Healthcare attheDMV November 2009 $4.00

O'~ ~ ro 0'1j 00 ro IIII~O' ~ o U")ro ! I'-Uiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 1'-;-.:to-.:t --- ~ "Liberty is the paramount essential to human dignity and human happiness. 1/ - Bulwer o :::> Fresh from the Liberty Editors' Conference in Las Vegas! Editors Speak Out!

Liberty's editors spoke to standing room only crowds (yet again!) at our con­ ference held in conjunction with FreedomFest in Las Vegas. Now you can buy digital-quality recordings ...

How the New Deal Inspired the Libertarian Bailout: The Goo~the Bad, and the Movement: David Boaz gets our conference Downright Ugly: uoug Casey, Randal off to an electric start witn his ca£tivating O'Toole, Jo Ann Skousen, and Jim Walsh exploration of the roots of today s libertarian reveal the ugly truth about the biggest, most movement. (CD 090tA) blatant transfer of wealth in U.S. filstory. Cui bono? Even if you aren't surprised, you11 be Liberty & Religion: Stephen Cox, Doug informed, fascInated, and appalled. Casey, Jo Ann Skousen, Andrew Ferguson, (CD 0909A) and Charles Murray discuss (and disagree about) God, church, state, morality, ana the Should We Abolish the Criminal Law?: individuaL (CD 0902A) David Friedman makes a persuasive argument for one of the most provocative, How Urban Planners Caused the Housing seemingly impracticable ideas that you're Crisis: Randal O'Toole has a unique likely to hear. Our legal system has serious persrective on the cause of the economic problems, but can thIS be a solution? By the meltdown. Conventional wisdom aside; the end of the hour, you will be convinced the wealth of evidence he unveils leaves no doubt answer is "Yes!" (CD 09tOA) that he's onto somethng. (CD 0903A) The Complete 2009 Liberty Conference: Market Failure Considered as an Argument Much more for less! Every minute of each of Against Government: David Friedman is these panels and presentations. Doug Casey, never better than when he's skewering half­ David Boaz, DavId Friedman, Steplien Cox, baked ideas. Here, he demolishes trendy Charles Murray, Randal O'Toole, Andrew claims that more government is the answer to Ferguson, Mark Skousen, Jim Walsh, and Jo today's problems. (CD 0904A) Ann Skousen lecture, discuss, debate, and Why Your Friends & Nei2hbors Support Big argue about almost everything under the sun. Government: Randal O'T'oole, DaVId Boaz, (Complete set only $59.95) and Stephen Cox take on one of the most :perplexIng questions in libertarianism: why aon't people support freedom? Their answers will surprIse you1 (CD 0905A) How Obama Is Using Transportation Funds to Tum the United Sfates Info Europe: Randal O'Toole exposes one of Obama's biggest, most brazen, but least discussed plans to circumvent your liberty. You11 be shocked by its audacity. (CD 0906A) Anarchy or Limited Government?: Doug Casey, David Friedman, and Mark Skousen mesmerize their audience in what may be the most heated debate ever held at a Liberty conference. (CD 0907A) Obama's First Six Months: Doug Casey, Stephen Cox, Randal O'Toole, and Jo Ann Skousen subject the new president and his administration to their penetrating analysis. Every lover of individual liberty must have this Information about the most powerful, and therefore most dangerous man in America. (CD 0908A) November 2009 Inside Liberty Volume 23, Number 10

4 Letters Liberty's readers bare their souls.

7 Reflections We arm ourselves, silence our critics, mend American health care, give out shirts, shake it down the slippery slope, indoctrinate your kids, and kill all the lawyers.

Features

25 Property Rights - or Property Permissions? Timothy Sandefur reports from the frontline of the judicial battle over your possessions.

31 Healthcare Down at the DMV Bill Merritt foresees the future of medicine under universal health care: waiting in a leatherette chair, forever.

35 Ban'em All The Olympic Games, observes former Olympian Jamie McEwan, is driven more by politics than by sport.

Reviews

39 The Tangled Web Did World War II need to be fought? Leland Yeager weighs the evidence.

42 Arguing for Capitalism Gary Jason tells the story of an economist who demonstrated that consumers have the "power of exit" ­ from socialism.

44 Bubble Bobble Fed folly, deregulation, the Basel accords - Bruce Ramsey goes in search of just what made the economy go sour.

47 Beyond Allusions Brutal, yes, says Jo Ann Skousen - but Tarantino's latest film has its own kind of beauty.

48 Uncle Sam's Money Machine Doug Gallob assesses the latest news about America's financial monster - state-sponsored banking.

50 Singing in the Rain As Woodstock turns 40, Jo Ann Skousen surveys the spectacle.

54 Iron Chef, Zinc Saucier JoAnn Skousen tastes film fare with a good recipe and at least one interesting ingredient.

46 Notes on Contributors The workers in our fields.

55 Terra Incognita Life at the margin. About [ Letters ]

YOur Beyond Their Means abruptly and unexpectedly, as these Jon Harrison in Reflections folks are subject to decisions made by (September) asks whether it is true that others. These folks do not live month to a reported 12% of Americans are going month. It is basically week to week, if Subscription hungry, as, apparently, a public service not day to day. announcement has claimed. Also, one should not minimize the I have not seen this announcement, difficulties that clients may have in Q: When does my subscription ex­ but I have worked as an interviewer accessing either government or chari­ pire? (intake volunteer) at my local emer­ table food providers. Clients must try A: Please look to the right ofyour name gency-helping agency (food, clothes to fit visits to the pantry into a sched­ on your mailing label. There you ule where being at work, applying for will find (except in some cases when and limited financial assistance for the jobs, or caring for kids has higher pri­ receiving your first issue) the number qualified) for well over 15 years. My ority. I volunteer on an afternoon shift ofissues left in your subscription, agency works with the working poor. I at the pantry. When I interview a client followed by the word "left," as in "3 suspect that the statistic of one in eight LEFT." being hungry refers to what the profes­ and his responses are slow, or he is ac­ sional "advocates for the hungry" call companied by whimpering and listless children or seems unusually eager to Q: I've moved. How do I change the situational hunger. I sometimes over­ get his food donation, I ask, "Have you address to which my magazines are simplify and call it "too much month sent? left at the end of the money." Working had anything to eat today?" Frequently, A: Write us at the postal or email ad­ poor often have hungry periods, but are the answer is "No." Our pantry has lit­ dresses below. Be sure to include not chronically hungry. If you were to tle preassembled bags of food for the your previous address, your new draw a line to represent a break-even clients to eat on the spot. Then we can address, and a telephone number or point where these folks' income and take care of the longer term by filling a email address where we can reach expenses were equal, you would find food donation order. you ifwe have questions. It's best to that over time their actual income was Susan Frensley send us your current label and your sometimes above and sometimes below Richardson, TX new address. Allow 6-8 weeks to that break-even point. When they are Harrison responds: Ms. Frensley raises begin receiving Liberty at your new taking in above the break-even point a very important issue inher letter, viz., address. - say they have a job that pays $10 per that some people have children they hour rather than the minimum wage, or can't afford to raise. People such as Q: I'm receiving duplicate copies of gives them 35 hours a week rather than she describes simply have no business Liberty. What should I do? the more usual 20 - then they buy their starting a family. Indeed, I would say A: Clip the mailing labels from both TVs and game systems for the kids. this is the number one social problem copies and send them to the postal They generally can hold on to some of in the United States today. We allow address below. We'll make sure you those paid-for items, even though there everyone to believe they have a "right" receive all the issues you've paid for. will be weeks when their hours get cut to reproduce, irrespective of their eco­ or they lose their jobs and end up with nomic circumstances. As a result the Q: How can I buy gift subscriptions no food in the house, while looking for poor blithely go ahead and produce for friends and family? another job. The shortage may occur passels of brats who depend upon the A: Call the toll-free number below. We'll be happy to assist you. Letters to the editor Liberty invit~s reader~ to comment on articles that have appeared in our pages. We Q: Is Liberty on the Web? reserve the rIght to edIt for length and clarity. All letters are assumed to be intend­ A: Yes. Selected articles from each is­ ~d for publication unless otherwise stated. Succinct letters are preferred. Please sue are published online. Visit our Include your address and phone number so that we can verify your identity. website at libertyunbound.com. Send email to:[email protected] Or send mail to: Liberty, P.O. Box 20527, Reno, NV 89515. To subscribe, renew, or ask questions about your subscription

E-mail: [email protected] Write: Liberty Circulation, P. o. Box 20527, Reno, NV 89515 Call toll-free: (800) 854-6991 during regular West Coast business hours Outside the U.S., call: (775) 828-9140 rest of us for sustenance. Government churches and the "advocate class" to could do something beneficial for soci­ tell people straight: you must not have How to ety by starting a program to instruct the children you can't support! citizenry that parenthood is not in fact a Subscribe right. I would gladly pay taxes for this. Capitalism's Black Spot I'm sorry, but I don't see that the Ever the snob, Michael Christian workingpoorarejustifiedinbuyingvid­ seems not to have consulted a news me­ to eo games or a TV when they are above dia outletofany political stripe or of any the "break-even point," if it means they language. "Hasn't anyone noticed that will require public assistance a little the industries suffering spectacular col­ II Liberti] later on. Instead, they should save any lapses because of bad risk management overage for the leaner times. Anyone are two of the most heavily regulated Liberty takes individual feeding at the public trough should not industries in the country - banking freedom seriously ... and be buying luxuries of any kind. and insurance?" he declaims ("Bastiat the status quo with more on the Bay," September). It's true that some families fall on than one grain of salt! hard times and have trouble making Other libertarians might not notice or care about the sleight of hand used ends meet. I myself have known a hun­ Every issue of Liberty brings you here, but I did and I do. Part of the spec­ gry day or two in my life. I would spend news you can't miss, public money on soup kitchens to en­ tacular collapse occurred in that portion opinions you won't find sure that every American has enough to of the banking and insurance industries eat every day. I don't want any of my that was least regulated, thanks to the anywhere else, and the best fellow citizens, even the most irrespon­ midwifing of Alan Greenspan and oth­ libertarian writing in the world. sible among them, ever to go hungry. er free market defenders in the birth the But I also want the government, the CFMA of 2000. The collapse involved You won't want to miss a single issue! From the Editor Act Today! You have to pity President Obama. (Well, maybe you don't have to pity him, Liberty offers you the best in in­ but you can certainly try.) As Liberty goes to press, his popularity is plummet­ dividualist thinking and writ­ ing, and his legislative agenda arouses more antagonism every day. You can bet he ing. So don't hesitate. You have can't sit at his desk for five minutes without having to listen to panicked advisers nothing to lose, and the fruits demanding that he do something - six or eight simultaneous and contradictory of Liberty to gain! things - to get his administration out of the jam. Use the coupon below or call: Here is a man who sacrificed all earthly joys to the strange ambition ofbecom­ ing president. And even that wouldn't be so bad, ifhe'd taken the job on the terms 1-800-854-6991 in which it was originally described - to "defend the Constitution ofthe United States" and "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." That wouldn't take 24 ------­Please enter my subscription hours a day. But President Obama, like all other recent presidents, considered it to Liberty immediately! his duty to "run the country," and especially to "run" its economy - without, of o One Full Year $29.50 course, having any idea ofhow to do that. o One Full Year, via email $25.00 The consequence is that he spends his days being lectured by hysterical or mo­ o Two Full Years $56.00 rose and truculent aides. Most ofthem, he knows, are quacks, since they constantly o Two Full Years, via email $45.00 disagree with one another, in the most bizarre and dogmatic ways. But which ones are quacks? That's what he'd like to find out. name How can he tell? He doesn't know anything about economics or history or even, apparently, the American people. And he doesn't have time to study up on those address things. What's he to do? Well, Mr. President, we at Liberty have a suggestion. Just send us $29.50, and city state zip we will send you a year's subscription - eleven big issues, delivered directly to your home by an agent ofthe U.S. government. It won't take long for Liberty's authors email address to tell you what you need to know. And ifyou act on their advice, your popularity o I enclose my check (payable to Liberty) will return. Best ofall, once you stop doing all the things you never really needed to Charge my: do, you'll have a lot more time to spend with your daughters. o VISA 0 MasterCard 0 Discover Look, Mr. President. Ifyou can't find your checkbook, I'll buy you a subscrip­ tion to Liberty. When was the last time you got an offer like that? And I'll leave the account # offer open. Just let me know.

For Liberty, expiration date signature ~ Send to: Liberty, Dept. L, .5P- P.O. Box 20527, Reno, NV 89515 Stephen Cox .. _-----_. November 2009 those financial institutions who - with those are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit would lead one to believe. It's a lot unbound hands andfree will - chose to of Happiness." One need only look at like the meaning given to "Give unto invest in a mortgage pool swelling with the history of the Bill of Rights and its Caesar that which is Caesar's," except subprime mortgage, via such esoteric ignored 9th Amendment to realize that the true meaning of this one is much instruments as credit default swaps. the only rights citizens retain - much more clear. "Christian" must be more than a less "are endowed with" - are those A "keeper" isonewhokeeps another name, it must be a descriptive - he that they explicitly claw from their gov­ captive. Think "zookeeper." "Warden" seems devoted to the belief that noth­ ernment; Life, Liberty, and the pursuit or "jailer" would be a synonym. Cain's ing bad can ever happen in a totally free of Happiness not included. Perhaps response to God's inquiry, "Where is market they were too "self-evident"? your brother?" was a smartass answer, For "show me" libertarians - who It took nearly another 100 years for made more asinine by the fact that Cain always knew that subprime mortgage those three self-evident rights to be in­ knew full well where his brother, Abel, lending was a disaster waiting to hap­ cluded in the Constitution under the was: dead byhis hand. "I know not. Am pen - the lesson of the collapse was 14th Amendment as "life, liberty, or I my brother's keeper?" In other words, that a few individuals in the right place property." And even now they're not Abel is a free adult; Cain doesn't control can be so blinded by the feeding frenzy secure. "Pursuit of Happiness" was Abel's movements. Cain's response was that they can bring about a different an elegant albeit vague and meaning­ not a serious philosophical question. and larger disaster, one that hurts far less euphemism for property, which This came to mind when Barack more people. Jefferson was loath to include fearing Obama used the phrase in a speech re­ Any more like this, and capital­ it might justify slavery. Unfortunately, cently, saying that he thinks he is his ism can forget about any superiority it the omission later caused such an ero­ brother's keeper. If he really means might have - an intelligent and demo­ sion of property rights that there is now that, he is truly dangerous; he wants cratic society will avoid it. It's time to popular clamor (one proponent being to tum the entire country into a prison, quit thinking like a Christian. the Institute for Justice) for a property­ with him as warden. John Eyon rights amendment to the Constitution. Rush Limbaugh didn't pick up on Seattle, WA The slippery nature of evenenumer­ that; he and his co-hosts and guests ated rights - much less"self-evidently treated it as a question regarding caring Christian responds: I'm grateful for endowed" rights - comes to mind in for one's brother. A keeper is responsi­ this letter. It gives me a chance to plead Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes' dissent ble for his captives' wellbeing, but only guilty and to reiterate something. First in the Lochner v. New York case. His par­ because they cannot fend for themselves the guilty plea -I am, indeed, a snob, ticularly perverse interpretation of the - a fact that many people forget about but how did Mr. Eyon figure it out? 14thAmendment, using original intent, when they rail against prison health I'm perplexed. Now to reiterate - the mind you, found that since the amend­ care. Obama apparently wants to make mortgage pool swelled with subprime ment was originally written to protect the country a big prison, so he can take mortgages because Freddie Mac and the rights of freed slaves, it could not care of everyone's health. Fannie Mae, both creatures of the gov­ apply to workers and management de­ Biblical literacy being at such a low ernment, made or guaranteed most of ciding the length of their workday. But point in this country, Jo Ann Skousen's those loans and regulators with great then, he was famous for declaring that review(October)of"MySister'sKeeper" arbitrary power over other financial he could decide any case, any way, us­ also fails to note the film's perpetuation institutions strongly encouraged such ing any principle. of this Biblical misinterpretation. The loans. As populist rabble-rousing, quote from Emerson's "Self-Reliance" Self-Evident To Whom? Jefferson's clause is second to none, does not employ the phrase; it probably Stephen Cox's review of "The Latest and in that sense, it is great writing. would not have occurred to people in Illiteracy" (September), like· virtually However, as a description of reality or a Emerson's time, when most Americans anything he writes, was an insightful recipe for government, it is a complete actually read the Bible, to turn an obvi­ pleasure to read. One particular ob­ failure. Therefore I must counterintui­ ously sassy answer to God into a serious servation, however, struck a dissonant tively conclude, being a firm believer in philosophical question. chord with me and, at the risk of ex­ the dictum that form follows function, RyckeBrown Grants Pass, OR posing myself as a complete crank that the clause in question is neither ef­ and being told to "go away," 111 take fective nor elegant writing. Skousen responds: You're right that issue with Cox's (and nearly everyone Robert H. Miller a "keeper" is one who keeps others Prescott, AZ else's) assessment of the Declaration of in a confined location, and usually ­ Independence's "We hold these truths She's a Keeper though not always - against their will. to be self evident" passage. All my life, I have heard the ques­ When Cain asks "Am I my brother's Lofty words. Pure poetry, perhaps tion, "Am I my brother's keeper?" keeper?" he probably does mean, "Is it - but devoid of any connection to real­ treated as though itis a serious question my responsibility to keep mybrotherby ity. It is not self-evident that "all men that asks whether one is responsible for my side and in my sight?" and not "Am are created equal," or "that they are another's living standards. But such I supposed to take care of my brother?" endowed by their Creator with certain out-of-context quotes give a completely unalienable rights," or "that among different meaning than the plain words continued on page 38

6 Liberty Some say ice - Sunspots normally peak and ebb on them higher is by improving your secondary schools." Really, an 11-year cycle. But shortly after astronomers started keep­ ya think? ing track of them in the early 1600s, the sun virtually stopped But improving secondary schools requires more school producing sunspots for a period of about 70 years. That period choice, something Obama and the Democrats in Congress is known as the Maunder Minimum. Coincidentally, the Little staunchly oppose. In fact, the only major educational initia­ Ice Age occurred during this lull. tive that these union-controlled hacks have taken was to kill Recently the sun has once again virtually stopped produc­ the DC voucher program. ing sunspots. I am not qualified to predict whether we are You can expect the primary and secondary educational headed for another minimum, and I'm not qualified to say system in America to continue to rot for years. - Gary Jason whether sunspots affect earth's global temperatures (although Gunfight - The controversy about carrying guns in the evidence looks pretty good to me), but I am rooting for public is not new. In 1967, however, the political alignments Little Ice Age II, for two reasons. on this issue were completely different. Many conservatives First, I don't want to see cities at low elevations devastated (and others) objected when the Black Panthers insisted on by rising oceans produced by melting ice. Second, I'd love to exercising this right in California. In response, Gov. Ronald hear Nobel Laureate Al Gore's explanation of why the heating Reagan signed the Mulford Act banning the carrying of guns bill for his mansion continues to climb. - Jeff Wrobel in public. Hard numbers - The company that created and Many defenders of liberty have felt the need reflexively to administers the ACT college admissions test has just released defend the gun-toting citizens who have recently appeared the 2009 analysis of the nation- at rallies. This is a mistake, or at wide results, and they are not (SIR, IT'S "DE.MOCRAeY, least an incomplete response. A encouraging. SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY J ., far more productive contribu­ The results show that while NOT "H,/POc.RIS'i.") tion to an otherwise futile debate 67% of high school graduates are is to emphasize privatization as a college-ready in English, only solution. We can find a just and 53% are college-ready in reading, efficient answer to the question less than half (42°,/0, to be exact) only by treating this as a tragedy­ are college-ready in math, and of-the-commons issue. less than a third (28%) are college­ Both sides have a point, but ready in science. In fact, less than neither can ever be satisfied as a quarter (23%) are college-ready long as thoroughfares, parks, and in all four areas. other venues for town halls or ral­ This is about high school lies continue to be government grads, please note. It doesn't con­ owned. When a venue is pri­ sider dropouts, who constitute a vately owned, the issue becomes large percentage of students in a relatively simple one: the owner most large public school districts. decides who can carry guns. The Nor does it consider high school .5,",CHAM8f.RS problem (to the extent it is a prob- grads who don't take college lem) arises only when we take admission tests, either because they are going straight into the private property out of the equation. In the absence of priva­ work force or are going to junior college or trade schools. tization, the controversy will never end until one side or the The results are essentially the same as for last year (when other forces its will over the commons through the brute force only 22% of the test takers were college ready in all four of legislation. - David Beito areas). Turnabout is foul play - No matter how much I Considering that the sample size here is large - about try, I just can't get excited about the Republicans in Congress 1.48 million out of the 3.3 million eligible high school students opposing Obama's healthcare reforms. Sure, they have cor­ (usually juniors) took the test - itis clear that our educational rectly said it is too expensive and too socialistic. But like the crisis continues. proverbial pot calling the kettle black, the Republicans are Indeed, the figures are so disappointing that Bob White, hypocrites, as well as big spenders who frequently support head of the nonpartisan Alliance for Excellent Education, was socialist legislation, when it is their own. moved to opine, "We're not making the progress we need to How quickly conservatives forget that it was Republicans be making. The only way you improve these numbers and get in 2003 that gave us the Medicare Prescription Drug,

Liberty 7 November 2009

Improvement, and Modernization Act (PL 108-173). Initially Cuban isn't healthier than the average American because his projected to cost about $400 billion (which is still $400 billion healthcare system is better. It's a horrible, primitive health­ too much), it is now projected to cost over a trillion dollars. care system. The technology stopped advancing there back Introduced on June 25, 2003, by the Republican House in 1960, and the doctors stopped learning new things in that Speaker Dennis Hastert and supported by the Republican year. Nothing has changed since 1960. But the average Cuban House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, this reform and modern­ is in much better health than the average American. ization of Medicare passed the House (220-215) and the Senate There are two reasons for that: he gets a lot more exercise (54-44) in late 2003 with overwhelming Republican support. than the average American, and he has a much better diet, In fact, it was Democrats who almost defeated this massive which is to say that he eats far fewer calories (and they are expansion of the welfare state. Only nine Republicans in the unrefined calories). Senate and 25 in the House voted against healthcare reform When things change in Cuba, so they have a diet like that in 2003. of the average American and the same kind of transportation Why are the Republicans en masse opposed to health­ as the average American, the average Cuban will be in much care in 2009? Have the Republicans become libertarians, or worse shape. are they partisan hypocrites without any real allegiance to the People conflate the health of a population with a country's Constitution or the principles of liberty and limited govern­ medical system, when these things really have almost nothing ment? I'm afraid it's the latter. - Laurence M. Vance to do with each other. - Doug Casey Health is in the eye of the beholder - Childishness - The handsome moron Van Jones Overhauling the U.S. medical system will do absolutely resigned his job as Obama's "green jobs czar" (technically, nothing to improve the health of the population. American part of the White House Council on Environmental Quality). medicine is extremely good for acute problems and diseases, Jones had, in years passed, reportedly signed a "truther" doc­ but when it comes to health maintenance, it's next to useless. ument alleging that George W. Bush had orchestrated the 9/11 Michael Moore, who is physically obese, intellectually dis­ attacks on New York and Washington, DC. He had also called honest, and philosophically unsound (what a pathetic com­ all Republicans"assholes." bination - he should run for Congress), made the argument Jones's explanation for his resignation didn't make much in his ridiculous movie that the average Cuban is healthier sense. He said that his critics used "lies and distortions" to than the average American. That's correct, but it has abso­ attack him; yet he legitimized their complaints by quitting. lutely nothing to do with the healthcare system. The average The New York Times had to twist its prose into logic-defying Word Watch by Stephen Cox I don't know - why can't people care about the words they actual approval will come two seconds before the crack ofdoom). say and write? Don't they have any self-respect? "Input": "please give me your input" (but why ask? - "input" Mary Chesnut, the diarist ofthe Confederacy, wondered the is something, I assume, that I am required to give, whenever same thing: some computer bureaucrat inserts my plug in a socket, switches "I saw a letter from a girl crossed in love. It was shown to me me on, and logs onto my brain; "input" is nothing like the old­ and my advice asked. Her parents object to the social position fashioned "advice," which implied a human aspect). ofher fiance, in point offact forbid the banns. She writes, 'I am That's ugly. But do people ever reflect on the weird things missereablle.' Her sister she calls a 'mean retch.' their words imply? Or on the nonsense that their words state For such a speller I said a man ofany social status would do. directly? They ought not to expect so much for her. Ifshe wrote her 'pah' a Here's an account ofJohn Steinbeck's involvement with note, 1 am sure that 'stern parient' would give in." movies. It says he provided "interesting introductions to several A "mean retch"! You have to give the girl credit - what a filmed adaptations ofshort stories by the legendary writer O. triumph ofilliteracy! Henry." All right; now tell me, what are the legends ofO. Henry? Mrs. Chesnut adds, "I am miserable, too, today - with one Was he the assassin ofJesse James? Or was he the guy who dis­ s and one l." Ifshe were here now, I'm sure she would share my covered the Holy Grail? But maybe I should be grateful that the own misery about the weird assemblages ofletters and syllables writer didn't call him "infamous." that virtually everyone, from college professors to girls crossed in Ofcourse, there are Americans who are oblivious to what love, now accepts as words, decent and ordinary: they say, not on the small scale but on the grand scale. Our vice "Alright" ("all right" had too many letters). president is a fine example. In late July he gave an interview to "Thusly" ("thus" had too few). The Wall Street Journal in which he remarked derisively on the "Deplane": "in the unlikely event ofa water landing, passen­ deficiencies ofthe Russian political-economic zeitgeist: "They gers will deplane through the side-door exits" ("leave," appar­ have a shrinking population base, they have a withering economy, ently, had too few syllables). they have a banking sector and structure that is not likely to be "Detrain" (the inevitable result of"deplane"). able to withstand the next 15 years [Wait! Is he talking about "Pre-approve": "you are now pre-approved for credit" (the them or us?], they're in a situation where the world is changing November 2009

gibberish (or even more so than usual) to spin its coverage Admittedly, there's some credence to this charge: initial plans sympathetically to Jones. for the address included a Department of Ed handout that Van Jones is a trivial figure, who may already be forgot­ would encourage the children to "write letters to themselves ten by the time this issue sees print. But, for me, the take­ about what they can do to help the president." away point from his 15 minutes of fame is that people in fairly All the same, the fear is overstated, and there may even high positions inside the Beltway believe childish things. That come benefits of enduring the president's missive. Primarily administrations as inept as W. Bush's are able to control world this is because kids today, however ill-taught they may be, events to provide causa belli. And that all members of an estab­ are almost without exception media-savvy: when even lower­ lishment political party share the same temperament. class families have a hundred channels, it's silly to expect that I have a daughter in the 8th grade. She's gotten past such they will give more than five seconds' consideration to a sin­ stupid thinking. - Jim Walsh gle talking head - a presentation format that was already on For the children - As we go to press, our intrepid its way out when Max Headroom had his brief static-burst of president is prepping to speechify the nation's children in glory in the late '80s, and which is by now paleolithic. Hence an address which, to extrapolate from his prior bloviations, the benefits: schoolchildren will be confronted with our latest will be tedious, mawky, and radiant with self-satisfaction. No political messiah, a man whose face has through sheer repeti­ change, then, from a normal session of government school­ tion become synonymous with"change," and they will realize ing. Yet the request that the kiddies set aside 20 whole min­ that the man behind the face is, like any other adult authority utes out of their day's intense study in order to attend to Dear figure, deeply and utterly dull. Leader's words has sent many a school board to the soapbox, Meanwhile, a much more audacious attempt at indoctri­ to announce their intended "boycott" of Obama's speech. nation has gone underreported, and would completely have Presumably their complaint is not the same as mine ­ escaped notice if not for the vigilance of Patrick Courrie1che. that those 20 minutes would be far better spent inculcating On his blog, Big Hollywood, Courrie1che detailed how in economic and mathematical understanding through such early August he and perhaps a hundred other artists had activities as slinging dimebags or shooting dice - but rather been recruited by the NEA to listen in on a conference call a more general objection to the attempted indoctrination. intended lito help lay a new foundation for growth, focusing (As a side note, it would be interesting to measure the over­ on core areas of the recovery agenda - healthcare, energy lap between those who support a speech boycott, and those and environment, safety and security, education, community who support daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.) renewal."

before them and they're clinging to something in the past that is to feed you. You're supposed to say, "Fine. Just fine. Doin' good. not sustainable." Day went well. Just kickin' back tonight. No plans, just kickin' The vice president's words were in complete contradiction back this weekend," and a load ofother meaningless drivel meant to the line that the president, his boss, had been taking toward solely to establish that you are "nice" - as ifanybody cared. Russia. But Biden, caring nothing for all that, proceeded to draw I would prefer to answer: "Oh, thanks for asking. I'm from his own, rather dramatic, policy conclusions: "I think we vastly Greenland. Yeah, as you'd know by consulting the globe, but I underestimate the hand that we hold." suppose you haven't, Greenland is that goofy place that looks Yes, maybe so. Bring out the Big Red One! But why should really big on the map. Bigger than America! No, really. Dude! I the vice president tip our hand? mean it. But nobody lives there. Nobody except the Eskimos. I I'm sorry to mention this, but the Russians, for once, mean the Inuit peoples. LOOK AT ME! I am one myself! Today analyzed the situation correctly. They denounced Biden for his I lost $5,000,000 in investments, my longtime partner left me, "boorish openness." "Boorish" is traditionally the best adjec­ my cocker spaniel died ofa venereal disease that could have been tive for official Russian speech, but "boorish openness" is an treated ifI'd known in time about the virtues ofObamacare, and authentic description ofenormous terrains ofcurrent American I am no longer sure that I was right in my critique ofthe aerial discourse. shots in 'North by Northwest.' By the way, my friend and I will Last month, Liberty Contributing Editor David Boaz visited be spending part ofour evening robbing the other customers at San Diego, my home town, and we went out to dinner at a good gunpoint, because neither ofus has enough cash to pay for this restaurant. David ordered one ofthose weird combinations that meal. Just so you know. Dude." you find only in an upscale American eatery: lobster, macaroni, Ah, fantasy! But I'll return to things that are real. I don't and cheese. (I confined myself to more ordinary California think David was prepared for the "server's" cross-examination. cuisine - pork chop, sweet potato, bok choy.) The dreary thing He just sat there, unable to respond. Maybe he was doing what I was that we couldn't order without first being grilled by the was doing - pretending to be deaf, or French, so the guy would waiter. Very nicely, very subserviently, he inquired where we were go away and signal the busboy to give us our water. But there was from, how we were doing, how we were doing tonight, how was no need to worry: our server wasn't interested in anything we everything with us tonight, how had our day gone, how was our had to say; he'd simply been trained to recite a boorish litany of evening going, what were our plans for the weekend ... supposed friendship. Stop! Why would anyone think this was a good idea? And why Ifyou're from the West Coast, you'll recognize this as the would anyone think it was a pleasant and gracious custom to inquisition you always have to endure before people are willing point at your food and shout, "You still workin' on that?" But November 2009

Courrielche was skeptical of this attempt to enlist art­ artists, underground poets, independent journalists - this ists in what he perceived to be a propaganda campaign ­ initiative is recruiting not only those who know how to get a perception amply confirmed by the lead man on the call, messages out in contemporary society, but also those whose NEA Communications Director Yosi Sergant, who noted that status as "outsiders" make them indispensible in overcoming "Obama has a strong arts agenda ... and has been very sup­ any lingering skepticism among their peers. portive of both using and supporting the arts in creative ways Consider too the other organizers of the call: aiding the to talk about the issues facing the country.... now Obama is NEA (in the form of Sergant) were representatives of the putting out the call of service to help create change." White House Office of Public Engagement; United We Serve; "Ask what you can do for your country": ifthere is any dic­ Rock the Vote; and Russell Simmons. This last is arguably tum which sums up the beliefs of our leaders in Washington, the most influential man in American culture, a hiphop and on both sides of the aisle, it is this totalitarian call to national fashion mogul who with a nod of his head can make an art­ service - which Obama in his children's sermon will cer­ ist's career. That'd be the carrot: the stick is that anyone refus­ tainly reference. This supposed imperative, after all, is a cen­ ing to participate could find funding hard to come by, as the tral component both of Obama's special-interest leftism, and NEA remains the single biggest source of artistic funding in also of John McCain's "national greatness" conservatism. In the country. And, as shown by the direct links to Obama and the conference call, it was presented in its most blatant form his indentured-servitude campaign, any holdouts could also to these creators and taste-makers, most of whom as dutiful find themselves as political pariahs, denounced by their fel­ Hope-poster wavers could be expected to commit themselves low conference-callers and shunned by an increasingly politi­ unreservedly to the NEA intiative. cized arts community. It may seem to many that trying to preverit the "politici­ Several commentators have jumped from this point to zation" of the NEA is like trying to shut the barn door after backdoor evocation of Godwin's Law, but one need not raise the horse has bolted. But, as Courrielchenotes, in the 40-odd the ghost of Leni Riefenstahl to recognize that little good can years the NEA hasbeenin existence, he couldn't find"a single come of yoking art to power. At best, the result will be a sort instance of the agency creating or supporting a national ini­ of cultural Keynesianism, extending the broken-window fal­ tiative that encouraged the art community to address current lacy to aesthetic products. At worst, there will arise a de facto issues under contentious debate." And, unlike the technotards committee on un-American artistry, ostracizing those whose in charge of Obama's inevitably awkward TV address, these products are deemed insufficiently hortatory: observe the artists are not ignorant of media; these are concert promoters, hatchet job done on John Mackey, whose Whole Foods stores art directors, marketing mavens; moreover, these are street- are fixtures in campus and arts communities, for the crime of

that's what "servers" from one end ofthe republic to another now spend a moment thinking about English grammar ought to be do, at the conclusion ofevery course, and ifpossible before the entrusted to revise English vocabulary? course is concluded. I remember telling Muriel Hall, who had There are much more important examples ofboorishness. spent the whole ofher long life on the East Coast, that this was This summer, President Obama made a mess ofhis reputation what people said in California. She thought I was joking. That as the Platonic form ofracial sensitivity, first by flying offthe was over a decade ago. Now the joke is everywhere. handle about the police having acted "stupidly" in the case of But I'm sorry to be talking so much about what goes on in Professor Gates (whose conduct was presumably impeccable), restaurants. There are countless worse things. Here's one. then by repenting, not in sackcloth and ashes but in an over­ On August 5, Los Angeles County Police ChiefBill Bratton tailored suit, acknowledging that his words might have been announced his retirement. He said he would miss his job; then better ... "calibrated." Tell me, what honest person prides he added, "But policing is never finished. That's the great thing himselfon the careful calibration ofhis words? This was boorish about it." Let's see - the great thing about being a cop isn't pre­ openness, closely followed by boorish wiliness. venting crime or bringing justice to criminals; it's the persistence The president should simply have apologized for his racially ofcrime and criminals, right? inflammatory remark. Instead, he did what Bill Clinton loved to Or do you think he didn't mean that? Maybe. Then what did do: he constructed sentences in which the individual words were he mean - ifanything? true but the sentences themselves were false. Since Clinton, this Given the choice, however, 1'd prefer meaninglessness to practice has been called "parsing." Did I say something dumb? political correctness. And political correctness wouldn't be halfas Did I say something that everyone else regards as a transparent bad as it is, if it were combined with even a faint concern for the half-truth, equivocation, or outright lie? No, I didn't. I just failed structure and sound oflanguage. But it never is. to "calibrate" my statement well enough. But don't conclude, on People who believe that "men" (as in "all men are created that basis, that I ever in my life said something wrong. equal") is "sexist," because it refers only to males, are obviously How often has Mr. Obama, either before his election or after ignorant of the history of the English language and the meaning it, plainly admitted a real mistake? The answer is: as often as Mr. ofEnglish words. No synonym of"mankind" or "everyone" ever Clinton did. Yet both ofthem spend halftheir time equivocating meant "males." But when I hear a choir sing, "Joy to the world, about it. the Lord is come; / Let we our songs employ," I realize how many Remember all those comments by President Obama about people have an oh, so sensitive ear for "sexist" words but no ear how his healthcare "reforms" were "revenue-neutral," despite the whatever for basic grammar. ("Shall we go downtown?" "Yes, Congressional Budget Office's projections ofa trillion-dollar loss? let we.") And why should anyone assume that people who can't His statements could certainly have been better calibrated. Yet November 2009

drawing on decades of corporate experience to offer Obama grids and impede creative proposals, such as Stephenson's, advice on healthcare reform. that encourage more rational pricing. This, then, is the real danger of Obama's schoolhouse However, Stephenson also supports popular, yet dubious, address: it's political sleight of hand, drawing criticism energy policies. AT&T plans to increase its reliance on alterna­ for the indoctrination it is ill-equipped to deliver, deflect­ tive fuel vehicles. It is unclear whether Stephenson endorses ing criticism away from more subtle initiatives much better the current subsidy policies that make wind energy and other suited to propaganda. Don't be fooled by spectacle: through­ less viable power sources possible. Government energy effi­ out his career, Obama has done his real dealings through ciency standards - for light bulbs, through E-Star programs public-interest and labor groups, under the guise of commu­ for appliances, and so forth - are not free. They impose costs nity organization. And for most of these dealings, there will in terms of either price or product quality. After all, if con­ be no Courrielche on hand to expose what's going on behind sumers preferred the products, there would be no need for the scenes. - Andrew Ferguson government mandates or ad campaigns. Granting energy Reach out and touchy feely someone - It conservation priority over other human needs may even exac­ is easy to be critical of how businesses have responded to the erbate such serious problems as global hunger, as has hap­ global warming alarmist agenda. Most firms have fallen over pened because of pro-ethanol government policies. themselves promising to reduce carbon dioxide (C02) emis­ Capitalism, by means of its dominant institution, the sions, in ways that are economically impossible or that reduce modern corporation, has done many things worthy of praise. their profitability - but not all of them have. Unfortunately, businesshasfailed to marketits virtues. Rather AT&T Chairman Randall Stephenson recently listed it has too often acquiesced to populist and political pressure a number of economically feasible ways to reduce C02: regarding energy and other fields of politically correct policy. greater reliance on telecommuting, web-based data manage­ Businesses play defense, merely tweaking regulatory poli­ ment, online delivery of books and other informational ser­ cies, at great cost to themselves. The telecommunications sec­ vices, real-time CPS systems that encourage efficient traffic tor has suffered from overregulation of the grid and confused flows, and dynamic electricity pricing with telecommunica­ antitrust policies that limit rational reorganization, restricting tion links. Unfortunately, many of these good ideas will be AT&T and others' ability to innovate creatively. blocked by various state and local laws. Archaic ideas of pri­ In "Creating the Corporate Soul," a look at the history of vacy limit informational exchange. Labor rules limit people's corporate communication, Roland Marchand notes that not options to work from home. Trade barriers restrict informa­ long ago AT&T was a leader in establishing legitimacy. AT&T tion outsourcing. These things reduce incentives to upgrade promoted its communication networks as a social good, by "revenue" he simply meant "something that has nothing to do have a second chance." Again, "he too." And unfortunately, this with reality," and by "neutral" he meant "ditto." argument may be vindicated. The honorable Mr. Jefferson may Try this. It's from an August 5 Associated Press report about well get another try at the trough. the corruption conviction ofnine-term Congressman William But so much for logic. How about taste? Plain old-fashioned Jefferson ofNew Orleans, the honorable member ofthe House taste? And how about a taste for liberty? who was caught with $90,000 in cash in his freezer. Sounds bad, Carl Isackson, a denizen ofnorthern California, reports a doesn't it? And it is. In times like these, it's a terrible thing to take visit to a school concert. "One ofthe second-grade classes," he all those greenbacks offthe market. Some stimulus! But to the says, "sang Santana's 'Evil Ways' with changed lyrics": AP the important thing was how members ofthe public reacted to You've got to change your evil ways - people! ... the case against the congressman. You've got to use it, re-use it, recycle today, The AP found, as it usually finds, that even when an argu­ Tell your friends and your parents to start right away, ment is absolutely conclusive, some ofthe public are opposed and This can't go on ! some of the public are not opposed. And as usual, the AP's public Was there no one in the audience except Carl who thought was distinguished by its boorish lack oflogic. One middle-aged lady, surprised on the street as she was it was a trifle tasteless for second-graders to tell their parents waiting for a ride (in case you wondered where the AP finds and guests that they had "evil ways"? Was there no one except authorities to interview), offered some typically nonconsecutive Carl who thought it was tasteless for adults to ventriloquize their thought: "There was so much controversy, the way they went to finger-pointing puritanism by using second-grade children as the man's home and took stuff.... He was no worse than the their dummies? others." I don't think Carl is off-base in comparing this rudeness to The logicians call this kind ofargument tu quoque - "you the behavior encouraged in totalitarian states: "I can just see the too," or in this case "they too." There's evidence that the con­ kids reporting to their teachers that Mommy's eating cookies gressman took bribes? So do the rest of them! And therefore ... instead offruit and Daddy isn't recycling his wine bottles. Then, what? offto the gulag!" This logic emerged in another form, from a Christian Carl doesn't mean to be funny about this, and I don't either. minister who promised that he would be Jefferson's "supporter Ayn Rand warned us to fear the influence ofthe second-raters. until the last breath in [the minister's] mouth": "IfMarion Barry Now we must fear the influence ofthe second-graders, who are [former mayor ofWashington] can be convicted ofsmoking crack being trained to be even more boorish than their parents - and cocaine on video and come back, then I think Bill Jefferson can much more open about it. November 2009 proudly asserting that it enhanced America's core values of Senate. But the EPA's position is based upon science that is freedom, security, and fairness. AT&T produced brilliant ads more than three years old, in a field (climate science) that is during this period - the "Reach Out and Touch Someone" rapidly changing. He points in particular to six major areas in ad series extolling America's egalitarian values and more which the EPA's science is out of date. recently, the prize-winning, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," First, as he notes, during the past 11 years, average global illustrating a mobile phone resolving the problems of a work­ temperatures have dropped, while both the atmospheric level ing mother. The mobile phone, much like Samuel Colt's of carbon dioxide and the amount of worldwide carbon emis­ revolver, had become a "great equalizer." And, as Marchand sions have steadily gone up. Second, the consensus among cli­ mentions, other businesses followed AT&T's example. mate scientists that anthropogenic global warming is causing Today,AT&T still providesa healthyalternativetotheapol­ the number and intensity of hurricanes to increase has broken ogetic stance of most businesses, but even it has succumbed to down. Third, the consensus among climatologists that global popular whims championed by its critics. Capitalism has yet warming it causing Greenland to lose its ice cover has now to gain the moral legitimacy it merits, and that failure, if not collapsed. Fourth, the TSD was formulated before the current soon addressed, will prove costly. - Fred Smith worldwide recession hit, with its consequent dramatic slow­ ing of the increase of carbon emissions. Fifth, a paper that Earlier this year, the Shut up, they explained - came out this year strongly questions the claim that there is U.S. House of Representatives discussed and subsequently a strongly positive feedback of water vapor from increasing passed the cap-and-trade bill, a massive new tax and regu­ carbon dioxide levels - a claim that lies at the heart of the latory regime intended to slow global warming by dramati­ vast majority of computer models that predict global warm­ cally cutting U.S. emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). (Of ing. In fact, the data indicate a decrease of water vapor from course, India and China, which produce more GHGs than we an increase of carbon dioxide. do, have refused to join us in this act of economic hara-kiri.) Finally, another paper, also out this year, argues that the But it has now been revealed that during the same period a solar data upon which the TSD rests are faulty. Indeed, the brave researcher at the EPA, Dr. Alan Carlin, put out a report paper concludes that solar variability can explain up to 68% expressing reservations about the science behind the global of the increases in global temperatures. warming hypothesis, and the EPA went to great lengths to Dr. Carlin's report deserves to be discussed, and I hope suppress both the report and the author. it will be discussed in the Senate debate. As an economist, Yes, that's right. President Obama, during his campaign, he undoubtedly understands the massive economic costs of loudly trumpeted promises of transparency in governance, cap-and-trade. And as a free American, he certainly doesn't and an end to what he claimed was the politicization of sci­ deserve to be silenced. - Gary Jason ence. But his administration tried to bury the nearly 100-page report written by Carlin and an associate in March. Carlin, by Pat and Adolf - Patrick Buchanan stirred up a fuss the way, has been with the EPA for 35 years, and is a senior with his column, "Did Hitler Want War?", which was pub­ analyst with the Agency's National Center for Environmental lished on Sept. 1, the 70th anniversary of the day German Economics. panzer divisions rolled into Poland. Buchanan argues that the When Carlin's boss, Al McGartland, was presented with answer is "no" - an opinion that outraged a number of com­ the report, he emailed Carlin a command forbidding him from mentators. I wasn't outraged, but I wasn't impressed, either. entering into direct communication about it with anyone out­ Buchanan argues that Hitler invaded Poland because of side the agency. In another email, McGartland said that since his appetite for Danzig, a city-state between Germany and the EPA had already determined to issue its "finding" that Poland, and a protectorate of Poland. Buchanan does not carbon dioxide endangers the environment (a finding that did mention Germany's remilitarization of the Rhineland before proceed to issue, in March), Carlin was to cease all inquiry that, or the annexation of Austria, or the deal at Munich for into climate science. the Sudetenland, or Hitler's breaking of that deal in his con­ But the report and the emails have just been outed by the quest of the rest of the Czech lands. Danzig was not a demand Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). The report makes fas­ that stood alone. It came at the end of a string of demands, cinating reading, and is available in full from the CEI website, and a large broken promise. despite the EPA's attempt to quash it. The Allies had carved out Danzig (now Gdansk) from Since the release of the report, Carlin has been subjected German territory at the end of World War 1. Buchanan calls to a concerted smear campaign. He is now labeled a "denier," it "a town the size of Ocean City, Md.," which is grossly inac­ although he isn't; he merely wants the science of global warm­ curate. Danzig Free State contained 759 square miles (half the ing to be reexamined before we make any major economic size of Rhode Island) and 366,000 people, double the popula­ changes. His credentials have also been questioned. After all, tion of today's Providence, R.I. his detractors say, he is "only" an economist - despite the True, Danzig was 950/0 German-speaking. It had been fact that his undergrad degree, from Cal Tech, is in Physics. cut from Germany without its consent and, Buchanan says, The points Carlin makes should have been discussed in "Even British leaders thought Danzig should be returned." the debate over the cap-and-trade bill. They are trenchant and Buchanan's column implies (but does not say) that had Danzig compelling. He notes that the EPA's most recent position on been returned, Hitler would not have ordered the invasion of global warming (set forth in March in its Technical Support Poland. The problem with this argument is that when Hitler Document, the "TSD") was the basis for the cap-and-trade did go to war, he didn't just order the conquest of Danzig, and legislation approved by the House and awaiting action in the stop there; he ordered the conquest of two-thirds ofPoland. His

12 Liberty November 2009 actions told the story. Danzigwas a pretext. He wanted Poland equivalent of Child Protective Services obtained a court order as Lebensraum - living space - for the German people. blocking her from setting off. The girl has been put under the He was not devoted to peace. In his first years in power, he supervision of child care workers for 60 days while a court­ built up the German military as much as he could, and during appointed psychologist determines her ability to withstand the 12 years of his regime, he ordered the invasion of· every the stresses the voyage would entail. The judges even consid­ country that touched Germany except Switzerland. This is not ered removing Laura from her father's home, but decided she a leader who Udidn't want war." No doubt he didn't want all could remain there under state guardianship. the countries fighting him that eventually did, but he was rad­ Now it seems obvious to me that the state has a right, and ically aggressive, belligerent, and willing to risk war. indeed an obligation, to intervene when children are physi­ Some of this is hindsight, of course; but Buchanan is also cally or sexually abused in the home. I even accept (though arguing from hindsight. He avoids discussion of the real with some uneasiness) the state's right to compel very sick problem by running after a straw man - the argument that children (Le., minors) to undergo medical treatment against the West had to stop Hitler because he aimed to take over the their parents' wishes. But this case disturbs me. Shouldn't world. That was said by a lot of people, including President Laura's parents, who are expert sailors, decide whether to Roosevelt. It was nonsense, and it's easy for Buchanan to allow their child to sail around the world? It's not as if Mom knock it down. Germany was not strong enough to think and Dad planned to place a toddler in a boat and then push it seriously about taking over the world. It was a land power out to sea. So what justification is there for the involvement of only, and its land power crested at Leningrad, Moscow, and social workers, psychologists, and judges? Stalingrad. It had no navy except for U-boats and a hand­ We may believe that in this case Mom and Dad are using ful of capital ships, which the British sank or chased back to very poor judgment, but should the state get involved, and German-occupied ports fairly early in the war. The German should it have the right to do so? I would like to know what army could not get across the Atlantic. It couldn't even get other libertarians think about this. - Jon Harrison across the English Channel. All the president's ads - I've just seen two In the second half of his column, Buchanan knocks down recently released public service ads, both starring our presi­ the Utake over the world" thesis. But his demolition job dent. Before seeing these I was concerned that he wasn't get­ doesn't get him where he wants to go. He set out to prove that ting enough air time. Hitler didn't want any kind ofwar, and if that's so, the obvious In the first, he takes a moment from his busy schedule to question is, "Then why did he start one in 1939?" And two share with us his insight that fathers should spend time with years later, in invading the Soviet Union, why did he start their kids. For those eager to follow the president's recommen­ another one? - Bruce Ramsey dation but simply unable to understand what to do, he is kind The long wake of the law - An odd and per­ enough to provide specific examples. It seems that fathers can plexing matter has come up in the Netherlands. A 13-year-old "play ball, visit a park, or go to the zoo." He assures fathers Dutch girl, Laura Dekker, wants to sail around the world ­ who are concerned about the time commitmentthat "itdoesn't alone. And her parents have given her permission. The state, take that much time," which must be true because he has two however, has intervened to delay, and perhaps prevent, Ms. girls himself and despite running everyone else's lives seems Dekker's departure. to find time to spend with them. I should mention that the young lady is already an accom­ The second ad shows him extolling the virtues of volun­ plished sailor. She was born while her parents were sailing tarism, going so far as to mention the great volunteer efforts around the world, and spent the first four years of her life at of the astronauts who got us to the moon. I had assumed that sea. She has sailed solo as far as England. the astronauts were actually paid military personnel, doing According to reports, Laura's parents tried to dissuade their jobs. My error. her, but eventually gave in to her pleadings. Apparently the I understand that upcoming ads will show the president mother, a German woman, was more opposed than the dad, providing pointers for children learning to tie their shoes and but as the parents are in the middle of divorce proceedings, the proper technique for stacking plates in the dishwasher to she feared losing contact with her daughter. Of course, she optimize their shine. At this journal's deadline, rumors that a may lose the child forever if the latter actually attempts the 24/7 cable All Obama channel is in the works have not been circumnavigation. confirmed, but requests to the FCC for call letters WOBMA Personally, I think it's too a big a job for a 13-year-old, no have been denied as duplicative. - Ross Levatter matter how good a sailor she may be. We know that brain The dissent of man - "Dissent is patriotic." I development, including the area that controls judgment, is detested that phrase from the moment I first heard it - much not complete before about age 25. There are good reasons why as I detested the equally inane phrases "the audacity of hope" we prevent minors from doing certain things. On the other and"change we can believe in." Though, mercifully, that first, hand, a 17-year-old English boy just completed a solo voyage once ubiquitous, phrase is now rarely heard, I find it coming around the world. At 14, he crossed the Atlantic alone. to mind. Is the state justified in intervening? The parents, who are First, I am not so sure that dissent and patriotism are not deranged, decided Laura could attempt the voyage. Their naturally equivalent. The two do not equate in the way this decision may be wrong, but should government then step in? phrase was used by Democrats who opposed the Iraq or A Dutch court decided it should. Once Laura's proposed the Afghanistan war; they simply sought to avoid questions voyage became known publicly in the Netherlands, the Dutch about any alternatives they might offer. The way this phrase

Liberty 13 November 2009 is written, and was uttered by Democrats, implies that dissent Commentators on the left rushed to assure the nation that in and of itself is patriotic. In that regard, the phrase makes the president would address the importance of education, no sense. Among the definitions of dissent are"disagreement, not hot-button political topics, and pointed out that, after all, withholding assent, to disagree with the methods, goals, etc., George H.W. Bush had given a similar address to the nation's of a political party or government." Dissent is simply an act. schools in 1991 - no matter that Democrats complained then If, perhaps, it was written and uttered as "I dissent from this just as Republicans complain now. war because it is against my fundamental ideals, philosophy, In fact, the two episodes, taken together, are a fine example and beliefs," then it would have made sense. Of those who of team mentality in action. In both cases, partisan teammates were against the war(s), it seems that only libertarians made of the current commander in chief defended the president's such cogent statements. address, while opposing teammates derided it as an abuse of Second, among the definitions of dissent is "to dis­ power. Both teams now ignore the arguments they made 18 agree with or reject the doctrines or authority of an estab­ years ago, because their positions are reversed. lished church" and "separation from an established church." Being a member of neither team, I find it amusing, in one Regardless of one's opinion of former President Bush, no one sense, to see through the rhetoric and recognize it as the dis­ could plausibly maintain that his supporters treated him as an sembling and obfuscation it is. In another sense, it's dismay­ object of religious devotion. Unfortunately, the same cannot ing to realize that because everybody is busy cheering for his be said about the current president's supporters. The fervor own team and demonizing the other one, few people stop to of many of Obama backers - especially those in the media ­ consider the danger in setting up any politician, under any borders on religious fanaticism. I feel comfortable stating that circumstances, as an inspirational figure for the nation's many of us are indeed dissenters from any religious aspects children. of this presidency. The nature of politics is so conducive to corruption and Third, almost everyone is aware of the tea parties and the abuse of power that every politician - in any position, the more recent town hall meetings. The town hall meetings from any party - should be regarded, at best, with unflag­ appear to have been intended as staged forums for politicians ging skepticism. We may be stuck with such people littering to tell American citizens what shall be done about healthcare. the public sphere, but we should save any inclination toward Any of the numerous video clips available online reveal how hero worship for people who've earned it outside the realm offended the politicians hosting these gatherings were by any of the parasitic class. More than anything, we should teach expression contrary to what they wanted to tell the audience. the nation's children to doubt the motives and promises of Though I have yet to be able to attend a town hall meeting, I people who wield power, and in the rare case in which a poli­ love what's happening, The American citizenry seems to be tician proves their suspicions wrong, they can be pleasantly awakening from its stupor, no longer complacently accept­ surprised. - Eric D. Dixon ing the repeated infringements of its freedoms in the form of Waterworld - I live on an island that is part of an laws, regulations and ordinances (which like the healthcare atoll. An atoll is the coral ring around the place where a larger reform proposal, are cast as for our own good). island used to be. Over the eons, the island eroded away but Change is happening. WhetherDemocrats wish to "believe left behind the much sturdier reef, which is very similar to a in" this change is immaterial. Citizens are engaging the gov­ solid band of concrete. Coral grows only under water, so at ernment that is supposed to be by the people, for the peo­ the time when this atoll was formed, the land I'm sitting on ple. And, this change is forcing the Democrats to expose their was at least a few inches under water at low tide. Right now, own hypocrisy. Now that they hold the reins of government, this land is a few feet above water at high tide. Democrats no longer see dissent as patriotic - they are firmly Why is it above water now? Every coral isle dotted around opposed to it. the 154-mile circumference of the ancient island is the same Finally, I still don't know if the phrase "dissent is patri­ height above water, and this is true for just about every atoll in otic" is accurate. But, frankly I don't care. What I do know Micronesia. It's not likely that tectonic forces lifted the whole is that active, intense dissent from "the methods, goals, etc., thing out of the water while keeping everything else level. The of a political party or government" which is fundamentally only reasonable conclusion is that sea levels were once much at odds with ideals of liberty, is absolutely necessary - now higher than they are now. From where I'm sitting, I'd say they more than ever. - Marlaine White were roughly 10 feet higher. And they had to be that high for Past, prologue - President Obama's early-Septem­ quite a long period of time for the very slow-growing coral to ber address to the nation's public school children stirred up build to this point. a fair bit of controversy. Right-wing commentators expressed While I'd hate for global warming to submerge my home, justifiable concern about what the content of the speech might it does seem that would be the more common state of nature. - Jeff Wrobel be, and shock that the Department of Education had provided associated lesson materials to schools that included questions Private practice - It was the classic slip-n-crunch. I like "Why is it important that we listen to the President?" and stepped on wet tile in my bare feet and the next thing I knew, /lAre we able to do what President Obama is asking of us?" I was dancing an impromptu salsa that ended with a thud on Throw in the presidential hagiographies that many students my wrist. Ouch! I'm usually a wait and see kind of person were assigned to read prior to the address, and it's under­ when it comes to medical care, but this felt like a break. standable that parents might worry their children were being I don't have a regular physician here (1 live part-time in prepped for political indoctrination. two different states), so 1 thought about going to the local

14 Liberty November 2009 emergency room to get an x-ray, but ERs are designed for more to reduce costs than any government program. major trauma and I was just nursing a sore wrist. I didn't need We haven't had a free market in health care for over 100 Shostakovich when the neighborhood piano teacher would years. We have to get government out of the way and let a do. So I asked the ER receptionist if there was a walk-in clinic true free market do what it does best: increase the quantity, in the area. She told me about a clinic in Yonkers and gave me quality, and availability of goods and services. A combination the phone number and address. Good for me, I thought. 111 of high-deductible insurance to pay for catastrophic illnesses save money and time. and injuries coupled with health savings accounts to pay for At the walk-in clinic I asked how much the visit would day-to-day expenses is the best way to achieve the best health cost me. (I have a high deductible that wouldn't kick in for care for the most people at the lowest cost. - Jo Ann Skousen something like this.) "That depends on your income," the A lot of people are upset these days. receptionist replied. Dash it all - The federal takeover of healthcare, pending inflation, text­ "Let's just assume I'll be paying the full amount," I told messaging while driving: you name it, we've got things to her. "How much will it be?" be unhappy about. As for me, I'm unhappy, too - about the "I don't know," she insisted. "It all depends on your demise of the emdash. It's dying faster than newspapers. income." I looked around and realized that I was in a wel­ The emdash is the equivalent of an emphatic comma or fare clinic. All I wanted was a private, for-profit, ambulatory parenthesis. According to the "Chicago Manual of Style," it urgent care center, the kind where you can go for minor ill­ is used to amplify or explain (see example above). It's much nesses and injuries without needing an appointment. more powerful than the puny endash, which is used mainly The answer to my next question was just as discouraging: for connecting numbers, as in "Duke beat UNC 64-63." (Both "How long will it take to have it x-rayed?" are good crossword-puzzle words, however.) She looked at the clock. "First you have to see a doctor. But no one knows how to make an emdash in Word. It's And Radiology closes at 12:30." It was already noon. I gave tricky; you have to type two hyphens without spaces, and up on the x-ray, bought a soft cast from the drug store, and the dash doesn't form until you've put a space after the sec­ immobilized the wrist myself. ond word. (There's also the technique of going to the symbol A few days later I was lamenting the lack of non-welfare menu item, but that takes time - and where is it, anyway?) walk-in clinics in our county. My friend told me about one It's easier to type a space and that little bitty endash fol­ near her home. My wrist was still hurting, so I went to the lowed by another space. And now that publishers are simply urgent care center she recommended. "inputting" authors' Word manuscripts, even genuine pub­ There I was greeted by a smiling receptionist who took lished books (the latest, "After Tamberlane," by John Darwin) my information and offered me a seat. Ten minutes later I was are riddled with those little floating flecks surrounded by ushered into an examining room, where I hadn't even opened space. Pretty soon the emdash will be completely forgotten. a magazine before the nurse practitioner walked in, examined Even crossword-puzzle writers won't have it to kick around my wrist, and sent me to the Radiology Center down the hall. anymore. - Jane S. Shaw Although it was a separate business, I didn't have to fill out additional forms; all of that was handled by computer. Ten Warring paradigms - Anthropologists and soci­ minutes later I was back at the clinic, and five minutes after ologists tend to view the world in terms of communities; they that the N.P. was giving me instructions for treatment and emphasize the way in which society shapes how individuals sending me on my way. Total time? Less than one hour. interact with one another. Economists and psychologists tend I'm a big fan of nurse practitioners and physicians' assis­ to view the world in terms of how individuals affect society. tants. They are highly trained professionals who can do just But are these perspectives so different? about everything a medical doctor will do during an ini­ Ronald Coase, F.A. Hayek, and other economists display tial visit. They can diagnose illnesses, treat simple fractures, a rich understanding of the cultural context in which indi­ suture wounds, and prescribe antibiotics. They work closely viduals interact. Indeed, Coase sees the market as the set of with large medical practices and can refer a patient quickly to cultural and legal rules that allow individuals to conduct vol­ a doctor or hospital in case of serious illness or injury, often untary exchange with one another in society. securing an appointment faster than the patient could do These thoughts are triggered by "Missing Persons: A alone. Critique of Personhood in the Social Sciences," by the late Nurse practitioners and physicians' assistants usually Mary Douglas and her colleague, Stephen Ney. In this vol­ spend more time with the patient, and they charge less. One ume, Douglas critiques the dominance of homo economicus N.P. I know charges a flat $25 per visit, and she schedules a in the political world (she wrote this book before the recent full half hour for each patient so she can spend some time resurgence of political collectivism). She portrays economic talking about lifestyle and nutrition. She doesn't take insur­ man as "selfish and unmannered, brutish as Caliban, naive ance, but who needs to file with an insurance company when as Man Friday." But is this the view libertarians really hold the total charge is barely more than a co-pay would be? of man? Medical care is one of two services I know of where we To some extent, it is. Libertarians do talk of "method­ are expected to buy without asking the price. (The other is ological individuals." America does not go to war with Iraq; a funeral.) This factor is the bane of the third-payer system, rather, some people in power commit troops to that theater. and the primary reason that healthcare costs continue to sky­ And Randians eschew any concept of mankind that is not self­ rocket. Increasing the variety and availability of health care centered. by encouraging the expansion of alternative providers will do Coase and many libertarians believe the purpose of policy

Liberty 15 November 2009 is to steer the cultural and legal institutions that reduce trans­ Well, the senators couldn't get the money. Even the Bush actioncosts in, and thusbarriersto, voluntaryexchange among people weren't that stupid. individuals. This approach to economics is certainly "social," To strengthen the mayor's hand against the governor, in yet, it is also profoundly libertarian, in a sense. Perhaps the March 2008 Seattle had a public vote. The ballot said viaduct, term "classical liberal" better captures this societal element of yes-no; tunnel, yes-no. Mayor Nickels was hoping for people libertarianism. Reducing transaction costs liberates the energy to vote yes for a tunnel and no for a viaduct. They voted no on and genius of otherwise isolated individuals, allowing them both: 55% no on a viaduct and 70°1<> no on a tunnel. He said he to interact with others. was happy with the vote because the viaduct had been clearly We at CEI. are seeking better to understand the ways in rejected. which individuals react differently in the political world of Enter the Discovery Institute, a conservative thinktank "rational ignorance" from the way. in which they react in that champions Intelligent Design, which refers to human ori­ the private world of self-interest. Since the modern world is gins, not roads. Discovery also promotes transportation proj­ roughly half political and half private, it is critical for us to ects - big ones. Here it argued that the mayor's tunnel was understand it and to craft our policies and their marketing the wrong kind. His was a cut-and-cover project. That was too accordingly. messy. It would tear up the waterfront for seven years. What Now, does anyone know of any social psychologists or was wanted was a bored tunnel, deep, like the one under the cultural anthropologists with some understanding and sym­ English Channel. A bored tunnel wouldn't disrupt the city. pathy for individual freedom? If so, I'd appreciate an intro­ Others picked up the argument (not crediting the Discovery duction ... - Fred Smith Institute, which is untouchable by Seattle liberals). And so Nickels cut a deal with the governor to have a tun­ Seattle Mayor Greg The color of stupidity - nel bored from one end of downtown Seattle to the other. The Nickels, who led more than 500 U.S. mayors to sign a promise state was to pay any cost overruns. The legislature codified the to abide by the Kyoto Protocols, and who is president of the deal, except that it changed the part about overruns: Seattle U.S. Conference of Mayors, has lost his bid for reelection. In would pay for those. Mayor Nickels laughed this off, saying the August 18 primary, after seven and a half years in office, the state's proviso was unenforceable. And there, on August he came in third behind two political novices. 18, it stood. No other vote of the people had been held other In the March Liberty, I had a Reflection about Mayor than the one in 2008, in which 70% had said, "No tunnel." Nickels. During a big snowstorm last December, his people Mike McGinn, one of the two candidates who knocked had refused to salt the streets. Salt was said to be bad for the Nickels out on August 18, made "no tunnel" the big issue of salmon in Puget Sound. This is a "green" city and an 85% his campaign. He is a Green, and because he favors the sur­ Democratic city, but voters wouldn't excuse having nearly face transit option, he won the votes of the left. By pointing unusable streets for a week. In their next chance to vote for out again and again the tax liability of the tunnel, he also, I him, three-quarters voted for somebody else. think, got most of the votes of the right. The snow was the most recent thing, but it wasn't the There was another thing on the Seattle ballot on August only thing. There is a matter of a highway, old US 99, which 18: a 20-cent tax on disposable grocery bags, whether paper bypasses downtown along the waterfront. In the 1950s, this or plastic. The idea was to "incent" people to use cloth bags, highway was put into a double-decked concrete viaduct. In which would not foul the environment either in their man­ 2001 an earthquake left the viaduct damaged but still usable, ufacture (paper) or disposal (plastic). The City Council had and in 2002 Mayor Nickels proposed to tear it down and passed the tax, Mayor Nickels had signed it, and the two can­ replace it with a tunnel. didates who beat him both supported it. But the plastic-bag The arts people and the urban-design people had always manufacturers had collected signatures for a referendum hated the viaduct. Most of them welcomed the tunnel, no and had run a campaign to annul it. In mailers and TV ads matter what it cost. So did Seattle's downtown establish­ they argued that the law was punitive, that it exempted big ment, because a tunnel would make the waterfront nicer, retailers like Wal-Mart, and that it hurt the poor. The grocery and unblock some views. The tunnel was, of course, the most chains, except 7-Eleven, gave them little help. But they spent expensive option. The state highway people wanted to build a $1.3 million - a fact trumpeted by opponents - and they new viaduct for a billion or so less. The progressives wanted beat it. The vote was 53% no. The bag tax was defeated, hav­ to knock down the viaduct and replace it with bus service ­ ing never gone into effect. - Bruce Ramsey the "surface transit option." The conservatives (there are a few of those in Seattle) wanted to prop up the old viaduct with a Behind closed doors - In past issues of Liberty bit of steel and keep using it for another 30 years. I've mentioned the various real estate scandals involving key Gov. Christine Gregoire, Democrat, offered Seattle money members of Congress, such as Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and for a new viaduct, but not enough for a tunnel. Nickels held Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY). There's another such affair, one out for a tunnel. He asked the state's two Democratic senators that's being largely ignored by the major media, which seem to get money in Washington, DC, on the argument that Route to function primarily as propaganda organs for the Democrat 99 carried international cargo, making the tunnel part of a Party. transportation project of national importance. Actually the The Countrywide Financial Corporation, which was such extra cost of a tunnel rather than a viaduct was not a transpor­ a large player in the recent mortgage crisis, had a special VIP tation project but a beautification project. It wasn't of national program, officially called "Department 850" by Countrywide importance; it wasn't even of suburban importance. but nicknamed "Friends of Angelo" by company employees

16 Liberty November 2009

(after Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide's controversial CEO). This and modern. And still I could not find a machine to work on. program existed to give sweetheart loans to powerful govern­ This has all happened in the last six months. ment officials, including many of those supposedly having But that's the little picture. In the big picture, what is hap­ oversight responsibility for the mortgage industry. pening is a sea change in the attitude of middle-class Indians. Now, you would think that, given the massive mortgage They have grown increasingly polite and sophisticated. I had meltdown from which the country still struggles to recover, thought that India's historical baggage would make it diffi­ Congress and the mainstream media would be on fire to dis­ cult for it to change. I was wrong. Indians in their early 20s are cover precisely who got UDepartment 850" loans, under what hardly distinguishable from those in the West, and are per­ conditions, and why. After all, Countrywide generated a lot haps more optimistic and focused. I have talked and talked of the dicey paper that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bought, for the last week with all possible people. I can see that the which cost the taxpayers dearly. English language and India's better interaction with the West To his credit, Rep. Darrell Issa, ranking Republican mem­ will make it possible for it to change rather rapidly, once those ber of the powerful House Oversight and Governmental now in their 20s come to positions of leadership. Reform Committee, has been fighting to have the committee I visited Morena, a small town in central India. Violence subpoena the damn records, so we can all discover which of has a long and deep history in this part of India (as it has in our virtuous solons got these loans. But he is being stymied by the rest). The local culture is about Umight is right." Thatbelief the chairman of the committee, Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY), runs so deep in this area that you would be stupid to negoti­ who has refused to issue the requisite subpoenas. ate with most people, based on what you would call ulogic" Why on earth would he do that? Because he was himself a and "rationality." The belief system is not very different from Friend of Mozila. what you perhaps see in parts of Africa: uI want this so I will Yes, it turns out that Rep. Towns received a VIP loan ­ take it." You have to experience this to understand it. actually, two loans - from Countrywide. Towns denies that In Morena, kidnappings are common. Murders and rapes he knew he was getting special loans, but his claim seems are used to settle scores. You stole from me, so I will rape your dubious on the face of it. Not only were the interest rates con­ daughter, the logic goes. This area is well-known for human siderably lower than the going rates at the time, but both of trafficking. Just 25 years back, it was known for the open auc­ the mortgages had a mailing address that referenced URoom tioning of women. And often such things are supported by 850" at Countrywide's headquarters. the local democratically elected bodies. No wonder that I see Let us accept Rep. Towns' claim that he didn't know he "democracy" as a fanatical western religion. was getting special treatment. Fine. Then what does he have Today's newspaper says that the government did virgin­ to hide? Why should he block the acquisition of records, so ity tests on girls that it helped get married. This is unconsti­ that the oversight committee can, you know, like, oversee tutional, but the people in the government are so appallingly them? stupid that they did not even realize that what they were Towns' actions reek of corruption. But they don't much doing was unconstitutional. interest the news media. - Gary Jason Corruption in India seems to be worse than it ever was, but then, I have just been to the driver's licensing office. Guarded optimism - I've been in India for a week The changes of the past two decades have been attrib­ and I have to say, I have never felt more optimistic about my uted to Manmohan Singh, democracy, and liberalization. I do homeland. not believe in this attribution. I attribute the changes of these The reason has absolutely nothing to do with the govern­ decades to media, telecommunication, and the general tech­ ment (which is extraordinarily corrupt) or Prime Minister nological revolution. Manmohan Singh (who is perhaps the most spineless human I normally don't like media; I have no interest in what being I have known). runs on it. But if you understand the time and space in which I attribute my optimism to technology. Telephony, inter­ Morena exists, even the stupid programs on TV have been net, and other media are bringing enlightenment to some of culturally revolutionary. They have brought a lot of aware­ the most backward parts of India. ness among the people. In Morena, people now resist, go to Of course, India is still a pathetically poor, violent, corrupt, the media, and fight back. Children, increasingly educated in self-centered, lawless, abusive, and extremely superstitious English, move out to bigger cities, to work in big companies, country. Unless you spend your time here only in five-star and then bring back new ideas, to give to their parents. This surroundings, you will be literally and figuratively molested may be setting off a chain reaction. almost nonstop. However, technology is changing the culture, In my gym in Bhopal, there is a girl who wears aChe bringing in awareness, and rather rapidly. I cannot help being Guevara T-shirt. Every cell in my body wants me to ask her if amazed at the small civilities now developing, fruits of mod­ she ever cared to ask her parents what socialism really means. ern commercial customs. The changes are happening, in their But then, if you understand the time and worldview that a lot small ways, in so many areas, and the interactions between of the country exists in, even a lazy interest in the likes of Che those areas, that I doubt it is possible to predict what India is a sign of a significant improvement in the thought process. will look like in 20 years. This is a move from a lifestyle of absolutely no ideas to that It is Black Swan country. But it will be a very, very differ­ of a few. ent country, and in my opinion mostly much better. Four hundred million SIM cards have been sold in India. I have justbeen to the gym here in Bhopal. It has expanded Although this is believed to mean that there are now 400 to perhaps four times its former size. The machines are all new million subscribers in India, the real figure is much lower.

Liberty 17 November 2009

Everyone I know has more than one SIM card. There are even ment, especially after the passage of universal coverage, is cellphones with a multi-SIM-card option. When I lived in tremendous. Those on the transplant list benefit too. As White Delhi, a call to Bangalore would cost $2 a minute in today's House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, "It's a real win­ real terms. It would have taken a huge bribe to get a phone win. Young people get cash to help stimulate the economy; connection; property prices were often valued on the basis of Medicare costs fall; transplant waiting lists go down. Old peo­ the connection. Now the same connection is virtually free, and ple no longer have to suffer for a month only to die." the call costs perhaps one-half of 1% of what it did before. This program makes as much sense as most government So low are the cellphoning costs that most people don't programs, and more than many. So you can understand my seem to know what they are. This has made it possible for the confusion about whether it has actually been proposed or is poorest people to keep themselves informed. Because of these just a brainstorming ... so to speak ... effort of some pol­ low prices, the growth rate in cellphones will continue for a icy wonk at the Center for American Progress (likely a wonk long time. I did not appreciate the revolutionary effect of this with bills to pay, whose grandparents no longer send birth­ on India's isolated villages. But even Morena is showing signs day gifts). - Ross Levatter of changing. Smashing ourway to prosperity - President But the biggest change I have seen is that in the attitude of Obama says that the energy legislation he sponsored, a cap­ people below 25 years of age. They might as well have come and-trade scheme along with subsidies for new energy tech­ from a different culture. They do not have the utter corrup­ nologies, will create 3 million new jobs. Thus he displays once tion of my parents' generation or the confused and conflicted again a knowledge of economics onpar with the average teen­ minds of my generation. Of course I am only talking about age ninja turtle, another pop icon of virtue if not of economic a small section of middle-class youth. But now these folks literacy. ensure that other people will line up. Until two years back, I You cansay a lotaboutcap-and-trade, depending onwhere had never seen this happening. In Bhopal, these youths actu­ you stand in the global warming debate. What is clear is that ally stop to give way to the disabled or the old. A few years it will act like a tax on energy, which will ripple through the earlier it was normal to hear the old and disabled being called economy. What is also inarguable is that the government has such and asked to hurry up or move out of the way. And this a lousy track record for picking winning technologies (read: seems to be forcing the parents of these youths to mend their companies). Job creation? Since when does increasing costs ways. throughout the economy create new jobs, even if you throw To me, an amazing change is starting to happen, which subsidies at a few favored companies to make up for it? The will in the final analysis have more consequence for growth answer is, only in the wacky world of Obamanomics. than anything else. I can see a change that I could not have But why stop at cap-and-trade and subsidies? The pres­ predicted when I was here only eight months ago. I had ident should hire an army of patriotic hooligans to break not expected that given the aid of technology, culture could every window in America, then a second army of glaziers to change so rapidly. fix them. Voila. Another 3 million jobs, maybe six. House Bill So, despite the fact that I see huge short-term social prob­ 2556: Break It and Fix It. lems, I am no longer pessimistic about India. I see hope, Since Obama defers to Pelosi to flesh out his economic ini­ growth, and very good possibilities of making money. So tiatives, expect the following enhancements: optimistic have I grown that I have just taken an Indian cell­ phone connection. I have also, with some difficulty, renewed • No homeowner will be allowed to fix his own windows (gotta protect those new jobs). my Indian driving license - a process which shows there is still a long way to go before corruption will cease to be a part • Onlyunionized glaziers need apply (gotta reward of every transaction. - Jayant Bhandari those Democratic Party stalwarts). • Anyone earning less than $50,000 can claim a tax Modestly proposed - There are so many rumors credit for repair costs, whether or not he owns about healthcare reform going around these days, it's hard to a home, or a window, or, for that matter, pays know what's true. For instance, I just heard about a new pro­ taxes (gotta be fair). gram coming out from the Department of Health and Human • Income earners above $250,000 will pay the cost Services called Cash for Geezers. It tries to eliminate the huge of repairs (or the theoretical value of the repairs) costs paid by the government for Medicare patients in their for everyone. last month of life and deal as well with the growing shortage There you have it, an economic policy for the Age of of organs needed for transplant. Obama: deficit spending, financial stimulus, bailouts, subsi­ If your grandparents are on Medicare and meet certain dies, higher energy costs for all, higher personal taxes on the other qualifications (Alzheimer's; other forms of dementia; well-off, a stew of politics, ideology, and class warfare, devoid send more than two complaining letters per year to their con­ of economic literacy. - Bob Marcus gressman; don't contribute to the DNC), you can tum them in to the nearest university-affiliated medical center for $4,500 Nixon with charisma - As Obama's healthcare cash! socialization bill faced a surprising surge in opposition, he There, the Geezer brain is smashed so that no one else can began to resemble Dick Nixon ever more eerily. We beheld turn it in for cash (a clever cost-savings technique that guards yet another Obama persona: NixoBama. against fraud and abuse). The transplantable organs are then Perhaps the most famous self-defining remark by harvested and reused. The financial savings to the govern- NixoBama is what he said to a group of fans in Philadelphia

18 Liberty November 2009 during his campaign: "If they bring a knife to the fight, we onAmerican campuses, I've often wondered if these shirts are bring a gun." But what really brought out NixoBama was the handed out at student orientation. sight of angry constituents showing up at various Democratic I am not a prude or a generational snob. And I am not congresspeople's "town hall" propaganda sessions, intended picking on college and university students. They simply serve to grease the wheels for the American National Health System as a useful example of a larger problem of self-deception in (brought to you by your friendly neighborhood post office). our (at least for now) free society. Everywhere on the internet were videos of statist Dems sweat­ Our society seems to have lost the·very important dis­ ing as angry constituents peppered them with questions about tinction between individualism and idiosyncrasy. Citizens how much Obamacare would cost, whether it would require are mistakenly equating a definitional conflation for an ideo­ rationing, and so on. logical, philosophical, political outlook. Talk about false con­ NixoBama and his flunkies in Congress were furious. They sciousness! The difference between mere idiosyncrasy and called these protesters such epithets as (quoting from a DNC individualism as a philosophy or ideology is huge. Economic, official, Brad Woodhouse) "angry mobs," "mobs of extrem­ philosophical, social, and political theories and ideologies of ists," and "rabid right wing extremists." The Democratic pow­ individualism maintain that individual initiative, action, and ers-that-be claimed that these people were organized by the interests should be independent of governmental or social vile insurance industry. Nancy Pelosi immediately reported control; that the source of rights and duties originates in indi­ that the anti-Obamacare protesters were carrying swastikas, viduals, and not in the social whole; and, that the individ­ and both she and Rep. Steny Hoyer branded the protesters ual and not society is the paramount consideration or end. "un-American." Rep. Brian Baird (D-Vancouver) said that the Idiosyncrasy is an individual's peculiar physical or mental protesters were using Brown Shirt tactics. NixoBama even set constitution; a characteristic, habit, or mannerism peculiar up an email address, [email protected], so that bien pensant to an individual - an eccentricity or quirk, such as the blue­ citizens can narc off those filthy traitors who question social­ streaks I wore in my hair as an undergraduate, or my one ized health care, or spread lies about it. You have to admit this legal colleague's habit of always wearing polka-dot ties. is a clever twist: an automated enemies list. The Rule of Law (as I have discussed in previous reflec­ I couldn't resist sending an email myself, reporting a par­ tions) has played a significant role in this unequal bargain. ticularly egregious liar about health care: Barack Obama him­ Citizens have continually forfeited control of their own lives self. No doubt I can expect a tax audit in a month or so. by allowing greater government control over their lives in the That Obama and his backers are doing this is doubly hyp­ form of ever increasing laws and regulations. As a society, we ocritical. First, Obama started his career as a "community seem to have allowed a greater (and welcome) social tolerance organizer." Obviously, this community organizer supports for eccentricity and formerly"abnormal" behaviors to substi­ organizing only leftist communities. tute for actual freedom. Second, Obama, during his campaign, urged his follow­ Students manifesting their freedom of expression or "indi­ ers to confront people and politicians of opposing views. For vidualism" by sporting "Che" shirt uniforms rarely, if ever, example, in a campaign speech in Elko, NV, he said, "I need seem to truly contemplate ideologies of individualism, like you to go out and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk libertarianism. I have also found that many of these students, to them whether they are independent or whether they are contentedly clad in their uniforms and satisfied with idiosyn­ Republicans. I want you to argue with them and get in their crasy mislabeled and misunderstood as individualism, very face." But nobody is allowed to do the same with him or his seldom consider what they cannot do - from campus speech punk brigades. codes, to smoking bans, to restrictions on academic freedom This NixoBama is certainly an amazing piece of work. - and the larger implications of that. They have given up so - Gary Jason many liberties, and all they got was a lousy T-shirt. - Marlaine White Che-town - A friend recently gave me a copy of an article from the Russian publication Pravda. It was a com­ How minimal? - I regretfully recognized, long ago, mentary about Americans willingly rolling over for socialism. that my philosophic views weren't, well, sexy. Though recent popular mobilization inspired by dissent over I recall, for example, taking a course in Existentialism as an Obama's healthcare proposal gives me hope that we can pre­ undergrade I wish I could have bought that rap - you know, vent the conversion of our free society to a socialist one, it life is meaningless, so just engage the world, choose your val­ remains an uphill battle. ues and your life project, and bear bravely on. Select a course Over time, American citizens have gradually traded lib­ of action, and don't worry, no course of action can be proven erty for eccentricity. The epitome of this unequal exchange or justified logically; you just need to be authentic! is seen on college and university campuses across America. Brother, that was real leather-jacket philosophy, philoso­ Anyone who has occasion to frequent them can attest to the phy for tough guys. If some chick asked you (as they some­ following. Our undergraduates have a penchant for express­ times did back then) if you would respect her in the morning, ing their "individualism" (as I have often heard students call you just shouted, "Existence precedes essence, babe! Deal it) and "freedom of expression" in their attire. In expressing with it!", and it was done. You were in like Flynn, or at least said individualism and freedom, virtually all of them wear the like Sartre. same clothing. Some are goth. Some are punk. My favorite ­ It never clicked for me. I could never figure out why com­ and, by far the most common expression of "individualism" mitting yourself to an action made it right. Couldn't I authen­ - is the ubiquitous "Che" shirt. "Che" shirts are so prevalent tically choose to be a drug addict or a Nazi? It all escaped me,

Liberty 19 November 2009 even though I love Paris immensely. means that the OECD governments, including our own, are Matters are the same for my political philosophy. I really almost all too large. wish 1could be an anarchist. To say you want a minimal gov­ But the authors were able to refine the estimate consider­ ernment sounds so wimpy. And to say you are a "minarchist" ably. They found that at the 95°,10 confidence level, the opti­ sounds just weird. Why not be bold and say to hell with all mal level of government spending is 25%, using the standard government? It seems so much cleaner and bolder, tougher, mode1. And they suggest that it is probably considerably more masculine. It is so conceptually clear and consistent. lower, given limitations on the data, such as the fact that the Of course, a philosophy or an ideology can be conceptu­ data are skewed because rent seeking is pervasive even in ally clear and consistent, not to mention "masculine," and still countries with smaller governments ("rent-seeking bias"). be wrong, vile, or even outright nuts. Need I mention Nazism The paper makes interesting reading. It helps minarchists or communism? specify the size of government they prefer. Unfortunately, it But I can understand the appeal of the no-government still won't make minarchism particularly sexy. - Gary Jason mantra. When you say you favor a minimal government, the In the Town Hall meet­ obvious challenge you are going to hear is, "Well, once you Managed constituents - ings about medical care, the Ron Paul movement has been in start thinking that a little government is necessary, on what the thick of it. At the meeting I attended, held on Aug. 12 in basis, and at what point, do you draw the line? How can you Everett, WA, by Rep. Rick Larsen, Democrat, several people argue with a modern statist liberal who just wants more of flew the yellow Gadsden flag with the snake, and one man what you yourself think is necessary?" It would appear that wrapped himself in it like a cape, holding his hand up to be a minarchist inevitably falls prey to a Sorites paradox: if you called upon. Well, they didn't call on him. say that X amount of government is good, why not X plus The meetingwasheld outdoorsina smallbaseball stadium, some small amount more? And then why not a small amount with the congressman standing near home plate. Both sides more, and so on, until you have socialism or worse? - for and against Obamacare - showed up. Nearly 3,000 One important tool for making the case for minimal gov­ people attended, sitting on bleachers, many of them holding ernment is empirical data on the relationship between gov­ signs. Opponents had handmade signs, such as these: ernment size and economic growth. There are quite a few economic studies showing that both too little and too much National Healthcare=National Suicide government stifle the growth of prosperity, and seeking to National Care is Rationed Care quantify that tradeoff. No Govt run 1/take a number" healthcare Preserve Freedom: Join a MOB A really excellent recent contribution to the literature has No to Socialism just been released by the Institute for Market Economics (the My Life, My Death, My Business IME), one ofthe preeminentneoliberal economic thinktanks in Health Care Is Not a Right Eastern Europe (it is based in Bulgaria). The article, "What is the Optimum Size of Government?", is by economists Dimitar The other side had professionally printed signs supplied Chobanov and Adriana Mladenova and is available for down­ by the unions and by Planned Parenthood. But many on the load from the IME website. left were more radical, and had their handmade signs, too: The article notes that, at present, the average size of gov­ Private Insurance Companies ARE Death Panels ernments, measured as the total of government spending at Put Single Payer on the Table all levels as a percentage of GDP, is about 41°k for the OECD At one point Larsen measured the two sides by eliciting (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) cheers, and declared the crowd evenly divided. It was not; countries. The United States, alas, is right up there at over 370/0 there were more opponents. Thatwas also apparentinthe peo­ - much larger than many Americans realize, supposing us to ple called on to speak. The congressman's staff tried to make be a country that doesn't believe in Big Government. it random, and most of the people called on were critics. The authors then do an extensive literature survey. (The The Paul sentiment was clear when one man stood up and survey alone is 17 pages; it is appended to the paper so that said that Larsen had an enviable job, because he got "to work the reader can rapidly check out the prior studies.) They note with my personal hero, Ron Pau1." Some in the crowd cheered that most prior studies had shown a statistically significant at that, some whooped, some hooted, and some laughed. No and markedly unfavorable relation between the size of gov­ other Republican politician was mentioned by any of the ernment and economic growth. questioners. Of course, they note, the "quality" of government enters The Paul supportersaidhehad two questions. The first was in as well, but even when you are dealing with a relatively whether Larsen would support Paul's audit-the-Fed bill. The good government (minimally corrupt, for example), big gov­ second was whether there was anything in the Constitution ernment hurts the economy. Get it much beyond its core func­ that authorized the federal government to force Americans to tion - protection of people's property and liberty, including buy health insurance. national defense, provision of a. stable legal framework, and The second was the better question, at least for this forum. promotion (not necessarily provision) of very basic public Larsen answered the first (no) and called for the next ques­ goods - and government lowers prosperity. tion. Shouts broke out. As to the sweet spot, Le., the optimum size of government, "Answer the other question!" the prior studies ranged rather widely, from as low as 170/0 "What about the Constitution?" to as high as 40°,10. Most of the estimates, however, fall in the He ignored them, answering the questioners selected by range of 20% to 30% for the optimal size of government. That his staff and not the ones shouting at him. But a few question-

20 Liberty November 2009 ers later, his staffer picked a woman who said her husband is good for me is bad for you, or vice versa. Our market bas­ was a libertarian, and cared about that unanswered question. kets of goods and services are all different. Sure there's over­ "My question is," she said, "where in the Constitution do you lap, but let gas prices skyrocket - so what? I'll still be sitting see a mandate for health care?" on my patio reading and watching the rust grow on my '02 Larsen replied, "There is no mandate for health care in Mercury sitting in the driveway. And college tuition - that the Constitution. There is no mandate for the Air Force in the inflationary dragon can continue to breathe fire; I ain't got no Constitution." In other words, don't worry about it. He said kids to eddicate. The housing market flips and the average that constitutional questions are up to the Supreme Court annual price scoots up 100/0. Who cares? There are no houses (and might have added that the Court would no doubt follow on my get list. the precedent of Helvering v. Davis, 1937, in which it approved And there is no universal number that applies to all of Social Security on a vote of 7-2). us. How could it be otherwise? Memories of such anomalies Opponents asked other questions. Said one man, "Is there as the Weimar Republic disaster mesmerize economists, and any example of government running things better than the highly distort our investment judgments. Sometimes 8% is private sector -I mean, anything?" 80/0. I say we've vastly overstated the danger. And even when "Medicare," Larsen said. There were some hoots at this, the roar of the government printing presses breaks the sound but not too many. barrier, it's magnifying the price of all my possessions, is it A woman asked the congressman if he believed people not? - Ted Roberts had a right to health care. She thought they did not have such First thing we do ...- On August 25, on the a right. legal blog Volokh.com, a 4th-Amendment expert and con­ "I don't know the answer to that," he said. servative law professor, Orin Kerr, published a post entitled Rep. Jim McDermott, the leftwing Seattle Democrat, would "Explaining the Unpopularity of Lawyers." probably have said yes. A longtime supporter of single-payer, It led, in less than 24 hours, to over 180 comments, as the McDermott had signed on to a "Medicare for all" single-payer many lawyers who haunt Volokh.com responded - some bill. Larsen told the crowd, "I don't support a single-payer seriously, others capriciously. system." When a leftist from Radical Women, Seattle, spoke I read them all. in favor of one, Larsen said, "Ill pass your comments on to But I'm still not clear. Why does the unpopularity of law­ Jim McDermott," a polite reminder that she was not in his yers require explanation? - Ross Levatter district. A man said that Larsen should read "The Whole Foods It's not easy being green - Not since Jimmy Alternative to ObamaCare," an opinion piece by CEO John Carter has a president managed to bungle things so badly in Mackey that had appeared in the previous day's Wall Street such a short time. Indeed, he bids fair to eclipse the wretched Journal. The man noted that the piece had begun with a quo­ Carter's failures, which is probably why Carter admires him. tation from Margaret Thatcher: "The problem with socialism Not content with the healthcare debacle, BungleBama is is that eventually you run out of other people's money." leaving his mark in the energy arena. His truly sophomoric "I agree," Rep. Larsen said. "That is a problem with vision of replacing fossil fuels not with nuclear power (which socialism." he shuns, despite his campaign promises), but with wind, When David Arnold Bishop, an independent contractor solar, and biofuels, is blowing up in his face. from Snohomish, Washington, said, "I can't live the way I live Consider the Van Jones debacle. Anthony "Van" Jones was unless I'm free," Larsen said he agreed with that, too. Obama's choice to be the "GreenJobs Czar." He escaped scru­ Larsen urged everyone to be polite and was polite himself. tiny, because as a presidential czar he doesn't have to be vet­ Knowing there would be acrimony, he had begun the meeting ted by Congress, and because America's news media (a.k.a. by having a high-school girl sing the national anthem - "one the Fourth Estate) are of course giving Obama a complete thing we can all agree on," he said. Larsen is a skilled politi­ pass on everything he does. cian. He is also a fairly sure vote for Obamacare, when and if But the counter-media took notice of Obama's strange it reaches the floor of the House. - Bruce Ramsey appointment. Itturned out that Jones was a race-baiting leftist nut-bar of the first rank. Where to begin? He was videotaped Overinflated fears - You've all heard them at calling Republicans "assholes" for being less enviro-screwy cocktail parties, the inflationary cognoscenti. than he is. He also signed a petition for the 9/11 "Truthers," "So, Ted you made 8% onyour investments this year. Well, who allege that George Bush was complicit in the attack let me remind you, my friend, that since inflation ran at (let us upon the World Trade Center. All in all, a remarkable choice say) 3%, you only made 5%" for a president who ran on a platform of healing partisan Dumb! It all depends. Mainly on two things. divisions. First, the accuracy of the inflationary figures. Economics in Jones was also on record as describing himself as a com­ general is hostage to numerical accuracy. (They just recently munist - in the 1990s! I mean, talk about crazy timing; you figured out that the CPI is as flighty as your pet cockatoo. choose to become a commie after communism collapses. God, Energy included? Groceries, taxes, cab fares in Yazoo City?) what a buffoon. Besides that, there's got to be a huge political bias in a number He has also publicly pushed his view that "white pollut­ that affects 10 million retirement checks. ers" have been "steering poison" towards - guess whom? Second, the fact that in reality all of us have our own indi­ - black folk. This ties inwithhis remarkable sociological anal­ vidualized index, depending on what we buy and sell. What ysis of the Columbine High School killings. To quote Jones,

Liberty 21 November 2009

"You've never seen a Columbine done by a black child. Never. This is all on top of the widely acknowledged failure of They always say, 'We can't believe it happened here. We can't corn-based ethanol to prove economically viable. Thanks to believe it's these suburban white kids.' It's only them!" Midwest congresspeople, corn ethanol productions get tre­ As these and other incidents became known (it has now mendous subsidies, so it will likely stumble on, despite the been discovered that the American public knows how to fact that it has driven up food prices and proven to be ridicu­ Google someone, even if the soi-disant "journalists" in the lously costly as a fuel. mainstream media don't) Jones resigned over the Labor Day The obvious way to deal with global warming and depen­ weekend. dence on foreign oil is a rapid expansion of our nuclear power But Obama's dream of a "green jobs" explosion (which industry, together with a dramatic expansion of drilling for was supposedly Jones' area of "expertise," as if one could oil and gas in areas of the country foolishly put off-limits for have expertise in a domain that is void of content) looks rag­ human use by insane environmentalist regulation. But Obama gedy, anyway. Consider several recent reports. refuses to consider, much less do, either one. - Gary Jason First, the release - to complete lack of interestby the main­ stream media - of a major study by the Energy Information The Kennedy curse - It is said that people make Administration. This work, dryly entitled "Energy Market gods in their own likeness. If that is true, what kind of people and Economic Impacts of H.R. 2454, the American Clean created Edward Kennedy (1932-2009)? Energy and Security Act of 2009," estimates that the cap­ Kennedy's biological father was a goatish, pro-fas­ and-trade bill Obama and Pelosi rammed through the House cist crook whose politics were chiefly motivated by Irish­ of Representatives in June will by itself raise electric power American nationalism and the desire to make one or more of prices by a massive 200/0 within 20 years (over and above other his children president, for no other reason than that they were projected increases). his children. His mother was a twisted religious bigot. ("Dad Unlike prior reports critical of the bill, including one by was the spark," Teddy recalled; "Mother was the light of our CRA International that estimated it will cost 3.2 million jobs lives.") Their children were all, to one degree or another, seri­ over the next 15 years (the subject of a previous Reflection of ously damaged by their domineering parents. One of the chil­ mine), this is one report the Obama administration is find­ dren was lobotomized by a father disgusted by her mental ing hard to dismiss. The Energy Information Administration "slowness." The others were deformed by the assumption is not some private thinktank; it is part of the U.S. Department that the only way to amount to anything was to achieve power of Energy. over others. A more vicious premise can hardly be imagined. Second, a story from The Wall Street Journal (Sept. 3), car­ It is fortunate that at least one of them - John F. Kennedy ­ rying the sober headline "Spanish Solar-Power Collapse Dims knew better, although his life was still grievously influenced Subsidy Model." It seems that the Spanish government has by his father's political ambitions and his lessons in sexual thrown in the towel about its massive solar power program, aggression. which only recently Obama touted as an example of how Teddy, youngest male of the family, was a person of aver­ green energy is economically beneficial. age intelligence and below-average capability, darkly over­ As of last year, fully half of all new solar power instal­ shadowed by his older brothers. He got Cs at prep school lations were located in Spain. But by the end of 2008, as the but was admitted to Harvard because his family was rich. world recession hit that country, the government decided it At Harvard he was caught cheating and expelled. At the could no longer afford its prodigious subsidies for such an University of Virginia Law School he was ticketed for reckless economically ludicrous technology. Indeed, solar power com­ driving four times and received the kind of punishment that panies around the world have had to slash jobs dramatically. the children of wealthy fixers generally receive. Finally, another recent WSJ article (Aug. 27), with the In 1962, after a one-year career as assistant to the district clever title "u.S. Biofuel Boom Running on Empty," explores attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, he was elected to the collapse of the so-called "biofuels revolution." "Biofuels" the Senate of the United States, for no other reason than that is a term that encompasses three types of fuel: biodiesel (pro­ his father was rich and his brother was president. He was 30 duced from vegetable oils and animal fats); "next generation years old, and he held the job for the rest of his life. fuels" (produced from plants such as switch grass that are not In 1969, he hosted a party on Chappaquiddick Island, MA, foodstuffs); and ethanol (produced here from corn, and else­ for some girls who had worked for his brother Robert's presi­ where - in the sane world - from sugar cane). dential campaign the previous year. Drunk, he took one of But two-thirds of the American biodiesel capacity is now the girls out in his car and drove the car off a bridge. While idle, because of the fall in oil prices. For example, Green his companion struggled for life in the overturned vehicle, Hunter Energy, the country's biggest biodiesel refiner, ceased Kennedy extricated himself, ignored the lights in a nearby production several months ago and is contemplating selling a house, fled across the island, swam an inlet, and returned recently built plant. to his hotel. In the morning, other people discovered the car Meanwhile, the companies that produce or plan to pro­ and the dead girl, and Kennedy finally reported his associa­ duce next-gen biofuels are finding capital virtually impossible tion with the event, after soliciting advice from the kind of to get. No doubt hindering their progress is the fact that Cello statesmen who flock around money and power. He went on Energy (which was expected to supply nearly three-fourths television to deliver the first of many lachrymose speeches in of the government-set target for biofuels produced from cel­ which he urged people to support him because his brothers lulose) has been found guilty in federal court for defrauding were dead. And Massachusetts voters did support him. They the investors. reelected him eight times.

22 Liberty November 2009

During the following years, Kennedy repeatedly ran or Edward Moore Kennedy in the image of their highest aspira­ threatened to run for the presidency, convinced that a person tions. - Stephen Cox who had no work experience, no relevant education, no ana­ guillotine? - Sen. Edward M. lytical ability, no sense of morality, no qualifications of any Where's my Kennedy died in late August. His passing brought forth the sort except his association with a wealthy family, had a duty usual prefabricated obituaries and reverent balderdash. A to become the nation's chief executive. He failed ignomini­ few, lonely voices pointed out that the arc of the man's life ­ ously. Eventually he gave it up, having discovered that even from cheating in college to depraved indifference to a young so incompetent and unpopular a figure as Jimmy Carter could woman's death to a failed marriage to unseemly abetting of beat him handily. Strangely, political pundits were incapable his nephew's indictable offenses - was not something decent of reaching the same conclusion. For the rest of his life they people should emulate. considered Kennedy the idol of the American people. Kennedy's politics were, of course, orthodox urban stat­ After magnanimously relinquishing the presidency, Teddy ism. Reflexive, unexamined. No surprise there; he represented devoted himself to his four favorite pursuits: drinking, eating, Massachusetts in the u.s. Senate. womanizing, and pushing people around ("legislating"). Like But neither his politics nor his shoddy personal life was other people who know just enough to understand that there what made the man so loathsome. What did? is always someone dumber than they are, Kennedy played the The feeble-minded television pundit Eugene Robinson demagogue to an audience of poor people and Hollywood stumbled around the point when he said - as a compliment, liberals, making violent speeches in which he denounced all apparently - that Kennedy played the part of a prince well. who opposed his policies as racists and sexists. Then, in pri­ What is this, the Grand Duchy of Fenwick? vate, he cuddled up to Republican politicians who had no The flabby, dissolute, venal brother of iconic popular fig­ qualms about selling out their party. Together, they produced ures was a "prince." That's why I loathed him. And why I "compromise legislation" that (imagine!) gave Kennedy vir­ loathe the likes of Eugene Robinson. Off with their heads! tually everything he had originally wanted. (The press lauded - Jim Walsh this as "bipartisanship.") Kennedy's constant desire was to increase the power of He's outta here - Tuning in the Red Sox game on government. Always he advocated state power, from the days the evening ofAug. 26, I was confronted with what I had man­ when he demanded universal conscription to the days when aged to avoid all day - the death of Teddy Kennedy. I had he demanded racial quotas for hiring ("quotas, shmotas" was made a point of not looking at the morning papers or turning his contemptuous dismissal of those who objected to this pat­ on any cable news programs (especially MSNBC and CNN) in ent inequity) to the days when he moved heaven and earth order to avoid the overwrought displays of mourning for that to impose government healthcare on an unwilling populace. bloated excuse for a statesman. He could not be troubled to read a book, consult experience, The Red Sox organization, however, went all-out to honor or consider the logical implications of the things he wanted. the blob. The flag was at half-staff; the PA announcer read a He just wanted them, because they gratified his ego, no mat­ long, saccharine tribute to the man; a moment of silence was ter what the costs might be to others. He had money, so he observed. All this for a guy who was expelled from Harvard wanted power. He was a wicked man, a thousand times more for cheating, used his connections to avoid combat during the wicked than the man who holds up a 7-Eleven, desiring only Korean War, and left a woman to drown after driving his car the cash that's in the till. off a bridge. In 2008, Kennedy developed brain cancer. Instead of What really struck me about the Sox's tribute was a line in resigning the duties he could no longer fulfill, he kept on team owner John Henry's encomium. Kennedy, Henry wrote, being a senator, using his remaining days to demand more "shaped the lives of millions." Well, perhaps he did. Certainly government, plan a heroic funeral, and try to get his home he threw plenty of money at people's problems (real or imag­ state to change its electoral laws so that a clone could be ined) during his very, very long career in politics. I may have inserted in his place. He died on August 25, before he could been one of the few members of the viewing audience who do any more harm. President Obama, in his funeral oration, went cold at the words. Imagine a single legislator, elected by called him "the greatest legislator of our time" and "the soul the voters of one medium-sized state, "shaping" the lives of of the Democratic Party." millions of Americans. Be it for good or ill, do we want one Soul. Can it be that this ranting, bloated, redfaced drunk man to have such power? In Kennedy's case, of course, it was was the soul of anything? largely for ill. It staggers the imagination. Yet this was the hero of the The senator's martyred brothers, whatever one thinks of academics and the intellectuals. This was the organism over their politics, had courage, and President Kennedy deserves which National Public Radio claimed "the nation is in mourn­ to be honored for getting us out of the Cuban missile crisis ing." This was the entity that prompted Yahoo News to run a without a nuclear war, and then ending nuclear testing in the headline in this form: "Throughout history, Kennedys have atmosphere. But Teddy? A limousine liberal par excellence, grieved losses in public" - as if the Kennedys had, like gods, an inebriate, a cheater, a man who fled the scene of an acci­ existed from the dawn of time, making spectacles of them­ dent while a woman was drowning - this excuse for a man selves to mortals and reveling in their attention. deserves burial at Arlington? Bah! I say good riddance. - Jon Harrison All of this is embarrassing to contemplate. But the big­ gest embarrassments are the teachers and commentators, the Robert Novak, R.I.P. - It is fashionable to political leaders and self-proclaimed idealists, who created scorn Robert Novak (1931-2009), the political journalist and

Liberty 23 November 2009 television commentator who died on August 18, a victim of you read? That few? Why? Could it be because you've found one of the several grave illnesses that plagued him during the that these people normally write like the hack politicians they latter part of his life. cover, as opposed to reveal? Modern liberals hated Novak for the cynical way in which Novak didn't hesitate to disclose the facts, about other he exposed the cynicism of their social projects, the heartless people or about himself. He withheld information only when way in which he revealed the heartlessness of their humani­ he thought innocent people would be damaged. He depicted tarianism. Modern conservatives feared his mordant wit, his most of the political functionaries and almost all the presi­ never-concealed assumption that they were mostly provin­ dents he knew as brazen liars or astonishing fools (usually cial hacks, like the liberals, although they came from another both). He reached similar conclusions about the people who province. Many libertarians distrusted him because he was ran for the presidency and failed. In addition, he depicted only a "libertarian conservative." What was that, anyway? much of his own life as folly, with particular attention to the The libertarians ignored the fact that Novak's motto was amazing quantities of liquor he guzzled before deciding to "Always love your country but never trust your government." stop being a drunk. Like the modern liberals and conservatives, they refused to He told his life story with the kind of detail that almost appreciate the fact that Novak was the smartest journalist in no memoirist ever includes, right down to the amounts of Washington. He had a virtually unmatched ability to think for money he received for his writing and his television appear­ himself, so naturally he failed to please most people, most of ances. It has been said that people are much more willing the time. But he usually hit whatever target he aimed at. On to discourse about their sex lives than to hint at the size of the typical Washington "insider" show ("Capital Gang," for their bank accounts; but Novak, again, was the exception. instance), the conversation went like this: He showed himself changing from drunk to sober, from Establishment media liberal: "Insiders tell me ... The New agnostic to Christian, from modern liberal to libertarian con­ York Times got it exactly right ... The experts agree ... This servative, and he did so without any hint of self-righteous­ is a good bill - not a perfect bill, but a bill that will bring this ness. Describing his 1998 baptism, for which Senator Daniel country into the 21st century ... I know that Neanderthals Moynihan acted as a sponsor, he quoted Moynihan as joking, like Novak may disagree [smile, eyebrow lift, and snort from "Well, Bob, now that you've become a Catholic, when are you Novak] ... " going to become a Christian?" Establishment media conservative: "It's obvious that Novak had a real and often hilarious sense of humor. He something must be done ... The nation demands action, and had a large knowledge of American history and an encyclo­ rightly so ... Nevertheless, the devil is in the details ... The pedic knowledge of how things work in America. He had bipartisan amendment now being drafted by Senator Smurf genuine insights about what we piously call Our Political remedies most of the problems that Novak and other reac­ System, and he expressed his insights crisply and cogently. tionaries have been orating about [angelic smile from Novak] Few of his thoughts were original, and some of them were, ... Insiders tell me ... The experts agree ... It's important to in my view, dead wrong; but they were never stereotyped, reach a viable consensus ... " never motivated by a desire to reach a consensus with either Novak: "As everyone knows, or ought to know, this bill the Ins or the Outs. He was original, and that's a lot to say is a complete disaster ... It will increase the national debt by about anyone. - Stephen Cox roughly 5% ... It will cause a massive loss of jobs ... No one Rose Friedman, R.I.P. - When Rose Friedman is really in favor of this turkey except the fanatics and the lob­ died on August 18 at the age of 98, the chief theme of the byists for groups that plan to profit from it, so it will probably obituaries was the close partnership she had with her more pass, unhappily for the republic ..." famous husband, Milton Friedman. Establishment media liberal and establishment media As far back as 1962, "Capitalism and Freedom," a path­ conservative: Momentary silence, accompanied by hateful breakingbookbased ona series of lectures byMilton, included glances. Nervous, though condescending, chortles. the words "with the assistance of Rose Friedman" on the title Moderator: "Well, now we've heard from Robert Novak. page. "She pieced together the scraps of the various lectures," As usual, Bob [amicable sarcasm, as if to a retarded boy], Milton wrote in the preface, "coalesced different versions, you're the only one who's right." translated lectures into something more closely approaching Buthe was. And that's why people tuned into those shows. written English, and has throughout been the driving force in It wasn't to watch the $500,000 a year ignoramus from The getting the book finished." New York Times or the wry little Oyrish humorist from PBS; it Given today's attitudes, one might wonder, if she did all was to watch Bob Novak, the Prince of Darkness, who got that that, why wasn't she named coauthor? In later books such as name because of his educated pessimism about the preten­ "Free to Choose" and "The Tyranny of the Status Quo," Rose sions of this country's political leadership, a subject he always was, indeed, coauthor. But the real answer to the question is understood much better than the pundits he encountered. that their partnership was based on a division of labor, one Novak wrote a nationally syndicated column for 45 years. that suited them both. He was a pioneer of the television talk show. But it's his autobi­ Rose had been an excellent graduate student at the ography, "Prince of Darkness" (2007), that will keep his mem­ University of Chicago, praised by the prominent economist ory alive. I reviewed that book when it came out, and I don't Frank Knight, for whom she was a research assistant. But she wantto repeat all the things I said back then (visit Liberty's never finished her dissertation. And once she and Milton were website and look for the June 2008 issue). But let me ask you, How many autobiographies of Washington journalists have continued on page 38

24 Liberty The Law

Property Rights or Property Permissions?

by Timothy Sandefur

A disturbing trend, reaching back to the Progressive Era, continues to deform property rights in America.

When Craig and Robin Griswold applied for a building permit to renovate their small home in the southern California city of Carlsbad, they were shocked to learn what city officials wanted in exchange: the city demanded that they give up their right to vote. Article XIII of the state constitution guarantees California homeowners the right to vote on whether their properties are ovation would exceed that amount, it automatically - and assessed for the value of local improvements such as the con­ illegally - assesses the owner for the construction of side­ struction of new streetlights or sidewalks. Assessments differ walks, curbs, lighting, and other projects. This demand can be from property taxes in that they are levied only on the prop­ extremely expensive: in the Griswolds' case, the city asked for erties in the neighborhood that benefit from these improve­ an upfront payment of $114,979. ments. In 1996, after years of abuse by cities that routinely But, recognizing that such an amount would prove pro­ assessed property owners without restraint, voters passed hibitive to many homeowners, the city also offers an alter­ an initiative amending the constitution and requiring cities native. For those who cannot afford the illegal assessment, to hold elections before assessing property owners for local the city offers a waiver form, giving up the voting right con­ improvements. ferred by the state constitution, and waiving any right to "file But Carlsbad officials have found a way to avoid this con­ or bring any protest, complaint, or legal action of any nature stitutional provision. Rather than allowing homeowners to whatsoever challenging the validity of the proceedings." This vote on assessments, the city simply imposes assessments on waiver is quite explicit, specifying that "the owner hereby homeowners whenever they remodel their homes in ways consents to, and approves of ... the levy of an assessment that cost more than $75,000. This estimate is done by the city, against the property ... [and] grants to the city a proxy to according to its own formula, when the homeowner applies act for and on behalf of the owner, the owner's successors, for the necessary building permits. If the city thinks the ren- heirs, assigns, and/or transferees, for the limited purpose of

Liberty 25 November 2009 completing and submitting an assessment ballot in support of traffic and overload local roads. Even then, the demands must the levy of the assessment." In other words, in exchange for a somehow help alleviate those effects. If the government can permit to renovate their home, the Griswolds were forced to make demands on permit applicants without any such con­ give up their constitutionally protected voting right - and nection, Scalia wrote, the waiver binds not only the Griswolds, but anyone to whom the situation becomes the same as if California law for­ they might sell or give the property. bade shouting fire in a crowded theater, but granted dis­ The Griswolds, represented by attorneys at the Pacific pensations to those willing to contribute $100 to the state Legal Foundation, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit to chal­ treasury. While a ban on shouting fire can be a core exer­ lenge the constitutionality of the assessment scheme, arguing cise of the State's police power to protect the public safety among other things that it's an illegal poll tax, since the city ... adding the unrelated condition alters the purpose.... conditions the right to vote on the payment of a fee. Although Similarly here, the lack of nexus between the condition and the original purpose of the building restriction con­ the trial court dismissed the case on a procedural technicality, verts that purpose to something other than what it was. the Griswolds appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, The purpose then becomes, quite simply, the obtaining of which heard oral arguments in May. an easement ... without payment of compensation. ... It might seem outlandish that government officials would In short, unless the permit condition serves the same gov­ demand that property owners waive their right to vote in ernmental purpose as the development ban, the building exchange for a building permit, but this case is only one restriction is not a valid regulation of land use but IIan out­ extreme example of an increasingly common phenomenon: and-out plan of extortion." the abuse of permitting powers by local governments that Scalia's point seems obvious if one presumes that land­ want to force property owners to give up their rights - to owners have the right to use their property as they see fit, money, to land, or to the ballot - in exchange for permission consistently with the rights of others. Under this premise ­ to use their own property as they wish. Nor is it an isolated known in the law as the "sic utere principle," from a Latin incident. The city of Santa Rosa, California, enforces an ordi­ phrase meaning "one should use one's property so as not to nance that forces permit applicants to give up their right to injure someone else" - it makes sense for the government vote on a different kind of tax. Similar rules appear to be in to deny permits to people whose construction might harm place in Missoula, Montana. the public. Government agencies might also take a lesser step In the 1987 case of Nollan v. California Coastal Commission, than outright denial: they might require the owners somehow the United States Supreme Court invalidated an attempt by to reduce the deleterious effects of their projects, for instance. one of the state's most intrusive bureaucracies to extort land If officials have the "power to forbid construction," wrote from a Malibu family who sought a permit to construct a sec­ Scalia, then they also have "the power to condition construc­ ond story on their home. Commission members claimed the tion upon some concession by the owner, even a concession of home would create a "psychological barrier" between motor­ property rights, that serves the same end." ists on Pacific Coast Highway and the nearby beach. But But not everyone holds the sic utere principle that property rather than denying the permit, or imposing a height restric­ owners are free to use their land as they see fit. Indeed, many tion, the Commission demanded that the Nollans agree to if not most judges and law professors today view that right an easement allowing the general public to walk across their as no right at all, but rather as a permission given by the state yard to the beach. In the decision he wrote for the 5-4 court, to those citizens it deems worthy. On this premise, requiring Justice Antonin Scalia explained that government agencies owners to pay for the privilege of using their property makes cannot make demands on property owners that are totally perfect sense. This was the approach taken by Justice William unrelated to the potential effects of construction. They may Brennan, who wrote a dissenting opinion in the Nollan case. make such demands only when proposed construction might "[S]tate law is the source of those strands that constitute a harm the public or impose significant new demands on pub­ property owner's bundle of property rights," he argued. Thus lic resources - as when new home construction will increase if a state decrees that owners have no right to develop their property, or to exclude others from walking across it, that is the end of the matter. He regarded it as "curious" for Scalia to "somehow suggest[] that 'the right to build on one's own property' has some privileged natural rights status." In the two decades since Nollan, some academicshave gone quite far in arguing that owners of property can be forced to payfor the privilege of using whatbelongs to them. Professors Gideon Parchomovsky of the University of Pennsylvania and Abraham Bell of Fordham have labeled this approach "giv­ ings," to contrast it with the 5th Amendment's "takings" clause. When the government takes an action that increases the market value of property - such as granting a building permit - it may, in their words, "collect a 'fair charge' in exchange for the giving." Whether or not lawyers and judges explicitly embrace Bell and Parchomovsky's approach, it is in "I urge the Court to take into consideration the reality the way many local governments view their permitting fact that my client only burglarized local merchants!" authority. In fact, shortly after the Griswolds filed their voting

26 Liberty November 2009 rights lawsuit, Carlsbad City Attorney Ron Ball told the San or of the rights of those who produce it. The classical liberal Diego Union-Tribune, "In this state, development is a privi­ conception of private property on which the Constitution lege and development is allowed to be conditioned." was based sees property as inseparable from the liberty with This is the crux of the dispute. Ifprivate property is a basic which the individual creates wealth. Because a person devotes human right, then it pre-exists the state, and government time and effort to the construction of a thing, that thing is bears the burden of justifying the limits that it imposes on an owner's freedom to use what belongs to him. But if property is created by government's decision not to interfere, then the owner must obtain that permission by yielding other rights. As Janice Rogers Brown, then a justice on the California In exchange for a permit to renovate their Supreme Court, wrote in a 2002 case, local governments tak­ home, the Griswolds were forced to give up ing the second approach effectively tell property owners, "We have the power; therefore, pay us to leave you alone. By any their constitutionally protected right to vote. measure, that is extortion.... Instead of the government hav­ ing to pay compensation to property owners, the government now wants property owners to compensate it to get back the fair value of property the government took away through rightfully his, not according to a scheme of social improve­ regulation." ment, but according to principles of justice. Grounded in the individual's natural desires for a realm of privacy and the improvement of his standard of living, this conception of property rights combines a humane moral insight - that, in John Locke's words, IIbeing all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or posses­ The notion that property rights are created by govern­ sions" - with powerful economic incentives. Each person is ment fiat is an old one, but its contemporary form is a legacy responsible for his own pursuit of happiness, able to enjoy of the Progressive Era, when philosophers and judges over­ the rewards, and required to suffer the burdens, of his own threw the concept of natural rights underlying the American private choices. But the Progressive approach is silent on the Constitution, and replaced it with the positivist view that questions of wealth's origins, or the individual's just claim to rights are simply spaces of free discretion that citizens enjoy the product of his labor. Instead, it assumes that wealth ­ thanks to the state's protective influence. Progressive intellec­ and the individual effort that gives rise to it - belongs to the tuals were often quite explicit that their theory did not stop state, and should be distributed according to the state's lights. with property rights: all rights, including freedom of speech Indeed, for the Progressives there were to be no meaningful and freedom of religion, were simply privileges of citizenship. barriers to the government's power of controlling individual "All my life I have sneered at the natural rights of man," wrote choice and redistributing wealth. UTo these thinkers," wrote Oliver Wendell Holmes, one of the pioneers of the Progressive political scholar Charles Merriam in 1903, "it appears that the approach. For Holmes and his allies, the state manufactured duty of the state is not and cannot be limited to the protec­ individual rights to serve its own purposes. Thus, for instance, tion of individual interests, but must be regarded as extend­ free speech was to be protected, not to preserve individual ing to acts for the advancement of the general welfare in all autonomy, but because society benefits from the exchange of cases where it can safely act, and that the only limitations on opinions. "Persecution for the expression of opinions seems governmental action are those dictated by experience or the to me perfectly logical," wrote Holmes in a famous 1919 case. needs of the time.... It is not admitted that there are no limits But "the theory of our Constitution" is that "the ultimate good to the action of the state, but on the other hand it is fully con­ desired is better reached by free trade in ideas." And since ceded that there are no 'natural rights' whichbar the way. The government creates the freedom of speech to serve its own question is now one of expediency rather than of principle." ends, it can also squelch free expression if that is more condu­ That this approach posed a serious danger to individual free­ cive to its ends. Thus in another case that same year, Holmes dom and dignity was made clear by the Progressives' later held that a war protester could be jailed for distributing pam­ successes in imposing prohibition, segregation, and eugen­ phlets protesting the draft. uWhen a nation is at war many ics programs - including the forcible sterilization of women, things that might be said in time of peace are such a hindrance which Justice Holmes ruled to be constitutional in the infa­ to its effort that their utterance will not be endured." The mous 1927 case Buck v. Bell. The right to have children was Progressives took the same view of private property. Justice just another discretionary benefit that the state could take Brandeis encapsulated the era's attitude toward individual away for society's "benefit." freedom when he wrote urights of property and the liberty of the individual must be remolded, from time to time, to meet the changing needs of society." The conception of private property as a tentative govern­ ment permission carries with it troubling philosophical and practical baggage. First, it implies that wealth is a fixed prod­ Lawyers refer to local governments' extortionate demands uct to be divvied up according to some criterion such as fair­ from property owners as lIexactions," and in addition to their ness or equality. It takes no account of the origin of wealth, philosophical weaknesses, they have some troubling practical

Liberty 27 November 2009 consequences. Exactions have become so commonplace that payingfor public amenities with tax dollars. Ifpolitical leaders some researchers blame them for the wildly distorted cost of can make developers pay for the construction of roads, street­ real estate in states like California, where the abuse of per­ lights, new libraries, or parks, such projects seem to most vot­ mitting powers is particularly egregious. In his latest book, ers to have been provided for "free." In fact they are not free; "The Housing Boom And Bust," economist Thomas Sowell they are extracted from individual property owners who lack even blames them in part for the recent economic downturn. Sowell observes that one of the reasons for the artificial rise in housing prices preceding last year's real estate crash was the excessive burden placed on builders by local govern­ ment regulators. Because exactions and other bureaucratic If private property is a basic human right, costs emanate from city or county governments, the national then government bears the burden ofjustifying market became speckled with enclaves of exaggerated hous­ ing costs. Although "most of the country was not suffering the limits that it imposes on an owner's free­ from skyrocketing housing prices," those communities with dom to use what belongs to him. excessive burdens on construction were - and the conse­ quence was an illusory crisis that politicians strove to address by devising easy financing options for risky first-time buy­ ers. "Government regulations and interventions are precisely what pushed lending institutions to reduce the standards the political influence necessary to defend themselves from which they had traditionally required of prospective borrow­ political exploitation. And, as the New York Court of Appeals ers before making mortgage loans to them." It was the low­ observed in a 1976 decision, ering of those standards that precipitated a series of defaults the ultimate economic cost of providing the benefit is hid­ leading to today's recession. den from those who in a democratic society are given the Itis easy to see why the burdensthatlocal governments put power of deciding whether or not they wish to obtain the onbuilding permits would translate into confiscatory housing benefit despite the ultimate economic cost, however ini­ prices. In one 2006 case, the Sacramento suburb of Elk Grove, tially distributed. In other words, the removal from pro­ ductive use of private property has an ultimate social cost California, demanded that Muhammed Ahmad and his wife more easily concealed by imposing the cost on the owner Jonette Banzon pay $240,360 in "in lieu fees" in exchange for alone. When successfully concealed, the public is not likely a permit to construct a second story on their home. The city to have any objection to the 1/cost-free" benefit. explained that the fees were for such street improvements as These effects became starkly real to southern California paving roadways, adding street signs and stripes, and for the businesswoman Janet Auxier in 2006, when local officials ordered her to construct three new sections of roadway, install traffic lights and a new water main, and make other improvements totaling more than $200,000 - even though Commission members claimed the home she had not applied for a permit to begin with. Auxier, who runs a business that sells decorative rock and gravel, bought would create a "psychological barrier" between the land in 2003 in the desert city of Hesperia, California. The motorists on Pacific Coast Highway and the property, which sits alone with no neighboring structures, had previously been used by a business that sold plaster and nearby beach. drywall. The large lot and isolated building were perfect for storing and selling different types of rock. She never planned to build on or renovate the property, which was already prop­ erly zoned for her business. planting of new trees. In another case, the California Coastal Nevertheless, city enforcement officers began fining her Commission agreed to allow Dan and Denise Sterling to build for operating without a "site plan," a complicated docu­ a home on their 143-acre property in San Mateo County - but ment that, according to city ordinances, only developers are only if they signed a permanent easement pledging forever required to prepare. Although the city never told her why she to use 142 acres of their land as a farm. The Sterlings aren't was being required to prepare such a plan when she was not a farmers or ranchers, but the owners of a modest doublewide developer, Auxier hoped that the city would leave her alone if where they live with their four children. "[T]he Commission she cooperated. She hired an engineering company to prepare wants most of my land put under a government easement and a site plan which would make clear that she did not intend set aside for farming," said Dan Sterling, "but farming is the to build anything or change the property in any significant one thing my family couldn't make a living at with this prop­ way. Nevertheless, after three years of negotiations, and more erty. What's really happening here is that we're being forced than a dozen fines, officials finally accepted her site plan only to give this land over as a park or open space for the commu­ on the condition that she construct hundreds of thousands of nity, but we still pay taxes on it, and are still responsible for dollars in new public improvements - improvements with the other liabilities of property ownership." no relationship to any effects of her use of the property. Pacific Forcing particular landowners to give up rights in Legal Foundation attorneys took Auxier's case to challenge exchange for permission to use their property allows local the city's actions; that lawsuit is now awaiting review by a governments to avoid the politically unpopular alternative of trial court.

28 Liberty November 2009

The city's motives are clear. By requiring Auxier to pay of political authorities, where decisions are made on the basis the cost of improvements, political leaders can portray them­ of popularity and influence. The zoning map of any major selves as visionaries and their cities as dynamic pro-growth metropolitan area today would probably look every bit as communities, without requiring voters to face the costs of random and haphazard as the land-use map of a century ago. public economic-development programs. Meanwhile, indi­ Cities are not more rationally or systematically planned now; vidual property owners like Auxier don't have the political the major difference is that land-use decisions are made on a muscle to persuade local officials to leave them alone. They political rather than on an economic basis. Houston is the last are the quintessential "insular minority." Yet despite courts' major city in America not to have adopted extensive zoning self-serving claims that they take special care to protect (although city officials exploit a variety of land-use restrictions minority rights, judges actually make little effort to defend to achieve similar purposes). Yet while some of its neighbor­ property owners from such exploitation. Dominated still by hoods are more eclectic than neighborhoods in cities with Progressive-era attitudes toward private property, the judi­ zoning, these differences are not dramatic. Instead, land uses ciary virtually always defers to local government authority in Houston are more closely tied to the actual desires of con­ - most notoriously in the 2005 eminent domain case, Kelo v. sumers and landowners than they are in other cities, where New London, when the Supreme Court abandoned any serious they are dictated more by the political influence of develop­ legal limit on the power of local officials to seize homes and ers, environmentalists, unions, and other lobbyists. One con­ businesses for the benefit of politically connected developers sequence is that housing costs in Houston are significantly and ambitious bureaucracies. lower than those in other cities. A 2,OOO-square foot home in Houston costs about $120,000; in New York City the price is $1.7 million. As a Houston-area contractor wrote in a recent issue of The Objective Standard, "Because Houston's builders and developers are less shackled by land-use restrictions, they are able to use property in ways that make the most economic Rules limiting the uses of land have existed for centuries. sense; they are better able to supply the market with property But the Progressive era witnessed a fundamental intellectual for each type of use; they are able to sell and lease property shift, as intellectual leaders - and particularly lawyers and at lower prices; and they are able to change land uses more judges - jettisoned the founders' classical liberal conception easily and efficiently than would be possible under zoning of natural rights and replaced it with the idea of rights as per­ laws." missions. This helped reinforce the Progressives' fondness So long as zoning was seen as a variety of nuisance law, it for central planning and urban redevelopment. "Progressives was possible that such restrictions might be logically limited. loathed the absence of a comprehensive plan," wrote law The concept of "nuisance" builds on the sic utere principle. Sic professor Eric Claeys in a recent issue of the Fordham Law utere accorded property owners a broad realm of individual Review. "Recall that Progressives liked to equate the local choice. But as zoning morphed into the Progressive central community to an organism.... Progressives measured the planning model instead, land uses became dictated by a new political health of the city by the extent to which citizens acted principle: an individual may use land only so far as approved with a common purpose; a comprehensive prearranged city by government officials. In his book "Restoring The Lost Constitution," law professor Randy Barnett argues that "we plan was proof that they were." That era's leading innovation in land-use control was the must choose between two fundamentally different construc­ concept of "'zoning," validated by the U.S. Supreme Court in tions of the Constitution.... We either accept the presump­ the case of Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty in 1926. Justice tion that in pursuing happiness persons may do whatever is George Sutherland, torn between his own Progressive politi­ not justly prohibited or we are left with a presumption that cal leanings and his sincere belief in the importance of private the government may do whatever is not expressly prohib­ ited." But in the context of private property rights, this choice property rights, ruled that zoning laws were constitutional because they simply modernized the long-understood prin­ ciples of nuisance law: "There is no serious difference of opin­ ion in respect of the validity of laws and regulations fixing the height of buildings within reasonable limits, the character of materials and methods of construction, and the adjoining area which must be left open, in order to minimize the danger of R56TAURANT fire or collapse, the evils of overcrowding and the like, and excluding from residential sections offensive trades, indus­ tries and structures likely to create nuisances," he wrote. In his eyes, zoning simply existed to prevent "a right thing in the wrong place, like a pig in the parlor instead of the barnyard." But zoning was much more than that, as became clear over the ensuing decades. Rather than organizing the uses of property in any systematic and rational way, zoning laws only shifted the power to determine the use of land out of the hands of property owners - where those decisions were made by balancing supply and demand - and into the hands "I didn't have any cash, so I used eminent domain."

Liberty 29 November 2009

was made long ago by the Progressive-era shift away from will help them," Oliver Wendell Holmes told a friend. "That's traditional nuisance concepts - premised on the classical lib­ my job." But this conception of the judge's role would have eral view that individuals have the natural right to act freely struck the Constitution's authors as farcical and danger­ as long as they injure nobody else - and toward the central ous. They expected and even encouraged judges to address planning conception that individual freedom is only a privi­ complicated and abstract questions of justice and individ­ lege the individual lacks until given it by the state. With that ual rights. Indeed, it is impossible for judges to interpret the shift, zoning was transformed from a rule for keeping pigs out of parlors, into a tool with which bureaucrats could sculpt neighborhoods as they saw fit. Like zoning laws, permit-based exactions give government officials, instead of consumers, broad power to make deci­ The California Coastal Commission agreed sions about the land use. One common exaction demanded to allow the Sterlings to build a home on their of developers who wish to construct apartment buildings is 143-acre property- but only if they signed that they also build a certain amount of "affordable housing." For example, in 2006, the city of Santa Monica, California, a permanent easement pledging forever to use adopted an ordinance forcing developers to rent at least 20°,10 142 acres oftheir land as afarm. of their apartment units at below-market prices. A coalition of apartment owners sued, arguing that under the Nollan deci­ sion, the ordinance was an unconstitutional taking of their property. But state court judges dismissed the case, holding that the limits set by the Nallan decision do not apply to exac­ Constitution without doing so. That document explicitly tions imposed by ordinances, but only those imposed by zon­ declares that no person shall be deprived of property with­ ing boards or other committees. The United States Supreme out due process of law. Yet these terms are left undefined. Court refused to hear the case. Without understanding what the framers understood by the words "law," or "property," this constitutional injunction is incomprehensible. Holmes and other Progressive judges held that the Constitution does not embody any particular politi­ calor economic theory at all, but is a blank slate on which electoral majorities can write their preferences into law: ''It is A lawsuit like the Griswolds' voting rights case·may made for people of fundamentally differing views," Holmes seem extreme, but in fact there is little difference in princi­ wrote in his most famous dissenting opinion. "The word 1ib­ ple between it and demands by other local governments that erty,' in the 14th Amendment, is perverted when it is held to property owners yield land or money in exchange for permits. prevent the natural outcome of a dominant opinion...." To If property rights are only a privilege extended by govern­ James Madison and other Founders, this was the very defini­ ment fiat, then public officials have broad power to set the tion of liberty in a democracy. "Wherever the real power in a conditions for those grants. And if it can force landowners to Government lies, there is the danger of oppression," Madison give up their money, or their land, or to devote some of their wrote in 1788. "In our Governments the real power lies in the property to below-market rental or to permanent farming, majority of the Community, and the invasion of private rights why not also demand that she waive her right to vote? is chiefly [sic] to be apprehended, not from acts of Government The central problem is the shift away from the Founders' contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which classical liberal view of natural, human rights and toward the the Government is the mere instrument of the major number Progressives' view that rights are permissions based on politi­ of the constituents." cal consensus. With that shift came a gradual change in the Thanks to the overwhelming influence of Progressive nature of land-use regulation; originally a mechanism for pre­ thinkers, however, many of today's judges, including such venting nuisances, land-use planning morphed into a device conservative stalwarts as Justice Scalia, hold that questions for centralized social planning. Where nuisance law· sought about human rights are beyond their purview. Indeed, in the to protect each person's equal right to use property as he sees Nollan case itself, Scalia made a remarkable concession. While fit, the Progressive central planning model holds that experts explaining that land-use restrictions must relate to a legiti­ should choose the "right" uses of land - uses that mayor mate government interest, he observed that "Our cases have may not reflect the actual desires of individuals - and enforce not elaborated on the standards for determining what consti­ that vision on property owners. The problems with land-use tutes a 1egitimate state interest.' " regulation will not be resolved until Americans, and partic­ This is an astonishing thing to say. If the justices of the ularly lawyers and judges, rethink their basic philosophical United States Supreme Court cannot say with any degree of approach to private property rights. confidence what is and is not a legitimate state interest, then But this endeavor, too, is obstructed by the legacy of they would seem to have no work left to do. If one does not h Progressive-era judges, who believed that courts have no know the ends one is pursuing, then one has no foundation business addressing philosophical issues. They argued that for discussing the means chosen to pursue them.. It would be such issues are better left to the legislature; in their eyes, the like trying to judge the usefulness of a map without having judiciary's role is limited solely to applying the law. This was the theory of "judicial restraint," another Progressive­ era innovation. "If my fellow Americans want to go to Hell, I continued on page 34

30 Liberty Government Medicine

Healthcare Down at the DMV

by Bill Merritt

No need to fear what's on the horizon when we can dread what's already in place.

I don't want to sound like an ingrate here, but the Veterans Administration is not the healthcare provider of choice for anybody who actually has a choice. I know, I know. As a libertarian, I'm not supposed to be sucking on the government's tit. But a few years ago Blue Cross raised my premiums a hundred dollars a month to cover the cost of the IJ'legislatively mandated benefits" that the state of Oregon had forced health insurance companies to provide I don't know what stories you have heard about VA hos­ as part of someone's scheme to get reelected. The benefits in pitals, but I can tell you this: they are all true. VA hospitals are question turned out to be an extra day, all expenses paid, in worse for you than Nazis. At least they were for mybrother-in­ the maternity ward for anybody who has just given birth. This law's dad. He was a genuine World War II hero, a paratrooper was not a benefit I was ever likely to benefit from, but there it who solo-jumped behind German lines to spy out troop dis­ was. Provided to me by law. Paid for by me, also by law, and positions and, somehow, made it home alive. He didn't make pricing me right out of the private insurance market. it home alive from the VA, though. As long as I was rationalizing sucking government tit, it Luther was a bricklayer who had just finished a job that occurred to me that I hadn't had all that much choice about required him to haul hundreds of concrete blocks high onto being a veteran, either; and the more I thought about it, the a scaffold, then spend ten hours a day placing the blocks into more it seemed meet and right for Uncle to front me a little a wall, so he was in plenty good health. But he did have that healthcare in return. Yea, very meet and right. And Uncle's irregular heartbeat his doctor told him he should get looked bounden duty, once my thoughts got rolling in that direction. into sometime, and he decided Wednesday would be as good Verily, healthcare is the least he can do for me. Unfortunately, a day as any to drop by the VA and have it checked out. Being healthcare through the Veterans Administration is the least he a member of the FDR generation, he actually trusted the gov­ can do. ernment to do something like that.

Liberty 31 November 2009

The VA stuck him with a needle which gave him an infec­ military. In fact, it leaves me thinking that members of the tion. By Friday, the infection was so bad that they sent a blood Left are so cut off from the rest of society that they don't even sample down to the lab to find out what was infecting him. It know any veterans. If they did, they might have heard some was a ten-minute test, and any other lab in the world would basic facts about VA healthcare, such as what happens when have shot back the results half an hour later, but a three-day you try to fill a prescription. weekend was coming up, this was a VA lab, and the results VA prescriptions are fillable at VA pharmacies, so that's didn't arrive until the following Tuesday. Luther turned out where you take them. When you get to the pharmacy, some­ to have an easy sort of infection to treat, but, without the test thing like 20 or 30 old farts - unless this is the day the bus results, nobody treated it. By Tuesday, the old paratrooper comes in from the Old-Vet's Home, in which case many, was dead. many more old farts - will be waiting in leatherette-covered What triggered this rant was an article in the New government chairs ahead of you. At the end of the room will Yorker in which some overly important twit named Hendrik be four or five pharmacy windows where, when your turn Hertzberg tried to persuade the rest of us that the healthcare comes, you hand in your prescription. Some windows will be plan Hillary Clinton schemed up back when she wanted to empty, some will have a pharmacist inside. But just because get herself elected wasn't nearly as scary as the one she tried there's a pharmacist in a window doesn't increase your odds to ram down our throats in 1993. Because Hillary's later plan of being called to that window, at least not any time soon, would have been modeled on the VA system, Hertzberg because, mainly, the pharmacists aren't accepting prescrip­ assured us, nobody should have been spooked by the pros­ tions. Instead, they are involved with important paperwork pect of actually having to receive healthcare under the thing. tasks, and only deal with veterans when they need to clear He wound up with the soothing conceit that VA healthcare their heads and take a momentary break from their real work. is one of the "most efficient, merciful ... components of the On average, a vet gets called to a window about every 20 min­ American health-care system." utes. With one or two dozen guys ahead of you, you can spend This kind of crap is the Left's Fantasyland way of dealing the better part of a day waiting to hand in your prescription. with the fact that no society on earth can afford top-of-the-line This isn't to get pills, mind you. Pills come hours later ­ healthcare for all its citizens. Modern medicine is too complex at the end of another line, stalled in front of another window. and way too expensive for everybody to have as much of it as That is, assuming the pharmacist jotted down the right notes he needs. Every country has to cut corners, and every corner when he read your prescription, the person filling the pre­ cut hurts lots of people. Different countries just cut different scription went to the right shelf, and the person who handed corners. you your pills grabbed the right bottle. You'd better check, When you ask people on the Left whose system works bet­ because lots of times one of them didn't. But if you discover ter than ours, whose model should we scrap ours in favor of something amiss, you have to start over. I have made as many - Canada's? Britain's? Cuba's? Red China's? - they never as five trips to the VA to have a single prescription filled. point to these foreign debacles, at least if they know anything If you are of a reflective turn of mind, it will occur to you about what goes on in those countries. Instead, they point to that you shouldn't ever have to wait to hand in a prescrip­ the VA. tion, that it would be a small matter for your doctor to phone The VA is the model we want, the American Lefty says. the prescription directly to the pharmacy and an even smaller The VA is one of the mostefficient and merciful components of matter for the physician's assistant to post it on the pharma­ our healthcare system. All we have to do is open the VA to all cy's computer. An almost trivial matter for someone at the Americans and presto chango, health problems are solved. pharmacy to set out a pasteboard box and let everybody drop This kind of blather just reinforces my impression that no prescriptions in. But none of this would be the Government member of the American Left has ever actually served in the Way. Being ignored by a bureaucrat is the Government Way and, by golly, ignored by a bureaucrat you will be. Unless you can't stand it anymore and call attention to yourself. Which happened once while I was there. The pharmacists had been not calling vets to the window for so long that one old fart lost his cool and pointed out that ~0 he had been sitting in a leatherette-covered chair all morning, and couldn't one or two of you gentlemen please see your way clear to actually dealing with the folks you are here to deal with? Hearing this, a fellow who looked old enough to be the last surviving soldier from the Spanish American War ventured in a quavery voice something along the lines of, ( J\l Yeah, I've been here a long time, too. Which led a couple of Civil War vets, and one or two from the War of 1812 and, I'm pretty sure, a guy left over from the Continental Army, to pipe VOTe! up in agreement. A general murmur began to rise from walk­ ers and wheelchairs and gurneys around the room, and all three pharmacists stopped what they were doing and looked up, one for the first time that morning. Veterans out of control, "You're damn right my health plan will cover erectile dysfunction!" you could almost see them thinking.

32 Liberty November 2009

We have a situation here, the pharmacists told them­ tools left, other than overmanagement through rules and selves, then did what they had undoubtedly taken seminars paperwork that are guaranteed to squeeze the competence to learn to do when a situation arises. They slammed steel out of the people who don't need so many rules and so much shutters over all five windows, going into lockdown mode as paperwork to make them do their jobs. smoothly and thoroughly as a Federal Reserve bank threat­ With these factors at work, you can find profession­ ened by terrorists. als at the VA with a level of remove from modern theories As bad as left-wing Americans imagine our private health­ of medicine that should have been hard to come up with in care system to be, I challenge anyone to name another phar­ any Western community since the close of the Middle Ages. macy in the country that has to keep physical barriers and If Hertzberg had ever talked to a vet, he might know some of formal procedures at the ready just to protect its employees this. He might even have heard stories about the kind of peo­ from outraged customers. ple you can run into down there. This didn't happen at some run-of-the-mill backwoods Here's a story he should hear. Recently I was in Oregon outpost of the VA, either. This happened at the Portland, for a wedding and took the opportunity to check in with a Oregon, Veterans Administration Medical Center, probably doctor - not because I needed medical care but because the VA has a rule that if you don't come by at least once a year, it drops you from its rolls. Since I didn't have any pressing health needs other than to arrange to have some medications The VA stuck Luther with a needle which mailed to me in Africa, the doctor and I had time to chat, the gave him an infection. The infection would conversation spun badly out of control, and she wound up revealing more about her opinions on the role of medicine in have been easy to treat, but nobody at the VA the modern world than was, perhaps, wise. hospital treated it. Within a week, the old para­ Things began to take a wrong turn when she asked the standard doctor-initiated question about whether I smoke. trooper was dead. Not yet, I said, but I have noticed that a lot of people seem to enjoy smoking and, since I'm getting to the age where cancer won't have time to catch up with me, I'm thinking of taking up the habit. Do you have any advice on how to get started? Her the finest, most cutting-edge, most award-winning hospital advice consisted of asking why I didn't want to live forever. in all VAdom. Because it is so well run, because its standards I told her I thought 85 would be just about right for me, are so high and it is so generally well thought of, the Portland that I'd never known anybody much older who seemed very VAMC attracts healthcare workers from all over the country to healthy or very happy. hone their skills working with the finest of their profession. No, she told me, no, no. Don't think like that. If you can This brings up an odd point. These pharmacists may actu­ just hold out until 2020 everything will be different. You can ally be good atbeing pharmacists. It's justthathaving to spend live forever and stay young the whole time. most of their professional lives doing government paperwork I have to admit that staying young forever has been an makes them look bad. On the other hand, they may have ambition of mine for more decades than I care to confess, that started out good at being pharmacists but were dulled into a large part of me had been waiting to hear just these words their present level of ability through a kind of reverse Peter from a respected medical professional, and that I perked Principle from years of mind-numbing routine and unrelent­ right up when I heard them from her. Staying forever young, ing boredom. On the third hand, they may be sitting at that pharmacy window because every private hospital, drugstore, and HMO they applied to out of pharmacy school checked their transcripts, looked over their letters of reference, and then sent them a polite note thanking them for their interest We have asituation here, the pharmacists told and promising to keep their application on file in case a suit­ themselves, then did what they had undoubt­ able vacancy comes up. Like every other employer, the VA hires what it can get, edly taken seminars to learn to do when a situ­ and (there is no courteous way of putting this) the VA is not ation arises. They slammed steel shutters over Johns Hopkins. Not every best-and-brightest, most energetic and intellectually active up-and-coming young medical pro­ all five windows, going into lockdown mode. fessionallooks to a lifetime of federal wages, federal job secu­ rity and federal paperwork as the creme-de-Ia-creme of career opportunities. Johns Hopkins or not, the VA still has a lot of hospitals and I thought, would be just the thing to give up starting smok­ a lot of clinics to staff and, because their reputation precedes ing for. I even had a theory about how it might work. This them, they may have to dip deeper into the applicant pool has something to do with the Singularity, I told myself. The than most storefront clinics in America would consider best Singularity is coming. So I asked my new best-friend doctor practice. Add to this the general inability of any government how much progress the Singularity was making, and would it agency to deal forthrightly with poor employees through really be here in time to save me? And got a blank look. demotions, firings, or even promotion of everybody else for "You know," I said. "The Singularity. When all the trends any reason besides longevity, and the VA has no management converge."

Liberty 33 November 2009

Still blank. medicine. At least, as far as I know. Regardless of any possible "Computers double in power every 18 months. By 2020 side benefits, though, had the VA let me choose my own doc­ they will be as smart as we are. They might even wake up. tor, I would have gone for somebody with a firmer grasp on A year and a half later, they will be twice as smart. That's the value of evidence-based medicine. going to mean something important, and it's going to Hertzberg and lots of other people who think VA health­ happen about the time nanotechnology takes off and you doc­ care is just the ticket for the rest of us are going to point out tors start injecting little machines into our bodies to fix what­ that my stories, and all the ones you have heard, too, are ever hasn't even gone wrong yet. Which will occur just as the anecdotal. You can expect that. Refusing to acknowledge evi­ bioengineers learnhow to custom-growbody parts out of beef dence you can't refute is the last refuge of somebody who is broth and old nail parings. Theyll even be designing body losing an argument. But there is nothing misleading about parts that none of us ever had before. After the Singularity, anecdotes. Anecdotes convey real human experience. In the the very definition of what it means to be human will be so medical world, an entire corpus of knowledge is built up of radically ..." anecdotes. Doctors call them case histories and, when enough "Things of this world are not going to give you everlast­ case histories tell the same story, doctors say we have an epi­ ing life," the doctor interrupted sweetly. "All you have to do demic. And it's a pretty serious epidemic that can kill an oth­ is hang on until the Second Coming and let Jesus take care of erwise healthy man within a few days. " Mybrother-in-law's dad was the very guy a grateful nation Jesus? "Jesus is going to cure my ... ?" had in mind when we set up the Veterans Administration. "Human medicine can't cure anything." War hero. Greatest Generation. Not very well-heeled, so gov­ This led to a short philosophical dialogue on the efficacy ernment-provided medical services were something he could of human medicine, in which my government-provided doc­ really use. You aren't. You never parachuted behind Nazi lines tor revealed that, doctor or no, she meant what she said: so­ to spy out troop movements, and it's hard to see why the VA called "medical" cures were nothing less than small-scale would be any more vigorous in protecting your health than it divine intercessions. It was the personal intervention of God, was that of the old paratrooper. not the miracle of human medicine, that was hard at work Now here's the thing: the VA can't do any better. It's not when somebody got cured. Having been cured by human just a matter of tinkering around the margins, of replacing medicine on more than one occasion while God was on coffee crazy Christians with atheists, of giving pharmacists sensitiv­ break, I didn't share her lack of confidence in the powers of ity training, or seeing to it that test results come back when science. But, then, maybe hers was a conclusion derived from they can still do some good. None of it, or anything else, will spending too much time at the VA. make a bit of difference as long as the government is provid­ Now, I suppose that discovering your doctor doesn't ing the healthcare. No matter what scheme Mr. Obama and really believe in medicine might come as a surprise along the the Senate and all the Hendrik Hertzbergs cheering them on lines of discovering thatMother Teresa didn't really believe in may cook up, ipso facto profundo, ifthe government provides God. Both these revelations came as a surprise to me, but nei­ it, it will be government-provided healthcare. ther came as a shock. I am naturally suspicious of people who No matter how much money we throw at it, no matter make a big, important social cause out of their poverty, and how much effort we pour into trying to make it work the way anybody who gets his healthcare from the VA has been desen­ lots of our healthcare system works right now, entrusting sitized to a lot more than mere off-the-wall theories. You will America's health care to America's government will result in be, too, once Hertzberg and his ilk have their way and you the same efficiency, innovation, compassion, individual ini­ start spending time down there. tiative, and attention to detail, the same 21st-century manage­ I don't know what the doctor would have done if I had ment practices, the same moderate fees and array of choices, been sick. Fired up a hymn? Wafted incense across my body? the same ability to take our business elsewhere if we don't Interceded through the power of prayer? Called for a laying­ like the way we are treated, that we have learned to expect on of hands? Whatever, it very likely would have spared me a from entrusting our driver testing to the Department of Motor trip to the pharmacy, and that would have been a plus. Even Vehicles. government pharmacies only trade in the products of human But perhaps I understate. D

Property Rights - or Property Permissions?, from page 30 any destination. And if one has no concept of the boundary injuring one another" and "leave them otherwise free to regu­ between legitimate and illegitimate government purposes, late their own pursuits of industry and improvement," is fun­ then there is little room left for a judiciary designed to police damentally incompatible with the Progressive view of rights the boundaries of legislative power. as government permissions, muchless their faith in the central Of course, the Constitution's authors knew well enough planning model of land-use regulation, both of which domi­ what a legitimate state interest is: they wrote as much in the nate courts and legislatures today. At the center of disputes Declaration of Independence, when they said that govern­ like the Griswold, Auxier, and Sterling cases, and thousands of ment exists to secure individual rights to life, liberty, and the others like them, is a crucial philosophical conflict about the pursuit of happiness - not to redistribute wealth for the ben­ nature of individual freedom in the constitutional order. As efit of politically influential lobbyists. Their belief that gov­ long as lawyers and judges shun these profound questions, ernment should, in Jefferson's words, "restrain men from they will be unable to resolve these cases. D

34 Liberty Ban 'emAil

by Jamie McEwan

The Olympic Games should be a showcase for the world's greatest athletes. Instead, it's a quota-driven spectacle with a disproportionate number of third- and fourth-tier competitors.

There came a moment, 17 years ago, when the International Olympic Committee showed ­ or at least seemed to show - a momentary concern for athletes, of all people. Not just for the handful of media darlings whom the IOC couldn't help but notice, but for a group of ordinary, garden-variety world-class athletes struggling for their once-a-quadrennium chance to share the Olympic limelight. in the Barcelona Olympics of 1992. A necessary part of prepa­ Thoughbestknownfor living highontheexpense accounts ration for a major event is "peaking," and a necessary part of of cities bidding for the privilege of hosting the games, the "peaking" is "resting" - a.k.a. doing nothing. But there being International Olympic Committee members took a rational only so much nothing that we could do, my fellow athletes and even innovative course of action that benefited no one and I spent a good deal of time surfing a kind of private inter­ except a few score international athletes. And in so doing net - punching buttons on one of the "Amicus" terminals they showed the world how much better a sporting event the that linked our far-flung canoe & kayak slalom venue with Olympics could be. the main Barcelona Olympic Village. I refer to 1992, the year when the Committee temporarily I was standing at a terminal, looking up that evening's created a new category of competitor: the "lOP." competitions. "Swimming, 400 meter freestyle finals, Women; Perhaps embarrassed by the subversive simplicity of its Roller Hockey preliminaries, SUI vs. JPN; table tennis prelim­ own plan, the International Olympic Committee did not inaries, men's doubles: KOR, FRA, eRO, JPN, PRK, lOP." establish this revolutionary category with what would have Now, I took pride in my mastery of the Olympic three­ been the appropriate fanfare and publicity. Nor did the press letter abbreviations. At a glance I could read off Switzerland, seize upon this unprecedented departUre from Olympic pro­ Japan, Korea, France, Croatia; I could even identify PRK as tocol. The only reason that I myself happened to notice was North Korea. But lOP? That had me stumped. Islands of the that I was there, a curious athlete with time on his hands. Pacific? Iopia? I was preparing to compete in the whitewater slalom event More button punching, and the computer gave up its little

Liberty 35 November 2009 secret: lOP didn't signify any country at all. lOP stood for every four years, but you haven't. The allocation of Olympic "Independent Olympic Participant." entries by country - at times by continent - varies from sport Whoa! How had lOP table-tennis competitors "Grujic, to sport, but in no case is athletic ability the first criterion. If Slobodan" and "Lupulesku, Ilija," managed that? you're a table tennis player from China, a slalom canoeist from While I had been concentrating on training and trials, a Slovakia, or a swimmer from the United States, my advice is, new era had dawned, unnoticed. Grujic and Lupulesku were change nationalities as fast as you can. Through the vagaries two of 59 competitors (all from parts of what had once been of national selection, many potential medalists are excluded the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) who, for the first from the world's most prestigious sporting event. time since the disorganized days of the three earliest mod­ In 1992 the world record holder in the decathlon, Dan ern Olympics, were permitted to compete without national O'Brien, sat out the games, and the world champion kayaker, affiliation. Shaun Pierce, was left at home. History repeated itself in last The last remaining piece of Yugoslavia still using the name "Yugoslavia" had been banned from the Olympic Games. There was nothing surprising about that; it would be an unusual Olympics indeed in which at least one country was not banned. The surprising thing was that the International The allocation of Olympic entries varies Olympic Committee seemed to care, not about Yugoslavia, from sport to sport, but in no case is athletic but about Yugoslavian - and Macedonian - athletes. (Macedonia, another chunk of the old SFR of Yugoslavia, had ability the first criterion. not existed long enough to form its own National Olympic Committee.) The IOC's unprecedented solution was to create a new category of competitor: the lOP. Plain white uniforms. Olympic anthem if you win. Please, year's Beijing Olympics when the reigning world champion stay out of the opening ceremonies. But you can compete. in kayak slalom, Sebastian Combot of France, failed to qualify This sane, elegantly simple stratagem couldhavebenefited as France's single allowed entry. What's more, the eventual large numbers of athletes over the years: from those without a bronze medalist, Benjamin Boukpeti - a lifelong resident of country after World War II to the South African athletes who France who had only once visited his father's native Togo ­ had come of age during their country's 30 years on the banned would have been excluded as well, if it had not been for the list. (It must have felt very strange to the black SouthAfricans · fortunate heritage that allowed him to enter as a Togolese. banned from international competition because their govern­ Birthright alone enabled Boukpeti to compete in an event in ment was discriminating against them.) which he was demonstrably good enough to medal. Many Sane, simple, and revolutionary. The quiet inclusion of aren't so lucky. I would wager that every sport, at every these athletes without a country pointed up the fact that it Olympics, excludes potential medalists, while at the same is not countries that compete in the Olympics, but athletes. time allowing far less accomplished competitors to share the People, individual people. And seeing how easily one or two Olympic experience with an arbitrary selection of the world's countries could be dispensed with brought up the intriguing elite athletes. question: why not dispense with all of them? Ignoring national origin would make it possible to create Recent history has shownhow shifting and arbitrary these an authentic showcase for the world's best. Selection could be things called "nations" can be. So why wait for the next cri­ based on the previous year's world championships, on World sis? Why not preempt the inevitable political maneuverings, Cup competitions, or on international rankings, with a few the boycotts and sanctions, by doing away with nations alto- slots left open for late bloomers to qualify from early-season competitions. A fairer and more competitive Olympics would result. What's more, this non-nationalistic format would give Grujic and Lupulesku were two of 59 the ghost of Baron Pierre Coubertin, founder of the mod­ ern Olympics, at least the ghost of a chance to see his origi­ Olympic athletes who were permitted to com­ nal hopes of fostering international understanding fulfilled. pete without national affiliation. Unfortunately, his noble plan held the seeds of self-contradic­ tion from its very beginning, planted there by the good baron himself. In one and the same speech Coubertin could feel "well assured that the victors in the Stadion at Athens wished for no other recompense when they heard the people cheer gether? What worked for the Yugoslavian and Macedonian the flag of their country in honor of their achievement" - he competitors could work for all of us, all the time. Keep the is referring to the scene at the very first Olympics in 1896 ­ athletes, but ban the countries, each and every one of them. and go on to suggest that the games "may be a potent, if indi­ Ban 'em all. rect, factor in securing universal peace." What are the Olympic Games about, anyway? If they are History suggests that 20th-century sports have had the about sport, then removing the "nation" as the unit of athlete opposite effect. Ifso, it's little wonder, for the current Olympic selection would make for a far better sporting event. You may format - copied by most international sports competitions ­ think that you've been seeing the world's best athletes gather is more calculated to inflame rivalries than to inspire fellow-

36 Liberty November 2009 ship. The awards ceremony, with its flag raising, its playing nature, I suppose. I wouldn't try to stop the Chinese from of the winner's national anthem while losers and spectators unofficially putting together a volleyball team, or the United stand at respectful attention, represents in potent symbolism States from assembling a swimming relay. But how backward the submerging of individual achievement in a glorification of and absurd it is to require that teams be formed by the happen­ national identity. The infamous "Hitler" games of 1936, with stance of citizenship. all their Aryan strutting, were not an aberration, but simply an Doing away with all the mandated nationalistic preening unusually forthright expression of the jingoism that underlies would make for a more congenial international gathering. the modern games. Although there isn't a contemporary vice Have the athletes march into the opening and closing cere­ or corruption that hasn't an ancient counterpart, those admit­ monies grouped by sport, not nation. Apply the same restric­ tedly xenophobic Greeks got one thing right: the format of the tions to nationalistic symbols on uniforms that are applied to original Olympics glorified the individual human being, not commercial logos. Sure, nationalism will sneak in through the the group. And perhaps it's not coincidence that the ancient back door. Fine. But make it sneak. Don't welcome it with a games endured 1,200 years without a single missed Olympiad. big brass band. Do away with those anthems. Burn the flags. Twelve centuries without a gap! It's an especially astonishing Or rather, stitch them into something useful, like quilts. record when you consider that the modern Olympics couldn't It's true, banning countries from the Olympics makes too get through their first century without failing, not once but muchsense to actually happen. Changing the status quo might three times, to hold the quadrennial celebration. Where's Zeus well require the well-aimed thunderbolts of divine interven­ when we need him? tion. The modern Olympic movement is all about medal Admittedly, banning countries from the Olympics would counts and flags and anthems and uniforms, all the trappings not be enough to take the politics out of sport. There is a poli­ of nationalism, simply because nationalism fuels the Olympic tics to everything; it will never entirely go away. But at least machinery. Almost all national sports teams - the United we could restrict International Olympic Committee wrangling States being a notable exception - are heavily subsidized by to pole-vault specifications and which new sports to include, their governments. And in the United States, where television and leave the flag waving to the fans in the stands. And to the ratings are the single most important metric of Olympic suc­ networks, of course. cess, the average viewer can only be sucked into watching a Other things being equal, we1l always be more excited bunch of minor sports he doesn't care about by the possibility when a friend wins over a stranger, a local over someone that "his" jock will beat "their" jocks. Take away nationalism from another coast, someone who speaks our language over and the Olympics would become nothing but ... a sporting someone who chatters incomprehensibly in a foreign tongue. event. Redheads will tend to cheer for redheads. That's human We can only dream. D

Portland, Oregon * Saturday, N

THE 1< IETY Lawrence Reed: president ofthe Foundation or Economic Education, president emeritus ofthe Mackinac Center for Public Policy, freelance journalist, prolific writer, and popular speaker. For an interview of Larry Reed on Reason~ please see http://fee.org/videos/68/.

Sheldon Richman: editor ofFEE's flagship publication The Freeman, senior fellow at the Future ofFreedom Foundation, engaging speaker, and author ofthe award-winning Separating School and State.

Lawrence Reed Sheldon Richman Irvington, NY * TWO ACCOMPLISHED AND FASCINATING SPEAKERS * Conway, AR * LIVELY DISCUSSIONS AND PRESENTATIONS *

For more information or to register, contact: Freedom Seminars (a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization) c/o Columbia Food Machinery, 641 9th Street NW, Salem, OR 97304 Tel: 503-370-7188 E-mail: [email protected] www.freedomseminars.org

(Advertisement) November 2009

Reflections, from page 24 married (in 1938), they were in agreement that she would ing to be blunt in criticizing me." place the care of her children above her career as an econo­ The fact that Rose became a graduate student in econom­ mist. Thus, there was never a question of "whose career came ics at the University of Chicago is itself somewhat remark­ first," she wrote in the Friedmans' 1998 joint memoir, "Two able, considering that she was born in a small, mostly Russian Lucky People." town in what is now Ukraine. Her family moved to Portland, For those aware of today's frantic cross-country marriages Oregon, when she was two years old. Her father worked as a and difficult "spousal hires" in academia, this peaceful and peddler (he eventually owned a couple of small stores). cooperative coexistence between two tremendously talented Rose attended public school, then Reed College for two people may seem very mid-20th century; and indeed it was. years. Inherjunioryear, she went to the University of Chicago, "In part this attitude on my part was probably a reflection of where her brother, Aaron Director, ten years older than she, the times," she wrote in her memoir. "Women's lib was not was already on the faculty. Rose met Milton, also a graduate yet on the horizon." student in economics at Chicago, in 1932. Six years later they But there was more to it than that. "From the beginning," were married, and their partnership, as well as the creation of she wrote, "I have never had the desire to compete with their family, began. They had two children, Janet and David, Milton professionally (perhaps because I was smart enough the latter well-known to readers of these pages. to recognize that I couldn't). On the other hand, he has always It is said that Rose is the only person who ever bested made me feel that his achievement is my achievement." And Milton in an argument (but I haven't found out what that she was less comfortable in the limelight than he. argument was). For the most part, they were in agreement. Yet, although Milton Friedman might have won a Nobel Rose told The Wall Street Journal in 2006 that their first policy Prize without Rose, one of the activities that brought him the disagreement was over the U.S. entry into Iraq in 2003. She most fame, the "Free to Choose" documentary series on PBS, favored it; her husband was opposed. might never have happened without her. When the opportu­ Much of w!Jp.t I know about Rose Director Friedman nity arose, Milton was reluctant. He thought of himself as a comes from the 650-page memoir, "Two Lucky People," a writer influencing economists, not a spokesman on a public rich collection of anecdotes and personal history, with sprin­ television series. But Rose disagreed and persuaded him to klings of policy discussion. The only thing wrong with it is its accept the project. She was associate producer, and as Milton title. Luck is not randomly distributed. Together Milton and wrote in his memoir, she "played an indispensable role: she Rose Friedman forged a partnership that has revolutionized participated in every planning session and every editing ses­ thinking around the world, bringing back acceptance of free sion; she was on every shoot ... she was the best critic of my markets. Rose Friedman played a vital role, and we are all for­ performance, and perhaps most important the only one will- tunate that she was there. - Jane S. Shaw

Letters, from page 6

It's a clever way of deflecting the ques­ onstrate the dual nature of "keeping" that too often overflows into the pages tion, "Where is Abel?" He gives a true - the keeper exerts control over the of Liberty is tedious. Stephen Cox's answer - it's not my job - without one who is kept, but at the same time review of Anne Heller's new Rand bi­ giving the real answer - his body is in is controlled by the needs of the one he ography ("Ayn's World," October) is the grain field where I left him. A clas­ keeps. the first thing about Rand that I have sic example of sidestepping an issue by The title "My Sister's Keeper," as really enjoyed reading in years. It takes answering a question with a question. it turns out, works in both senses of some work to know Rand well and still But I think you go too far in ma­ the word. By providing her sister with be able to step out of the Randian uni­ ligning those who simply approach the blood, stem cells, tissue, and perhaps a verse and give it some context. Cox did discussion from a different angle. A kidney, the healthy sister keeps (pro­ the work in his review and apparently keeper - one who keeps animals in a vides for) her cancer-ridden sister, but Heller does it in her biography. zoo, as you point out, or political pris­ also keeps her imprisoned in a body Still, I havea boneto pick. (And, after oners in a tower (also called a "keep"), that has become painful and exhausting all, why even write to the editor with­ or who keeps a willing mistress in an and a hospital room that has become out a bone?) Cox identifies a "golden apartment for that matter - is re­ depressing and confining. Only when thread" of literary artists who have cre­ sponsible for feeding and sheltering each acknowledges the right not to be ated "self-substantive literary realities." the animals (or prisoners, or mistress) kept do they both find freedom. As soon as he named the artists, I knew because, they no longer have the free­ exactly what he meant: Rabelais, Swift, dom to provide for themselves. "Keep" Mythopoesis Melville, Faulkner, Borges, Tolkien. means "to retain," but it also means "to In my opinion, people talk and write Next came Cox's outrageous claim that maintain," "to guard," "to observe" (as way too much about Ayn Rand and her "none of them created a Following, a the Sabbath), "to stay fresh" (not spoil works. Her big books speak for them­ Circle, a Cult as Rand did." To that non­ - interesting in the context of Abel's selves, and I'm glad to see so many sense I retort: Frodo Lives! decomposing body), "to provide for folks reading them. But the chatterbox Michael Christian or support." All these definitions dem- full of Randians and anti-Randians San Diego, CA

38 Liberty "Churchill, Hitler, and 'The Unnecessary War': How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World," by Patrick J. Buchanan. Crown, 2008, 540 pages.

The Tangled Web

Economy," 1919, translated NYU Press, careless expression of support for Leland B. Yeager 1983). In a memo written justbefore the Austria-Hungary, as well as countries' Pat Buchanan is a provocative con­ end of World War II in Europe, Winston just-in-case plans for mobilization and troversialist on TV panels about public Churchill blamed the ascendancy of war (such as Germany's Schlieffen Plan affairs. He is no libertarian. Still, his lat­ Hitler largely on American pressure to for getting at France through Belgium). est book can bolster a libertarian slant drive the Habsburgs out of Austria and Buchanan suggests that World War on foreign policy, as 111 explain at the the Hohenzollems out of Germany: II, which was in a sense a resumption of end of this review. "By making these vacuums we gave World War I, was also unnecessary. It With the word "war," singular, the opening for the Hitlerite monster to was not a fated response to Axis aggres­ Buchanan evidently counts World Wars crawl out of its sewer onto the vacant sion and so was not the "good war" of I and II as episodes in a great war dom­ thrones" (111). The U.S. "Senate never standard opinion, not in its origin, any­ inating the first half of the 20th cen­ did a better day's work than when it way. I am not sure that I am convinced. tury. Harsh provisions of the Treaty rejected the Treaty of Versailles," says Buchanan maintains that Hitler, of Versailles, including some that even Buchanan (110). villain though he was, was not aiming the victorious Allies came to recognize His book offers many examples of at world conquest or even at reduc­ as unjust, offered material for Hitler's "uchronia," counterfactual or what-if ing Britain and France to vassalage. He demagogy about those grievances. history (which I discussed in Liberty, admired the British Empire and, like Buchanan mentions a London dinner September 2009). Agreeing, I think, some German statesmen before World party shortly after Hitler came to power. with most historians, Buchanan argues War I, wanted Germany and Britain to Someone asked, "By the way, where that almost nobody in power wanted recognize each other as natural allies. was Hitler born?" "At Versailles," Lady World War 1. What if Kaiser Wilhelm II But he did want to undo the inequities Astor snapped back (p. 110). Buchanan had not waited until too late to send his of Versailles, which had even barred a notes Keynes' warnings against a desperate appeal for peace to his cousin customs union between Germany and vindictive peace in "The Economic Czar Nicholas II? A petty and almost the Austrian rump of Austria-Hungary. Consequences of the Peace" (1919), but accidental quarrel between Austria­ He wanted to absorb the Germania he overl~oks Ludwig von Mises' simi­ Hungary and Serbia impinged on a irredenta wherever German-speaking lar warnings in a book published a few contagion-prone tissue of alliances and majorities apparently so desired. These months earlier ("Nation, State, and understandings, including Germany's included Austria, the Sudetenland of

Liberty 39 November 2009

Czechoslovakia, Danzig, and at least invaded Poland, opportunistically but and its consequences, left the world part of the Polish Corridor. He did not mistakenly believing, from the spine­ with a destructive war and Poland with want all currently or formerly German­ lessness of the Western powers thus far a half century of Nazi and then Soviet speaking territories. According to exhibited, that an ambiguous British domination. Buchanan quotes several Buchanan, he was willing to leave guarantee to Poland meant nothing. He other historians who also see the guar­ Alsace-Lorraine to France and the did not expect a world war. antee as a mistake. Britain might better formerly Austrian South Tyrol (Alto On March 31, 1939, exasper­ have remilitarized more quickly so as to Adige) to Italy, even accepting the cul­ ated by Hitler's occupation of rump support a policy of containment. tural Italianization of German-speakers Czechoslovakia and by his seizure Significantly, among the people who chose not to move away. Not once of formerly German Memel from whom Buchanan thanks for help or in the book does Buchanan find any Lithuania - another bloodless victory inspiration is the architect of America's Nazi aspirations for mainly German­ - Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain post-World War II containment pol­ speaking Switzerland. Besides wanting had announced in Parliament that icy, who sent him a letter applauding to absorb German-speaking territories Britain would guarantee the indepen­ his treatment of similar themes in an where the inhabitants desired to be dence of Poland. He had not said that earlier book. "Embracing the wisdom absorbed, Hitler did hope to carve out it would guarantee Poland's frontiers. of George Kennan," Buchanan says, Lebensraum for Germans in the East, Actually, according to Buchanan, he "America pursued a policy of contain­ presumably in Russia - also ridding was vaguely suggesting that Poland ment and conscious avoidance of a those territories of Jews. He appar­ compromise with Hitler on the Danzig Third World War" (417). ently expected Poland to be a satellite and Corridor issues. As for dishonor Buchanan says little about the war ally in this drive toward the East. But in not carrying through on the guar­ in the Far East. Several pages do review such plans fall short of a drive for world antee, in Buchanan's view the real dis­ what Australia's Prime Minister Billy domination. Buchanan implies that the honor came in Chamberlain's making Hughes called "an act of breathtaking Western powers would better have a guarantee that was impossible to ful­ stupidity" - the Washington Naval stood aside if the two totalitarian dicta­ fill. (Here, as elsewhere in this account, Conference of 1921-22 (116). Before and torships fought each other. I do not promise a slavish paraphrase at the conference, Britain appeased the Buchanan suggests that Hitler pre­ of Buchanan; rather, I offer an obvious Americans by giving up its overwhelm­ ferred diplomatic to military triumphs. interpretation of his words.) ing naval power and its 20-year-old alli­ He was an opportunist. He remilita­ Buchanan does not clearly say what ance with Japan. Surprisingly however, rized the Rhineland in 1936 in violation should have been done. My guess is Buchanan fails to discuss the severe of treaties, when, as he himself recog­ that he thinks Hitler should have been American sanctions against Japan ­ nized, a bit of firmness by Britain and stopped much earlier, at best before probably justified but still provocative France would have stopped him. In easy triumphs had emboldened him - that preceded Pearl Harbor. March 1939, without a shot, he occu­ and anyway before he became ready Buchanan does offer several percep­ piedthe rump ofCzechoslovakia, which for war. Given those great mistakes tive character sketches. Not all countries had been left defenseless by the fron­ of omission, however, he implies that and leaders, Hitler and Stalin excepted, tier adjustments permitted by the West Britain should have recognized the sit­ were as villainous or as virtuous as their at Munich in 1938. Poland, jackal-like, uation in March 1939 and bought time standard reputations say. While not seized part of Czechoslovakia when withfurther appeasement, if only onthe belaboring Woodrow Wilson's flaws, Hitler's dismemberment of it provided Danzig and Corridor issues. As things Buchanan says enough to reinforce the opportunity; but on Sept. 1, 1939, he worked out, the guarantee to Poland, my view that on a list of the worst U.S. presidents, Wilson would be a strong candidate for top honors. George W. Bush also draws some well merited criticism. And despite one's sympa­ thy for Czechoslovakia and Poland in the period that Buchanan studies, the Iloliel immediately pre-war leaders of those countries, to judge from his descrip­ Peate tions, behaved recklessly and were no saints. Hitler was a worse villain, Prize of course; and Buchanan reviews his atrocities, including atrocities against the Jews. Although he finds the second world war "accidental," like the first, Buchanan in no sense comes across as an apologist for Hitler. Reasonably, however, he considers Stalin an even more murderous villain. "Don't be too impressed - he got it for surrendering." Buchanan attends more to Churchill

40 Liberty November 2009 than to Hitler. He does not disparage Midway in 1942). But Churchill was Talleyrand was no longer Napoleon's Churchill's heroic leadership during the an ingrained war hawk. He relished foreign minister. Still, the book's many dark days of 1940, when Britain stood his military experiences in India, in the sources and its detailed documentation alone, nor his then-unfashionable pre­ Sudan (where he rode in the last cav­ - 63 pages of citations (not discursive science about Hitler during the 1930s. (I alry charge of the British Empire), and notes) and a 13-page bibliography ­ still have "The Second Brush Up Your in the Boer War. A few days before war suggest reliability. German," by J.B.C. Grundy, published broke out in 1914 he wrote to his wife, Ten full-page maps help carry the in London as late as 1939. The les­ "Everything tends toward catastrophe story. Sixteen pages of photographs pic­ sons feature a British family traveling & collapse. I am interested, geared up ture the main actors, all captioned with in Germany who admire Nazi institu- and happy. Is it not horrible to be built apt and some with ironic quotations like that?" (28). During the war, as First by or about the subjects. One picture Lord of the Admiralty, he wrote: "My shows Mussolini and Hitler meeting in God! This is living history.... I would Venice in 1934, labeled with Mussolini's not be out of this glorious delicious war observation: "What a clown this Hitler Buchanan maintains that for anything the world could give me" is." Yet Hitler is wearing nonde­ Hitler was not aiming at (66 and picture caption). script civilian clothes, while Mussolini After the Germans had laid down appears in high boots, flared britches, world conquest or even at their arms and surrendered their war­ and the rest of a pretentious military reducing Britain and France ships in 1918, he successfully advo­ uniform. Neville Chamberlain appears cated continuing the Allied "starvation triumphantly waving a paper at Heston to vassalage. blockade" for some months, despite the Aerodrome on returning from Munich humanitarian pleas of Herbert Hoover. in 1938: "I've got it! I've got it! Here is a His aim, he said, was to "starve the paper whichbears his name" - Hitler's whole population - men, women, name. Regrettably, there are no photo­ graphs of Woodrow Wilson and other tions and policies and even uniforms.) and children, old and young, wounded allied leaders on their hands and knees Churchill was, however, something of and sound - into submission." In the poring over the big map of the Europe a chameleon. He had switched political House of Commons, March 1919, he that they were recarving at Versailles. parties several times. In 1919 he urged exulted: "We are enforcing the blockade Nor are there pictures of the ambitious war against the new Bolshevik regime with rigour, and Germany is very near spokesmen of various nationalities in Russia; by the time of the Tehran starvation" (79). who pressed their desires at Woodrow conference in 1943 and Yalta in 1945, he Even in citing remarks such as Wilson's Paris hotel in 1919. was fawning disgustingly over Stalin those, Buchanan's book does not read My strongly favorable opinion of and ready to abandon most of Eastern like an ideological polemic or set of the book may not be typical. It fasci­ Europe to him, even though a commit­ personal denunciations. Buchanan does nated me as a review of then-current ment to protect Poland had triggered not pretend to be a professional histo­ events that I had followed since Hitler Britain's entry into the war: His realistic rian; he draws on published, not archi­ "Iron Curtain" speech came belatedly, val, materials. Nevertheless, expository in 1946. work such as his deserves respect, even Churchill distinguished between admiration. Without dealing in pal­ superior and inferior races, evidently pable exaggerations, it makes history willing to carry "the white man's bur­ interesting and, so far as its subject per­ On a list of the worst U.S. den." He wanted to preserve the British mits, enjoyable. Buchanan writes in a presidents, Woodrow Wilson Empire, while, ironically, his wartime straightforward, uncomplicated, lucid ally Roosevelt wanted to see it disman­ style that other writers would do well would be a strong candidate tled. Churchill also took an interest in to imitate. True, he uses a great many for top honors. genetics, wanting to deter mentally direct quotations, some ofthem lengthy, inferior people from breeding. His rac­ a practice that might seem reminiscent ism was only partial: he was not an anti­ of an undergraduate term paper; yet Semite but rather a Zionist. they are well chosen and fit smoothly Churchill was no military genius, into the text. took power inJanuary 1933, when I was even though he served as First Lord I cannot vouch for the accuracy of eight years old. But the book should of the Admiralty from 1911-15 and all of Buchanan's historical details and appeal to other readers for its story told again from 1939--40. He devised the quotations, let alone the soundness of in a gripping way. Gallipoli campaign of 1915, which his sweeping judgments. Almost every The note "About the Author" at turned out to be a bloody Allied disas­ long nonfiction work presumably com­ the end of the book calls Buchanan ter. He opined that submarines were of mits a flew slips. Buchanan makes an "America's leading populist conser­ little use in warfare and that airplanes ambiguous remark about "Napoleon's vative." He does not openly push that could do little damage to battleships foreign minister Talleyrand" sitting ideology, however; and without claim­ (contrary to U.s. and Japanese experi­ withleaders ofthe victorious coalitionat ing to do so, he teaches welcome les­ ence later at Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15 (73). sons for libertarians. It may be no

Liberty 41 November 2009 coincidence that Joseph Stromberg and and not go forth looking for dragons to was thus able to go to college because of David Gordon, both associated with the destroy. a voucher program, the kind ofprogram libertarian Ludwig von Mises Institute, Buchanan's judgment may be he would later advocate.) In a decision are among the people thanked for help. flawed, but his arguments deserve that helped set his course for life, he Most libertarians are skeptical about attention, especially by persons who chose the London School of Economics. foreign involvements and guarantees. may wind up disagreeing. Myself, I At this time, the economics depart­ Buchanan argues along the same lines, don't condemn all programs of collec­ mentwas well stocked withclassical lib­ making national self-interest the prime tive security against aggression (nor erals, most famously Friedrich Hayek, consideration in foreign policy and perhaps does Buchanan), but let's be Arnold Plant, and Lionel Robbins, urging that war be avoided whenever realistic. It is absurd to recruit countries along with Ronald Coase as lecturer. reasonably possible. (Some call this remote from the Atlantic Ocean into the Hayek and Coase would be recipients "appeasement.") We should not pre­ North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as of the Nobel Prize. Seldon studied at sume to meddle in the affairs of other America has done. And if politicians' the LSE from 1934-37, graduating with countries, not even to implant "democ­ ignorance and arrogance of power pre­ first-class honors. He was appointed racy" (a word much abused by people's vail as much in international affairs as research assistant to Arnold Plant and propensity to cram all sorts of good Buchanan suggests, why suppose any­ held the appointment until World things into its meaning). We should thing different about their handling of War II broke out. It was during this heed John Quincy Adams' warning domestic affairs? 0 time that he changed his name from "Slaberdain" to "Seldon." "Arthur Seldon: A Life for Liberty," by Colin Robinson. After his wartime service, Seldon considered an academic career, but Profile Books, 2009, 220 pages. chose instead a career in the business world that permitted him to pursue his academic interests. He became the editor of trade magazines, first for the department store industry, then for the brewing industry. It was a fortunate choice. At the department store maga­ zine he met his future wife, Marjorie; Arguingfor and his journalistic experience led to his selection in 1957 for his role at the then recently established lEA. He had a lot to offer. At 40, he was at the height of his energy, with a solid Capitalism education in classical economics and a decade of experience in business. And the job had a lot to offer him. He had a chance to support his family while writing and helping others write pub­ thinktanks, he edited writers such as Gary Jason lications that crafted free-market poli­ Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek. cies, many of which would be adopted As free-market economics appears Seldon was bornAbraham Margolis in the UK and beyond. to wane in many parts of the world, in 1916, inanythingbutwealthy circum­ Robinson's book gives the reader especially the United States, a newly stances. His parents, Masha and Pinchas a wealth of biographical information published book offers some succor. Margolis, were poor Jewish immigrants about Seldon, much of it contributed Colin Robinson has written an excellent from Russia, living in the East End of by his friends and family. But I found biography of Arthur Seldon, the bril­ London. He was the youngest of five especially useful the last four chapters, liant economist who played a central children, and his parents died when which explore his political and eco­ role in formulating the neoliberal eco­ he was two years old. He was taken in nomic worldview. nomic policies that Margaret Thatcher's by various foster homes before being Seldon developed a view of capi­ government instituted a generation adopted by another Jewish immigrant talism that was a synthesis of his deep ago. Both as a writer and as an editor, couple, Eva and Marks Slaberdain. He worldly experience and his wide aca­ Seldon contributed greatly to defend­ grew up in a household that respected demic learning. This view fused classi­ ing and modernizing classical liberal­ learning, self-improvement, and com­ cal economics, Austrian economics, and ism. His writings (recently collected munity-based charity - values that public choice theory. and published through the Liberty informed his later work. In a free-market system, as classi­ Fund) fill seven volumes. As an editor When Seldon was 18, he won a cal liberal economists had recognized, and editorial director for the Institute scholarship (a munificent 80 pounds a consumers have the freedom - "the of Economic Affairs (lEA), arguably the year!) to attend the college of his choice. power of exit," as Seldon liked to call greatest among classical and neoliberal (Robinson doesn't note this, but Seldon it - to switch from producers whom

42 Liberty November 2009 they don't like to producers whom rights will keep them in check. His influence came not only from the they do. Moreover, as Hayek and other But the defects of socialism power of his ideas but from his ability economists of the Austrian school had ignorance, inefficiency, social conflict, to express them succinctly, without pointed out, the free market imple­ monopoly, coercion, corruption, and resort to technical jargon, in terms that ments a discovery process that allows secrecy - are basically incurable. There "opinion-leaders" could understand, and in his ability to draw conclusions is no way outside of a free market for entrepreneurs to explore new avenues for policy. He was not only a prolific of production and expand existing pro­ would-be managers to set appropriate writer, with one of the major works duction methods, in a spontaneous, prices and adjust production, and the of classical liberalism of recent times self-correcting way, facilitated by the ignorance of managers inevitably leads ("Capitalism") to his credit, he was language of pricing. Seldon elucidated to inefficiency. Social conflict is also also a splendid editor of the works of this system, adding to ita theory of pub­ inevitable, because minority views are others, with the ability to formulate a lic choice. Public choice theory (among unwelcome in a socialized order; and publishing programme with a clear whose influential early advocates were so is monopoly, because the essence of purpose, to find authors to carry it James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, socialism is the state's destruction of through and to make their work more lEA contributors) recognizes that gov­ competition. Add to the list of inevi­ understandable (p. 147). ernments are complex organizations tables both coercion and corruption. Seldon was also one of those rare run by self-interested individuals, Coercion is needed to keep the citi­ thinkers who understand "the big pic­ though with monopolistic power that zenry compliant. Corruption results ture" of economics and the contempo­ leaves individuals little if any power of when markets are driven underground, rary state. In this regard, it may have exit. protecting themselves by bribing the been helpful that he did not pursue Seldon's ideas, synthesized from economic rulers - who after all have a a Ph.D., with its inevitable focus on many sources, enabled him to articu­ strong incentive to keep many of their technical problems and sophisticated late, in an unusually clear and compel­ own actions secret. mathematics. It took a broad thinker ling way, the virtues of capitalism, the In short, Seldon was a remarkable to predict in 1980, as Seldon did, that vices of government intervention, and figure. His clear arguments and com­ "China will go capitalist. Soviet Russia the policies that might possibly reform pelling evidence allowed him to reach a will not survive the century. Labour the welfare state. His two most influen­ wide audience, and to convince them of as we know it will never rule again." I tial books were the shorter "Corrigible the argument for economic liberty. As know Ph.D.s who cannot grasp those Capitalism, Incorrigible Socialism," and Robinson nicely puts it, facts, even today. D the longer "Capitalism," bothpublished in the 1980s, and both powerfully per­ suasive. Capitalism, he argued, embod­ ies incentives natural to human beings, and thus maximizes efficiency, flexibil­ ity, and freedom. Socialism, because it tries to appeal to incentives that aren't natural, does the reverse. Seldon maintained that the four famous problems of capitalism ­ inequality, monopoly, worker alien­ ation, and negative externalities - are all easily capable of remediation. Inequality of income can be addressed by programs such as earned income tax credits. Monopoly is corrected by the marketplace: any private company Read: that achieves a temporary monopoly in a free market will soon see competitors come into existence, unless the gov­ Arthroscopic Politics ernment interferes. Alienation can be reduced by worker ownership of cor­ (and other good stuff) porate stock. (And, I would add, the free market weeds out companies with poor working conditions, as other com­ panies compete for good workers.) As for negative externalities (the unfavor­ able effects of other people's actions), they are present - and starkly evident - in socialist systems as well as capi­ talist ones, and clearly defined property

Liberty 43 November 2009 UCauses of the Crisis," a symposium in Critical Re­ to poke holes in it - but he ends up in much the same place as the folks with view: A Journal of Politics and Society, volume 21, whom he argues. And that makes him numbers 2 and 3 (2009), ed. Jeffrey Friedman. 272 pages. an interesting guy. He is not an economist, economic historian, or financial-market partici­ pant. As editor of the journal Critical Review, he is in the position of letting others analyze the financial world and judging their work. In the latest, 272­ page issue, he offers 11 essays by 21 authors, most of them professors or graduate students of economics or busi­ ness and finance. They are from small Bubble Bobble colleges and big universities, including Stanford, MIT, NYU, and Columbia. Some are from Europe; one is from the National Bank of Poland. They point the finger of blame at the Fed's mone­ tary policy, the Basel accords, deregula­ tion, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Community Reinvestment Act, credit rowers, whether credit is mispriced or Bruce Ramsey rating agencies, and executive bonuses. not. Capitalism has its ups and downs An essay on credit default swaps points The Great Recession has not been because capitalism allows people to the finger away from them. a good time for libertarians. The Left make their own decisions, and people Inhis ownessay, Friedman says that crows that the market has failed. are prone to act in herds. his contributors' explanations "can, in Deregulation failed. The libertarian Market analyst and historian James the main, be fit into a larger mosaic with Greenspan, who could not see a bub­ Grant said it well in "The Trouble with hardly any friction between the pieces." ble until it popped in his face, admitted Prosperity" (1996): He is being diplomatic here. He is quite error. Feeling the sting of derision, lib­ Cycles in markets are inevitable, irre­ discriminating in the pieces he chooses ertarians have turned to their own the­ pressible, and indispensable. Even if for hismosaic. Hetakes a gooddealmore ories, aiming for an exit door labeled some all-knowing central bank could from NYU professors Viral Acharya and create a state of economic perfection "Not the Market." - measuringoutgrowthinideal, non­ Matthew Richardson, who hang their Libertarian economists of the inflationary doses, neither too much theory on the Basel accords, than from Austrian school, who have some wis­ nor too little - human beings would Columbia University Professor Joseph dom about recessions, reassure us; for respond by overpaying for stocks and Stiglitz, who blames deregulation and the purest Austrians the cause is never bonds. In this way they would restore the Republicans. Friedman may be no the market, because their theory of the imperfection. expert on finance, but he is an expert market doesn't have any recessions Grant, who makes his living writ­ at argument, and as editor of Critical in it. Their theory is that investors are ing about the credit markets, wrote Review he is in a position to make the misled by the central bank, which mis­ that book during "the great modera­ most of that ability. prices credit, making it too cheap, and tion," the Volcker-Greenspan period What crashed in 2008, Friedman that they rationally overinvest and of the '80s and '90s, in which upturns says, was a system of regulated capi­ create a boom. The implication is that were extraordinarily long and down­ talism. The question he wants to reach if there were no mispricing of credit, turns mild and short. His book was a "is whether it was the capitalism or the there would be no boom, and therefore warning that the financial firmament regulations that were primarily respon­ nobust. was still subject to earthquake. He was sible." I wouldn't frame the question in And yet we have had booms and right. Crises are part of capitalism. But quite that way. When I hear the word, recessions, and have been having them their details differ and require specific "responsible," I think of people, notsys­ for 200 years, whether we had a central explanations. Particularly the recent tems. I would say the responsibility for bank or not. one. Jeffrey Friedman has a theory the failure of Lehman Brothers lies in That the Austrian theory has its fin­ about the causes of the Crash of 2008. the people who ran it. Still, capitalism ger on one of the causes is certainly true Friedman is an academic in political sci­ is a system of rules. Most of the rules this time. But the history of markets, ence, and an unusual one. He is a free have been written by the government and of economic enthusiasms, belies the market supporter who bases his liber­ - some with the support, some with idea that the causal agent is always the tarianism on an argument from human the acquiescence, and some with the central bank. Enthusiasms begin in the ignorance and the inherent limitations opposition of capitalists. In any case, if mind of man. They become fads, and of democratic rule. He rejects natural­ they protect irresponsible behavior, or, they may affect lenders as well as bor- rights theory - he has gone to lengths especially, if they encourage it, there

44 Liberty November 2009 is a systemic problem. This is what that bond raters have a structural prob­ Washington Mutual would have some· Friedman is after. lem. They are paid by the institutions one asking those questions. Maybe they The story of the crash starts with the they rate, and thus have an incentive did, and they didn't listen to him. There bubble in mortgages. It was created by to overlook financial warts. Friedman were people in the financial world (Jim lenders lowering their standards. By argues that they have a different struc­ Grant was one) who predictedbig trou­ 2006 the average subprime loan (Le., a tural problem: the federal govern­ ble. Grant had been a bear for so many loan to a borrower with weak credit) ment licensed them so that there were years that people discounted what he required just 50/0 down. Lenders also only three companies doing the work. said. But there is always a reason not eased up on qualifying terms: in many Further, government has effectively to listen, especially if you're making cases they stopped verifying the bor­ required bond issuers to buy their ser­ money. rower's income. A gardener could buy vices. Collectively, they have a guar­ Second, Friedman focuses on the an $800,000 house if he claimed to own anteed market; they don't have to do a freeze-up in the commercial banks. a golf course. At the same time, 30-year good job in order to get paid. This happened because the banks had mortgage rates fell to 5.25°1<> - the low­ I don't like protected oligopolies, so much invested in mortgage-backed est rate in more than 50 years. People and I think Friedman has something bonds. Why so much? Two papers in had never seen such a deal in all their here. But I'm not convinced that it Friedman's volume point to the Basel lives, and they responded. They created bears the weight he wants to put on it. rules, aninternational standard for bank a bubble in house prices. Oligopoly power will have some effect safety. When a bank makes an ordi­ Also, by 2006 more than 900/0 of all on the culture of a company - a bad nary loan, the Basel rules require it to subprime mortgages were adjustable­ effect - but it is not a complete explana­ set aside capital equal to 8% of the loan. rate. Washington Mutual offered the tion for a disaster like this. To me, being Mortgages, being backed by real prop­ "I% OptionAdjustable Rate Mortgage," paid by the issuer seems a more direct erty, are deemed safer; their set-aside which allowed a buyer to pay a 1°1<> rate problem, but that doesn't satisfy either. is 4%. A bond backed by a diversified for the first five years, while an internal Both these conditions have existed for package of mortgages is deemed safer interest rate allowed the amount that decades. They are background. yet. Its set-aside is only 1.6%. The paper was owed to keep piling up. At the fifth Reading the essays in Critical by Acharya and Richardson argues that year, the loan reset, with a new, higher Review, and other literature on the sub­ commercial banks loaded up on mort­ loan amount and a market rate of inter­ ject, the idea I get is that the raters had a gage-backed bonds "to avoid mini­ est. This was a gambler's product. I've systembasedonformulas which, within mum-capital regulations." heard it blamed for much of the bubble certain parameters, worked. When you But why did bankers do this? in Southern California. have something that works and makes Acharya and Richardson suggest that Thelenderssoldtruckloadsofdodgy you money, you keep doing it. It takes they took extraordinary risks because paper to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac unusual intelligence and discipline to they filled their pockets that way. Banks and to investment banks such as Bear ask: what if this stops working? What if earned more money and paid senior Stearns and Lehman Brothers. These we are confrontedwith the unexpected? employees higher bonuses. Friedman is institutions packaged the loans into You'd think a company as important as unconvinced. If it were simply a matter bonds, most of which were rated tri­ Lehman Brothers, Standard & Poor's, or of greed, he maintains, bankers would ple-A and sold to institutional buyers. Finally, companies such as American International Group created a deriva­ tive product called a credit-default swap: loss insurance on the bonds. All this was the thing that collapsed. Who is to blame? Critical Review has essays blaming Congress, for passing the Community Reinvestment Act and promoting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; and the Federal Reserve, for keep­ ing credit too cheap for too long. To Friedman, each makes up part of the answer, but they are foundation things only. He focuses on two other matters. First, the rating agencies, Fitch, Moody's, and Standard & Poor's. They rated the bonds and stamped triple­ A, the highest quality, on bonds later labeled toxic. Friedman lays much of the blame for the disaster on the mis­ rating of bonds, and I think he is right. Why did ithappen? Others have argued "You used to be an investment consultant, Fred - what should I do with this quarter I found?"

Liberty 45 November 2009 have bought lower-rated double-A than eager to look closely for reasons bers were not much like the entrepre­ bonds that qualified under the Basel to stop doing what they were doing. neurs posited by Austrian economics. rules and yielded more than a triple-A Maybe their reason for buying triple-A They were employees - some political bond of the same type. But among mort­ bonds was not only to.safeguard their and backbiting, some freeloading, most gage-backed bonds the bankers bought employer but also to .... insulate them­ thinking of their position more than the almost exclusively triple-A-rated paper, selves from criticism. bank's, and all willing to hop to another which was supposed to be of the high­ I put the choice to my wife, Anne. bank. The investment guys were not est quality. "They, like everybody else, Years ago, she was a vice president at engaging in grand strategy. They were believed in the accuracy of the triple-A Citibank. Whose explanation made dressing up the balance sheet so that ratings," Friedman writes. "They were more sense, self-protection or honest the quarterly numbers looked good. ignorant of the fact that triple-A rated mistakes? Most of them had been doing their jobs securities were riskier than advertised." "You're just making up theories," for less than ten years. Maybe. No doubt some were ignorant. she said. Economics has its limits. It's true, as But maybe also the prospect of bonuses Herthoughtis morelike Friedman's: the economists say, that incentives mat­ amounting to hundreds of thousands ignorance. But it was not an earnest ter. They matter a lot. But, as Friedman or millions of dollars made bankers less ignorance. The bankers she remem- says, economists often overlook the fact thatknowledge, orthe absence of it, also matters. Feelings, beliefs, and all the other components of the human psyche Notes on Contributors matter too. Most people are not profit ( J maximizers except in the tautological sense of wanting what they want. Nor Baloo is a nom de plume of Rex F. May. Bruce Ramsey is a journalist in Seattle. are they fully informed. David Beito is an associate professor of Ted Roberts' humor appears in newspa­ Bankers are also subject to bad ideas, history at the University of Alabama, and pers around the United States and is heard and to fads. author of Taxpayers in Revolt and From Mu­ tual Aid to the Welfare State. on NPR. I had an interview with a man who had been one of the top three executives Jayant Bhandari is a Vancouver (Canada) Timothy Sandefur is a senior staff attor­ of Washington Mutual, a bank that was based writer. ney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, which seized by the FDIC during the crisis and Doug Casey is a contributing editor of represented the Griswolds, Janet Auxier, palmed off to J.P. Morgan Chase. I knew Liberty. Mohammed Ahmad and Jeanette Ban- this banker from the 1980s, when I was Scott Chambers is a cartoonist living in zon, and the Sterlings. He is the author of a financial reporter for a daily newspa­ California. Cornerstone of Liberty: Property Rights in 21st per. If I had a difficult question about Stephen Cox is a professor at UC San Century America. credit markets, he was the man I'd call. Diego. His most recent book is The New He knew the bank and the markets. He Testament and Literature. Jane S. Shaw is president of the John understood regulations and regulators, Eric D. Dixon is editor for the Show-Me William Pope Center for Higher Education having been a regulator himself. He Institute, Missouri's free-market thinktank. Policy. was the image of a smart, solid, sensi­ ble mortgage banker. I asked him what Andrew Ferguson is a contributing edi­ Jo Ann Skousen is entertainment editor of tor of Liberty. At present he is working on had happened. "We all drank the Kool­ Liberty. She lives in New York. a biography of science-fiction writer R.A. Aid," he said. Lafferty. Fred Smith is president of the Competi­ Is that a fault of capitalism or of Doug Gallob is a composer and music tive Enterprise Institute. people? If you say it is the fault of peo­ technologist living in Denver. ple, remember that the Marxists used Laurence M. Vance writes from Pensacola, Jon Harrison is a contributing editor of to excuse the failures of communism Florida. He is the author of Christianity and Liberty. by saying that people were not good War and Other Essays Against the Warfare enough for it. We laughed at them Gary Jason is a contributing editor of Liberty. State. when they said that, so let's not say it Jim Walsh is an assistant editor of Liberty. ourselves. Let's admit that capitalism, Ross Levatter is a physician living in which allows people to make their own Phoenix. Marlaine White is a former government economic decisions, allows bad deci­ Bob Marcus is a long time reader of Lib­ attorney completing a Ph.D. in international sions as well as good ones. It allows erty, an entrepreneur, CEO, world traveler, relations and comparative politics at the people to make bad decisions en masse, and libertarian living in San Francisco. University of Maryland. and have a bad outcome. Jamie McEwan is a canoe bum and some­ As libertarians and classical lib­ times author. Jeff Wrobel is an engineer who blows up erals, let's also keep pointing out, as Bill Merritt is a sometimes-novelist living missiles in the Marshall Islands. Friedmandoes repeatedly, that empow­ in Gaborone, Botswana. If you are offended Leland B. Yeager is Ludwig von Mises ering a central regulator to manage our at what he has to say, you are welcome to Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Eco­ decisions has its own set of risks, and try to pursue him through the Botswana usually bigger ones than not doing so. legal system. nomics at Auburn University.

46 Liberty November 2009

An Alan Greenspan, despite his hard­ bankers, the investment bankers, the in this opening scene, and Waltz is the money sympathies, may set the interest bond raters, and the insurance compa­ quintessential Nazi officer throughout rate too low, and invite a bacchanalia. nies were all swimming naked. "We the film, suave, sinister, and psycholog­ A Barney Frank, envisioning a world in need regulation!" people say - and ically sadistic. which every American can owe Fannie yes, damn right;· their doings need to During their conversation, Landa Mae money on his house, may be pur­ be made regular, made rational and says, "So they call me 'Jew Hunter,'" suing goals other than your own. And, sane and proper. But made regular with a self-satisfied smile, reminding as Friedman points out at the end of his by whom? Many of the bare bottoms film buffs of the recurrent joke, "So they essay, a layering-on of regulations over belong to the government. call me Concentration Camp Erhard" in the decades may create unintended Friedman ends his piece by say­ Max Lubitsch's excellent World War II side effects, just as several drugs, pre­ ing: don't expect too much of regula­ farce "To Be or Not to Be" (1942) with scribed by doctors at different times for tors. This is particularly true, he argues, Jack Benny and Carole Lombard. (There different purposes, may together make if the bad decisions in the private sec­ I go, showing off that I "got it.") a patient violently ill. tor are mistakes rather than cheating. And that's one of the problems Or, to adopt Warren Buffett's meta­ Cheating can be obvious. For cheating with Tarantino's precocious technique. phor, the tide went out, and the mort­ we have cops. Mistakes are obvious Film references, both subtle and pro­ gage originators, the commercial only in hindsight. D nounced, permeate his films, inciting self-satisfied chuckles from show-offs in the audience that can be just as dis­ Jllnglourious Basterds," directed by Quentin Tarantino. Wein­ tracting as watching for Hitchcock to stein/Universal, 2009, 152 minutes. appear. My recommendation? Just watch the movie. It's a fabulous film, tense and engrossing, with remarkable performances by a sometimes unlikely cast (Mike Myers plays it straight as British General Ed Fenech, and Rod Taylor is almost overlooked as Winston Churchill), including Brad Pitt at his Beyond brassiest best. So sit back and enjoy the show - and save the game of "Where's Waldo" for a second or third viewing. Severalstorylines developandinter­ sect in this taut, entertaining thriller, with Col. Hans Landa as the thread that Allusions ties them together. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt - and yes, that's a reference to both Aldo Ray and ClaudeRains) is a likeable, wisecracking film figures. Fans love identifying the Jo Ann Skousen lieutenant in the Army Special Services clues, and Tarantino loves giving them leading a "Dirty Dozen"-like assassi­ In one ofhis early, low-budgetfilms, something to look for. Even the mis­ nation squad of Jewish-American Nazi Alfred Hitchcock cast himself in two spelling of this film's title is a game he killers. A moonshiner from Tennessee, minor roles to avoid paying an extra plays, perversely refusing to explain its Raine speaks with a slow drawl but actor, and a tradition was born. His meaning in interviews - a tactic that reacts witha quick draw. Like the "Bad" famous walk-ons continued in almost gives every fan's guess an equal chance assassin in Leone's "The Good, the Bad, every film, first because he supersti­ at being correct. (I think it's a reflection and the Ugly," he's open to negotia­ tiously believed it contributed to his on the backwoods Tennessee roots of tion, but he always keeps his word. Pitt success, and later as an inside joke he the main character, Aldo Raine.) is exuberant as Raine, thoroughly com­ played with his fans. Searching for his Set in France during World War II, mitted to his cause and over the top in cameo appearances became such an "Inglourious Basterds" opens like a his delivery. He owns every scene. obsession with viewers that it often dis­ spaghetti western with its wide wind­ Shosanna (M~lanie Laurent) is a tracted them from the story, so Hitch swept vista, its whistling sound track, young Jewish woman passing as a beganinserting his appearances early in a young girl hanging clothes on the French cinema owner in Nazi-occupied the film to get them out of the way and line, a bad guy seen arriving in the Paris. Laurent's Shosanna is cool, let the audience settle into the story. distance, and a cat-and-mouse inter­ haughty, and mature beyond her years. Director Quentin Tarantino has change between this menacing visi­ She survived an attack in which her developed a similar trademark in his tor (Col. Landa, played by Christoph family was killed by Nazis, and has an movies, patterning many of his scenes Waltz) and the deceptively calm farmer understandablehatred for anything and after iconic moments in classic films (Denis Menochet). Menochet is riveting anyone German. WhenJosephGoebbels and naming his characters after famous as the farmer cornered in his own house comes to town looking for a theater in

Liberty 47 November 2009 which to premier his latest propaganda meaningful. In short, he knows how to to come out ahead. The rest of us can film (a film featuring a German hero in handle a camera. only watch the stored fruits of our labor a bell tower, reversing a famous scene While I highly recommend destroyed. from "Saving Private Ryan"), Shosanna "Inglourious Basterds" as one of the The title refers to the creature's hatches a devilish plot. best films so far this year, I must warn birth, which can be traced to a meet­ Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane you that it is, like most Tarantino films, ing of seven very wealthy men onJekyll Kruger) is thebeautiful, daring, German occasionally and swiftly brutal. War is Island in Georgia. The story begins by actress working withtheAllies as a dou­ hell, and it is bloody. Fortunately these describing this meeting in true horror ble agent, a la Carole Lombard's charac­ scenes are brief and well telegraphed, style: ter Maria Tura, in "To Be or Not to Be." so if you're squeamish like me, just The New Jersey railway station was (Stop me!) Like Maria Tura, she must close your eyes for a second. The story bitterly cold that night. Flurries of use all her acting skills to remain calm and the acting are worth an occasional the year's first snow swirled around and lively when her meeting with the squirm. street lights. November wind rattled Allies and Nazis doesn't go as planned. If there is any message to this film roof panels above the track shed and This is probably the best scene in a it is this: there is nothing glorious gave a long mournful sound among film filled with tension-packed scenes. about war. It kills good people and the rafters. Kruger is radiant as the sultry, playful, turns good people into killers. Whether But the book is more than a horror and quick-thinking vonHammersmark. driven by grief or glory, no one gets out story. Is it a scholarly treatise? Yes and In fact, the entire cast shines. unscathed - not the Germans, not the no. Griffin purposely wrote the book Tarantino eschews the modern cine­ Jews, and not the Americans. Raine, for laymen after finding most other matic technique of usingjerkyhandheld who proclaims himself "partInjun" and books on the Federal Reserve, however cameras in favor of the more traditional demands 100 Nazi scalps from each of accurate or thorough, a little too dry, stabilizing dollies and cranes. Many his men, kills without batting an eye. convoluted, or unwieldy. Through his of his scenes are wide and beautiful, While we might laugh at his drawling research, Griffin came to the conclu­ whether their location is a German demeanor and marvel at his unflinch­ sion that the essence of this topic is far forest, a French hillside, an ornate ing courage, we can't possibly glorify simpler than is usually presented. Like movie theater, or a basement tavern. his tactics. His band of assassins are most libertarians, I have a tad more His close-up ·shots are deliberate and indeed "inglourious basterds." D understanding of, and far more interest in economics than, the typical schmo "The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the on the street. But when it comes right down to it, I am an economic amateur, Federal Reserve," 4th edition, revised, by G. Edward Griffin. a layman. As a layman, I can attest that Amer Media, 2009, 608 pages. Griffin has created a very accessible book. Part of the reason for reading a book like this is to try to understand things that have always seemed· mysterious. Where did money come from, and why do we trust it? Why is it that we Uncle Sam's are willing to be paid for our labor with little pictures of George Washington? Who the hell are Smith and Hayek and Keynes and Morgan and Rothschild, and why should we care? When we Money Machine hear that "the Fed has raised (or low­ ered) interest rates," what does that mean? Many of us simply nod our heads so as not to look stupid, but truly occasional unheeded warning. have no idea of why or how "the Fed" Doug Gallob This creature is the Federal Reserve or its "interest rates" affect us. Is "The Creature from Jekyll Island" System. With every breath it sucks the For those of us who have won­ a horror story? Emphatically yes. The life from all who are not politically or dered about where money comes from, leading character in Griffin's book is financially connected. Every inhala­ it is worth the price of the book just to every bit as shadowy as Bram Stoker's tion is a recall of debt and contraction read Griffin's second section, "A Crash vampire or Stephen King's fog, yet far of the money supply, every exhalation Course on Money." What is commod­ more terrifying. Unlike these mythi­ a fresh printing of money and the inevi­ ity money? Receipt money? Fractional cal forces, it actually lives and breathes table inflation that accompanies it. Each money? Fiat money? Are your eyes amongus. The few who are able to make breath wreaks havoc on real wealth glazing over? They shouldn't. By the out its dismal form stand helplessly by, and economic stability, yet somehow time Griffin is through explaining the able to do little more than shout the the creature's handlers always manage terms for various forms of money and

48 Liberty November 2009 the history of how they came into use (of GM, AIG, and so forth) are nothing it's a well considered act of conformity it will seem so easy and obvious youll new. Public bailouts of private compa­ with natural law." Solzhenitsyn later wonder why you never understood nies have been going on for many years. describes how much evil arises sim­ it before. In IJ'The Wealth of Nations," He also shows that little in this failure­ ply from thoughtless expediency. Huge Adam Smith provides a very good bailout cycle is accidental. He details waves of human suffering are caused explanation of the origins of money, an the rule set that is carefully followed to by humans with good intentions. How explanation that I enjoyed immensely, enrich a few players in the oft-repeated many children and families have been but for a modern audience, I think bailout game. He demonstrates the way destroyed by the well-meaning bozos Griffin's concise explanations are much in which the International Monetary running the child custody industry? more understandable. Fund and the World Bank follow the So, just as individual human evil Despite his layman's focus, Griffin same bailout playbook on an interna­ rarely springs directly from ill intent, has still managed to pack the book with tional level. He elucidates the benefits conspiracy is rarely a pack of villains facts and details, copious footnotes, and of war to the creature under study, dis­ gathering together with the express many pages of bibliography. If his rep­ cussing European wars financed by purpose of making others suffer. resentations of fact aren't accurate in the Bank of England and modern wars Suffering is simply the unfortunate cost any respect, the documentation is avail­ financed by the Federal Reserve. and unintended consequence of achiev­ able to refute them. If they are accurate, This is also a how-to book - not ing the conspirators' goals in the most they provide detailed support for both how to start a war but how to change expedient manner. The conspirators his viewpoint and his conclusions. The the system. Griffin sketches two possi­ in Griffin's story may at various times few times he wanders off into conjec­ ble futures. His IJ'pessimistic scenario" have had good intentions toward the ture, he lets you know he is doing so. describes what will happen to us if we rest of us, but for the most part, they He also manages to keep the book up to continue our present course: totalitari­ have played a game in which your well­ date, by means of frequent editions and anism and poverty. His IJ'realistic sce­ being and mine are simply irrelevant. reprintings. Though the book was origi­ nario" offers specific steps we should We are at best sheep to be fleeced. nally published in 1994, the newest edi­ take to avoid that fate. (He does not Although Griffin details the roles of tion includes a section on the mortgage offer an IJ' optimistic scenario" because specific conspirators, naming Morgans meltdown that began in 2008. we are so far gone that even our best and Rothschilds and Rockefellers by

ifCreature" is simultaneously an course of action will be quite painful. ) the dozen, it is once again the general economic primer, a political primer, Finally, as I joyfully admit, this nature of the conspiracy that is most and an historical primer. It gives the book presents a conspiracy theory. I instructive. The Federal Reserve System economic, political, and historical am an unabashed, unapologetic con­ is simply one more example of collu­ details of the Federal Reserve System, spiracy theorist. I know it is fashionable sion between the most powerful play­ but these specifics aren't nearly as inter­ to equate IJ' conspiracy theorist" with ers of a particular industry, in this case esting as the understanding Griffin IJ'kook" and to intone the phrase with a banking, and the most powerful players brings to the creature's species, the slight sneer of disgust. Yet just because in the political sphere. Politicians and central bank, and its genus, the cartel. we're paranoid doesn'tmeanthey aren't bankers both benefit by legalizing frac­ He maps the history of central bank­ out to get us. Government-sponsored tional and fiat money. Politicians can ing and fractional reserve banking cartels are one form of conspiracy that buy votes with this money created out onto the history of economic stability, has been pretty well documented and of nothing, while (some) bankers collect including four instances of times when confirmed throughout history. There interest on the same imaginary money. America has tried central banking, one is evil and mischief in the world, and The scheme is financed by the populace of them before the Revolution. Sure much of the suffering that human through inflation, by the requirement enough, periods of economic instabil­ beings undergo results from the collab­ that people accept this highly manip­ ity are characterized by the use of frac­ oration of other humans. ulated play money as legal tender, no tional money (paper money of which Very rarely does evil introduce matter how wildly it fluctuates against only a fraction is backed by valuable itself twirling a moustache like Snidely real commodities, goods, or services. commodities), and fiat money (money Whiplash, rubbing its hands together I agree with Griffin's relation of the required to be accepted as legal tender and practicing the perfect IJ'bwa-ha­ specifics to his generalizations about by government fiat). Griffin rejects the ha-ha-ha!" of Satanic laughter. Evil is the conspiracy. I object, however, to common idea that the boom-bust cycle more mundane and innocent in appear­ his labels for the two broad conspir­ is inevitable and ties the cycle directly ance, even to itself. In IJ'The Gulag ator classes. He calls these people to the use of fractional and fiat money, Archipelago," Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn IJ'monetary scientists" and IJ'political shoWing great stretches of history with­ recognizes that evildoers are rarely scientists" - terms far too benign for out boom-bust cycles, when fractional aware of their evil. They are not like their objects, and slander to real scien­ and fiat money was rejected. Shakespeare's lago, who lJ'identifies his tists. A scientist's purpose is to increase Griffin outlines the history of bail­ purpose and motives as beingblack and knowledge and understanding. The outs in the system, showing case after born of hate." IJ'But no," Solzhenitsyn players in the Federal Reserve game are case of bankers and politicians making says, IJ'that's not the way it is! To do evil not that benign. They cannot succeed hay from businesses that were IJ'too big a human being must first of all believe without obscuring knowledge and to fail." He shows thatourlatestbailouts thatwhathe is doing is good, orelse that understanding. D

Liberty 49 November 2009

"Woodstock," directed by Michael Wadleigh, 40th anniversary were marching on campuses and sit­ box set. Warner Brothers, 2009, 224'minutes. ting in at lunch counters. The museum recaptures these memories with video "Taking Woodstock," directed by Ang Lee. Focusf~atures, clips, artifacts, and brief quotations. 2009, 120 minutes. Of course, the music of the '60s is cel­ by ebrated throughout the museum. "Woodstock: Three Days That Rocked the World," Memorabilia from the era, including Mike Evans and Paul Kingsbury. Sterling Publishing, 2009, 288 lunch boxes, record players, flashcube pages. cameras, transistor radios, and a wide "Hair," directed by Diane Paulus. Al Hirschfeld Theatre, New array of vinyl albums are on display; I York. confess to saying several times, "I used to have one of those!" Mostfascinating istheentrepreneur­ ial story of how 25-year-old Michael Lang, who had staged the Miami Pop Festival in 1968, and Artie Kornfeld, a songwriter and the youngest vice­ president of Capitol Records, coaxed their vision of a music and art festival Singing in into existence. Rounding out the part­ nership were two young men who put up the money, wrote the contracts, sold the tickets, and watched over the books. Joel Rosenman was an attorney who had never actually practiced law, the Rain and John Roberts was a budding entre­ preneur who had recently inherited half a million dollars and was looking for "nutty business ventures." A pop turned out to be the concert of a life­ music festival was about as granola as Jo Ann Skousen time, and we missed it. they come. Now it's 40 years later, and Together these young guys hired a In the summer of 1969 my mother, Woodstock is open again - as a team of experienced designers, promot­ my sister, and I roamed the country on museum and performing arts center ers, caterers and production coordina­ an extended road trip, traveling from hosting such musicians as Bob Dylan, tors, along with state-of-the-art lighting California to Louisiana to Colorado and John Mellencamp, Arlo Guthrie, Peter and sound engineers. Because of them, back and stopping wherever it looked and Paul (no Mary), and Willie Nelson and aided by the hillside setting that interesting. My mother was pretty cool in its first season. Several of the origi­ created a natural amphitheater, nearly about letting my sister and me do what­ nal performers returned for the 40th everyone could see and hear the con­ everwewantedalongtheway, provided reunion. They included Richie Havens, cert, even when attendance swelled to that we indulged her penchant for nat­ who opened the show 40 years ago, half a million. Without this professional ural wonders. We explored Carlsbad and Country Joe (without the Fish). team pulling off a high-quality show, Caverns and the Petrified Forest of This time the weather was clear, every­ the peaceful chaos could have turned Arizona, but we also scored tickets to one had tickets, and the sold-out crowd violent. a Byrds concert at the Fillmore in San numbered 15,000, not "half a million Woodstock would probably have Francisco, attended a Jimi Hendrix con­ strong." They also kept their clothes been just a blip on the radar if it weren't cert in LA, grooved to an Eric Burdon on. for the documentary film that became & War concert in Topeka, and hung Nestled in the Catskill Mountains "Woodstock." Serving as a second assis­ out one weekend with a group called about two hours north of Manhattan, tant director and editing the footage Nickel Bag in a little town in Arkansas. the Museum at Bethel Woods - near (along with Oscar-nominated Thelma You can probably guess where this arti­ the real site of the "Woodstock" festival Schoonmaker) was a then-unknown cle-ought to be leading: summer, 1969, - is well worth a visit, with or with­ NYU film student named Martin road trip, music - Woodstock, right? out a concert. An interactive multime­ Scorsese. Yes, Scorsese. Handling one of Almost. We heard the ads on the dia exhibit reminds visitors that the'60s the cameras from a tiny platform next radio for this crazy concert in New were the best of times and the worst of to the stage, he found the experience York, started driving in that direction, times: an American had walked on the tense and relentless. He was "trying to and then for some reason hung a left moon exactly one month before the stay upright in the tiny space ... hun­ at Little Rock and went to Pike's Peak concert, but hundreds of thousands of gry and exhausted," with a "restive ­ instead. I guess it was my mother's turn American soldiers were still stalking potentially violent - presence behind to choose the destination. Of course, it the jungles of Vietnam, and protesters us": the sea of muddy concertgoers.

50 Liberty November 2009

Scorsese also suggests - rightly, documentary has added several art­ directly at fleeing individuals. Tempers I think - that the film is what set ists, with the latest edition providing 17 were short, and anything could incite an Woodstock apart from other music uncut performances from the festival. angry mob. As Crosby, Stills, Nash, & festivals that year and turned it into At 224 minutes the result is too long for Young reminded us plaintively in song, the iconic concert that defined the theater viewing, but it's a great way to there were "four dead in O-hi-o," killed decade. "Without the film," he writes enjoy the music at home. in the foreword to Mike Evans and Paul Originally the festival was sched­ Kingsbury's book, "woodstock, the uled and booked in Woodstock, N.Y., concert, would not be more than a foot­ a bucolic village already known as When local residents got note to the social and cultural history of an artists' colony where Bob Dylan, the 1960s - represented by a still photo Richie Havens, and Tim Hardin owned wind of it they demanded in a picture book, a line or two in the homes, and other musicians, such as that the concert be cancelled. history books." Joan Baez, Janis Joplin, James Taylor, The movie won an Oscar for Best and Jimi Hendrix, visited regularly to Nobody wanted those damned Documentary in 1970. It has gone perform at weekend jam sessions called drug-using hippies dirtying through several re-edits over the years. "Shoutouts" at Pansy Copeland's farm. A director's cut was issued in 1994 and The neighbors should have been used up their town. a 40th anniversary DVD was released to the idea of a concert. this year. The documentary brought Nevertheless, when town fathers Woodstock to middle America, making realized that Lang and Kornfeld antici­ the music accessible to millions of new pated selling as many as 100,000 tickets in the Kent State University confronta­ fans who might never attend a concert, to their three-day event, they reneged tion between students and soldiers, just let alone a love-in - and to festival on the deal, citing worries about van­ the next year, indicative of the volatile attendees who were too far back (or too dalism, violence, and drugs. The pro­ atmosphere. far out) to hear it at the time. When one moters soon signed a deal with another But Woodstock was different. watches the film today, one thing that venue 30 miles away in Saugerties, but Attendees knew that the venue had stands out is how fresh and clean-cut when local residents there got wind of been changed four times because local the concertgoers and musicians look. it they also demanded that the concert residents didn't want them, so they They may have been countercultural, be cancelled. Nobody wanted those had something completely different to but they weren't gangsta. damned drug-using hippies dirtying prove. Instead of resorting to violence, "Woodstock," the film, holds up up their town. A third location, down they would "give peace a chance." remarkably well. The remastered direc­ the road in Wallkill, was cancelled for "We11 show them!" turned into a cele­ tor's cut is sharp, the sound is good, the same reason, after promoters had bration of peace and cooperation rather and the whole work is as enjoyable to already created trails and carved natu­ than a scene of angry hordes demand­ watch now as it was in 1970. The split­ ral sculptures into trees and boulders ing food, water, and lodging. Lang and screen presentation happened almost in preparation for the 11& art" portion Kornfeld worked around the clock to of the festival. Finally, a venue was solve problems, hiring helicopters to fly secured 70 miles away at Max Yasgur's in the musical groups who couldn't get dairy farm in Bethel, N.Y., and tick­ to the venue by car and buying up all etholders were once again informed of the produce from nearby farms - pro­ Woodstock would prob­ the change. duce that the catering crew chopped on ably have been just a blip on Admittedly, there was good rea­ wooden platforms and cooked in galva­ the radar if it weren't for the son for residents to be worried about nized trash cans. Wisely, the manage­ violence. College students had been ment abandoned its ticket booths and documentary film that became picketing for civil rights and demon­ just let everyone in. "Woodstock. " strating against the Vietnam War all With the New York Thruway trans­ year. I remember being terrified in 1965 formed into a parking lot, transporta­ by nightly news picturing the race riots tion became problematic. Attendees in· the Watts area of Los Angeles, just abandoned their cars and walked, but ten miles from my home. When ticket Lang and Kornfeld still had a concert by accident. During the editing pro­ takers at the sold-out Hendrix concert I to put on. They used horses and motor­ cess, Scorsese and Schoonmaker pro­ attended in 1969 had to close the doors cycles to travel around the venue in jected the film from all seven cameras at to people without tickets, angry fans addition to the helicopters ferrying the once, and they liked it that way. It cap­ tore down a 40-foot light pole in the musicians. Everyone was late. While tured the multi-layered atmosphere of parking lot and used it as a battering waiting for the next act to arrive, Richie the festival. They also understood that ram against the locked doors. The con­ Havens played his planned set, then the real story was in the music, so they cert was cut short as a nervous Jimi was played songs he hadn't performed in included long, uncut performances hustled offstage. My friends and I made years, then made up a song on the spot interspersed with interviews and back­ our way to our car through clouds of that became synonymous with the festi­ ground scenes. Each new version of the tear gas while cops threw canisters val, his now famous "Freedom."

Liberty 51 November 2009

All of this is well documented at onthe autobiographical accountofElliot cent of Jim Morrison, Lang knows how the newly opened Museum at Bethel Tiber (then Teichberg), whose Russian­ to get around obstacles rather than bar­ Woods. One of the most popular fea­ Jewish immigrant parents owned the rel through them. Freedom isn't just tures is the psychedelic bus where vis­ El Monaco Motel in Bethel where Lang about free speech, free tickets, free­ itors can take a seat and imagine the and Kornfeld eventually set up their flowing drugs, or free love; it starts drive to Woodstock while watching headquarters. Elliot (Henry Goodman) with free markets. He understands the a video through the front windshield was the leader of the Bethel Chamber power of a dollar in calming angry, sus­ and listening to the "news" on the van's of Commerce and had already applied picious residents. If the community is radio. A living museum allows visitors for, and received, a permit to host his going to be inconvenienced, then he11 to record their memories of Woodstock own annual summer musical festival. pay them enough to make it worth and the '60s. Best of all is the concert (A more modest affair, this would have their inconvenience. Share the wealth, simulation where visitors can lie down featured a local band and a few records and everyone goes home happy. As on giant bean bags (benches are pro­ played in the parking lot of the motel.) Elliot finally realizes, "I'm the Chamber vided for the less adventuresome), look He transferred his permit to Lang and of Commerce. And this whole thing is up ata simulated sky, and watch a sur­ Kornfeld, and Woodstock had a legally about commerce!" round-screen presentation of the event sanctioned home. The first half hour of the film is that includes several performances, "Taking Woodstock" starts well, laugh-out-Ioud funny. Unfortunately, scenes of mudslide frolics, and images with several hilariously understated somewhereonthewayto theWoodstock of food preparation for the half-million moments. Eugene Levy is especially Music & Art Festival, director Ang Lee concertgoers. good as Max Yasgur, whose farm was took a wrong turn and ended up at the Those who can't visit the museum leased when Lang and Kornfeld discov­ El Monaco - for the duration of the fes­ can experience some of the same nos­ ered that the motel's fields were little tival. How is it possible to make a film talgia through Evans and Kingsbury's more than a swamp. "Now, 111 expect about Woodstock without showing a "Woodstock," which draws heavily on you to tidy up afterward," Yasgur says single artist or playing a single song? the artifacts exhibited at the museum. with the condescending demeanor of a Lee manages to do it. It's like making a Presented almost like a scrapbook, father giving instructions to the babysit­ movie about the 1984 Olympic hockey with bright colors and pop typography, ter. Imelda Stanton is equally amusing game, where the United States miracu­ "Woodstock" reprints photographs, as Sonia Teichberg, Elliot's tightfisted lously beat Russia, and focusing on the posters, newspaper articles, tickets, and mother. "They only used those sheets guy running the snack bar at the prac­ eyewitness accounts of key figures who one night and they didn't do anything tice rink back home. Unbelievable. worked behind the scenes as well as on them," she yells at Elliott as he car­ Lee concentrates on Elliot Teichberg those who attended the conference. The ries a load of linen out of a vacated - a charming young man to be sure, entrepreneurial story alone is worth the motel room. "Put them back on the but certainly not interesting enough to $35 price. bed! Don't you know detergent costs merit a whole movie, when the greatest After visiting the museum, read­ money?" He pauses for a moment, then music festival ever staged is going on ing the book, and listening to the com­ dutifully returns to put the sheets back two miles down the road. Sure, I took a memoration in song on radio stations on the bed for the next guests. left turn at Little Rock and never made during the 40th anniversary weekend, JonathanGroffis also excellent as the it to the concert, but Teichberg was I was hyped to watch Ang Lee's movie, fresh-faced festival promoter, Michael already on the spot. He has no excuse "Taking Woodstock." The film is based Lang. Sporting a halo of curls reminis- for missing the festival. We watch him fight with his mother, slide in the mud, experience his first acid trip, claim credit for making it a free concert, and come out of the closet. But he never gets to the music. And consequently neither do we. The most incongruous sight in a long list of incongruous sights (includ­ ing lots of joyful, bouncing, frolicking, full-on nakedness) is Liev Schreiber as Vilma, a pistol-packing, cross-dressing blonde offering his/her security ser­ vices when the Teichbergs refuse to pay off a couple of toughs in the protection racket. Perhaps it would have worked if Lee had cast an unknown actor in the role, but Schreiber is just plain creepy, hitting on Elliott as a man in some scenes and Elliott's father as a woman "You're trying to find yourself? - No offense, but ifI were you, I'd look for somebody else." in others, then making sandwiches

52 Liberty NEW BOOK FROM and brownies with the old ladies in the it, too, is very loose) follows one charac­ community. I think it's supposed to be ter, Claude, as he makes decisions that THE CATO INSTITUTE funny, but it's just weird. lead to his being drafted, sent to war, In short, UTaking Woodstock" is and sent home in a box. As the charac­ one of the biggest film disappointments ters take their turns in the limelight the "Essentialreading of the season. UStealing Woodstock" stage morphs into a classroom, a bed­ for everyone who cares might have been a more appropriate room, a living room, a protest rally, a title, since the movie demonstrates how battlefield, and even a long acid trip, about our economic a virtual nobody tried to take credit without the use of props or sets. future, but especially for a major event. We get it - Elliot's The current production at the Al festival permit was vital. But Lang, Hirschfeld theater on Broadway earned for those who are still Kornfeld, and their professional crew the 2009 Tony for Best Revival of a not sure what caused deserve the credit for pulling the con­ Musical. The cast is exuberant as they the crisis. As Norberg cert off. Not to mention the credit due prowl the theater aisles, balance on the the musicians! The film is not worth the railings, and play with audience mem­ makes clear, private price of a ticket, not worth the postage bers' hair. Costumes are colorful and forces jumpedwillingly on your Netflix account, not even worth retro, with lots of beads, fur, fringe, and your time if it shows up on MTV. flowing cottons that once announced ona nmawaytrain, but Woodstock's official posters called it the hippie generation's embracing of itwas government uAn Aquarian Exposition," a strangely multiple cultures. Yet many of the songs prophetic moniker, given the deluge are offensively antireligious, belying thatbuiltthe train and that poured downfor most of thatweek­ the characters' profession of peace, drove it offa clifE end. The phrase derived at least part love, and tolerance. Much of the music - JEFFREY MIRON of its inspiration from another artistic is familiar and engaging, but it's more Senior Lecturer in Economics, phenomenon, a musical that opened on nostalgic now than edgy - you won't Harvard University Broadway and in London's West End leave the theater inspired to change the in 1968: the counter-culture rock opera world, although you may want to go uHair," with its iconic theme song UAge shopping for a retro mini-dress. of Aquarius." At that time, uHair" was Characters sing a variety of protest one of the edgiest plays to hit the legiti­ songs that were once shocking and top­ mate stage. It delivered an antiwar mes­ ical: uHashish," USodomy," and uI'm sage and an in-your-face celebration of Black/Colored Spade" appear early in drugs, sex, profanity, and nudity. It also the first act. But the themes are dated spawned several top-40 hits, including now, the anger and angst in the charac­ Oliver's uGood Morning Starshine," ters' voices more whiny than moving, the 5th Dimension's UAquarius/Let the and the profanity more juvenile than shocking. Moreover, at the time "Hair" was written audiences needed no expo­ sition, but 40 years later it's harder to empathize with the characters' con­ How is it possible to make flicts when the story lines are presented afilm about Woodstock with­ as swirling images with no back story. Even the title song, "Hair," has lost its out showing a single artist impact. Members of today's audience or playing a single song? Lee may have hair that is short, long, pur­ ple, spiked, or shaved completely off, manages to do it. with nobody to object and few to notice. The show is still great fun, but it's no An easily accessible longer relevant. work on the economic crisis, At the time, however, hair was very Financial Fiasco guides readers Sunshine In," Three Dog Night's UEasy much a symbol of freedom and self­ through a world ofirresponsible to be Hard," Nina Simone's uAin't ownership. It was the first thing to go behavior, shows how many ofthe Got Noll Got Life," and the Cowsills' when a man entered the armed ser­ UHair." vices. Schools and businesses required "solutions" being implemented are The plot of this musical is a loose men to keep their hair above the ear and repeating the mistakes that caused interweaving of the experiences of sev­ above the collar. And hair was an out­ the crisis, and offers guidance eral members of a U tribe" offriends who ward symbol of gender - boys wore on how to move forward. gather in what appears to be a park or their hair short, and girls wore it long. parking lot to sing, talk, make out, and Taking ownership of one's hair wasn't HARDCOVER: $21.95 E-BOOK: $11.95 do drugs. The main story line (although just a fashion statement back then - Buy your copy at bookstores nationwide, call 800-767-1241, or visit Cato.org November 2009 it was a statement of personal identity "Julie & Julia," directed by Nora Ephron. Columbia Pictures, and ownership. 2009, 123 minutes. Clothing, too, is no longer so firmly dictated by conformity; a tourist in jeans may sit in the audience next to a businessman in a suit, and both will feel comfortable. The most telling part of "Hair" is perhaps the final scene, in which cast members bring people from the audience onto the stage for a brief "love-in" of dancing and song. Iron Chef, This scene is exuberant and joyful, and probably made a strong statement in the '60s when there was a distinct con­ trast between a cast in hippie attire and an audience in formal dress. But at the Zinc Saucier performance I attended recently it was difficult to distinguish who were the actors and who were the people from the audience. The protest clothes of carries on when things go wrong. She the '60s are sold at Saks Fifth Avenue Jo Ann Skousen loves her husband passionately, and today. "Julie & Julia" is two stories in one, his love for her is just as apparent. The Forty years later, Bethel, N.Y., is both of them true. In 2002 Julie Powell section includes an equally strong and again a peaceful, bucolic setting of roll­ (played by Amy Adams) was in a funk, ebullient performance by Jane Lynch as inghills, winding roads, and leafy trees. working for an insurance company Julia's sister, Dorothy. This portion of You can even see a few cows munching dealing with survivors of the 9/11 ter­ the film is delightful and robust, made placidly onwhatwas once Max Yasgur's rorist attacks and looking for some­ even stronger by the short but poignant dairy farm. Fancy coffees and pastries thing meaningful to do with her life reference to Julia's heartbreak at not are available at the snack bar. Visitors (that sentence should give you a clue being able to have children. She bar­ arrive in nice cars and there is plenty of to Julie's self-absorption). She came up rels through life with a stiff upper lip, parking. The concert venue has a real with a plan: she would cook every rec­ an effervescent smile, and a fine set of stage, real seats, and a roof. It's hard ipe in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art knives. to imagine a sea of bodies huddling of French Cooking" and write a blog Adams, always a fine actor, por­ against the rain and slipping through about it. trays Julie Powell admirably. It's fun the mud. It's even harder to imagine This naturally leads to the other half watching her tryout every recipe (and of the story: how Julia Child (Meryl reach for the Tums nearly every night). Streep) came to write said book. In 1948 She moves from perky brightness to Julia was in a funk, having just moved weepy meltdown with equal ease, por­ The themes are dated now, to Paris with her diplomat husband traying her character as she apparently and looking for something meaning­ was written. Some moments are quite the anger and angst in the ful to do with her life. "What do you spontaneous and clever. The problem characters' voices more whiny like most to do?" her husband (Stanley is, Powell simply isn't as interesting Tucci) wisely asks in the film. "Eat!" as Child. One waits for Julia's story to than moving, and the pro- she responds unabashedly, a delicious return in the way one munches on a fanity more juvenile than bite of sole meuniere still melting in her roll while waiting for the entree to be mouth. She came up with a plan: she served. shocking. would learn to cook French food - at Although the storytelling is uneven, Le Cordon Bleu, no less! the film is well worth seeing. The story Both projects ended up as books, of Julia Child's indefatigable determi­ and both ended up on the screen as well nation to publish her cookbook should anyone wanting to do it again. It's the - Julia's on the small one, Julie's on the inspire any entrepreneur, .and Julie kind of experience that improves with large. Child's cooking show ran for ten Powell's story will likely cause you to memory. It can be imitated in fashion. years and became the model for cook­ think, "Darn. I could have done that!" And it can be enjoyed through muse­ ing shows today; Julie's book is signifi­ - followed by a hopeful "I could do ums, books, movies, and albums ­ cant because it brought Julia's story to something else!" the means by which the Woodstock the big screen. But watch outfor your waistline and Music & Art Festival will live on. But Streep settles comfortably into reach for the Turns - at the very least, the strongest survival may turn out to Julia's large shoes, playing the role with the film will inspire you to sharpen be the'60s' assertion of personal signif­ gleeful abandon. She relishes her food, your knives and start cooking. As Julia icance, identity, and self-ownership.D guffaws at her own foibles, and gamely would say, "Bon appetit!" D

54 Liberty Martin County, Fla. Gabarone, Botswana Bold implementation of one of the world's oldest de­ Unsurmountable obstacle for constitutional law, re­ fenses, from the Treasure Coast Palm: ported in the Botswana Mmegi: Martin County Sheriff's detectives didn't buy it when a Cabinet minister Margaret Nasha has declared that Setswana 48-year-old Jensen Beach man claimed that his cat was down­ is difficult, hence the constitution cannot be translated into the loading child pornography on his computer. Keith R. Griffin was national language. charged with 10 counts ofpossession ofchild pornography after Nasha told parliament that it is impossible to translate law into detectives found more than 1,000 child pornographic images on his Setswana. She explained that Setswana is very difficult but the computer, according to a news release. language used in law docUluents is even worse. Griffin told detectives he would leave his computer on and his cat would jump on the keyboard. When he returned, there would be Syracuse, N K strange material downloaded, the release states. Abrupt end to attempted revival of the barter economy, from the Massena (N.Y.) Daily Courier-Observer: Washington Police said a 45-year-old man, Angelo Colon, offered 42-year­ Rattling the Supreme Court's swear jar, from the An­ old Omar Veliz a slaughtered pig as partial payment for a bag of napolis Capital: crack cocaine. The two men were spotted making the deal on a street comer. Colon paid halfa pig and $10 The Supreme Court deleted exple­ ~e-r-r Veli~ tives left and right while narrowly it Incownt·ta for a $5.0 bag ofcrack. told police upholding a government policy that -L t II ...... the pIg was for a celebratIOn for a rela- threatens broadcasters with fines t • tive being released from jail. over the use ofeven a single curse While officers were arresting word on live television, issuing the suspects, someone took the six separate opinions that used pig. none ofthe offending words over 69 pages. Yekaterinburg, Russia The precipitating events Obstacle in the fight were live broadcasts of against dark wizardry, awards shows in which Bono, from the BBC's desk in the Chef, and Nicole Richie ­ Urals: Justice Antonin Scalia referred A Russian man is hoping to the latter two as "foul-mouthed to produce a little magic to get glitteratae from Hollywood" ­ him elected Sverdlovsk regional let slip or perhaps purposely said governor, by taking the name of variations ofwhat Scalia called "the F- and Harry Potter. The fictional boy wizard is S-words." hugely popular in Russia. But he will not be able to call himselfplain Harry Potter, as Norfolk, Va. election rules state that Russian citizens who change their name Solidarity with our sesquipedalian brethren, in the h~ve to retain their patronymic - their genuine father's first name. Hampton Roads Pilot: During an interview for CNBC, a fly intruded on President Medina, Saudi Arabia Obama's conversation with correspondent John Harwood. Legal trouble on the thousand and second night, re­ "Get out ofhere," the president told the pesky insect. When counted in Saudi paper AI-Watan: it didn't, he waited for the fly to settle, put his hand up and then A Medina family has taken a genie to court, alleging theft and smacked it dead. "Now, where were we?" Obama asked Harwood. harassment. The lawsuit filed in Shariah court accuses the genie of Then he added: "That was pretty impressive, wasn't it? I got the leaving them threatening voicemails, stealing their cell phones and sucker." hurling rocks at them when they leave their house at night. Yet the Norfolk-based group PETA wants the flyswatter­ An investigation was under way, local court officials said. "We in-chiefto try taking a more humane attitude the next time he's have to verify the truthfulness ofthis case despite the difficulty of bedeviled by a fly in the White House. doing so," said Sheikh Amr Al Salmi, the head ofthe court. A local PETA is sending President Barack Obama a Katcha Bug Hu­ charity has moved the family to a temporary residence while the mane Bug Catcher, a device that allows users to trap a housefly and court investigates. then release it outside. Fucking, Austria New York Quixotic attempt at preventing the inevitable, from the Novel infraction, from the New York Post: Cleveland Leader: A Brooklyn woman said her father apparently lay dead for Surveillance cameras are being installed outside Fucking, a weeks in a minivan while police repeatedly left parking tickets on mountain village near Salzburg, in order to deter tourists from tak­ the vehicle below the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway underpass. ing snapshots ofthemselves having simulated or real sex under­ Police made a gruesome discovery earlier this week while get­ neath the town's welcome sign. Warnings about the cameras will be ting ready to tow the van - a decomposed body in the back seat. posted in order to encourage visitors to take tamer pictures. The body was identified as George Morales, and he had been dead "I'm sure each ofthem think they're the first to think ofit but a month, in a van with four parking tickets. believe me they're not," said one resident.

Special thanks to Rich Burns, Russell Garrard, Bill Merritt, and Tom Isenberg for contributions to Terra Incognita. (Readers are invited to forward news clippings or other items for publication in Terra Incognita, or email [email protected].) Liberty 55