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4 Letters Our readers share and share alike. 7 Reflections We donate blood, pop pills, circulate hundreds, silence spring, fling candy in costume, boost the wedding industry, take pointers from Sweden, follow French fauna, avoid Irish otters, revisit Soviet economics, and mourn the loss of an intellectual giant.

Features 17 Election 2006: The Blue Tide Sound and fury, signifying ­ something. Bruce Ramsey, assisted by Liberty's editors and contributors, reports on our national sport. 35 Election in Miniature The glories of American democrac)T, reproduced on the campus level: Garin K. Hovannisian fights in the war, and reports from it. 37 Fight Terrorism: Legalize Heroin Poppy fields mean big profits for enemies of the United States. Scott McPherson wants to know why we shouldn't be the ones to benefit from Afghanistan's most lucrative crop. 40 Tattered Groves of Academe Jane Shaw finds the problem with colleges in the United States isn't their lack of success - it's the fact that they've altogether forgotten what success really means. 43 Nukes and NIMBY Nuclear reactors are safe, green, and more than capable of keeping our economy running. Trouble is, nobody wants one next door. Gary Jason knows how to change their minds. 46 Digital Welfare Incompetence, greed, and Mafia schemes: Vince Vasquez examines the strange history of your telephone.

Reviews 51 Bringing the Boys Back Home Clint Eastwood had to go to Iceland to replicate Iwo Jima. Jo Ann Skousen follows him there. 53 The Hour is Late Andre Zantonavitch reads Europe's future on a Swedish Muslim's T-shirt: "2030 - Then we take over." 54 Fame and Flackery There's plenty of both in Andy Warhol's wake. Richard Kostelanetz sorts through the artist's reputation. 55 Conserving Conservatism Is there anything for libertarians in the latest stance athwart history? Martin Morse Wooster weighs Andrew Sullivan's"conservatism of doubt." 58 Road Trip US and A Andrew Ferguson charts the cross-country trek of Kazakhstan's fourth most famous person: Borat Sagdiyev. 59 Booknotes Whole stories of clones and dragons, and half the story of the conservative movement in America.

56 Notes on Contributors The bold and the beautiful. 62 Terra Incognita As above, so below. About [ Letters ] YOur Their Money, Their Business Intelligent strategies are produced, Using as his examples two of the And great hypocrisies emerge. wealthiest men in the world, both mul­ If ancient Chinese wisdom·doesn't tibillionaires, Doug Casey ("Charity? move them as it does the people ofHong Subscription Humbug!", November) has the hubris to Kong, perhaps wisdom from about 600 tell us thatthey don'tknow the "proper" years later might: thing to do with all that wealth, using a Beware of practicing your righ­ tone of disdain to make his point. Q: When does my subscription expire? teousness before men to be noticed I thought libertarianism was about A: Please look to the right ofyour name by them; otherwise you have no on your mailing label. There you doing whatever one wanted to, so long reward with your Father who is in will find (except in some cases when as it did not harm another. Given that, I heaven. So when you give to the receiving your first issue) the number suggest that what Bill Gates and Warren poor, do not sound a trumpet be­ fore you, as the hypocrites do in ofissues left in your subscription, Buffett do with their money is none of ourbusiness, and is not open to any crit­ the synagogues and in the streets, followed by the word "left," as in "3 so that they may be honored by LEFT." icism from a libertarian. If they choose to flush their wealth down the 100, that men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you is their business. Q: I've moved. How do I change the give to the poor, do not let your address to which my magazines are One need only look at what Paris left hand know what your right sent? Hilton is doing with the wealth that she hand is doing, so that your giving A: Write us at the postal or email ad­ did nothing to earn to know that wealth will be in secret; and your Father dresses below. Be sure to include acquired without toil is something less who sees what is done in secret your previous address, your new than a godsend. Gates and Buffett have will reward you. (Matthew 6:1-4) address, and a telephone number or chosen to teach their progeny the value Add another600 years to thetimeline email address where we can reach of earning wealth, as opposed to sim­ and you get the meticulously computed you ifwe have questions. It's best to ply having it handed to them. Those so and rigorously enforced Zakat alms re­ send us your current label and your taught will either become embittered or quired of every Muslim. new address. Allow 4-6 weeks to they will learn their lesson well. Either Add another 1,400 years or so and begin receiving Liberty at your new way, that is Gates' and Buffett's preroga­ you get the Welfare States of America. address. tive, not Casey's. Bravo, Doug. Charity that flows Marilyn Burge from guilt or coercion is ostentatious Portland, Ore. Q: I'm receiving duplicate copies of hypocrisy, not charity. Liberty. What should I do? The Tao of Now W. Earl Allen A: Clip the mailing labels from both I can already hear the wailing and Broomfield, Colo. copies and send them to the postal gnashing of teeth coming from readers Charitable Living address below. We'll make sure you of Doug Casey's article: Doug Caseymakes some darn good receive all the issues you've paid for. "He's just reinforcing the stereotype points about the charitable activities of of the miserly libertarian capitalist who people like Ted Turner and Bill Gates. Q: How can I buy gift subscriptions for cares about nothing but himself and Turner giving $1 billion to the U.N., of friends and famUy? money." all places, is certainly enough to make A: Call the toll-free number below. "This article is a disgrace. He wants one gag. And Casey is right that the We'll be happy to assist you. us to be more like Scrooge!" Gates Foundation attacks the symp­ I'd remind such readers that Doug toms rather than causes of Third World Q: Is Liberty on the Web? is merely echoing the ancient Chinese problems. A: Yes. Selected articles from each is­ wisdom of the Tao Te Ching, passage 18 But Casey, I think, goes too far. As I sue are published online. Visit our (from the R.L. Wing translation): travel around rural America, I see many website at libertyunbound.com. When the great Tao is forgotten, "Carnegie libraries" - libraries that Philanthropy and morality appear. could never have been built but for the To subscribe, renew, or ask questions about your subscription

E-mail: [email protected] Write: Liberty Circulation, P.O. Box 1181, Port Townsend, WA 98368 Call toll-free: (800) 854-6991 during regular West Coast business hours Outside the U.S., call: (360) 379-8421 January 2007

charity of Andrew Carnegie. It seems to nonprofit hospital where I now work, as marks about the nature of atrocities in me a worthwhile use of one's money to I saw in the for-profit where I used to Iraq, calling for a narrow definition of provide a library to a community that work; albeit in different areas. I see no atrocities and loose rules of engagement otherwise can't afford one. evidence that my present management since the insurgents are not uniformed Investment and economic growth welcomes ballooning expenses. and do not obey any rules. are obviously vital if a society is to pros­ Medicine as a whole does indeed These recommendations are a pre­ per. But doesn't using one's millions or havemanyproblemsthatshouldinterest scription for disaster. It is precisely billions solely for the purpose of creat­ libertarians. An obvious issue to discuss because this is a counterinsurgency that ing more millions and billions amount is why, at least in southern California, we must have stricter rules of engage­ to rank philistinism? Or have I been for-profit hospitals underperform. ment. I know it has been a long time misinformed - does man, in fact, live Douglas C. Cable since the Vietnam War, but we must by bread alone? Surely there is room for Newport Beach, Calif. recall the basics of such warfare. If we frequently shoot innocent bystanders the rich to donate some of their wealth The Rules of Engagement to, for example, the arts. Better Andrew we are likely to turn the whole popula­ Some of the initial assertions in Jon Carnegie or Bill Gates than the National tion actively against us. If that happens, Harrison's article "The Crimes of War" Endowment for the Humanities! Let's we will lose. (November) are highly questionable. remember that some of the greatest Therefore if the rules of engage­ Harrison appears to be knowledgeable works of art and literature would never ment Harrison cites really do permit in military history and his view is valid have come to fruition but for the patron­ our troops to fire on adult males in ci­ that many of the terrible acts commit­ age of the wealthy. vilian clothes who happen to flee from ted in war are not atrocities. However, Lastl}', I must take Casey to task the scene of a roadside bombing, then on the killing of prisoners for his statement: "In a free society, his comments the commander promulgating those and the "impossibility" of strict obser­ someone who's poor almost certainly rules should be relieved for profes­ vance of the laws of war have that ring deserves his fate. To hell with him." sional incompetence. If a bomb goes One doesn't have to be a bleeding-heart of misguided machismo which is some­ off, of course everyone is going to flee, liberal, or a social worker, to take issue times affected by military buffs. He particularly if the crazy Americans with that statement. But of course to supports those remarks by citing one are liable to shoot everybody. Now, it believe it relieves one of any feelings of book about World War I and one about might be permissible (after thoroughly responsibility for one's fellow human World War II (conventional wars). He informing the public) to shoot at armed beings. Even libertarians, I would assert then draws conclusions from those re- persons out of uniform who flee after an (as Ayn Rand starts to spin in her grave), have a duty of compassion, and, hereti­ The Liberty Editors Conference took place on the weekend ofOctober 20. cal though it may seem, charity. Jon Harrison Afterwards, traveling home, I continued to feel the special enthusiasm you get from Poultne~ Vt. spending time with friendly, smart, interesting people. That weekend was a vacation on another world - the brighter, more rational planet on which libertarians find The Order of Hospitallers themselves when they get together. Itis unfortunate that, in an otherwise Then I realized: America is about to have an election. And the sky grew dark. cogent piece on institutional charity, Doug Casey is so demonstrably wrong The world ofAmerican electoral politics has the same history, and many ofthe aboutthe valueof nonprofitvs. for-profit same problems and concerns, as the world ofAmerican libertarians. Intellectually, hospitals. In the southern California however, the former is a disappointing shadow ofthe latter. At the Editors market, the best hospitals are nonprofit: Conference, when I heard David Friedman's keynote speech, I didn't think, "He's Hoag Memorial Presbyterian Hospital, great, for a political speaker." No, he actually is great. I didn't think, "Bruce Ramsey Mission and St. Joseph's Hospitals, makes a lot ofsense, for a journalist"; "Randy Barnett understands the Constitution CedarsSinai, Scripps, etc. UCSD and pretty well, for a professor"; or "Tim Slagle's pretty funny, for a political comedian." UCLA Medical Center are outstanding, No: like David, Bruce and Tim and Randy are actually great, great in absolute terms. but also major public institutions. And I'm using just a few examples. There wasn't a speaker or a participant in the Meanwhile, USC's partnership with conference who didn't make me feel proud to be where I was. Tenet for their university hospital has Libertarians sometimes regard themselves as living in the shadow ofthe great been so disastrous that the university is political and intellectual movements ofour time. I think it's exactly the other way suing to remove Tenet's name. around. I think we're living in the sunshine. The purpose of the hospital is to pro­ vide good medical care. Patients do not A lot ofthis issue ofLiberty is devoted to the fall elections - a study ofthe care if the hospital is dependent on do­ dark planet, viewed from the sunlit one. The view itself may not be lovely, but the nations or self-sufficient; they define a observatory has a good deal to recommend it. good hospital as one they leave in better shape than they entered. In my experi­ For Liberty, ence, hospitals run like charities provide the best care. Additionall}', I see almost $f- as much effort at cost containment at the Stephen Cox Editor attack (thereby restricting the weapons prisoners - it simply happens in war. How to in the hands of so many Iraqis to use in To think such unfortunate things can defense of the home, keeping them off somehow be eliminated from warfare the street). Whether an armed person is contrary to the evidence, and naive in Subscribe is an insurgent, an ethnic militiaman, the extreme. or whatever, he presents a continuing I did not at any point in my article to threat if he is not officially sanctioned argue for the loosening of the rules of by uniformed status as an Iraqi police­ war in Iraq. A closer reading might have man and soldier. revealed this. As to Teague's prescrip­ II Liberti] Making these critical distinctions tions for conducting the Iraq campaign, and following the rules of counterin­ I fear they are the typical musings of un­ surgency warfare are both realistic and tutored opinion. Liberty takes individual necessary for effectiveness, but they are not easy. Counterinsurgency is tougher The Marketeer Club freedom seriously ... and in some ways than conventional war, David G. Danielson ("Why Libertar­ the status quo with more and demands well-trained and disci­ ians Should Call Themselves Socialists," than one grain of salt! plined troops to wage it successfully. November) makes a good point that our This brings into question the wisdom of opponents co-opted the most highly Every issue of Liberty brings using National Guardsmen and active­ desirable label ("liberal") for our philo­ sophical approach to life. you news you can't miss, duty support troops to perform combat I have long thought that we need a opinions you won't find duties in Iraq; their training and disci­ pline may not be adequate, regardless new label. But I dislike the idea of call­ anywhere else, and the best ing myself a socialist. For one thing, libertarian writing in the world. of their devotion to duty. We use them only because we are so short of troops. "socialist" has been in use for a very You won't want to So please, let us have no more talk long time. Long-established habits are about loosening the rules of war in Iraq. hard to change. miss a single issue! Loosening rules has already landed us I think Americans, in general, detest in trouble (and rightly so) in many ar­ the word "socialist." I have had many Act Today! eas of this conflict. Whether insurgents discussions with friends, enemies, and are good guys or bad guys is not the is­ acquaintances, most of whom I con­ Liberty offers you the best in sue. What is at issue is the people who sider to be socialists of varying degrees. individualist thinking and are not insurgents (yet). If Harrison's When confronted with my classifica­ writing. So don't hesitate. You understanding of the current rules of tion of their beliefs as "socialist" or have nothing to lose, and the engagement is correct (I suspect some "socialist-leaning," they reacted almost fruits of Liberty to gain! details were missing) then those who violently. They promptly and vehement­ ly informed me they were not socialist! Use the coupon below or call: claim that keeping our troops in Iraq is creating more enemies than it destroys I like Mark Skousen's suggestion, 1-800-854-6991 are probably right. "neo-liberal," but I think we might Anthony Teague have trouble getting out from under Marshall, Va. the "liberal" part of the concatenation. r------.Please enter my subscription I would like to see a different word or a to Liberty immediately! Harrison responds: I would remind new word that can be interpreted using Teague that my article states that it ap­ o 12 issues (One Full Year) $29.50 common sense and common meanings pears that the rules of engagement in without having to have a Ph.D. in po­ 024 issues (Two Full Years) $56.00 Iraq allow our troops to fire on unarmed litical economy or philology to get the Add $5 per year for foreign subscriptions. civilians who flee from roadside bomb­ drift. ings. As footnote 3 of the article explains, Perhaps a new word, such as "free­ name the rules of engagement in Iraq "vary, marketeer"? It contains the word "free"; and are also classified, to keep the Iraqi it contains the root word "market." The address insurgents off balance. ..." Teague's -eer suffix implies that this is a person suspicion that "some details were left city state zip who participates and believes in free out" as regards the rules of engagement markets and all the underlying principles. is, therefore, correct but superfluous. phone number Also, it sort of reminds me of West We may learn more when the Marines Virginia's state motto: Montani semper o I enclose my check (payable to Liberty) involved in the Haditha incident come liberi ("Mountaineers are always free"). Charge my: to trial. David Michael Myers o VISA 0 MasterCard 0 Discover I don't think "machismo" was in­ Martinsburg, W.Va. volved in my conclusions about the signature killing of prisoners. I merely observe. As The Way Forward I mentioned, there are innumerable ref­ Danielson's proposal is informa­ tive and thought-provoking, but as he account # expires erences concerning this matter; I could have cited two hundred rather than Send to: Liberty, Dept. L, P.O. Box 1181, Port Townsend, WA 98368 two. It is not that I condone the killing of continued on page 61 .. _-----_ .. The Nick at Nite ticket - After John Kerry He found that people who generally favor government spend­ embarrassed himself with a crack about the soldiers in Iraq, ing on poverty programs donate less blood on average than do many remembered how grateful they were the day he lost his those who generally oppose government spending on pov­ bid for the White House. Of course, if it weren't for his awk­ erty programs - and by a large margin. wardness in front of the camera, he'd still be the perfect can­ So who are the real Grinches? - Gary Jason didate for the TV generation: he looks like Herman Munster, talks like Thurston Howell III, and has a military record like Night ofthe voting dead - In late October, an Corporal Klinger's. - Tim Slagle analysis of statewide records by the Poughkeepsie Journal revealed that 77,000 dead people remain on election rolls in A fine balance - The Wall Street Journal (Nov. 11) New York state, and some 2,600 may have managed to vote reports that there are more Asian students on our college after they had died. campuses than are warranted by the percentage of Asians There is a fascinating sociological take to this. The econom- in the general popula- ics literature makes clear tion. At the same time that it is not "rational" there is a less publicized to vote - the expected but equally disturbing costs ofvoting far exceed imbalance in our penal the expected utility (see institutions, because of Steve Landsburg's dis­ the sparsity of Asian cussion at slate.com/ prisoners. Obviously id/2107240) - yet the these affronts to diver­ social pressure to vote sity point to societal is so great that even the prejudice against whites, dead get to the polls. blacks, Hispanics, and - Ross Levatter Native Americans that demand redress. Kiss of death Fortunately, in this case, - According to Bob the statistics speak for Woodward's new book, themselves. To establish "'State of Denial," Henry the required equit)T, we Kissinger has an ongo­ have merely to imprison ing advisory role with enough Asian students. Bush and Cheney on In anticipation of Iraq. Not just that, but the inevitable carping ~HCHAM8lRS he has been telling them from civil libertarians to "stay the course" no that accompanies every matter what. Just what constructive measure of this sort, it should be added that the we need - the octogenarian ex-secretary of state, one of the selection of the students to be transferred need not involve slipperiest eels ever to slither through the corridors of power, any injustice. Properly handled, the process would be con­ telling the administration to fight on in an unwinnable con­ ducted by a blind lottery, ensuring an entirely random, open flict, killing young Americans to no purpose. process - the very epitome of fairness. - Dan Hurwitz When Nixon and Kissinger took office in 1969, they were certainly faced with a difficult situation in Vietnam - one, A wonderful Grinchy idea - Opponents of the moreover, that was not of their making. Still, in January 1969 welfare state (i.e., libertarians and conservatives) are typically we were at 37,000 dead. Under Kissinger we lost over 20,000 viewed as uncompassionate by its proponents. But a recent more. Immediate withdrawal would have been preferable to piece by Arthur C. Brooks, a professor at Syracuse University losing those lives, while the blame for losing Vietnam could doing research into American charity, has nicely debunked still have been laid at the door of LBJ and the Democrats. that stereotype. He looked at patterns of blood donation, Kissinger out of office did all he could to blunt the Reagan using data that neatly rule out such confounding variables as policy of confronting the USSR, the policy that in fact led to income (rich people have more money to give, but everyone Communism's demise. One does not have to agree with the has roughly the same amount of blood), tax planning (you opinion of the late CIA counterintelligence chief, James Jesus can't deduct contributions of blood), and church affiliation Angleton (admittedlya paranoid alcoholic), thatKissinger was (your money may help your church, but your blood won't). actually a KGB agent, to reach the conclusion that Kissinger

Liberty 7 January 2007 has done much harm to this country ­ be at the level of America, and after evenbeyond the blood that continues to that we'll go farther. As we pass you b~ On Oct. 20-22, stain his hands. we'll wave 'hi' to you, and then if you And this man still wields influence want, we'll stop and say, 'Please come gathered in Las Vegas today? It's a national disgrace. along behind us.'" - Jon Harrison By December of 1991, the collapse of the Soviet Union was complete. In Memoriam, USSR - In What Khrushchev didn't under­ Ifyou missed the 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev stand is that a system of brute force and American Vice President Richard that demanded individual servitude to you can hear selected Nixon walked through a replica of a six­ the state was no match for a nation that room ranch house that was on display combined democratic freedoms with at the American National Exhibition in the vitality of capitalism. Moscow. Explaining the monumental failure Libertarianism and Religion • Jo As the two superpower leaders of the Soviet system and empire, Gen. Ann Skousen, Charles Murray, David entered the kitchen area, Nixon pointed Dmitri Volkogono~ a former official Friedman, and Stephen Cox discuss to the dishwasher andsaid, "InAmerica, Soviet military historian, stressed that the nuanced and sometimes tem­ we like to make life easier for women." "the roots of the catastrophe lay in the pestuous relationship between reli­ Instead of pointing out the inherent ideology itself, in Leninism." All told, gion and the freedom movement. sexism in Nixon's statement - i.e., the the "catastrophe" of attempting to CD A-102* assumption that dirty pots are women's impose a Marxist-Leninist utopia in the Cassette B-102* work - Khrushchev responded with Soviet Union resulted in the deaths of as knee-jerk Marxist sophistry: "Your cap­ many as 25 million people, according to Liberty in Film • In this installment italist attitude toward women does not recently released and hitherto inaccess­ of a beloved, traditional Liberty con­ occur under communism." ible Soviet archives - a death toll that ference panel, Jo Ann Skousen, Jack Checking out the newfangled gad­ was the direct consequence of centrally Pugsley, Tim Slagle, and Gary Jason gets in the kitchen, Khrushchev saw planned massacres, mass deportations, talk about why film is important to nothingmore thana capitalist scheme of labor camps, torture, and famine. libertarians, and which films recom­ planned obsolescence. "Your American Many of the grisly details behind mend themselves to libertarians. houses are built to last only 20 years this colossal slaughter are recorded in CD A-103* so builders could sell new houses at "The Black Book of Communism," an Cassette B-103* the end," he told Nixon. "We build 800-page summarybya team ofscholars firmly. We build for our children and that documents the violence and terror Ben Franklin (Warts and All) Takes grandchildren." that Soviet leaders employed against On His Libertarian Critics. Frank­ The Soviet premier additionally their own people. Within months of lin was one of America's greatest complained that the American exhibit his rise to power, Lenin provided the champions of liberty, says Mark wasn't complete: "It's clear to me that definition of "revolutionary justice" to Skousen, despite what many liber­ the construction workers didn't man­ a workers' assembly: "If the masses do tarians think. age to finish their work and the exhibit not rise up spontaneously, none of this CD A-104* is not put in order. This is whatAmerica will lead to anything. For as long as we Cassette B-104* is capable of, and how long has she fail to treat speculators the way they existed? Three hundred years? One deserve - with a bullet in the head The Best Laid Plans • Randal O'Toole hundred and fifty years of indepen­ - we will not get anywhere." surveys the damage wrought by the dence and this is her level?" The targets of this "justice" included imposition of urban planners' mo­ Sticking with his view of collectivist shopkeepers, landlords, non-Bolshevik rality on construction, traffic, and superiority, Khrushchev told Nixon he newspapers, non-Bolshevik political transit. felt sorry for Americans: "If you want clerg~ parties, the "counter-revolution­ CD A-106* to live under capitalism, go ahead, and ary" civil servants, intellectuals, "aristo­ Cassette B-106* that's your question, an internal mat­ crats," industrial strikers, malingering ter. It doesn't concern us. We can feel "pseudoworkers," entrepreneurs, gun What's With the Cost of Gas? • sorry for you, but really, you wouldn't owners, craftsmen, "bourgeois special­ Government conspiracy, market understand." He then delivered a ists," landowners, and, most especiall~ forces, or market failure: what re­ flawed forecast to Nixon, a picture of "money grubbing" kulaks, i.e., bet­ ally causes changes in consumer the Soviet Union as a new and dynamic ter-off peasants. Simply stated, Lenin's gas prices? Mark Skousen, Randal enterprise, a young and scientifically "bullet in the head" form of "justice" O'Toole, and Bob Beers look for an planned system fully capable of bury­ was the officially prescribed punish­ answer. ing the ineptness and disorganization ment for any person "belonging to a CD A-107 of American capitalism, then on its hostile social class." Cassette B-107 last legs: "We haven't quite reached 42 On Aug. la, 1918, Lenin tele­ years, and in another seven years we'll grammed instructions for dealing with

8 Liberty editors and friends ofLiberty for our 2006 Editors Conference.

fun, or ifyou want to experience it again, events on CD or audiocassette - just $7 each! Lives!

Taxes Can Be Cut! • Bob Beers, Jack Libertarians and the Constitution: What is the Optimal Size of Gov­ Pugsley, and Mark Skousen look for A Love-Hate Relationship • Randy ernnnent? • Mark Skousen searches ways to cut taxes and keep them Barnett tells how the writings of a for the sweet spot between anarchy low. 19th-century anarchist convinced and statism. CD A-108 him the Constitution was ille­ CD A-116 Cassette B-108 gitimate - and what changed his Cassette B-116 mind. CD A-113 The Future of Liberty • What are Keynote speech • David Friedman Cassette B-113 the prospects for freedom? David discusses how changes in technol­ Friedman, Jack Pugsley, Mark Skousen, ogy will affect government power Durk Pearson, and Sandy Shaw offer The Ideal Communist City • Ran­ over the individual - and wheth­ different perspectives in this panel, er the effect will be for better or dal O'Toole compares the means and ends of Communist planning with consistently one of the most popu­ worse. lar at our conferences. CD only A-109 those of "smart growth." CD A-117 CD A-114 Cassette B-117 Cassette B-114 How to Reform the Drug Laws • Randy Barnett, Patrick Killen, and Tribute to R.W. Bradford • Friends David Friedman relate their work on Libertarian Comedy • Tim Slagle and family of Liberty's founding drug-law reform and their ideas for brings down the house at dinner editor share their memories of one bringing about change. Saturday evening! of the great men of the libertarian CD A-110 CD A-11S movement. Cassette B-11a Cassette B-11S CD only , A-118

In Our Hands • Charles Murray de­ -. p------Item no. Description scribes his controversial plan to re­ Send me the following "el s, place all wealth-transfer programs I. • tapes or cassettes. with one yearly payment to citizens o I enclose my check in full payment. 21 and over. Please charge my: 0 Visa CD A-111 o MasterCard 0 Discover Cassette B-111

name Should Libertarians Ally With Attach a sheet to list additional items if necessary! address Conservatives? • Bruce Ramsey, Number of Tim Slagle, Stephen Cox, and David city, state, zip items ordered: __ x $7.00 per item = __ Friedman consider this perennial Shipping: $3.00 for one item, question. phone $5.00 for two or more items: Washin~ton state residents, CD A-112 email add 8.4 Yo sales tax: Cassette B-112 credit card number exp date Total: signature ... or simply call toll-free! * Most events were recorded digitally; Mail to: Liber~ P.O. Box 1181, Port items marked with an asterisk were not. Townsend, WA 98368. Please allow 6-8 1-800-854-6991 ._------_.weeks for delivery. (9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Pacific Time, Mon-Fri) January 2007 kulaks who were expressing opposition to having their har­ tions, but he says he donates his considerable profits to char­ vests confiscated by the government: "You must make an ity. Ingraham's principal, in an act of disobedient tolerance, example of these people: (1) Hang (1 mean hang publicly, so has let him get away with it. When asked about his activities that people see it) at least 100 kulaks, richbastards, and known by Times reporter Emily Heffter, the Candyman said: "Just bloodsuckers. (2) Publish their names. (3) Seize all their grain. like Prohibition in the twenties, when demand is high and P.S. Find tougher people." supply is cut off, there are going to emerge black, parallel By the time it ended, the Soviet Union's "tougher" enforc­ markets." - Bruce Ramsey ers had killed millions through forced collectivization and harvest seizures, work camps, gulag colonies, prisons, and Lessonsfrom Sweden - We classical liberals tend political executions. But the Soviet Union did end, 15 years to think of the welfare-state economies - Sweden, France, ago, on Dec. 25, 1991, while American kitchens prepared enor­ Germany, Denmark, New Zealand, and others - as mori­ mous banquets of cheap and plentiful holiday food, freely bund. And there is evidence for that judgment. They tend to produced and freely consumed. -- Ralph Reiland have much higher personal tax rates than the United States, and not surprisingly have unemployment rates dramatically Sweet revenge - Don't assume all public school stu­ higher and growth rates markedly lower than ours. dents are ignorant of economics. There is, for example, the However, many of them still manage to maintain gener­ Candyman, who has become an institution at Ingraham High ally favorable growth rates, because they have adopted clas­ School in Seattle. In 2005 the city's left-wing school board sicalliberal policies that are helping their economies. Some of banned the sale of cand~ which wrecked the finances of PTAs the reforms adopted are nothing short of amazing. and caused the board to be very unpopular among the kids. Consider Sweden, that poster child for the welfare state. By early 2006, an anonymous seniorhad gone into business for Sweden has adopted a number of classical liberal reforms. himself as the Candyman. According to a story about him on Start with vouchers. The concept, first devised by Milton the front page of the Seattle Times, the Candyman appeared Friedman, has been around for decades. Teachers' unions in at last spring's pep assembly in a mask, with a red-and-blue America have stymied implementation, butSwedenhas a full­ spandex costume displaying the big letters CM. To the delight blown voucher system. It was first introduced in 1992, and it of the crowd, he threw candy into the air and made a quick gives full pro rata vouchers to all kids, regardless of income. exit. (Contrast with Milwaukee's voucher system, described in The Candyman is breaking the school district's regula- "Peer pressured," p. 15.) The Swedish system has been so suc-

News You May Have Missed Kim Jong II Solidifies Fruitcake Image for Holidays

PYONGYANG, North Korea - Just in an ambitious attempt to overtake the from neighboring China, denouncing two months after his underground nu­ West in the development of emaciated, the accompanying fortune cookie as a clear test sparked an international crisis, hollow-cheeked models. "bandit provocation." It read: "He who erratic North Korean leader Kim Jong The children who had inadvertently have clunky shoes will not go far, and Il has launched a series of aggressive sent him their Christmas lists would neither will his medium-range mis­ moves that experts say are aimed at be mailed North Korean-manufactured siles." producing disruptions of the Western "Dear Leader" dolls that, when a but­ Experts predict that the behavior holiday season even more chaotic and ton in the back is pushed, will denounce of the North Korean dictator is very traumatic than those caused by visiting the youngsters as "low-lying imperialist likely to continue to be unpredictable. relatives. gangster hyenas." They cited his recent unscheduled ap­ In early December Kim, dressed Kim also revealed that North Ko­ pearance on "Oprah," where he jumped for the occasion in an ill-fitting red rean scientists, working in secret under­ frantically up and down on the couch suit trimmed with white fur and sport­ ground facilities, had perfected a hair­ while confessing that his controversial ing a moth-eaten fake white beard, an­ cut even more dangerously weird than memoir, "A Million Little Marxist-Le­ nounced that his nation would hence­ his own, and that its blueprints would forth be known as "North Pole" instead be placed in the hands of terrorist bar­ ninist Tracts," was largely fabricated. of "North Korea." Millions of letters bers who would quickly infiltrate hair Despite his insistence in the book that from children around the world, rerout­ salons throughout the United States, he has been a central figure in the most ed to Pyongyang, would then be shred­ making it virtually impossible for mil­ significant historical events of modem ded and turned into gigantic papier­ lions ofAmerican men to get a date on times, he admitted to Oprah that he had mache statues of Kim in time for the New Year's Eve. not really been with Jon-Benet Ramsey synchronized mass demonstration com­ Kim seemed unafraid of alienating the night she died, that it wasn't him in memorating the tenth anniversary of nearby Asian countries as well. Last the sex tape with Paris Hilton, and that "Dr. Kim's Diet Revolution," the mir­ Sunday night he refused to pay for a he had never actually exchanged instant acle weight-loss regimen imposed on takeout order of Shredded Pork with messages with former Congressman the entire country during the late 1990s Dried Bean Curd in Spicy Garlic Sauce Mark Foley. - Eric Kenning January 2007 cessful that even the leftist party now accepts it (although the - energy that isn't being used for economic production. communist party still hates it). Denmark and New Zealand But so what? It makes America a great place to live, the have also adopted voucher systems. envy of the world. I'm not interested in forcing Americans to Next, look at taxation and Social Security. While the U.S. live a more spartan lifestyle just to bring our BTU per GDP Congress has repeatedly tried to kill the estate tax, and repeat­ stat down. edly failed, Sweden has eliminated it entirely. Similarl~ while National efficiency is a noble goal only for fascists. Ifitwas Bush hit a stone wall in his efforts to get even a tiny measure our only concern, we could save the energy wasted on trans­ of privatization allowed in Social Securit~ the Swedes got porting clothes all the way from China by issuing uniforms partial privatization through. to everybody. We could build military barracks to function as Moreover, look at divestiture of assets. I have argued else­ energy-efficient residences, and call for a national blackout where that the federal government ought to start selling off its after 9 p.m. The government could close all the newspapers huge holdings of land and other assets to payoff those who and print its own national paper every day; seize all those want to opt out of the Social Security system. But while the energy-wasting computers, televisions, and radios; commis­ feds just sit on all those assets, evenin the face of a large federal sion all private boats and aircraft for military duty, comman­ debt, Sweden is planning to sell off tens of billions of dollars deer cars, and force everybody onto trains. (How come fascists worth of state-owned assets. These include very large owner­ always love their trains?) ship positions in TeliaSonera (a telecom company), Nordea (a Freedomis notsynonymouswithefficiency. He who would banking company), SAS (an airline company), and Vin & Sprit sacrifice freedom for efficiency is either evil, or moronic. (a booze company!). Just which of these will be sold is still - Tim Slagle to be finalized, but the plan shows a commitment to putting Otter be a law - An Taisce, the National Trust for state assets in the hands of private individuals that I wish the Ireland, has voiced concern at the effect a proposed grey­ United States had the foresight to follow. Privatization brings hound stadium near Limerick city could have on otters in the in money that can be used to pay down debt, and leads to the River Shannon. private investment and development that spur job growth. Forget about the fact that the new complex, which includes Yes, our economy is still freer than Sweden's, butwe would a three-story office building, will employ 100 people. Forget do well to adopt some of its ideas. More broadl~ we might about the regional benefits of the development, which will emulate some other ideas being practiced abroad, such as the include betting facilities, two restaurants, and four bars with flat tax (common now among Eastern European countries) a dance floor. And don't even bother mentioning that the and the "loser pays" tort system that virtually all of Europe anticipated annual turnover, in relation to the development, is follows. We might even consider emulating New Zealand, between $10 and 12.5 million. Otters are protected under the which ended all farm subsidies back in the mid-1980s. EU Habitats Directive, and that's that. Brussels says "jump," - Gary Jason and Ireland says "how high?" An Taisce's slogan - "A champion for quality of life" ­ All about the benjamins - In the world of the makes you wonder: whose life, ours, or otters'? - John Lalor blind, the one-eyed man is king. Similarly, in a world in which almost all nations are inflating their currencies, the currency A correction, with enthusiasm - In the last of a country that inflates less than others is "king." Thus U.S. issue of Liberty we ran an ad for the FreedomFest conference paper money is the worldwide "king" of currencies. It is pop­ in Las Vegas (July 5-7,2007), in which the subject of Nathaniel ular among foreigners, especially in $100 bills. And according Branden's talk was listed as: "I've Changed My Philosophy to The Wall Street Journal (Nov. 2), "Roughly 75% of the 5.5 of Self-Esteem." I am happy to report that Dr. Branden has billion $100 bills in print are circulating abroad." not changed his philosophy (although he is always coming Foreigners who hang onto these $100 bills are doing U.S. up with new and interesting applications and corollaries). consumers a favor. They are helping to keep U.s. prices lower than they would otherwise be. If those billions of bills were all to returnto the States, the prices of things people want to buy in this country would tend to rise even higher than they are now. - Bettina Bien Greaves

Liberty, fraternity, efficiency? - In terms of the ratio of energy consumed to dollar of GDP produced, America is the least efficient nation on earth. The Left likes to point this out, since it supports the argument that American capitalism is inefficient, that when people are free to make their own decisions, they don't pay attention to how much energy they're wasting. Leftists will even note, without irony, that historically the Germans have a better record of energy efficiency. Americans do have bigger homes and bigger yards, and also more leisure craft, vacation homes, refrigerators, and air conditioners. We also travel more. All that takes extra energy "Yeah, me too - I gained it all back during the holidays."

Liberty 11 January 2007

His scheduled address will be entitled "Self-Esteem and Its an earlier reflection ("Where the wild things are secretly rein­ Enemies." - Stephen Cox troduced," July), the French government was forced to release the bears at secret times and places to avoid disruption. Bear watch - This year, the French government Battle lines have been drawn. According to Reuters, pro­ released five brown bears from Slovenia in the French and anti-bear graffiti are a common sight along roadsides in Pyrenees, where bears were once common. Some Pyreneean the Pyrenees. In August, hikers found Palouma, one of the shepherds, an endangered species, got angry. As I reported in Slovenian bears, dead at the foot of a cliff. A wide-ranging Word Watch by Stephen Cox

Don't tax you, The Mexican political regime subsists in large part on Don't tax me ­ baseless comparisons and spurious distinctions. And the same Tax that fella can be said ofthe American political regime. Behind the tree. What is the difference between "pork-barrel legislation" and "investments in our national infrastructure"? Nothing. So runs the poetic satire ofa process that has been deli­ What is the difference between a "tax" and a "contribu­ cately entitled "government funding" or "ways and means." tion," as in "Social Security contribution"? Again, nothing. I can't think ofa better example ofthe art ofmaking What is the difference between a "moderate" justice of distinctions. Nothing is clearer, in this poem, than the dif­ the Supreme Court and a jurist who regularly votes to follow ference between happy tax-evaders and hapless tax-payers the most radical precedents ofthe recent past? Nothing. - nothing, that is, except the distinction, implicit but Nothing at all. obvious, between the moral cynicism ofthe poem itselfand What is the difference between an "ideologue" and the the moral indignation with which it is supposed to be read. kind of"statesman" who happens to vote for 950/0 ofhis Everybody who reads it has to be on the side ofthat fella party's measures? Five percent - and a different noun. behind the tree. What is the difference between a congressional liberal I only wish that all political speech were as clear, as clever, and a real liberal, a country-club conservative and a real con­ and as honest, as that little poem. servative, a political "progressive" and someone who actually Here's a passage from a recent speech by Felipe Calderon, has some new ideas? Everything. In each case, the same noun president-elect ofMexico: "Humanity committed a grave er­ is used for both, so that the former can claim the prestige of ror by constructing the Berlin Wall, and I am sure that today the latter. the United States is committing a grave error in constructing Obscuring a difference is just as useful as inventing one, a wall along our northern border." The passage shows that and a good way ofobscuring a difference is simply to omit abuse oflanguage, as manifested particularly in the failure to any hint ofagency - any idea ofwho did what. Thus, the make appropriate comparisons and distinctions, is one com­ president frequently claims that "we are solving" this or that modity that is truly international. problem, without ever identifying the people who created it. You may believe, as Sr. Calderon does, that a fence Maybe he knows those people too well. In the same way, con­ designed to keep people out ofthe United States is a lot like gressmen usually agree that "taxes are too high," at least for a wall designed to keep people inside East Germany. I don't "the middle class," but omit to mention that they voted for believe it; nevertheless, his comparison is clear. I understand those taxes. Police chiefs decry the latest "rise in crime," not what he meant. But what about his distinction between "the mentioning that they failed to prevent it. Preachers in inner­ United States," which is erecting the fence (a.k.a. "wall"), and city congregations lament the "moral crisis" in their neigh­ "humanity," which allegedly erected the barrier in Berlin? borhoods, without speculating on any possible failure oftheir Did he mean to say that all humanity actually built that own moral leadership. (I note that this religious phenomenon wall? Did he think that everyone in the world was respon­ is not limited to the inner city.) sible for pouring the concrete, stringing the barbed wire, The refusal to distinguish who did what isn't just bad for and manning the guard towers? Or was he using "humanity" politics; it gets into people's larger worldviews, darkening and to make a moral distinction, a distinction expressed by the dampening them. When I was in graduate school, my disser­ shift in tone between "United States," the fiercely embattled tation director was nearly driven crazy by students who tried citadel ofimperialism, and the mildly beneficent "humanity" to account for every historical change by noting that "the embodied in the former communist state? I don't know, but I middle class was rising," which is about the dullest thing you suppose he was trying to convey as much ofthat latter idea as could possibly say on any occasion. Finally he cut somebody's he thought he could get away with. historical "explanation" short. "The 'middle class' is always January 2007 investigation into her death has begun. Here are some of the • Palouma, will she be replaced? headlines translated from the French press: • Palouma's autopsy: Nothing suspicious found • Death of Slovenian bear Palouma probably accidental • Palouma, fallen for France • Palouma's death resuscitates debate over Pyreneean A representative of a green party in France says that if bears Palouma was chased off the cliff, then "it's murder, pure and • Death of Palouma: "No possibility excluded" simple." • Pyrenees: the death of a bear Speaking of murder, I was surprised to learn that the tiny number of beleaguered brown bears in France kill about 300 sheep and cattle per year. But wait! Not so fast! These offi­ 'rising,'" he observed, with the friendly smile he developed cial statistics are wrong, says AVES France (the Association de when he was fully exasperated. "Now tell me why the English Protection des Especes Menacees). According to AVES, when­ novel was invented in the middle part ofthe 18th century, ever a herder claims that a lamb, kid, or calf was killed by a rather than a hundred years before or a hundred years after. bear, the government gives him the benefit of the doubt and Surely there was some more particular cause than the rise of pays an indemnit)r, hence the inflated statistics. the middle class?" Senior French songster Renaud just released a musical Ofcourse, he might also have demanded to know homage to Palouma entitled "Rouge Sang" ("Red Blood"). whether there was some particular cause ofthe middle class (Yes, he's one of those one-name guys. And no, I'm not mak­ itself, together with its strange propensity to levitation. Could ing this up.) it be the specific actions ofspecific individuals, the kind Passions among the shepherds have not cooled, either. ofindividuals who, generation after generation, try to free Following a violent demonstration, some of them were themselves from the dead hand ofgovernment? An interest­ recently convicted of crimes and given suspended prison sen­ ing question. But it can't even occur to people as long as they tences of as long as four months. fail to distinguish between things that happen and specific As the French say, /IA suivre ... "- Michael Christian human actions. The TSA reports that in the four years One ofthe commonest products ofthis failure ofap­ Knives out - after Sept. 11, 2001, security scanners have picked up the propriate distinction is the "pendulum" theory ofhistory, following items (among others) at Phoenix's Sky Harbor which has become so much a part ofpeople's basic political International Airport: assumptions that it will probably never be removed. It's the idea that once history screws itself up in one way, it will soon • 33,554 knives with blades less than 3 inches long (thank God) start screwing itself up in the opposite way. Is • 82,164 lighters that too bald a formulation ofthis venerable theory? Maybe. • 813 tools So try this: it's the theory that President Hoover took the • 23 replica weapons country too far to the right; then President Roosevelt took it What, I wonder, should the American people be more too far to the left; then President Truman put it back in the thankful for? That the TSA is separating Americans from their moderate center; and this is what we call a "pendulum." tools, or their toys? From their Zippos, Dunhills, and Bics, or Actually, that second formulation sounds almost as silly from their Swiss Army purchases? - Ross Levatter as the first. While it emphasizes the previously omitted dis­ tinction between "history" and individual people, by naming Good for business - For many years, Americans all those presidents, it still implies that individual actions and have been making economic arguments on questions that are historical rhythms are pretty much the same. It refuses to not about economics at all. identifY the particular acts that produced the general effects. An example is a press release sent Oct. 9, claiming that Let's face it. President Hoover tried to control the gay marriage is good for business. It says that the Williams economy. He failed. President Roosevelt tried even harder. Institute at UCLA has determined that allowing gays to wed He failed too. At the end ofthe Second World War, the would boost the weddings industry by $2 billion. Also it Democratic Party wanted to continue in the same way, says that the added costs of providing employee benefits to but its insistence on retaining wartime economic controls same-sex partners would be offset by increased productiv­ produced a number ofproblems, including the total absence it)', because gay employees would be happier and therefore ofmeat from the marketplace. The "moderate" or "centrist" would do more work. President Truman wanted to send soldiers out to the Midwest Hearing these arguments reminded me of some research to seize the food supposedly being "hoarded" there, but he I did on the arguments for a Prohibition measure in 1914. didn't dare to do it. (He also wanted to draft striking railroad Closing the saloons, it was said, would increase business for workers into the army.) Then the Republicans won a congres­ all other merchants. sional election, economic controls were lifted, peace returned This was an economic argument to ban the saloon. But the to the grocery stores, the nuttiest members ofthe Roosevelt saloon was a moral issue. It was the most controversial issue of mythocracy formed their own, hopelessly incompetent politi­ its da)', and it was not about economics. It was about whether cal party, and Truman managed to win a narrow victory in banning liquor would make people good, and whether ban­ the next presidential election. ning it was right. Those events were a lot less orderly, and a lot more inter­ It is the same with gay marriage. It is an issue of values esting, than the swing ofany pendulum. But still, the middle and beliefs, feelings and fairness. Not one person in a hun­ class kept rising ... dred cares whether it benefits the weddings industry.

Liberty 13 January 2007

I also doubt whether enrolling a new group of beneficia­ Ireland or the Scottish Highlands, among sweeping, treeless, ries would be offset by increased productivity. But imagine green hills grazed by sheep and shaggy horses; a few miles that it would. How many minds would that change about later you're in one of the stark, barren, high deserts of the same-sex marriage? American West, except that the skies are cloudy all day. Then So why do people make economic arguments on noneco­ you might as well be on one of the more obscure moons of nomic questions? It is not because the arguments are convinc­ Saturn, with vast expanses of black, jigsaw-shaped lava-rock ing; it is because the arguments are safe. - Bruce Ramsey hummocks outof a Yves Tanguy painting covered with lichens of unearthly green. Most of the island, especially once you Off the beaten label - On the "Today" show venture onto the one-track dirt roads that take you deep into (Oct. 26), Matt Lauer had a piece on the dangers of "off-label" the interior, is a caveman landscape of strangely colored rock drugs. These are drugs designed for one indication and yet monoliths and volcanic cones, looming glaciers and steam­ prescribed (perfectly legally) by physicians for other indica­ ing fissures and unexpected waterfalls. The earth seems to be tions that have not been "approved" by the FDA. It seems speaking its original geological language while you struggle some antidepressant and antiseizure medications cause to understand a word or two. weight loss as a side effect and are being prescribed by some Iceland once spoke a libertarian political language that can doctors who specialize in weight loss. Lauer, schizophreni­ hardly be understood toda)', too. For over three centuries after cally, is upset both that drugs are ever used off-label and that the first Norse settlers arrived in the late 9th century, what is insurance companies refuse to pay for off-label use. known to historians as the free state of Iceland was virtually Without commenting on weight loss specificall)', off-label state-free. The Althing, the world's first parliament, where use is routine and commonplace in medicine, something one eminent Icelandic men periodically convened in a dramatic would never have guessed after hearing Lauer interview his interior valle)', had only legislative and judical functions. hand-picked physician from the University of Pittsburgh. It There were no permanent executive governmental institu­ likely has something to do with the facts that 1) doctors are tions at all. As the American scholar Jesse Byock points out in legally allowed to prescribe medication for whatever indica­ "Viking Age Iceland," in many ways the island was a "head­ tion they feel appropriate - imagine the enormous bureau­ less and stateless society." cracy if it were otherwise! - and 2) having spent tens of Icelanders, living on small, isolated, mostly self-sufficient millions of dollars to get FDA approval for one indication, farms, managed to do without the standard medieval throt­ pharmaceutical companies have no economic incentive to tling and meddling of earls, barons, and archbishops, sher­ spend additional millions to apply a label for alternative uses iffs and soldiers, taxes and tax farmers, corvees and serfdom, that physicians were already made aware of in their peer­ though there were slaves, most of them captives seized in reviewed professional literature. Viking raids on the British Isles, until roughly the end of Immediately following Lauer's diatribe on off-label drug the 11th century. Laws were often elaborate, but enforcing use, Today ran a fashion story discussing a new trend: women them was left to private individuals. Feuds and disputes wearing apparel designed for men. No discussion there of off­ were resolved, when they were peacefully resolved, through label use ... - Ross Levatter arbitration, usually by the clan chieftains and richer farmers, Icelandic Saga - Iceland was composed by God who exercised only an informal authority. A lawbreaker was in his surrealist phase. On my way home from a European subject to various degrees of outlawry, meaning that others excursion last summer I spent some time there, and I've never could seize his property and in the more drastic cases kill him seen a more disorienting landscape. One moment you're in without penalty. (It was because Erik the Red was outlawed for killing someone in a feud that he sailed off to discover Greenland, from which his son Leif Eriksson made his way to NorthAmerica.) As historians have pointed out, Iceland, with­ out towns or even villages, was like a large, dispersed village, and the Icelandic sagas were village gossip. Troublemakers were punished by the neighbors, even if the neighbors had to ride over the mountain and around the fjord three days to get there. The farmers thus "denied would-be elites the crucial state function of monopolizing force," Byock writes. Even within the clan system there was room for individu­ ality and choice, as an Icelandic poet and translator whom I had known in New York pointed out when we had dinner in Reykjavik. (His encyclopedia article on medieval Iceland, written some 30 years ago, is still being quoted in internet anarchist arguments.) Until late in the period, clan chieftains didn't rule over specific territories. You could choose and change clans. You could fall in love with a pretty girl from another clan, marry her, and switch over to her clan without any ensuing Romeo-and-Juliet scenario - at least most of the "The evening news was bad enough, but now he's dozing offduring time. the 'Today' show!" Life in Iceland a thousand years ago was often harsh, pre-

14 Liberty January 2007 carious, and violent, and no doubt remote, in its saga tales of as an alternative to overbearing local strongmen and civil war. honor and vengeance and its rural self-sufficienc~ from all After that most of the old freedoms gradually disappeared, modern political possibilities and theories, but it still consti­ as church and state imposed their authority and their taxes. tutes a kind of libertarian revery and perhaps a parable. What Iceland's history was wrapped up in Scandinavian history, put an end to the state-free free state? The standard high­ complicated by climate change (it got a lot colder after the octane fuel of history and lethal poison for liberty: the lust 14th century), oppressive trade restrictions and monopolies for power. Some chieftains started biting off more than they after the Danish kings inherited both Norway and Iceland, could chew. By the mid-13th century a few of them controlled population decline, soil erosion, and the abandonment of most of the country and were contending for supremacy, with many farms. bands of mercenaries fighting and plundering for them while But Iceland was never invaded (despite some kidnapping they tried to coax the Norwegian King Hakon into intervening raids by Algerian pirates in the 17th century and a brief Nazi on their side. He shrewdly played them off against each other, bombing during World War II). It has never invaded anyone, until Icelanders eventually opted for Norwegian sovereignty either. The 300,000 Icelanders, free from Danish oversight

Peer pressured - I have sympathy and admira­ voucher would enable poor parents to send their chil­ tion for that group of brave souls called "independent dren to elite private schools, with the latest computer scholars," i.e., people who do academic work bereft of and lab equipment, lots of teachers, and teachers with a stable academic position. I suspect such scholars are advanced degrees. But the partial voucher - again, less often able to do novel research precisely because they than one-fourth of what it should be - is still highly are not vested in an institutional setting with a shared prized, even though it will cover only the tuition of a paradigm to defend. It is easier to think outside the box small, poorly appointed parochial school, with little when you are outside the box to begin with. equipment, fewer teachers, and perhaps no teachers One such scholar, who is doing fascinating research with advanced degrees. on the psychology of personality development, is Judith Harris' theory explains why: ifI am poor, and cannot Harris, a prolific author whose recent books "The afford a good private school for my kid, I'd much rather Nurture Assumption" and "No Two Alike" address the send him to a poorly funded parochial school where perennial question: What makes people the way they his peers will be more inclined to be self-disciplined, are? Is it nature, our genes onl~ or nurture in the family, respectful, and moral, than send him to a fully funded our communit)r, or the broader culture? public school where his peers won't be so inclined. The Her work argues that when you separate out the presence of better lab equipment (as if basic educa­ clear and large genetic component of personality and tion required that), or more teachers (as if anyone still behavior, the features that remain don't seem to owe believed the debunked myth that smaller class sizes much to the influence of parents or famil~ or the broad improve instruction), or more teachers with M.Ed. community, or cultural influences such as TV and music. degrees (as if an M.Ed. degree were worth a rat's poste­ The predominant factor molding the non-genetic por­ rior) would be irrelevant to me. tion of a child's personality seems to be the peer group The second interesting phenomenon about vouch­ the child falls in with. She notes, for example, that a ers is the reluctance of upper-middle-class and wealthy child of immigrants will learn the language and accent parents to support them. You would think that such par­ of his peers, and use it rather than the language of his ents, many of whom are devout worshippers at the altar parents, even if he still speaks the parents' language at of modem liberalism, would want poor folk to have the home. Another example: poor African-American kids same freedom of choice that the wealthy have. After all, raised in poor neighborhoods are more apt to be highly middle-class and wealthy parents almost always either aggressive that those raised in middle-class neighbor­ send their kids to elite private prep schools, or move to hoods - which supports the idea that kids adopt the school districts where the public schools are demon­ norms of their peers. strably superior. And the more poor people who move This has the ring of truth to me, no matter how much up the ladder, the less taxes the wealthy will have to it deflates my fatherly feelings of importance. Parents pa~ and the less street crime they will have to endure. are reluctant to admit that their influence on kids is less So why don't wealthy people overwhelmingly endorse than that of the kids in the peer group. But of note here vouchers? is how Harris' theory helps make sense of two otherwise One cynical explanation is that the parents of stu­ puzzling things about educational vouchers. dents at superior public schools and elite prep schools The first is how popular vouchers are, even when ­ oppose vouchers out of naked egoism - leaving the because of the vile machinations of teachers' unions out children of the poor to rot in lousy public schools will to sabotage the program - they are far less than what a ensure that their own kids will face less competition for fair share of the public-school budget would dictate. In good colleges. But Harris' theory affords a better expla­ Milwaukee, for example, parents desperately try to get nation: what wealthier parents may fear is an influx of one of the meager and pathetically few $2,500 vouch­ students with bad moral traits, who will form alterna­ ers to send their kids to private school, even though the tive peer groups that will screw up their own kids. This city public schools spend an average of over $10,000 in is a concern that voucher proponents may well want to tax dollars per child per year. A full pro rata $10,000 address. - Gary Jason January 2007 since 1944, still exhibit in many ways a tough, go-to-hell inde­ the (then) present cost of a strike in the form of halted produc­ pendence, and despite typical Scandinavian welfare-state red­ tion and possible bankruptcy. Or they could have postponed tape rules and laws and taxes (now further complicated by the paying that price by promising pensions and benefits in the country's associate status with the ED), libertarians can still future. Economics teaches that present goods are necessarily instinctively feel at home there. It's just now going through always valued more highly than future goods. Therefore, the an entrepreneurial boom, but above all the vast empty and companies chose present goods - in this case labor peace and unfenced spaces, and their haunting, surreal beau~ give you continuous production - over the less highly valued freedom a sense of untrammeled freedom. Iceland just finished on top from having to pay pensions and benefits in the future. They of a survey measuring the percentage of people in dozens of were in effect extorted. countries who reported being happy. - Eric Kenning Leaving aside the problems GM and Ford have faced from competing with other car manufacturers, government bears Think globally, spray locally - Environ- considerable responsibility for their present predicament. mentalist ideologues have been rebuked again. One of the In the first place, collective bargaining as imposed by the founders of the movement, Rachel Carson, targeted the pesti­ National Labor Relations Act added clout to the labor unions' cide DDT in her 1960s screed "Silent Spring," alleging that it strike threats by compelling GM and Ford to deal with the caused cancer and ecological disaster. The book became one representatives of recognized unions chosen by a majority of of the enviros' bibles, and they managed to convince the EPA their workers in any category. And secondly, the existence of to ban the use of DDT in the United States in 1972. Eventuall)T, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation allowed GM and most countries followed suit. Ford to make more generous promises than they would have Birkenstock Boomers rejoiced, as did the mosquitoes if there had been no possibility of shifting to the taxpayers the that carry malaria. The result was a depressingly predictable burden of future pensions and retiree benefits. explosion of a disease that DDT had dramatically reduced. - Bettina Bien Greaves Because the alternatives to DDT are so ineffective, malaria now infects hundreds of millions of people a year, killing a Thefavoritegame - lfinallyfiguredoutwhatmust million a year - especially very young children with weak be happening behind and under the counter at my neighbor­ immune systems. hood lower Manhattan post office. The problem is not just This is the same old story: enviros push their agenda of that the slowness of the few clerks creates a long line within a "Earth First, People Last!" using whatever junk science they crowded space, itself reminding me of the more popular retail can find. This is easy to do, given that junk science is as com­ outlets in East Berlin, but that the clerks, I imagine, must be mon as bird crap. The consequence is that children suffer and collecting a daily pool of money that goes to whoever infuri­ die - not the children of the enviros, of course, but the chil­ ates the most customers during the working day. dren of sub-SaharanAfrica. But then, enviros have always had While they're putzing around, each is keeping score on much more compassion toward wolves than toward third­ himself and on the others. Whoever abuses the most, mea­ world children, perhaps because Disney makes more movies sured simply by getting customers to raise their voices, takes about cute animals than about dying children. all. Customer screaming for more than 15 seconds earns the However, a ray of rational hope has appeared. The World clerk two points; 30 seconds, three points; physical abuse, five Health Organization has announced that it will encourage points; and so on. No matter that most of the clerks, at least in the spraying of DDT indoors. It had earlier put DDT on the Manhattan, belong to "minorities" claiming a history of vic­ "allowed" list, but now will begin pushing its use, and push timization in America. for funding for that purpose. If DDT becomes widely used But what else can be expected from a retailer that has again, some estimates are that it will lower the incidence of conned the government into prosecuting competitors? Didn't malaria by 75%. This is welcome news, indeed - though it's Thomas Sowell write that the only segment of our society in a tad too late for the nearly 30 million people already dead, which union membership is expanding is public employment killed by malaria and the equally pernicious enviro ideology. - not only because higher wages won't bankrupt publicly - Gary Jason funded employers but also because most"civil servants" can't easily be fired? It is unfortunate that canny investors can't sell Pension pinching - GM and Ford are now in the USPS short. - Richard Kostelanetz financial trouble. One of their problems is the commitments they made years ago to pay pensions to retirees. Their gov­ Milton Friedman, RIP Word of Milton ernment-backed unionized workers had threatened to strike. Friedman's death was received as this issue of Liberty was What should the company officials have done? The compa­ going to press. Clearly, a long time will be required to adjust nies really had no choice at that time. They could have paid to a world of which Dr. Friedman is no longer a part. Friedman (1912-2006) was the last of the great libertarian This holiday season, give the gift of thinkers of the 20th century, and perhaps the most influen­ tial. The academic influence of his "Monetary History of the United States" (with Anna Schwartz, 1963) and of his deter­ mined attacks on Keynesian economics was very large. Larger still was his influence as an adviser of the political leadership of every part of the globe (he shared his wisdom with any who would listen). Largest of all was his influence on popularideas at a special holiday price! See page 57. continued on page 34 The Blue Tide The Wreckage and The Lifeboats

by Bruce Ramsey and the Editors and Contributors ofLiberty

On the Tuesday On November 7, 2006, a blue tide swept Democrats back into power in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. It was following the first no surprise; indeed, it had been a long time coming. In the 20th century there had always been a tide contrary to a government that entangled the Monday ofNovember, nation in a serious war. In 1918, 1946, 1952, and 1966 it had been a Republican Americans went to the tide and in 1992 a Democratic tide. In 2006 it was a Democratic tide again. There was no mistaking its meaning - and President Bush acknowledged it polls to select a new by sacking his secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld. More than anything else, the election was about the Iraq war - or, more accurately, the occupation of batch of. .. well ... Iraq. It was not that the American people agreed with the Left that it was about contracts for Halliburton or "blood for oil," or that it was a neocon venture in statesmen to lead the imperial globe-management. Some said those things, but for most Americans it was simply a business that had gone on too long and was getting nowhere and nation through 2008. was costing too much. They were in a mind simply to say the hell with it. TheDemocratshadnotrununderanyideologicalbanner. The coreDemocrats As is the custom do have an ideology, social democracy; their medium-term aims include state medical insurance for all children and a more generous state provision of old at Liberty, our people's pills. In the safe districts candidates talked about that, but the warriors who did battle in the swing districts kept that stuff in the box. They talked about contributors diagnose Bush, Bush, Bush. Very often, it was a winning strategy. The election of Nov. 7, 2006, put libertarians in an odd political position. the election, seeking to Radical libertarians may vote for the Libertarian Party or not at all, but if "lib­ ertarian" is defined as the word is used in general discourse, meaning someone discover how serious who favors markets and free trade, individual responsibility and social toler­ ance, most libertarians vote Republican most of the time. But not always - and the wounds were, and this was one of the years in which it was difficult to do that. how likely it is that In October, David Boaz and David Kirby argued in a Cato Institute paper, "The Libertarian Vote," that by a mainstream definition - social liberalism and individual freedom economic conservatism - 9% to 130/0 of American voters are libertarians. In 2000, 72% of these people voted for Bush; in 2004, 59% of them did. The reason will survive. for the decline, according to Boaz and Kirby, was "Republican overspending,

Liberty 17 January 2007 Election 2006 social intolerance, civil liberties infringements and the floun­ Republican write-in came in second (perhaps because of her dering war in Iraq." difficult name), and Smither came in third, with only 6% of The decline in libertarian support for Republicans contin­ the vote. ued. Colin McNickle, editorial page editor of the Pittsburgh Across the country lots of Libertarians ran, and almost Tribune-Review and a libertarian-leaning conservative, wrote all languished in the low single digits. A handful not identi­ on Oct. 22, "I, for one, refuse to yet again enter my polling fied on the ballot as Libertarians got elected, including one to place, [and] vote for the usual GOP suspects." the Hardeeville City Council, in South Carolina; one to the During the campaign, the Cato Institute held a forum on Rapides Island Water Board, in Louisiana; and another re­ whether libertarians should vote Democrat. Some libertar­ elected to the Juneau Assembly (a borough legislative body) ians said they would do that to restore divided government in Alaska. and put brakes on an imperial presidency. Reason magazine In my home state, Washington, the Libertarians ran posted a blog entry on how its staff intended to vote; the Bruce Guthrie, a former professor of management at Western answers included Democrats but no Republicans. The war Washington University, for u.s. Senate. He challenged Maria and civil liberties were their main reasons. Cantwell, a Clinton Democrat who had been elected in 2000. In another part of the ideological landscape, Ayn Rand's Guthrie did not attack the welfare state: on Social Security heir, Leonard Peikoff, found another reason: Christianity. The he said, "We can maintain full benefits if we get our priori­ Christian religion, he declared, had become a greater threat ties straight." The centerpiece of his campaign was immedi­ to the body politic than socialism. He linked Christianity ate withdrawal from Iraq, a position in contrast to Cantwell's, to the Republicans and socialism to the Democrats. HThe which was "find a way not to lose." Cantwell had long dis­ most urgent political task now," he wrote, "is to topple the appointed her party's left, which Guthrie set out to woo ­ Republicans from power." though he was no leftist. Guthrie ran three TV ads, low-budget but cute, showing A Libertarian Ponies Up paper-bag puppets being interviewed about Sen. Cantwell. There was, of course, the Party of Principle, the Libertarian Each admitted disappointment in her, but each still intended Party, which has been on the national scene for a third of a to vote for her. In one ad the puppet intoned, "I vote for the century. The Libertarians were hopeful that a number of their Democratic Party always." Then the message: "Don't be aparty standard-bearers might climb out of the single-digit well. On puppet! Vote Bruce Guthrie for Senate!" the congressional level their best hope was Bill Smither, who Cantwell's Republican challenger was former Safeco ran for the Texas seat recently vacated by Tom DeLay. The Insurance CEO Mike McGavick, who years earlier had been district was dependably conservative, the kind of bailiwick a Republican operative. He was a skillful candidate, and where DeLay's Republican replacement had a good chance Cantwell allowed him only one debate inwesternWashington. to win as a write-in candidate. But the Democrat won, the The sponsor, KING-TYj announced that it would allow into

Mandate, anyone? - "Pelosi to develop multiple identities and exer­ unlikely to land, all at once, on the help­ characterized the Democrats' winning cise their choice about multiple issues. less stomach of either party. control of the House of Representatives If America were rigidly divided Just before Pelosi gave her silly as a clear mandate from the American between partisans of Bush and deplor­ speech, I participated in a press con­ people" (San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. ers of Bush, the November election ference, arranged by Matt Lauer 8,2006). would have thrown 70% of congres­ of the "Today" show, in which an Yeah, sure. sional seats to the Democrats, instead able Republican pollster and an able For many years, this journal has of the paltry 550/0 they won. The real­ Democratic pollster told what they had been satirizing the superstition that ity is that a deplorer of Bush may be learned about the election of 2006. There whenever one party wins a national an evangelical Christian who is loath was no question about the election pro­ election, it receives some kind of "man­ to vote against a party that has some­ ducing a "mandate." The great majority date" from the American people. Our times identified itself with evangelical of seats that were lost by Republicans founder, R.W. Bradford, made hash Christian ideas; a gay business owner were lost by very small percentages. of this idea in his classic essay, "The who dislikes Bush's opinions about And supposedly single-issue voters did New Civic Religion" (February 1993, gay marriage but is much more con­ not respond particularly well to single reprinted, as a warning, in our 2006 cerned about whether his boyfriend issues. In the last national election, 78% pre-election issue). I followed with will have to pay inheritance taxes if the of white evangelical voters supported

"Politics vs. Ideology: How Elections Democrats bring back the death duties; the Republicans; in this election, 71 % Are Won" (February 2005). The fact or a working mother who feels seri­ did so. The decline was small, and well is that very few American elections ous class antagonism toward rich-bitch within the normal range of opinion involve large swings of the electorate. Nancy Pelosi. shifts in the general population. Was it Most are decided by narrow margins. Whoever the deplorer may be, he the Mark Foley affair that did it? Was it This results from the nature of a free or she has many competing identities. the rest of the "morals issue"? Or was societ~ in which people are encouraged The total mass of he's and she's is very it disgust with the war, which evangeli-

18 Liberty January 2007 The Blue Tide the debate any candidate who had raised $1.2 million in cam­ prise rather than new cultural constraints, big spending, or paign funds. Dipping into his net worth, Guthrie slapped that corporate subsidies." The caucus favors tolerance on social much on the table. He had not committed to spend it all, but it issues and genuine toughness on spending. got him in. The Green Party candidate, former Black Panther Writes Westmiller, "While RLC has not taken an offi­ Aaron Dixon, was omitted. He tried to crash the debate and cial position on the Iraq War, we are not apologists for the was dragged away by police. Guthrie did all right in the President or failed policies. We favor a defensive military pos­ debate; he got his view out to thousands of TV viewers. ture and oppose all nation-building." Most of the candidates Toward the end of October, McGavick, who was lagging supported by the RLC were for the war, but tended not to talk behind, ran an unusual TV ad. Itbegan by showing campaign about it. signs for his Green and Libertarian opponents, with a graphic The candidates with the highest RLC ratings were Rep. saying: "Guthrie, Dixon: Pull out Now." McGavick walked on Butch Otter of Idaho, running for governor; senators Craig screen and said, "On Iraq, Bruce Guthrie and Aaron Dixon Thomas of Wyoming, John Ensign of Nevada, Jon Kyl of have the guts to say what they think. They sa)', let's get the Arizona, James Talent of Missouri, and George Allen of troops out now." Then a sign with Cantwell's photo appeared, Virginia; and representatives Ed Royce and Dana Rohrabacher and a graphic saying, "FOR THE WAR." (Cantwell had voted of California, John Shadegg, J.D. Hayworth, and Jeff Flake of for the Iraq war resolution in 2002.) McGavick said: "But Arizona, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Steve Chabot of Ohio, and Maria Cantwell? It's just politics. First she voted for the war Ron Paul of Texas. In the Republican wipeout of 2006, Talent, and to stay the course for three years. And, now suddenly, Allen, and Hayworth lost their seats. she's become vague." (This was true. She had become vague.) Westmiller noted that Talent and Allen had "run to the McGavick went on to say that he supported victory - but the right" on social issues and that Hayworth, whose district is on clear message of the ad was that if you didn't support victor)!, the Mexican border, had run as a critic of immigration. "We ifyou would have America leave Iraq, you should vote for the favor the administration proposals for guest workers and an easy path to citizenship/' Westmiller said. Green or the Libertarian - not the Democrat. Libertarians' favorite Republican is Ron Paul, 72, who ran Cantwell won easil)!, and Guthrie received just over 1% of for president as a Libertarian in 1988. Before that, he repre­ the vote. sented the Texas coast around Galveston. In 1998 he won the Inside the Elephant seat back. In 2003 it was redistricted and became somewhat In the Republican Party there is a libertarian faction, more urban, which worried him. defined and supported by the Republican Liberty Caucus. Paul is not a standard Republican. Wrote Joe Stinebaker The RLC (www.r1c.org) is a small group trying to build influ­ of the Houston Chronicle, "Despite Paul's nine terms in ence by setting out a platform, says chairman Bill Westmiller, Congress as a Republican, the national GOP has never fully of "individual rights, limited government, and private enter- embraced him. Paul gets little money from the GOP's large cals probably feel as strongly as other Republican Party was the election of mandate. Watch for the new congres­ people? Perhaps it was concern with Ought Six. During the next two years, sionalleadership to (1) try to keep Bush the budget. Perhaps it was ... you fill the Democrats will never miss a chance from extricating himself (and therefore, in the blank. Use as many words as you to make fools of themselves, and the incidentally, the rest of the country) want, to cover all of Americans' com­ GOP will enjoy the best excuse in the from Iraq; (2) do its best to raise taxes, peting concerns. world to purge its incompetent leader­ especiallybybringingbackthe accursed N0, Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid do not ship. (Jeeze ... Denny Hastert? How death tax; (3) work to make voters and have a mandate. What they do have the hell did he get in? And I've never welfare clients out of as many of the is the politician's normal penchant for seen any plausible evidence of the Democrats' presumed supporters, the lying. alleged Satanic brilliancy of Karl Rove.) illegal immigrants, as it possibly can; What the Democratic leaders The Republicans have the opportunity (4) make sure that appointees to judge­ exhibit, besides, is a peculiarly unfor­ to recur to the conservative principles ships and regulatory commissions will tunate - though veracious - way of (which are often libertarian principles) deprive Americans of as much liberty presenting themselves. Pelosi acts like that have tended to win them elections, a spoiled child, which she is. Reid acts and abandon the country-club "con­ and fairness as even the editors of like the peevish grandpop who takes servatism" of the Bushians (which is the New York Times could dream of the young 'uns out to the barn an' ordinarily a short-term success and a doing. whups 'em. These people are a satirist's long-term disaster). Meanwhile, the Whether the Democrats will (5) delight. It is certain that they will make Democratic leadership ,,,,ill create a scheme to impeach Bush and hound his the Democratic Party look like some­ paradise of mirth for people like me, chief advisers into prison remains to be thing that Daffy Duck would scorn to as they try to live up to their illusory seen. But whatever the winning party join. "mandate." does, it will certainly claim that it is It is entirely possible that one of the The only problem is ... you can do irresistibly prompted by its "mandate." best things that ever happened to the a lot of harm, even if you don't have a - Stephen Cox

Liberty 19 January 2007 Election 2006 traditional donors, but benefits from individual conservative him against the Democrats. He lost his seat on Nov. 7, leaving and Libertarian donors outside Texas." only Paul, centrist Jim Leach of Iowa, and libertarian-leaning On the National Taxpayers' Unionlist of taxpayers'friends, John Duncan of Tennessee.) Paul is ranked second out of 435. (Jeff Flake is first). On Paul had a Republican challenger who used the Iraq CNET's ranking of representatives, based on their support for war vote against him. Paul beat him, then faced Democrat technology, Paul is at the absolute top. He is famously for the Shane Sklar, 30, an officer of the Independent Cattlemen's gold standard and a strict interpretation of the Constitution, Association of Texas. Sklar ran a TV ad that said, "Ron Paul and was one of only six Republicans in the House who voted is a libertarian. Against Medicare. Against funding port secu­ against the Iraq war resolution of 2002. (Another of the six, rity. Ineffective. Ignored." He attacked Paul for bringing home John Hostettler of Indiana, found that his stance did not help too little pork. "If these dollars aren't coming back to the 14th congressional district, they're going somewhere," he said. Thirteen paths to para­ this proposal included the idea that it "Just not here." would reduce oil consumption by 25%, The California ballot offered Sklar also said he would dise - and the stipulation that the costs of the 13 propositions for the voter's choice. have voted for the war. Paul increased taxes could not be passed on countered with a TV commer­ Seven passed. One of them was a propo­ to the consumer. Subjected to a wither­ cial of a war veteran praising sition that the state go into debt by $10 ing ad campaign, it died by a vote of 55% him for help in securing his billion to fund "safe drinking water." to 45%. For more information, see Bruce benefits. (But why not just buy 10 billion quarts Ramsey's adjacent report. Paul won 60% of the vote. of Arrowhead and start passing 'em Another crackpot proposal, placed out?) Six other propositions represented on the ballot by a wealthy individual, to Racial Neutrality Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt to levy a special tax of $50 on every piece A case can be made that gratify his Cheops Complex by selling of real property in the state except, of libertarians who enjoy politics $42 billion worth of bonds to finance course, property held by "certain elderly should work for ballot mea­ improvements in roads and schools, and disabled homeowners," the pro­ sures rather than candidates. and to turn all the jails in the state into ceeds to go to the public schools, which Not all states have such mea­ granaries. in every state are always considered sures, but in 2006 some offered No, I was lying about the jails. miserably underfunded at election time. a feast of them, many with a Schwarzenegger's propOSitions prom­ When early polls showed that, surpris­ libertarian flavor. ised to do such things as synchronize ingly, this particular proposal had no One of the most fascinating the traffic lights on LA streets. As if LA public support, its inciters decided not couldn't have performed this miracle contests was the one involv­ to put any more money into puffing it, ing Proposal 2, the Michigan with its own money. and the scheme was voted down by an The last proposal that passed was an Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI), ignominious 77°,10 to 23°,10. Well, it pays to which was written to ban racial initiative designed to deny convicted sex advertise. offenders the ability to live or work in and gender preferences in state An attempt at public funding of employment, contracting, and most areas of the state. This populist bill political campaigns, a sell-job sponsored education. It won 580/0 of the of attainder passed everywhere except primarily by the nurses' union, defeated vote, and libertarians were in sex-sensitive San Francisco County. 75% to 25%. Unions were, of course, heavily involved in campaign­ The six defeated propositions were: granted exemption from the proposal's ing for it. A provision requiring that the par­ spending caps and other controls, butthe Similar measures were ents or guardians of minor children be California Teachers Association thought passed in the 1990s in notified 48 hours in advance of an abor­ that the proposal would interfere with California (55% of the vote) tion. This perished, 54% to 46%, at the Teachers in some wa)T, and so opposed it. and Washington (58%), with hands of a "right to choose" campaign. The true cause of death, however, seems A provision requiring an enormous to have been starvation. The public was the help of Ward Connerly, a increase in cigarette taxes that would simply uninterested in the public fund­ former regent of the University have generated revenues for (among ing of politicians. Praise God. of California. Connedy· also other things) hospital treatment of ille­ A proposal to deal with the problem sponsored MCRI. He is the gal aliens. Went down on a bare 52% to of eminent domain by preventing gov­ most famous American cru­ 48% vote - an indication of the extent ernment from condemning properties sader for race neutrality. He of antismoking hysteria in the state of in order to devote them to private uses. has taken a lot of abuse for it, California, and the degree to which it This proposition was defeated 52 to 48, particularly because he is, by always threatens to top all other issues. apparently because of its complex and American reckoning, black, In this instance, it was the illegals that allegedly mysterious effects. Again, see though when I met him in killed it, barely. Ramsey's report. 1996 he noted that he was A crackpot scheme to levy a big tax And from this circus, draw whatever part African, part European, on oil producers in order to reduce the moral (or entertainment) you wish. and part American Indian. He consumption of oil. Quaint features of - Stephen Cox January 2007 The Blue Tide thinks that the whole practice of dividing a melting-pot nation aspirations and struggles of our people." One of their means into racial tribes is reactionary. was dumping over the tables of the state canvassing board, This time I emailed him and asked him to compare his intimidating its members. Another was cursing and spitting opponents in Michigan in 2006 with those in the earlier at Jennifer Gratz. BAMN also sued to have the initiative kept efforts. He replied: "Our opponents in Michigan are less civil, meaner, less respectful of those with whom they disagree, more prone to lie (BIG LIES) and distort, and less willing to genuinely engage about the issue. The element of 'white guilt' In several university and beach towns, vot­ is significantly more prevalent in Michigan than in California and Washington. It is for these reasons that Michigan will be ers were offered the choice to make enforcement one of the last states in our nation to come to terms with the of marijuana laws the lowest police priority. issue of 'race.' Frankly, I believe there are many in Michigan (black and white) who, for institutional and financial reasons, All these measures passed. don't want to come to terms with the issue. They are very con­ tent with de facto segregation in Michigan and all of the other accouterments of race. Race-based 'affirmative action' is just one way for each of the major 'races' to get their respective off the ballot; it took the case to the Michigan Supreme Court shares of the pie." and lost. However, Michigan's secretary of state insisted on The other public spokesperson was Jennifer Gratz, who adding the term "affirmative action" to the ballot description, was denied entrance to the University of Michigan's main which hadn't included it. campus in Ann Arbor for the 1995-96 term because she was The Detroit News, which opposed Proposal 2, reported white, and whose case in 2003 became Gratz v. Bollinger, at that the measure was opposed by "virtually every religious, the U.S. Supreme Court. (Gratz won, but the other plaintiff, political, civic, business and labor group in the state." Into the Barbara Grutter, lost when the Court sided with"diversity.") umbrella opposition group, One United Michigan, poured Gratz had long since graduated from UM's less prestigious money from businesses, including $100,000 each from General Dearborn campus, and had been working in the computer Motors, Ford, Daimler Chrysler, and Toyota. The measure was industry. opposed both by Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, as you As they had done in California and Washington, the oppo­ might expect, and by her Republican challenger, Amway heir nents said that the initiative was misleading because it called Richard DeVos (who lost his own election). itself a civil-rights initiative, and that people had signed the The campaign against the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative petition not knowing what it meant. This was not true: racial outspent Connerly and Gratz 10 to 1. It did not argue mainly neutrality is a simple idea and most people quickly under­ that the measure would hurt blacks and Hispanics. Instead, it stand what it means. In any case the Michigan organizers had "tried to portray the measure as anti-woman," wrote Detroit collected 508,000 signatures, 60% more than they needed. News columnist Thomas Bray. A TV ad said the initiative Arrayed against them was a leftist group calling itself would cut out math and science programs for girls and medi­ By Any Means Necessary. This group says on its website, cal screening for cervical and breast cancer. Another ad said "BAMN will employ whatever means are necessary to oppose the initiative had been "brought to Michigan by a secret group and defeat these attacks on the democratic and egalitarian of Californians."

Gridlocked days are here again - The recent than it is today. election holds much optimism for those of us on the side America certainly is conservative, if the election results are of limited government. It seems that the electorate rejected an indication. Amendments against gay marriage passed in Republicans for abandoning their commitment to that idea. eight states, protections for property rights passed in seven, The new century found Republicans supporting record defi­ and affirmative action lost in one. In truth, the Democrats won cits and the infamous Alaskan "Bridge to Nowhere." Speaker a slimmer majority in the House than the Republicans hold Dennis Hastert claimed the FBI had no right to search William toda~ and they won back roughly the same portion of the Jefferson's office, and kept silent during the Cunningham and Senate they had in 2001. I'm dying to see what happens when Foley scandals. incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi tries to raise taxes. These and other incidents convinced most Americans The GOP made a similar mistake in '94. Thinking the that there was very little difference between Republicans and nation had moved right, Gingrich tried to implement the Democrats. Enter Rahm Emanuel with his merry band of pro­ Contract with America immediatel~ and the Republicans life, pro-gun, fiscally responsible Democrats, and conserva­ paid dearly for it in '96. I can't foresee Democrats getting any­ tive voters found little reason to go out to the polls. thing passed other than the minimum-wage increase. They However, the Democrats are about to make a big mis­ might get immigrant amnesty too, although the unions won't take: they will believe the nation has moved leftward and act like it much. accordingly. In truth, since most of the liberal Republicans Gridlock has always been my favorite condition of were replaced with conservative Democrats, there is a good Congress, and that's exactly how it's going to stay for the next chance that Congress will be more conservative in January two years. Sometimes, democracy works. - Tim Slagle

Liberty 21 January 2007 Election 2006

The race-neutrality side ran a calm, low-key TV com­ mercial with Cannedy saying, "We all know that affirma­ tive action has been corrupt and unfair" and that "equal treatment is your civil right." It ran a radio ad by a woman supporting Granholm for governor, saying of the initiative, "I read it. I understand it. I signed it." Another radio ad had

The city appraiser admitted that he "may have been on the wrong property when he made his assessment. 1/

Jennifer's father, Brad Gratz, saying that Proposal 2 would have given his daughter"an equal chance to compete based on merit, not skin color or gender." The calm, low-key approach worked, and the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative won big. Look for more race-neutral­ ity measures in 2008. Limiting the Tax Man Taxes were at the center of political battle in many states. Nationwide, the most dramatic figure in tax initia­ tives was Howard Rich, chairman ofAmericans for Limited Government. The Wall Street Journal reported that through that and other groups Rich donated more than $15 million for state ballot measures to limit taxes, curb abuse of emi­ nent domain, and require payment for regulatory takings. For all this he was demonized; as Mr. Rich, he had the perfect name for it. The left-wing Ballot Initiative Strategy Center put up a web page, www.howierichexposed.com. with the head­ line, "How a real estate tycoon is secretly trying to influ­ ence your state government." It identified Rich as a director of the Club for Growth and the Cato Institute, president of U.S. Term Limits, a Libertarian Party activist, and husband of Andrea Millen Rich, former proprietor of Laissez Faire Books. It called him a "multi-millionaire real estate devel­ oper from New York, with no stake in the real priorities of the states he has targeted." Of course, if Rich had had a stake, they would have said he was doing it for the money. In Montana, the public school teachers' union sued, and on Sept. 13 convinced a state judge to throw three of Rich's initiatives off the ballot. One set up a mechanism for recalling judges - probably the judge didn't like that one - another limited state spending, and another required payment for regulatory takings. On Oct. 2 a poll by the Lee Newspapers found the regulatory takings measure with 51°k> in favor and 21 % against, but it was off the ballot nevertheless. In Missouri, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, a Democrat, refused to count petition signatures for a Taxpayers' Bill of Rights because the petition pages were not sequentially numbered by county, as was required. In Nevada, a judge removed part of a Rich-backed

22 Liberty January 2007 The Blue Tide

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there wouldi>enofearthatea.rly resultsinthe Eastwould a resultof an entitytaking away an ID card. The resultis affect votingin the West.· There would, ofcours¢jbellexit nothing short of emasculation. . . poUst as eager reportersq-uestioneci voters.personflllyas Ifthe point of Ohio's voteridentificationlawisfopre- . they leftthei:rvotingplaces'Thesecould, of course,influ- vent voter fral-ld; then expired ID cards should be hap- ence late voters. Butthese would not beof£iciatAndno pilyaccepted. (After all, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles .

. . .., . . . .' .. January 2007 Election 2006 property-rights measure but left the other part. as reported shortly after the election.) In Nebraska, where the Some of Rich's Taxpayers' Bills of Rights did, however, Omaha World-Herald called Measure 423 "the wrong way to make it to the ballot in three states. These measures would try to do a much needed thing," it went down, 70% "no." In have modified state constitutions to impose a spending limit Maine, Question 1 was rejected with a vote of 54 % "no." based on population plus inflation, leaving the legislature free In Washington, voters rejected a locally sponsored mea­ to lift the lid with a two-thirds vote, confirmed by a vote of the sure to repeal the state estate tax, which has a top marginal electorate. rate of 19%. The campaign pitted two Washington business All the proposals failed. In Oregon, where the Portland figures against each other: Frank Blethen, publisher of the paper called Measure 48 "far and away the worst, most poten­ family-controlled Seattle Times, and Bill Gates, Sr., father tially damaging initiative on the ballot," it went down, 71% of the founder of Microsoft. Blethen, who wants to keep the "no." (All the vote percentages in this article are provisional, paper in the famil)', favored repeal; Gates, whose son has put

Sometimes you get the bar - As poli­ tant lesson: next election, I'll only drink when a hateful tics and alcohol go hand in hand, it is only natural that incumbent is returned to office. The effect on the country political events inspire quite a few drinking games. will be the same, but at least I won't go to bed sober. These range from the complex (every time a Kennedy's - Andrew Ferguson liver threatens to go on strike, take a number of shots If the richly deserved inversely proportional to his rank in committee ... oh, Chasing the dream - GOP defeat is any guide, the presidential "dream candi­ you get the idea) to the simple (think about politics date" for 2008 will have the following profile: opposed and, man, you need a drink). The complex games require a group of people to war in Iraq, vaguely socially liberal, economically con­ dedicated to following the game until they're too servative. Democrats have discovered, almost by default, smashed to care, and are thus perfect for State of the how following this dream candidate formula can work Union addresses: "OK, that's two nukyulars, one own­ wonders for races in the red states. Two of their elec­ ership society, and one patronizing callout to the mili­ tion night superstars, Jon Tester of Montana and James tary amputee ... six shots, everyone!" But on Election Webb of Virginia, rode to victory by not only opposing Day, simplicity is to be preferred: just as you're alone the war but also taking unorthodox stands on issues such in the booth, so should you be alone in the bottle. as gun control and taxes. It is unlike1)', however, that the My simple scheme for November 7 was this: Democrats will repeat this success at the presidential every time a hateful incumbent was ousted, I took a level. Even if a socially liberal, antiwar, fiscally conserva­ drink. I started when Sen. Mike DeWine crashed to tive dream candidate emerged, the party's statist estab­ defeat in Ohio, taking with him his panoptical ideas lishment would probably stand in the way. for building a better surveillance state. Then I toasted On the surface, the prospects are slightly better for Pennsylvania voters for ridding themselves of Sen. the Republicans. Of those now in the presidential race, Rick Santorum and his thirst for holy war in Iran. Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska comes closest to fitting I'd built up a pretty good buzz off the losses in the the dream candidate profile. A Vietnam veteran and pio­ Northeast, relishing especially those of prescription neer in the cellular phone industr)T, Hagel has long been a drug bill author Nancy Johnson in Connecticut and thoughtful Iraq war skeptic. His credentials on trade, reg­ dim bulb Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island, when the ulation, gun rights, and taxes are pro-small government results started pouring in from the red states. By the (at least for a Republican), and they positively shine when time I'd caught up with them (and moreover, by the compared to the pro-war big three: Rudy Giuliani, John time they'd caught up with me), it was almost the end McCain, and Mitt "Government-mandated insurance" of the night, and the Dems had taken the House and Romney. (Hagel is less impressive on civil liberties.) were threatening the Senate. But Hagel faces an almost impossible uphill battle After six years of expensive, invasive one-party to win the nomination. Though the GOP's conservative dominance, divided government was finally back. I activists may be despondent right now, they seem too prepared a final cheerful libation, something to send emotionally invested in the war to make such a radical me to a gentle sleep with pleasant dreams of govern­ break. ment gridlock - then made the mistake of flipping This leaves the Libertarians. Can the LP seize this on C-Span at the exact moment that Nancy Pelosi was opening and run a dream candidate? Possibly. But right giving Harry Reid the sort of introduction usually now the signs are not too promising. In a pre-election reserved for carpenters riding donkeys. It occurred to appeal to libertarian voters, party chair William Redpath me that, come 2009, this pair might be penning bills said nothing at all about the war, much less about Bush's for a Great Society true-believer president to sign into use of the War on Terror as a pretext to assault civilliber­ law. ties. Instead, when most ordinary Americans listed the That thought was like black coffee, fresh air, and war as their main concern, the hopelessly out-of-touch a cold shower combined, and it taught me an impor- Redpath highlighted "electoral reform. - David T. Beito January 2007 The Blue Tide much of his assets into a foundation, favored the tax. bill, Measure 37, and in 2004, 61°1<> of voters supported it. Says The repealers argued that the "death tax" was a killer Liberty contributing editor Randal O'Toole, "Oregon voters of locally owned family business. Their opponents argued have a habit of passing measures that they previously sup­ that the tax was good because only the wealthy paid it, and ported, usually by larger margins than originally." because the money went to public schools. Repeal failed, 610/0 Measure 37, which has been upheld by the Oregon voting "no." Supreme Court, is a "payor waive" law. The government can enforce a land-use rule and pay the owner for the loss Kelo, and Payor Waive in value, or it can issue a waiver that leaves the owner free to Howard Rich bankrolled two sets of measures protective ignore the rule. of private property. The first forbade the seizure of private In nearby states, supporters of regulation raised an alarm property for resale to private parties. These were meant to about Oregon. Landowners' claims were in the billions! That nullify the Supreme Court's Kelo decision, which allows state was true, though not one cent had been paid. Until October and local governments to seize and pay for private property 2006, all the approved claims had been granted waivers. for purposes of "economic development." The second set of When government has to pay for what it takes, it doesn't take measures mostly included anti-Kelo provisions plus a require­ so much. ment that governments pay for regulatory takings. About a week before the November election, Prineville in The pure anti-Kelo measures appealed not only to conser­ central Oregon offered to pay a Measure 37 claim. The town vatives, but also to liberals who detested the idea of private is ringed by rim rock, a piece of which had been owned by homes being taken for a Costco or a Wal-Mart. The measures Grover Pailin, 80, and his wife Edith, 78, since 1963. For years passed overwhelmingly in all eight states where they were they had wanted to build a house up there, but in 1978 the offered: zoning tightened, and in the '90s it tightened again, and the State "Yes" vote new rule forbade a house within 200 feet of the rim. The sale purpose of the rule was not to spoil the view from the town Nevada 63°1<> center. Oregon 670/0 Measure 37 has a retroactive provision that is, in fact, quite North Dakota 670/0 radical. A landowner can petition to develop land under the Florida 69% rules in effect when the land came into his or his family's pos­ Michigan 80% session. The Pailins came forward with plans for their dream Georgia 820/0 house that satisfied the zoning code of 1963. "We don't have New Hampshire 860/0 many years left," said Edith Pailin to the Portland Oregonian. "We want to get up there and enjoy it." South Carolina 86°1<> The city offered the Pailins $47,500 in compensation. This sum was based on the city appraiser's calculation that the lot (In the September primar)!, Louisiana also passed such a measure, by 55% "yes.") Except in Oregon and Arizona, these was worth $60,000. The Pailins hired a private appraiser, who were constitutional amendments. set the value at $200,000. The city appraiser then admitted to Dana Berliner, attorney at the Institute for Justice, said the results "highlight the nation's complete rejection of emi­ nent domain for private development." Some 35 states have restricted eminent domain since the Kelo ruling. The second type of measure passed only inArizona, where the vote was 65°!c> "yes." It failed in California, with 52°1<> vot­ Con~res~ ing "no," in Washington with 580/0 voting "no," and in Idaho with a stunning 750/0 voting "no." Typically these regulatory takings measures allowed government a free hand to regulate for human health or safety, or to abate a nuisance. But if the regulation was for the benefit of wildlife, aesthetics, or some 4 planners' project, and it resulted in the value of the property going down, the government ,would have to pay for the lost value. The move to offer such proposals began in Oregon. That state had been an early and zealous adopter of statewide land-use planning. Under Oregon's rules, to build a house on farmland you had to have at least $40,000 or $80,000 of agricul­ tural income from that farm, depending on the fertility of the soil. Oregon won nationwide praise for this stuff, but voters thought otherwise and in 2000 passed an initiative demanding payment for regulatory takings. The Oregon Supreme Court "Our jobs would be a lot easier ifthe taxpayers and the voters struck the initiative down, but the sponsors wrote a tighter weren't the same dam people!"

Liberty 25 January 2007 Election 2006 the Prineville Central Oregonian that he "may have been on billion - the cost, presumably, of not paving over the farm­ the wrong property when he made his assessment." At press lands. Before the anti-933 ads hit, 933 was polling at 55%. Just time the matter was not settled. before election day, support had dropped to 39%. In the elec­ Meanwhile, the fight had spread north and east and south tion, it went down. of Oregon. In Washington the fight was over Initiative 933, a In Idaho, a state more conservative than Washington, vot­ measure that covered all regulatory takings since Jan. 1, 1996, erswere offered Proposition2, a compensation-for-regulatory­ making it the most radical of the four measures on the bal- takings measure with no retroactivity. This more moderate measure failed even more miserably. Prop. 2 was not sponsored by a group with an image as benign as the Farm Bureau, but by Laird Maxwell, the feisty The Democrats offered no program. They chairman of Idahoans for Tax Reform. Maxwell is not popular in the Idaho establishment, and he had the further stigma of won not by being leftists but by being not­ accepting money from Mr. Rich of New York. Citing this sup­ Republicans. portfrom Rich, the presidentof the Idaho Realtors called Prop. 2 "a New York solution in search of an Idaho problem." Idaho's Republican governor, Jim Risch, did a TV com­ mercial opposing Prop. 2. The Nature Conservancy and other lot. Initiative 933 was a project of the Washington State Farm green groups supplied the cash for TV ads, one of which Bureau and was writtenby a Bellevue, Wash., law firm known claimed hyperbolically that requiring government to pay for for defending property rights. A member of that firm, John regulatory takings "could turn any Idaho propert)T, including Groen, had run against the chief justice of the Washington farmland, into junkyards, power plants, and high rises." Supreme Court and lost in the primary election of Sept. 19. Milton Williams, a Boise citizen, wrote in a letter to the Unfortunately, Groen's campaign had soaked up a lot of editor: "We've been swamped by TV and press ads claim­ the property-rights money, particularly from builders. The ing that a wealthy New Yorker is funding Proposition 2 for realtors remained neutral. So did the state chamber of com­ greedy purposes ... I have yet to see any TV or press commer- merce. Several organizations told the Farm Bureau they didn't want to get the government mad at them, and stayed The tion, and to claim (in the profile that out. The Bureau had few allies - partly Here goes nothing - August issue of Liberty reported on appeared on the national LP website) because its measure was fairly radical. the summer election in California's that "illegal immigration will con­ Oregon's Measure 37 had wonin2004 50th congressional district, an elec­ tinue to be a problem ... as long as with a TV ad about a 91-year old woman tion called to select a temporary suc­ government continues to give away named Dorothy English, who had been cessor to the longtime Republican social services, health care and public prevented from subdividing her land. In congressman Randy ("Duke") education." This message was certain Washington there was Edwina Johnston, Cunningham, currently imprisoned to pleaseneitherthe anti-immigration 71, retired but with no pension. In the for taking bribes. The big issue in nor the pro-immigration crowd. King 1970s she had bought forested land in the 50th district was illegal immi­ got 2% of the vote in the summer. the foothills of the Cascades as her retire­ gration, and it remained that way in Meanwhile, Art Olivier, former ment investment. King County (Seattle) November, when voters ordained a mayor of a medium-sized suburb had imposed "buffers" around two permanent congressperson. of Los Angeles, mounted a serious trickles of water, making it impossible In the summer election, campaign for governor of California to develop part of her land, and thereby Republican Brian Bilbray beat on the Libertarian ticket. Olivier is devaluing it. An outside group did make Democrat Francine Busb)T, who had a vigorous, articulate, persuasive an ad with Johnston, but they included been recorded telling a person who advocate of libertarian ideas. And two other property owners, and each asked her, in Spanish, how he could he didn't waffle or temporize or just had a few seconds of explanation, no help her campaign, despite the fact merely theorize on the immigration personal details and not much emotion. that he didn't "have papers": "You issue. He made himself the anti­ But it was too late in the campaign, and don't need papers for voting, you illegal-immigration candidate. His the ad didn't have the same punch. don't need to be a registered voter stance on this issue won him valu­ By Nov. 1, the FarmBureauhad spent to help." This soon became the most able endorsements from conservative only$220,000 on media, and could afford famous thing that was ever said in politicians and talk-show hosts, and only cable TV. Opponents, bankrolled by San Diego County. such right-wing heroes as members Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, his old part­ The Libertarian candidate in both of the Minutemen, the volunteer bor­ ner Paul Allen, the Nature Conservancy the summer and the fall elections der monitors. and others, spent 10 times as much and was Paul King. King's approach to On August 26, Olivier attended had lots of ads on broadcast TV. Its ads the immigration issue was to blame an anti-illegal-immigration rally in variously claimed that 1-933 would pave the government of Mexico for creat­ Maywood, where pro-immigration over the farmlands and cost taxpayers $8 ing conditions favorable to emigra- protestors beat up one of his female 26 Liberty January 2007 The Blue Tide daIs supporting Proposition 2." Maxwell's group unveiled its would embed in the state constitution a right to harvest stem first ad Oct. 31, a week before the election. It was too little and cells from embryos a few days old. Amendment 2 was bank­ way too late. rolled with more than $29 million from Jim and Virginia In California, where an anti-Kelo plus regulatory takings Stowers, cancer survivors who founded the Stowers Institute proposal had no retroactivit~ it carried the "red" interior but lost in the "blue" coastal cities. Opponents outspent it on advertising 11 to 1. Spokesman for Prop. 90 Kevin Spillane said that "a number of potential financial supporters who were skeptical of Prop. 90's chances decided not to become Across the country lots of Libertarians ran, involved." He promised another try in 2008. and almost all languished in the low single In Arizona the story was different. As in Idaho and digits. California, the measure, Proposition 207, was prospective onl~ with no retroactivity. Arizona also had a longer list of exemptions, including traffic control, pollution, morals, and all measures not directly regulating land. Arizona has a for Medical Research in Kansas City. Said the St. Louis Post more favorable political climate than the other three states. Dispatch, which endorsed Amendment 2, "Ifwe are to remain Arizona's main business organizations endorsed 207 - and on the cutting edge, scientists must be free to pursue the most it passed easily. promising avenues of inquiry." Assuming it passes muster in the courts, Prop. 207 brings Actor Michael J. Fox made national news when he spoke to two the number of states that require compensation for goggle-eyed in a TV ad, swaying uncontrollably from the regulatory takings: Oregon and Arizona. effects of Parkinson's disease. "What you do in Missouri," he Stem Cells, Abortion, Marriage said, "mattersto millions ofAmericans - Americans like me." Stem cells have been a high-profit investment for liberals, His ad was for the Democratic candidate for Senate, Claire because the issue paints social conservatives as anti-science. McCaskill, but it also spoke for the stem-cell measure. In Missouri, voters were offered Amendment 2, which Against the measure were the Catholics and Baptists, who

staffers; then tore the American flag ran candidates in 24 of them. In illegal immigration (recommending from the post office and replaced it 20 of those races there was both a that employers who hire illegals be with the Mexican flag. He vigorously Republican and a Democratic candi­ fined $5,000 per employee) with an publicized the incident, giving his date - one of whom, typically, won exemplary approach to energy con­ campaign an even sharper edge. a massive gerrymandered victory. servation, boasting thathe commuted In the November election, nei­ The predictability of those elections on his bicycle over 4,000 miles a year ther King nor Olivier was vulner­ invited any citizen who really identi­ and used only about $30 of electric­ able to the argument that if you vote fied with the Libertarian Party to go ity a month. Apparently voters liked Libertarian you are merely helping ahead and vote for it, without fear of this. Although the Republican was the worse of the two major-party can­ the lesser of the two evils winning. clearly in a heap of trouble, fighting didates to win. There was no ques­ That person would win anyway. But for his life in 2006 after sailing to vic­ tion that Republican Congressman the average LP vote in those 20 dis­ tory in 2004 with a 65-350/0 majority, Bilbray and Republican Governor tricts was only 2.80/0. people were still willing to vote for Schwarzenegger would win their In four districts in which there Dan Warren, despite the possibility elections - the former because of was no Republican candidate, the of throwing the election to someone his opposition to illegal immigra­ Libertarian did much better. The LP they regarded as the greater of the tion, the latter because of his pecu­ percentages in those districts were two evils. liar mixture of modern-liberal and 7.8, 16.2, 17.0, and 17.5 (the last in the This remains one race out of 24. conservative positions, and the fact 37th congressional district, southern California's 4th district lies in the far that the Democratic candidate was LA County, where the LP candidate northeastern part of the state, a place not only very far to the left but also had scored only 4.7% in 2004, a year that's as different as the moon from an exceptionally stupid campaigner. when there was a Republican as the populous areas of California. I And the two Republicans did win well as a Democratic candidate). But remember the old joke about elec­ - Bilbray by 10 percentage points, the LP candidate may have swung toral geography, generated by the Schwarzenegger by 16. the balance in only one district ­ election of 1936, when the Republican But how did the two Libertarians California 4. There the Republican presidential candidate carried only do? Well, Olivier got only 1.3% of incumbent pulled it out with 49.3°,10 two states: "As Maine goes, so goes the vote, and King got only 1.9%. of the vote; his Democratic chal­ Vermont." Unfortunately, the ana­ Nothing worked. lenger got 45.7%, and the Libertarian logue for this year would have California has 53 congressio­ got 5%. This candidate, Dan Warren, to be: "As the 4th goes, so goes ... nal districts. The Libertarian Party combined an aggressive approach to nothing." - Stephen Cox January 2007 Election 2006 don't generally work together. Social conservative Alan Keyes State "Yes" vote said against the measure that it represented "the culture of South Dakota 52% death" and would pass"at the cost of our souls." Opponents Wisconsin 55°k included Sen. Jim Talent, the RepUblican rated as a libertarian Colorado 56% by the RLC. The Libertarian candidate, Frank Gilmour, sup­ Virginia 58% ported Amendment 2 - which won with 51% of the vote. The Idaho 65% result of the Senate race was McCaskill, 49.5%, Talent 47.4%, South Carolina 78% and Gilmour 2.2°k. Tennessee 83°k InSouthDakota, Referred Law 6 would have banned abor­ tion except to save the life of the mother. The legislature had Twenty-three states now have suchbans. For the first time, passed the ban early in 2006 to set up a case to test Roe v. Wade however, a same-sex marriage ban failed, winning only 49% in the new Roberts and Alito Supreme Court. Opponents used of the vote in supposedly conservative Arizona. (It was Barry a petition to put the ban on the ballot, and voters rejected it, Goldwater's state, after all.) voting 56% "no." Still, this may be misleading: since same-sex marriage as such was banned in Arizona in 1996, many saw the new In Oregon (540/0) and California (54%), voters voted down bill as an attack on public employees' domestic-partner ben­ a law that would have required parental notification for a efits. When opponents of the bill ran ads picturing those who minor to receive an abortion - a restriction already in place would lose their benefits as a result of passage, the pictures in most states. The most liberal states regarding abortion for included young heterosexuals, retirees, and children - but minors are now Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Vermont, and not a single gay couple. Connecticut. A measure to allow same-sex civil unions failed in Marijuana Depenalization Colorado with 47% of the vote. Constitutional amendments to Medical marijuana was already permitted in eight states: ban same-sex marriage passed in seven states: Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Montana,

I'll be your father figure to the next generation through pub­ few days before the election, a former - This election illustrated a stark lic education. Their opinion on gay Goldschmidt speechwriter said he difference between the Right and the marriage is telling. Whereas those on had told Kulongoski about the affair Left. You don't see the Republicans in the Right look at the church marriage in 1994, when Kulongoski was attor­ that same dark funk that enveloped as the true ceremon)', and the state ney general, and the future governor Democrats after the past three elec­ license as mere formalit)', the Left did nothing about it. tions. You won't see them complain­ believes exactly the opposite. The Republican challenger, Ron ing that the election was stolen, or This is why they are so adamant Saxton, had also worked closely with sending armies of attorneys to chal­ about getting the state to recognize Goldschmidt. When Saxton chaired lenge ballots. They won't spend the gay marriages. They ascribe emo­ Portland's school board, he hired next six years claiming that Nancy tions and feelings to government. Goldschmidt's brother Steve as a con­ Pelosi is an illegitimate, unelected When the government isn't run in sultant for $221,000 a year. Saxton leader, despite countless irregulari­ accordance with their political views, also participated with Goldschmidt ties and close elections. You won't see they feel as if they are living under an inanattempted takeover ofPortland's books about how the Left manipu­ angry god, and behave like teenag­ largest electric compan~ a deal that lated the Diebold machines and reg­ ers rebelling against a disciplinarian could have made them both mil­ istered thousands of dead people. father figure. - Tim Slagle lions. Conservatives charged that Constitutionalists believe the Saxton was a "RINO" (Republican In process is more important than the Getting theirs - In Oregon's power, and it is vital to cede gra­ race for governor, both major candi­ Name Only), as he had given money ciousl)', rather than threaten the dates ran in the shadow of former to the Democratic Party and various delicate mechanism that allows our Gov. Neil Goldschmidt, Portland's Democrats. self-governance. godfather of light rail. Goldschmidt Some Oregon cynics said it I think leftists have the propensity was considered the most powerful boiled down to Goldschmidt-D to take elections more seriously than man in the state until 2004, when it versus Goldschmidt-R. Given the others. It is a legacy from their affilia­ was revealed that when he was 35 natural advantages of incumbency, tion with Karl Marx, who advocated and mayor of Portland, he had had an Kulongoski, the Democrat, won. that religion be replaced with a love "affair" with a 14-year-old girl. Portland blogger and law professor of the state. For many on the left side Oregon's incumbent gover- Jack Bogdanski wrote that whatever of the aisle, it has been. nor, Democrat Ted Kulongoski, the outcome, it meant "four more To the Left, government is the was a friend of Goldschmidt's, years of West Hills Portland Big highest authority. It is also their and people have long speculated Money getting theirs" in the form of source of charitable work and their whether Kulongoski knew about subsidies for construction projects. mechanism for passing values down Goldschmidt's secret at the time. A - Randal O'Toole January 2007 The Blue Tide

Colorado, and Maine - though users in those states may "a pudg)', clean-shaven 24 year old" named Mason Tvert. still be brought up on federal charges. This year, activists He called his organization Safer Alternatives For Enjoyable attempted to inhale a little deeper. They failed, but they made Recreation (SAFER). His argument was that marijuana ought a mark. to be permitted because it is safer than alcohol. He called In Colorado, which penalizes marijuana possession with his proposal the Colorado Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization a $100 fine, Amendment 44 would have legalized adult pos­ Initiative. session of up to one ounce. It followed a similar measure That's marketing. passed in 2005 in Denver with 54% of the vote. That measure Tvert had some out-of-state mone)', which cut both ways. was ignored by police because marijuana possession was still Federal drug czar John Walters, director of the Office of illegal under state law - hence Amendment 44, which was National Drug Control Policy, went to Colorado three times essentially the same measure at the state level. to campaign against the measure, which he said was"a social The campaign was run by what Cannabis News called experiment" being conducted on Coloradans by out-of-state

Democracy in Chicago - JohnStroger, president lead, and walked a few blocks over to the county building. of the Cook County Board, had a massive stroke about a week Peraica and his supporters stormed the building and before the June primary. Even though most people assumed it pounded on the windows until they were letin. One supporter was severe - rumors were that he was in a coma - his aides forced his way up a freight elevator, breaking it in the process. told everybody that he was recovering nicely. Nobody was Eventually the near-riot was quelled by Chicago Police, the allowed to talk with him. There were no pictures of him. count was completed, and Stroger was declared the winner Stroger continued to issue orders from a closed room with 54% of the vote. Peraica conceded eleven hours later. through his aides, who were playing "Weekend at Bernie's" - Tim Slagle with the board president. It was found out later that they had hired 1,300 of their cronies in the days after he had the stroke. The LP and the booboisie - Loretta NaIl, the He handily won the Democratic primary. Libertarian Party's candidate for governor of Alabama, ran a Cook Count)', which encompasses Chicago and many sur­ write-in campaign because the party couldn't get the 40,000 rounding suburbs, has an annual budget of $3 billion, which signatures required to get on the ballot. means that there is more money running through the office Nall, a young woman who is liberally endowed, got media than the entire GDP of Liberia. With such a large budget, cor­ coverage by distributing T-shirts carrying pictures of her­ ruption swarms the county like loose women around a rock self, with cleavage visible, above pictures of her opponents. star. In order to maintain the empire, only persons loyal to the The slogan said, "More of these BOOBS!! And less of these machine are allowed to govern it. BOOBS!!" Unfortunately for the machine, some of the defeated can­ She was also quoted as saying, regarding what she consid­ didates demanded a meeting with Stroger. His aides realized ered favorable public reception of her plan to withdraw the the jig was up, and announced in June that he had decided Alabama National Guard from the war in Iraq, "When people to resign. His resignation was not actually signed; it was in Alabama get tired of kicking the ass of brown people, it's scribbled all over the page, like a kid's crayon drawing on time to get out." the kitchen table. When Chicago news outlets ran pictures of At press time, the number of write-in votes was unavail- the signature, aides rushed back into his hospital room and able, but it is probable that NaIl lost. - Stephen Cox emerged with a new signature, much improved. The party appointed his son Todd, who has been a benefi­ ciary of nepotistic appointments his whole life, to run in his place. Opponents liked to point out his striking resemblance Department of Public Assistance to Steve Urkel from "Family Matters," a TV show that was never as funny as Todd Stroger's promise to clean the corrup­ tion out of Cook County. Until the election Todd Stroger was polling behind Tony Peraica, his Republican contender. But when the Chicago votes were counted, Stroger was ahead. Unfortunately, the ballot count in the suburbs, where Tony Peraica was expected to do much better, was halted because of a "glitch." The bal­ lots were loaded onto unescorted moving vans and trans­ ported into Chicago, where they would be counted at the Cook County Administration Building. Over at Peraica HQ Tony demanded an answer to what had happened to the suburban count. He suggested that they all go down to the county building and find out what the problem was. His people took to the streets, without the tra­ "I'm afraid you don't qualify for welfare benefits, but ifyou were to ditional torches and pitchforks but with Peraica himself in the run for Congress, you could probably get public campaign financing."

Liberty 29 January 2007 Election 2006 billionaires. Of course, he was representing an out-of-state juana laws appear to be moral, but it is a cosmetic morality." trillionaire: the federal government. Yes on 7 also personalized its campaign by running a com­ In Nevada, which already allows marijuana for medical mercial featuring Cynthia Walling, who announced calmly reasons but punishes nonmedical possession with a $600 fine, that she had terminal breast cancer. "If Question 7 passed, I voters were offered a bill legalizing it for use in the home. would be able to get medicinal marijuana," she said. "High This was Question 7, which was put on the ballot with 86,000 school kids can find it at the high schools, but sick people like me can't find it anywhere." The Las Vegas Review-Journal, the largest paper in the state, endorsed Question 7, and wrote, "Arguing that in order For most Americans the war was simply a to protect kids we must limit the rights of adults to make their own personal choices is to advocate the creation of an infant­ business that had gone on too long and was get­ ocracy and a return to alcohol Prohibition. In fact, many of ting nowhere and was costing too much. They this nation's drug policies have long been expensive failures. Let's try something new ... " were in a mind simply to say the hell with it. The voters weren't quite ready. On Nov. 7 only 440/0 voted "yes." In South Dakota, 520/0 voted "no" on Initiated Measure 4, which would have permitted possession of six plants and one signatures. It would have licensed people to cultivate, pack­ ounce of marijuana for people certified by their physicians as age, and sell marijuana in special stores that required patrons needing it. to be21 to enter. Patrick Killen, spokesman for Yes on 7, said In several university andbeach towns, voters were offered it would allow the use of marijuana in the home, but not in the choice taken by Seattle in 2003: to make enforcement of public or in casinos or any places that sold alcoholic drinks. the marijuana laws the lowest police priority. All these mea­ Also, the state would tax it. sures passed: in Santa Barbara, Calif., by 65°1<>; Santa Cruz and The Bush administration sent its drug czar to Nevada Santa Monica, Calif., by 630/0; Missoula, Mont., by 530/0; and to campaign against the initiative. Police, prosecutors, and Eureka Springs, Ark., by 64%. business opponents organized as The Committee to Keep Though the main marijuana battles were lost, there is Nevada Respectable, and argued that the measure was much sentiment, especially in the West, to ease up on mari­ It backed by out-of-state interests - which it was. had money juana prohibition. It is not so with the current drug of official from the Marijuana Policy Project, an organization backed worr)T, methamphetamine. Arizonans, who voted to allow by Peter Lewis, a retired auto-insurance entrepreneur from medical marijuana a few years ago, voted Nov. 7 (580/0 "yes") Cleveland. to deny probation for meth violators. The pro-legalization side, calling itself the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana, ran a tough, professional Windmills and Biodiesel campaign. Itsued public officials in Clark County (Las Vegas) One of the most dangerous proposals on the ballot was for illegally using public money to oppose a ballot initiative. California's Proposition 87. Hollywood producer Stephen It ran seven different TV ads, including one showing the L. Bing, who inherited $600 million and invested in the chil­ drug czar and saying, "Washington, D.C., bureaucrats need dren's fantasy "The Polar Express," was reported to have to stop dumping their bad ideas on Nevada." The anti-mari­ poured $50 million into Prop. 87. Other support came from juana side ran no TV ads. venture capitalist Vinod Khosla. Khosla's firm, according to Yes on 7 won the support of a group of church leaders, the San Franciso Chronicle, "includes a half-dozen startups one of whom told the Associated Press, "Our current mari- that all deal with ethanol." The oil companies and other opponents contributed $90 million to kill the proposition, When religion turns tried to re-enter, but the vigilant thoughnotevenChevronputinas muchmoney Steitz chucked him out again. as Bing. The detractors had effective ads, and violent - Kentucky poll R.W. Bradford's classic article on Nov. 7,55% of Californians voted "no." worker Jeffery Steitz was appar­ (reprinted in December) laid out Prop. 87 would have established a special­ ently shocked to see a nonpar­ the dogmas of America's civic purpose agency called the California Energy tisan judicial race left blank on religion. An incident such as Alternatives Program Authorit)r, given it an one voter's ballot - so shocked this may be an early indication unelected board, juiced it up with a flow of that he confronted the voter that the religion is shifting from several hundred million dollars in tax money about the omission. When the "get out the vote" evangelism to not controlled by the legislature, and set it voter responded that he didn't "vote or get out" coercion. Or it free to bring about "energy independence" in want to vote in that race because may be an outlier. Either wa)T, California. he didn't know enough about it should serve to remind us of These days, "energy independence" is the candidates, Steitz allegedly the importance of distinguishing a fetching idea. "If Brazil can do it, so can choked him and threw him out between a right and a duty. California," said Bill Clinton in one of the of the polling station. The voter - Andrew Ferguson

January 2007 Election 2006 campaign's TV ads. In another ad, Al Gore said, "The sooner corporations." (That's why the venture capitalists liked it.) we do it, the safer we'll be." A third TV ad began with the Section 11 gave the Authority the power to sell bonds backed image of a helicopter gunship in Iraq. "With one vote we by revenues from the tax, and Section 15 said that as long as can send George Bush a message," it said. "Vote for energy the bonds were outstanding, "neither the Legislature nor the independence." people may reduce or eliminate" the tax. And how was independence from foreign oil to be The proponents said that the new agency would be achieved? By setting up a tax on California oil. That made no "accountable." How? By being audited and by issuing sense at all, and many said so. reports. It would, however, have been independent of voter The proponents talked much about "making the oil com­ control, or the legislature's control, until it had disbursed $4 panies pay." They showed not a snifter of skepticism toward billion and paid off its debts, which might have taken as long the Authority they were going to set up. The pro-87 state­ as 25 years. ment in the official voter's guide shamelessly promised, in Prop. 87 passed only in Los Angeles, the Lake Tahoe area, all capital letters, "NO NEW BUREAUCRACY." It was a lie. and the counties along the northern California coast, and that You just had to read the boring words in the guide. Section wasn't enough. Thank God. 5 gave the Authority the sale power to determine how many employees to hire. Section 4 gave the Authority control of Mexicans, Minimums, Taxes, Tobacco, and Talk the money from the oil tax. Section 3 allowed the Authority Four measures in Arizona concerned illegal aliens. The to provide "grants, loans, loan guarantees, buydowns, and first, approved by 78% of voters, amended the state constitu­ credits to universities, community colleges, research institu­ tion to prohibit bail for illegals accused of a felony. The argu­ tions, individuals, companies, associations, partnerships, and ment was that it was too easy for a Mexican released on bail

The Loss, and the Future tant, are three other factors. European countries. - As a proud member of such organi­ First, there's the continuing abso­ The Republican Party is a coalition zations as the Club for Growth and the lute Democratic bias of the mainstream of five partially overlapping groups: Republican Liberty Caucus, I was not media and other cultural institutions. national security conservatives, social pleased with the loss of Congress to the It has been continuously documented conservatives, religious conservatives, Democrats, but neither was I surprised. from the mid-1980s to the present that business conservatives, and libertarian I have a few thoughts on what brought the percentage ofDemocrats inthe news conservatives. Each group is rightly about the loss, and what the future media, the entertainment industl)', and called conservative, in the current stan­ holds for the Republican Party. the academic world approaches 100%. dard American English meaning of a Some of the factors that led to the In this election, some media research group that wants to preserve a major defeat areobvious, somenot. First, there organizationsdidcontent-analysisstud­ feature of American society. Libertarian was the Iraq war, widely and inces­ ies showing that unfavorable stories conservatives, for instance, want to con­ santly portrayed by the mainstream about Republican congressional candi­ serve the uniquely large and diverse media as a complete failure. I think that dates outnumbered unfavorable stories welter of liberties that America has about Democratic candidates ten to one portrayal is inaccurate, but President enjoyed. in the mainstream media. It is easy to When a coalition is health)', there Bush's lack of articulation allowed the get the public to view Republicans as are strong overlaps among its various mainstream-media story to become the corrupt if you run ten major stories parts; there are shared goals and mutual received wisdom. about, say, Rep. Foley's salacious emails respect. A coalition becomes unhealthy Second, some Republican candi­ for every story about, say, Sen. Reid's when elements within it refuse to work dates were financially or morally cor­ shady transfers of property from one together or to compromise. The fac­ rupt. Of course, so are some Democrats, entity to another. tions become so devoted to furthering _ but that was downplayed by the main­ Second, the Republican base has their own agendas that they transgress stream media. split. All actual politics - as opposed the agendas of others - the factions Third, some Republicans ran cam­ to masturbatory politics, i.e., the poli­ become too factious. This is especially paigns that were amateurish, if not tics of personal fantasy - is perforce apt to happen when the party controls downright buffoonish. The campaign coalitional. You advance your agenda the legislative and executive branches: of Virginia Sen. Allen, for instance, was by working with others who don't fully because the coalition has power, some complete macaca, so to say. share it, or may share it but for differ­ or all of its factions come to believe that Fourth, there is the historical real­ ent reasons, or may even disagree with they should be given everything in their ity: off-year congressional elections parts of it. That can be done within a agenda. almost always result in gains from the broad part)', which is historically the So it was in this last election: the opposing party, especially in the third case in America. Or it can be done by spirit of compromise disappeared on congressional election of a two-term having a group of narrow, ideologi­ key issues. Clearly, for instance, libertar­ presidency. cally pure parties form a majority gov­ ian conservatives like me accomplished Less salient, but arguably as impor- ernment, historically the case in some little of our agenda of smaller govem-

32 Liberty January 2007 The Blue Tide to return to Mexico - which is where the proponents want Tax increases him to be, generally. The second, passing with 74% of the In California, voters rejected Proposition 88, which would vote, amended the state constitution to prohibit illegals from have levied a tax of $50 on every parcel of land to fund public being awarded punitive damages. schools (77% against); and Proposition 89, which would have The third measure, passing with 720/0, prohibited illegals increased the corporate income tax by two-tenths of a per­ from using the state education system. The fourth, with 74%, centage point to fund a new campaign-finance system (740,10 made English the official language. Libertarians have differing views on immigration, and against). many voted for these propositions. It was all too much for In California, Proposition 86 would have raised the tax on Liberty's regular contributor in Arizona, Ross Levatter, who cigarettes from 87 cents a pack to $3.47 - the highest in the wrote: country - and dedicated the money to hospitals and an anti­ "Clearl~ many Arizonans feel burdened by immigration, smoking campaign. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opposed even while hiring immigrants to clean their homes, watch it, more than $55 million was raised to fight it, and it went their children, cook their meals, build their houses, manage down, with 520/0 against. their landscapes, and generally perform other tasks, often Arizona voted 530/0 "yes" on a measure to raise the tax on menial, for less money than it would take to have Americans cigarettes from $1.18 a pack to $1.98 and dedicate the money do the same thing. Politicians have been very good for sev­ to preschools. South Dakota voted 61 % "yes" to increase the eral years at whipping up nativist sentiments, and this is the tax from 53 cents a pack to $1.53. But in Missouri a proposal result." to increase the tax from 17 cents to 97 cents received only 49% There were other things on the ballot, too. of the vote, and failed. ment, and the failure of the Republican the Republican loss: the alienation of be blamed. If they stay the course, they Congress to rein in spending clearly the Latino vote. Republicans received will be seen as no different from Bush cost it a large amount of libertarian and 37% of the congressional vote in 2002. and will fracture their base. And if they independent support. Bush actively courted Latino voters, move to increase the scope of the war, On the issue of immigration, the fail­ and received about 460/0 of their vote they will fracture their base even faster. ure to compromise cost the party even in 2004. But after the very divisive Welcome to the real world. more. The fact is thatfor almost 20 years debate on immigration, the percentage Regarding the largebias in the main­ - since the time when Reagan amnes­ dropped to a risible 26%. This factor stream media, Brian Anderson (whose tied illegal aliens, and continuing under was decisive in many contests. book on this subject I recently reviewed Bush the elder, then Clinton - large What does this analysis portend for Liberty) is partly·right in thinking numbers of primarily Latino immi­ for the future of the Republican Party? that it is changing, with the rise of alter­ grants have come in illegally, drawn by Not disaster, but not skittles and beer native media, Fox News, conservative the ready availability of work and the either. and libertarian think tanks, and so on. chance of a better future for their chil­ The corruption and Iraq issues work But for the foreseeable future, I take it as dren. This is a problem with many fac­ both ways. Now that the Democrats obvious that the Republicans will start ets, each of which is crucially important control Congress, the corruption scan­ every race facing a formidable propa­ to some elementof the Republican coali­ dals will continue but under new man­ ganda machine devoted to advancing tion, some of which view immigration agement, and will cut the other way. the progressive agenda du jour. favorably, some unfavorably. Bush tried Ditto overspending: there is no chance On the question of restoring health to work a compromise. He failed, in that the Democrats are going to reduce to the Republicans' split coalition, well, large part because a lot of social conser­ social spending; indeed, they will likely I've seen precious little awareness that vatives, whipped into a fury by socially increase it, and there is not much else it is needed, much less any indication conservative talk show hosts, flooded to cut, so they will reclaim the mantle that it will happen. Listening to talk their congressmenwith demands to seal of the big spenders. Regarding Iraq, the radio, all I've heard from the socially the border and expel the Latino illegal Democrats face the same three options conservative hosts who helped cause immigrants. (Social conservatives are that the Republicans face: withdraw the debacle is that "true" conservatives worried that the Latinos are not assimi­ our forces, or keep them at roughly the - i.e., social and religious conserva­ lating and will not do so - in my view same level until the government stabi­ tives - were stabbed in the back by an ill-founded fear but one that is his­ lizes, or increase the forces (including turncoats. torically recurring.) The congressmen projecting power against Syria and Most problematic is the alienated foolishly assumed thatbecause the calls Iran, which are fomenting the violence Latino vote. If the Latinos become were all on one side, everyone agreed, now). None of the alternatives is a polit­ a permanent Democratic constitu­ and were surprised on election day to ical winner, and now the Democrats are enc~ the event will be devastating for find that they were deluded. saddled with the issue. If they force a the Republicans, devastating for the This failure to compromise brought withdrawal, precipitating chaos from Latinos, and devastating for the future about a third seldom-noticed reason for which a terrorist state emerges, they'll of the country. - Gary Jason

Liberty 33 January 2007 Election 2006

Smoking bans state constitution that would allow package stores to sell In Nevada, antismoking forces put on the ballot a ban liquor on election day. On Nov. 7, 2006, voters of Oklahoma on smoking in all restaurants, bars,.hotels, and motels. The had an uncontrollable spasm of sobriety and passed it. casinos and hotels countered with a ban on smoking in these places except where children were not allowed. The stricter All in All ban passed with 54°,10. The casinos' measure received 48%. It wasn't such a bad election for liberty. The Republicans, Two smokingbans were also on the ballot inArizona. The who had more complete control over the federal government most restrictive measure, which bans it in restaurants and than at any other time in the last 50 years, used their power to bars, received 54% of the vote, and won. The restaurant-only start an unnecessary war, violate civil liberties, and ramp up ban received 43%. The same pattern held in Ohio, where the federal spending. Their power has been checked. The people more restrictive ban won 58°,10 of the vote, and the less restric­ did this out of weariness and unease, which are mere feel­ tive measure only 36°1<>. ings, but the feelings are healthy ones. The Democrats offered no program. There is grumbling Minimum wage about rising medical costs and some other things, but there Already 20 states had minimums above the federal mini­ is no strong sentiment in the country for a major expansion mum of $5.15 per hour, led by Washington ($7.63 in 2006), of the welfare state, or for any further gifts of authority to the Oregon ($7.50), California ($7.40), and Vermont ($7.25). federal government. The Democrats won not by being leftists Before November, only in Washington, Oregon, Vermont, but by being not-Republicans. and Florida were the minimums indexed to inflation. Nor did they win large majorities. In the Senate, where New minimum wage laws were on the ballot in six it takes 60 votes to do anything significant, Democrats have states and passed in all of them: Arizona ($6.75), Colorado 51 votes. Their power is further limited by Bush's veto, if he ($6.85), Missouri ($6.50), Montana ($6.15), Nevada ($6.15 if cares to use it, though he has used it only once in six years. no health benefits), and Ohio ($6.85). All indexed their mini­ The crucial thing for liberty is how the major parties mums to inflation, with Nevada also indexing to the federal define themselves: how socialistic the Democrats want to minimum. be and how nationalistic the Republicans want to be. If the Political speech Republicans can purge the neocons and go back to a realist Ina refutationofthethesisthatthe publicis rational, voters foreign policy, it would be a relief; if they can keep the evan­ in Oregon voted 53% in favor ofMeasure 47, to ban corporate gelicals in their tent without turning the party into a revival and union contributions to political races, and to limit dona­ meeting, it would be a blessing. If the Democrats can offer tions by individuals and spending by independent groups. Clintonism (but not Goreism), they will do well. A similar law had been thrown out by the Oregon Supreme As for the initiatives: racial neutrality has been rejuve­ Court in 1997 as a violation of free speech, but the ballot had nated. It will be a big fight, and libertarians will help them­ a fix for that: Measure 46, which would have changed the selves and liberty by being in it. The revival of property rights constitution. On that, they voted 600/0 "no." The Portland hasbeencheckedbutnot stopped, andifadvocates learn, they lawyer who had shot down the earlier law announced that will win. Marijuana is playing offense and tobacco, defense. he intended to bag this one as well, and Oregon's director of Same-sex marriage looks almost dead, but I don't think it is. elections said he did not know what to do. Nor is liberty. Here and there it gives ground, but here Voters are, of course, sometimes brilliant. Consider and there it also gains. There is no trend against it, and there Oklahoma's Question 733. This was an amendment to the may even be a trend in its favor. 0

Reflections, from page 16 in English-speaking countries, an influence ·exerted in count­ Friedman had known poverty, and he had known scorn less interviews and articles, in such books as "Capitalism and for his ideas. He knew what it was to be part of an embattled Freedom" (1982) and "Free to Choose" (with Rose Friedman, intellectual minority. As a public figure, he often knew the 1980), and in the television series based on the latter book. disappointment of seeing his ideas mangled by the people he No one ever recommended radical ideas in a more per­ had influenced. But he was as far from bitterness as he was suasive way. Witty and charming, and with all his learning, from surrender. He saw himself as one who kept "ideas open wholly unpretentious, Friedman developed the logic of his until the time came when they could be accepted." In the last ideas as if they were the most natural positions in the world. year of his life, he was still giving interviews to the New York Of his fellow intellectuals, he said, "They're moving slowly press - and also to Saturday afternoon talk shows, on pro­ and taking each step as· though they were exploring a virgin vincial radio stations. continent. But it's not dangerous. Some of us have lived here One of Friedman's last publications was a tribute to quite comfortably all along." Unlike many of his fellow econ­ another great libertarian economist, Friedrich Hayek, in the omists, he knew, and constan~lyemphasized, the fact that eco­ September issue of Liberty: a last, gracious salute from one nomic freedom is inseparable·from other freedoms. He was a giant to another. Like Hayek, he will never be forgotten; he champion of human liberty in the broadest and deepest sense will be honored wherever people search for freedom, and of the word. achieve it. - Stephen Cox

34 Liberty Bacchanal

Election in Miniature

by Garin K. Hovannisian

The prudes yelled "Temperance!" The drunks yelled "Freedom!" The student body may have slept through it all.

Last year, a few weeks before UCLA's student government elections - the wakeup call for a campus in coma - a dozen maverick souls gathered at my apartment for drinks and sabotage. News was leaking out about the student council candidates' various positions. Students First! would run an all-minor­ ity group on a platform built on anti-imperialism and leftist revolution. Bruins United, the unhol~ now bastardized child of the Bruin Republicans and Bruin Democrats (allies against the revolution), would run a fluff campaign on "diversit~" "dialogue," and a cross-campus sprint in underwear. And a Itfell to me to make us seem homogeneous, to squeeze and single independent candidate inhabiting the chubby form of sell some method from our madness. Until then, I had thrown an older black man named Troy - whose qualifications I've my name around campus principally through journalism just noted - revealed, through an endearing gap between his - first as a weekly opinion columnist for the main campus teeth, his telltale maxim: "This is about all of us!" dail)!, then as the breakaway founder of an"alternative" (Le., Under normal circumstances, the mavericks would be subversive) publication. Now I found myself a thinker forced inclined to let the cabaret continue. But, as it happens, the into La resistance, a folding-chair patriot pushed out onto the laughs were on our tab - student government was financed field. Once there, I had trouble determining what game it was (still is) by a $120 fee paid by every student, willing or not. The that I was supposed to play - tackle football, or croquet. I'd single goal of our group, which we called Slate Refund, was to always preferred chess. give this money back to the students. The single reason: indi­ In the post-midnight hours of our first group meeting, a vidual students know better how to spend their money than neighbor paid an unexpected visit. Thor, the slate widget of an elite council. And, what's more, the cabaret is dull. Bruins United, has the sense and suavity of a teenage punk This message, which in the world outside would be iden­ stuffed into the body of a 10-year-old. His voice has a sleazy tified and dismissed as forthright libertarianism, inspired calm to it, but sleaze of a pathetically unsuccessful kind. He's a truly diverse campaign war room. On one end, there was the guy whose grandmother generously died 14 times in high Julien, a clownish frat boy with chaotic hair, awkward scruff, school to accommodate as many trips to Disneyland. and an outstanding beer belly. On the other, there was David, He walked into the room, picked up a beer, and, as though tall and graceless, who would bore you to death with Cliff's totally oblivious to the meeting he'd interrupted, started some Notes philosophy and, ifyou weren'tpersuaded, moralize you mindless chitchatwithintentto ease (butineffect to aggravate) out of your conscience. In between: Republicans, Democrats, our defenses. This is as far as it would go. Within a half hour, Greens, Reds, hippies, and anarchists. Slate Refund was Barry the poor fellow had intoxicated himself, wrecked his strategy, Goldwater reared in South Park. broken down, and confessed to having been sent up as a spy.

Liberty 35 January 2007

Stalin often served alcohol to his inner circle so he could read least believes in his own platform. Otherwise, there would be their intentions - but was any mole stupid enough to ask for no point in running. another shot? "I don't mix friendship and politics," Thor said, But what we called pride in principle (and often dressed in eyeing the door hopefully. Betrayal might be a drink made revolutionary couture), some called perilous arrogance. The stiff, he learned, but it should be served when sober. few conservatives of Bruins United scheduled private meet­ Julien D'Avanzo, our vice presidential candidate, knew his ings with us. "Let's do lunch" or "Let's grab some beers," they drink well. At fraternity parties, it had carried him to thrilling said. The informality was supposed to mask the fact that they heights and rescued a few mindnumbing conversations. On April 27, it pushed him off the balcony of a third-story dorm room. Thus ended the candidacy and the life of our friend, and one genuine wit of a human being. You found Julien either with arms open or with middle finger raised high. He I found myselfa thinker forced into la resis­ lived in extremes and throve in them. We mourned him. tance, a folding-chair patriot pushed out onto At the same time, there was no doubt that the campaign would continue. We did not sober things up in his memory the field. - indeed, a Slate Refund candidate's crossdressing probably honored it most - but in ways we did not discuss, it placed the fast-unfolding events into a context too raw for comfort. The tragedy was lost on - or even welcomed by - the other were asking us to drop out of the race. They said that we were camps. Thereis always somejerkwholaughs during a moment sabotaging the entire conservative movement on campus and of silence. On Julien's memorial signboard, an unknown stu­ that, because of our little game, the leftists were going to win. dent wrote, "Hahaha!" As Ross Perot spoiled Bush Sr.'s second bid, so would we spoil Meanwhile, a tattletale culture germinated in the election Bruins United's. mud. Campaigners dropped their leaflets and walked around What we told them was: (a) for stealing our money, they're with camera phones to snap opponents in the act of Election just as bad as the revolutionaries; and (b) UCLA elections, Code violations. Rumors - interesting, though false - devel­ unlike national ones, have a runoff system, so if Slate Refund oped from kernels of wishful thinking: Bruins United had loses, Bruins United would have a clean contest with Students decided, without so much as a memo to Justice Roberts, that a First! It would be as if we never ran at all. Somewhat com­ student fee refund was unconstitutional. forted by this reminder, they vouchsafed private best wishes, The campus - or in hindsight, perhaps 10% of the cam­ saying that if we had any chance of winning, they'd certainly pus - was alive in four colors. Red for Students First! Blue for be with us, but, you know, you've got to pick your battles and Bruins United. Yellow for Troy. And a distinctive, assertively you've really got to start living in the real world sometime. flamboyant pink for Slate Refund. Then, just as if nothing had happened, they proceeded to People didn't quite know what to make of us. When they run around the student store in underwear, showing solidar­ called us a joke slate, we lectured them on free choice. When ity with the plight of UCLA students. (The administration they took us seriousl)', we listed our campaign promises: had denied us the time-honored route of the Undie Run, a caress diversity, stimulate dialogue, mount awareness. And thrice-yearly event where thousands of students strip to their just when they labeled ours a hopeless effort, we secured the unmentionables and run through the streets of Westwood.) endorsement of a couple of UCLA basketball players. When Students First! rebels sneered at the bourgeois circus, We were a third part)', and we had neither the ability nor someone should've quoted Che Guevara: "It is not just a sim­ the will to hide it. We hailed from a royal lineage of candidates ple game. It is a weapon of the revolution." - Teddy Roosevelt, Robert LaFollette, and John Bell among With our sights set high and our nose to the ground, we them - who exuded a rare pride in principle. (We cannot for- headed for elections. Requisite optimism aside, we knew we weren't going to win. To begin with, we were grossly out­ spent. We expended $200; the social underdog Troy went through $7,000. What's more, our campaign message - to refund student fees and, consequently, to defund the student Just as if nothing had happened, they pro­ government's radical causes and subsidized groups - was a ceeded to run around the student store in un­ direct attack on the few people who usually vote in student elections - people who are, by and large, affiliates of radi­ derwear, showing solidarity with the plight of cal causes and subsidized groups. Our only hope, if we ever UCLA students. had one, was to make activists out of the 70% of students who usually don't vote - students who either haven't heard of stu­ dent government or are totally unaffected by it. Even the biggest campaign issue of all time - a potential on-campus bar - couldn't arouse their spirits. The totalitarian get Liberty's ownJohn Hospers, who garnered the Libertarian prudes yelled "Temperance!"; the drunks yelled "Freedom!" Party's first electoral vote in 1972.) On campus as at our capi­ The student body slept through it all. tal, the two dominant parties are careful not to believe in any­ thing. But you can be certain that the third-party candidate at continued on page 39

36 Liberty Commerce Fight Terrorism: Legalize Heroin

by Scott McPherson

If you can't beat 'em, undersell 'em.

Government officials find it difficult to admit when they're wrong. Perhaps, like people in general, they see such an admission as a sign of weakness, and prefer to rationalize their failure rather than change their approach. This inevitably leads to calls for aI/strengthening" of current policy and an expansion of the program in question. The war on drugs is a perfect example. The U.S. govern- ment has been fighting intensely to rid the country of "dan­ gerous drugs" for about 40 years now - much longer, some 'staggering' 60 percent this year, the UN anti-drugs chief would argue - and year after year the war's failures mount. announced." Sixty percent! We citizens are regularly assured that the "tide is turning," For years, Republicans have been talking up the need to usually after some recent antidrug operation has yielded the reduce opium production in Afghanistan. House Speaker "largest ever" bust in history, and thus we must "stay the Dennis Hastert said in 2001 that "the illegal drug trade is the course" in our antidrug efforts. Somehow the drug warriors financial engine thatfuels manyterrorist organizations around never seem to realize that "largest ever" is an admission of the world, including Osama Bin Laden," and in October 2003, failure. How can we possibly be winning this war if larger the Washington Times reported that "the Bush administra­ and larger shipments of drugs are being smuggled across our tion has talked publicly of ridding Afghanistan of its lucrative borders? poppy crop that provides 70 percent of the world's heroin." Americans are using drugs today just as they were last "Ridding" is an unequivocal term - like "largest ever." year, and the year before that, and the year before that, fueling Obviously things haven't turned out quite the way those the demand that keeps dealers in business - despite the des­ in charge planned. A June 7 article on the Radio Free Europe/ perate attempts of the United States and other governments to Radio Liberty website reported that Afghanistan's southern stifle drug production and exportation around the world. On Helmand Province is expected to yield a "bumper crop" of Aug. 24, 2006, Agence France-Presse reported that the British opium this year. Ditto other parts of the country; pushing government, which is now in charge of antidrug operations in what was already the world's largest opium producer even Afghanistan, "is aiming for a 70 percent reduction in the next higher up the ladder, to about 76% of world opium produc­ five years and elimination within 10 years" of Afghanistan's tion. AFP claims that "Between 70 and 90 percent of heroin opium trade. Governments just love those Five-Year Plans. used in Europe originates in Afghanistan." Why this sense of urgency? According to an Associated International efforts to control opium production in Press report in the Sept. 3 New Hampshire Union-Leader, Afghanistan aren't failing from a lack of resolve. In early "Afghanistan's world-leading opium cultivation rose a 2001 the United States government allocated $43 million in

Liberty 37 January 2007 humanitarian aid to help wean opium growers off their cash and reward loyalty from local farmers. It's no surprise, then, crop. After Sept. ·11, 2001, the American and European gov­ that there's a ready supply of opium growers with no love ernments seized an estimated $24 million in assets linked to al for those who would take away their livelihood, preferring Qaeda, which is widely believed to fund its activities through instead those who spend their profits killing westerners. Not opium and heroin sales. exactly a promising set of circumstances. Today NATO troops occupy the country - a strategic sce­ Most important, however, is the economics of drug deal­ nario that u.S. drug warriors can only salivate at replicating ing itself. Legislators and military strategists may decree stateside - and Afghan President Hamid Karzai has a firm what they like, but the laws of supply and demand cannot antiopium policy, creating a Counternarcotics Ministry in his government and outdoing the rest of the world by declaring not just a war but a "holy war" on narcotics. Congress ear­ marked $774 million for antinarcotics activities inAfghanistan in 2005, and allocated another $510 million for 2006-2007. World leaders are right to see legalization as Alongside U.S. and NATO efforts are those of the British, an admission offailure, but admitting one is with the Labour government's antidrug minister, Bill Rammel, promising a "dismantling" of the "opium economy." In his wrong and learning from a mistake is a signal shadow lies waiting the Conservative opposition minister, ofstrength, not weakness. who, employing the "me too" line of attack typical of opportu­ nistic politicians, has criticized Labour's efforts as insufficient "with the level of forces [in Afghanistan] that we've got." Thefull force ofmanygovernmentsis unmistakablybehind this endeavor, with even more resources promised. Despite be ignored for long: Afghan farmers grow opium because this, the AP reported (Sept. 3) that opium production is actu­ increasing numbers ofAmericans, Canadians, Europeans, and Asians want to use heroin. This demand drives supply, pro­ ally 1I0utstripping the demand of the world's heroin users by a third." The U.S. State Department fears that Afghanistan is viding every incentive for those who grow opium to continue becoming a IInarcotics state." doing so. Any short-term"success" in limiting supply - such All of which could lead a discerning individual to a three­ as the UN's claim that its policies have reduced the amount fold conclusion: opium growing on net is unaffected by eradi­ of land under opium cultivation by 21°,10 - will only backfire cation efforts, heroin demand around the world is on the rise in the long term: all things remaining equal, any reduction in (the UN Office of Drugs and Crime reports an increase in supply merely drives up prices, boosting profits and creat­ addiction in Central Asia, Russia, and Eastern Europe), and ing incentives to expand the trade. Hence a 60% increase in producers are not the least bit afraid of the international anti­ opium cultivation despite years of effort to reverse the trend drug movement. - and more money for the terrorists. None of this bodes well for the future of Afghanistan, or With stubbornness characteristic of government officials, the. war on drugs. The U.S. government launched military Antonio Maria Costa, the UN's version of a drug czar, wants operations against the Talibanimmediately after the terrorist to "crack down" on Afghan opium farming. What exactly attacks of Sept. II, 2001, installing a government friendly to does he think has been going on for the last five years? the United States and hostile to terrorist groups like al Qaeda One Five-Year Plan begets another, ensuring another half­ that are believed to traffic in narcotics to fund their attacks. decade of failed policies and another billion-plus dollars Sadl}', the U.S. government didn't take into account certain down the drain. And the same flawed logic that views "larg­ conditions that would undermine its objectives. For exam­ est ever" seizures of drugs as a signal of drug war success is ple, the opium trade makes up between 35% and 50% of the apparently prompting U.S., UN, and NATO leaders to see a spike in opium production, heroin sales, and heroin addiction as a sign to "stay the course" in the fight for eradication - no doubt with expanded wherewithal and renewed determina­ tion. This is all sounding very familiar. Today NATO troops occupy Afghanistan A wiser course would be to take the profits from heroin sales out of the pockets of terrorists through legalization. - a strategic scenario that u.s. drug warriors Though long the dream of "kooky" libertarians, this idea can only salivate at replicating stateside. might be edging its way into the mainstream. Emmanuel Reinert, executive director of the Senlis Council, an interna­ tional policy thinktank with offices in Kabul, London, Paris, and Brussels, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (June 7) economy in Afghanistan, "where gross income [from heroin that: sales] was around 1.2 billion dollars last year" (AFP). Asking [Legalization] would be a way for the central government an Afghan peasant to give up poppy growing would be like [of Afghanistan] to collaborate with local communities, asking a dairy farmer to surrender his cows. and not to alienate them or antagonize them, as is cur­ Add to· this the fact that Taliban and al Qaeda forces still rently the case with the eradication policy. operatinginthe hinterlands ofthe Wild Wild East are ina posi­ Further, he said that such a move would"develop sustain­ tion, irrespective of the western military presence, to demand able economic activities for Afghanistan, but on top of that

38 Liberty January 2007 you will bring the rule of law and good governance in the tionship could be developed between poor peasants and the provinces." new government in Kabul that would undermine al Qaeda Anyone familiar with the war on drugs in the United States and Taliban insurgents. can see the wisdom in Reinert's words. Making something in The worst thing that could happen to narcoterrorists is high demand illegal merely drives the production and sale of legalization of their trade. Unfortunately, there's no reason that particular item into the hands of black-marketeers, thus to expect a much-needed radical shift in policy. The United undermining the rule of law. Quite the contrary of "good gov­ ernance," prohibition puts the government in the position of harassing, intimidating, and ultimately bringing the full force of the law to bear against people who are merely satisfying Legislators and military strategists may de­ the demand of willing buyers. In Afghanistan this alienates and antagonizes those com­ cree what they like, but the laws ofsupply and munities that make their living from growing poppies and, by demand cannot be ignored for long. encouraging people to thwart the law, makes a mockery of the law and turns government into a bully that destroys their live­ lihood. Antiopium laws only drive a wedge between Afghan citizens and their government that can easily be exploited by Nations blames heavy rainfall for the spike in opium produc­ people with murderous designs. tion; Karzai blames a lack of support from western govern­ Legalization would surely end all that, and turn an out­ ments; Britain's opposition Conservative Party blames low lawed practice into a "sustainable economic activity" with troop levels; and the U.S. government blames Karzai. considerable benefits. The 21st Amendment repealed the pro­ Legalization is the last thing on their minds. Just as there is hibition on alcohol in the United States, andtook alcohol pro­ big money for terrorists in the drug trade, there is big mone)', duction, sales, and distribution (and profits from same) out of power, and prestige for government officials in continuing to the hands of organized crime bosses and put it in the hands of fight this unwinnable war on drugs. While they rationalize free-market businessmen. It also led to improved quality and failures, point fingers, call for more funding, and declare yet a lower risk of alcohol poisoning. another "crackdown," the poppies are in full bloom and ter­ If opium production were legalized, pharmaceutical com­ rorists are using the profits to plan murders. panies rather than al Qaeda terrorists would be running the A common definition of insanity is repeating the same opium show in the Helmand Province, creating booming mistake over and over again, all the while expecting different local economies and raising the living standards of Afghan results. The international war on drugs is a perfect example. peasants. Then Bayer or Dowpharma or Sandoz rather than World leaders are right to see legalization as an admission of Osama bin Laden would be profiting from the $11 billion failure, but admitting one is wrong and learning from a mis­ Americans spend on heroin each year. Note that none of those take is a signal of strength and good sense, not weakness. companies currently sells heroin, and terrorists don't manu­ Drug war opponents have long noted that prohibition facture headache tablets, despite the enormous profit poten­ undermines the rule of law, encourages the corruption of gov­ tial in both businesses. ernment officials, tears at the social fabric, strains relations With the government working alongside international between police and citizenry, destroys communities, and pharmaceutical giants, the agricultural economy would be emboldens the criminal element. These costs are already high protected, and very likely expand, offering more jobs to locals. enough. Add to them the additional consequence of enrich­ Instead of arresting local officials, spraying poppy fields with ing terrorists, and we have the crowning reason to legalize dangerous chemicals, and sending Special Forces operatives opium manufacturing in Afghanistan and heroin around the to kick down doors, a collaborative, mutually beneficial rela- world. 0

Election in Miniature, from page 36 cries of "Sf se puede! Fuck them motha' fuckas!" Call it dunce rhetoric on the one side and poisonous pro­ In the end, the election results split the council between paganda on the other. But realize that on our campus and most Students First! and Bruins United. Slate Refund candidates others, the two are consistent with voter sensibilities. The pro­ stole between 10 to 30% of the vote in their various constitu­ hibitionists of the '20s hadn't understood: supply is born from encies. And though Troy didn't win, he doubled yours truly demand. The drunkard doesn't fall far from the bottle. in the presidential race. And there were a lot of bottles on election night. After the President-elect Marwa of Bruins United, the type of person rousing speeches, the election parade headed to the parties who bakes muffins for middle school elections, delivered the and hit the drinks - which, after all was said and nothing inaugural address. "Some people think I'm crazy for wanting done, was the last remaining common denominator. Alcohol to be president, for putting in a billion hours a week in the was the thing and the theme of the 2006 elections at UCLA. office, for giving up sleep and study time. Well, maybe I am It enlivened the festivities. It succored the losers. It proved to a little bit crazy. Crazy for you." Meanwhile, Students First! be, as Homer Simpson said, "the cause of and solution to all formed a Kumbaya circle. In the moonlight, they looked like of life's problems." a tribal cult. One of them yelled, "The white man's oppression I wonder: could his remarkbe relevant to the 2006 elections is bigger than student government! It goes on every day and in the 50 states? I'm thinking about the "cause," of course. I it hurts all of our brothers and sisters." This was answered by don't know what the solution might be. 0

Liberty 39 Diagnosis Tattered Groves of Academe

by Jane S. Shaw

America's colleges have traded teaching and intellect for radicalism and "fun." Are their glories gone for good?

Serious doubts are surfacing about the quality of higher education in the United States - not just among conservatives who have long deplored "politically correct" inanities, but also among such liberals as former Harvard president Derek Bok and John Merrow of the Public Broadcasting System. Books with names like "Going Broke by Degree," "Our Underachieving Colleges," and "Faulty Towers" are pinpointing flaws in the system. Topping off the criticism is the new report, issued in August, by the Bush administration's Commission on the cation. Like others, I have watched university conflicts over Future of Higher Education, which accuses the higher educa­ the years. "If you want to see what the 1960s were like, go to a tion establishment of complacency. The U.S. "may still have faculty meeting," said a well-known conservative as far back more than our share of the world's best universities," it con­ as the 1980s. Toda)', the 1960s are even more entrenched in the cedes. "But a lot of others have followed our lead, and they universities. Many students are expected to take courses that are now educating more of their citizens to more advanced levels devalue traditional Western literature and concepts such as than we are" (emphasis in the original). The only member who limited government and private propert)', and many colleges didn't sign the report was the representative of the American championMarxism, feminism, andethnicdiversitywhile belit­ Council of Education, an organization representing 1,800 uni­ tling intellectual debate and advancing environmental com­ versities and colleges; he objected to what he viewed as "one­ mitment over environmental science. Brilliant visitors such as size-fits-all" recommendations. Thomas Sowell are rejected or taunted, and not too long ago A growing number of critics see postsecondary education the president of Harvard was forced to resign, ostensibly for as nearing a crisis - not yet mired in one, as our public K-12 some casual remarks that offended feminist activists. schools are, but wandering far from the glories of the past. Or, Yet many of us have minimized these problems because to vary the metaphor: "Higher education, long viewed as the the American postsecondary school system is, after all, com­ crown jewel of American education, is tarnished." So write petitive - unlike most higher education systems in the world. Richard H. Hersh and John Merrow, editors of "Declining by Our public universities are mostly state-based, not national; Degrees," published last year in conjunction with a PBS docu­ they compete with private universities as well as with one mentary. The system, they believe, has been allowed to "drift another and with community colleges, technical schools, in a sea of mediocrity." online courses, and even private companies. Financial aid is I myself am immersed in this topic because I am taking a available for students who need it; there is little doubt that newjob as head of a center that intends to improve higher edu- any competent student who wants to learn can learn.

40 Liberty January 2007

On the other hand, it doesn't take an economist to know universities, selective "honors" colleges give a few students that a system primarily composed of governn1ent entities and the engagement with faculty that the advertising brochures nonprofits will be rife with inefficiency. And when federal imply for all. and state governments pour massive amounts of money into Then there are the parties. In his book "Beer and Circus," Murray Sperber surveys the impact of sports on the nation's large universities, especially schools in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Sports have not only swallowed enormous resources in these universities (he Parents are frantic about getting their son insists that the big athletic departments are a financial drain, not an asset); they have also magnified a "collegiate culture" or daughter into a school at the top ofthe u.s. that mingles sports, drinking, sex, and seemingly mindless News rankings, but once the student is accept­ behavior. There has always been a "collegiate culture," of course ed, they lose interest. (Sperber's terminology goes back to a study by sociologists Burton Clark and Martin Trow in the 1960s), but the growth of college attendance means a vast increase in the percent­ age of students more attracted to collegiate culture than to traditional learning. This means that the party side of college educational institutions, as they have since the Second World increasingly dominates college itself. Sperber also discusses War, special interests are likely to take hold. What we are see­ the tragic effect of sports programs on the star athletes who ing now may be a growing recognition that students, espe­ learn virtually nothing academic and whose graduation rates cially undergraduate students, are being shortchanged. are pitifully low. Let me take you through some of the complaints. He contends that many students, and not just athletes, What's Gone Wrong? have a "nonaggression pact" with faculty. They don't try to First, a lot of students enter college poorly prepared excel in their course work (after all, they aren't much inter­ (thanks to the public K-12 system), forcing universities to ested in academics), butthey make iteasy on the faculty - not devote substantial resources to getting them up to speed. expecting much personal attention or help and concentrating And it's not clear that they succeed. Employers complain that instead on sports and parties. Oh, they do want one thing, and college graduates can't write decently or do adequate math. they seem to be getting it: inflated grades. Sperber and others Whether so many students should be pursuing an education think that the faculty go along with the desire for debased cur­ beyond high school is a big, unanswered question. In 2000, rency in order to keep the students out of their hair, so they says Richard Vedder (author of "Going Broke by Degree"), can conduct their preferred research or, possibly, just enjoy 14.8 million students were enrolled in higher education, com­ more leisure. pared with 3.6 million in 1960. The total population is two­ Along with the ucollegiate culture," today's system thirds larger; the college population is four times larger. One emphasizes vocationalism or credentialism, getting a college reason to doubt that so many students should be in college is degree in order to get a job. The critics seem divided on the the fact that many do not complete their degrees - in North extent to which this tendency ought to be deplored. Surel)', a Carolina, for example, only 48% of the students who enter col­ degree can be a legitimate device for screening job applicants; lege actually graduate. no one objects to asking prospective engineers to get a degree At the other end of the talent spectrum, an elite group of students spends its high school years in relentless competi­ tion to enter a relative handful of prestigious schools (each of which now costs its students over $40,000 per year). The experts seem stumped about whether these schools are as When students, like health-care consumers, good as they are alleged to be. They are ranked as elite, espe­ pay less than the full cost for the services they cially by the intensely watched U.S. News & World Report annual listing, but they score high because of the difficulty receive, they have less incentive to do agood job of getting into them and their reputations among academics of monitoring the tradeoffs among time costs, and administrators - reasons that dance in a circle with their money costs, and quality. U.S. News rankings. But I see a growing interest in finding out whether these schools really add value sufficient to justify their expense. Even in elite schools, students attend some classes that pack hundreds into a single room and, often, are taught by in engineering. But vocationalism seems to be squeezing out graduate students or part-time faculty. And it's beginning to the Western tradition of "liberal" education (now blandly bother critics like Derek Bok (author of "Our Underachieving called "general education"), with its assumption that educa­ Colleges") that most classes are taught in the way they were a tion should improve the entire person, creating a better citi­ hundred years ago - by lecture. There is strong evidence that zen and fostering a more cultivated life. students must be engaged in smaller group discussions and Faculty preferences may be contributing to the decline in in writing and problem-solving in order to learn well. In big general education. In some schools, faculty insist that students

Liberty 41 January 2007

take large numbers of credits in their major fields, boosting sell off their stock, perhaps threatening bankruptcy. But most enrollment inthe specialists' owncoursesbutleavinglittle time universities don't face that level of market discipline. A univer­ for broad or divergent interests. Faculty often design introduc­ sity must cover its costs (often with lots of government help), tory courses to lay a foundation for the major discipline, not but it faces little pressure to be efficient. to introduce an undecided student or non-major to a general Without powerful market pressures, say Amacher and field of knowledge. Thus, students lack the time to explore a Meiners, trustees and administrators become passive and variety of fields, and when they tr)!, they get trapped in nar­ timid and bend with the political winds. Unmotivated by the row, technical courses. According to one manager of a general­ rewards and penalties of the market, people often find it hard education curriculum at a major university, the biggest reason to summon the will to make unpopular decisions. for the decline in offerings of broad and fundamental courses In higher education, many of these decisions should be is that "the faculty doesn't want to teach them. Professors want made by the facult)r, although I have not discovered a consen­ to teach courses directly related to their research, because it's sus on what role the faculty plays in the apparent decline. One their research that earns them promotions." does get a consistent picture of university faculty, however ­ an image of well-paid, well-housed, full-time professors sup­ Historical Roots ported by a growing minority of low-paid, untenured adjuncts AlthoughI have paintedwith a broadbrush, the complaints who sometimes wander from school to school. I've listed do seem to add up to neglect of serious undergradu­ Tenure, a tradition that protects (but does not ensure) life­ ate education. How did it happen? time employment for a faculty member, seems to be a nearly Historian John Thelin (in "A History of American Higher universal characteristic of American colleges. According to Education") puts some blame on the new kind of university Vedder, about 620/0 of full-time faculty are tenured. Again, one that emerged after the Second World War as the federal gov­ does not have to be an economist to know something of eco­ ernment poured money into scientific research. At many of the nomic reality: secure employment has efficiency ramifications; better universities, the emphasis on research and specializa­ one can't help comparing tenure to, sa)!, the lifetime promise tion in graduate school demoted undergraduate education to of a job that many General Motors workers enjoy. Surely, waste second-class status. Initially channeled to the top universities, and inefficiency are a result. the federal largesse inspired others to mimic them; they too Critics treat tenure gingerly, however. Bok hardly uses the would become "research universities." word (it is not in the index of his book). But he frequently cites Federal funding affected universities in another way: by the incentives of faculty to explain why education isn't better: providing students with grants and loans. "In the 1999-2000 "However much professors care about their teaching, nothing school year," Vedder says, "nearly 58 percent of full-time forces them or their academic leaders to go beyond normal undergraduate students in American universities were receiv­ conscientiousness in fulfilling their classroom duties." ing some form of federal assistance." More than 82% received Vedder believes that as a faculty member who has taken some form of aid from sources other than their families - from unpopular positions, he has benefited from the academic free­ government, employers, or other organizations. dom allowed by tenure - but he still criticizes the practice. This funding has merit, of course. Ithas enabled many stu­ Tenure "makes university administration difficult, less effi­ dents to go to the schools they want. But third-party payments cient, and more expensive, and slows needed changes in cur­ have also created problems like those afflicting American riculum and academic direction." health care. When students, like health-care consumers, pay Amacher and Meiners don't deny that tenure imposes less than the full cost for the services they receive, they have costs, but they conclude that it cannot be blamed for protect­ less incentive to do a good job of monitoring the tradeoffs ing incompetent.faculty. Reviewing relevant court cases over among time costs, money costs, and quality. the past decade or so, they find that the courts almost always As in health care, additional dollars fuel higher prices. support universities that fire faculty: "As long as a college fol­ College tuition rose faster than the Consumer Price Index lows its procedures properl)!, it is quite free to establish what­ every year from 1981 to 2003, offsetting much of the benefit ever competency standards it wishes for its faculty and to of scholarships while increasing the education industry's con­ enforce those standards." In their view, the more important stant pressure for more federal funding. Indeed, the high cost, factor is the failure of university administrators to take action. the reliance on third-party loans, and a suspicion that all the Administrators lack the strong incentives that a for-profit insti­ expense may notbe worth it after all may be inspiring much of tution would provide. the new criticism of higher education. What Comes Next? Structural Characteristics The biggest obstacle to correcting the deficiencies I have In addition to these historical factors, the fact that the uni­ discussed may be the absence of a sense of crisis. Two factors versity system is not (by and large) a profit-making business have let colleges and universities off easy. helps explain its mounting problems. Two economists, Ryan Their first reprieve is the public's general unawareness of the problem - or indifference to it. Tom Wolfe, author of "I Amacher and Roger Meiners, focus on economic structure in Am Charlotte Simmons," a novel that dissects life in a top uni­ their book "Faulty Towers." Because universities are nonprofit versity, wrote in the foreword to "Declining by Degrees": "I organizations - and often government organizations - they have never heard a single parent speculate about what value lack the profit goals that discipline firms and corporations. might be added by those four undergraduate years, other than For-profit companies aim at maximizing profits over the the bachelor's degree itself." He notes that parents are frantic long run; ifthey don't, shareholders who have their fortunes at stake will force management changes or takeovers or simply continued on page 45

42 Liberty Energy Nukes and NIMBY

by Gary Jason

When even the environmentalists want more nuclear reactors, it's clearly time to build some. But where?

The pragmatic libertarian, in my view, is one who has libertarian goals but is mindful of reali­ ties. One such practical reality is that in the battle of ideas, you cannot battle something with nothing. Rather than, say, merely showing the defects of some big-government approach to a given social problem, one should put forward a libertarian alternative. This is nowhere more im- portant than in the energy crisis America currently faces. By now it is surely obvious to everyone that our national ing recognition by politicians such as Tony Blair that Kyoto­ decision to stop building nuclear power plants was a profound type attempts to choke off the use of fossil fuels without a mistake, a mistake that has cost us dearly in money and lives. workable alternative will result in massive economic reces­ In the late 1970s, we essentially put a moratorium on nuclear sion. Over the past couple of years, President Bush has been power. The cause was an accident at Three Mile Island that trying to reopen the issue of nuclear power. killed nobod)!, and a relentless campaign by the true believ­ Most strikingl)!, there are hints of a grudging acceptance ers of the environmentalist religion - a propaganda blitz that of the need for nuclear power by prominent enviro-mavens, would have made Joseph Goebbels proud. including James Lovelock, originator of the Gaia Hypothesis, Since then, we have sent hundreds of billions of dollars and Patrick Moore, founder of Greenpeace. In London's Inde­ to repressive countries for their oil, empowering them to pendent, Lovelock urged that: maintain their tyrannies and in many cases to fund terror­ ists who want to kill us. To protect our energy sources, we Opposition to nuclear energy is based on irrational fear projected military power at a cost of thousands of soldiers' fed by Hollywood-style fiction, the Green lobbies, and the media.... Even ifthey were right about its dangers - and lives and billions of taxpayer dollars. And we have burned they are not - its worldwide use as our main source of untold amounts of fossil fuels, a practice that the high priests energy would pose an insignificant threat compared with of the environmentalist faith now assure us is causing a global the dangers of intolerable and lethal heat waves and sea warming that may kill or sadly discomfort us all. There is also levels rising to drown every coastal city in the world. We the steady loss of hundreds of people a year through mining have not time to experiment with visionary energy sourc­ and oil-industry accidents and industrial illnesses, although es; civilization is in imminent danger and has to use nu­ these losses never seem to merit much notice by the media clear, the one safe, available energy source, now, or suffer elite. the pain soon to be inflicted by our outraged planet. But a counter-movement toward common sense now Last year, Moore testified before the Subcommittee on En­ seems to be underway. Political polling shows majority public ergy and Resources of the U.S. House of Representatives as support for building more nuclear plants, and there is increas- follows:

Liberty 43 January 2007

I want to conclude by emphasizing that nuclear energy ers - indeed, the Chernobyl crew was not qualified on that - combined with the use of renewable energy sources model, didn't know about its design flaws, and violated its op­ like wind, geothermal, and hydro - remains the only erating procedures (for example, by having less than the mini­ practical, safe, and environmentally friendly means of re­ mum number of control rods). Add to this a lack of communi­ ducing greenhouse gas emissions and addressing energy cation between safety officers and the workers conducting the security. test that led to the explosion, and you have dangers of historic These dramatic shifts in political sentiment are, I am sure, size - and no probability of occurring at an American site. driven by a growing recognition of several important facts. Fourth, our existing nuclear plants have already stopped First, the people of this planet simply will not accept the 3.4 million tons of sulfur dioxide and 1.2 million tons of ni­ mass unemployment and privation that severe energy short­ trogen oxide from entering the atmosphere (according to the ages would bring (although, let's face it, these seem to be what Nuclear Energy Institute). Those pollutants would have cre­ ated lots of smog and acid rain. If you multiply the figures by four, you get what the nukes of the world have saved us. Those Americans - such as Supreme Courtjustices - who look to more enlightened countries for guidance should note We have sent hundreds ofbillions ofdollars that nuclear power has been widely embraced abroad. In the past 25 years, while this country has built no nukes, France to repressive countries for their oil, empowering (which everyone - at least at the New York Times - knows is them to maintain their tyrannies and in many the repository of the world's wisdom and culture) has built 58 of them. As Jean-Francois Cope, France's current budget min­ cases to fund terrorists who want to kill us. ister, noted in a recent Wall Street Journal editorial, France de­ rives almost 80% of its electricity from nuclear energ)T, at com­ petitive rates, and is now 50% energy-independent. France is not alone. Japan is generating about a third of its electricity from nuclear power, and that percentage is rising rapidly. Chi­ some environmental extremists really want). A dramatic in­ na has announced plans to build 30 large new reactors, just to crease in the costs that consumers have to pay for transporta­ start, with some experts predicting that it will be building as tion and home heating and cooling would seem likely to lower many as 200 by the year 2050. (The Chinese are working on what they can spend on consumer goods, and would also af­ the most promising design idea, pebble-bed reactors, which fect the prices of everything else the consumer buys. are meltdown-proof, because the fissionable material is em­ Second, the alternatives to nuclear power (fossil fuels and bedded in inert briquettes.) Many other countries have built "renewable energy sources") often have bad environmental nuclear plants as well. effects, or simply aren't yet feasible. Fossil fuels pollute; wind­ So how can we move ahead with nuclear plant construc­ mills massed over a large area are as ugly as a strip mine and tion? For starters, the administration - from the president on are just fabulous at shredding birds; and hydro power manag­ down - needs to make the case for nuclear power, clearly and es to drown massive amounts of flora and fauna. On the other continuousl~in every available forum. To Bush's credit, he has hand, hydrogen, ethanol, and solar power haven't been shown pushed the issue more forcefully than any of his recent prede­ to be useful on the large scale needed to sustain our economy. cessors; but much more needs to be done. Moreover, economically feasible fusion power remains an elu­ The most important thing is to address people's legitimate sive dream. (Long ago, when I was a physics student at UCLA, security concerns, one of which is that nuclear power plants the professors would brag that fusion power was just around are attractive targets for terrorists. My suggestion here, for the the corner. It has proven to be a mighty long corner.) short term, would be for the federal government to allow pri­ Third, our 103 existing "nukes," along with the hundreds vate companies to build nuclear power plants on military bas- owned by other free-market countries, have operated safely for hundreds of thousands of man-hours. This is in stark con­ trast to the coal mining industry. While American deaths in coal mines have been declining for decades, from about 1,550 men per year in the late 1930s down to about 100 per year in the 1990s (according to the Mine Safety and Health Admin­ The fact that 60 people died at Chernobyl is istration), that is still a hundred brave souls dying each year, irrelevant here: neither the u.s. nor western compared to zero deaths in the nuclear power industry. That is just in America - Wan Ping, in the Epoch Times, estimates Europe has ever had the screwy design for nu­ that the death rate in Chinese coal mines is a hundred times clear reactors that the Soviets did. as high! The fact that 60 people died at Chemobyl is irrelevant here: neither the U.S. nor western Europe has ever had the screwy design for nuclear reactors that the Soviets did. The Chernobyl reactor was dangerous at low power levels, and had coolant es, where security would be assured. The 103 existing Ameri­ rods that when inserted actually sped up the reaction at first. can nukes produce about 20% of our electrici~ and some of Moreover, our industry (as well as the Western European in­ these plants are aging. We will need perhaps 100 new nuclear dustries) had and have far better trained and supervised work- plants if we want to raise nuclear power to 400/0, and maybe

44 Liberty January 2007

200 ifwe want it to reach 600/0. As it happens, we have over 200 energy independent, once and for all. military bases in the U.S. within which they could be located. Alaska is a model for what I have in mind. The people of In the longer term, we need to develop our own pebble­ Alaska strongly favor the energy development of ANWR (the bed technology, which will give us plants virtually immune Arctic National Wildlife Reserve); their elected representatives to terrorist attack. A side benefit would be that we could start fight for it ferociously. But why are they so willing to see oil shifting the use of natural gas, growing ever more costl)', from exploration and drilling? Well, of course it does bring jobs, heating homes to powering vehicles, especially buses. But all and the state receives large revenues from lease royalties and this will remain a pipe-dream unless we successfully take on fees from the oil reserves exploited. It uses these revenues for that formidable force, nimby. various programs and infrastructure projects. But a big reason "NIMBY" ("Not In My Back Yard") is a natural reaction for the popular support of energy exploitation is the hefty divi­ based on self-interest. People want the benefits of power dend check each citizen receives from the Alaska Permanent plants, refineries, freeways, mental institutions, prisons, and Fund, created in 1976 to set aside a quarter of all revenue the so on, but they don't want them located near their homes. They state receives from oil. That check is now over $2,000 per year, will fight to keep them out, and fights of this kind are ordinar­ and will increase if Congress finally opens ANWR up. ily successful. A dramatic shift towards nuclear power would, I believe, But there is a way to combat nimby. It is mimpy ­ have broad appeal. Libertarians tired of funding foreign ty­ MIMBP - "Money In My Back Pocket." rants and risking American lives to protect energy supplies We should reward people who are willing to tolerate nu­ should support the move. Protectionist conservatives and lib­ clear plants in their communities. Start with the troops: every erals who are worried (foolishly, in my view) about jobs being soldier on a base where a nuclear power plant is located could "exported" abroad should also support it. Mercantilist conser­ be paid a substantial fee (generated by the sale of power that vatives worried about our large trade deficit (again, foolishly) plant produces) for every month the solider is stationed there. should support it. And Greens who are worried (even more We might consider giving the citizens of the state in which foolishly) about global warming should welcome it. This is an the plant is located a cash payment, or at least charging them issue upon which pragmatic libertarians can align with others less for power than citizens of other states. And we certainly to further a useful approach to an important policy issue. ought to offer to build nuclear plants onbases that are slated to Many libertarians dislike the fact that nukes have tradi­ be closed. To a community worried about the loss of revenue tionally received federal subsidies. But we need to keep in from the closing of its local base, we can sa)!, "All right - we'll mind that the oil, gas, hydropower, and coal industries have keep it open, if you will let us put a nuclear power plant on received (and continue to receive) federal subsidies as well, as it." If the community agrees, it will not only maintain its rev­ have solar, ethanol, wind, and other non-fossil energy sources. enue stream, but (because the service personnel will be paid Subsidies are inherently bad, we all agree. But if we are in the for the presence of the plant) actually enhance its revenue. The habit of subsidizing energy industries, why not the one that community's cash income will be higher, and its power bills is proven to work, can't be accused of contributing to global will be lower. warming, and allows us not to have to subsidize totalitarian, The amount of nuclear waste would increase: a reactor pro­ terrorist-promoting states?* CJ duces roughly one cubic yard of waste per year. For this reason we need to apply the mimpy approach to the citizens of Ne­ vada, where the Yucca Mountain storage facility is located. In *Readers interested in learning more about current trends in nuclear exchange for seeing an increased flow of waste, every resident power might start by logging on to the Nuclear Energy Institute's website (www.neLorg) or that of the Uranium Information Centre of Nevada, all two and a half million of them, could be paid, (www.uic.com). John McCarthy, professor emeritus of computer sci­ sa)!, $2,000 a year. Five billion dollars would be a small price ence at Stanford, also has a nice website on nuclear at www-formal. to pay for their forbearance in our nation's quest to become stanford.edu/jmc/progress/nuclear-faq.html.

Tattered Groves of Academe, from page 42 about getting their son or daughter into a school at the top chances of broad reform. Still, the American public is not of the U.S. News rankings, but once the student is accepted, unintelligent, and the rising costs of mediocre education may they lose interest. As a result, few colleges have come up with well press students and their families to consider alternatives. measures showing, with any persuasiveness, that four years of Competition remains the key. study actually increase a student's human capital. Perhaps the most important goal for the higher education The second finger in the dike is the enormous appeal of the community - including the schools themselves but also the aforesaid"collegiate life," even though it frequently squelches many groups concerned about declining quality - is to de­ true education. Fanned by the American fondness for sports, velop convincing ways of identifying and measuring genuine collegiate life is what many alumni remember most about their educational success. If these emerge, competition will take the university experience. Everywhere among the population of next step, as students and their families demand and search large universities, collegiate life is the drug of choice. "This out higher educational quality, corresponding to their individ­ very night," write Hersh and Merrow, "we are filming at a ual goals and circumstances. In today's environment, high-cal­ campus bar on the day of the week known on this campus as iber undergraduate education seems elusive, but the obstacles 'Boozeday,' which the rest of us know as Tuesday." may turn out to be far less overwhelming than they currently That commitment to "fun" should sober us about the appear. CJ

Liberty 45 Telephony Digital Welfare

by Vince Vasquez

In trying to make phone service affordable for everyone, the federal government reached out and put the touch on millions of someones.

For more than 20 years, the United States government has operated a program designed to en­ sure "affordable" telephone service for every American. Phone service? Yes, phone service. Yet this modest­ seeming program has become a giant technology management and subsidy scheme, costing billions of dollars a year, entailing enormous amounts of waste and fraud, and pro- ducing untold damageto America's communications system. This is the story of the Universal Service Fund, better known, to those who have heard of it, as "America's digital network to provide all consumers with affordable, high-qual­ welfare system." ity service. By using universal service doctrine to establish a noncompetitive relationship among telephone companies, How Phone Service Became "Universal" Vail successfully entrenched Ma Bell's dominant market posi­ The original concept of universal service is widely attrib­ tion, which would endure for more than half a century.1 uted to Theodore Vail, former president of AT&T. In the early The Communications Act of 1934 later codified universal 20th centul'}', many telephone service providers did not inter­ service as a national goal of providing, "so far as possible," connect their networks with those of their competitors, thus efficient radio and wire-based communications at reason­ preventing consumers served by different companies from able rates; but it did not explicitly enlist corporate subsidies communicating with one another. In 1907, Vail created the to achieve this goa1. 2 AT&T instead sought private, non­ concept of "one polic)', one system, universal service," as a compulsory ways of producing universal service, thus escap­ way of fostering a cohesive interconnection policy inAmerica. ing additional regulatory requirements from the government. AT&T's attempt to implement this vision by buying out rival The decision paid off. In less than 50 years after the signing of telephone companies ruffled the feathers of the federal gov­ the Communications Act, more than 90% of American house­ ernment. holds owned a telephone. Ina letter that was later known as the "Kingsbury Commit­ AT&T had achieved the goal of universal service by volun­ ment," AT&T assured the U.S. attorney general that, among tarily signing cooperative service agreements with small rural other things, it would stop purchasing additional competitors competitors, and by leveraging its network assets to facilitate and would voluntarily provide long-distance connections new investment. Through a practice of "cross-subsidization," to independent phone companies. The federal government AT&T raised rates for businesses and urban consumers, en­ tacitly agreed to tolerate AT&T's vast network of subsidiar­ abling it to lower rates in poorer, less developed regions. ies, the "Bell System." The result was a government-endorsed In the 1980s, the government broke up AT&T. This event, national telephone monopoly, granted with the belief that a and the consequent volatility of the telephone market, threat­ single service provider could efficiently build out a landline ened to disrupt decades of progress for ubiquitous access.

46 Liberty January 2007

With the elimination ofAT&T's vice-like grip on the telephone Congress authorized the creation of a new board of regula­ market, the private agreements and internal rate controls used tors to make recommendations for future universal service to reach universal service goals also disappeared. In an effort procedures, directing this new government bod)', as well as to prevent rural and low-income consumers from losing their the FCC, to craft policy suggestions based on seven new ex- artificially low rates for phone service, the Federal Communi­ cations Commission (FCC) stepped in to create the Universal Service Fund. The Fund was a national subsidy system that supported independent phone companies and others that had once en­ Less than 50 years after the signing of joyed private rate-stabilization agreements with AT&T. Itwas, the Communications Act, more than 900/0 of essentially! a welfare scheme for the companies and their cli­ ents. American households owned a telephone. To finance this scheme, the FCC initially levied fees on AT&T and other long-distance calling companies. But the relatively narrow scope of this government effort soon bal­ looned into a massive bureaucracy. Then came the Telecom­ pansionary principles. Everything should be done that was munications Act of 1996. deemed "necessary and appropriate for the protection of the public interest."7 How IiUniversal" Became Unlimited The Telco Act was designed to foster industry competi­ In the 60 years that followed the Communications Act of tion and technological ubiquity in America. What it delivered 1934, the telecommunications market had experienced a se­ was disastrous results for both businesses and consumers. ries of radical changes. The industry had moved from mo­ By changing the legal definition of universal service to "an nopoly toward competition. Cellular telephony had emerged, evolving level of telecommunications services" deemed "es­ and the World Wide Web. Cable television had become almost sential" by bureaucratic regulators, the act opened the doors universal. Congress decided to address these developments, for unlimited government programming and unlimited pub­ 3 and other major policy concerns, in a single act. The Telco Act lic spending. of 1996 set the stage for an unprecedented increase in pub­ lic spending and government growth in the universal service Universal Service Today system. It expanded the funding base of the USF, created ad­ With advice from Congress and other sources, the FCC ditional program priorities, and increased the role of govern­ created four main funding mechanisms within the Universal ment in broadband deployment and telecom connectivity. Service Fund - Low Income, High Cost, Schools and Librar­ Before the act, only long-distance phone companies paid ies, and Rural Health Care.8 into the Universal Service Fund. This, of course, limited the The Low Income division aims to ensure "affordable" money available for bureaucratic spending. Now, however, in telephone service for qualifying "low-income" consumers 1996 Congress required that "all providers of telecommuni­ through three sub-programs - underwriting monthly phone cations services" make contributions to the universal service bills, hook-up fees, and toll limitation services. The High system.4 The FCC later interpreted this mandate as requiring Cost program is a collection of corporate subsidies for phone all carriers that provide interstate and international service to service providers that operate mainly in remote, rural areas. pay a percentage of their long-distance calling revenue into Schools and Libraries, also known as liE-Rate," provides dis­ USF,s counts of up to 90°1<> of the costs for phone service, internal In one swift stroke, the FCC levied a revenue fee on nearly connection, and broadband access for qualifying schools and alliandline and wireless phone companies, payphone provid­ libraries. Finall)', under Rural Health Care, small-town medi­ ers, and paging service companies. (More recentlY! the FCC cal providers such as hospitals and clinics receive low-cost in­ decided to tax Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoI~ for the ternet access and telephone service, in an effort to "equalize" aid of Universal Service.) At the behest of rural congressional telecom service rates between rural and urban areas. As previously noted, the FCC has ordered all long-dis­ tance calling revenue to be subject to the Universal Service Fund. The rate of corporate payment is determined through a mechanism known as the Contribution Factor, reassessed This modest-seeming program costs billions each quarter by the FCC, and based on changing program de­ ofdollars a year, entails enormous amounts of mand. That's the theory. In practice this is an unbridled tele­ waste and fraud, and produces untold damage com tax, raking inbillions of dollars for subsidies at the will of unelected bureaucrats and nonprofit administrators. to America's communications system. The arrangements have proven precarious. Aside from the economic distortions created by universal service taxes, one of the biggest problems with the system is the management of the fund itself. legislators and education advocates, the Telco Act pledged To handle corporate billing and distribution of USF funds, universal service support to a broad array of schools, public the FCC appointed in 1998 a private non-profit corporation, libraries, and rural health-care providers.6 the Universal Service Administration Company (USAC). The This program naturally provided for its own expansion. scope of USAC's duties made even some in Congress uneasy.

Liberty 47 January 2007

Acknowledging concerns about a nongovernment entity dis­ system to verify these personal testimonies. It's not surprising bursing .billions in public funds and possibly setting future that USF's Low Income division has seen incredible growth in polic)', the FCC directed early on that the USAC "may not the number of recipients. make polic)', interpret unclear provisions of the statute or Since 1990, administrators have added nearly six million more Americans to the Link Up and Lifeline programs18 ­ peculiar results, considering that most of the recipient growth occurred during a period of economic expansion that created more than 22 million new jobs, and saw unemployment reach Auditors found that more than one-third of a 30-year 10w.19 The failure of government to acknowledge reviewed recipients were noncompliant with this contradiction, and to demand transparency for the murky government guidelines. universal service program, remains troubling. So do ongoing problems in USF High Cost operations. In 1986, about $55 million was disbursed for High Cost support through USE Now, more than 60% of the total USF budget - $4 billion - is earmarked for the High Cost fund­ rules, or interpret the intent of Congress.,,9 However, as re­ ing mechanism, a staggering figure that's doubled since 1999. cently as August 2004, the FCC asked USAC to "identify any Evidence suggests that High Cost funds are more in the cate­ USAC administrative procedures that should be codified in gory of corporate welfare than consumer welfare. As one eco­ our rules to facilitate program oversight,"10 a deferential or­ nomic study of the High Cost program estimated, USF funds der that raised doubts about how involved the FCC actually is are subsidizing rural carriers at twice the level necessary for with universal service management. efficient operation, with more than half a billion dollars wast­ Originally, the FCC intended to review'USAC's manage­ ed each year.20 ment performance one year after it was given the reins of The High Cost funding mechanism deters prudent cor­ the universal service system.11 That review never took place. porate consolidation and cost-cutting, because it awards the USAC is now controlled by a 19-member board of directors smallest rural phone companies quadruple the subsidy rate composed of individuals representing groups eager for a received by larger, presumably more efficient carriers.21 In piece of the USF pie - education advocates, telecom indus­ the category of weird results, consider the fact that California try executives, and state regulators.12 As directors review the budgets for programs that may benefit their myriad interest has nearly twice as many telephone lines as any other state groups, there is a free-for-all with public funds. (23 million), but in 2005 California received less High Cost Regulators wield power like a teenager with a credit card, funding than the island of Puerto Rico (which has one million lines).22 recklessly spending money without consequence. Because the FCC largely pegs the Contribution Factor by how much mon­ Because High Cost funding insulates rural carriers from ey the USAC commits to recipients, and the FCC has added marketforces, and does little to require effective business prac­ E-Rate and Rural Health Care to the USF payroll, the telecom tices, some of the recipient companies have become masters at tax has soared.13 USAC has tripled the size of program dis­ exploiting the vulnerable system. One example is Big Bend bursements since 1998. The FCC has followed suit, tripling Telephone, a company that serves 6,000 customers in the town the telecom tax rate, which has culminated in more than $48 of Alpine, Texas. It reported that more than 95% of its revenue 14 - $13 million - came from universal service subsidies, leav­ billion in USF disbursements. 23 Some proponents of universal service have argued that the ing consumer sales to shore up the meager rest. XIT Rural rapid growth in funding demands has mainly resulted from Telephone Collective, a tiny utility serving 1,500 residents in shrinking profits in the long-distance market. Government the Texas panhandle, did so well under government largesse analysts, however, have concluded that it is mainly caused by that it paid out an average of $375 in dividend payments to voracious USAC spending practices.15 its shareholding customers, an amount more than the average With open-ended congressional expansion of univer­ $202 they paid for actual phone service that year. sal service, and out-of-control spending by unaccountable As for the E-Rate program, it too is a basket of ugly is­ bureaucrats, the beneficiaries and profiteers of USF programs sues. The rules governing E-Rate disbursements do nothing havebecome a national embarrassment, a constantly recurring to prohibit "gold-plating," the overprocurement of goods source of s~lashy headlines about government fraud, abuse, and services, beyond the needs of recipients. This regulatory and waste. 6 The carte blanche attitudes of universal service loophole, along with the ineptitude of federal officials to crack regulators are matched only by their ineptitude at managing down on abuse, has led to rampant waste. the actual programs. In late 2004, the FCC Inspector General issued a damag­ ing report that revealed the results of more than a hundred Please Be Honest: Would You audits of USF-recipient schools and libraries.24 FCC Inspector Like Affordable Service? General H. Walker Feaster III stated that he had "numerous One of the dubious government policies that beset the concerns" about E-Rate and believed that the program was Low Income program was a "self-certification" system that subject to a high risk of fraud, waste, and abuse through non­ allowed consumers to receive financial support by simply compliance and program weakness. The report uncovered telling their telephone service carrier that they participate in numerous scams - bid rigging, false reporting, misappro­ a qualifying means-tested public assistance program, or met priation, kickbacks. Auditors found that more than one-third a qualifying income level.17 Unfortunately, there has been no of reviewed recipients were noncompliant with government

48 Liberty January 2007 guidelines. USAC had mismanaged at least $17 million Though some would suggest that the benefits of a (dys­ through E-Rate.25 functional) universal service system for schools and low­ Other revelations have also dogged USAC officials, dem­ income Americans outweigh the costs to the telecom industry onstrating incompetence and an inability to curb system and average consumers, a broader perspective of what stands abuse. FCC audits found that Virginia schools were able to at risk must be taken into account. use E-Rate subsidies to purchase 85 cell phones and 195 pag­ Short-sighted laws have the power to turn consumer mar­ ers, despite the fact that cell phones and pagers aren't ap­ kets into stagnant pools. The Telecom Act and the demands for proved for subsidies.26 In 2003, five people were charged with revenue under universal service have stalled the deployment diverting more than $1 million in E-Rate funds from schools of technologies like.DSL and Broadband over Power Lines, as in Illinois and Wisconsin, using the money to buy automobiles investors choose not to waste their money on overregulated and a home, and to wire more than $600,000 to Pakistan.27 enterprises. Wireless calling companies have also found diffi­ In 2005, a congressional inquiry determined that although culty making a business case for entering regions where gov­ USAC had disbursed more than $100 million over three years ernment-picked winners are insulated by subsidies and have to connect Puerto Rico's 1,540 schools with broadband access, no incentive to make business operations more efficient. few computers were connected, and more than $23 million For too long, lawmakers have propped up landline tele­ of telecom equipment was sitting in unopened boxes in a phonywithbillions ofindustrydollars through the USF system 28 warehouse. The same investigative body found that in 2000 that could be otherwise invested elsewhere. This has skewed USAC approved a "plainly fraudulent application" for more the business decisions of service providers and placed power than $48 million in E-Rate subsidies for the San Francisco Uni­ in the hands of inexpert regulators. As a result of harmful pro­ fied School District. This followed on the heels of an alleged visions in industry laws, the u.s. has been left in the dust when scheme by the Gambino crime family to use a Missouri-based it comes to deployment of advanced communications methods E-Rate service provider to defraud the program of nearly $22 - many of which were developed here in our own country. 29 million. In April 2005, the International Telecommunication Union With more than 8.5 million individual recipients, and a (ITU) announced that the United States had dropped from growing budget of $7.1 billion, universal service now rivals 13thto 16thplace in global broadband penetration, laggingbe­ the basic cash assistance program of the federal welfare pro­ hind such countries as Canada, Israel, and Norway.35 The Or­ 30 gram. Universal service has devolved into a digital welfare ganization for Economic Cooperative Development (OECD) system, repeating institutional mistakes that have plagued the found similar results, with the U.s. tumbling from 4th place nation's general welfare system for decades. in 2001 to 12th in December 2005.36 The international laurels Prospects for Reform? once accorded the United States for superior market-driven In summer 2005, the FCC opened a broad investiga­ policies and technological innovation have been revoked, and tion into USAC management, asking for public comments will continue out of reach so long as the voices of regulators on improving the public administration of USF institutions, and lobbyists drown out the real needs of consumers and the programs, and disbursements.31 Responding to criticisms of national economy. Low-Income self-certification, the FCC modified its rules to Just End It improve the effectiveness of program enrollment, and asked After years of legal rewrites, the "universalservice system" that all states establish procedures to verify the continued eli­ 32 is a combination of a public entitlement program and an old­ gibility of local recipients. . As a result of the Inspector Gen­ fashioned pork barrel, predictably plagued by abuse, fraud, eral's damning E-Rate audit report, the USAC Administrator and waste. As President Reagan once said, "Government does planned to conduct 700 audits of universal service recipients not solve problems, it subsidizes them." Real consumer needs in 2005 to target fraud and abusive practices, including 250 can be better served through market forces, rather than the audits of schools and libraries.33 In addition, USAC hired a self-serving whims of unaccountable bureaucrats. The USF firm to conduct 1,000 site visits to inspect E-Rate recipient lo­ cations. One may wonder why no one did this before. Any possible answer to· that question will make one skeptical that internal audits and reviews will achieve any meaningful reform. As the Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted in an April In one swift stroke, the FCC levied a revenue 2005 report, the "FCC has been slow ... to use audit findings fee on nearly all landline and wireless phone to make programmatic changes. For example, several impor­ companies, payphone providers, and paging tant audit findings from the 1998 program year were only re­ .. cently resolved by an FCC rulemaking in August 2004.,,34 serVIce companIes Expecting public officials to reorganize effectively, restrain spending habits, and cede authority ignores the enormous strength of the government culture to protect and expand ju­ risdiction at all costs. Policy makers handling universal ser­ vice funds retain an unhealthy political interest in expanding confirms the axiom that it is much easier to start a government programs and available financial resources, regardless of the program than to end it. Nevertheless, the time has come to consequences for consumers, for businesses, or for industry tear down this digital wall, and set consumers and innovators innovation. free. 0

Liberty 49 January 2007

Notes 1. For further information, see Adam Thierer, "Trends in Telephone Service." GPO, June 2005. 24. Federal Communications Commission. "Of­ "Unnatural Monopoly: Critical Moments in the De­ 15. Congressional Budget Office. "Financing Uni­ fice of Inspector General Semiannual Report to Con­ velopment of the Bell System Monopoly," Cato Jour­ versal Telephone Service." GPO, March 2005. gress: April 1, 2004-September 30,2004." Fall 2004. nal 14 (Fall 1994). 16. Johna Johnson, "Universal Service Fraud: 25. Ibid., p. 1.2. 2. 47 U.S.c. §151. Bailouts for Billionaires/' Network World (March 26. Paul Davidson, Greg Troppo, and Jayne 3. For a more detailed history of the '96 Act, see 7, 2005), p. 28; Christopher Lee, "A Disconnect on O'Donnell, "Fraud, waste mar plan to wire schools DeonneL. Bruning, "The Telecommunications Act of School Internet Funds; Congressional Report Finds to Net," USA Today (June 8, 2004). 1996: The Challenge of Competition," 30 Creighton Waste in 9-Year-Old E-Rate Program," Washington 27. Ibid. L. Rev. 1255, 1997. Post (Oct. 28, 2005), p. A21; Ben Feller, "Auditors 28. U.S. House of Representatives. Committee on 4.47 V.S.c. §254 (b)(4). Find Lax Oversight of Internet Program for Schools, Energy and Commerce, "Waste, Fraud and Abuse 5. Federal Communications Commission. "Report Libraries," San Diego Union-Tribune (March 16, Concerns With the E-Rate Program," GPO, Oct. 18, and Order." FCC 97-157. GPO, May 8, 1997, p. 388. 2005); Greg Smith, "Mob Dials For Dough: Say Mil­ 2005. 6. 47U.S.C. §254 (h). lions Swindled Using Tiny Midwest Firm." New 29. Steve Birsendine, "Two plead guilty to con­ 7.47 U.S.c. §254 (b). York Daily News (Sept. 19, 2004), p. 33. spiracy in $9 million phone scam." San Diego Union­ 8. Federal Communications Commission; "Trends 17. Federal Communications Commission, "Re­ Tribune (Feb. 24, 2005). in Telephone Service." GPO, June 2005. port and Order and Further Notice of Proposed 30. Source: U.S. Department of Health and Hu­ 9. United States Government Accountability Of­ Rulemaking." WC Docket No. 03-109. GPO, April man Services. 31. Federal Communications Commission, "Re­ fice. "Concerns Regarding the Structure and FCC's 29,2004. port and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Management o.f the E-Rate Program." Testimony. 18. Federal Communications Commission; Rulemaking," WC Docket Nos. 05-195, 02-60, 03­ GPO, March 2005. "Trends in Telephone Service." GPO, June 2005. 109, CC Docket Nos. 96-45, 02-6, 97-21. GPO, June 10. United States Government Accountability 19. "The Clinton Presidency: Historic Economic 14,2005. Office. "Application of the Anti-Deficiency Act and Growth." 2005. The White House. Nov. 16, 2005. 32. Federal Communications Commission, "Re­ Other Fiscal Controls to FCC's E-Rate Program." Tes­ (http://clinton5.nara.gov/textonly/WH/Aecomplish­ port and Order and Further Notice of Proposed timony. GPO, April 2005. ments/eightyears-03.html). Rulemaking," WC Docket No. 03-109. Washington: 11. "FCC Adopts Plan to Restructure Administra­ 20. "Lost in Translation: How Rate of Return Reg­ GPO, April 29, 2004. tion of Universal Service Mechanisms (CC Docket ulation Transformed the Universal Service Fund for 33. "States Think Time is Ripe to Fix Intercarrier Nos. 97-21 and 96-45)." Nov. 19, 1998. Federal Com­ Consumers into Corporate Welfare for the RLECs." Compensation," Communications Daily (Feb. 15, munications Commission. Dec. 8, 2005. (http://www. Economics and Technology, Inc., February 2004, p. 2005). fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/News_Releas­ iv. 34. United States Government Accountability es/1998/nrcc8084.html). 21. Ibid., p. v. Office, "Application of the Anti-Deficiency Act and 12. "Board of Directors Members - Universal 22. It's worthwhile to note that in late 2005, the OtherFiscal Controls to FCC's E-Rate Program," Tes­ Service Administrative Company (USAC)." 2005. Puerto Rico Telephone Company convinced the FCC timony, GPO, April, 2005. Universal Service Administrative Company. Oct. 20, to tentatively adopt a new "non-rural insular sup­ 35. CI Host, "CI Host Calls for Broadband-Friend­ 2005. (http://www.universalservice.orglboard/mem­ port mechanism" to supplement High Cost funding ly Legislation in Telecom Act; Changes Essential As bers). to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, adding to the United States Slips in Global Broadband Ranking," 13. According to the FCC, the Contribution Factor headaches of growth and bureaucracy in the Univer­ May 4, 2005. is calculated from the projected needs of USF, and sal Service Fund. 36. "OECD Broadband Statistics, December the anticipated revenues from interstate and interna­ 23. Paul Davidson, "Fees paid by all phone cus­ 2005," OECD, June 1, 2006. (http://www.oeed.org/ tional calling. tomers help rural phone firms prosper," USA Today documenU39/~2340,en_2649_37441_36459431_1_1_ 14. Federal Communications Commission; (Nov. 16, 2004), p. lB. 1_37441,OO.html).

You've enjoyed Tim Slagle'S reflections, now hear his valentine to Europe.

Tim Slagle's Europa, on CD and the Internet.

~~er

Available atAmazon and iTunes on Stand Up! Records. www.timslagle.com • www.standuprecords.com Reviews

"Flags of Our Fathers," directed by Clint Eastwood. Dreamworks, 2006, 137 minutes. "Ghost Soldiers," by Hampton Sides. Anchor Books, 2002, 344 pages. Bringing the Boys Back Home

they were still mostly forgotten. Where "Flags of Our Fathers" (2000) and son Jo Ann Skousen were the Japanese war movies? ofone of the flag raisers, explains, "War One difficulty in making movies is a complicated thing. To make sense Much of what I know about World about the war in the Pacific was prac­ of it we need an easy-to-understand War II I learned from movies. Our free­ tical: Hollywood was populated by truth - and as few words as possible." dom was secured nobly by handsome, actors of European descent who could By 1945 people were becoming tired courageous, wisecracking heroes and easily step into roles as Germans and and cynical about war, and money the gracious, long-suffering women Italians. It was more difficult to make a was lagging. A flag being raised by six who supported them. They were smart, movie about the Japanese, when most exhausted Marines (well, five Marines they were virtuous, and they were in Japanese-Americans weren't at liberty and a Navy Corpsman) is about as easy Europe. During the war, Hollywood to work anywhere, let alone in the was almost a fifth branch of the armed to understand as symbols come. It was services, providing feel-good movies movies. a truth people wanted to believe in. that gave the folks back home a sense But there is a deeper reason that The war department saw the fund­ of honor and purpose. But they were might explain the lack of movies about raising possibilities immediateljj and about the war against Germanjj not the Pacific theater: we weren't winning brought the flag-raisers home to begin Japan. the war there. Pearl Harbor wasn't a nationwide bond-selling campaign. I first began thinking about this the only American base attacked by Trouble was, these young men didn't a few months ago, while reading the Japanese in December 1941; bases feel like heroes. Not for raising the Hampton Sides' excellent book "Ghost all over the Pacific were destroyed, flag, anyway. They had seen and expe­ Soldiers" (2002), which recounts the severely crippling the American fleet rienced too much of the reality of war, daring rescue of British and American before the war even began. With no and it wasn't something to crow about. prisoners of war in the Philippines. But backup on the way, tens of thousands In fact, it must have been agony for the book is far from triumphant. While of U.s. soldiers and sailors were forced them, forced to relive the horror again telling the story of the Rangers' heroic to surrender. It simply wasn't a story and again, night after night, for the march to the rescue, Sides also tells the folks back home wanted to see. fawning, voyeuristic satisfaction of the the back stories of these young - so There is nothing to cheer about the donors back home. young! - men who had beencaptured Death March of Bataan. "Flags of Our Fathers," Clint early in the war, starved, beaten, and That's why Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer Eastwood's film of Bradley's book, cap­ massacred, and all but forgotten until Prize-winning photograph of the flag tures that mental anguish effectively early 1945, when the Americans finally being raised above Iwo Jima was so as it moves back and forth between began to overpower the Japanese. But important. As James Bradley, author of the battle scenes, the fundraising

Liberty 51 January 2007

tour, and Bradley's interviews in the war either. Eastwood does not attempt given a hero's welcome? Well, sort of. 1990s of the men who had been in his to justify the American position, but While the Marines were preparing to father's platoon. Eastwood uses subtle neither does he vilify it. He simply storm Iwo Jima, the Army Rangers lighting techniques to demonstrate doesn't discuss the reasons for the war the changing time periods: somber, at all. The fact that he simultaneously undersaturated processing that looks directed a film from the Japanese point almost like black and white for the war of view (to be released in February The young men didn't feel scenes in the men's memories; vivid, under the title "Letters from Iwo like heroes. They had seen and Technicolor lighting for the fundrais­ Jima") reveals his desire to present ing campaIgns; and heavy shadows for the human story rather than the politi­ experienced too much of the Bradley's interviews with the elderly cal one. At the end of the film Bradley reality of war, and it wasn't soldiers, when memories had dimmed. urges, "Remember them how they Some critics have complained that the really were." Not heroes, but heroic. something to crow about. film doesn't make clear which soldiers Of the Americans, Bradley says, "They are being interviewed in these scenes, fought for their country, but they died but I think the ambiguity is deliberate, for their friends." It will be interesting were preparing a different raid in the given the misidentification of the flag to see whether the Japanese are por­ Philippines: the rescue of the remain­ raisers at the time the photograph was trayed as having the same priorities in ing American prisoners of war. published. They were treated inter­ the sister film. By January 1945 the war had begun changeably then, and Eastwood makes Does this film present them "how to tum in the Pacific. Rather than them interchangeable now. they really were"? As the final credits allow prisoners to be repatriated, the The campaign was a financial suc­ roll, Eastwood runs photos that were Japanese began shipping the health­ cess (they raised anamazing$42 billion), taken by Rosenthal and other official ier ones to Japan and massacring the but after the war, few of the soldiers photographers during the battle. It's weaker ones by the thousands. These could speak of their experiences. In the as though the soldiers in Eastwood's liberated prisoners were as emaciated film, Rene Gagnon, one of the raisers, film walked right out of Rosenthal's as the Holocaust victims, many of them says to another, "Back home, the ones photographs. Even the scrub grass and crippled and evenblinded by malnour­ who didn't go, it's hard to even talk rock faces match the photos - which ishment. The Rangers who staged the to them." Like Krebs in Hemingway's is amazing, considering that Eastwood "audacious enterprise," as they called poignant "A Soldier's Story," even had to go to Iceland to reproduce the it, "felt a glow of satisfaction that in the those who came home didn't make black volcanic sands of Iwo Jima. No midst of the fighting we had partici­ it out alive. "The things I did weren't one can know what they thought and pated in a life-saving operation." things to be proud of," another raiser, felt, but Eastwood manages to show Sides writes, "The story carried Ira Hayes, tries to explain. Eastwood us what they saw. (I happened to be immense symbolic importance; here shows the gruesomeness of battle, but in Iceland at the time it was filmed, was a story of redemption, the first he also leaves much to the imagination, staying at the same hotel as Eastwood definitive reversal of fortune in an demonstrating that some scenes simply - alas, our paths never crossed.) otherwise desperately bleak chain of can't be shown, or even described. And what about those imprisoned events that had begun with the fall of "Flags of our Fathers" is certainly soldiers and sailors whose stories are Bataan." The rescued soldiers were not pro-war, but it isn't exactly anti- told in "Ghost Soldiers"; were they cleaned up, fattened up, and shipped home for fundraising victory tours at almost the same time as the Iwo Jima heroes. But there wasn't the same Calling AllEconomists! thrill of vicarious victory in the story Since the Left depends entirely on the assumption that taking from the of men beaten, tortured, and starved. rich to give to the poor reduces inequality, it would be utterly demolished by Sides reports, "After the initial flurry the opposite-most conclusion, that it didn't reduce but increased inequality. of press attention, the raid was quickly eclipsed by other developments in the That is the "new idea," with the gold coin prize for refuting it, regularly war - Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Hiroshima offered here, and simply ignored by the "experts," afraid to stick their necks out. ... and largely faded from the public consciousness." With real economists, new ideas come first. But, with the pusillanimous The men received their medals, but panjandrums ofthe Chicago and Austrian Schools, they don't even come last. the parades ended. Maybe the War But the ultimate onus is upon the sycophantic libertarians letting them get Department worried that if we knew away with it. For, with all their lip service to Questioning Authority, they how badly our men were treated, we worship it blindly, idolizing "fearless, fighting champions" who won't fight, wouldn't be as quick to send them off but are "above" it, defending their titles only in the record book, never the ring. to war. Maybe that's why Eastwood made Ifsports were like this, John L. Sullivanwould still be heavyweight champion. this movie. 0 For the real economists, and champions, see the Open Forum at intinc.org.

Advertisement January 2007

"While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the harsh), arguing that America is the last hope for western civilization and the West From Within," by Bruce Bawer. Doubleday, 2006, 237 pages. whole world. This book is an eas)', if horrifying, read. Despite the speed with which its mere three chapters can be consumed, it has plenty of documentation for its claims, from almost every nation in Europe. Bawer, who is also a transla­ tor, speaks Dutch and Norwegian flu­ The Houris ently and is conversant in several other European languages as well. His insid­ er's perspective helps him find quota­ tions, incidents, and stories from all over the Continent - many based on Late his personal experience. Possibly the most terrifying part of the book is the way some European Muslims are confidently planning that in America is an annoyance but in to rule Europe. A popular Swedish Andre Zantonavitch Europe is a veritable religion." T-shirt reads simply "2030 - then we Bawer excoriates his European take over." With France still only 12% This stunner of a book about friends for their propensity to display Muslim, the leading Parisian newspa­ Continental Islam has two main phony "respect" and "understanding" per Le Monde seems to have surren­ themes. The first is that Europe has a of the various foreigners in their midst, dered already. In 2004 it praised France simply incredible Muslim immigration especially Muslims. He blasts their and reproduction problem. Evidently for its oneness of mind with Islamic cult-like belief in the mantra of multi­ nations on almost all issues and "the the Muslim population is vigorously culturalism and their unlimited "belief fact of its having and accepting the role expanding, and it is not being assimi­ in peace and reconciliation through of the first Muslim country of Europe." lated or integrated into European cul­ dialog," even when militant Islamists How did Europe ever reach such a ture. This radically new and explosive emphatically reject peace, reconcilia­ seeming dead end? The problem began demographic, according to the author, tion, and dialogue as methodologies rather recently, in the late '60s and '70s, is not being converted to western liber­ or ideals. "While Europe Slept" makes with a temporary labor shortage and or adopting western styles of life. alism the interesting observation that there subsequent special "guest worker" "While Europe Slept" argues that is virtually no American-style "reli­ programs. But the shortage is long gone while Europe is currently only about gious right" to oppose growing Muslim and the Muslims are still there. And as 8-10% Islamic - vs. 2°k for America power. Virtually the whole Continent Bawer points out repeatedl)', they aren't - if present trends continue it will take is atheist or de facto atheist, he claims. being integrated into the various popu­ only a generation or two for Muslims to Thus in Europe the religious right is lations, as they tend to be in America. become the majority. The Continent will Muslim. (Such an extreme claim is per­ Almost all Muslims live in suburban become what intellectual fellow-trav­ haps valid for the Low Countries and ghettos and are often rejected by the eler Bat Ye'or in 2005 called "Eurabia." Scandinavia, but much less so in the native and slightly nativist whites. The claim by Bruce Bawer is that well Catholic-dominated south.) before 2050, most of Europe is likely to The somewhat novel form of become an outpost of Islamdom gov­ European left and right leads to some erned by Shariah law. Europe will be odd political terminology and alliances. Europe today is a hellhole alien to western culture and an enemy Bawer consistently champions what of western civilization. he calls "the liberal resistance," but he ofleftist multiculturalism, far His second theme is that Europe doesn't seem to know where to find it worse than anything in Amer­ today is a hellhole of leftist multicul­ or even how to describe it. Though he turalism, far worse than anything in tries to be optimistic, and he does offer ica, and far worse than almost America, and far worse than almost suggestions to ameliorate the demo­ anyone in America suspects. anyone in America suspects. American graphic onslaught that he predicts, he expatriate Bawer - who has lived the describes in appalling detail the means past ten years in various European by which the multicultural left protects countries, mostly Holland and Norway the Islamic religious right, and he con­ Most Islamists, in tum, utterly reject - is almostuniformly alarmedbyevery cludes that "Europe is steadily commit­ their new country and its western lib­ country he lives in or visits. According ting suicide, and perhaps all we can do eral ideology. The vast majority - even to him, political correctness and mul­ is look on in horror." Bawer essentially second generation kids - aren't fluent ticulturalism are "a habit of thought writes off Europe (which seems a little in the local European tongues.

Liberty 53 January 2007

This growing cultural threat is Among the nightmarish statistics on his own politics seems in order. He exacerbated by a custom called "fetch­ cited by the book are these: 80% of the previously edited a book slamming ing" marriages. Males from Europe women in Oslo's shelter system are America's multicultural left called use "family unification" laws to bring Muslims fleeing abusive families, hus­ "Beyond Queer: Challenging Gay Left in illiterate females they've never met bands, andboyfriends. Danish Muslims Orthodoxy" (1996). Yet he's also writ- from their former country, and then make up 5% of the population but 40% marry them - usually as uneducated of the welfare rolls. Refugee-friendly teenagers. The young girls are kept at Switzerland is already 200/0 Muslim. home, in a virtual prison, where they The world's most wonderful city (in The four London bombers quickly begin to bear children. Bawer my view), Amsterdam, is now close to 56 observes that"already in most of west­ majority Muslim. Seventy percent of all who killed in July of2005 ern Europe, 16 to 20 percent of children French convicts are Muslim. The four had received almost a million are Muslim." These new citizens rarely London bombers who killed 56 in July dollars in welfare benefits. learn the local languages or customs but 2005 had received almost a million dol­ they do qualify for vast welfare benefits lars in welfare benefits. and quickly produce more Islamist-ori­ And the bad news just keeps com­ ented males and slavelike females. Then ing! "While Europe Slept" is relentless ten a book called "Stealing Jesus: How the process starts all over again. at relating it, and at discounting the Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity" The effect of all these Muslims possibility of a revival of the still-noble (1998), which trashes America's reli­ on the life of Europe is remarkable. European Enlightenment liberal spirit. gious right. In the end, he calls himself a Homophobia is way up, as is opposi­ Bawer's book has been praised by part-time "libertarian" and is essentially tion to abortion and divorce. "Honor" many on the political Right, but a note a strong western or classical liberal. 0 killings are disturbingly common, along with female genital mutilation. In many parts of Europe all women must IIAndy Warhol," directed by Ric Burns. PBS, 2006, 240 minutes. wear scarves covering their faces lest they be deemed whores and "for every­ one." In such places, any Muslim or Muslim gang can rape any. uncovered girl. Afterwards, the girl may be killed by relatives to end the "shame" of her family. Now, not all European Muslims Fame and agree with this, naturally; but they face immense pressure from Islamists and multiculturalists to eschew any cultural criticisms. The rapists, unfortunatel)', almost always go unpunished. And because native Europeans disdain this Flackery

ing calculation of a slight homely swish Some European Muslims Richard Kostelanetz child of Ruthenian immigrants. The are confidently planning to film shows how Warhol moved from rule Europe. A popular Swed­ Not unlike others involved in the art lower class Pittsburgh, where he was world I viewed attentively from begin­ ignorant of even bourgeois American ish T-shirt reads simply "2030 ning to end Ric Bums'four-hour public­ life, to become a major cultural celebrity - then we take over. " television feature about Andy Warhol, within only two decades of his arrival admiring it initially for excerpts of in New York. This alone is a unique and 16mm films not seen in decades (espe­ improbable story which could happen cially "ChelseaGirls," which is Warhol's only in America. practice, most unwesternized Muslims masterpiece), and then for insight­ Often seen in the film is the writer think of white men as weak and effemi­ ful commentary by the critics Stephen Ronald Tavel, whom I knew during the nate, scorning them for not being able Koch, Wayne Koestenbaum, and Dave mid-1960s when he was Warhol's script­ to control their women. They think of Hickey. writer. I admired him both for his plays, normally dressed western women as Another virtue of the film is its which epitomized "the theatre of the lowlifes without honor and as unloved definitive establishment, not only of ridiculous," and for his novel "Street harlots, valuable principally for group the intelligence of an artist who often of Stairs" (1968), which appeared from violation and subsequent termination. appeared stupid, but also of the striv- Olympia Press (more prominent then

54 Liberty January 2007 than now), only in an abridged ver­ Anotherpeculiarity oftheBurnsfilm lectors holding unwanted bags. Perhaps sion, so he claimed. Sitting in my living is the lack of any footage from Warhol's those currently owning lesser Warhols, room around 1967 he told how Warhol's residences, beginning with the town­ which must number several thousand Factory was bestowing success on him. house he shared with his mother until (prints included), will come to resemble Though I was not ga)!, Ronnie gave her death. His last house, reportedly the fans of Pavel Tchelitchew or Ben me the impression that I could join the 90% storage, was filled with the objects Shahn, from a previous generation, train. As a native New Yorker familiar he collected in the final two decades of Kenny Scharf more recentl)!, or Eugene with shaky celebrity, I feared that he his life - not only art but bric-a-brac Speicher, whom Esquire magazine was consumed by a balloon that would reflecting a taste at once high class and identified in 1936 as "America's most burst on him, as indeed it did. As the low (but not bourgeois), serviced by important living painter." Had a specu­ film makes clear, the Warholies, per­ unlimited funds. lator been able to short these Warhols haps every single one, were cast aside. Burns' Warhol reminded me of a cer­ a decade ago, he or she might now be This sort of professional ride was not taineconomictruth. The greattragedy of under water, as stock shorts would say; for me, I realized then, and smugly con­ the art market is that you can't sell short but as I watched the Burns film, I sensed gratulate myself now. - you can't sell what you don't own, that underlying some of the extravagant What mars Burns' work are puerile, buying it back in the future; betting, in claims made for his art was the desper­ inflated comments, first from the artist effect, that the value of an overinflated ate fear that Warhol shorts might even­ Laurie Anderson, who was recruited artist's workwill decline, leavinghis col- tually be right. D to act as the pretentious narrator, but mostly from art dealers and other pro­ UThe Conservative Soul: How We Lost It, How to Get It moters. One of them closes the film with the outrageous claim thatWarhol stands Back," by Andrew Sullivan. HarperCollins, 2006, 280 pages. for the late part of the 20th century as monumentally as Pablo Picasso did for the earlier part! The art hucksters' extended and repeated appearances raised questions in my mind about the critical intelligence of the filmmaker. Though the film includes a clip of the highly voluble art dealer Ivan Karp in Conserving 1968, why doesn't he appear now, and say something less predictable? Don't be surprised if some of the flackery dis­ appears when (and if) the film or DVD goes into general release. Reading the credits, as I normally do Conservatism with such films (partly to look for the names of friends), I discovered that the "executive producers" include the art collector Peter Brandt, who owns lots of you're told. Government only acts for Warhols, and the hugely successful art Martin Morse Wooster the best. Disagree with the president dealer Larry Gagosian, whose specialty and you're a dupe of the mainstream has been not the discovery of new art­ Study the history of the conserva­ media. If you're a Democratic presiden­ ists but the more successful exhibition tive movement and you'll find that tial candidate, Osama bin Laden is your of figures already established. Precisely periods of false consensus are followed running mate and Ayman al-Zawahiri because public television denies explicit by furious conflicts between various your secretary of defense. extended commercials, it becomes factions. If you looked at the pages of Because of the ineptitude of the receptive to highfalutin donors with National Review in 1986, for example, Republican-controlled Congress and pecuniary interests. In his "Myths, Lies, you would find editorial after editorial the debacle in Iraq, this flaccid statism is and Downright Stupidity" (2006), John announcing that conservatives agreed coming under attack. Into the fray steps Stossel, the ABC commentator who on everything. Shortly thereafter, the Andrew Sullivan. Though best known began his television career by exposing paleoconservatives and the neoconser­ as a blogger, pundit, and gay activist, product frauds on commercial stations, vatives began a bitter war that contin­ he has a doctorate in political philoso­ notes that "PBS carries almost no con­ ues to erupt from time to time. ph)!, and "The Conservative Soul" is his sumer reporting, probably because the Conservatives today live in an age attempt to write a serious book about bureaucrats who run it are too nervous of false consensus. The statist faith of what conservatism means. about offending anyone." Conversel)!, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham is Sullivan is almost a libertarian; his cultural institutions afraid of offend­ simple: shut up and obey. President Bush ideas for the most part intertwine with ing anyone are vulnerable to donations is always right. If you knew what he and strengthen libertarian arguments. from everyone. knew, you'd follow orders and do what He disagrees with us about public

Liberty 55 January 2007 schools, and supports the war on terror­ and power. This is a very good book view, should establish the rule of law ism more than most libertarians would with one unfortunate aspect. and provide basic police protection to like. But in his view, "the great and con­ Drawing on the thought of the ensure a free and stable society. This stant dream of the conservative is to be great political philosopher Michael society would then enable its citizens left. alone by his own government, and Oakeshott, Sullivan promotes a "con­ to be free: to live, love, pIa)', even goof by his fellow humans, as much as is servatism of doubt." Conservatives, he off, without government ninnies telling possible./I Sullivan argues his case for argues, should know that they don't them how to run their lives. liberty-minded conservatism with force know everything. Government, in his Sullivan forcefully argues that the Bush administration's political beliefs are far removed from his form of con­ servatism. In this centur)', he contends, Notes on Contributors "America went from being a consti­ ( ) tutional republic, under the law, to an imperium of one man, answerable only Baloo is a nom de plume of Rex F. Individual entries on Richard to an election every four years, empow­ May. Kostelanetz appear in distinguished ered to break any law and violate any David T. Beito is an associate profes­ references from Contemporary Poets to moral law if he believes it necessary for sor of history at the University of Ala­ Baker's Biographical Dictionary ofMusi­ national security." bama, and author of Taxpayers in Revolt cians to the Encyclopedia Britannica. But how did America become such an imperium? Sullivan blames "theo­ and From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State. John Lalor writes for the Jerusalem Scott Chambers is a cartoonist living Post and Ireland's Sunday Independent. conservatives," men such as Robert P. in California. George, a Princeton political· scientist; Ross Levatter is a physician in Phoe­ Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor Michael Christian is in early semi­ nix. of First Things; and Sen. Rick Santorum retirement in a semi-paradisaical comer (R-Pa.), who has said "I don't want a of California. Scott McPherson is a policy advisor at the Future of Freedom Foundation in government that is neutral between vir­ Stephen Cox is a professor of litera­ Fairfax, Virginia. tue and vice." ture at the University of California San Sullivan provides many quotations Diego and the author of The Woman and James Moyer is an actor who lives in to show that these people would like the Dynamo: Isabel Paterson and the Idea Columbus, Ohio. to crack down on gays and prostitutes. ofAmerica. Randal O'Toole is senior economist But there have always been authori­ Lanny Ebenstein is author of Friedrich with the Thoreau Institute. tarians in the conservative movement. Hayek: A Biography. (Does anyone remember Ernest van den Bruce Ramsey is a journalist in Haag?) What have these bad guys done Andrew Ferguson is managing editor Seattle. of Liberty. to make government an enforcer of vir­ David Friedman is a professor of eco­ Ralph R. Reiland is the B. Kenneth tue? How successful have they been? nomics at Santa Clara University, and Simon professor of free enterprise at Here Sullivan punts. He argues that the author of The Machinery ofFreedom Robert Morris University. in one session of Congress, Santorum and Law's Order. Jane S. Shaw is the executive vice introduced 150 bills to make America Bettina Bien Greaves is co-compiler of president of the J.W. Pope Center for Mises: An Annotated Bibliography. Higher Education Policy in Raleigh, Jon Harrison lives and writes in N.C. Vermont. Jo Ann Skousen is entertainment edi­ Conservatives today live in Garin K. Hovannisian is editor of The tor of Liberty. She lives in New York. an age offalse consensus. The Bruin Standard, UCLA's monthly jour­ Tim Slagle is a standup comedian statist faith of Sean Hannity nal of opinion and cultural review. living in Chicago. His website is tims­ Dan Hurwitz isa retired profession­ lagle.com. and Laura Ingraham is sim­ al engineer in Dallas, Texas. He recently Vince Vasquez is a public policy fel­ ple: shut up and obey. authored Stelzer's Travels, A Voyage to a low in technology studies at the Pacific Sensible Planet. Research Institute in San Francisco, and Gary Jason is a writer, business­ the author of Digital Welfare: The Failure man, and philosophy instructor in San ofthe Universal Service System. more moral. Did any of these bills pass? Clemente, Calif. - home of one of the Sullivan doesn't say. In fact, he doesn't most beautiful nuclear power plants Martin Morse Wooster is a writer liv­ point to a single bill or policy that theo­ ever built. ing in Silver Spring, Md. cons have successfully introduced into Eric Kenning is the pen name of a Andre Zantonavitch is a longtime law. Compare this to liberal prohibi­ writer in New York. A selection of his writer, libertarian, and Objectivist who tionists, who are successfully banning satires and parodies can be found at currently heads the Liberal Institute in smoking and starting to ban fatty foods samestreamtwice.com. New York. on the "scientific" basis of "improving

56 Liberty "(live me or (live :Me (j)eatli. " -CFatrick.,Jrenry) 1776

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Additional gifts may be noted on a separate page! Send to: Liberty Gifts, P.O. Box 1181, Port Townsend, \-VA 98368 I ~------~ January 2007 the public health," and you'll see that ishing unnecessary institutions, getting ported" his government's decision to in public policy debates the "theocons" rid of needless government depart­ "sue that Jew!" After that and other are relatively ineffective. ments in order to let people make their humiliations (e.g., a four-page ad in the Of course the notions of theoconser­ own choices." New York Times praising the liberal­ vatives should be vigorously debated. For libertarians, Sullivan's "conser­ ity of the country dismissed by Borat But we shouldn't skew the debate by vatism of doubt" allows us to frame as "lying propaganda from assholes investing the theocons with power that our arguments in new ways. Sullivan Uzbekistan"), the Kazakhs sat on their they don't have. reminds us that the burden of proof for hands and waited to see how bad they'd Overall, Sullivan's heart is in the expanding government should always catch it in the movie. right place. His foes are our foes. "In the be on the statist. We should repeatedly They catch it pretty bad, all right modern world," he writes, "conserva­ ask: "What gives you the right to con­ - Baron Cohen tweaked their noses tism often means repealing laws, abol- trol us?" 0 by having his fictional Kazakh gov­ ernment commission Borat to make a "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit documentary in "US and A:' - but the ones who will be wincing most are the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," directed by Larry Charles. people Borat meets and films on his 20th Century Fox, 2006, 84 minutes. trip across the country, New York to Los Angeles, by way of the Deep South. He flummoxes a gaggle of feminists, butchers the Star-Spangled Banner in front of a rodeo crowd, crashes a fancy Southern dinner party (held on Secession Lane), and ensures that a group of Midwestern marketers will never forget their convention. Road Trip Borat's antics are hilarious, obscene, and offensive beyond belief (seriousl~ if right now you're thinking "It can't really be that bad," this is not the movie for you), but Baron Cohen's improvisa­ US and A tory skill is such that every utterance of his character, no matter how callous or outlandish - he brings with him to America "a jar full of gypsy tears to Baron Cohen raises the stakes with prevent AIDS" - seems less a product Andrew Ferguson "Ali G Show" spinoff character Borat of deliberate cruelty than of innocent Sagdiyev, an affable, leering television cultural misunderstanding. It's a rare comedian who manages presenter from Kazakhstan, or at least The movie's oblivious co-stars cer­ to spark an international incident, but a version of Kazakhstan that boasts of tainly swallowed the schtick: a few then there are few comedians quite its prostitutes as "the second cleanest even filed suit once the deception was like Sacha Baron Cohen. The Brit gar­ in the region," where towns belabor revealed - though they'd signed waiv­ nered critical acclaim for "Da Ali G horned, hook-nosed papier-mache mas­ ers allowing footage featuring them to Show," which brought unwitting semi­ cots each year during the "Running of appear in the"documentary." A pair of prominent public figures into the stu­ the Jew." Now, the Kazakh government misogynist frat boys (parting advice to dio to be interviewed by Ali G, an idiot was none too happy with this and, by Borat: "Never! let a woman! define who gangsta wannabe. Freed from the social way of proving that Kazakhstan is now you are!") now claim they said what graces that dampen the interview for­ an enlightened modern countr~ pulled they said, and signed the release, only mat, Baron Cohen as Ali G peppers his the plug on Borat's website (borat.kz) because the film crew got them drunk interview subjects with blunt, bizarre and threatened to take Baron Cohen to first. As the target audience of the"Girls non sequiturs, often outright telling the court if he continued his portrayal. Gone Wild" series (unofficial motto: In emperor that he's naked (first question Sued by Kazakhstan? Who could vino veritas), you'd think they'd have to the chairman of the Arts Council of dream of such publicity? But Baron learned a thing or two about the combi­ England: "Why is everything you fund Cohen (who, as you mighthave guessed nation of alcohol, cameras, and binding so crap?"). Facedwithseeminglyirreme­ from his name, is Jewish) wasn't about contracts. Instead, they're left to ponder diable stupidit)r, the increasingly frus­ to let them off that easy. Soon after, the concept of shame for perhaps the trated interview subjects often reveal Borat hosted the MTV Europe Movie first time. aspects of their personalities that they'd Awards, and there vehemently denied The lawsuit, of course, will only rather keep off camera, particularly the any connection between himself and serve to embarrass them further (just dread -isms: racism, sexism, elitism. Baron Cohen; in fact, he "fully sup- ask the Kazakhs) and rack up another

58 Liberty January 2007 testament to Baron Cohen's greatest comedic gift, one that he shares with Trey Parker and Matt Stone of "South Park": he forces the world to meet him on his terms. Another example: the scenes inBorat's hometown were filmed not in Kazakhstan, with its endless steppe, but in a poor mountain village in Romania. The villagers, disputing the movie's portrayal of them as incestuous Dragon lib - The background of Novik is an able story teller, and Jew-baiting drinkers of horse urine, are Naomi Novik's novels ("His Majesty's Temeraire and Captain Laurence make gathering together their meager liveli­ Dragon," "Throne of Jade," and "Black a team as interesting, in its way, as hoods so they too can sue Baron Cohen Powder War"; Del Rey; 2006; 384, 432, O'Brien's Jack Aubrey and Stephen - prompting this remark from a local and 400 pages) is the British navy dur­ Maturin. Laurence is an intelligent official: "They got paid so I am sure ing the Napoleonic wars, a setting and honest man who, like most of us, they are happy. These gypsies will even familiar to readers of C.S. Forester's takes the institutions of his own society kill their own father for money." Hornblower novels, Patrick O'Brien's - including its treatment of dragons ­ Exactly the sort of comment Borat Aubrey-Maturin novels, and, source for granted. Temeraire, to whose inquir­ would make, or maneuver someone for them all, the 19th-century novels of ing mind everything is new, does not. else into making. Truth is funnier than Captain Frederick Marryat, who actu­ Thus Laurence finds himself faced with fiction. ally fought in the Napoleonic wars. questions he is unable to answer: why Which actually points to the mov­ Novik's setting differs in only one small humans get paid and dragons do not; ie's one failing: though it made me detail from the others: dragons - large, why dragons are treated, by everyone laugh as hard as any movie I've seen in intelligent, and capable of speech. Some except the humans of the aerial corps, the theater - up there with "The Big of them are domesticated, providing the as beasts that talk rather than very large Lebowski," "Clerks," and "South Park: British military with its aerial corps. people. Through the series these ques­ Bigger, Longer, and Uncut" - it doesn't Like O'Brien, Novik has two pro­ tions become increasingly central, pro­ offer much in the way of replay value. tagonists. We first meet the human viding an intriguing and sophisticated Some will of course watch it hundreds protagonist, Captain Will Laurence, as intellectual and moral counterpoint to of times: those types who quote reflex­ the ship under his command is accept­ the entertainingly done military fiction. ively from "Monty Python" or "The ing the surrender of a badly battered They are very good books, and I Simpsons" will find plenty of catch­ French frigate. Inspecting his prize, he eagerly await the next one. phrase fodder and visual gags (there's discovers why the enemy put up such - David Friedman a lovely Abbott and Costello tribute) to a desperate fight. On board the French Malign neglect - The most keep them obsessed. But Baron Cohen ship is a dragon egg. The good news is that the egg is provocative blurb on the back dust­ worth a fortune in prize money. The bad jacket of "American Conservatism: news is that it is about to hatch. A newly An Encyclopedia" (edited by Bruce hatched dragon imprints on a human Frohnen, Jeremy Beer, and Jeffrey O. Borat's antics are hilarious, being, who then becomes the dragon's Nelson; lSI Books, 2006, 1,004 pages) obscene, and offensive beyond captain and life companion. Whoever comes from Paul Buhle, who acknowl­ on the ship ends up in this role will be edges it as the mirror image of his own belief If you're thinking "It forced to abandon his life in the navy "Encyclopedia of the American Left," as indeed it is (and was in fact commis­ can't really be that bad, /I this and start a new life in the aerial corps, a much less respectable career. The ship's sioned to be). AC has articles of compa­ is not the movie for you. officers draw lots to decide which of rable lengths in a book of comparable them must face that unfortunate fate. length (979 large pages for AC; 928 for At which point the second protago­ EAL, both double-columned). As most nist arrives - more precisel)', hatches of the articles in both books reflect isn't the type to wait around for a sec­ - and takes things into his own quite labors of love, they are largely written ond viewing: there are awards shows to capable claws, ignoring human plans by nonacademics. host, interviewers to bamboozle, gov­ for his fate and imprinting on Captain For me, one measure of both these ernments to humiliate. Laurence. At hatching Temeraire is books is how well they treat their liber­ "Borat" is excellent as a provocation, about human size and very hungry. By tarian fringes. While the "Libertarian" but with all due respect to the stone­ the time he approaches his full growth, article by David Boaz is agreeable, that faced crew that made it believable, it's he is the size of a small ship; the bat­ ultimately no more than a temporary tles of the aerial corps involve not only LEGAL SERVICES receptacle for a creation of true genius: dragons but also crews of humans rid­ the character of Borat Sagdiyev, Kazakh ing them, with occasional boarding Attorney Mark K. Funke provocateur. 0 actions. Emphasizing Probate, Estate Planning & Real Estate Law. Licensed in WA. www.funkelaw.com. P. 206-632-1535 January 2007 on Murray Rothbard fails to acknowl­ What is necessary now is a compa­ Cloning is simply the setting of the edge why this early contributor to rable comprehensive encyclopedia of book, not its agenda. Yes, there are polit­ National Review stopped appearing in American anarchism and libertarian­ ical issues to consider in a book about a its pages. The reason was that Rothbard ism, which, as I've repeatedly argued group of people created solely for the couldn't accept the Cold War as an in these pages, have more in common purpose of serving others. Ishiguro excuse for big government. In the arti­ with each other than either has with the cle on American conservatism, Reason canonical Left or the canonical Right. and The Freeman are recognized, but This projected book surely wouldn't be Liberty is not. Karl Hess, perhaps as thick, nor (I hope) as problematic. Anarchism and libertari­ - Richard Kostelanetz the most prominent conservative to anism have more in common become a libertarian, gets no entry. Nor Gut feeling - Kazuo Ishiguro does Benjamin Tucker, the publisher of challenges the placid acceptance of with each other than either the first Liberty (1881-1908); nor Paul one's "place in society" in "Never Let has with the canonical Left or Goodman, whose last book was subti­ Me Go" (Knopf, 2005, 304 pages), a tled "Notesofa NeolithicConservative"; science fiction story set in Britain at the canonical Right. nor Wendy McElroy, whom I consider the close of the 20th century. Like his the most legitimate heir(ess) to Emma award-winning 1990 novel "Remains of Goldman as a major independent femi­ the Da)'," which also examines the stoic nist; nor David Friedman, though his acceptance of class structure, "Never writes in a style that encourages reflec­ father Milton is honored. Let Me Go" is written as a memoir, tion, and it is impossible for a reader not The neglect of libertarian figures tinged in sadness and steeped in unful­ to consider these issues while reading by writers waving banners of either filled yearning, as the narrator, Kathy the book. Class system, animal rights, left or right is a recurring problem in H., reminisces about her best friends, abortion, and slavery are among them. scholarship of all kinds. For instance, Tommy R. and Ruth S. But the book does not make a case for in Cary Nelson's resuscitation of radi­ Its premise becomes apparent early or against the idea of farming humans. cal American poetr)', "Repression and in the book, so I am not giving away a Instead, Ishiguro's story remains Recovery: Modem American Poetry major plot twist by revealing that the focused on the characters and their and the Politics of Cultural Memor)', three main characters are alumni of a unrealized ambitions. Ishiguro's char­ 1910-1945" (1989), communist writ­ school for unparented children who acters drift through a life of missed ers are featured while anarchists aren't have been cloned as spare parts for opportunities and then accept the loss mentioned at all. "real" humans - the kind conceived in with a stoic shrug of the shoulders, By making communism the central the traditional manner. Like the butler, resettling the burden without letting experience of the American Left the Stevens, in "Remains of the Day," the it go. Learn from this, he seems to say. Buhle anthology earned an unfavorable cloned characters never challenge their Don't let time and opportunities pass review in the periodical Anarchy. The assigned roles. They will grow until you by. Carpe diem! comparable problem in its successor their organs have matured, serve as While the book does not directly is making National Review the central "carers" for other donors until they are discuss the ethics of cloning, it does development in American conserva­ called upon to begin service, and then encourage the reader to consider what tism. Both encyclopedias thus dimin­ provide "donations" until they have makes a person human. Is it the miracu­ ish competitive strains that have finally "completed" - that is, run out of viable lous infusion of a soul at the moment of been more influential - in the former organs and died. In the meantime they traditional, egg-and-sperm conception? case, democratic socialism (which Karl are free to stud)', socialize, travel (to Or is it a more abstract"conception" ­ HessoncejokedhadconqueredAmerica approved locations), and have sex - as the ability to "create a concept" through without ever winning a major election) long as it is safe sex. Mustn't damage poetry and art? Does the ability to love and in the latter, neo-conservatism. those organs. make us human? And what difference does it make anyway - should humans be entitled to preferential treatment? Like Stevens in "Remains of the Day," the characters in "Never Let Me Go" are not heroic. No one charges the ramparts, commandeers a boat, or even vows to go down fighting. The possibil­ ity of escape or of changing the system never occurs to them, even when they are looking at a boat that has washed up on the shore. Ultimatel)', this lack of superhuman heroics could be what -...:...-=-=-.--..:.;;;;;..;.:,.;, ...~~~~.,_ ... makes these cloned characters most r.f,. human, and gives the greatest pause for ,/' reflection at the conclusion of a finely "You're going to have to trust me on this one, okay?" written book. - Jo Ann Skousen

60 Liberty January 2007

LettersI from page 6 with making others obey the Law - all and taxation, there is no incentive for laws, no matter how idiotic or obscure the private sector to build affordable acknowledges, he's not actually suggest­ - and have no concern for justice, or new housing stock for the middle class. ing we try it. Well, here's a label that's mercy, or the love of God or the supreme As a result, not only in the borough of both apt and more likely to be politi­ law of the land: the Constitutions, state Manhattan, but in many surrounding cally effective: "progressive." and "federal." They use the Law as a neighborhoods in the outer boroughs "Liberal" and "socialist" have too hammer against other people but ignore of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, much baggage. Socialism is deeply as­ itwhen it's inconvenient - which is one middle-class people can no longer af­ sociated with Marxism and, contrary reason Jesus called them hypocrites. ford to buy or rent. Our last bastion for to Danielson's view, gives bad vibes to This puts us socialists on the side middle-class housing is Staten Island. Americans everywhere except in places of Jesus and those antisocialist leaders I fear that both Los Angeles and New like San Francisco and Madison. Liberal, among his enemies - and puts them York City will soon be home only to though highly accurate, is on the tip of on the defensive, trying to prove that the very rich and the very poor, while every dittohead's tongue, ready to be they aren't Pharisees, even though they middle class residents will simply be spat out like an unwelcome gnat. patently act like Pharisees, from their commuters from the suburbs traveling "Progressive" is a better choice. public PC pieties, to their living off of to and from work, looking out the win­ First, who's not in favor of progress? guilt and taxes, to their use of the law dow at neighborhoods they can only That's why the Left likes the word, just to persecute people who have harmed dream about living in. as it likes "affirmative action." Second, nobody. Anybody with more than a Larry Penner progressive is a rough synonym for lib­ passing acquaintance with the Gospels Great Neck, N.Y. eral, but without the baggage: the Left can see it. It also points out the religious doesn't yet have a monopoly on the persecution involved in antisocial law, word, and it's hardly on the radar screen persecution directed against those who Letters to the editor of the average conservative. obey the laws of Jesus rather than the Liberty invites readers to comment on articles Stealing the socialist label won't fool Law of man. that have appeared in our pages. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity. All letters are anyone, but any libertarian can preface This"socialist" rhetoric comes easily his letter to the editor with "As a pro­ assumed to be intended for publication unless to the tongue and the fingers. This can otherwise stated. Succinct letters are preferred. gressive ... " and keep a straight face. work. Please include your address and phone num­ David R. Snyder Rycke Brown ber so that we can verify your identity. Mail to: Cary, N.C. Grants Pass, Ore. Liberty Letters, P.O. Box 1181, Port Townsend, WA 98368. Or send email to: Antisocial Behavior Wonderlust [email protected] Yes! Let us embrace the label of so­ While Danielson makes a number cialism, wrap ourselves in it, and call of valid and interesting points, his pro­ the opponents of liberty 1/antisocialists"! posal to steal the "socialism" label for When you think about it, this is pretty freedom-lovers isn't practical. Freedom­ antisocial: to force other people to sup­ Th{llndu$triat lovers of many political stripes are brave port your pet charities; to tell people and smart enough to resist the "social­ that they aren't allowed to possess, or 'Radieat ist" tag, even at the risk of being called manufacture, or use certain substanc­ 1/antisocial" and worse. Danielson lacks es; to force other people's children into Libertarian analysis imagination and doesn't go far enough. in the tradition of your schools, and force others to pay for We freedom-lovers needto call ourselves Lysander Spooner. them; to tell other people how to run "wonderfullists," since we all sincerely their businesses; to make people ask Subscribe: $25/year believe that a free society would be a and pay for permission to drive, or mar­ Check payable to: wonderful thing. Our opponents would ry, or conduct business; all at the point The Molinari Institute flounder, defending themselves against 402 Martin Ave. of a gun, with the threats of kidnapping, accusations of being anti-wonderful­ Auburn AL 36830 fines, captivi~ and slavery. lists. Wouldn't that just be wonderful? praxeology.net/industrial-radicaI.htm People have too long confused 1/so­ Titus Stauffer ciety" with 1/government." "Society" is Houston, Texas the realm of voluntary social interac­ tion; "government" is the realm of force. To the Five Boroughs Where government expands, society Gary Jason's "Middle-class shrink­ withers, and vice versa. We, who want age" (Reflections, November) reminded government to wither, thereby want to me how much Los Angeles and New expand the role of socie~ ofsocial inter­ York City have in common. In the Big action: we are the true socialists. From Apple, between rent control, zoning, now on, I will call myself a socialist. NIMBY, ULURP (Urban Land Use While we're at it, there is a particular Review Procedures), local community kind of antisocialist that deserves their planning boards, and prevailing union own additional label: Pharisees. These wages for construction workers, along are the people who are totally concerned with the usual excessive regulations Gretna, Va. Moscow, Idaho A modem-day Renaissance man, written up in the Keeping art relevant in the Gem State: Washington Post: The Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre presents a staged Shaquille O'Neal was present during a botched child pornog­ reading of"The Oldest Profession," a comedy by Paula Vogel, raphy raid while working in Virginia as a reserve sheriff's deputy. [which] focuses on the lives offive older prostitutes working in The Miami Heat center, who pursues his interest in law enforce­ New York and facing the problems of an aging clientele, competi­ ment during the offseason, denied yesterday taking part in serving tion from younger street walkers, rising rent prices ... and all the search warrant at the wrong house Sept. 23. However, Bedford without the safety net ofsocial security or health insurance. The County Sheriff's Lt. Michael Harmony confirmed that O'Neal was play is set in the eighties, just before Reagan is elected, and so is there. relevant to today - a backdrop ofthe upcoming elections, trickle- AJ. Nuckols, who said his family · down economics, rising gas prices, high has filed formal complaints, wrote in a ncoantta rents, social security,etc. There's even a letter published in the Chatham Star­ 'Terra I o ~ reference to stnp mmmg. Tribune that the raid at his home "scared beyond description" him Perrysburg, Ohio and his family. Unintentional meme, Eastside, Wash. captured by The Wall Street Sterling preparation Journal: for office, noted by the Universal Tube & Seattle Times: Rollform Equipment Corp. said the cost ofhosting its After legislative candi­ Web site - utube.com - has date Deb Eddy had campaign grown significantly. "We've volunteers pull up a large number had to move our site five times ofopposition yard signs that she in an effort to stay ahead ofthe said were illegal and misleading, youtube.com visitors," said Ralph the King County Republican Party filed a Girkins, president ofUniversal Tube, complaint with police. which sells used machines that make tubes. Eddy, an attorney, said she did not commit theft under state The company, with just 17 employees, got 68 million hits on law because she told the Republicans she took the signs and had its site in August, making it one ofthe most popular manufactur­ no intent to deprive them oftheir property. ing websites. Isseluku, Nigeria Los Angeles Cain invokes the insanity defense, from the Lagos The battlefield of ideas, surveyed by the Daily Trojan: Champion: A lecture by an Ayn Rand Institute speaker ended in the A murder suspect accused ofkilling his brother with an axe throwing ofmeat and condoms as about a dozen protesters from told police investigators he actually attacked a goat, which was the LaRouche Youth Movement interrupted the speech. only later magically transformed into his sibling's corpse. The USC Objectivist Club hosted Andrew Bernstein ofMarist Spirits have been blamed before for causing violence. In 2001, University as its speaker for a lecture titled, "Global Capitalism: eight people were burned to death after one person in their group The Solution to World Poverty and Oppression." Witnesses said was accused ofmaking a bystander's penis magically disappear. that as Bernstein spoke, an LYM member unwrapped a raw steak Weymouth, England and slammed it onto Bernstein's notes on the podium. "I believe he said, 'On behalfofthe LaRouche campaign, we Striking fear into the hearts of criminals, from the dedicate this raw meat to you for supporting a philosophy that London Daily Mail: results in the death ofmillions ofchildren,'" said Blake Adams, Two policemen dressed as Batman and Robin captured a a freshman member ofthe Objectivist Club. A purple-robed pro­ suspected drugs offender. Sgt. Tony Smith and PC Mike Hol­ tester also interrupted the lecture, claimed that he was Ayn Rand, man pretended to be drunks looking for a fancy dress party and and threw condoms with Vice President Dick Cheney's and other knocked on the door ofthe suspect's home. political figures' faces on them at the audience. Those inside refused to answer the door to the loud, comically dressed visitors - which was what the officers wanted. Batman South Portland, Maine and Robin then went around the back, while seven uniformed of­ ficers went to the front door. The career arc of a public figure, in the Portland Press Those inside the house were pleased to see the policemen Herald: and complained to them about the fancy dress drunks. They then Former gubernatorial candidate Tom Connolly was charged invited the officers in. However, one ofthe men inside the house with criminal threatening after he stood at a site visible to com­ ran out ofthe back door on seeing the policemen - to where the muters on Interstate 295 while wearing an Osama bin Laden mask superheroes were waiting. Batman gave chase, jumped over a and carrying a fake assault rifle. Days before the 2000 election, fence, and arrested him. Connolly divulged George W. Bush's past drunken-driving arrest.

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

62 Liberty 7-7-7 in Las Vegas! FREEDOMFEST 2007 July 5-7, 2007, Bally's/Paris Resort 7 Themes • 77 Speakers • Over 777 Like-minded Attendees Co-sponsored by Laissez Faire Books, Official Bookstore "The most intense, rewarding, intellectual, create-your-own 3 day conference I've ever attended." - Bob Poole, Jr., Reason "FreedomFest is a great place to talk, argue, listen, celebrate the triumphs of liberty, assess the dangers to liberty, and provide that eternal vigilance that is the price of liberty." -Milton Friedman 7 Themes: History • Philosophy • Science • Economics • Geo-politics • The Arts • Investments 77 Speakers Including: • Nathaniel Branden: "Self-Esteem and Its Enemies." • Art Laffer, father of Supply-Side Economics: "Why I Left California for Good." • John Mackey, Whole Foods Market: "My Personal Philosophy of Self-Actualization: How I Thrned a Money Loser Into a $9 Billion-Dollar Company." • Eamonn Butler, Adam Smith Institute: "Why the House of Lords and the Monarchy are Libertarian." • Jack Pugsley, The Sovereign Society: "The Case Against Free-Market Think Tanks." • Marshall Langer, foremost intenlational tax attorney: "Yes, You Can Still Live and Invest Abroad Tax Free." • Michael Denton, M. D., microbiologist, University of Otago: "Evolution, Yes; Darwin, No!" • Lanny Ebenstein, philosopher: "History's Most Dangerous Philosopher: Karl (but Not Marx) ." • Nelson Hulberg, America for a Free Republic: "How Ayn Rand and Murray Rothbard Took Liberty Down the Wrong Road." • Brian Doherty, Reason Magazine: "Radicals for Capitalism: AFreewheeling History of the Modem American Libertarian Movement." Plus other top speakers: Steve Moore (Wall Street Journal), Dinesh D'Souza (Hoover Institution), Jerome Thccille ("It Usually Begins with Ayn Rand"), Ted Nicholas (marketing guru), Tom DiLorenzo (Loyola College), Mark Tier (Hong KongIPhilippines), Mario Livio (astrophysicisVmathematician), James O'Toole (Aspen Institute), Greg Lukianoff (FIRE), James Marsh (University of Hawaii), Bill Westmiller (Republican Liberty Caucus), and Mark Skousen (producer, FreedomFest) .....More speakers added daily at www.freedomfest.com.

Over 777 attendees enjoying 3-full days of debates, bright new stars, exhibits, cocktail parties, and the incredible 7-7-7 Gala Banquet on Saturday night. "Still, the best conference I've ever attended!"- Alex Green, chairman, The Oxford Club Skousen CAFE: Included for the first time at FreedomFest, a 3-day financial conference with investment stars Alex Green (Oxford Club), Albert Meyer (Bastiat Capital), Dan Denning (Strategic Investment), Horacio Marquez (Money Map Advantage), Frank Seuss (BFI Consulting), and many more.