. Li­ that have tremendous influence on the ing the federal government; as the bertarian vote share doubled in only 2 success of LP campaigns are the pres­ power of government grows, the politi­ years. ence or absence of other candidates cal benefits of this function increase. In Washington state, there were two who are not representing major par­ races for the State House of Representa­ ties. Voters looking for a way to ex­ tives contested by the same Libertarian press hostility to the mainline The Democrats blamed the Party candidates as in 1988. In the 48th candidates will generally favor an "in­ district, Tom Isenberg got 3.6% of the dependent" who has substantial elec­ deficit on the "millionaires vote in 1988; this year he got 7.6%. In toral experience as a Republican or who don't pay their fair the 27th district, Rich Shepard got 2.7% Democrat over a Libertarian or other share" and insisted that any of the vote in 1988; this year he got minor party candidate. This was the 15.8% of the vote, finishing ahead of the rock that sank the 1980 LP presidential tax increases sock it to the Republican in a heavily Democratic dis­ campaign. wealthy. Ofcourse, they never trict. Was this the result of unusually In addition, the public perception mentioned that the income tax active campaigns? Isenberg says he of the closeness of any race is of vital didn't campaign at all this year; in 1988 importance. When voters are con­ increase that was designed to he campaigned actively. Shephard­ vinced that a race will not be close, "make the millionaires pay whose vote share increased almost six­ they are far less susceptible to the their fair share" kicked in at fold-tells the same story. '1n 1988, I "why waste your vote" argument. organized a campaign committee, set Now it is plainly far too early to less than $50,000. up a campaign breakfast, answered the figure what role these factors will play various questionaires, attended candi­ in 1992. The public's perception of the date forums, advertised in local news­ closeness of the race will not be known It is not surprising, given these ad­ papers, and door-belled. In 1990, I until the election is days away. Other vantages, that most incumbent con­ answered questionaires and appeared major third party or independent can­ gresspeople were indeed re-elected. in some local forums-no doorbelling, didates may emerge; we won't really And so the common observation in no advertising, no campaign breakfast, know until the middle of 1992. election post-mortems that anti­ no fundraising. And this time I got five Likewise, a lot can happen be­ incumbency sentiments had been times as many votes." tween today and the 1992 election to grossly overrated. As the experience of Isenberg and change voters' satisfaction with the But the fact is, there was a great Shepard indicate, the move to the Li­ two major parties. But given the polit­ deal of evidence of changes in voter be­ bertarian Party was not the result of ad­ ical situation and the electorate's havior. Term limitation measures were ditional campaign efforts. Indeed, their mood today, it certainly looks as if passed in California, Colorado and much improved performance occurred there is an outstanding possibility that Missouri. In addition, there is substan­ despite their running much less active voters in 1992 will be very open to tial evidence that re-elected incum­ campaigns. Plainly, what happened in third party candidates. Both the crises bents won by smaller margins. It is 1990 was not primarily the result of the that undermined voter confidence in also worth noting that the voters of activity of LP candidates. It was the the two party system-the savings­ Vermont sent a Socialist to Congress, product of a change in voter attitudes, a and-loan mess and the corrupt budget and voters in both Alaska and Connec­ willingness to consider non-mainline negotiations-are unlikely to abate. ticut elected independents to their alternatives, perhaps even a desire to Chances are good that the savings­ governorships. express opposition to major party and-loan crisis will heat up considera­ But perhaps the greatest evidence politics. bly; quite possibly a few Senators may can be found in data that was over­ be censured or even impeached looked by almost all analysts: the in­ 1992: The Year the LP Comes because of their involvement with creasing vote totals of third party of Age? savings-and-Ioan kingpin Charles candidates. From coast to coast, third The central fact of third party poli­ Keating. Any such punishment will party candidates who had toiled in ob­ tics is that success or failure is depen­ increase the public's feeling of disgust scurity amassing miniscule vote totals dent mostly on factors totally outside with the major parties. And if none 24 Liberty INDEPENDENT FROM BUREAUCRACY

REGULATION ANTITRUST AND THE REAGAN ERA AND MONOPOLY Politics, Bureaucracy and the Public Interest Anatomy of a Policy Failure Edited by ROGER MEINERS and BRUCE YANDLE DOMINICK T. ARMENTANO Foreword by ROBERT W. CRANDALL Foreword by YALE BROZEN In 1980, there was popular belief that the A thoroughly documented indictment of size of government would be cut. However, antitrust policy in the U. S., Antitrust and the growth of the federal budget has contin­ Monopoly draws on all the classic antitrust ued and no agencies have been phased out. cases in business history to illustrate that the Covering areas ranging from antitrust and laws have not been employed against telecommunications to international trade and monopolies, but have been used instead to public lands, this powerful book analyzes restrain the competitive process. attempts at reform, the incentives in Washing­ "The single best book on this vital public policy issue, ton, and policies that failed and succeeded. and it should become a, ifnot the standard work in economics, history, and political science." "The best book on Reagan's overall regulatory relief effort, Regulation and the Reagan Era describes what -PUBLIC CHOICE happens when the rubber ofthe academic scribblers hits "Skillfully honed, eloquent, Armentano's book must be the road ofagency recalcitrance to regulatory reform." mastered by all who would be heard on this issue. " -JAMES C. MILLER, III, Former Director -BUSINESS HISTORY REVIEW Office of Management and Budget "This book should be on the required reading list of "Regulation and the Reagan Era is not only very sound every course in antitrust in law schools, business analysis and good political advice, but it is readable." schools, and departments ofeconomics." -GORDON TULLOCK, Professor of Economics -DONALD DEWEY and Political Science, University of Arizona Professor ofEconomics, Columbia University 6 Figures • 6 Tables • Index • 304 pages • Paperback • Item #6065 6 Figures • 4 Tables • Index • 306 pages • Paperback • Item #4003 $19.95 plus postage ($2.00/book, CA residents add sales tax) $19.95 plus postage ($2.00/book, CA residents add sales tax)

ENDENT i::\ INSfITIITE The Independent Institute, Dept. AE9, 134 Ninety-Eighth Avenue, Oakland, CA 94603 Volume 4, Number 3 Januarv 1991 are punished, voters will likely feel even more fed up with corruption in Congress. The budget "solution" solved noth­ ing; all it did was anger a lot of voters. The Californians The same sort of negotiations-and the same unpopular choices-will take place every year for the foreseeable fu­ Are Restless ture. As taxes are raised and spending cut, voters will likely increase their hos­ tility to "politics as usual." by Gene Berkman In addition, the chances are good that the U.s. will go to war in the Mid­ What happens when an irresistible or), and all three alternative parties. dle East. The war will cost a great deal, force meets an immovable object? We The same coalition of conservatives, both in terms of money and men. When got a hint on November 6 in Califor­ the fighting is over, a lot of American libertarians and taxpayer groups qua­ nia. The not quite irresistible force is blood will have been spilt, a lot of lified an initiative Constitutional American money spent, and (most like­ the pUblic's disgust with "politics as Amendment to require a two thirds ly) gasoline will cost even more than it usual"; the not quite immovable object majority of the voters to approve any does today. If the bipartisan support for is the incumbent government and the new special or earmarked tax, or any the war continues, both parties will established parties that support it. increase in rates of such a tax. The cam­ likely be hurt in the 1992 elections. But Widespread lack of confidence in paign in support of this proposal re­ the bipartisan support for the Presi­ government was clearly shown by the ceived several million dollars from the dent's actions is showing signs of voters' rejection of ten proposed bond beer, wine and liquor industry, which breaking down. In the past few weeks, issues, four initiatives that included sought to head off proposed increases various Congressional Democrats have bond issues, and three proposed tax in alcohol taxes. The Taxpayers' Right criticized the administration-some increases. California also adopted, if to Vote Act (Proposition 136) lost with suggesting a less aggressive posture, narrowly, the nation's toughest term 48% voting in favor. others a more aggressive posture, oth­ limits on elected politicians. Libertari­ Voter disgust with Establishment ers suggesting that a long-term occupa­ an and other alternative candidates re­ politicians was reflected in the guber­ tion of Saudi Arabia with no war might ceived high vote totals in some races, natorial race. Senator Pete Wilson and be the best course of action. Curiously, and nine incumbents in partisan offic­ the Republican Party spent about twen­ however, when administration officials es went down to defeat. Protest votes ty million dollars, Diane Feinstein and have suggested turning the issue over in a number of races resulted in win­ the Democrats more than fifteen mil­ to Congress for a vote (what a quaint ners elected with less than 50% of the lion dollars on the race for Governor. constitutional notion!) the Democrats vote; these included the races for Gov­ The pre-election polls showed an ex­ have refused. If this cowardly course is ernor, State Treasurer and Attorney­ tremely close race, with a large unde­ continued by Democrats, voters are Ceneral, as well as four Congressional cided vote. Despite fears of wasting likely to say, "A pox on both your and two State Assembly races. votes in a tight race, more than 350,000 houses." votes were cast for alternative candi­ To top it off, the United States ap­ Thumbs Down to Taxes dates, including more than 135,000 for pears headed toward a major recession. California voters rejected-largely Libertarian Dennis Thompson. Senator Increased unemployment, higher infla­ for fiscally conservative reasons­ Wilson was elected Governor with tion, and. a general perception that the most of the propositions presented to 48.8% of the vote. standard of living is declining will in­ them. They passed, however, Proposi­ Dennis Thompson campaigned crease voter dissatisfaction-especially tion 140, a radical term limitation ini­ more actively than had the last two li­ if occurring against a backdrop of in­ tiative that limits the Covernor, other bertarian candidates, but his campaign creasing budget deficits, higher taxes, state officers, and State Senators to failed to raise significant amounts of spending cuts and savings-and-Ioan two four-year terms in office, and lim­ money and received only limited pub­ losses in the hundreds of billions. ' its members of the State Assembly to licity in the news media. He came in It is too early to know for certain. A three two-year terms. It also abolishes third, with 1.9% of the vote. The fourth lot can happen between now and No­ the state legislature's pension system, place finish of the American Indepen­ vember 3, 1992. But the prospects of the and mandates a 20% cut in the cost of dent Party was aided by support from Libertarian Party doing very well in operating the legislature. This propo­ anti-abortion groups upset with Sena­ 1992 are excellent at this point. Of sal was put on the ballot by a coalition tor Wilson's pro-choice stand. The course, whether the LP will find a can­ of conservatives, libertarians and tax­ Peace and Freedom Party nominee, didate able to articulate the libertarian payer groups, and received support Maria Munoz, got 90,000 votes, an in­ vision and to raise funds necessary to from about a dozen RepUblicans in the crease of more than 75% from her race take advantage of this situation is an­ state legislature, Senator Pete Wilson for the same office on the same ticket other matter. 0 (the RepUblican candidate for govern- in 1986. All told, third parties got 5.0% 26 Liberty Volume 4, Number 3 January 1991

of the vote. zations can be credited for efforts for (AD), incumbent Sunny Mojonnier Incumbents were re-elected in their candidates for Congress and the had legal problems, and lost with less every race for state-wide office that state legislature, reflected in unprece­ than 41 %. In the last two elections she they contested. But third party candi­ dented voter support for Libertarian had received about 70% of the vote. dates did unusually well, garnering be­ candidates. This year the Democrat won with tween 6% and 10% of the vote for each The San Diego County LP organiza­ 46%, with 11% going to libertarian office. Libertarians led the minor par­ tion provided the candidate for Gov­ John Murphy. The LP benefitted from ties in all races except the Treasurer's, ernor, three candidates for Congress, Republicans unhappy with the incum­ for which there was no LP candidate. one for State Senate, and five for State bent, but unwilling to vote Democrat. Libertarians hoped to get their Assembly. In the 45th Congressional In the 78th AD, pro-choice Republi­ biggest vote in the race for Controller. district in San Diego, Libertarian Joe can Jeff Marston, only recently elected Their candidate was Tom Tryon, a Shea received about 42,000 votes, over in a special election, lost his seat to a member of the Calaveras County Com­ 27% in a two-way race against RepUbli­ Democrat who received less than 46% mission, and the LP's highest ranked can Duncan Hunter. In the 43rd dis­ of the vote. More than 6% of the voters officeholder. An estimated $20,000 was trict, GOP Congressman Ron Packard backed Libertarian Ed McWilliams. spent on television ads on his behalf, in had no Democrat challenger, but was In the 76th AD, which San Diego hopes of receiving 2% of the vote, held to 68% by PFP and Libertarian shares with Riverside County, pro­ needed to maintain ballot status. Tryon candidates who together pulled 32%. In choice Republican Tricia Hunter was received more than a quarter million 1985, Packard had been re-elected with re-elected with 58%. Democrat Ste­ votes, 3.7%, about twice as many votes 72% in a two-way race against a Demo­ phen Thorne advocated legalizing as either of his minor party com­ crat. drugs, and won only 28% in this con­ petitors. In San Diego, libertarian Scott Olm­ servative district. Libertarian Bill But Tryon did not lead the LP tick­ sted received 35,000 votes for State Sen­ Holmes polled over 12,000 votes, al­ et. That distinction went to Ted Brown, ate, more than 15% of votes cast. He most 10%. A PFP candidate came in its nominee for Insurance Commission, came in behind PFP candidate Jane fourth with 5%. In San Diego's 77th who received nearly 400,000 votes, an Evans, who polled more than 18%. To­ AD, abortion foe Carol Bentley was re­ astonishing 6.0% of the vote. It is sus­ gether they held Republican Senator elected with 53%, but pro-choice Re­ pected that Brown's outstanding vote William CrClven to 66%. publicans helped Libertarian Joel total resulted from his last name. An­ Two incumbent Republicans in the Denis pull almost six thousand votes. other quarter of a million voters cast State Assembly from San Diego were Santa Clara County Libertarians their ballots for the Peace and Freedom defeated. In the 75th Assembly district ran candidates in the 12th and 13th candidate, bringing the statewide third party vote for this office to 10%. ,..------In the end, the LP'sfear of losing Election Notes for Sports Fans ballot status was groundless: all state- A few days before the election, local businesses-was trotted out. Per- wide candidates except gubernatorial CBS Sports announced during a tele- haps the voters wondered why local candidate Thompson received more cast of a football game involving the businesses wouldn't pay for the ball- than 2% of the vote, and Thompson Phoenix Cardinals that if the voters of park themselves if it would be so prof- missed that total by about 7,000 votes Arizona resisted pressure to declare itable for them. At any rate, a slim 51 % out of the 7 million votes cast. In addi- the birthday of Martin Luther King a majority turned back the measure. tion, both the American Independent state holiday, the National Football But sports fans did prevail in four Party and the Peace and Freedom Party League would move its scheduled races. In New Jersey, former All- also received enough votes to stay on Super Bowl out of Phoenix. Con- American, All-NBA basketball player the ballot. The fact that hundreds of cerned that its threat might be taken Bill Bradley was re-elected to his Sen- thousands of Californians cast votes for as a threat by voters, the NFL denied ate seat by a thin margin over token underfunded candidates of the three it shortly after the broadcast. The opposition; the closeness of his race minor parties indicates substantial dis- measure,' whose sole practical effect was blamed on the tax increases insti- satisfaction with the status quo and the would be an additional paid holiday tuted by his party's governor, James bipartisan leadership that dominates for state "workers," went down by a Horio, who was elected two years ago the state and federal governments. 51 % majority. on a promise of "no new taxes." In Meanwhile, voters in Santa Clara, Maryland's 4th Congressional District, Libertarian Strength in the California, faced a measure to author- NBA player Tom McMillen was easily Countryside ize a 1% tax on their utility bills to re-elected, as was Jim Bunning, former The Libertarian Party of California, build a $153 million baseball park to baseball great, in Kentucky's 4th with fewer than 2500 sustaining mem- attract the nearby San Francisco District. bers, provided only minimal campaign Giants, who are unhappy with their And voters in Brooklyn Park, Min- support to its statewide slate, concen- present ballyard. The usual argu- nesota, elected as their new mayor trating on the Tryon for Controller ment-having a big league team in professional wrestler Jesse 'The Body" effort. But a number of county organi- town would be an economic boon to Ventura. -R. W. Bradford Liberty 27 Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

Congressional districts; each polled tential support for Libertarian political The third and smallest of the three more than ten thousand votes. Santa efforts. alternative parties is the right-wing Clara Libertarians also backed three As Republican and Democrat poli­ American Independent Party, which candidates for State Assembly who ticians escalate the bipartisan war on lacks local organization in much of the pulled 5% to 6% of the vote. drugs, marijuana smokers and civilli­ state. The AlP ran one candidate for Several Libertarian candidates for bertarians are increasingly supportive House of Representatives, in Riverside State Assembly in two-way races re­ of Libertarian candidates. The newslet­ County; Gary Odom came in third, ceived more than 20% of the vote. Eric ter of California NORML mentioned ahead of Libertarian Bonnie Flickinger Roberts received almost 28,000 votes the Libertarian Party and its candi­ in a race that saw GOP Congressman in a race with liberal Republican Bev dates in several 1990 issues. Legaliza­ Al McCandless reelected with 49% of Hansen, for an LP total of 24%. Ronald tion of marijuana and other drugs was the vote. Tisbert received almost 24,000 votes an important issue in most LP for 24% against GOP incumbent Phil­ campaigns. lip Wyman. And Dale Olvera received Republicans are also divided over The fact that hundreds of more than 21 % against Democrat Rich­ the issue of abortion, and as the Liber­ thousands of Californians cast ard Polanco in a Hispanic district in tarian Party develops a higher profile, Los Angeles. it may gain increasing support from votes for underfunded candi­ In more competitive districts with pro-choice Republicans. The start of dates of three minor parties both major parties offering candidates, such a trend was seen in several races this year. indicates substantial dissatis­ LP members received between 5% and faction with the status quo 11 %, in 18 races for State Assembly. LP Out in Left Field members received between 5% and 8% The Peace and Freedom Party ran and the bipartisan leadership in four races for State Senate and elev­ up big vote totals in several races. In that dominates the state and en Congressional districts in which the First Congressional district in federal governments. they faced both Democrat and Repub­ northern California, PFP activist Dar­ lican opponents. These totals reflect a lene Comingore attacked incumbent widespread desire for an alternative to Democrat Doug Bosco on environmen­ The AlP ran ahead of the LP in a the established parties and incumbent tal issues, and took almost 32,000 four-way contest for Assembly from politicians. Libertarian candidates in votes. The 15% of the vote cast for the San Diego. In Silicon valley, the other particular drew strength from their op­ PFP threw the election to Republican AlP candidate for Assembly came in position to taxes, gun control and drug Frank Riggs, who won with just 43%. fourth, behind the LP. laws. In the same area, PFP Assembly hope­ A major part of the increase in sup­ ful Bruce Anderson received around The "Libertarian Republicans" port for LP candidates came from 16,000 votes, more than 13% in a three­ Libertarian Republicans of Califor­ Republicans and independent conser­ way race. nia (LROC) ran one candidate, and vatives unhappy with GOP support In Los Angeles, Ivan Kasimoff re­ was involved in several other cam­ for tax hikes and new gun laws. This ceived almost 15% of the vote in a two­ paigns in 1990. was the first election of the post­ way race against Democrat State Sena­ LROC co-founder Eric Garris, a vet­ Reagan era, and growing conservative· tor Diane Watson. Also in Los An­ eran of numerous LP campaigns, was distrust of GOP leaders, including geles, Michael Long took 15% for the the Republican candidate against As­ President Bush and Governor-elect PFP in a two-way race against Assem­ sembly Democrat Byron Sher in Silicon Wilson, points to a growing base of po- bly Democrat Curtis Tucker. In San Valley's 21st district. Garris made le­ Diego County, several PFP galization of drugs his main campaign candidates received between issue. His opposition to taxes and gun 5% and 8% in four-way control brought support from the Santa races. Clara Republican Assembly, while his Statewide, LP and PFP pro-choice position on abortion candidates faced each other brought him the support of the Califor­ in seventeen four-way con­ nia Republican League (CRL), Califor­ tests for Congress and state nia Republicans for Choice, and legislature. LP candidates Congressman Tom Campbell. Garris came in third, ahead of PFP, received 29% in a two-way race; this is ~ in ten of those races. PFP four per cent ahead of the GOP candi­ came in ahead of the LP in a date in 1986. In 1988, with no Republi­ -;-€~:J- three-wayCongressional race can in the race, a Libertarian received 13% in the district. ~------:Bn-f4··}(){J and a three-way contest for State Senate, both against Re­ At least six other Republican candi­ "Good news, Sire--our economic experts say that publican incumbents in San dates came out for legalizing drugs promising a tax cut will stimulate the economy almost Diego County. during the 1990 campaign. Barbara Ga- as much as ifyou really did it!" 28 Liberty Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

lewski, with support from CRL and Re­ multi-party system. Voters who backed owners opposed to gun controllers; and publicans for Choice, pulled 38% Libertarian candidates cannot be count­ pro-choice Republicans unwilling to against far left Congressman Ron Del­ ed as automatic votes for the LP ticket support abortion foes have shown a lums from Berkeley's 8th district. In in future elections. But they have willingness to vote Libertarian, and we 1988, the Republican candidate was shown a willingness to vote Libertarian should more actively invite them to do able to attract only 29%. at least sometimes. By their numbers, so in future campaigns. Also in the San Francisco Bay Area, they have shown that it is worth the ef­ California has over a million inde­ Mark Patrosso received CRL support in fort to seek their votes. pendent and minor party voters. Split his bid for Congress against 10th dis­ Libertarian candidates will contin­ ticket voting is endemic throughout the trict incumbent Don Edwards. Patrosso, ue to benefit by splits in the Republican state. Large percentages of the with backing of Republicans for Choice Party. Large numbers of conservative California electorate agree with Liber­ and Young Republicans, took 37%. and liberal GOP activists are willing to tarian positions on specific issues. LROC backed both Galewski and Pa­ vote for LP candidates in preference to Communicating with the voters re­ trosso, neither of whom had LP their Republican factional opponents. mains the most substantial and expen­ competition. Fiscal conservatives who want to op­ sive challenge to Libertarian political In Santa Clara County, CRL activist pose welfare state Republicans; gun activists. 0 Lori Kennedy, with backing from LROC and Republicans for Choice, pulled 41 % in a two-way race for state Frontrunner Stumbles senate. Andre Marrou, frontrunner for prior to the election. Television ads run In Santa Barbara, GOP activist Carey the Libertarian Party's presidential 14 months or longer before the election Rogers received LROC support in her nomination, stumbled as he left the would obviously be a waste of money. bid to unseat State Senator Gary Hart. gate. In a letter to potential support­ In sum, it appears that practically Senator Hart is best known for his ers dated and mailed one day after none of the funds raised by the letter championing of a massive expansion of the elections, Marrou announced his will qualify for matching funds, and the educational bureaucracy. Ms Rogers candidacy and solicited funds to ena­ any matching funds captured will be also received support from CRL and Re­ ble him to qualify for "the federal wasted if spent on television, as publicans for Choice. She received 35% matching funds to recover income promised. with anLP hopeful taking over 4%. taxes loot~d from Libertarians." The question of accepting matching In Los Angeles, two GOP Assembly Unfortunately, the letter contains funds from tax dollars is controversial candidates backed legalization of mari­ false information about matching among Libertarians. Many believe that juana. Elizabeth Michael in the 45th dis­ funds. 'We only qualify for matching it is simply immoral to accept tax trict and Geoffrey Church in the 46th funds for money we raise between money. Others think that as opponents district polled very low totals against today and our September 1991 Nomi­ of the redistribution of wealth, the LP allies of the Waxman-Berman Demo­ nating Convention," Marrou wrote. appears to be hypocritical if it accepts cratic machine. Actually, matching funds are award­ tax dollars. Eric Garris and a half-dozen GOP le­ ed only for funds raised between Jan Whether one accepts these argu­ galization advocates illustrate the fact 1, 1991, and the nominating conven­ ments or not, there are important pru­ that pro-freedom candidates can get the tion. Since the letter was mailed on dential reasons against accepting Republican nomination-in safe Demo­ Nov 7 by first class mail, nearly all matching funds. There are two kinds of crat districts. Two GOP officeholders­ the funds it raises will be paid prior matching funds available: general elec­ Congressman Tom Campbell of Palo to Jan 1, and thereby not qualify for tion and primary election. General elec­ Alto, and State Senator Ed Royce of matching funds. tion funds are available only to Orange County, have refrained from "Every dollar you give now," candidates who receive 5% or more of supporting new anti-drug measures, Marrou advised, "will be matched by the popular vote in the general election. but most Republican politicians are en­ another dollar of federal funds ... If To date the best performance by any LP thusiastic champions of the war on you can give $1000, please do." nominee was that of Ed Clark in 1980: drugs. Matching funds are limited to $250 1.06%. So the chances that a LP nomi­ per donor, not $1,000. nee would top 5% seem negligible for Facing the Future: 1992 and In addition, Marrou claimed that the foreseeable future. Beyond "Every dollar of matching funds will It would be relatively easy for LP On November 6, 1990, hundreds of be used for television ads for our Li­ candidates to qualify for primary fund­ thousands of Californians voted for Li­ bertarian Presidential Campaign." ing, which is available to candidates bertarian candidates. Millions of Cali­ Under the law, all funds raised now seeking nomination. The problem is fornia voters joined with Libertarians to and all matching funds awarded that all matched funds and matching reject billions of dollars in new debt later must be spent prior to nomination. funds must be spent prior to the nomi­ and tax hikes. Large protest votes re­ This means that any television ads nation. The Libertarian Party holds its suIted in eleven partisan contests won would have to be run before the LP nominating convention more than a with a minority of the vote. Nominating Convention over Labor year before the general election. So far California may be on the verge of a Day weekend 1991-some 14 months continued on next page Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

Chester Alan Arthur, "Frontrunner Stumbles," continued from previous page

as the voters are concerned, the presi­ claimed former LP National Chairman his assorted nefarious schemes. In fact, dential campaign doesn't begin until and 1984 Presidential nominee David it's so bad that I've heard accusafor­ the primary season starts in January of Bergland as "Chief Advisor," prompt­ tions that he is in the employ of one of the election year- three months after ing a quick denial by Bergland. It the two major parties, or perhaps the LP convention, three months after claimed to be a ''Libertarian Party pro­ both." He did acknowledge that there all matching and matched funds must ject," which was also contrary to fact. may have been "inadvertant mis­ be spent. So there is no prudent way to Indeed, William W. Hall, legal counsel takes," but that that the campaign has spend any tax dollars that an LP candi­ for the LP wrote Morrou a stern letter, "been going along all the time with the date might qualify for. instructing him to stop claiming official best advice we can get ... [The] regu­ Marrou's credibility was also hurt status and to remedy his past misrepre­ lations are voluminous, and trying to by his claim elsewhere that his 1988 sentations: ''You should do so in a way understand the regulations, as with Vice Presidential campaign "indepen­ which is not deceptive." Hall warned most federal documents, is difficult." dently raised over $200,000." him that he had failed to include the le­ He then turned the phone over to According to statements filed with the gally mandated warning that contribu­ Michael Emerling, Chief of Staff of the Federal Election Commission, Marrou tions are not tax deductible. Marrou campaign, acknowledged that raised $163,655 for his Vice In a telephone interview a week af­ the letter did indeed include substan­ Presidential campaign. In addition, the ter the letter was sent, Marrou respond­ tial errors. He said he would offer do­ letter failed to state that contributions ed to charges that the letter contained nors who respond to the letter a are not tax deductible, as federal law substantial false information about refund of their donations. requires. matching funds by denouncing the in­ Others within the LP were not so Elsewhere in his letter, Marrou dividual who had first pointed out the easily satisfied. One prominent LP promised that his Project 51-92 fund­ errors: "They originated with Alan leader who had been inclined to sup­ raising committee for ballot access Lindsay, well-known Republican, who port Marrou prior to the episode told "will have North Carolina on the bal­ is doing everything he can to hurt the me that the letter seemed to indicate lot by July 4, 1991." This may have Libertarian Party. Since I am currently that Marrou and his staff was either in­ been a political mistake: the mention the largest target in the LP, he's doing competent or dishonest, "neither of of Project 51-92 brought to mind un­ what he can to hurt me. You're proba­ which is exactly confidence-inducing." pleasant memories. Project 51-92 bly aquainted with Alan Lindsay and -CAA

"Bushwhacked on Downing Street," continued from page 12

wimpy acceptance of the statist status quo was not the prop­ was desperately fighting for her political life, but she had re­ er policy, that to regain leadership, they must advocate a tained her pluck, her spunk, her nerve, and a few other change in policy. A few years later, Thatcher's Conser­ things. ''Thank God she's still there," Paul said. We wished· vatives came to power in Britain. her well, knowing that her opponent, Michael Heseltine, American conservatives came to power in Washington at whose name suggests an unsavory bit player in a Victorian about the same time. The taste of electoral victory and the satire, was living up to the suggestion of the name. Heseltine, power it brought turned the backbones of American conser­ a political opportunist, was appealing for votes to the "wet," vatives to jelly. Their stated goals of cutting taxes, reducing indeed miasmal, longing of the left wing of Thatcher's party regulation, and selling off government enterprises were al­ for something called a "caring capitalism"-not a capitalism ways on the bargaining table, and were always traded away that works, mind you, but a capitalism that "cares." to achieve some transitory foreign policy goal. The car radio brought me the network news: four min­ Mrs Thatcher was different. She was tough, she was utes of meaningless "human interest" stories about the visit smart, she was principled, and she pursued her goals with of George Bush to u.s. soldiers in the Persian Gulf, followed determination. She read the opinion polls, but she took ad­ by a brief reference to the Macy's Parade and an even briefer vantage of the fact that the only polls that mattered were reference to something that Maggie Thatcher had said about those on election day. Her mistake was to overlook the fact the Gulf. It wasn't until I found Paul's apartment buried in that she also had to watch the polls of her own party's gloom that I realized what the electronic medium, with its Members of Parliament. She overestimated the strength of normal alertness to history in the making, had not thought their will, their good sense and their commitment to the important enough to headline. "She's resigned!" Paul said. same sound policies that she advocated. "Not much to be thankful for now." Britain will be worse for the Conservative MPs' decision We recovered, of course, but more distress was to come. to dump her. And so will the world. -RWB The day after Thatcher perished at the hands of her own Conservative party, the liberal American press had much to Thanksgiving mourning _. On Thanksgiving say about the "fact" that her day had passed, taking with it morning, I got in my car to drive to a friend's place for the her anachronistic "totally free-market approach." Statements holiday dinner. Two nights before, he and I had watched a this preposterous are simply an insult to one's intelligence; television clip of one of Margaret Thatcher's speeches. She continued on page 66 30 Liberty A modern classic in the great tradition of Candide and Gulliver's Travels!

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ers. So this strategy is likely to have a low payoff in a marketo It still has some advantages since not all Discussion associations are voluntarily chosen­ most of us, for example, have limited control over who our neighbors are. But the payoff will be much lower The Production than in a society in which we are as­ signed or born into most of our rela­ tionships. of Virtue in a The implication of this argument is that a market society will have nicer people than either a traditional or a Free Society centrally planned society. Virtues will have a higher payoff, so more people will choose to become virtuous. Vices by David Friedman will have a lower payoff, so fewer will choose to become vicious. The result is precisely the opposite of the claim­ that such a society breeds blind, nar­ row selfishness-often made by oppo­ n Liberty's last issue I proposed a centrally planned socialist society nents of capitalism. positive explanation for moral be­ where workers are allocated to jobs, or One important change in American I havior ("Why Is Anyone Vir­ a traditional society where most people society over the past fifty years has tuous?" November 1990, pp. 48-50)­ are born into a particular role and have been the increasing frequency of that is, I explained why many people very limited alternatives. laws-mostly designed to reduce racial (for example) will not steal even if no­ In the market society, since most discrimination-that require individu­ body is watching. The purpose of this who associate with me do so voluntari­ als, if challenged, to justify decisions note is to point out a simple and inter­ ly and only if they think they benefit esting implication of my analysis. from the association, there are sizable Consider any personal characteristic, costs to being dishonest and sizable such as honesty, which benefits those benefits to being honest. In the other A market society will have around me at some cost to myself. Such sort of society, these costs and benefits nicer people than either a tradi­ a characteristic makes me more valua­ are much lower. If you are a worker in tional or a centrally planned ble as an associate. If others can ob­ a centrally planned society, your job is serve it-if, as I argued earlier, it is determined and your salary set by society. Virtues will have a easier to appear honest if you are hon­ someone far away, someone who does higher payoff, so more people est-then honest people will be more not know you and will not have to as­ will choose to become virtuous. attractive as employees, employers, sociate with you. The dishonest em­ Vices will have a lower payoff, spouses in any association with some­ ployee has the same opportunities as one else who benefits by their honesty. the honest one-and the additional op­ so fewer will choose to become Dishonest people will find that they are portunity to steal things when nobody vicious. able to find jobs only if they are willing is looking. to acceptlower salaries than honest em­ The same argument applies to ployees and can hire workers only if vices. In my previous article I gave the such as hiring one job applicant instead they are willing to pay higher salaries example of someone with an "aggres­ of another, or renting an apartment to than honest employers. In such a situa­ sive personality"-a strategy of beating one of several potential tenants. Such tion, an individual motivated entirely up people who do not do what he laws may make racial discrimination by narrow self-interest will find it in his wants. Committing himself to that more difficult, but they also make it interest to try to train himself in hones­ strategy may be profitable, even harder to discriminate among individ­ ty-to synthesize the conscience. The though beating up people is costly, be­ uals on reasonable but highly subjec­ size of this incentive to virtue depends cause people will back down, giving tive grounds. An answer such as "1 on how large a fraction of our interac­ the bully his way without the cost of a hired Smith because he seemed like a tions are voluntary. fight. much nicer man than Jones," is not Consider two societies. In one, most One disadvantage to being a bully likely to convince a court or a fair em­ associations are voluntary-we choose is that in a voluntary society people ployment practices commission. So one our jobs, our employees, our spouses. stay very far out of your way-they result of such laws is to lower the pay­ In the other, most associations are cho­ avoid the problem by refusing to asso­ off of the strategy called virtue, and sen for us. The former might be a com­ ciate with you. Bullies are not very thus reduce the number of people who petitive, free-market society, the latter a attractive as employees-or as employ- choose to follow that strategy. 0 32 Liberty Journal Entry From Russia, With Surprise by David Boaz

Some intellectuals and politicians of the Soviet Union have awoken to the fact that only radical free-market solutions can save their country from chaos. But will liberalism sell in Petropavlovsk?

Gavriil Popov, the stooped, mustachioed economist turned mayor of Moscow, shuffles up to the podium. He tells the Soviet and Western participants in the Cato Institute's conference, "Transition to Freedom: The New Soviet Challenge," that prime Minister Nicolai Ryzhkov has be­ trayed the radicals by going back on his promise to submit to parliament a plan for rapid transition to the free aI, expert, economist." He's in heaven. Earlier on this trip, I had discov­ market. Thus, Popov says, the radicals Outside the conference hall, it is ered the same huge, ugly buildings in will take to the streets on Sunday to easy to see why there is so much agita­ East Berlin. All my life I have antici­ demand far-reaching privatization tion for markets. Communism seems pated the fear and titillation I ·would and the resignation of the Ryzhkov to do two things well: preserve old get from crossing to the other side of government. The next night, at an buildings--no creative destruction the legendary Berlin Wall. But now, as open forum attended by about BOO here-and build really big new build­ Sidney Blumenthal reported in a re­ Muscovites, Popov delivers the most ings, row after row, block after block cent New Republic, the Wall is mostly libertarian speech I've ever heard of ugly apartment buildings unsur­ gone, and traffic moves freely be­ from a politician; he discusses the in­ prisingly reminiscent of .American tween East and West Berlin. Now East dividualism and free markets of the public housing. Our conference hotel, Berlin is just sad, ugly, and boring. 19th century, the unfortunate turn to owned by the prestigious Academy of Maybe the ex-Communist countries Marxism and Keynesianism in the Sciences of the USSR, reminds us of a should keep small areas of traditional 20th century, and the bright prospect dormitory at a mediocre college after, police-state communism around be­ of a return to liberalism and capital­ say, 30 years of hard use. (Even that is hind a wall, to attract tourists-the ism by the beginning of the 21st. too flattering; there are, for instance, way the British keep the monarchy What a delight to be in a country no showers, and dishcloths suffice for around. where "radical," "liberal," and "left" towels.) We are stunned to learn that Comfort and convenience are not all carry the traditional meaning of it was built a year and a half ago. The hallmarks of communism. All the sto­ support for democracy, free markets, windows don't quite close (who ries you've heard about communist and civil liberties. "Conservatives" de­ would have anticipated mosquitos in toilet paper are true. Fortunately, fend the ancien regime of statism and Moscow in September?) the floors we've all brought our own, along privilege, as they did when the word have buckled, the bricks on the front with bottled water. We leave the was coined, and liberals call for gate are held together with wire. water in our rooms for toothbrushing progress toward private property and Mysteriously, the elevator offers but­ and so on, and we get desperately limited, decentralized government. tons for floors 1 through 10, though thirsty through long, salty meals with Cato chairman William Niskanen the building is on!y three stories high. nothing but Russian champagne and reads in The Economist that the most In one elevator, the buttons have been warm Pepsi to drink. As for meals, popular words in the Soviet Union installed wrong and the proper num­ we're covered. Mayor Popov has are, in ascending order, "radical, liber- bers are penciled in. generously arranged sufficient stocks Liberty 33 Volume 4, Number3 Janu 1991

for us, which are brought to the hotel Gorbachev, with smaller dolls depict­ privatization, then another and anoth­ by armed guard. Twice a day, every ing Brezhnev, Krushchev, Stalin, and er, and they tell me that "the people" day, in the hotel or at restaurants, we Lenin inside. Sometimes the inside will reject each of them. The people are have the same meal. Variety is one of dolls are displayed, but never the afraid of inequality, resentful that the spices of life missing in the Soviet Gorbachev doll-presumably because some of their neighbors may become Union. Meals on our own are much of the law making it a crime to insult wealthy. Finally, I tell them that there more difficult. One day several of us the president. Most purchases are is no magic path to capitalism and decide to spend the afternoon in made in dollars, but the sellers always prosperity, that if the Soviet people are downtown Moscow, eat dinner, and look both ways for policemen and genuinely opposed to private proper­ visit Red Square at night. Don't be sometimes tell us to hand the money ty, then Russia will remain poor and ridiculous, our Russian host tells us, to their associates a block away. backward and will fade into the side­ you can't expect to just walk into a Things are more open in Leningrad­ lines of history. They continue to press restaurant and be served; there are as soon as we step off a tour bus, we me for some sort of answer that will are besieged with opportunities to buy allow them to bring about a modern military uniforms, fur hats, and caviar, capitalist system, and I retreat, feeling Gavriil POPOV, the stooped, and no one seems concerned about guilty and depressed at having no an­ mustachioed economist turned taking dollars. Gorby dolls are dis­ swer for them. played openly. When one of our party complains mayor of Moscow, shuffles up So far there seems to have been lots about something at the hotel, the desk to the podium and delivers the of glasnost but very little perestroika. clerk responds, "It's not my fault; it's most libertarian speech I've The people at our conference talk free­ the housekeeper's fault." Fred Smith, ly about radical political and economic president of Washington's Compe ti­ ever heard from a politician. changes, the newspapers publish tive Enterprise Institute, launches into Solzhenitsyn and other former dissi­ an explanation of hotel management: restaurants, but you have to make res­ dents, our Leningrad tour guides boast 'The customer doesn't care whose ervations well in advance. We begin of the support for changing the city's fault it is. When you're sitting at this to wonder just who planned this name back to St. Petersburg. During desk, you are the hotel. He just wants system. our three days in Leningrad, the words you to fix his problem." The desk And speaking of planning: In all of "Marxism-Leninism" come down from clerk has never heard of such a Moscow there is one really beautiful a prominent building formerly notion. building, the colorful onion-domed St. adorned with the slogan "Long Live Travelling from Moscow to lenin­ Basil's Cathedral in Red Square. When Marxism-Leninism." But there are long grad, we take the overnight train, you buy the official pack of 18 Moscow lines for cigarettes and gasoline-not which turns out to be similar to Japan's postcards, there's no picture of St. to mention Baskin-Robbins and love hotels. Young couples, married or Basil's. McDonald's-and shortages of bread not, forced to share a three-room flat It's not easy to say what the dollar­ are reported. With no private property, with parents and siblings, spend the ruble exchange rate is. In the hard­ no one has an incentive to produce night on the way back, visit Leningrad currency stores, prices are marked in more, to invest, to offer better service, for a day, then spend another night of "rubles," which turn out be worth or even to wash anything. The beauti­ conjugal bliss on the train. Over a bot­ $1.60 each. But at a bank you get 6 ru­ ful old buildings of Leningrad could tle of champagne, three of us make bles (which cannot be used in the keep a sand-blasting company busy for bets on the Soviet Union's future. I say hard-currency stores) for a dollar, and decades. that bad as things in Moscow look, we the rate is anywhere from 10 to 20 for The participants in our conference Westerners are exaggerating the notion a dollar on the black market. But I are mostly liberal intellectuals; they in­ of crisis and collapse and that the sys­ never change any money on the black clude journalists, scholars, activists, tem is going to muddle along at subsis­ market because there is almost nothing and elected officials. They're much tence level with no real reform for the I want in Moscow or Leningrad that more pro-eapitalist than intellectuals foreseeable future. A Wall Street whiz can't be obtained for dollars. In and politicians in the West, but many kid predicts bloodshed. But a libertari­ MoScow, we have to go to the Arbat are very pessimistic about the pros­ an economist, not given to optimism shopping street to find people selling pects for privatization. Three of them, about what governments will do, is the the famous Russian matryushka dolls, one a member of the Moscow City only one of us who has attended the black lacquer boxes, chess sets, and Council, corner me at a reception. conference's final session on the SOO thousands of pins commemorating the (And I do mean corner; they stand day plan drawn up by Stanislav triumphs of the Communist Party and much closer than Americans like, and I Shatalin. It's a very radical plan, he the Soviet state. Walk down the street keep backing up until I'm flat against says, it's already been passed by the speaking English, and you will be of­ the wall, unable to move my feet.) We Russian parliament

Suppose you had the opportunity to address a group of Russian social scientists and politicians: What would you say? Fortunately for us-and for the Russians-Ralph Raico recently had just that opportunity.

There is no need to emphasize for this audience the world-historical significance of the changes that are taking place today in east-central Europe and, especially, in the Soviet Union. This great transformation has led many people to reconsider the merits of an ideology once thought to be obsolete-liberalism. Today I wish to deal with liberal­ control and direct all of the life of soci­ dry little fact meant in the lives of the ism as it has been understood histori­ ety, liberalism replied that, by and many, many millions still awaits its cally, and to consider its connection large, it is best to leave civil society to poets and novelists. In reality, the with a certain strand of Marxist run itself-in religion, in thought and only imaginative writer who has done thought-a strand that may well be culture, and not least in economic life. justice to this vast transformation was much more important now than other The liberal slogan of laissez-faire, lais­ the great novelist born in Leningrad, elements of Marxism that have been sez-passer, Ie monde va de Iui-meme ("the Alicia Rosenbaum, who came to emphasized in the past. world goes by itself") encapsulated America and wrote under the name of Liberalism has, of course, many this philosophy. AynRand. meanings. Without arguing the point Sometimes through revolution, But the bureaucratic-military State here, I wish to maintain that the most more often through piecemeal reform, that had emerged in Europe in the authentic form of liberalism has been liberalism accomplished much of its early modern period, though exclud­ concerned above all with two things: program, building, of course, on the ed from some areas of social life, re­ first, the expansion of the free func­ inheritance of free institutions and in­ mained entrenched. Soon it began tioning of civil society, and, second, dividualist values of earlier centuries. once more to expand. By the early and increasingly, the restriction of the Throughout the western world a nineteenth century, independent activity of the State. In other words, system developed based on freedom thinkers all across the political spec­ by liberalism, I will mean laisseZ-faire, of thought, freedom of labor, clear trum, from conservatives to anar­ ''Manchester'' liberalism, also known rights of private property, and free ex­ chists, were alarmed at the growth of as "dogmatic," "doctrinaire," and change. Nowhere-not even in the parasitic State. This was a problem "dog-eat-dog." Liberalism arose in the seven­ England or America-was this system that concerned also Karl Marx and consistently realized in every aspect Friedrich Engels. teenth and eighteenth centuries as As has been sometimes noted, Europe and America's response to of life. Still, as the great Austrian monarchical absolutism. Where the economist Ludwig von Mises put it, it Marxism contains two rather different views of the State: most conspicuous­ monarchs by divine right claimed to was enough to change the counte­ nance of the world. For the first time, ly, it views the State as the instrument This paper was originally presented at the mankind was able to escape the of domination by exploiting classes Cato Institute "Transition to Freedom" Conference in Moscow, September 12, 1990. Malthusian trap. With the enormous in­ that are defined by their position It will be included in a collection of confer­ crellse in population came a steadily in­ within the process of social produc­ ence papers to be published next year. crellsing per capita income. What this tion, e.g., the capitalists. The State is Liberty 35 Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

simply "the executive committee of We find two great gangs of political noyer, Charles Comte, and Augustin the ruling class." Sometimes, however, speculators, who alternately take pos­ Thierry. They can be considered the Marx characterized the State itself as session of the state power and exploit culmination of the tradition of French the exploiting agent. You will perhaps it by the most corrupt means for the liberal thought. In turn, they contin­ most cormpt ends-the nation is excuse me for quoting some passages ued to influence liberal thought up to powerless against these two great car­ from the works of Marx and Engels tels of politicians who are ostensibly the time of Herbert Spencer and be­ which are doubtless quite familiar to its servants, but in reality dominate yond. They called their doctrine indus­ you. A brilliant passage occurs when and plunder it. 2 trialisme, Industrialism. Marx, in The Eighteenth Brumaire of I am myself far from being a The Industrialists agreed with Marxist, but I must confess that I find Jean-Baptiste Say, who held that more truth in this description of the wealth is comprised of what has value, The only imaginative writer American political scene by Friedrich and that value is based on utility. All who has done justice to the Engels than I usually find on the edito­ those members of society who contrib­ vast transformo.tion of society rial page of the New York Times. ute to the creation of values by engag­ Thus, the conception of the "para­ ing in voluntary exchange are deemed was the great novelist born in site State" is clearly enunciated by the productive. This class includes not Leningrad, Alicia Rosenbaum. founders of Marxism. Several decades only workers, peasants, and the scien­ before they wrote, however, an in- tists and artists who produce for the fluential group of French liberals had market. It also includes capitalists who Louis Bonaparte, comes to consider the already singled out the parasitic State advance funds for productive enter­ State as it developed in France, and he as the major example in modern socie­ prise (but not rentiers off the govern­ refers to: ty of the plundering and "devouring" ment debt). Say awards pride of place, This executive power, with its enor­ spirit. This school of liberalism elabo­ however, to the entrepreneur. J. B. Say mous bureaucracy and military or­ rated a doctrine of the conflict of class­ was perhaps the first to realize the ganization, with it ingenious state es, and in this respect had not only a boundless possibilities of a free econo­ machinery, embracing wide strata, logical, but also a historical, connec­ my,led by creative entrepreneurs. with a host of officials. numbering tion with Marxism-as Marx himself But there exist classes of persons half a million, besides an army of an­ conceded and as was conceded in later who merely consume wealth rather other half million, this appalling par­ years by Engels and the thinkers of the than produce it. These unproductive asitic body, which enmeshes the body classes include the army, the govern­ of French society like a net and period of the Second International, in­ ment, and the state-supported cler­ chokes all its pores ... All revolutions cluding Lenin. This earlier liberal perfected this machine instead of school can moreover be taken as virtu­ gy-what could be called the smashing it. The parties that contend­ ally the ideal-type of authentic, radical "reactionary" classes, associated by ed for domination regarded the pos­ liberalism. and large with the Old Regime. session of this huge state edifice as Let me cite Ad01phe Blanqui, from However, Say was quite aware that the principal spoils of the victor. 1 what is probably the first history of ec­ anti-productive and anti-social activity Some twenty years later, Marx onomic thought, published in 1837. was also possible, indeed, altogether speaks of the Paris Commune aiming Blanqui's words will probably have a common, when otherwise productive at restoring "to the social body all the familiar ring to them: elements employed state power to forces hitherto absorbed by the State In all the revolutions, there have al­ capture privileges. parasite feeding upon and clogging ways been but two parties opposing The Industrialist doctrine may be the free movement of society." In 1891, each other; that of the people who summarized in the statement that the Friedrich Engels, referring to the wish to live by their own labor, and history of all hitherto existing society United States, wrote: that of those who would live by the is the history of struggles between the labor of others. ... plundering and the producing classes. Patricians and plebeians, The Industrialist writers looked slaves and freemen, forward to "the extinction of the idle guelphs and g!libellines, and devouring class" and to the emer­ red roses and white roses, cavaliers and roundheads, gence of a social order in which lithe liberals and serviles, are fortune of each would be nearly in di­ only varieties of the same rect ratio to his merit, that is, to his speaes.3 utility, and almost without exception, The school of au­ none would be destitute except the vi­ thentic, radical liberals cious and useless." of which I spoke, and Augustin Thierry-whom Karl which influenced Blan­ Marx later referred to as the "father of -- qui, centered around a class struggle theory in French histori­ few young liberal intel­ cal writing"-summarized the Indus­ "Ifyou don't like it here, why don't you go back to Atlantis?" lectuals, Charles Du- trialist doctrine of strict laisseZ-faire: 36 Liberty Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

Government should be good for the is by no means limited to the period of of functionaries-whether in Brazil or liberty of the governed, and that is that struggle. The most radical and au­ the United States--seem somehow when it governs to the least possible thentic of the liberals perceived the never to be able to realize their origi­ degree. It should be good for the continuing existence of class exploita­ nal intentions. It was good of Deputy wealth of the nation, and that is when tion by means of the State in the later Prime Minister Leonid I. Abalkin to it acts as little as possible upon the labor that produces it and when it nineteenth and in the twentieth centu­ point out that the United States consumes as little as possible. It ries as well. should be good for the public securi­ As time went on, one area of State­ ty, and that is when it protects as exploitation captured their attention There now flourishes, in much as possible, provided that the more than any other: militarism and every advanced country, a protection does not cost more than it imperialism. A very long list of exam­ class of State-funded social sci­ brings in.... It is in losing their pow­ ples could be given of the liberals who ers of action that governments im­ opposed their governments' overseas entists whose profession con­ prove. Each time that the governed wars. The appropriation of the wealth sists in discovering and de­ gain space, there is progress. 4 created by the producing classes by The function of government is sim­ fining - out of the infinite the State's military bureaucracy and its pIy to ensure security from those who capitalist suppliers was the theme of mass of human misery ­ would disturb the liberal social order the most "doctrinaire" and consistent particular 1/social problems" either from within or from without. liberals for generations. In the same However, as increasing numbers of which will become the material spirit, present day American writer individuals aspire to government jobs, for further State activity. Ernest Fitzgerald has identified the two tendencies emerge: government masses exploited by the military power expands, and the burden of branch of the American State: government expenditures and taxation Department of Agriculture has more grows. In order to satisfy the new it is undoubtedly true that subject employees than the Soviet State hordes of office-seekers, the govern­ population exploitation is a major ob­ Commission on Procurement and jective of the military spending coali­ ment extends its scope in all direc­ tion. The people marked for Food. The conclusion to be drawn, tions; it begins to concern itself with exploitation, though, are not the however, is hardly the one the Deputy the people's education, health, intellec­ masses of peasants in underdevel­ Prime Minister seems to favor-that tual life, and morals, sees to the ade­ oped countries. The exploited masses even a market economy requires great quacy of the food supply, and are United States taxpayers, the most armies of bureaucrats. regulates industry, until "soon there productive and easily managed sub­ Most lucrative for the State has ject po~ulation in the history of the been war and preparations for war. In world. this connection, I must praise the cou­ What are the implications of this rageous speech of Mr. Georgi Arbatov French liberals singled out analysis for contemporary problems? at the Second Congress of People's As the French liberals knew, the the parasitic State as the major Deputies, in which he assailed the expansion of government activity example in modern society of "huge and fabulously expensive war keeps pace with the increase in the 1/ machine" in the Soviet Union. This is the plundering and devour­ number of State functionaries, who an example that cries out to be emulat­ ing" spirit, thus elaborating a must somehow justify their incomes doctrine of class conflict. In and jobs. And today, throughout the ed by influential commentators in the world, in every regime, the number of West. this respect, liberalism has both State functionaries continues to grow. With the emergence of the Welfare a logical and a historical con­ According to reports in the West, State, the opportunities for the State nection with Marxism. most of the relatively few Soviet bu­ "enmeshing society in a net and chok­ reaucrats dismissed under perestroika ing all its pores" become literally end­ have been rehired in new intermedi­ less. There now flourishes, in every will be no means of escape from its ac­ ate agencies, production or research advanced country, a class of State­ tion for any activity, any thought, any associations, and so on, sometimes funded social scientists whose profes­ portion" of the people's existence. headed by the former minister him­ sion consists in discovering and defin­

Functionaries have become 1/a class self. It is estimated that the number of ing-out of the infinite mass of human that is the enemy of the well-being of Soviet bureaucrats has actually in­ misery-particular "social problems" all the others." creased by 122,000, bringing the total which will become the material for The concept of a conflict of classes to around 18,000,000. further State activity. linked to the State is one that per­ But the experience of the hydra­ The monstrous growth of the State meates the history of liberalism, from headed bureaucracy is by no means apparatus will not be stopped by those beginning to end. It was especially limited to the Soviet Union. Admin­ who, ignorant of economics and given conspicuous at the time of the struggle istrations elected on platforms de­ to literary-moralistic musings, equate against the old "feudal" powers, but it manding the reduction of the legions the private property, market economy Liberty 37 Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

with totalitarianism. President Vaclav are filled with such works, by local art­ This description is one with which Havel of Czechoslovakia recently ists for the most part. Is the affluence both the great French liberals I have warned against "the stupefying dicta­ that permits this middle-class ama­ discussed and Karl Marx could have torship of consumerism and of perva­ teurism another example of IImaterial­ agreed. The question remains, what sive commercialism." This "dictator­ ism"? realistic alternative exists to State­ ship," President Havel feels, will tend Here a touch of the old Marxist parasitism? The answer provided by a to produce alienation, and, in the skepticism is in order, I think. For speech in which he discussed this whom does President Havel speak problem, he appealed to German phi­ when he derides "consumerism" and I am far from being a losophers to help prevent this plunge "commercialism"? Whose interests are Marxist, but I must confess into alienation by turning to "the ser­ served by eclipsing the market econo­ vice of renewing global human re­ my and the voluntary choices of con­ that I find more truth in sponsibility, the only possible sumers? Friedrich Engels' description of salvation for the contemporary In the former socialist countries of the American political scene world." east-central Europe, as elsewhere, I doubt that we require the help of there is, of course, in place a stratum than I usually find on the edi­ German philosophers to remedy the of state-subsidized intellectuals, in the torial page of the New York "ills" caused by an over-emphasis on media, the arts, the press, and educa­ Times. the rights of the individual. In any tion. There is, moreover, a continuing case, what is this "dictatorship" of process of the reproduction of this consumerism, this "mindless material­ class. I suggest that their social contemporary French author, Ray­ ism," of which President Havel-and position requires an ideology to justify mond Ruyer, represents my own point many other literary intellectuals in the continuance of State-funds. Per­ of view, and, I think, that of authentic east-central Europe-speaks? Is it the haps the task of IIrenewing [sic] liberalism: provision of compact-disc electronic human global responsibility"-what­ One must fully recognize a great systems to tens and soon hundreds of ever that may be-will be at the center truth, which rings as a scandalous millions of people, enabling them to of it. paradox and a challenge to the beliefs listen to near-concert-hall-perfect ver­ The IIvulgar Marxism" that in the and quasi-religious faith of the intelli­ sions of the music of Tchaikovsky, past dismissed liberal ideology as gentsia, both in the West and the East, namely, that the only choice is "nothing but" the rationalization of between a bureaucratized political the interests of the bourgeoisie cannot State, seeking power and glory in Most of the relatively few stand the test of critical examination. every domain, including those of art Soviet bureaucrats dismissed Moreover, if that notion were true, and science; and an "anarchical" re­ perestroika then there would be no reason for our gime of self-direction in every eco­ under have been Soviet friends to be here today, listen­ nomic domain first of all, but also in rehired in new intermediate ing to the speeches of the "bourgeois culture. But the heart of the paradox agencies, sometimes headed by ideologists" collected at this Cato con­ is that it is only the liberal economic ference. order that can promote "the wither­ the former minister himself. It ing away of the State" and of poli­ I have stressed today a dimension is estimated that the number of tics-or at least their limitation-it is of liberal ideology that clearly has not centralizing socialism. 7 Cl Soviet bureaucrats has actually great relevance for every nation in the increased by 122,000. world. A New Zealand scholar, J. C. Davis, has recently reflected on the Notes rise of the Leviathan State during the 1. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Selected Rachmaninov, and Shostakovich? past four hundred years, a process Works in Three Volumes (Moscow: Progress Does it consist in making available, in spanning the globe: Publishers, 1983), vol. 1, p. 477. every Western country, well-produced The comprehensive, collective state 2. Ibid., vol. 2, p. 188. paperback editions of all the great with its assumption of obligations in 3. J~ome-Adolphe Blanqui, Histoire de l'"Economie Politique en Europe depuis les an­ works of literature and philosophy, every aspect of human liJe, from ciens jusque' nos jours (Paris: Guillaumin, health to employment, education to a and of all the modern works as well­ 1837), p. x. (Italics in original.) transport, defense to entertainment especially those that attack the "mate­ 4. Censeur Europeen, 7: 206 and 205. and leisure, is a feature of every ad­ rialism" of the capitalist system? In 5. A. Ernest Fitzgerald, The High Priests of America and other western countries, vanced state, whether of the East or Waste (New York: Norton, 1972), p. xii. the West, and of the aspirations of there are millions of people who have 6. J. C. Davis, Utopia and the Ideal Society: A most Third World governments. attained the degree of affluence that Study of English Utopian Writing 1516-1700 Curiously, both revolutionaries and (Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University permits them to interest themselves, in reactionaries, by their demands that Press, 1981), pp. 8-9. an amateurish way, in original works the state more closely control social 7. Raymond Ruyer, Eloge de la Societe de con­ of art-in drawings, paintings, sculp­ processes, have furthered the growth sommation (Paris: Calmann-L~vy, 1969), tures, and photographs. Their homes ofLeviathan. 6 pp. 266-267. 38 Liberty Profile

A Hero of Our Time James S. Robbins

Maybe Gorbachev merely stumbled into the role of great reformer. But then, his whole life has been a string of lucky breaks.

Nobody was surprised when the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev received the prize for doing in only a few months what Western diplo­ mats and negotiators had tried and failed to do for forty years, namely allowing the East European peoples a measure of self-determination, and agreeing to withdraw Soviet forces from the former subject states, and for ly by accident. The Gorbachev era has pursue these avenues early in his ca­ his reformist efforts inside the Soviet been characterized by the dismantling, reer as leader. Many others, including Union, where economic, political and or perhaps the implosion, of the tradi­ most classical liberals and libertarians, social change has proceeded at a diz­ tional system of Communist Party rule would argue that the real problem has zying pace, especially compared to the and its replacement with a political ap­ been that he has not gone far enough, stagnation in the 1970s and early paratus depending less on the direc­ fast enough. 1980s. tion of the Party and more on the When Gorbachev took his first hitherto emasculated and subservient steps towards reform, the question True, Gorbachev had presided state machinery. This transition from arose as to his sincerity. Was he anoth­ over the ruthless suppression of inde­ Party oligarchy to State "democracy" er of the CPSU (Communist Party of pendence movements in Georgia, has been hailed as revolutionary, and the Soviet Union) General Secretaries Azerbaijan and Armenia , and had ap­ l it has produced some pretty consider­ who would preach a vaguely reform­ plied pressure just short of force in the able third-party benefits-most nota­ ist line but continue the standard Baltic States and Moldavia. But peace­ bly relaxed East-West tensions and the Communist practices? Or was he in fulness has never been a prerequisite separation of Central Europe from the fact a liberal idealist who would send of winning the Peace Prize: Henry Soviet Empire. On the other hand, the the ailing Soviet state into a golden era Kissinger received the Prize in the rapid changes of the Gorbachev years of individual liberty and international wake of the Cambodian bombings, have also led to internal instabilities peace? These two poles are so far which were far more violent in terms and economic dislocations, lowering apart that Gorbachev could not help of scope and casualties than already abysmal Soviet standards of but fall somewhere in the middle, I Gorbachev's ventures into riot­ living to levels unplumbed since the suppose, but in this case I believe that control.· days of Stalin. this is exactly where he belongs. He is A year into the new decade, Gorbachev's empire appears to be neither an idealist of the socialist Mikhail Gorbachev stands at the brink coming apart at the seams. Many of its stripe nor a closet libertarian. He is a of an era that he created himself, most- problems are of his own making. The pragmatic politician, wise in the ar­ economic and political stagnation of cane science of rising through the It Ironically, the Soviets also agreed unilater­ the "Old Thinking" could, some peo­ labyrinthine Communist Party system, ally to lower troop levels more than was ple might argue, have been dealt with and in the art of political manipula­ specified in the CFE treaty, after two dec­ ades of negotiation, rendering the agree­ in a variety of fashions short of the tion, but a babe in the woods when it ment. meaningless by the time it was radical overhaul the Soviet system has comes to understanding economics or signed. undergone, and in fact Gorbachev did the advantages of freedom. The story Liberty 39 Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

of his rise to power may help explain softer on Stalin, who was still running through the Party ranks because of how a man so ill-informed of the con­ the country in those days, than are his their connections rather than their abil­ sequences of his actions could wind up present pronouncements. ities, and at this point in his life, leading the most important period of Gorbachev became a member of the Gorbachev was not into being an ex­ reform since the forced industrializa­ Communist Party in 1951, graduated ception to the rules. tion of the 193Os. by the skin of his teeth in 1955, and re­ In the early '70s Leonid Brezhnev Gorbachev's story begins humbly turned to Stavropol. The future presi­ was approaching the height of his enough. He was born March 2, 1931, in dent's departure from Moscow was powers and was actively promoting the North Caucasian village of not entirely voluntary. He tried to get supporters to solidify his control, but Privol'noye, which means "free" or appointed to a post with the Moscow surprisingly, Gorbachev's promotion "spacious" (referring to the landscape) Komsomol (Communist Youth) appa­ came because he was part of a compet­ but has also been translated as "liber­ ratus, which would have placed him at ing group. His patron was Fedor ty." His pa~ents were peasants and he the center of power and on the fast Kulakov, a Politburo member and a track within the Party. But, according rival to Brezhnev. There was even to Fridrikh Neznanskii, a former class­ some speculation that at some point Mikhail Gorbachev stands mate of Gorbachev's, he was edged out Kulakov might succeed Brezhnev as of the race by another classmate who Party leader. But he died unexpectedly at the brink of an era that he restructured "the votes the night be­ and mysteriouly in July 1978, leaving a created himself - mostly by fore the selection was made." The out­ political void. Gorbachev, of unproven accident. maneuvered Gorbachev was forced to competence and at age 48 just a baby return to the provinces for the next by Kremlin standards, was never a twenty-three years.'" contender for Kulakov's role within lived a peasant life, operating farm ma­ Back in the countryside, Gorbachev the power structure, but he was a chineryand staying close to the soil-a continued to work on his career in the small enough fry to be a perfect com­ romantic background in the Old Komsomol. In 1962 he became a party promise choice for entry into the System, if you didn't starve. In 1950, he organizer of collective and state farms, Politburo. Accordingly, he was ap­ went to the Moscow State University and took a correspondence course with pointed to that august body as a candi­ Law School, sponsored by the regional the Stavropol Agricultural Institute, date (i.e. apprentice) member on party of the city of Stavropol, the near­ from which he received a degree in November 17, 1979. est large city to Gorbachev's home­ Agronomy in 1967. In 1968 he became At long last Gorbachev was a gen­ town. His peasant status may have second secretary of the Stavropol krai­ uinely powerful person. As the new helped him in getting to Moscow; kom, and was given charge of agricul­ minister for agriculture, he took con­ under the Stalinist system, people of ture. Gorbachev tried some trol just in time to suffer the effects of modest backgrounds were sometimes innovations in this position, such as the poor harvest of 1979 and, shortly the beneficiaries of a sort of primitive limited private cultivation, but he ap­ thereafter, the American grain embar­ affirmative action program designed to pears to have not had much success, go imposed in the wake of the Soviet give the impression of an equal­ judging from the subsequent harvest invasion of Afghanistan. This placed opportunity classless society. But the years, which were poor. At this point pressure on the Soviet Union (and law school was not as prestigious as a Gorbachev, who was approaching 40, Gorbachev) to raise output in 1989, similar school might be in the West, was lagging a bit behind his peers, and both for purposes of prestige and to since lawyers in the time of Stalin were appeared to be set for a life as a mid­ offset U.S. sanctions. Resources were less advocates than part of the state level bureaucrat. directed away from other aspects of mechanism for control. Prosecutors In 1971 Gorbachev's luck changed the economy and towards agriculture, were feared, and defenders were non­ spectacularly. He was made a member but to no avail-1980 saw the usual entities. Both were regarded with even of the Central Committee of the CPSU. disastrous harvest. But Gorbachev did greater suspicion and contempt than Admittedly, this is not as important as not suffer the ignominy of so many lawyers in the West. None of this had it sounds; the Central Committee con­ previous heads of agriculture. Brezh­ any effect upon Gorbachev's career, tains hundreds of members, and has al­ nev thought himself an agricultural however, since he was less interested ways been a rubber stamp for the genius, and Gorbachev took care not to in legal studies than in political work. decisions of the Politburo. Still, this contradict the aging General Secretary, He is said to have had a propensity for promotion did signal that Gorbachev whose micromanagement left him with making speeches instead of studying, had found a mentor. It was usual in little to do. He made sure to agree with which had the predictable effect on his the Brezhnev era for individuals to rise Brezhnev that the basis of Soviet agri­ grades. It did not slow his political culture was sound, and only "better progress, however. None of Gor­ administration" was needed. Interest­ It Reportedly, the man who was appointed to ingly enough, Brezhnev, and therefore bachev's early speeches appear to have the Komsomol post instead of Gorbachev been recorded, so one can only specu­ was arrested on unspecified charges on the Gorbachev, favored increasing the size late as to their content. It is a pretty day that Gorbachev took power. If nothing of the "private plots," the 1.4% of peas­ safe bet, however, that he was a Iittle else, Gorbachev has a long memory. ant land which produces 61% of the 40 Liberty Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

potatoes, 54% of the fruit and 34% of health began to wane in the spring of portant Brezhnevites were out of the eggs in the Soviet Union. (It has 1983, Gorbachev was in a position to town), and was elected General even been suggested that in January, move up in the world. A good harvest Secretary. Purists who get alarmed by 1981 Gorbachev planned, with in 1983 (mostly the result of favorable this sort of thing will be disturbed by Brezhnev's approval, to do away with weather) helped his prospects. When the rumor that there was not even a many land use restrictions-excepting Andropov died in February, 1984, full quorum at this meeting. Even so, state ownership-but that this plan Gorbachev appeared to be one of the was scuttled when Ronald Reagan front runners to succeed him. This was ended the grain embargo on April 1!) quite a turnaround for a man who had Gorbachev is neither an ide­ Whatever the case, Soviet agriculture faced expulsion from the Politburo alist of the socialist stripe nor a continued to decline, and after the fail­ only a little over a year earlier, and ure of a vaunted food program in 1982, who had exercised very little real closet libertarian. He is a prag­ Gorbachev had reason to expect the power before that. matic politician, wise in the worst. Three years of such failure set Much of Andropov's authority had science of rising through the him up as a scapegoat for the failings been based on fear; as KGB chief, he inherent in the system and in had spent a decade and a half collect­ system and in the art of politi­ Brezhnev's detailed control of the agri­ ing potentially damaging information cal manipulation, but a babe in cultural sector, and the death of party on his opponents, suitable to pressure the woods when it comes to ideologist and old Kulakov ally them to support him or to subvert understanding economics or Mikhail Suslov the previous January them if they were persistent in their had left him without a patron. It opposition. With Andropov dead this the advantages offreedom. seemed clear that he would meet his fear abated, and the Brezhnevites (political) end at the November 16 ple­ found new life. Chernenko emerged a nary meeting of the CC. narrow winner. Gorbachev may have the vote for Gorbachev is said to have But fate intervened. Three days acquiesced to this choice, assuming been tied. Andrei Gromyko, who once after Breshnev attempted to dispel ru­ correctly that Chernenko, old and fail­ observed that Gorbachev had "a nice mors about his ill health by standing ing, would be swiftly done in by the smile, but iron teeth," cast the deciding job, leaving the path to power open ballot. Gorbachev proved Gromyko to and himself in the driver's seat. be correct by rewarding him with a The "anti-reform" group around pink slip. It was usual in the Brezhnev Chernenko tried to reverse the process era for individuals to rise of the previous 15 months, but they Luck, Pluck, and More Luck through the Party ranks be­ underestimated the extent of Gorbachev came to power through cause of their connections rath­ Andropov's changes. "Reformist" a string of fortunate circumstances. He Party members did not control the made connections in his youth, but not er than their abilities. Gorby's Politburo, but they did control much of really the right ones-had he been rise is a striking example of the bureaucracy and the major media more astute he might have linked up this. outlets and were able to launch a de­ with the Brezhnevite faction in the bate in the press over the shape of nec­ 196Os, or found a way to stay in the essary reforms, so the anti-reform capital after graduating from Moscow atop the Lenin Mausoleum in bitter movement was stalled. Probably its U. But after rising with Kulakov he cold during the November 7 parade biggest handicap was Chernenko's was able to shift allegiances skillfully celebrating the 60th anniversary of the cautious approach. Chernenko had an when expedient and to avoid the creation of the USSR, he died of a heart old man's terror of change and was un­ blame for the failures of Soviet agricul­ attack. Yuri Andropov was chosen able to stop the reformists from plac­ ture under his administration. This General Secretary over Brezhnev crony ing their own personnel in key was quite a political feat, although the Konstantine Chernenko. He immedi­ positions, although his faction was timely deaths of Brezhnev, Chernenko, ately implemented an "anti-corruption able to slow the rate at which these ap­ and Kulakov were essential to his suc­ campaign," the greatest purge of Party pointments were made. cess. Ideology was mostly unimpor­ personnel since the time of Stalin. When agricultural output fell to its tant, and there is nothing in Gorbachev's adherence to the minority usual deplorable level in 1984, Gorbachev's biography to suggest he Kulakov-Suslov faction now became Chernenko was in a position to push had any more liberal leanings than did his chief asset. He was clearly no for Gorbachev's dismissal. But he his predecessors. He came to power Brezhnevite; his adherence to ~he made no attempt-not even a half­ with no real plan. This fact explains Brezhnev line on agriculture had obvi­ hearted one-to do so. Chernenko's at­ many of the subsequent events. ously been a prudent career move and tempt to groom Viktor Grishin as a Gorbachev's first few years in nothing more. This was sufficient to successor died with him in February. power were a period of consolidation. make him a member of the Andropov Gorbachev hastily convened a meeting He continued Andropov's "anti­ "reformist" camp. When Andropov's of the truncated Politburo (several im- corruption campaign" with renewed Liberty 41 Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

vigor, ousting adversaries and bring­ This process began at the Nineteenth Republics, where Communists were ing friends into leadership positions. Party Conference in 1988. Gorbachev defeat~d by significant margins in the When he became more powerful he enhanced the power of the Supreme Congressional and RepUbliC elections. dropped the "anti-eorruption" cover Soviet (the parliament) at the expense These groups have pushed for separa­ and began outright purges of his ene­ of the CC, and created the·Congress of tion from the Soviet Union, taking mies, whom he replaced with people Peoples' Deputies, an all-purpose re­ Gorbachev's own decentralization whose loyalty was to him and who formist body with ill-defined but po­ would co-operate with his reform at­ tentially broad powers. Elections to the tempts. Congress became referenda on The future does not look To counter the influence of the Communist candidates, many of promising for Gorbachev. But Politburo, Gorbachev increased the whom lost and were purged. The influ­ it never really has. Somehow powers of the Secretariat of the Central ence of the ministerial bureaucracy in­ Committee. Then, in November 1988, creased vis-a-vis the CPSU, and Party he has managed to confound he subverted the Secretariat by shift­ management of the economy and soci­ both his enemies and his ting many of its powers to six CC ety diminished. friends and to slip by the many Commissions created earlier in the That is the situation today. The adversities he has faced. year. When the six Commissions, con­ KGB, MVD and Ministry of Defense trolled by powerful and generally are watched by the Supreme Soviet, more conservative regional Party boss­ and as the duties of the Politburo have scheme to its logical conclusion. es, became difficult to deal with, decreased, the Defense Council, a non­ Gorbachev has resisted these attempts Gorbachev got around them by distrib­ party organization, has stepped into the void as a stop-gap, to be replaced (most notably in the Baltic States), but uting more power to local leaders, in it is questionable whether he could many cases his own appointees, who eventually by a new Presidential Cabinet. Gorbachev has gradually react to mass secession by half a dozen were more amenable to his reforms. Republics. This is Vividly illustrated by The Central Committee, which has moved his power base and the govern­ ing power of Soviet society from the attempts by President of the Russian been a focus of opposition, was purged Republic Boris Yeltsin to challenge the regularly, most dramatically in April, Party to the state while remaining in . charge of both. authority of the central government to any economic management of Russian The shift from Party to state rule resources. There have also been dem­ was more the result of expediency than onstrations by Russian nationalist There is nothing to suggest theory. Gorbachev was not implement­ groups favoring secession from the that Gorbachev had any more ing a master plan for reform. Had the USSR. Such a development would party gone along, Gorbachev would liberal leanings than did his leave Gorbachev a president without a have used it. When it didn't, he adapt­ predecessors. But he was inter­ state, and would effectively end his ed. He pursued reform until he met op­ political career. ested in shaking the dust out of position; when it became too strong, he Economic deprivation has also in­ side-stepped the opposition, giving the Soviet state, and the fact tensified, and these are points stressed new power to another body. that he came to power with no by the opponents of reform in their But there are limits to the amount quest to bring back socialism. Vladimir real plan about how to do so of twisting Gorbachev can do before he explains many of the subse­ Yakushev, of the Workers' Opposition, begins to run into barriers that cannot has stated that these problems have quent events. be circumvented. With the more radi­ arisen precisely because of the at­ cal reformers out of the CPSU, the re­ tempts to abandon socialism. Radical maining power is in the hands of die­ reformers, such as Nikolai Slyun'kov, 1989, when 110 members were re­ hard socialists. Not surprisingly, oppo­ counter that it is the slow transition to leased, promting a comment from sition to reform within the Party re­ a market economy that is to blame, Izvestia's P. Gutionov that Gorbachev mains strong, and is intensifying. and that for reform to succeed the old was making the Party "a debating Despite Gorbachev's efforts to reduce system must be thrown out quickly society" instead of society's guiding the Party's power, he cannot simply and completely. This is probably the force. declare the Party over, since much of case, but such an argument may not And that was exactly what his legitimacy still rides on it. seem relevant to people facing increas­ Gorbachev was doing. He had de­ Gorbachev also faces opposition ing shortages of basic necessities. They clared himself to be a reformer on the from outside the Party. His use of the are more likely to flock to those who way to the top, and now he needed to Congress to move reform forward has distribute immediate relief than those follow through if he was to retain the worked to a certain extent, but the who promise future wealth but only support of those people who had taken Congress has become increasingly a after short-term sacrifice. ~m seriously. The Party had resisted forum for criticism of Gorbachev. Whence came the radical reformers his reforms, so he sought to implement Linked to this is opposition from na­ them through the state organs instead. tionalist groups in the various Union continued on page 45 42 Liberty Critique Abortion and Feticide Are Not the Same Thing by Eric Schendel, M.D.

In the September issue, Dr Ron Paul argued that RU486, the controversial abor­ tifacient, should not be banned. He also gave a moving account of why he be­ lieves abortion to be wrong. It is to this latter point that Dr Schendel responds.

The "slippery slope" that Ron Paul invokes to justify his opposition to abortion is a straw-man. In order to reach his conclusion that abortion is immoral, he employs two dif­ ferent definitions of abortion and ends up confusing fundamental libertarian principles. The term "abortion" is commonly applied to both miscarriage and feti­ cide. It proper!y refers to a miscar­ than at conception. Thus Dr Paul is with homicide. We would consider riage-that is, the premature correct that the nonaggression princi­ him a freedom fighter, not a murderer. expulsion of the fetus, an occurrence ple is involved. However, it applies The implications would be similar that until recently was natural. Its only to feticide, not to abortion. even if the master were quadriplegic modern usage has expanded to in­ The reason involves another liber­ and physically unable (as opposed to clude medical expulsion of the fetus. tarian principle, one that is a corollary psychologically unwilling) to work The word does not mean the fetus has of the nonaggression principle. The and feed himself. We might consider it to be dead. corollary is that nobody has the right unfortunate that no one was willing to Feticide, on the other hand, does to force another person to be his slave. feed the slave-owner, and if we mean killing the fetus. This principle is also fundamental: weren't hypocrites we ourselves An abortion is not the same thing as there are no exceptions. might help him. However we still feticide. Technically, whenever a doc­ An analogy will illustrate why would not consider the slave a mur­ tor uses pitocin to induce labor so that abortion cannot be an exception. Sup­ derer for striking for freedom. he does not have to come in at 2 a.m. to pose that a slave in the antebellum The same arguments apply to abor­ deliver the baby, he is performing an South went on strike and demanded tion. A woman who decides to expel abortion, and doing so solely for the his freedom. Suppose further that his the fetus implanted in her by a rapist convenience of himself or the mother. master was incorrigibly lazy and re­ because she does not wish to be its Therefore it must not be abortion per fused to work, claiming it was the di­ slave (and, not coincidentally, perhaps se that Dr Paul opposes. Presumably vine order of things that black people risk her career, marital happiness, he opposes abortion because he take care of white people like himself. health or life by carrying it to term) is equates it with feticide, which he re­ And finally, let this slave-owner be not committing murder. The fetus has gards as a violation of the nonaggres­ poor, with only one slave and no other no more right to live off her against sion principle. property of value. Then, if the slave her will than the slave-owner did. It is true that libertarians, in com­ persisted in his strike and the master Once she expels the fetus, it is no mon with most of humanity, regard in his refusal to soil his hands with more her concern. If the rapist, Dr human life as sacred and deserving of honest labor, the master would even­ Paul or some do-gooder wishes to the protection of law. It may also be tually starve to death. save it with modern (or future) tech­ true that there is no rational way of It is hard to imagine that anyone nology, at his own expense and there­ defining the beginning of life other would support charging the slave after adopt it, she couldn't care less. Liberty 43 Volume 4, Number3 Janu 1991

The infanticide bogeyman that Dr the pastthis wasnot a realistic option. material support, and her only means Paul uses in his argument against Thus historically many societies of refusing is to expel the fetus. That is abortion can be understood in the sanctioned infant abandonment, de­ the libertarian argument why abortion same context. Linguistically the term, spite the consequences to the infant. must be permitted. like feticide and homicide, refers to a They did this because they recognized However, once she expels it she killing. It conjures up images of doc­ that even the child's right to life did gives up any claim to it, and thereafter tors or parents murdering little babies. not supersede his parents' right not to Yet it is often used to refer to the be enslaved. At least in this context act of abandoning an infant. In the they realized that one person has no The fetus does not have any past, parents placed unwanted chil­ moral right to force another to be his dren outside to die of starvation and slave. And even today we allow par­ intrinsic right to be fed and the elements. In a sense they were say­ ents to abandon their children, al­ nourished, because such a ing, we don't want this baby, if you though now we insist they abandon right would make the woman want him you can have him. In an age them to an adoption agency. when abortion was not feasible and The reason infant abandonment its slave. The woman has the birth control was ineffective, many so­ was acceptable lies in the fundamental right to refuse to provide such cieties viewed infant abandonment as distinction between killing someone material support, and her only a rational method of family planning. and letting him die. We see this dis­ In the context of modern mores and tinction clearly in the case of the slave means of refusing is to expel the wealth created by the industrial and his lazy owner. We acknowledge the fetus. That is why abortion revolution this seems shocking. Recall, it, reluctantly, in the slave and a para­ must be permitted. however, that in a society living in lyzed owner. We are beginning to rec­ poverty and on the edge of famine, one ognize it in "active" and "passive" extra mouth to feed (not to mention euthanasia. However, neither the pro­ one extra mouth every nine months) any concerned citizen may adopt it. choice nor the right-to-live partisans Today, of course, such adoption is not might be truly disastrous for the rest of acknowledge it in the issue of abortion practical, but in the future it may well the family. Dividing a subsistence diet versus feticide. be feasible. What, then, are the moral implica­ This brings up another issue. There tions of abortion? will be some women, such as those The reason infant abandon­ As mentioned before, the funda­ who have been raped, who not only ment was acceptable lies in the mental tenet of libertarianism is the will not want to carry the fetus, but non-aggression principle. It states that will not want it to exist. In other fundamental distinction be­ each individual has the right to de­ words, they will not want a person tween killing someone and let­ mand to be left alone as long as he around carrying their genes, perhaps ting him die. leaves others alone. This is a so-called because they detest the rapist, or be­ negative right. An individual does not cause they fear they may develop ma­ have the right to be fed because that ternal instincts toward it in the future. barely adequate for four people five would require that someone be forced These women will want the right not ways could result in severe malnutri­ to create the food and feed him. On the only to have an abortion, but also to tion and illness. H the breadwinners other hand, he does have the right not commit explicit feticide. Should that be became incapacitated, then the whole to be murdered, because that right allowed? family, including the new infant, merely requires that everyone refrain This concern now is moot, as it is might perish. In such a context limit­ from murdering him. impossible to abort a pregnancy in the ing family size was a moral necessity We generally recognize the priority first trimester without killing the fetus. and often abandonment of the new­ of negative rights over positive ones At some point in the future it will have born infant was the only practical solu­ when they involve able-bodied adults. to be addressed. The justification for tion. Today such an unwanted child We are much more ambivalent when abortion outlined above does not clari­ would be abandoned to an adoption they involve children. Although nowa­ fy it. Any right to feticide depends on agency. days parents may abandon their in­ the definition of when human life be­ Similarly, in a larger context, when fants to an adoption agency, they may gins. In point of fact, the current argu­ society as a whole faced famine as the not leave them on a doorstep. This ments for and against abortion actually result of drought, war or whatever, it may technically violate the prohibition apply to feticide. would have seemed reasonable to prac­ against slavery, but it would seem a A partial solution is to minimize tice infant abandonment. H someone not unreasonable compromise. the number of women who demand had to starve because of limited re­ Similarly, the fetus does not have feticide. This could be done by expli­ sources, society would suffer least in any intrinsic right to be fed and nour­ citly granting women the right of total the long term if it expelled the nonpro­ ished, because such a right would abandonment. That is, if a woman ductive members. Nowadays we make the woman its slave. The woman chooses to abandon her offspring, ei­ would postpone childbearing, but in has the right to refuse to provide such ther by aborting it or by giving it up 44 Liberty Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

for adoption, society should recognize infanticide and true or active infanti­ human life-certainly anencephaly no claim against her by the child. For cide. Just as abandoning a baby to an should qualify-and implied consent. example, it would have no legal stand­ adoption agency is moral, it is also In dosing, it is worth mentioning ing as an heir. Both to enforce this and moral for parents, physicians or socie­ that the abortion controversy is an ex­ to grant the woman the emotional dis­ ty to refuse to provide (but not to pro­ ample of the larger conflict between tance she needs to prevent activation hibit others from providing) heroic involuntary altruism and rational self­ of her maternal instincts, she should medical treatment of severely de­ ishness. However, unlike most exam­ have the right to remain ignorant of formed infants, thus allowing them to ples of that conflict, it is one where whether the fetus survives, and if it die. The slippery slope involves with­ most modern liberals are on our side. survives it should have no way of holding lesser forms of medical treat­ Therefore it offers an excellent oppor­ tracking her down as long as she does ment such as oxygen and feeding tunity to persuade the intellectual es­ not want to know whether it survived. tubes, and progresses to ordinary feed­ tablishment of the folly of involuntary This could be accomplished by plac­ ing and finally the question of whether altruism and so-called positive rights. ing all adoptable aborted fetuses in a euthanasia is moral if it would spare Developing a compromise national pool, and keeping no record of their the infant a slow and painful natural policy on abortion based on the dis­ parents. death. Any resolution of this very com­ tinction between true abortion and fet­ Although not relevant to abortion, plicated issue involves consideration icide may go a long way toward Dr Paul's concerns about infanticide of when human life begins, at what solving such problems as welfarism do have merit. The true "slippery point does damage to the brain de­ and the increasing trend toward so­ slope" is the grey area between passive prive a human body of the essence of cialized medicine. 0

Robbins, 1/A Hero of Our Time," continued from page 42

to the Gorbachev camp? To answer tolerance for these ideas. When they ranked first, and radical reformist this, one must return to the philoso­ serve his ends, he endorses them; Yurii Afanas'ev fourth. Gorbachev phy department of Moscow University when they don't, hE! loses interest. was nowhere in the poll. He demand­ in the 1950s, where young Raisa Tito­ Glasnost, for example, was originally a ed the resignation of editor Vladislav renko, Gorbachev's future wife, stud­ method of using public criticism to re­ Starkov, requested all letters critical of ied and to which she later returned as move particularly resistant Party him received by the magazine, and ac­ a professor of sociology. Here, accord­ leaders. Criticism in a certain area cused those who received ratings bet­ ing to former International Depart­ would be opened up, a media cam­ ter than his of being "a clique of ment member Evgenii Novikov, she paign would result, the official in gangsters striving for power." was very popular among the "leftists" charge would be purged, and the Boris Yeltsin's dismissal from the on the faculty. She brought these peo­ campaign would end. Glasnost was Politburo for criticizing Gorbachev is ple to the attention of her husband, also used as a means for introducing also instructive in the limits of dissent. and it was they who formed the key new ideas for reform, and for criti­ For Gorbachev, liberalism is a means, group in conceptualizing various as­ cism of the Old Thinking, a favored not an end. pects of the ever-changing course of theme. But there have always been ex­ The future does not look promis­ perestroika. ceptions to "openness," especially ing for Gorbachev. But it never really But there are limits to Gorbachev's when criticism touches Gorbachev has. Somehow he has managed to con­ himself. In October found both his enemies and his 1989, he took to task friends and to slip by the many adver­ members of the sities he has faced. Perhaps his survi­ media and some Peo­ val and prosperity is a result of fear ples' Deputies for among his opponents, fear that "the c::~.'. their statements. other side" might take over and a The magazine Ar- crackdown or chaos result. Maybe it ~ gumenty i Fakty (Ar­ comes from Gorbachev's ability to guments and Facts) wend his way through opposition in had published a poll pursuit of his goal of a revitalized So­ showing the most viet state. Perhaps both. In any case, tl~ ~ his skill as a politician is manifest; and popular of the depu­ ties, most of whom if by some unlikely twist of fate Mi­ were members of the khail Gorbachev manages to build a liberal Interregional state which bears more than a superfi­ group. Andrei Sakha­ cial resemblance to the Western de­ rov (who died a mocracies, it will be an achievement "What's all this stuff I hear about a teacher shortage?­ short time later) was well worth applauding. 0 I have plenty!" Liberty 45 Budget~talk Lies, Liberalism, and Lip-Reading by Loren E. Lomasky

After a budget "compromise" that seems likely to compromise most of the bud­ gets of America, our editors couldn't resist wondering about the ethics behind it.

They were, after Madonna's, the most memorable lips in America. Millions of voters read and liked what they heard. Buoyed by the slogan "No new taxes!" George Bush was elevated to the White House. But that was then and this is now. Economic advisors have crunched Willie Horton parole!" pledge. ers have known for years of the hem­ their numbers and peered at the chick­ Still, the episode merits more than orrhage to come, and it was on the en entrails. They concluded that the a cynical dismissal. For George Bush inside that Mr Bush had prepped for deficit, rather than fading into noth­ had gone to extraordinary lengths to the preceding eight years. No, the ingness, is ballooning again to $200 paint himself into the corner of "unforeseen exigencies" plea is unper­ billion-plus proportions. Something irrevocable opposition to tax increas­ suasive. "responsible" had to be done, and es. He deliberately rejected opportuni­ The above is intended not to score Bush is, as he has often informed us, ties to add conditions or qualifications some cheap political point but rather a nothing if not a prudent man. The lips, to the assurance. "No new taxes," it cheap philosophical point. Since the was, straight and unmixed, and the seventeenth century, the preferred now noticeably drawn and parched, American public was rather taken by mode of liberal democratic political offered a new text: "revenue enhance­ the figure of the erstwhile wimp theory has been that of the "social con­ ment." Congress ultimately hummed drawing a line in the sand with his tract." Philosophers within this tradi­ along, though not before performing lips. Something very much like a con­ tion stylize relations among ordinary their best Abbott and Costello imi­ tract wastendered to the voters, and a citizens and their rulers as the product tation. solid rnajority signed on the dotted of a (hypothetical) contract in which Perhaps it would be wrong to line. all parties pledge themselves to bind­ make too much of this about-face. Now its terms have been unilater­ ing norms governing their civic inter­ After all, the half-life of campaign ally abrogated, and for no extraordi­ changes. No man is the natural ruler promises matches that of trans-uranic nary reasons. War has not broken out, of any other, these philosophers main­ elements for brevity. That this one per­ and though Operation Desert Shield is tain; it is only through rational consent sisted for a third of a term places it racking up costs in the billions, they that political duties emerge. Therefore, distinctly above the median. The hot are more than balanced by the col­ they urge, a political order is legiti­ breath of Gramm-Rudman was blow­ lapse of the Soviet empire and the mate only if it could have been gener­ ing on the national neck, and the reser­ consequent "peace dividend" of ated by such reciprocal promises. voir of accounting chicanery had been which Mr Bush is the fortunate benefi­ Initial agreement, though neces­ sucked dry in previous budget years. ciary. The economy is, admittedly, sary, is, of course, not sufficient to Once congressional Democrats show­ sputtering, but the president's about­ guarantee legitimacy. It is crucial that ed themselves willing to be implicated face occurred while it was still com­ individuals be required to live up to in tax increases, the political fallout fortably to the far side of recession. To the pledges they offer. If some comply appeared to be manageable. The next be sure, failed S&L's suck up federal with the terms of the compact while campaign could be waged on the dollars at an alarming rate, but that's others remain at liberty to toss them backs of flag burners and a "No new not exactly a surprise. Political insid- aside as may seem expedient, the con- 46 Liberty Volume 4, Number3 Janu 1991

tract is rendered null and void. The some pigs are more telegenic than oth­ Central Europe should understand. term of art employed by these theo­ ers and squeal more pleasantly, it is an The opportunity to jump between fry­ rists to refer to the abrogation of the entirely open question just whose ing pans and fires is preferable to being political order is "state of nature." Iri bacon will be brought home. consigned permanently to the flames. some versions it is identified with the What then of the warrant of liberal Americans do not live in the worst of state of war. democracy? Evidently it is more mod­ political worlds, far from it. But neither Whatever else Mr Bush may be, he est than its numerous celebrants pro­ is it one that can bear the full weight of is surely no political philosopher. Yet fess. The periodic cumulation of votes the regnant democratic ideology. his recent twistings and turnings have, by no means ensures the sway of any­ I believe, interesting philosophical im­ thing representing a "general will." plications. Bush was not content in The process of translating citizens' Citizens in a democracy 1988 to package himself before the preferences into policy determinations electorate as a wise and good man of is distorted by high and persistent lev­ enjoy the opportunity to considerable experience. Rather, as els of noise. That is one reason why it "throw the rascals out"-no much as was in his power he under­ is fatuous for the pundits to routinely small benefaction as any ob­ took to bind himself to a fixed plat­ bemoan the degradation of political server of last year's events in form of opposition to tax increases. He campaigns into a cascade of sound would look ridiculous, be self-indicted bites and empty symbolic gestures. Central Europe should under­ as a liar, if the notorious lips subse­ Why should voters invest time and en­ stand. The opportunity to quently wavered. By voluntarily fore­ ergy to ascertain the wrinkles and nu­ jump between frying pans and closing his political options, Bush gave ances of platforms if these will every impression of entering into a so­ routinely dissolve before the ballots fires is preferable to being con­ cial contract with the voters. None­ grow cold? It is more sensible to re­ signed permanently to the theless, the deed has been done. Bush gard candidate declarations as one flames. proposed, Congress disposed, and the does the alluring voices at the other American public will pay. end of the "Romance Hotline": end­ 1essly titillating but with no consum­ We do not, through our political in­ mation in prospect. stitutions, rule ourselves or anything The casting of ballots has be­ Admittedly, citizens in a democracy close. However, when we act in our enjoy the opportunity to "throw the private capacity as consumers and come merely an elaborate way rascals out"-no small benefaction as producers, as friends, lovers, propa­ to buy a pig in a poke, and any observer of last year's events in gandists, competitors, adventurers, though some pigs are more tele­ genic than others and squeal he federal government has been financing the multi-billion dollar inter­ more pleasantly, it is an entire­ spending money like a drunken est bill of the national debt on the pro­ T sailor, and even the dimwits in jection that interest rates will fall to 4.2% ly open question just whose Congress are aware that they can't ... an interest rate that hasn't prevailed bacon will be brought home. continue to spend $200 billion more in the lifetime of mostAmericans. each year than they collect in taxes. Then, reluctantly, they decided to So what do they do? raise taxes. Their first thought was to We have been graced with an al­ First they cut spending "to the raise "sin" taxes-taxes on gasoline, most laboratory-pure example of the bone." One wonders where in the beer, wine, etc. But this proved unpop­ frailty of the model of politics-as­ body politic the fat ends and the bone ular, so they discovered a new target: contract. It was evidently the consen­ begins: hidden in the 24-pound docu­ "millionaires who don't pay their fair sus of the electorate that they wished ment that Congress passed is an ap­ share." This theme proves very popular to be burdened with no additional tax­ propriation for $500,000 for a with voters-very few of whom are ation. A government whose legitima­ Lawrence Welk Museum in Stras­ millionaires. cy is devolved from being "of the burg, North Dakota. An additional $5 Along the way, Congress killed the people, by the people, and for the peo­ million was set aside to pay for the good features of the Reagan tax re­ ple" should, presumably, comply. It construction of new parliament· forms, namely, cutting rates so people does not, and no recourse is at hand. buildings in the Solomon Islands. A will have an incentive to work harder One can be pardoned for wondering special tax concession of nearly $200 and doing away with deductions that what our rituals of periodically trot­ million to encourage the production encourage people to spend more time ting off to the polls can signify if they of ethanol as an alternative fuel will trying to manipulate their tax situation afford no assurance that even the end up benefitting a single company, than they do working. most vociferous declarations of candi­ Archer-Daniel-Midland Co. Their work done, members of dates will endure. The casting of bal­ Then, they reduced projected Congress went home for some last min­ lots becomes merely an elaborate way spending further by outright fraud. ute electioneering, proud of a job well to buy a pig in a poke, and though For example, they figured the cost of done. --R.W.Bradford Liberty 47 Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

dreamers, and creators we do deter- ensure the possibility of leading satis­ conducted in a retirement home, a mine for what ends and with what de- fying lives but by narrowing the range number of old people urged upon gree of involvement we shall act. No over which they can, take your pick, do Congress its responsibility not to make amount of tinkering with the political good on our behalf/play us for the them pay any of the increased costs of mechanism will afford us similar op- sucker. This, more than any specifically the medical and other services ren­ portunity to exercise an effective voice. democratic credo of "one person, one dered them. One old person (no, if That is why, although democratic insti- vote" or "power to the people" is the they're senior citizens, I want to see tutions are important, limiting the heart of the doctrine of classical liberal­ them act like it) maintained that if scope of the state is even more impor- ism. No wonder, then, that Mr Bush's Congress did not help her-help her, tant. It is not through reliance on the lips cringe when required to pro­ that is, with money taken from taxpay­ promises of our governors that we best nounce the "L-word." 0 ers-she might have to ask her children for help, and this would represent an intolerable state of dependency. Not a word was said, of course, about the nearly intolerable burden of Social Security payments that the gov­ ernment already imposes on everyone The Evils of Theft and about which one might expect life­ long payers of Social Security to be at by Stephen Cox least slightly concerned. Anyhow: this person's new moral assumption is even more interesting than Mikulski's. The assumption is that "What's that in your hand, Mikulski delivering herself of the fol­ it is right to coerce assistance from total Johnny?" asked Mrs Reynolds, glanc­ lowing remarks, a propos the budget strangers, but wrong to request assis­ ing down at the dollar bills that the lit­ crisis: "Let us remember: the middle tance from family members; and, fur­ tle boy was counting on his way into class in this country has no more to ther, that one is independent so long as the classroom. "Is that something you give; the poor have nothing to give; so one depends on the taxpayers instead got during recess?" let's go and get it from those who got of on one's family. "Yes, Mrs Reynolds." it." Very interesting. But the most re­ "And how did you get it, Johnny?" Of course, it's Mikulski's gram­ markable thing about the two televised "I took it from LeAnn." mar-or lack thereof-that makes the moral lessons was the enraged self­ "And why didn't you take it from big, immediate impression. Then it's righteousness of the new morality's Tommy or Karen? They're the children her rhetoric: the telling insertion of "in teachers. The retiree screamed into the you usually take money from." this country," that pointless cliche that microphone, face distorted with rage, "I already took all their money. emerges, like a tell-tale fragrance, in demanding her obvious rights as a They didn't have any left. But LeAnn every remark of every modern-liberal human being; the congresswoman rant­ still had plenty." politician. (Why do they say this? ed like an angry parent reminding a "Oh, I see. But what about Martha? Where did it start? Is it an ineradicable fractious child of its obvious respon­ I think she has some money." residue of the hate-America syndrome sibilities. "But Mrs Reynolds! Martha's my that has cost liberals so many elec­ But why the rage, if all is so obvi­ sister! I'd never take money from my tions? Or is it the gesture merely of a ous? Perhaps because it takes a lot of sister!" feckless geographical pedantry, an in­ emotion to assert oneself as a moral ''That's right, Johnny. I forgot. sistence that everyone remember the agent in the service of a morality that is You're such a nice little boy-and it's simple truth that this is a country like self-evidently absurd. so good for the other children to have every other country and that we are ac­ It grieves me to think of so grue­ you for class president." tually in it?) some a metaphor for a respectable old She gave the child an affectionate Once you get past the words, how­ lady and a hard-working legislator, but pat on the head. "Now get along in, ever, you see the point. Mikulski as­ the news of October 17 and 18 remind­ Johnny. It's time for American sumes that Johnny will have sufficient ed me of nothing so much as a theft I history." justification for taking LeAnn's money once witnessed on a New York bus. A This isn't exactly what happens in if he can show that the other children gang of young punks suddenly sur­ America's primary schools-at least I have run out of money for him to take. rounded a well-dressed, older man; hope they haven't degenerated quite The idea of repressing Johnny's (or the one of them screamed, "Hey man, he's that far. But it is what happens in that government's) desire for additional got my watch! The */ &%!*# stole my great big American history lesson, the funds simply does not arise. watch!", then ripped the watch from its television news. Another example of this new mo­ astonished owner. As the gang leaped On October 18, CBS Evening News rality appeared on CNN's broadcasts from the bus, they were all shrieking displayed Congresswoman Barbara of October 17. In a series of interviews obscenely about the evils of theft. 0 48 Liberty Sermon

The Hope in the Schools by Karl Hess

Sometimes the solution to a problem is right under your nose. Sometimes your preconceptions-even (egad!) your ideology-prevent you from seeing that so­ lution. For instance ...

Check this one out for yourself. In the next six stories regarding education, as covered in your local newspaper, see how many consider education to relate to the cultivation of effective manners of thinking. In my own experience in a very typical American small town with a tion president," my state of West Vir­ committees of distinguished citizens daily newspaper, the answer is ginia has an "education governor." that meet regularly to stare dumb­ "none." Both of these heroes of education ap­ founded at a system that cannot even Where are the comments of the proach the subject in a largely tectonic guarantee that every student in it can people who do the work in the and vocational manner: pay higher sal­ read an English sentence. So, natural­ schools-even in the government aries to teachers and administrators ly, they debate how to raise test scores. schools? What do teachers think about (particularly the latter), build more If their arguments carry the day, this? No one seems to care. The loud­ buildings, and buy more audio-visual my county will join those many others est voices in the education debate gadgetry. Of course, these approaches in which test scores keep going up seem to be those of the teacher union fail miserably to help people become while intellectual attainment obviously pros. They want cash. creative, self-managing, and literate keeps going down. Check out your local school-board enough to re-Iearn ways of working on And how is this educational Gres­ meeting. Let some fired-up young a regular basis-which is the thing hamism accomplished? teacher talk about teaching and the most needful in this age of megabytes Many schools simply cheat. Test meeting immediately shifts subjects. and realigning markets. scores are becoming about as dependa­ For instance, the subject changes at In the county where I live, with a ble as federal budget predictions. Oth­ near light-speed when some teacher population of only about 40,000, the ers teach to the test and we can predict shyly suggests that high drop-out rates superintendent is paid $73,000 a year. huge hunks of tax money soon being might have something to do with kids What do we get for one of the highest spent on "enrichened" school courses who are simply bored to death and, in salaries in the entire county? One of on how to take tests in school and in point of fact, might learn more read­ the state's highest drop-out rates and business and industry. ing, writing, and arithmetic at a fast an annual graduation of students Companies that maintain person­ food eatery ... most of whom have trouble reading nel departments that take this test ba­ The debates and the stories about all the way through a newspaper. We loney seriously deserve the labor education do not even jiggle what is also get actually illiterate young unrest, bankruptcy, and even psycho­ one of the most powerful special inter­ adults. And in our nearby college we pathic sabotage that the glassy-eyed est group in our nation: the adminis­ get freshman classes many of whose test-taking whizzes, in their bored in­ trators of the education system itself. members require basic remedial read­ competence, will bring to them. And the politicians, well, they pose as ing assistance to even have a faint Now, I understand that the schools the heroes, and usually get away with chance of reading their class work in a truly free society would avoid it. assignment. most of these problems because school Just as the nation has an "educa- As always, there are distinguished attendance would be a matter of Liberty 49 Volume4 Number3 Janu 1991

choice, not compulsion and, in order to ment or non-government schools, is to have any student customers at all, the be free to do their work in that context. classrooms would have to offer more In short, leave them alone. Sure, How to than the idiot-level drivel of most censure or separate them if they screw school text books. up intolerably or make everyone furi­ Subscribe But the sad fact may be that we ous; but mainly leave them alone. don't even have a chance of a free mar­ If they can teach and if the kids re­ ket, laissez faire society so long as the spond, glorify them. If they can't teach, to landscape continues to be cluttered and if the kids don't respond, then fire with perhaps nice but undeniably them with no more compunction than Liberty dumb or thoughtless people. you'd sack any other dingdong. Teach­ Grudgingly, then, I have come to ac­ ing is important work, not to be left to cept the existence of government the incompetent. It is not meant to fill Liberty celebrates the schools as something that will be with file drawers with official statistics. It is diversity of libertarian us for some time. It seems to me clearly meant to fill young human minds with thought! impossible to even fantasize about a the absolute glory of the human ability truly free society without considerable to think. Liberty tackles the tough problems. discussion of the school issue-and a Personally, I am not in a panic Every issue of Liberty presents es­ discussion that includes a decent voice about the "education crisis." The few says studying current trends in po­ for ordinary teachers. who actually change the world with litical and social thought; I hear from the teachers whom I re­ their dreams and gadgets are certainly discussions of the strategy and tac­ spect-the ones who are not simple, tics of social change; analyses of present in greater abundance than ever. current events and challenges to sluggard time-servers watching their Not even the ninnies with the cruelest popular beliefs. Liberty also offers lives ooze on toward pension time and systems of oppression have been able lively book reviews, fiction and whose interest in children is mainly in to kill them off. (Good thing for the nin­ humor. passing them up through the grades, nies! They'd starve without the elite.) on schedule, with paperwork properly But I am also an unabashed senti­ You won't want to miss a single issue! done-that what they want is neither mentalist when it comes to my neigh­ complicated nor costly. bors and their kids. For purely selfish Money-Back Guarantee They merely want to be allowed to satisfaction, I'd prefer to have them as At any time during your subscrip­ control their own classrooms, to use bright as could be. tion, we will guarantee a full pro­ their knowledge to adapt to the reality And that, to close this sermon, is rated refund for any unmailed is­ they see before them: a raggle-taggle why I am never again going to dump sues. No questions asked! bunch of kids who learn in a dozen dif­ on teachers as a group just because Act Today! ferent ways, who can be excited or they teach in government schools. I dulled out in even more ways. now know too many who truly, pas­ Liberty offers you the best in liber­ sionately believe in the power of the tarian thinking and writing. So They want administrators to stick to don't hesitate. With our guarantee, the maintenance work and not make mind. They believe any child can be you have nothing to lose, and the minute educational policy decisions for helped to develop that power. fruits of Liberty to gain! every classroom teacher. They don't They may not be libertarians but want to spend their time filling out they are a significant part of the great­ semi-fraudulent forms to prove how est hope we have for a free society. ... ------.,,Please enter my subscription well things are going. They know that Sneering at them is as idiotic, in my YeS. to Liberty immediately! the proof is in the pupil. view, as the thug-ugly stupidity of the They know that the way you find Nazi hero who bled to death rather a One Full Year (6 issues) $19.50 a Two Full years (12 issues) $35.00 out if Joanna can read is to ask the kid than let a Jew attend his wounds. Add $5 per year for foreign subscriptions. to read something. If you want to go Libertarians truly need to think and fully radical, you could even ask what rethink their relationship and possible name they understood the words to mean. influence on the schools (particularly But there isn't time for all that, some the elementary ones). They know, you address officials say. know, I know that most of our kids are city. state, zip Nonsense. Beginning in the earliest going to go to government schools. If [J I enclose my check (payable to Liberty) grades, time could and should be divid­ we start right there, seek out and sup­ [J Charge my [J VISA [J Mastercard ed up so that there is no time for any­ port the lively teachers who just want thing else until the vital functions of to encourage kids to think, we might reading and writing and basic reason­ do a hell of a lot more for liberty than signature ing have been mastered. we could in a million fraternal prayer account # expires All that most classroom teachers services denouncing the latest libertari­ Send to: Liberty, Dept. L21, want, whether they work in govern- an heresy. 0 1._------_.1Box 1167, Port Townsend, WA 98368 Expose Gordon Gekko, Michael Milken, and Me by Douglas Casey

Judging by what's been going on in the financial markets recently, there's a lot of confusion on the subject of insider trading. It's getting harder and harder to know what's right and what's wrong. So, to get my philosophical bearings, I naturally turned first to our national repository of wis­ dom and moral rectitude: the popular media. The media's definitive state­ ment on these matters in recent ence between the Empire State read the paper that day; would they years-and an accurate reflection of Building and the pyramids is that the have grounds for a lawsuit claiming the public's attitude as well--ean be Egyptians didn't have unions." Sure. they were somehow injured because found in the 1986 movie Wall Street. And the only difference between they didn't get to buy? That's up to Let's go to the movies! McDonald's and a bread line in the the whim of some regulator to decide. Gulag is the sesame seed buns. Shouldn't it also be "inside informa­ Wall Street: The Movie Knowledge of the unannounced tion" if the few people who hear an of­ As you'll recall, the movie chroni­ FAA decision is valuable to a stock ficial announcement first get to act on cles the rise of a young stockbroker trader, so Bud wangles an appoint­ it first? What if Cekko just had a defi­ named Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) as he ment with Cekko, using a box of nite hunch about the decision and becomes a protege of corporate raid­ Cuban cigars (which his straight­ bought Blue Star based on that alone; er/ speculator Gordon Gekko

this way; again, it's information hon­ of Teldar Paper could have been writ­ sumption becomes part of the social estlyacquired. ten by Ayn Rand. Cekko explains how contract, from top to bottom. This stuff Next Bud gains access to a lawof­ money is congealed life, representing works in funny ways; now "Gordon fice, posing as a cleaning man, and all the good things one ever hopes to Gekko" and everything he's supposed copies some files detailing a takeover. have and provide. Love, life and to stand for has become a cultural Inside information? I don't know. But money are all good. And since they're shorthand for all that's wrong with the it certainly is theft. The movie is una­ good, so's the desire-the greed-to u.s. financial system. ble to draw a distinction between de­ have as much of them as possible. The Ivan Boesky, the greatest inside tective work and theft. The fact that a episode also illustrates why takeovers dealer of the '80s, is a pariah, but not theft-a real, common law crime, the' are usually a good thing. Gekko points because he wired himself for many to Teldar's dozens of vice-presidents months, compromising his closest being paid six figures to shuffle memos friends and associates in exchange for a The elder Fox originates: and build little satrapies with money reduced sentence. Rather he is ostra­ "The only difference between that should be dividended out to the cized because he used "inside informa­ shareholders, and Gekko makes it clear tion" to trade. Whether it was gained the Empire State Building and that if he wins they'll be fired. He's ab­ honestly or not (probably not, consider­ the pyramids is that the solutely right, and his actions through­ ing the basic character of the man) was Egyptians didn't have un­ out the movie can only serve to better never made clear; but that, apparently, the lot of thousands, maybe millions, of was never even an issue. ions." Sure. And the only dif­ people. This kind of thing has major impli­ ference between McDonald's Nonetheless, Bud is rightfly soured cations for the markets over the long and a bread line in the Gulag by Gekko's lie about Blue Star and he decides to turn state's evidence on is the sesame seed buns. Cekko after being landed upon by the SEC for some of his dealings. Bud Robert Freeman was sen­ wires himself, presumably to get a re­ tenced to four months and a $1 only one mentioned in the whole duced sentence, and induces Cekko to movie-has been committed is never million fine for being on the once even mentioned. say compromising things. It's at this point that the only morally unambigu­ other end of a telephone when A Hero in the Slime ous and satisfying point in the whole someone commented "Your It's hard to keep your attention on movie is made: Cekko, quite correctly, bunny has a good nose" in re­ the vapid, dishonest little yuppie beats the daylights out of the sleazy lit­ sponse to his conjectures as to played by Charlie Sheen. The real focus tle creep. is on the dynamic Gordon Gekko. He is The hateful movie ends with young whether a certain buyout not a particularly nice guy; he cheats Bud having completely caved in to the would succeed. on his wife, is very materialistic, and ethical morass personified by his fa­ he doesn't give suckers an even break. ther. He says, ''Maybe I can learn how And he probably doesn't care where or to create, instead of living off the buy­ run. In that light, it's worth taking an how Bud gets his information. But do ing and selling of others." Maybe he's in-depth look at that great real-life vil­ you care where Standard and Poor's planning to retire to a hippie commune lain of the financial community, gets its data? No. You only care that to make candles and baskets. Maybe Michael Milken. it's accurate. Gekko encourages Bud to he'd prefer Cuba, where most forms of get information that isn't common buying and selling are illegal. Michael Milken as a Role knowledge; that's what makes for suc­ Try defending Gekko sometime, Model cess in many legitimate endeavors. He and watch the reaction you get; it's like I presume you're as sick as I am of never encourages Bud to become a trying to defend Hitler. People seem to hearing the press decry the greed that criminal. have a very hard time making a dis­ supposedly characterized the '80s. It's In fact, Gekko never does anything tinction between their emotional reac­ not greed if a politically correct Jane unethical throughout the whole movie tion to a situation and the actual rights Fonda or Bruce Springsteen makes $50 except lie to the union people when and wrongs involved. It's strange how million in a year, but it is if a stockbrok­ he's about to take over Blue Star at the seldom most .people analyze moral is­ er makes that much. I'm a freedom end. Other than that one instance, one sues; for many, an act is wrong just be­ fighter, you're a rebel, he's a terrorist. can make a case that Gekko is actually cause a preacher or an official says it is. Milken was the object of an inten­ a moral hero. Look at the facts, not the They rarely question whether people in sive government investigation that nasty patina with which the film paints positions of authority might have took hundreds of thousands of man him: Gekko rewards Bud for doing based their judgments on false premis­ hours and cost many millions of·dol­ what appears to be good work; there is es or have a hidden personal agenda. lars. It became a political issue with a always fair exchange. Something is accepted as being wrong life of its own. Milken had to be pun­ Gekko's infamous "greed is good" simply because everyone assumes it is, ished for something, somehow. After speech at the annual general meeting and after a while that unchallenged as- all, we can't have somebody who made 52 Liberty Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

$500 million in a year live happily ever wouldn't be worth the trouble. It's ia has reached a level where it's dan­ after, especially if he earned it hard to say what one "should" do in a gerous to overhear a rumor, whether honestly. situation like his. But he certainly con­ you repeat it or not; it's dangerous One of the most disappointing ele­ ducted himself far more honorably even to form opinions that can't be ments in this whole melodrama has than Dennis Levine, Ivan Boesky, grounded in a company's annual re­ been Milken's response to the govern­ David Solomon, Boyd Jeffries, or many port. You can never know whether ment's Star Chamber methods. He of the others involved. agreed to a $200 million fine and a $400 Milken's troubles illustrate what million "contribution" to a fund for the can happen when you become too suc­ It's dangerous to overhear "victims" of his actions, pleaded guilty cessful, too high profile, and the object rumors, whether you repeat to six trivial and technical violations, of political hysteria in The Age of and apologized for being naughty. He Envy. them or not; it's potentially has since been sentenced to a ten-year In a nutshell, Milken and his col­ dangerous to even form opin­ prison term, which may be reduced if leagues, by financing numerous hostile ions that can't be grounded in he promises to be a good boy and be­ takeovers to the great profit of all con­ come a witness for the prosecution in cerned, probably did more in a few a company's annual report. the ongoing pogrom against every­ years to clean up corporate misdealing You never know whether some body ever associated with Drexel than all the scores of regulators in his­ witchhunting prosecutor will Burnham. Interestingly, four of the six tory have done. He achieved this while counts to which he pleaded guilty re­ earning a profit, in sharp contrast to decide to make a hobby out of lated to the testimony of Ivan Boesky, the regulators, whose failures were fi­ you. who's recognized as a practiced, even nanced by taxpayers forced to pay enthusiastic, liar. The other two counts their salaries. reIated to the testimony of one David some witchhunting prosecutor might Solomon, who was granted immunity Inside Information decide to make a hobby out of you. for turning on his former associates. ''Inside information" shouldn't be The Milken episode is certainly a Whether these felons told the truth, or an issue as long as the information is scandal, but not remotely the way most lied to please the government and save honestly acquired. The market is a people think. There's no indication that their hides, may never be determined, creature of 'information, and impeding Milken did anything that in any way because there will never be a trial. the free flow of information in any way injured anyone-with the possible ex­ But Drexel Burnham, the firm causes distortions. Regulation of "in­ ception of the incompetent managers Milken put on the map, didn't get side information" therefore opens the he fired in the takeovers he financed. much of a trial either when it was door to corruption which would not Indeed, many of Milken's supposed forced to pay a $650 million fine; otherwise exist. victims were signatories on the numer­ Drexel's now out of business because You may recall the recent case of ous full page ads that appeared in sup­ of a lack of capital. Robert Freeman, which is even more of port of him after the indictment. So When Milken was first accused, he an abortion than that of Michael obscure were the charges against him responded in part by distributing thou­ Milken. Freeman was sentenced to four that Judge Kimba Wood was reduced sands of copies of The Incredible Bread months and fined $1 million for being to using some pretty bizarre logic in Machine, a highly principled defense of on the other end of a telephone when trying to explain her ten-year jail term the free market. It looked like Milken someone commented ''Your bunny has for Milken: ''You committed crimes might take advantage of his situation a good nose" in response to his conjec­ that are hard to detect, and crimes that to play Howard Roark or John Galt to a tures as to whether a certain buyout are hard to detect warrant greater pun­ world-wide audience, exposing his would succeed. Apparently, the hyster- ishment in order to be effective in de- persecutors as the real criminals in the melodrama. But Milken backed off. Maybe he did so on counsel from his lawyers. o Maybe Milken really became con­ .c vinced what he had done was wrong. Maybe he thought it was wrong all along, and was just in it for the money. Maybe he's never been anything but a sharp bond salesman who can't see any philosophical points in the matter, and couldn't care less about them if he did. Or, maybe, he just figured that battling the government for the rest of his life, (Ja/" using a public defender after they seized all his assets under RICO, just "He was such a nice kid until he met those businessmen." Liberty 53 Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

terring others from committing them." aren't completely independent there's shareholders to realize top dollar, but (One wonders, on the basis of this cri­ no one to prod its collective memory. they're also trying to buy as cheaply as terion, what sentence Judge Wood Management may decide it's underap­ possible. Oftentimes, they try buying would pass on a very public crime, preciated by shareholders, who then as­ the company by borrowing the money such as an assassination on national sume the status of nuisance, and the from the company, and to add insult to television.) game is on in earnest. It's as if your injury, they're on the company's pay­ Insider trading has never cost a housekeeper were to decide she should roll while they're at it. shareholder a penny. Other actions sleep in the master bedroom, or maybe So what should we do to stop this taken by insiders have, however, cost evict you from the house entirely. sort of thing? Most investors would shareholders billions. Regardless of the Believe me, I'm only touching light­ naively say: ''That's why we have regu­ rhetoric, the name of the game in hos­ lyon a few of the very most obvious lators. The SEC. The government." tile takeovers and proxy battles is techniques a self-dealing management always management versus sharehold­ can use to loot a company. And since The Regulators ers, and when incompetent manage- management hires the accountants, re­ The billions of dollars that regula­ tains the legal counsel, and writes the tors cost both investors and taxpayers news releases and quarterly reports, it every year serve no useful purpose that Try defending Gekko some­ takes some real digging just to begin to I can determine. Trying to get the regu­ find out what's going on, much less lators to expose fraud in a consistent time, and watch the reaction prove it and put a stop to it. and logical manner appears to be im­ you get; it's like trying to de­ TJ:le interests of management are possible. If management lined the fend Hitler. very often not only different from those shareholders up against the wall and of shareholders, but antithetical to machine-gunned them, it might be cause for an inquiry, but only if there \ them. was a lot of press coverage. ment is protected, the shareholders are Management Buyouts That's because regulators, like all the losers. In larger companies, the top people bureaucrats, respond mainly to politi­ Management Versus are often power-seeking "suits" adept cal pressure. The aggrieved sharehold­ Shareholders mainly at politicking and infighting. ers don't elect them, and are too Few investors-including me, until They don't create; they schmooze, ca­ disparate a group to force them into ac­ more recently than I really care to jole, flatter, maneuver, and intrigue. tion. And even if one or more share­ admit-scrutinize a company's man­ They're immortalized in song and story holders wanted to press the issue, agement and directors with sufficient everywhere from "How to Succeed in they'd have to invest 100% of the time diligence. We naturally assume they're Business Without Really Trying" to and money, for no more benefit than working for the best interests of their "What Makes Sammy Run." For every any other shareholder who chose to re­ employers, the shareholders, if only be­ Warren Buffet or Boone Pickens, there main on the sidelines. cause that's what they're being paid are a score of Charles Keatings, anti­ Management, however, is usually for. They have a legal duty as fiduciar­ heroes in the Randian mold. Whenchar­ very well connected, controls the treas­ ies to always act in the interests of acters like these see a big pile of money ury, and can pressure both lawmakers shareholders and to maximize the in a corporate till, they stop seeing the and regulators. value of shares. Good management is shareholders as employers, and view So if the regulators and lawmakers ten times more important to a compa­ them as part markand partadversary. are no help, where will help come ny's success than whatever comes sec­ One of the most egregious examples from? This is the role of the "takeover ond; clearly, when a company does of this is the management buyout of a artists," the "predators," or the "corpo­ well it's rarely because of dumb luck. corporation. Members of management rate raiders." Contemporary rhetoric When the people running a compa­ are the only ones who can be expected paints them as the bad guys, but ny look at the millions or billions of to know exactly what assets and pros- they're the true heroes of the story. dollars they control, some of them start pects a company real­ asking themselves whether they don't ly has, and what "deserve" a little more of the action. Or they're really worth. maybe a lot more. So salaries start ris­ When they attempt to ing, there are lots of expense account do a leveraged buy­ dinners, the offices get redecorated, out, their conflict of and the company buys everyone a interest is omnipres­ country club membership. If manage­ ent, since they're on ment is bold, and the company big both sides of the enough, arrangements will be made for transaction, as the the company to buy a jet, an executive buyers and as the sup­ retreat, and a fleet of BMWs. posed representatives Management starts to forget who of the seller. They 'BallO it's working for, and if the directors have an obligation to "I'm afraid there'll be a delay, sir-your power lunch exploded." 54 Liberty Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

They're the people Mike Milken warding. Most shareholders, however, tion. And the laws being passed making financed. are either too ignorant or too apathetic hostile takeovers impractical will go a to go to this trouble. long way towards destroying this coun­ The Raider The much-maligned raiders and try's capital markets. The entire byzan­ Raiders keep managements honest hostile takeover artists are almost al­ tine system of securities regulation has by making buyouts when the stock ways the good guys. It's a pity share­ price falls because of mismanagement. holders nearly invariably vote in favor The sanctimonious blather issuing from of management; they usually should managements about how they're de­ vote against them when there's an alter­ If the regulators and law­ fending "your" corporation from some­ native slate. makers are not only not a help, one who wants to pay above market prices for it is always self-serving. "Parking" Stock but actually a detriment to the Most companies subject to take­ Parking stock is the practice of buy­ shareholder, where will help overs are vulnerable only because their ing stock in another's· name to conceal come from? This is the market stock price is low relative to their as­ who the beneficial owner really is. It's sets, which occurs when their assets are done main!y to avoid alerting manage­ function of the "takeover art­ being misallocated, or when the market ment that a stock is under accumulation ist," the "predator," the "cor­ has no confidence in management. In for a takeover. A reasonable person porate raider." Contemporary fact, a company can usually be taken might ask how that's any different from over only ifmanagement doesn't own a keeping one's hand hidden in a card rhetoric paints them as the bad meaningful amount of stock. Many game. Certainly it doesn't harm any ex­ guys, but they're the true he­ isting shareholders, since they are roes. They're the people Mike under no obligation to sell their stock, Milken financed. Trying to get the regulators which is probably going up anyway be­ cause of the added buying pressure. to expose fraud in a consistent Then why is parking "wrong"? It's and logical manner appears to wrong because of the Williams Act of become nothing more than a method of be impossible. If management 1967, which states that once any group duplicating, in the private sector, the in­ acting in concert accumulates more than cumbent-protections system which has lined the shareholders up 5% of a company's stock, it must halt made it virtually impossible to oust a against the wall and machine­ buying and alert management of its in­ member of Congress. There is reason to gunned them, it might be cause tentions. This gives the officers and di­ believe that this will produce the same rectors time to arrange for a "poison quality of person in the nation's board­ for an inquiry, but only if there pill" to preclude shareholders from get­ room that we presently see in public of­ was a lot of press coverage. ting the higher-than-market price the fice. I for one do not find this prospect outsiders would be willing to pay after encouraging. The corporate raiders buying as much stock as possible quiet­ could help the nation to recover from managers of big corporations own very ly. The Williams whose name this act this mess, but only if the markets are al­ little stock in them; arguably, that's be­ bears is, incidentally, the same corrupt lowed to function without interference, cause they can see it's a poor long term senator who later did time for bribery in and only if they can go about their busi­ investment. the Abscam affair. ness with a reasonable expectation that The raider's major weapon is the Parking is another artificial non­ their activities won't make them into proxy contest, in which a dissident crime created by the establishment to outlaws. But with Milken on his way to slate of directors endeavors to show safeguard itself. a decade-long stay in the big house, it is other shareholders why they should likely that his successors will choose to "throw the bums out." Most proxy doc­ The Bottom Line tread lightly. That's especially ominous uments are written in legalese; reading Laws and regulations create distor­ at the end of one of the longest booms them is not easy, but it is usually re- tions, and .the opportunity for corrup- in history. 0

The Liberty Poll What Libertarians Think Moving? The first detailed study of what libertarians think about life, Be sure to leave a Paper Trail . government, God, sex, heroes ... and how they would deal Please notify us at least 4 weeks in advance. Be sure to include with some serious moral problems. Now complete with data both your old address (a copy ofyour mailing label would be from the original poll of Liberty subscribers and the poll of appreciated) and your new address, including your zip code. Libertarian Party members. Send address changes to: $4.00 each, postpaid; $3.00 each for five or more copies. Liberty, Circulation Department Liberty Publishing PO Box 1167 PO Box 1167, Port Townsend, WA 98368 Port Townsend, WA 98368. Thank you. Liberty 55 Essay Rothbard's Libertarianism by Chris M. Sciabarra

What do socialists, conservatives, Hayekians and Objectivists have in common? Well, one thing they share is their opinion of Murray N. Rothbard's thinking.

Murray Rothbard's libertarianism has inspired critical commentary from many different perspectives. Socialists, conservatives, Hayekians, and Randians have derided the Rothbardian version of libertarianism and its seemingly abstract designs for social change. Each of these critiques has drawn attention to a problematic distinction within Rothbard's theory, one that defines a universal ethos of ty but where no one can impose his panacea. Block argues, somewhat face­ non-aggression apart from culture and own utopian vision upon others." l tiously, that in a libertarian society, history, psychology and ethics. By tak­ For Murray Rothbard, libertarian­ Jews could be put in Nazi concentra­ ing into account the similarly consti­ ism is a political philosophy, not a phi­ tion camps, as long as they go volun­ tuted criticisms of each of these losophy of life. It rests on one essential tarily. 3 Though Block has embraced a schools of thought, Rothbardians may axiom: non-aggression. It views force consistent Rothbardian position, he be faced with the task of redefining as legitimate only as a response to ini­ seems to violate the spirit of the liber­ the scope and meaning of their ulti­ tiatory violence. This ethos does not tarian society. Rothbard's libertarian­ mate political goals. imply any specific "meta-libertarian" ism uplifts the human imagination Rothbard's impact upon the mod­ philosophical foundation. Walter because it seeks to transcend coercion ern libertarian intellectual movement Block, in true Rothbardian fashion, as a social relation, not because it im­ has been so profound that it is difficult suggests that libertarianism maybe plores the victims to walk "voluntari­ to assess libertarianism as a political justified by egoism, hedonism, Kan­ Iy" into the gas chambers. philosophy without taking into ac­ tianism, common law, pragmatism, And yet, Rothbard's "framework count his enormous contributions. natural rights, utilitarianism, agnosti­ for utopia" abstracts the voluntarist One of Rothbard's most decisive con­ cism, objectiVism, and Judeo­ ethic from culture and history, psy­ tributions to libertarian thought has Christianity. For Block, as for Roth­ chology and personal morality. His been his conception of libertarianism bard, philosophical diversity is a philosophy upholds freedom while it as a political project that can incorpo­ source of libertarian intellectual seems to ignore the wider context rate a diversity of voluntarist social in­ vitality. 2 within which freedom flourishes and stitutions. For Rothbard, a voluntarist But the Rothbardian vision em­ upon which it may genetically de­ society sanctions a plethora of alterna­ braces an illusive value-neutrality pend. Objectivists, socialists, conserva­ tive lifestyles; communities may be which, when stretched to its logical tives and Hayekians have each collectivistic or individualistic, relig­ limits, may undermine the stability of criticized this kind of non-contextual ious or secular, segregated or integrat­ a libertarian society. For example, political goal. ed. Robert Nozick, in much the same Walter Block has argued that libertari­ vein, has called this a "framework for anism is compatible with all philoso­ Rand versus Rothbard utopia" in which "people are at liberty phies of life, including Nazism. For Ayn Rand's influence on Murray to join together voluntarily to pursue Block, the evil of Nazism is not its Rothbard has been vastly underesti­ and attempt to realize their own vision "weird and exotic" world-view, but its mated. Perhaps because of deep sec­ of the good life in the ideal communi- dependence upon coercion as a social tarianism in libertarian political 56 Liberty Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

circles, Rothbard has rarely acknowl­ bertarian' culture." 8 Rothbard seeks to free society is the outgrowth of a spe­ edged Rand as an intellectual forebear. apply the libertarian ethos to a variety cific code of moral action, one that His condemnation of the "Ayn Rand of cultural contexts, and to show that does not sever reason from ethics, or Cult" indicates his great disdain for the libertarianism is consistent with a di­ freely-chosen ethics from a rational, s0­ Randian movement. 4 Yet, Rothbard versity of moral positions-egoism, al­ cial existence. Hence, the Randian posi­ owes a huge philosophical debt to truism, utilitarianism, amoralism­ tion opposes all acts of even IInon­ Rand. He is quoted by one of Rand's provided that the people who hold coercive" irrationality, such as racism biographers as saying that he is "in these positions do not use a coercive or drug-using, even though it recogniz­ agreement basically with all her philos­ means of implementing them. But this es people's rights to engage in them. 11 ophy"; the biographer goes on to state is a huge proviso. It may be that a li­ The Randian philosophy suggests that "it was she who convinced him of bertarian ethos is not sustainable with­ that the narrow parameters of libertari­ the theory of natural rights that his out specific personal and psychological anism obscure the broadly operative books uphold." 5 However, the broader convictions, cultural values or histori­ dimensions of Rand's objectivist phi­ cal circumstances. Indeed, Rothbard's losophy separate it decisively from the critique of "antimarket ethics" sug­ Perhaps because of deep sec­ Rothbardian schema. Our discussion gests that a libertarian society cannot 'will illustrate the essence of the Randi­ be sustained if "altruistic humanitari­ tarianism in libertarian politi­ an critique. anism" becomes a pretext for authori­ cal circles, Rothbard has rarely Murray Rothbard argues that "in a tarian social relationships. acknowledged Ayn Rand as an free society, no man would be permit­ In his praxeological critique of "an­ intellectual forebear. ted (or none would permit himself) to timarket ethics," Rothbard attempts to invade the property of another." 6 The discredit certain ethical positions that Randian is obligated to ask, ''Why?'' he characterizes as "counterproduc­ Why would a man not permit himself tive," or based on existential errors and hegemonic principles in social reality. to invade the property of another? The logical inconsistencies. According to Robert Nisbet suspects that a focus on answer for Rand depends upon a huge Rothbard, any goal impossible of these principles may lead to a devel­ oping opposition within libertarian philosophical (Le., ethical and psycho­ attainment should be abandoned. 9 epistemological) edifice whose final "Altruism," a normative concept fre­ theory to the "coercions of family, prescription is non-aggression. "Non­ quently derided by Ayn Rand, receives church, local community and school," aggression" is not an axiom in Rand's a similar treatment in Rothbard's all of which might be viewed as being framework. works. When a person acts as his "as inimical to freedom as those of the political government." 12 Rand's phi­ By contrast, Rothbard proposes an brother's keeper, he is made responsi­ losophy attempts to develop this kind "axiom" of non-aggression that is al­ ble for his brother's actions in every of focus. 13 It implores libertarians to legedly value-neutral. Men may adopt sphere of human existence. This sug­ concentrate on those "altruist­ any personal values they so choose, as gests that the "humanitarian" is given collectivist-mysticist" premises that long as they do not attempt to force power over his brothers as he compels underlie so many aspects of cuIture­ their own conception of morality upon them to follow a certain course of ac­ including family and sexual relations, the social whole. Rothbard's praxeo­ tion. IIAltruism" becomes a legitima­ state, religious, and educational insti­ logical methodology suggests, further, tion for authoritarianism. 10 Such tutions, art, literature, and music. that he has endorsed a very narrow authoritarianism is deeply incompati­ Thus, the Randian critique draws conception of "rationality" in human ble with the spirit, if not the letter, of attention to a profound distinction in action. Praxeology defines "means" as the Libertarian Law Code that Roth­ Rothbard's theory between an abstract broadly "rational," without passing bard defends so vigorously. notion of liberty and the context with­ judgment on the 1/rationality" of peo­ Thus, Rothbard seems to suggest in which it is expressed. In this regard, pie's goals. For Rothbard, praxeologi­ that certain ethical positions may sub­ Rand's insights have a strong affinity cal insight is wedded to libertarian vert the libertarian framework which with socialist, conservative, and Hay­ ethos. Both praxeology and the non­ he advocates. This implies that libertar­ ekian critiques of libertarianism. aggression lIaxiom" sanction the ra­ ianism itself may require a specific tional character of human action, while meta-libertarian context, in contradic­ Critics On The Left abstracting it from the particular tion to Rothbard's assertion that liber­ The relationship of the Left to value-context within which such action tarianism is consistent with a variety of Rothbardian theory is ambiguous. is expressed. moral and cultural values. Rothbard argues that historically, the Rothbard does not deny the possi­ By contrast, Rand argues that the Left has advocated statist means for bility for a rational morality, but he free society will not survive in the ab­ achieving progressive political ends. argues that it is irrelevant to politics sence of important moral, cultural, and Despite Rothbard's opposition to so­ and to libertarianism. 7 IILibertarianism psycho-epistemological preconditions. cialism, it is clear that he owes a signif­ is an intellectual ideology," he empha­ For Rand, any distinction between the icant intellectual debt to the Left. sizes, and it "will get nowhere until we personal and the political is self­ Rothbard's power as a critical thinker realize that there is and can be no 1i- defeating. The achievement of a truly derives from his unique synthesis of Liberty 57 Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

many disparate strands of social need for genuine community. 16 torical, cultural, economic and ideolog­ thought. His Austrian economics is Of course, Rothbard's libertarian­ ical forces. Marx may have been critical wedded to New Left historical revi­ ism does not aim to abolish "politics." of bourgeois institutions, but he ac­ sionism. His natural rights philosophy It hopes to reconstruct the social polity knowledged their pervasive and revo­ is conjoined with anarchist class analy­ by abolishing the state, which Roth­ lutionary quality. The emergent sis. Politically, he has joined with the bard views as an ideologically legiti­ principles of trade had a profound ef- Left in condemning government en­ mated form of institutionalized croachment of civil liberties at home violence. In its place, Rothbard envi­ and U.S. military interventionism sions a society that embraces voluntary Rothbard's libertarianism abroad. cooperation and interaction as its It is not surprising, then, that the modus operandi. Yet, the Left does not requires a widespread and pas­ Left has focused specifically on the merely criticize Rothbard for seeking sionate commitment to non­ contributions of Rothbard in its devel­ to abolish politics; Rothbard is criti­ aggression. To accept the non­ oping critique of libertarian theory. cized because he abstracts a political Stephen L. Newman writes that Roth­ solution from its broader context. aggression "axiom" is to ac­ bard's theoretical schema resembles an Predictably, the Left condemns cept a revolutionary change in inverse Marxism. 14 However, inherent Rothbard for his dependence upon vol­ each aspect of our lives. in libertarianism is a call for the aboli­ untarist, "bourgeois" presuppositions. tion of politics as a solution to the crisis David Wieck denounces Rothbard's of public authority. Rothbard's liber­ "severely individualistic conception of fect on all aspects of social interac­ tarianism qualifies as a "form of anti­ human being" and believes that "anar­ tion-from political economy to sexual politics" and is "not a response to cho-capitalism" will lead to a judicial relationships. In a provocative conver­ crisis-but a symptom of it." The anar­ and legal domain dominated by the gence with the Randian critique, Marx­ chist solution, in particular, rips Locke most wealthy. Mark Paul has called it a ists sense that Rothbard's "framework out of his historical context and tries to "rich man's anarchy." 17 This is essen­ for utopia" is a one-dimensional con­ institute a state of nature which tially the same criticism leveled by Ro­ amounts to a political tabula rasa. Roth- struction ab'stra.-eted'·from those·histori­ nald Krieger. Krieger calls Murray cal, cultural and social conditions that Rothbard "the outstanding individual­ give it existential meaning. ist utopian." He argues that in Roth­ Rothbard's power as a criti­ bard's anarchy, the wealthy will rule Critics On The Right like feudal barons, with their private It is ironic that conservatives have cal thinker derives from his para-military troops, mercenaries and been deeply critical of libertarianism, unique synthesis of many dis­ vigilantes. 18 especially since there has been an at­ parate strands of social However, the Leftist critique is not tempt to depict libertarians as their based solely on its disdain for capitalist "uneasy cousins." 21 Yet, the profound thought. His Austrian eco­ institutions. Hal Draper suggests that differences between conservative and nomics is wedded to New Left "right-Wing anarchism" is merely the libertarian philosophy are not illustra­ historical revisionism. His laissez-faire "illusion" transmuted into tive of a spat between blood relatives. natural rights philosophy is a one-sided ideology. 19 Similarly, Traditional conservatism grows out of David Wieck argues that Rothbard: the Burkean response to the French conjoined. with anarchist class writes ofsociety as though some part revolution. For Edmund Burke, the ex­ analysis. of it (government) can be extracted cesses of the French revolution consti­ and replaced by another arrangement tuted a dangerous threat to civilized while other things go on as before, humanity. The revolutionaries, in their and he constructs a system of police bardian analysis becomes mere reifica­ demands for the "rights of man," pro­ and judicial power without any con­ posed a rationalist design for a new so­ tion as his theories stand outside histo­ siderationofthe influence of historical ciety that neglected man's religiOUS ry. In the process, "libertarianism aims and economic context ... Rothbard at nothing short of the privatization of has pulled forth a single thread, the passions, habits and traditions. Rights social existence," neglecting the notion thread of individualism ... [from are of little consequence, claimed of politics as collective purpose. 15 which he] manufactures one more Burke, when severed from the context This identification of anarchism bourgeois ideology. 20 of political and social continuity, essen­ with "depoliticization" is a hallmark of Thus, Wieck suggests that libertari­ tial prerequisites for the establishment Marxist critique. The anarchists, ac­ anism creates a radical distinction be­ of any social order. 22 cording to Karl Marx, planned to tran­ tween abstract principles of non­ The modern conservative reaction scend "alienated politics" by abolishing aggression and their historical and cul­ against Rothbardian libertarianism politics altogether. The solution, for tural context. Wieck, writing in the mirrors the Burkean critique. Ernest Marx, was not "further depoliticiza­ Marxist tradition, understands that van den Haag, writing for National Re­ tion, but only repoliticization of the re­ capitalism is a social system that de­ view, believes that the libertarians are qUired type," one that concretized the pends upon a huge constellation of his- ''beguilingly simple" in their prescrip- 58 Liberty Now ...at last...it's here...;/' / .#~ ~ ~/4:~~~ ~ EXCALIBUR REPORT ethereal musings on the world at large

Finally, our troubled planet's cultured and sophisticated minority can relax. It's here. A Newsletter For Our Time. with the carefree air of gracious noblesse oblige that so well becomes him, David M. Brown has acquiesced to the escalating world­ wide demand for a monthly newsletter that bursts the bonds of mere humdrum ordinary editorializing to achieve hitherto unglimpsed heights of original and daring analysis. Yes. The final word Each issue of this mesmerizing eight-page periodical will provide you with authoritative, eloquent comment on the sundry burnings and churnings of the day. We'll have good news and bad news. Fun and folly. Pain and pleasure. We'll have life. baby. Life. Essays. Book reviews. Skewed yet wondrously incisive observations. Letters. Page numbers. And every year, an annual index. Tired of being bored to tears by plastered pundits competing for Most Bland Blatherer of the Year Award? Tired of the' bad guys always being treated with buffed kid gloves, while the good guys are sneered at and underrated? At last, David M. Brown's EXCALIBUR REPORT has come to the rescue. Because when we report, we report, by God! We advocate Truth.•.Justice..•lndividualism...Capitalism...Genteel Living...and The American Way. In defending these values, we range across the entire spectrum of history, philosophy, science, economics, politics, psychology, literature, and the international scene. Don't pass it up And the best part of this whole thing is that the first issue of your sUbscription is already available, ready to be mailed to you first class just as soon as we receive your humble check or money order. Hey. isn't that convenient? Don't miss this exciting intellectual adventure. Don't be the only kid on your block without a sUbscription. Don't be the odd man out of every cocktail party conversation from now to the year 2038. The regular annual sUbscription rate is $34.95. But because you're a charter subscriber--and a cherished friend of David M. Brown's EXCALIBUR REPORT--we'll give you a special break. For you, $24.95. That's a whopping savings of exactly ten dollars. But hurry, because this generous offer won't last. Thank you for your support. Mail your order to: DavidM. Brown's §EXCALIBOR REPORT§ PO Box 854 Newark NJ 07101 Along with your name and mailing address, please enclose a check or money order payable to David M. Brown in the amount of $24.95 for a one-year sUbscription ($34.95 foreign sUb.) or $2 for a sample copy. Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

tions for social change. They are op­ paved the way for "a Utopia of indi­ highly abstract and, ultimately, posed to tradition, says van den Haag, vidualism." 28 Kirk accuses libertarians meaningless. and are hoping "to invent a social or­ of being "metaphysically mad" be­ ganization based not on history but on cause they "mistake our ephemeral ex­ Convergent Criticism their rationalist principles." 23 Libertar­ istence as individuals for the be-all So far, I have examined several ians "have a tendency ... to reduce life and end-all." 29 Of course, Kirk em­ major criticisms of Rothbard's libertar­ to economics, denying that it has any braces a few "metaphysical" concepts ianism. Randians, socialists, conserva­ aspects which should not be left to the of his own, when he writes that liber­ tives, and Hayekians argue that free market." 24 Their social philosophy tarians have ignored the dictates of Rothbardian libertarianism abstracts is a ''belated offspring of the eight­ Original Sin, Duty, Discipline and Sac­ an "axiomatic" principle from its eenth century Enlightenment, of ra­ rifice. But Kirk's essential argument is broader context. Randian critics claim tionalism in its most virulent form." Hayekian in its implications. Allying that Rothbard's framework is inade­ Indeed, states van den Haag, the liber- himself with Hayek, he claims that the quate because it is genetically depen­ moral order is an outgrowth of "a dent upon broader notions of personal long and painful social experience," of morality, human psychology and cul­ The voluntarist society can­ custom, habit and tested institutions. ture. Socialists and conservatives not be actualized by merely or­ Libertarians would dispose of this his­ argue that Rothbard has isolated a sin­ dering people to live and let torical legacy, and rule society ''by a gle principle from social reality upon single abstract principle." 30 which he has constructed an abstract, live. It will take more than a Though Hayek's approach goes ahistorical "framework for utopia." Fi­ Libertarian Law Code to con­ beyond traditional conservatism, it nally, the Hayekian critique suggests vince a fanatical Islamic fun­ contributes a significant epistemologi­ that this abstraction perpetuates a con­ cal dimension to the conservative cri­ structivist strategy for social change. damentalist that Salman tique. Hayek denies validity to an The convergence of Randian, con­ Rushdie has a right to life. abstract, universalized, trans-historical servative and socialist critique is not a conception of natural rights. No theoretical coincidence. Each of these human being is in a position to gain critiques views Rothbard's libertarian- tarian society is "wholly utopian (the such a transcendental view of the word means 'no-where')." And though world and to construct principles that "utopia cannot be achieved ... the de­ could be universally appropriate for Libertarianism requires a struction of an existing society may be. all contexts. This is an example of And it is quite likeIy to be succeeded what Hayek calls a "synoptic systemic change, a transforma­ by a worse one." 25 delusion." 31 The constructivist thinker tion not only of current social Van den Haag ridicules Rothbard's attempts to design (or "construct") so­ structures, but in the ways in positions on externalities, proportional cial institutions as if he were outside which people think and act. punishment, and the Cold War. But at the context of history, using the infi­ root, his attack on Rothbardian theory nite powers of his Reason ("with a The crucial question is how is based on the principle.that "we are capital R," as Hayek would say). any libertarian values could human qua social," and that our social­ "Constructivism" is the "fatal conceit," come to predominate in a cul­ ization provides us with shared values endangering the future of wealth, mo­ which are essential to the fabric of the rals and peace. 32 ture that is hostile to the vol­ social order. Libertarianism dissents The Hayekian attack on constructi­ untarist ethos. from these values and "from history" vist rationalism has been used by liber­ itself. tarians and classical liberals in their Russell Kirk presents a similar critique of socialist planning. Yet, ism as a fractured philosophy. Objecti­ critique of libertarianism. With a decid­ Hayek's insights are equally applicable vism, socialism, and conservatism edly insulting tone, he characterizes li­ to the Rothbardian framework that have a wider theoretical scope. By con­ bertarianism as "a simplistic ideology" aims for a social order based on the trast, Rothbard's perspective suggests that is radically doctrinaire and con­ axiom of non-aggression. The that a narrow adherence to a singular, temptuous of tradition and custom. 26 Hayekian and conservative critiques abstract ethos of non-aggression will Kirk argues that libertarians "seek an suggest that Rothbard has created a generate a respect for the multifarious­ abstract Liberty that never has existed radical distinction between the norma­ ness of the human condition. In fact, in any civilization-nor, for that mat­ tive principle of non-aggression and Rothbard opposes wider, totalistic phi­ ter, among any barbarous people, or the cultural and historical conditions losophies because these often depend any savage." 27 Libertarianism disre­ that it ignores. These conditions are es­ upon a doctrinaire view of the Good gards moral habits, social customs, sential because they provide the con­ Life. Rothbard has argued that social­ history, and common sense. By giving text within which all social rules gain ists, conservatives and objectivists primacy to "an absolute and indefina­ specificity. Disregarding context, Roth­ have each shown a profound intoler­ ble 'liberty'," the libertarians have bard has embraced an ethos that is ance of alternative value frameworks. 60 Liberty Volume 4, Number 3 Tanuary 1991

Socialists and conservatives, in partic­ destabilizing "psychological" dynam­ ular, have always shared a devotion to ics of the market economy, Rothbard The Sociology of coercive and statist means for achiev­ suggests that the libertarian society the Ayn Rand Cult ing their political ends. 33 And though needs far more than a Law Code to objectivists renounce statism, their sustain itself. At the very least, the Murray Rothbard's controversial "cult" has thrived on purges, stultify­ Law's efficacy will depend upon a monograph on the nature of the ing dogmatism and intellectual confor­ deeper understanding of why people Rand Circle in its heyday. Must mity. 34 Perhaps each of these schools yearn for power over their fellows, reading! of thought is intrinsically opposed to and how such power-lust can be Send $4.00 (postpaid) to: any framework that eschews a singu­ transcended. lar philosophy of life. Libertarianism requires a systemic Liberty Publishing By narrowing his focus, Rothbard change, a transformation not only of PO Box 1167 claims to have constructed a frame­ current social structures, but in the Port Townsend, WA 98368 work that does not depend upon the ways in which people think and act. emergence of Libertarian Man. The li­ Each of us has, to a certain degree, in­ bertarian ideal derives its strength ternalized character traits which rein­ from human diversity. And yet, it is force and reproduce the political Up from Libertarianism apparent that Rothbard's society will coercions which subjugate us. To ac­ by D. G. lesvic not tolerate any moral ambiguity in cept the non-aggression "axiom" is to the area of inter-personal human rela­ accept a revolutionary change in each tionships. Libertarianism requires a aspect of our lives. This profoundly widespread and passionate commit­ human achievement could not be sus­ ...answers the Austrian School economists ment to non-aggression as a way of tained in the absence of broader so­ with their own words! life. But Rothbard has underempha­ cial, historical, cultural, psychological

sized those factors that may predis­ and ethical foundations. The Political Economy Club of Los Angeles pose human beings to accept It is here that a more comprehen­ 5668 Cahuenga Blvd., #313 voluntarism. He creates a Universal sive understanding of the hegemonic North Hollywood, CA 91601 Libertarian Law Code without defin­ principle is decisive, because it com­ $4.00 ppd. ing a more extensive system of values pels libertarians to focus on the wider that may nourish and enrich the singu­ context. Ironically, it was the Italian lar truth of libertarian politics. Marxist, Antonio Gramsci, who once The Dogs of Capitalism The central problem, however, is argued that true radical change could not in defining that particular system not emerge unless the voluntarist in­ of values. The most crucial question is stitutions of civil society were univer­ An objectivist looks at the history of how any libertarian or quasi­ salized. In essence, Gramsci claimed dogfighting andthe pitbull terrier. A libertarian values could come to pre­ that the voluntarist sphere had to revolutionary defense of economic dominate in a culture that is hostile to absorb the political sphere, making systems that treat animals as prop­ the voluntarist ethos. This hostility is the use of coercion superfluous. 37 erty. Hardback, 336 pages, 44 illus­ inevitable in contemporary, "hege­ Gramsci's concept of hegemony iden­ trations. Published at $24.95, now monic" culture. Rothbard argues that tified power structures in each of soci­ available for only $14.95. Satisfac­ society is a complex mixture of market ety's institutions, including religion, tion guaranteed or your money back. and hegemonic principles. It is the education, family, law, communica­ hegemonic principle that breeds coer­ tion, culture, political parties, and 21st Century Logic, Dept. A44, cion, exploitation, and the war of all trade unions. For Gramsci, hegemonic Box 12963, Austin, Texas 78711 against all. 35 It undermines the reali­ power had to be fought in each of its zation of the voluntarist ideal by cor­ manifestations. The new society is rupting people on a psychological made possible only through the level. development of a "counter-hegemony Rothbard believes that from a ... within the womb of the old * New and classic books, unabridged audio books, "praxeological" standpoint, the mar­ society." 38 videos, games, & collectibles. ket economy is the only stable system. Gramsci's conception of the insidi­ * History & biography, literature, philosophy, eco­ But "psychologically, the issue is in ous nature of the hegemonic principle nomics, privacy & personal finance, humor & political doubt ... [T]hose who yearn for has important implications for liber­ satire, self-defense, war & power over their fellows, or who wish tarianism. It suggests that the volun­ peace, the family, children's books, and much more. to plunder others, as well as those tarist society cannot be actualized by III"'Call for FREE Catalog! who fail to comprehend the praxeolog­ merely ordering people to Iive and let ical stability of the fre~ market, may live. It will take more than a Libertari­ LibertyTree Review and Catalogue AE5 well push the society back on the heg­ an Law Code to convince a fanatical 134 Ninety-Eighth Avenue, Oakland, CA 94603 emonic road." 36 By recognizing the Islamic fundamentalist that Salman : I I• Volume 4, Number 3 January 1991

Rushdie has a right to life. Like Gram­ By focusing almost exclusively on an into account the real, concrete condi­ sci, libertarians need to think"dialecti­ axiomatic deduction of principles, tions that shape human action. If cally"-that is, they must understand Rothbardians obscure the broader changing the totality of social existence that a society is a complex, sophisticat­ "hegemonic" socio-historical and psy­ is inconceivable, then changing social ed, inter-relationship of human actors, cho-eultural context. existence in disregard of the totality is social institutions, structures, and pro­ 'The critics challenge Rothbard to unimaginable. Rothbard's libertarian­ cesses. Each society is a self­ embrace a greater appreciation of this ism uplifts our sense of human possi­ perpetuating system, in which each of context. Rothbard's framework at­ bility only if it incorporates a more its constituent elements expresses the tempts to alter the principles by which comprehensive understanding of its whole, and reproduces its distortions. human beings interact, without taking own preconditions. 0 Notes 1. Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State and Uto­ bertarians: Uneasy Cousins," Modern 29. Ibid., p. 6 pia (New York: Basic Books, 1974), p. Age 24, no. 1 (Winter 1980), p. 7. 30. Ibid., p. 7-8. 312. 13. For a look at how Ayn Rand's philoso­ 31. Friedrich Hayek, Law, Legislation and 2. Walter Block, Libertarianism vs. Objecti­ phy develops a systemic critique, see my Liberty, Volume 1: Rules and Order (Chica­ vism: A Response to Peter Schwartz (New article, "Ayn Rand's Critique of Ideolo­ go: University of Chicago Press, 1973), York: Laissez-Faire Books, 1987), audio gy," Reason Papers No. 14 (Spring 1989) p.14. tape lecture. 34-47. 32. Hayek, Law, Legislation and Liberty, Vol­ 3. Ibid. 14. PeterSchwartz, the objectivist, has com­ ume 3: The Political Order ofa Free People 4. Rothbard, The Sociology ofthe Ayn Rand mented similarly that libertarian anar­ (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Cult (Port Townsend, Wash.: Liberty chism is IIsimply a right-wing version of 1981), p. 129. Publishing, 1987). Marx's economic determinism." See 33. Rothbard, For a New Liberty: The Libertar­ 5. Barbara Branden, The Passion ofAyn Schwartz, pp. 20-21. ian Manifesto/revised edition (New Rand (Garden City, New York: Double­ 15. Stephen L. Newman, Liberalism at Wits' York: Collier Books, 1978), p. 13. Roth­ day and Company, 1986), p. 413. End: The Libertarian Revolt Against the bard's recent overtures to the IIpaleocon­ 6. Rothbard, The Ethics ofLiberty (Atlantic Modern State (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Uni­ servatives" (see Rothbard, IILibertarians, Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, versity Press, 1984), pp. 49, 163-164. 'Paleoconservatives,' Explore 'Ideologi­ 1982), p. 41. 16. PaulThomas, Karl Marx and the Anar­ cal Alliance'," The Pragmatist [February 7. Rothbard, "Viewpoint: is liberty chists (London: Routledge and Kegan 1990]: 2-3) do not obscure the fact that enough?" Reason 11, no. 8 (December Paul, 1980), p. 350. he still accepts a radical distinction be­ 1979), p. 58. 17. Mark Paul, "Seducing the Left: The tween libertarian principles and context. 8. Rothbard, "Left-opportunism: the case Third Party that Wants You," Mother This distinction is made explicit even in ofS.L.S., partone," Libertarian Van­ Jones 5, no. 4 (May, 198O),p. 48. his recent articles in Liberty which have guard 2, no. 5 (February-March 1981), p. 18. Ronald A. Krieger, ''fhe Economics of explored the significance of religion (see 11. Utopia," Utopia: The American Experience, for example, "Kingdom Come," January 9. Rothbard, Power and Market: Govern­ eds. G.B. Moment and Otto F. Kran­ 1990 and "The End of the Secular Centu­ ment and the Economy (Kansas City: shaar, (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, ry," May 1989). In recognizing that it is Sheed Andrews and McMeel, [1970] 1980), pp. 199-203. "no longer ... possible to ignore the im­ 1977), p. 203. 19. Hal Draper, Karl Marx's Theory ofRevolu­ portance of religion in human life and tion, Volume 1: State and Bureaucracy 10. Rothbard, Conceived in Liberty, Volume culture," Rothbard implores "secularist Two: "Salutary Neglect": The American (New York: Monthly Review Press, libertarians" to give up the battle Colonies in the First Halfofthe Eighteenth 1977), p. 260. against mysticism, and to focus exclu­ II sivelyon the cause of liberty. Roth­ Century (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington 20. David Wieck, Anarchist Justice," Anar­ chism (Nomos XIX), eds. J. Roland Pen­ bard's recognition of the world's House Publishers, 1975), p. 110. nock and John W. Chapman, (New cultural and religious diversity does not 11. PeterSchwartz, Libertarianism: The Per­ York: New York University Press, 1978), provide him with a holisticstrategy for version ofLiberty (New York: The Intel­ pp. 227-228. social change; it merely bolsters his con­ lectual Activist), p. 56. Not all 21. Nisbet,op. cit. viction that libertarianism must abstain libertarians reject this view. Some, like 22. Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolu­ from cultural questions. Tibor Machan andJohn Hospers, em­ tion in France reprint ed., Thomas H.D. 34. Rothbard, The Sociology of the Ayn Rand brace the more comprehensive dimen­ Mahoney, (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, Cult,op. cit. sions ofRand's philosophy. [1790] 1955), p. 29. 35. Rothbard, Power and Market, p. 263. 12. Robert Nisbet, "Conservatives and Li- 23. Ernest van den Haag, ''Libertarians and 36. Ibid., p. 264. conservatives," National Review 8 (June 37. Norbeto Bobbio, "Gramsci and the Con­ 1979), p. 726. ception of CivilSociety," in Gramsd and Internships Available 24. Ibid., p. 726n. Marxist Theory, ed. by Chantal Monffe Liberty offers full-time internships to 25. Ibid., p. 727. (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, students of all majors interested in jo':1r­ 26. Russell Kirk, "A Dispassionate Assess­ 1979), p. 41. nalism, writing, political philosophy or ment of Libertarians," The Heritage Lec­ 38. Antonio Cramsci, Selections from the Pris­ public policy. Positions are available at tures 158

liThe East is East and the West is West." Composer Lou Harrison is both.

"My feeling is that Lou Harrison is one of a handful of the most important liv­ ing American musicians," the conductor Dennis Russell Davies told me recently, explaining why he premiered. Harrison's Fourth (and Last) Symphony with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in late October. In his home in Aptos, California, Harrison recalls, "The idea himself; and the two share libertarian of Ives, Ruggles, Varese and other for this new work arose in a taxi cross­ anarchist politics to this day. then-forgotten modernists of an earlier ing Miami two years ago. Having just Having already established himself generation." conducted my Third Symphony (1982) as an accompanist for modern danc­ Back in 1937, urged by Cowell to which he commissioned, Dennis asked ers, Harrison was hired by Mills write the composer Charles Ives, then me if I might start thinking of another College before he turned twenty, inci­ better known as a retired insurance symphony for him. I didn't know dentally dropping out of college. salesman, Harrison had received. a whether I had another symphony in Declared. 4-F as a homosexual, he crate of photostats. He "lived with this my head." A formal commission from spent 1941-1942 in Los Angeles, work­ material for a decade," as he puts it, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, on ing for the choreographer Lester preparing definitive scores for publica­ behalf of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Horton and studying with Arnold tion and performance, premiering cer­ helped overcome his doubts. Schonberg, the Viennese composer tain pieces himself, and even writing Though Harrison's work is not who had emigrated there a few years missing sections for Ives's approval. played in New York as often as it before. OnIyonce did he actually meet should be, he has long been regarded In 1943, Harrison moved to New Ives, who was customarily portrayed as a major American musical figure, York, where he met the composer as too ill to accept visitors. "I went to not only as a composer but as a critic Virgil Thomson, who introduced him his brownstone in New York City. and editor. Born May 14, 1917, in to the idea of writing for a living. Walking up the stairs I encountered. Portland, Oregon, the son of a busi­ Thomson was the music critic for the Mr. Ives whirling a cane; I had to nessman, he went to high school in the New York Herald Tribune, and pre­ duck. His voice boomed, 'MyoId Bay Area and then began San Francisco ferred on principle to hire composers friend, myoId friend,' even though I'd State College. As a child, he had taken as reviewers. Not long afterwards, never met him before in my life!" both dance lessons and music lessons, Harrison replaced Paul Bowles, who After suffering a nervous break­ and had performed in plays. As a was then a composer and not yet a down in the late 1940s, Harrison left young adult, he studied French horn, novelist. Harrison also contributed re­ New York, for which he still has dis­ clarinet, harpsichord, recorder, and views, profiles and previews to other taste, and moved initially to North percussion instruments; he studied pri­ magazines. In the judgment of Carolina, where he taught at Black vately with the composer Henry Brooklyn College musicologist Carol Mountain College for a year and then Cowell (1897-1965). At the same time Oja, "Lou's criticism of the 1940s, stayed another year on the first of two Harrison befriended John Cage, a while small in quantity, was large in Guggenheim Fellowships. By 1954, he Californian only a few years older than impact, spearheading the recognition had moved back to the West Coast, Liberty 63 Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

eventually settling in Aptos, a sunny that doubles as either a performance alternative scales. This accounts for hamlet just east of Santa Cruz, some stage or, when screened, a crash pad, Harrison's long advocacy of "just into­ ninety minutes south of San Francisco. prosperous gardens growing food they nation," which he equates with "truly For many years he lived by his eat, and Colvig's shack full of tools and tuned." wits, working at times as a forest fire­ scrap wood. With typical precision his colleague fighter and even as a veterinary nurse During the 1989 California earth­ John Cage says, "Now that he's older, quake-its epicenter was only two his music is more devoted to what we miles away-their home almost became would call, with all of its meanings, a "] went to Charles ]ves' scrap wood. On October 17, Harrison music of the Pacific." Harrison ac­ was sitting in a favorite living-room knowledges the influence of "Korean brownstone in New York City. chair at 5:07 in the afternoon. "It hit classic court music, Chinese late cham­ Walking up the stairs I en­ without any warning whatsoever. I've ber music, Javanese court and folk countered him whirling a cane; been in a lot of earthquakes," he ex­ music of which I know three tradi­ I had to duck. His voice plains, as a veteran Californian, "and tions-Cirebon, Central Javanese and normally there's a rumble or some un­ Sundanese ... not 'Sudanese,' which is boomed, 'MyoId friend, my steadiness. Here there was nothing. It African." He houses a rich collection of old friend,' even though I'd hit like a sledgehammer. The whole instruments in the Ives room; and never met him before in my house exploded. Walls splintered. All those he has not been able to buy Bill the walls were shaking in different di­ and Lou have made themselves, in­ life!" rections. The cracking, the crushing, cluding the complete set of several the noise-it was terrible. I tried to get dozen percussion instruments compris­ ing the gamelan. in an animal hospital. "It was the only out and thought the door would be stuck, because the whole building was To fulfill the Brooklyn commission, other job in which you could caress Harrison turned first to "unused parts" the customers all day," he jokes. He moving. Oh, it was terrible. And Bill wasn't here." of music written for the Erick Hawkins earned royalties on certain Charles ballet New Moon (1989). 'They were of Ives compositions, but not until the After explaining how he pulled open the door as the wall returned to a different kind from what the ballet 1960s did these amount to much. (And needed, but since they felt wonderfully then, according to stipulations in an appropriate angle, he continues, ''We couldn't get back into the house symphonic, I used them here." They Ives's will, some were reassigned to became the new symphony's first the American Academy of Arts and for several days. The kitchen was barri­ caded. There was glass all over. movement. Not unlike J. S. Bach, Letters.) Harrison received occasional Harrison draws frequently upon earlier awards to compose and travel. Besides, the thing was quaking all the His fiftieth year, 1967, was a turn­ time. Not too many months ago, I had ing point. He met William Colvig, a a dream in which it happened all over man his own age who was then work­ again, and this time the house did dis­ The California license plate ing as an electrician in the San integrate. Had it gone on for more than on his geriatric Mercedes reads Francisco Opera House; the two have 17 seconds, as it did, the whole house "COMPOSRl," which might lived together ever since. Harrison would have disintegrated." also began to teach at the universities, An ebullient bearded man, with a be immodest, were it not true. beginning with San Jose State from healthy resemblance to Orson Welles, 1967 to 1980, with occasional forays to Harrison identifies strongly with the the University of Southern California West Coast in general and the Bay works. For the second movement, he and Cabrillo Community College in Area in particular-in spite of the drew upon an earlier gamelan compo­ his home town. In 1980 he was award­ earthquakes. The California license sition for four Native-American coyote ed the Milhaud Chair of Music at Mills plate on his geriatric Mercedes reads stories, using only three of them for his College, continuing to teach there "COMPOSR1," which might be im­ second movement. "In both these until his retirement in 1985. modest, were it not true. He thinks of movements, all the compositional pro­ Though Harrison and Colvig do West Coast music as profoundIy differ­ cedures are lifted directly from not share a political philosophy­ ent from East. "We don't feel we must Javanese gamelan. In the first move­ Colvig is pretty much a socialist, while torment ourselves or others, and are ment, those techniques are used in a Harrison is a libertarian (yes, they not afraid if our music sounds well. chromatic context, and they work. I argue all the time)-they do share a We're not afraid of new tunings." He is have long maintained that the proce­ compound at the top of a hill, a few a successor to two California compos­ dures ofJavanese gamelan are what we miles up from the Pacific Ocean. ers-not only to Cowell, who, as used to call universa1." That accounts Behind its high wOoden fence is a sun­ Harrison puts it, "as a twentieth centu­ for why all the instruments in the piece drenched ranch house with a high­ ry person didn't want to limit himself will be Western, except for three-a ceilinged studio (called "The Ives to one musical tradition," but also to bell tree, a big gong, and a very large Room") a modest trailer that serves as Harry Partch (1901-1974), a true woodblockish instrument. the composer's workroom, a platform American eccentric who also explored continued on page 66 64 Liberty Warnina-

The Bonfire of the Subsidies by Michael S. Christian

The spread of monolithic states, with their ability to crush out individual free­ doms on a continental scale, has always filled libertarians with apprehension. The sight of the EC crushing the ability of individual states to limit personal freedoms, however, is somewhat more gratifying.

The European Community, a group of sovereign states bound by far-reaching treaties, looms larger as additional states sign on or become included by twists of history. In October, the Community expanded to include the former East Germany. As it articulates its powers, its influence will grow even when the territory it covers does not. The growth of governmental tarians saying that more government We can get an idea of what to ex­ power can hardly be regarded as is never better government. In general, pect from the EC by looking at the beneficent in itself. But from a libertar­ I agree, but consider the growing EC remnants of our own federal system. ian perspective, the Community as it phenomenon that has been called the We should not forget that much of the is now evolving can be the source of "Bonfire of the Subsidies." history of federal enforcement of the good as well as bad news, because as a This is a campaign by the European Constitution has been good news. It federal government it is able not only Commission to reduce the levels of has often served to restrain the indi­ to interfere with individuals but also state subsidies granted in various vidual states from interfering with the to limit the onerous powers of local forms, primarily to local businesses, by rights of individuals. For example, governments. EC member governments. Recently, states fearing certain forms of speech The Community is supposed to for example, the Commission ordered (such as flag burning) or its content or promote, indeed enforce, free trade British Aerospace to repay 44.4 million its effect on citizens (such as the use of among its members, free movement of pounds to the British government in racial slurs to provoke violent respons­ citizens from one member state to an­ connection with its purchase of Rover. es), from time to time attempt to re­ other, and freedom from government­ In that case, the Commission was ap­ strict our freedom of expression; the sponsored unfair competition. The ad­ plying EC doctrines designed to reach federal courts often step in to stop vent of the Community is no clear vic­ all kinds of subsidies that affect trade them. tory for such freedoms, but it gives among member states. Good charter documents of course them a chance. For this purpose state financial as­ are designed to define and limit t)le Europe is going through a process sistance is broadly defined, so that powers of groups, institutions, and of federation or federalization from prior approval may be required for majorities over individuals, but the which Europeans and the rest of the many forms of subsidies, including tax Constitution is not the only fountain­ world will benefit and suffer for dec­ exemptions, export assistance, equity head of federal restraints on state ades and maybe centuries to come. participations, and state guarantees. action. The expansive nature of federal The proportion of good news to bad The "Bonfire of the Subsidies" is cer­ systems is another. This is what news springing from the application tainly good news, a movement in the Madison had in mind when he wrote: of the powers of EC governmental direction of freedom, not only because A religious sect may degenerate bodies will determine whether, on bal­ subsidies are granted at the expense of into a political faction in a part of the ance, the establishment of the EC was taxpayers, but also because they inter­ confederacy; but the variety of sects a good or a bad idea. fere with the businesses that do not dispersed over the entire face of it I can already hear frowning liber- benefit from them. must secure the national councils Liberty 65 Volume 4, Number 3 Janu 1991

against any danger from that source. abundant and facile. How about feder­ only with states but also with individu­ A rage for paper money, for an aboli­ al deposit insurance, for example, or als. It has, for example, recently pro­ tion of debts, for an equal division of taxation for the purpose of making posed a new directive to ban various property, or for any other im-proper transfer payments? Federal abuse of in­ abusive clauses in supplier-eonsumer or wicked project, will be less apt to dividuals is also systematic and institu­ contracts, "abusive" being broadly de­ pervade the whole body of the un­ tional; federal regulatory agencies have fined. In other words, the directive ion, than a particular member of it. almost always been used to interfere would keep individuals from entering Federation is not always successful, with individual liberties (such as free­ into fully enforceable contracts if the but the tendency is there and is often dom of contract, much assailed by the EC finds a clause abusive to the willing effective. I am sure that were the state FTC and other agencies). This has giv­ signatory of his own agreement. of Michigan independent, its citizens en us plenty of bad news from Can more government mean less would have one hell of a time trying to Washington. govemment interference? Sometimes, import Japanese cars. However you feel about our federal when the subjects of a government are On the other hand, federal powers, government, its effects are likely to be other governments. So keep watching like all governmental powers, are sub­ mixed. Like the federal government of for good news and bad news from ject to abuse. Proof of this point is the United States, the EC interferes not Europe. 0

Kostelanetz, "A Master," continued from page 64

"Dennis told me he likes to do the tracted to the form. It's a form I've music in the past decade. All through fourth movement from the Elegiac adopted, which is in a lot of pieces my life I've done other things; but I [2nd] Symphony, the big chromatic job written since then; but I'd never done a haven't had a chance to do them re­ from the Ruggles idiom. I used to stampede as a finale. This time I did. cently, because I've been so involved write a lot of it; and so I thought, well That sort of worries me. It's a long and in this pseudo-professional world." I'll essay another chromatic movement big piece that should go like the wind Among the seventy-three-year-old for him of that kind. I didn't manage and be very exciting, but I don't composer's current plans are collecting to make it as dissonant," he laughed, know." The Fourth Symphony is, like his writings into books, completing a ''but it is fully chromatic. It has some so much of his recent·work, an eclectic sequence of abstract paintings, and Ivesian qualities too, to my surprise. brew of influences both Eastern and traveling through his four favorite I'm always surprised when Ives comes Western, generally unfamiliar but al­ states-Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, up, though I suppose I shouldn't be." ways stylish. and Arizona. He wants to purchase a "I wanted to write an estampie, or This new symphony represents Parascender, a propeller-powered par­ stampede. The form has fascinated me Harrison's most substantial work since achute, and even showed me a video for years. I first encountered it in med­ the destabiliZing earthquake. "1 call the demonstrating it. "Should I ever write ieval European music in New York, new piece 'Last Symphony' because I another symphony, probably for way back when. [My composer col­ need a break from putting black dots Dennis, I can call it 'Very Last league] Alan Hovhaness and I were at- on paper. I've written an awful lot of Symphony!'" a

"Thankgiving Mourning," continued from page 30

where can you even start with them? Thatcher did not take a soon, leaders and future leaders of other countries were fol­ totally free-market approach. From the free-market point of lowing her lead. She acted on the fact-and soon, the British view, she was full of shortcomings. Yet with all her faults, economy responded with concrete evidence that she was she was never out of date, because she was a liVing demon­ right. stration ofa timeless truth: she showed that individuals with Thatcher shook up the universities by inviting them to brains and moral determination could actually change their look around for some private sources of financing. She shook world. up the church by inviting it to remember some things that When Maggie became Prime Minister in 1979, Britain the Bible has to say about individual freedom and responsi­ was wallowing, as it had wallowed for decades, in a hideous bility. She shook up the diplomats by refusing to negotiate mire of paternalism, class hatred and the kind of "moral" plain principles of right. She made good on promises of pri­ thinking that sees in socialism both the punishment and the vatization by selling national property worth $57 billion. , cure of elitism. Both conservative and socialist "intellectu­ You don't have to like everything she did to appreciate als" self-confidently preached a gospel of defeat and surren­ who she is. Just consider the contrast with George Bush: der. Capitalism was regarded on all sides as the while he was sitting in Saudi Arabia, eating boneless turkey embarrassment of the past, collectivism as the necessity of and serving up platitudes to soldiers who had been thought­ the future. Every dose of collectivism produced an economic fully disarmed for the occasion, Maggie was standing in the seizure that called, inevitably, for stronger doses. House of Commons, responding in kind to the attacks of her Maggie saw through it all. She knew that capitalism was opponents, and in the midst of the battle she was declaring, the solution, not the problem. She announced the fact-and with a grin on her "iron" face, '1'm enjoying this." -sc 66 Liberty Unfathomed Knowledge, Unmeasured Wealth, ter Karl Popper." not have to be 'explained' by conspira­ book concerning which it would be But in spite of its attention to Pop­ cy" (pp. 21-8). The relevance of this ob­ more difficult to answer the question per, the book is Hayekian to the core. servation, not only to conspiracy ''What is it about?" It is, for example, That Bartley should be preoccupied theories of the Birchite variety, but to a about the ways in which knowledge with both Popper and Hayek is no sur­ movement centered around a certain grows, and the ways in which knowl­ prise, of course. Before his death in ear­ late Russian-American novelist, will be edge can be put to practical use. It is ly 1990, he had been designated official obvious to most readers. also about determinism and free will, biographer to both, constructed several Bartley's prologue (what he dubs"a and about how loose sexual behavior important books from Popper's lecture manifesto by way of a prologue") con­ leads to the spread of AIDS, and about notes, and edited the first several vol­ tains the most orderly characterization the .dispute between Karl Popper and umes of Hayek's Collected Works. Like that I have ever read of freedom and Thomas Kuhn regarding scientific Hayek and Popper, Bartley is primarily the ways in which it can be lost. He be­ methodology, and about the benefits concerned with knowledge, many gins by identifying freedom with two that the nineteenth century colonial sys­ forms of which can never be wholly ob­ fundamental conditions: the liberty to tem bestowed on its subject peoples, jectified and conceptualized (a distinct­ supply (or not to supply) and the liber­ and about the errors of Marxism, the ly Hayekian notion). Consequently, ty to receive (or not to receive). He problems created by academic tenure, "economic measurements" can be very argues that all freedoms can be reduced the alleged sole responsibility and guilt misleading (Bartley, using Ricardo's to the ability to exercise these activities. of Germany for the First World War, words, says they are "vain and delu­ He then enumerates the means by the distortion of Popper's views by the sive"). Hence the choice of Unfathomed which freedom can be infringed. He late Anglo-Hungarian scholar, Imre Knowledge, Unmeasured Wealth as title. subdivides these according to whether Lakatos, the inconsistency of both con­ While that title may not adequately de­ the basic infringement is upon the giv­ servatives and statist liberals in regard scribe the content of this work, it cer- ing or upon the receiving of goods, ser­ to freedom, Madison's concept of coun­ tainly conveys its flavor. vices, and information. His categories tervailing interests, and much more. This is not to say that UKUW lacks are. further subdivided according to the It is this breadth, this tendency to go original insight. Bartley offers many supposed motivation of the prohibi­ off on tangents that frustrates and re­ new applications (especially in Chap­ tions-e.g., whether the alleged pur­ wards the reader. One moment Bartley ters 1 and 2) and even some new episte­ pose is to protect life and safety, to is highly abstract, the next almost ab­ mological insights. His explanation of regulate morals, to enforce a monopoly surdly concrete. And for my taste, there the ways in which truth can be "put to (such as postal delivery), or to protect is simply too much Popper. Almost ex- the worse" in a free and open encoun- and exalt the majesty of the state. The Liberty 67 Volume 4, Number3 January 1991 p~ologue by itself makes this book es­ tific progress. of groups, universities are handy places sential reading for all varieties of classi­ Bartley could have avoided some in which to have a strong redoubt. cal liberals. potential misunderstanding in these ar­ They are handy for groups that are not The core of UKUW, containing Bar­ eas if he had made it clearer that what competitive, that are peddling ideas for tley's main contributions to the metho­ he terms theory of knowledge would which there is little demand-ideas dology of the knowledge industry, is be called by most philosophers an as­ that do not work, that fail to explain, the section entitled "Universities and pect of the sociology of knowledge. and whose proponents are ... tempted the Wealth of Nations" (pp. 89-149). In With this in mind, the argument is fair­ to turn them into ideologies." this rich segment Bartley, in effect, asks ly persuasive. Being a representative of an ideolo­ three questions. The second question proceeds from gy (or "school") makes academic life the first: Why are the institutions on easier, since "internal scrutiny is more which society presumably relies for the pro­ or less within the control of the profes­ duction and increase of knowledge seem­ soriate." In such circumstances, "There Bartley argues that all free­ ingly inadequate for the task? This has is little hope of accelerating the ad­ doms can be reduced to the lib­ been answered in various ways by pre­ vancement of learning ... until it is erty to supply (or not to vious authors. Recent examples in­ more widely acknowledged ... that in­ clude Allan Bloom (The Closing of the dividuals working in educational insti­ supply) and the liberty to re­ American Mind), Nicholas Wade (Be­ tutions are as self-interested as ceive (or not to receive). He trayers of the Truth), Richard McKenzie businessmen, but that the organization- then enumerates the means by (The Political Economy of the Educational al framework in which they operate . Process), and Charles Sykes (ProfScam). tends to work against public benefit . which freedom can be in­ Bartley draws some inspiration from because educational and professional fringed. I have never read a each of these, but arrives at a different, institutions work contrary to market more orderly characterization and to my mind, better answer. Bloom principles" (p. 1(0). and McKenzie find the root of the Consider Bartley's treatment of one of freedom and the way in problem in cultural corruption; Sykes of these "false philosophies." He argues which it can be lost. finds the professorial system itself es­ against some of the central ideas of sentially corrupting; Wade finds the Thomas Kuhn, one of the pioneers of academy given over to a hopeless the sociology of knowledge and the muddle of political tendentiousness originator of the "paradigm" explana­ First, Is the theory of knowledge a tion of scientific progress. Bartley iden­ branch ofsome larger discipline? and thought-policing. For Bartley, the problem is that the instititutional tifies the irrationalist, subjectivist, and Bartley's answer is that epistemolo­ relativist implications of Kuhn's theory gy is a branch of economics: lithe cen­ framework is not compatible with the tral concern of that branch of ostensible goal of advancing human philosophy known as epistemology ... knowledge. He concludes that the en­ should be the growth of knowledge." tire university system is bureaucratic; For Bartley, knqwledge is a This formulation is, of course, unadul­ it is structured to perpetuate itself and form of wealth, and therefore terated Hayek. The definition is in at to further the careers of its members. epistemology is a branch of least oblique opposition to the main The advancement of knowledge, the stream of Western philosophy, which stated goal of the process, is actually economIcs. regards the central issue of epistemolo­ little more than a by-product. For gy to be the discovery of the relation­ Bartley, the academic caste is locked ship between sensation and under­ into "fiefdoms, guilds and mutual­ of paradigms, which holds that the dis­ standing (what Aquinas called the protection rackets." covery processes operative in science "apprehension of order"). The third question is, What is there in never actually advance toward a Bartley concentrates on the idea .the structure and organizational patterns of knowledge of reality but simply ex­ that knowledge is a form of wealth, the knowledge industry that renders the en­ haust the conceptual potentials of an and that therefore IIepistemology is the trenchment of "false philosophies" so easy? endless chain of successive attempts at economics of knowledge." The failure Bartley indicates that the principal explanation. Amusingly enough, how­ to understand this proceeds from the "false philosophies" that are firmly en­ ever, Kuhn's paradigm model does fact that lithe theory of knowledge tra­ sconced in tOday's major universities seem to describe how the world of the ditionally taught in universities ne­ are ''Wittgensteinian[ism], logical posi­ universities collectively gropes with be­ glects direct investigation of the tivism, phenomenology and hermeneu­ liefs about the material world, to the growth of knowledge." Both philoso­ tics ... behaviorism, pragmatism, credit of neither the model nor the phers and academic economists are to determinism, and scientism." These universities. blame for this state of affairs, and have doctrines prosper thanks to the incen­ Though Kuhn's theory may explain thus proven to be impotent to prevent tive structure of universities: they lack how institutions produce generation af­ the academy's onset of stagnation and a signalling mechanism for changes in ter generation of bogus theories, it is sterility, especially in matters of scien- the market of ideas. "For certain kinds Popper who explains how appropriate- 68 Liberty Volume 4, Number 3 January 1991 ly managed institutions achieve closer tion of wealth prior to the sixteenth social organization and should be capi­ and closer approximations of truth. century? (p. 92) Surely during the long talized (pp. 102 et subq.) Bartley develops Popper's notion by peaceful summer of the Roman Empire But these are quibbles. Bartley's an­ showing that scientific and scholarly in­ (first and second centuries A.D.) there swer to the problem of the vitality of bo­ novation takes place in the academic must have been some growth, and per­ gus theory in the academic environment sphere only when this sphere interacts haps also during the Hellenistic era, to by itself qualifies Unfathomed Knowledge, with (and faces competition from) say nothing of the stable periods of the Unmeasured Wealth as an important people and institutions outside the great eastern empires. "Soviet," when book, and it offers the reader far more. academy. Bartley champions the inde­ used in the context of "Soviet studies," With its publication, Bartley can no long­ pendent and non-institutional innova­ clearly refers to the name of the country er be considered to have been a mere ep­ tor. He sees the universities as involved rather than to a principle of igone of Popper and of Hayek. 0 essentially dormant and nonpro­ gressive. Unfortunately, it is the academics Meltdown: Inside the Soviet Economy, by Paul Craig Roberts who will most enjoy the Popperian seg­ and Karen LaFollette. Cato Institute, 1990, 152pp., $9.95. ment of this book. Some of the material is so specialized that it seems plainly aimed at those with a professional inter­ est in the arcana of the field of scientific methodology. Other chapters deal with intra-academic disputes, involving such The Sick ofEurope matters as the alleged misinterpretation Man of Popper's positions by Imre Lakatos and the question of whether or not Witt­ genstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus implicitly refutes Popper's negation of foundation for understanding Gorba­ inductive logic. JaneS. Shaw chev's strategy for dealing with it. They But there are interesting tidbits of propose some ideas for how privatiza­ information to be mined here and there Hyou are excited and curious about tion could be achieved and, as a fasci­ from the book's long discussion of Pop­ the turmoil of the Soviet Union, but nating aside, they offer a persuasive per~ For example, I was surprised to haven't followed the events step by explanation for why American intellec­ learn that Sir Karl's most famous work, step, this could be just the book for you. tuals have always ov~restimatedthe 50­ The Open Society and its Enemies, was in­ In just 150 pages, Paul Craig Roberts viet Union. itially rejected by more than twenty and Karen LaFollette draw a fascinating The facts they build on come mostly publishers, and that it was at length portrait of a crumbling Soviet econo­ from Soviet press accounts since the ad­ published by the firm of Routledge and my-a world of deprivation, corrup­ vent of glasnost and from reports by Kegan Paul only after personal and pri­ tion, and fraud. Western and Soviet observers. You vate intervention by Hayek. And they do more. Roberts has a read, for example, about the kind of There are other informational jewels rhetorical gift for arraying facts to maxi­ food. that can turn up in Moscow: cans scattered through the book. To cite only mize insight, and for shaping insights of corned beef corroded with black one: the use of the term "iron curtain" into sweeping generalizations. He is spots; milk sausage with filler that de­ was used to refer to the division be­ best known for his role in the 1970s generates into a "slippery piece of tween Communist countries and non­ when, as a Wall St. Journal columnist, he soap"; and "sandwich butter" (half real Communist countries in Europe long created an exciting vision of how tax butter and half a whitish materia}). before Churchill popularized it in his cuts could unleash economic growth. You learn that a regional hospital in famous speech in Fulton, Missouri, in When Reagan's policies stalled in the Mogocha has no plumbing; a new one­ 1946, and before Nazi Minister of Prop­ early 1980s, he was pilloried for having story clinic cannot open because radia­ aganda Dr Joseph Goebbels's similar oversold the program. But that criticism tors for hot-water heating cannot be use a year earlier: it was used in exact­ faded as the Reagan years turned into a found anywhere in the province. Bot­ ly the same context, in a forgotten book seven-year-Iong economic boom. kin Hospital in Moscow (apparently called Through Bolshevik Russia, pub­ In a similar way, in Meltdown, he one of the better hospitals, where West­ lished in 1920. (What does this have to and laFollette bring the facts to life, erners are sometimes treated) has three do with the methodology of scientific making the nature of the Soviet econo­ toilets for 76 men, but no toilet seats or discovery? Well, nothing, of course. my visible and comprehensible to the toilet paper. According to a Pravda re­ Bartley's book is like that). nonspecialist. (Actually, Roberts is a So­ port, the men's ward in a rural hospital I am compelled to add a few trivial viet scholar; he wrote a scholarly study, is a "curtained-off corner with three caveats. Was John Stuart Mill really an Alienation and the Soviet Economy, in beds"; equipment is virtually non­ "innovative economist?" (p. 128) Was 1971.) By highlighting key characteris­ existent. there no growth in per-eapita produc- tics of the Soviet system, they lay the They report that the official infant Liberty 69 Volume 4, Number 3 January 1991 mortaHty figure in 1988 was 25.4 into the Soviet debacle. Among them: cratic forces. deaths per 1000 live births (placing the 1). The Soviet Union is not, in fact, 3). Western intellectuals failed to Soviet Union 50th in world ranking>. run by rigid, hierarchical central plan­ recognize that the Soviet system was an They argue that the actual rate is much ning. Rather, the much touted central economic and moral disaster because higher. They tell how eight newborns plan is an aggregation of agreements they were blinded by their own aliena­ died of toxic septic disease in a city worked out by factory managers and tion from the West. The authors offer a hospital in Sovetabad; even after the their supply agents, the central plan­ choice selection of Western apologists first baby died, staff members couldn't ners. There are so many formal rules for the Soviets. Some are obscure today, keep the formula sanitary; then the and regulations that the factory manag­ like the Dean of Canterbury who stated hospital administration tried to cover er, who chooses which to accept and in 1940 that Stalin would "stand out as up the deaths. According to a Soviet which to ignore, actually hasconsidera­ a giant among pygmies" because he television documentary on ethnic strife ble power. "trained and guided that great family in Azerbaijan, 65% of the babies born < The game is to wheedle enough of peoples that we call the Soviet Union in the city of Sumgait are blue babies supplies to enable the factory to meet toward the right exercise of power...." (suffering from lack of oxygen). or exceed the plan. Each plan target is Others are more prominent, such as expressed in "gross output"-goods John Kenneth Galbraith, who managed measured by volume, size, or weight, to write in 1984 that "the Russian sys­ or number. Quality as viewed by the tem succeeds because in contrast to the In Moscow, workers spend consumer is not a factor. "ll the facto­ Western industrial economy it makes much of a typical day away ry's output is specified by weight, its full use of its manpower." (This sen­ from work, searching for basic products will be heavy. If the plan is tence makes you hanker for more, but, necessities; blue-collar workers expressed in volume, the goods pro­ unfortunately, it is the only quote from duced will be very thin or flimsy," they Galbraith in the book.) can do this because little work writeo Even Khrushchev complained Partly, the authors argue, intellectu­ is expected of them and for the about chandeliers so heavy they pulled als simply didn't recognize that the first two weeks of every month, down ceilings; more recently, the au­ world Lenin created depended on vio­ thors found seven citations in Pravda, lence. But more fundamentally, the hos­ raw materials are usually lack­ over a two-year period, that described tility of Western intellectuals to their ing anyway. Professionals, collapsing roofs or structural walls. own society prevented them from look­ who do have to appear at work "Production in the Soviet Union fre­ ing objectively at other societies. Rob­ quently amounts to destroying the erts and laFollette cite Michael most of the day, hire shoppers original value of the inputs," they Polanyi's explanation that Western in­ to run around town for them. write. tellectuals have inherited an inconsis­ 2). In place of central planning, the tent mindset from the Enlightenment­ Soviet Union is run by regional bosses fervently held moral goals, on the one In Moscow, you learn, workers with enormous power holding sway hand, and cynicism about human mo­ spend much of a typical day away from over a terrorized population. Roberts tives, at least under the reigning capital­ work, searching for basic necessities; and laFollette call these people "a de­ istic system, on the other. Intellectuals blue-collar workers can do this because praved breed of rulers" who run their have always been indignant at the fail­ little work is expected of them and for regions like medieval fiefs and have ure of Western society to live up to high the first two weeks of every month, raw power akin to the satraps of Persia. moral standards (some people are al­ materials are usually lacking anyway. The central government's lack of lowed to be poor and live in crowded Professionals, who do have to appear at control over such people explains tenements, for example) but they dis­ work most of the day, hire shoppers to Gorbachev's move to introduce democ- parage any moral achievements (the re- run around town for them. racy (as well as glas- Outside Moscow, the basics are even nost). Gorbachev is harder to find. People survive on the trying to create a produce they can grow in their tiny separate base of home plots and intercept food on its power from which way to the cities for sale on the black to reduce the power market. "At isolated rural stops, peas­ of the regional boss­ ants burst onto trains to buy oranges, es. This explains his apples, and milk "from a train staff eager insistence on head­ to pocket additional rubles for the ser­ ing the Communist vice," write Roberts and laFollette. Party (the old, cor­ But Meltdown is more than a collec­ rupt structure) and tion of ~uch anecdotes. Without dwell­ being President as ing on economic details, Roberts and well, thus heading LaFollette offer several valuable insights the nascent demo- "We're out of coffee - shall I slap you a few times?" 70 Liberty Volume 4, Number 3 January 1991 lief of poverty or the advent of sanita­ connotations," explain Roberts and La­ mate, shows up at the house with two tion) because they distrust the motives Follette. Other countries and social sys­ garbage bags full of marijuana and a that bring about such improvements. tems that don't share the faults of the penchant for some highly illegal guerril­ This .9.I~~barrele4.~~tag~nism has West are spa~ed such criticism­ la capitalism of his own. With his chanc­ made it difficult for intellectuals to see because "to denounce opponents es of staying out of jail moving rapidly the good in the West and has stunted [would imply] affirmation of one's own toward zero, Dave decides that its time criticism of any society that seemed to society...." for him to disappear from society for challenge the West. Meltdown is neither deep, nor long, good.... "In academic life today, any work nor detailed. But it is devastating as it Although Slam does deal with the ef­ that affirms our society smells of patri­ describes a society on the ropes and illu­ fects of practical anarchy at the personal otism and implies a lack of objectivity, minating in its interpretation of what level, it is anything but a rigid polemi­ whereas anti-Americanism has positive went wrong. 0 cal rant. Rather, it's a very good (and very funny) novel, and one whose writ­ ing shows considerable development Slam, by Lewis Shiner. Doubleday, 1990, 233 pp., $18.95. over Deserted Cities ofthe Heart. Both the book and the prose are lean and unen­ cumbered, filled with real people speak­ ing real dialogue, and zipping along at an almost dizzying pace. Indeed, by combining several inter­ Anarchy's Lighter Side esting and diverse people in one novel, Shiner has captured a broad range of emotions and themes that reflect life in the late 1980s, from madcap comedy to serious social introspection. There's one them at her expensive beach house near very fun scene of a drug deal gone Lawrence Person Galveston. All Dave has to do is feed wrong that reads like Cheech and the cats, lay back, and take it easy while Chong doing the Marx Brothers; in an­ Ex-Cons. Cats. UFO's. Skatepunks. he finishes up parole. other scene, a young skatepunk's heroin Computer networks. Anarchy. Any of That is, until he finds out that sever­ addiction has gotten so bad that he those subjects by themselves might al people are interested in the house as blows the one chance he had for corpo­ form the basis of an interesting and off­ they start to show up, one by one, on rate sponsorship at a big competition. beat novel. But when someone com­ his doorstep. There's Bryant Whitney, Even when it comes to sex, that most bines them, as Lewis Shiner has done in who preaches a gospel based on UFOs, timeless of subjects, Slam displays atti­ Slam, you know you're in for a pretty a world-trotting "adventuress" named tudes distinctly fixed in the late '80s, strange trip. Mary Nixon who keeps claiming to be with Dave never having intercourse Previously known for his science different relatives of the deceased own­ without first donning a condom. fiction and fantasy, Shiner has moved Although Shiner's lean, streamlined steadily away from the confines of gen­ er, and a blind and deaf husband-and­ wife team of treasure hunters (he's deaf prose is certainly far preferable to the re categories in recent years. Deserted and she's blind). H this were not turgid political tracts passing them­ Cities of the Heart, his previous novel, selves off as fiction these days, things in enough, the tendency of Dave's friend deftly trod the line between fantasy Slam move so fast that you wish Shiner to have beer parties in the house and and reality by combining magical real­ had pulled back just a Iittle and put a Dave's own "bad attitude" soon lands ism, Pyregionian complexity theory tad more meat on the bones of this nov­ him in trouble with Mrs. Cook, his fun­ and current political events in Central el. The world of skatepunks that he America into a strange and heady brew damentalist parole officer. shows us is so interesting and different that won c;onsidera},le .. critical praise In his spare time, Dave plays with from our own that he could easily have both'in and outside~the Siffield. With the late owner'scomputer and starts to spent more time exploring it. By the Slam, Shiner has shed genre labels en­ read her books, which include such ti­ same measure, there are many topics in tirely to craft his most successful and tles as Guerrilla Capitalism and God and this book (like computer bulletin boards interesting novel to date. the State. But his lessons in anarchy and the underground economy) that Dave, a newly paroled ex-con who move from the theoretical to the practi­ Shiner only touches on for the briefest of just did six months of hard time for tax cal when he finds himself in a relation­ moments, and many of these could have evasion, seems to have landed the per­ ship with Mickey, a girl half his age been explored in more detail without fect cushy job for his return to the out­ who lives with a band of teenage skate­ slowing the novel's almost frantic pace. side world. Like something out of a punks in a deserted concrete house on Still, these are minor flaws. With National Enquirer headline, a crazy old the beach. Though Dave starts to enjoy Slam, Shiner has fashioned a detailed, woman has died and left a fortune to his new life on the outside, his freedom amusing and thought-provoking novel, her 23 cats, including a generous sti­ is jeopardized when Terrell, a murder­ and has also proved that, in any genre, pend for a live-in caretaker to tend er, escaped convict and Dave's old cell- he's an author to watch. 0 Liberty 71 Volume 4, Number 3 January 1991 The Civil War, The Emancipation Proclamation by Ken Bums. Public Broadcasting Service, 1989. didn't end slavery at all; it only pun­ ished those who opposed the idea of union at the point of a bayonet by con­ fiscating their slaves. In the re-election campaign of 1864, Lincoln's advisors warned him that freeing the slaves of Confederates wasn't very popular and Uncivil War urged him to emphasize the "union forever" theme instead. I suspect that slavery would have been ended before long even if the particular nation-state and that cen­ Civil War had never been fought. Eve­ R. W. Bradford tralizing power in this state is a good rywhere else in the Western world idea. This alone, I believe, would be slavery was abolished during the 19th century without lunatic generals mut­ sufficient to qualify the Civil War as a tering "war is hell" and ordering thou­ My mother's maternal grandfather disaster, even if it had not cost the sands of men to their deaths, without was wounded at Shiloh. It took him lives of 620,000 American men and several years to die. Whether he is in­ picturesque creeks overflowing with God knows how much treasure. cluded in the total 620,000 Civil War human blood, without thousands of Though Burns didn't explicitly dead that the history books report I arms, legs and heads blown to pieces, state that the rise of collectivism was do not know. without destroying every farm, home, essential to the War and to the War's I was an adolescent during the and commercial structure over thou­ virtuousness, the message was plain centennial of the Civil War, and like sands of square miles and ravaging enough: the suspension of habeas cor­ most red-blooded American boy~ I tens of thousands of square miles only pus, restrictions on freedom of speech, found adventure and glory in the slightly less brutally, without the sus­ creation of the income tax, and imposi­ war. Of course, I knew, that a lot of pension of fundamental civil rights, people died. But the war had freed tion of the draft. There were other without institutionalizing government the slaves and preserved the Union. I consequences, not mentioned: govern­ controlled money and banking, with­ had a fair idea of what it meant to ment control of banking and creation out increasing taxes to gargantuan lev­ free the slaves and only a foggy idea of the first federal government issued els, and often without leaving the of what it meant to preserve the money come immediately to mind. legacyof racism that continues to crip­ Union. Nor do I find the idea that the no­ ple the South to this day. But as I matured, I came to appre­ ble goal of ending slavery somehow The British Empire ended slavery ciate the War's costs and consequenc­ made noble the slaughter of hundreds by political reform, compensating es. And I began to wonder: Why did of thousands of men. For one thing, it slaveowners for their lost "property." my great-grandfather and another is not clear to me that very many of The idea that a man can own another 620,000 die? Why did my country suf­ the participants were fighting against human being as property is horrible, fer this horror? Was it worth it? slavery. Few of the Confederate sol­ and the idea that the slaveowner According to Ken Burns' II-hour diers owned slaves, and many of them should be compensated for the loss of documentary on the Civil War, viewed the slave-owning class with a his slaves seems outrageous. But the shown recently on PBS, the Civil War mixture of disdain and envy. For an­ price Britain paid to free her slaves was a Good Thing despite its horrible other, the Federal government and its was infinitesimal compared to the costs, because it made the United soldiers claimed for most of the war to price America paid. States into a nation. Before the war, be fighting for "liberty and union, one Brazil ended slavery by political re­ the producer tells us, people said "the and inseparable, now and forever," Le. form. In Brazil today, I am told, there United States are ..." After the war, the idea that once a state joins the is far less racial prejudice than in the people said "the United States is ..." United States it cannot leave, and de­ U.S. Is there a connection between the In addition, the carnage was sancti­ serves to have its citizens slaughtered, ebbing of racial prejudice in Brazil and fied because it was a crusade against its cities destroyed and its land burned its peaceful abolition of slavery and slavery. over if it tries. the persistence of racial hatred in the I'm sorry, but I don't buy it. First Lincoln's Emancipation Proclama­ U.S. and our violent abolition of slav­ of all, I'm not convinced that forging tion didn't free all slaves in the United ery? I don't know, but I suspect that the United States into a nation was a States: those who were owned by peo­ the Civil War had the effect of good thing. It seems evident that ple loyal to the Federal government strengthening and perpetuating the what is meant by the phrase is that were specifically exempt from emanci­ social attitudes that underlay slavery. people began to perceive themselves pation, as were portions of the South We can't go back to 1861 and see as being fundamentally citizens of a already conquered by the Union. how things would have turned out if 72 Liberty Volume 4, Number 3 January 1991 the warmongers had not triumphed, if Cuban missile crisis of 1962 had re­ devastated, we worry about our land­ the Yankee radicals hadn't had their sulted in all-out war between the U.S. fills overflowing with disposable way, if the federal government had and the Soviet Union. Obviously, we diapers. recognized southern states' secession, would have been worse off if we had No. We didn't have an all-out war or if cooler heads had prevailed in lost the war. But what if we had won on communism. And that meant that Congress and the fabric of the Union the war, as we won the Civil War? more than a billion people had to live hadn't been torn by the issue of slav­ Would the the destruction of commu­ under communism for another few ery. We can only speculate. nism have been worth the price we decades, just as not having an all-out But we can look at another conflict: paid? war on slavery would probably have the conflict between communism and Once again, we can only speculate. meant that four million people would democratic capitalism that began in We can't go back and change history have had to live another few decades the wake of World War II and is end­ to see what would have happened. under slavery. ing today. To my way of thinking, But given the resources at our com­ As I watched Burns' documentary, communism is as evil as slavery. In mand and at the command of the I wondered: would we be better off fact, communism in practice turned communists, it seems quite plain that forgetting the Civil War, blotting it out to be pretty much the same thing the war would have been even more from our consciousness? For those as slavery: a social system based on costly, that even more young men the notion that some individuals would have been slaughtered, even who leamt from it, remembering its ought to be under total legal controlof more civilians killed, even more prop­ horror, its cost, and its paltry benefits, others. It is slavery in a pretty dress, erty destroyed, even more of our civil reliving the war is a dreadful experi­ with a new ideological rationale. liberties and civil order destroyed. A ence. For those who failed to learn generation decimated by the war, the from it, the Civil War remains, in the productive capacity of our free system words of one historian whose talking dedicated to destroying other human head appeared in the documentary, "a Radical anti-communist beings and their property, greater testament for the liberation of the hu­ forces within the United States growth of the power of the state ... man spirit for all time." It took less advocated the same sort of ap­ these would have been some of the than a half century for Americans to costs of destroying communism. go to war again, to forget the horror proach toward the communist Instead, we went about our lives. that war is and to remember the glory nations that the radical anti­ Instead of inventing new means of that politicians tell us itis. slavery forces advocated in the killing, we invented computers, vide­ Don't get me wrong. I atl1. no paci­ decades before the Civil War. ogames, and compact disc players. In­ fist. I have no objection to using vio­ stead of killing each other, we got lence in defense of my person, my married and had kids. Instead of family, my liberty, or my property. drinking radioactive water from can­ During most of the past half centu­ My dislike of war is purely post hoc, teens in filthy trenches, we drink wa­ ry, radical anti-communist forces with­ the product of seeing war and examin­ ter bottled halfway around the world in the United States advocated the ing its consequences. There may be and served with a twist of lemon. In­ same sort of approach toward the "good" wars. I suspect the American stead of going off to war, we went off communist nations that the radical revolution qualifies. But seldom does to Maui or Jamaica or Florida and re­ anti-slavery forces advocated in the any war justify its cost in terms of ha­ laxed on the beach. Instead of being decades before the Civil War. Commu­ tred, destruction, and carnage. 0 nism, they argued, is a vicious and inspired by the bel- evil social system, degrading its sub­ licosity of our war jects, destructive of the human spirit. anthems, we were EJ It must be fought tooth and nail, even inspired by rock if this means total war. and roll, and jazz, The radical anti-communists man­ and the blues, and aged to get the U.S. government in­ any other kind of volved in two "limited wars" against music we liked. In­ communism. In Korea, we fought to a stead of driVing draw; in Vietnam, we suffered a hu­ new, more efficient miliating defeat. But the radicals never tanks to our deaths, got the U.S. involved in a total war we drove new, against communism. more efficient cars What would have happened if the to our vacation des­ radical anti-communists had won? If tinations. Instead of we had fought an all-out war against our nation and half communism? Let us suppose that the the world being Liberty 73 Volume 4, Number3 January 1991 votion to the spontaneous order of the market. I recommend any utility maximizer out there do the only rational and ethi­ cal thing: waste none of your time read­ Booknotes ing this wrongheaded, tedious tome. -Brian Doherty

Examined Lives Richard Yates's remarkable novel, Revolution­ Economic Man - After slogging economy" as a religious belief. Throughout his litany of complaints ary RoRd (Vintage-Random House, through the turgid, repetitive prose 1989, 337pp., $8.95), was originally pub­ and sloppy thinking of The Political against free-market thinkers (they don't lished in 1961. It has been admired by Theory of Conservative Economists by leave room for the expression of the popular will, they pay insufficient obei­ authors and critics, but it has dropped Conrad Waligorski (University Press of almost completely out of public atten­ sance to majoritarian democracy, their Kansas, 1990, 260pp.), I can only con­ tion, resting someplace in the obscurity concept of freedom is only negative; clude that my ignorance of conserva­ to which books eventually go when no etc.), he continually ignores the fact that tive economics is blissful. teachers require their students to read the significant normative difference be­ Waligorski's goal is to examine the them. tween economic markets and political normative political implications of the The books that students are not re­ markets is the use of force. For someone allegedly ·value-free economic thought quired to read tend to be those that who insists he is dealing with the nor­ of three thinkers who he insists on con­ preach no special doctrine, embody no mative implications of free-market eco­ flating as being examplars of "conser­ particular artistic ism, make no attempt nomics, this is extremely strange, as is vative political economy": James to rival the scope of War and Peace. But Buchanan,· Milton Friedman and Frie­ his ignorance of the fact that any non­ some of these books just happen to be drich von Hayek. But his inability to coercive interaction is normatively fine perfectly written, and Revolutionary see any differences between these in the eyes of a free-marketer of libertar­ Road is one such book. It is grounds for thinkers is only the beginning of the ian leaning. celebration, therefore, that someone has book's conceptual flaws. By harping repetitively that Bucha­ decided to reprint it, wrap it in a hide­ His major problem in dealing with nan, Friedman and Hayek refuse to ous glossy cover, and get it out on the the thought of Buchanan, Friedman consider his conceptions of proper shelves again. and Hayek is his admitted inability to equality, democracy, community etc., Revolutionary Road is a merciless deal with them as economists. He has because these interfere with the opera­ analysis of the life of a young couple oc­ no idea, either theoretically or histori­ tions of the "market." Waligorski cupying a house in a suburb of New cally, whether these guys have any­ makes it appear that the only acts given York: two young people who are lika­ thing up on Keynes, Thurow or even ethical imprimatur by the likes of ble, sympathetic, and, in their way, Galbraitho He treats every discussion of Hayek are buying and selling. Waligor­ thoroughly dreadful. Imagining that government failure or the damage gov­ ski seems incapable of understanding there is something special about them­ ernment interference can do to an econ­ that what gives the market such promi­ selves, trying to find it, and pretending omy or even the assertion that inflation nence in the theorizing of his subjects is that they have found it, Frank and April is caused by government as unproven, that it is the arena of non-coercive ex­ Wheeler become actors in a tragicome­ unsupported, apodictic assertions on change. And non-coercive exchange can dy of diseased self-consciousness. They the part of three cranky guys in love certainly include the free play of affec­ are the kind of people who just have to with religious notions about "sponta­ tions, community feeling and every oth­ stop on the highway at night, a mile neous order." In the book's final chap­ er good that Waligorski claims Hayek from home, so that they can indulge ter, he paints "conservative political et al ignore in their single-minded de- themselves in one more epic argument. "Look at you, and tell me how by any stretch"-she tossed her head, and the Title ofpublication: Uberty PublicatiClft Number: 002132 Statement of Ownership, grin of her teeth glistened white in the Date of Rlins: September 30, 1990 Mapagement and Circulation moonlight-"by any stretch of the Frequency of Issue: Bi-Monthly \(required by 39 U. S. C. 3685) imagination you can call yourself a Number ofIaues Published Annually: 6 Annual SubsaiptiClft Price: $19.50 man!" CompleteMaillnsAddressofKnownOfficeofPublicatim:UbertyPublishing.l532SUnsWay••l.PortTownsend.WA98368.Com­ He swung out one trembling fist for a plete Malling Address ofthe Headquarters 01' General Business Office ofthe Publishers: Uberty Publishing, PO Box 1167, Part Town­ backhanded blow to her head and she send, WA 98368. Full Names and Complete MaillnS Address of Publisher, Editor, and Managins Editor. R. W. Bradford (publisher Ie editor),TImothy VJrkkala (managing editor), Uberty Publishing, PO Box 1167, Port Townsend, WA 98368. Owner: Uberty Publish­ cowered against the fender in an ugly ing, R. W. Bradford, PO Box 1167, PortTownsend, WA 98368. Known BClI\dholders, Mortsases, and Other Seauity Holders: None crumple of fear; then instead of hitting Total Number of Ccpies Printed--{averase Rue durinS precedinS twelve months): 5317; (issue nearest filinS date): 5300. Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors and Counter Sales-{averase): 454; (issue nearest filing date): tiOO. Mall SublaiptiClft­ her he danced away in a travesty of (averase): 4138; (issue nearest filinS date): 4160. Total Paid Orcu1ation--(average): 4S92,; (issue nearest filinS date): 4760. Free Distri­ boxer's footwork and brought the fist butionby Mall. Carrier or Other Means, Samples, Cmnplimentary, and Other Free Copies}- (averase): 21; (issue nearest filing date): down on the roof of the car with all his 27. Total DistributiClft-{averase): 4613; (issue nearest filinS date): 4787. Copies Not Distributed, Office Use, Left Over, Unaccounted, Spolled alter Printins--{average): 615; (issue nearest filinS date): 513. Return hom News Agents-(averase): 88; (issue nearest filinS strength. He hit the car four times that date): O. Total--(averase): 5317; (Ruenearest filinS date): S3OO. way: Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong!-while I certify that thestatements made byme above are aJl'J'ect and complete: (siAlled) R. W. Bradford (publisher) Volume 4, Number 3 January 1991

she stood and watched. When he was scribed the difference between himself tic or scientific. finished, the shrill, liquid chant of the and certain orthodox libertarians as be­ His latest book, Ishtar Rising (Las peepers was the only sound for miles. ing that he doesn't hate poor people. Vegas; Falcon Press/Golden Dawn "God damn you," he said quietly. His compassion for them has allowed Publications, 1989, 182 pp., $12.95) is an "God damn you, April." him to embrace economic notions­ exploration of the rise and fall of the "All right. Could we please go home from Henry George, Silvio Gesell, "feminine" principle in human cultures; now?" Buckminster Fuller and even Ezra he associates the feminine principle With parched, hard-breathing mouths, with wobbling heads and shaking limbs, Pound-which fall beyond the pale of with political and social attitudes con­ they settled themselves in the car like laissez-faire. His curiosity about subjects ducive to freedom. The book is a re­ very old and tired people. such as UFOs and ritual magic have write of an earlier work, The Book of the After a few of these scenes, the read­ lumped him, in· some people's opin­ Breast (Playboy Press, 1974), and he er begins to feel shaky and old, too, but ions, with the "new age" crystalheads. uses social attitudes toward the breast the shakiness and the oldness are re­ He doesn't deserve this pigeonholing; as a synchronistic touchstone for the warding, because they result from wit­ his mind is skeptical and scientific level of matrist, open, freedom-loving nessing one of the most intense enough to question all dogma, whatev­ values in a culture. renderings of individual experience in er the source, whether ostensibly mys- With his typical eclecticism, he American fiction. And despite its focus on the lives of two people, despite its refusal to be War and Peace, Revolutionary Road manages to provide a full and exact depiction of Classified Advertisements the world surrounding its central char­ acters. All the vapid conformity of their world, all of its horrifying pretense at Classified Advertising is available for $0.25 per word, plus $1.00 per insertion. 10% off for cheerfulness, all of its secret pathos and six or more insertions. Payment must accompany order. Please specify classification. heroism--everything is revealed and addresses, much other infonnation. Includes lists precisely named. Revolutionary Road is Books of organizations and persons. $3.00 postpaid, the rare work of fiction that is equally Free list of used books for sale. Subjects in­ $4.00 overseas. Jim Stumm, Box 29-LB, Hiler good at capturing the atmosphere of clude Ayn Rand and H. L. Mencken, First Edi­ Branch, Buffalo, NY 14213. the bedroom and the atmosphere of the tions, Anarchism, Atheism and Capitalism. Lists Inside the Men's Club: Secrets of the Patriar­ issued irregularly. Dunn's Libertarian Books, business office. It is also the rare work chy. Ruling class sex & violence in secret socie­ 251 BaldwinAve, Meriden, cr06450. ties (56p.) $5.00. AND/OR FREE ruling class of fiction that holds attention both by its Competitive co-existing governments, wave of continuous seriousness and by its virtu­ research catalog. A-A, Box 2<1273, FeJ:lldale, MI the future Voltaire had intended Candide to ity now! The 10 page personal freedom report per year. Covers changes in election laws affect­ render the Church. H all educated men that shows you how is now only $2. Meyer's-7 ing Libertarians. Free copy on request. 3201 Bak­ would read it, Wilson's goal might yet Box 166979, Irving, TX 75016-6979. er St.,·San Francisco, CA 94123. Free-Market Environmentalism offers ways be achieved. Contained within the nov­ to protect the environment without adding to Personals el's wonderfully picaresque and phan­ the power of the state. To learn more about it, Gay Libertarian Man, 30, nonsmoker, inter­ tasmagorical plot is a witty and write Jane Shaw, Political Economy Research ested in contacting similar men. PO Box 191231 thorough assault on the psychology of Center, 502 S. 19th Avenue, Bozeman, MT 59715. San Francisco, CA 94119. dominance in all its manifestations, es­ Libertarian Anti-Abortion Introductory in­ Professionals pecially its most grotesquely hypertro­ formation only: SASE; literature packet $3.00. Libertarians for Life, ·13424 Hathaway Drive, phied-government. Libertarian psychologist, unlicensed, wishes #22, Wheaton, MD 20906. to be supervised by California-licensed psychol­ Some of Wilson's attitudes have pre­ Diredory of Libertarian Periodicals, up­ ogist or psychiatrist in the Bay Area. Dr. M. Edel­ vented him from achieving Widespread dated latest edition, lists around 150 titles, all be­ stein, 2040 Sutter St., #307, San Francisco, CA respect from libertarians. He once de- lieved to be presently publishing, all with 94115. (415) 673-6849. Liberty 75 Volume 4, Number 3 January 1991 brings in Freudianism, troubadour love better actor than any ball-player; a bet­ not, with a sprinkling of statistical data poetry, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Charles ter ball-player than any actor." The mixed in, concluding with a moral for Dickens, and the history of chess in his problem with his claim (aside from readers. During the 1960s and 1970s a attempt to show the connection be­ twice eliding the word "other") is that new form emerged: debunking biogra­ tween love for and openness about the the intersection of the universe of actors phy, as. exemplified by John McCal­ female breast and the acceptance of and the universe of ball players had but lum's Ty Cobb (New York, Praeger: freedom and intellectual openness as one member, which renders his claim 1975) and Ken Sobol's Babe Ruth & the social values. trivial. American Dream (New York, Random Wilson does not argue for a cause­ The same is true for the intersection House, 1974). While these were more effect relationship; he merely notes that of competent historians and biogra­ credible than the traditional biogra­ certain trends seem to dovetail togeth­ phers of baseball players. Until recent­ phies, their lack of scholarly rigor al­ er, for whatever as-yet-unspecified ly, biographies of ball players were left lowed them to perpetuate myth, though reason. Call it speculative social an­ to sportswriters, i.e. to pseudo­ less blatantly than traditional bio­ thropology, if you will. journalists interested in a good story graphies. The book ranges so far in its 182 but unburdened by interest in truth. Alexander has established himself, pages that you could call ita lot of That is why those interested in both by default, as the premier biographer of things. It always remains entertaining history and baseball celebrated the pub­ the National Pastime. His emergence and intriguing, like everything Wilson lication of Charles C. Alexander's biog­ coincides with baseball's sabermetric writes. And it always shows a genuine raphies of two of the game's dominant revolution, in which analysts have passionate love for freedom from op­ figures from the first two decades of looked beyond century-old shibboleths pression, including the oppression of this century, Ty Cobb (New York, Ox­ and strategies and begun to subject mindless tradition. This is another ford: 1984) and John McCraw (New baseball to scientific investigation. thing that makes him unbeloved of the York, Viking: 1988). Both are well­ Alexander's prose sometimes be­ paleo wing of the libertarian movement. researched biographies that try to sort trays his academic background (past Wilson is a proud defender of psychic out the truth from the stories of books include such page-turners as and sexual freedom as much as of free­ sportswriterse Here the Country Lies: Nationalism and the dom from minimum wage laws. And Cobb and McGraw flourished in the Arts in Twentieth Century America and he is skilled enough a writer to make pre-Ruthian era in baseball. In the 19th This New Ocean: A History of Project Mer­ the reader feel in their hearts the fierce century, runs were created as much by cury.) One is tempted to say that the in­ indignation of which Jonathan Swift baserunning and taking advantage of tersection of fine baseball writers and spoke on his tombstone-the indigna­ fielding errors (fielding gloves were a competent baseball biographers is a tion that lacerated his heart and novelty and much less elaborate than null set. But Alexander manages to rise spurred him to serve human liberty. today) as by hitting. In 1903, three de­ above his academic sensibilities. He Any writer that can communicate this velopments reduced the role of hitting closes his biography of McGraw evoca­ feeling is worthy of respect and atten- even more: home plate was widened tively and perceptively: tion. -Brian Doherty from 12 inches to 17 inches, thereby in­ Throughout his career, whether as creasing a pitcher's options; foul balls player or manager, he remained will­ Two Hits - Long after his career as were counted as strikes unless a batter ing to do anything-or almost any­ a slugging first-baseman had ended, already had two strikes, and the spit­ thing-to win a ballgame. That ethic made him a relentless, ruthless, some­ Cap Anson solicited employment in ball-a murderously difficult pitch to vaudeville with the catchy slogan, "A times less-than-honest man, some­ hit-was invented. For the first two times a very stupid one. Demanding decades of this century, the game was and dictatorial with his players, he characterized by a paucity of scoring, could also be cruel and unjust. Off the the contest was as much intellectual as field he often exhibited those same Internships physical, and a premium was placed on traits, at the same time that he could single-minded devotion to winning show abiding kindness and outra­ Available both the intellectual and physical game. geous generosity. A bon vivant and a That era ended with the invention of genuine international celebrity, he took little care of his health, lived his the home run in the early 1920s, Liberty offers full-time intern­ life generally as he pleased, and prob­ ships to students of all majors spurred on by the criminalization of the ably enjoyed himself most of it. He interested in journalism, writ­ spitball and the juicing up of the base­ wasn't of our time-he probably ing, political philosophy or pub­ ball. The game in the "dead ball" era is wouldn't have wanted to be. But he's difficult for most baseball fans to under­ lic policy. Positions are available worth remembering. stand, let alone appreciate. Alexander If one wants to get a feel for what at all times of the year. in both cases does a credible job of re­ baseball was like in the early years of For further information, calling it. this century when it was becoming the write Liberty, PO Box 1167, Port The traditional baseball biography nation's pastime, there is no better way Townsend, WA 98368. takes the form of a lengthy concatena­ than to read these two biographies. tion of anecdotes, some true and some -R.W. Bradford r Notes on Contributors

Robert Alexander is a software engineer living in tified curmudgeon living in Katy, Texas. Massachusetts. His father taught him never to sign anything Richard Kostelanetz is a writer and composer liVing in without reading it first. New York. His latest composition, "Kaddish," was commis­ Chester Alan Arthur is Liberty's political correspondent. sioned by Westdeutscher Rundfunk. His recent books in­ "Baloo" is the nom de plume of Rex F. May, a cartoonist clude On Innovative Music(ian)s and Conversing With Cage. whose works appear in The Wall Street Journal and other Loren E. Lomasky is Professor of Philosophy at Bowling publications. Green State University, and author of Persons, Rights, and the Moral Community. Gene Berkman is proprietor of the Renaissance Bookshop in Riverside, California, and a former "smoking buddy" of William P. Moulton knows many things, without benefit Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. of academe. David Boaz is executive vice president of the Cato Lawrence Person is a staff writer for the Austin Business Institute. Journal, and has had articles published in Whole Earth Review, Reason and other periodicals. His first short story R. W. Bradford is editor of Liberty. appeared recently in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. Douglas Casey is an active investor and the author of Investing in Crisis, the best-selling investment book of all Ralph Raico is Professor of History at the State time. University College in Buffalo, New York. Michael Christian is an American lawyer working in Sheldon Richman is senior editor at the Institute for Paris, France. Humane Studies at George Mason University. Stephen Cox is Associate Professor of Literature, James S. Robbins follows events in the Soviet Union University of California, San Diego. from the safety of Massachusetts. Brian Doherty, formerly the bassist of the punk rock Eric Schendel is a psychiatrist and family physician with band Turbo Satan, is also a journalist. He lives in Gainesville, a special interest in applying libertarian insight to medical Florida. issues. David Friedman is an economist and author of two Chris M. Sciabarra is a visiting scholar in the Politics books: The Machinery of Freedom and Price Theory, the latter now being translated into Bulgarian. Department of New York University. Karl Hess is the author of In a Cause That Will Triumph, Jane S. Shaw is a Senior Associate of the Political Capitalism for Kids, "The Death of Politics," and many other Economy Research Center in Bozeman, Montana. books and articles. He is now preparing his memoirs. Leland B. Yeager is the Ludwig von Mises Distinguished Mike Holmes is a Certified Public Accountant and uncer- Professor of Economics at Auburn University.

Coming in Liberty • Libertarianism and Conservatism - Richard Weaver argues that libertarian­ ism and conservatism are not only compatible, they necessarily connect. • The Phylogeny and Ontogeny of Rights - Jim McClarin explains how apes, computers, and the frozen dead delineate the problems associated with natural law. • On-Line Education - David Friedman shows how computers can be more than expensive, bulky books. • Ayn Rand, Francisco d'Anconia, Bunnies and Carrots - Christopher Faille considers Ayn Rand's analysis of the meaning of money. • Keep the Hot Side Tepid - R. W. Bradford investigates the murder of the McDLT (no, the homicidal maniacs had nothing to do with Burger King or Wendy's). jf(!JrJr~ ITnc({))gTnit~

London, England San Diego There is no statute of limitations on treason, as reported by Specimen of the sort of verse that helped attract the votes of the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press: more than 85,000 American citizens for the candidacy of Dan George Washington has been found innocent of treason against Kripke, Democratic nominee for Congress in California's 41st the British crown in a mock trial that featured real British and district, from the Hon. Mr. Kripke's official campaign comic book: American judges and lawyers and actors playing historical figmes. Let's keep our waterfalls, mountains, and air The audience of 280, who paid $34 each to watch the trial, waved Forever pure, ourcoastline free from oil. tiny colonial American flags as the verdict was announced. Let's clean up all the toxic waste. Prepare A plan for managed growth. Then we can foil Havana Developers, who want to jam our roads And overflow our beaches, parks and schools. Proof that the Trahant was only a stage on the way to the We all must vote for stronger building codes. perfection of socialist automotive technology, as reported in the Our quality oflife must set the rules. Seattle Post-lntelligencer: Horse-drawn carts have not yet appeared on downtown Havana Lobetal, Germany streets, but they may soon: The official Communist Party daily Innovation in retirement benefits for fonner heads of state, as Granma announced this month that 300 wagons are being built at reported in the Seattle Times: the Nuevas Tecnicas EI Morro factory in the city's Berroa industri­ Erich Honecker, the deposed head of the East German Commu­ al section. The factory is also producing 300 three-wheel carts that nist government was declared homeless, and given a place to stay in will be drawn by men, to replace gas-consuming vehicles. a residential center for the mentally ill operated by Lutheran minister Uwe Holmer and his wife, Sigrid. "He was very friendly," FIau Providence, R.I. Holmer said, "but for us it was at first difficult." Disturbing evidence of either a senatorial coverup or an Oakland, Calif. executive branch conspiracy, as reported in the Boston Globe: The synergistic relationship between democracy and religion Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island has disciplined an aide in the Golden State, as reported in the Los Angeles Times: for using paranormal experiments as a reason for warning the Pen­ Two days before the election, the Rev. Frank Pinkard offered a fi­ tagon that President Bush and other top leaders may be disclosing a nal exhortation to his flock: "Ifany of you all vote for Pete Wilson, secret code word in their speeches. The aide claimed that the word let that be the last thing in the world you confess to me. I'll forgive "Simone" can be heard when recorded speeches by President you for going to Reno or Tahoe and playing the slot machines with George Bush, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, and Secretary of the church money. I may even forgive you for drinking a little Jim State James Baker are played backwards. Beam now and then. But the one thing I have problems forgiving you for is voting for Pete Wilson. Costa Mesa, Calif. News from the front in the War Against Androgyny, as Chamonix, France reported in the Orange County (Calif.) Register: Objective evidence of the incompatibility of naturism and Female bodybuilders Lorie Sencer, 28, and Bridget Morton, 20, mountaineering, as reported in the Detroit News: were stopped by police officers as they were coming out of the A music teacher from Paris froze to death on Mont Blanc while women's restroom during a Billy Idol concert "I told the cops meditating in the nude, police said Wednesday. The body of Ghis­ 'We're women. Look at our breasts,'" Sencer said. Two staff mem­ laine Sanchez, 37, was found near a glacier at 6000 feet. Doctors bers at the theater were ordered by the officers to examine Morton. said the woman apparently was practicing one of the forms ofmedi­ "They took her into the first aid tent, and made her drop her pants," tation originating in Japan and Tibet that involves exposure to ex­ Sencer said. treme cold. Nesquethoning, Penn. Brockton, Mass. Evidence of the psychological diagnostic skills of law Disturbing evidence that law enforcement officials lack the enforcement officials, as reported in the Lehighton (Pa.) Times opportunity to view public selVice announcements, from the Detroit News: News: Nesquethoning police have cited Wanen Hoffman, 29, of 107 Authorities in Brockton, Massachusetts dismissed about 380 Mill St., for causing a public inconvenience over the weekend. He drug-related cases after former Police Chief Richard Sproules reportedly was playing loud music, shouting obscenities, and bark­ pleaded guilty to stealing about $170,000 in cocaine from the p0­ ing at the moon. Police said they believe Hoffman was lonely. lice department's evidence room. Sproules said he used cocaine (Readers are encouraged to forward news clippings or other docu­ every day for five years after trying some of the samples he took to ments for publication in Terra Incognita.) anti-drug lectures. 78 Liberty 1990 FREEDOM DAILY AND OTHER ARTICLES FROM FFF 1. 1990 ISSUES OF FREEDOM DAILY 2. FROM THE PRESIDENT'S (Photocopies) DESK- One Dollar Each (Essays by Jacob G. Hornberger) One Dollar Each D January: "An Introductory Message" D July: "The Forgotten Importance of Civil from Jacob G. Hornberger; "An Introductory Liberties" by JGH; "The Heritage of D "The Compromise of Silence" Message" from Richard M. 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