I problem is why we let so many in favor of civil, or personal . so what? What’s he ever done apz vegetables receive useless care This is “personal liberty”? from that? The fact that he calls for so long.” The problem, opines The excuses of these killers himselfa scholar and philosopher Schwartz, is that our health insur- is that far more important than should cut no ice with anyone. ance systems, private as well as prolonging life is the “quality of There are real problems in public, are “too mindlessly gener- life.” But what if a key part of the world that cry out for libertarian ous.” Schwartz concludes: “The preserving and enhancing that analysis and action. One key time to end this idiocy is now.” quality is getting rid of this crew of problem was the late Gulf War, that (USA Today, May 30). murdering liberals, people whom madevirtually every American “feel Our final specimen is Derek Isabel Paterson, with wonderful good about himself” and about the Humphry, head of the Hemlock perception and prophetic insight; American State, ;and apparently Society, the most venerable of the termed ‘?he humanitarian with the accomplished nothing else - right to suicide groups, and careful guillotine”? What then? So where except the slaughter of about upto nowtostressconsent.Where do we sign up to assist their 200,000 Iraqis. One would think does hestandon the case of Helga death? 0 that libertarian:; would be Wanglie? Humphry begins by passionatelyinteres’ted in this issue. saying that patients“shou1dalways Rockwell vs. Were they? HdI no. Most have the right of choice to live or libertarianscouldn’t care less about die,” and if they are in a persistent Rodney and the whole issue. Half of the LP vegetative state, their families members supported the war. And should decide. OK, so what about the Libertarian Bradford? As usual, he hemmed Helga Wanglie? Here is Humphry’s World and hawed on both sides of the new and contradictory position: “If issue, getting indignant only at a by M.N.R. overwhelming medical opinion few readers who thought he had Anyone who knows Lew says treatment is pointless, courts opposed the Gulf War. Rockwell knows that he can take should arbitrate disputes be- In a laid-back movement of :are of himself, that he doesn’t tween doctors and families.” Now this sort, one that cares little about need me or anyone else to leap to just a minute: where do courtsget such vital problem:; as war and the right to decide life or death? his defense. In fact, Lew enjoys it mass murder, you would think it Does government have more of a when libertarians go bananas would take some truly cataclysmic right to commit murder than about him, because it confirms his issue to elicit widespread anath- already low opinion of the Modal doctors, or what? And on what emas and excommunication. But Libertarian. But getting sick of principles are the courts supposed I’m you would be wrong. When Lew 1. I’m getting sick of cretins and to decide that “arbitration”? Rockwell came to the defense of half-illiterates, of bozos who can No, the mask is off, and the LAPD’s beating of one, read hardly parse a sentence, who have Doctor Assisted Death and Mr. one, criminal, Rodney King, one achieved nothing at all in their Liberal Death With Dignity, and all would have thought that the earth miserable lives, displaying the un- the rest of the crew turn out to be had opened and Armageddon had mitigated gall, the flagrant chutz- simply Doctor and Mister Murder. been launched at last. Such agony, 3ah, te presume to sit down and Watch out Mr. and Ms. America: such hatred, such geschrei, had not .cad Lew out of . A liberal humanists, lay and medi- been seen in the \ibertarian move- typical letter received: “Dear Mr. cal, are not only out to regulate ment since kicked Rockwell: Ididn’t read your article, your lives, and to fleece your Nathaniel Branden out of Paradise 3ut I read Bill Bradford in Liberty, wallets and pocketbooks. They’re in 1968. and I agree that you’re a fascist, out to kill you! Libertarians, as From the hysteria and lou’re a libertarian at all, and embodied in the sainted “Nolan not disproportionality, it is obvious that (ou sh:iuld be read out of the hu- Chart,” have always assumed that much more is going on here than is nan race.” Bradford is a business conservatives are in favor of eco- apparent on the surface, that as in van who decided to buy himself a nomic liberty, whereas liberals are many other cases, the Modals are ibertaran magazine. Well fine, but

4 July1991 ~~ not engaging in sober reasoning 1. Rodney King was a by the equally noxious and far -on the issue, but are carrying convicted cr i m i n al , ar med more hypocriticalforces of Modal out some hidden agenda that is robber, on parole. Not a Libertarianism), hadgottenchoke not part of official libertarian libertarian, or a model citizen, or holds outlawed as being unfair to programs and protocols. even a decent one. the poor criminals. Before getting to the hid- 2. Rodney King was 4. So what was left? The den agenda, let us consider the speeding maniacally on the cops shot Rodney King with a alleged provocation:the Rodney highways and on the city streets. tazer gun, which inflicts no lasting King case. We have here a When flagged down by the cops, harm, but which knocks out the problem of Rush to Judgment he speeded up, refusing to stop recipient’s muscles and forces by Videotape, part of the and be questioned. Anyone who him to lie down and be sub- trivialization and sentimental- knows anything about traffic or dued. Tazers always work - ization of public opinion, which any other cops knows that they except that Rodney King, though more and more resets on where liketheirordersforquiet,standing shot twice with a tazer, un- video cameras happen to be still, etc. to be obeyed, and they precedentedly showed no ill ef- pointing. Throughout the entire get nervous when these orders fects whatever. Like Rasputin, 20th century, the American aredisobeyed. And, in thecontext who seemed superhuman and public had never heard of a of our criminal urban population, invincible, Rodney King kept Kurd, and cared nothing about there is nothing wrong with that. dancing around maniacally and their dreams or aspirations, about their oppression or their betrayal by Henry Kissinger years ago. Then, because the videocameras of the world happened to be pointing in the direction of thousands of fleeing and poverty-stricken Kurds, George Bush was forced to re- verse his original decision not to intervene, and to send troops and supplies in for God knows how long to preserve an inde- pendent Kurdish entity. If theTV cameras had been pointed to Ethiopia, or toward the Shiites in southern Iraq, who knows what lady cop. What were the cops given the outlawing of the choke crazy intervention Bush would supposed to do in this situation? hold, therewasonly one thing the have felt forced to undertake? 3. In the good old days, cops could do: and that was to Yes, Rodney King was before left- did its evil beat Rodney King into submission vigorously beaten by L.A. cops work, the cops knew what to do with batons. Except a couple of with batons. In all the hysteria, in this potentially menacing baton blows couldn’t do it. Why no one seems to have asked situation. (Remember: they had did the cops keep beating King why they kept beating on King. no way of knowing if King was again and again with their ba- That’s because videocameras armed.) They would have tons? The Rasputin factor; he aredumb, and peoplewho follow administered a choke hold on simply wouldn’t go down. them blindly are even dumber. Rodney King, which would have Sorry, there was one more Videocameras know nothing of subdued him immediately. But thing the cops could have done: context. What was the context the noxious forces of left- they could have taken their guns of the King beating? liberalism (supported, no doubt, out and shot the S.O.B.. Would

July1991 5 ~~~ ____~

... sion should be all about, and used and anathema at a long-time lead and Ms. Modal? to be before the libertarians de- ing libertarian for one disagree- 5. There is life after the King cided to stop thinking for them- ment on a scarcely earth-shaking beating. A couple of weeks after selves and fall into a Politically issue? The answer is a hidden the incident, King ’allegedly Correct goosestep. agenda, and that agenda is the assaulted a police officer with a Essentially,Justin holds that entire social and cultural mind-set deadly weapon. Soon after that, while private guards might have of Left-Liberalism. For our beloved Rodney King, actually and not been justified in beating Rodney Modals are indeed social and CUI- simply allegedly picked up a King, that police, being govern- tural Leftists, more so even than transvestite prostitute in his truck; ment officers, must be held to afar we had originally suspected; they as they were about to perform a more rigorous standard. This is a have bought into the entire pano- lewd act, the cops advanced upon cogent position, with which I have ply of feminism, , them, whereupon King tried to run a great deal of sympathy, but I victimology, “civil rights,” the down a police officer with his car. have come to the conclusion that sanctity of the compulsory inte- Let us again ponder the it is not satisfactory. I would like to grationist, socialist, and fake Rasputin Factor: Rodney King see all government functions, in- “Doctor” Martin Luther King, and received a beating which would cluding police, privatized, but all the rest of the odious baggage. have put most of us in the hospital pending that consummation de- In short, these Left-Libertarians formany months. Yetonlyacouple voiJtly to be wished, l now believe have bought into the whole Politi- of weeks later, the guy is cheerfully that those government functions cally Correct package, and as in picking up a transvestite prostitute. which are actually valuable ser- the case of all P.C.’s, everyone The L.A. cops and Lew vices (e.g. roads, mail carrying, or whodisagrees with them on any of Rockwell have been implicitly or police, but not regulating industry these issues is automatically explicitly accused of “racism” in or levying taxes) should be carried stigmatized with the litany of “rac- this affair because King is black. oLt as far as possiblelike a private ist, sexist, and homophobic.” But I venture to assert that the business. Thus, government is a Note that while Left-Liberals shoe is on the other foot: that if IOIJSYmail carrier and should get are scarcely advocates of the free King had been white, there would out of the mail carrying business market, they don’t really careabout have been no national fuss at all, -or at the very least allow private that any more; no student, for ex- there would have been no hys- competition-but failing that and ample, ever gets hauled up on terical calls, by the ACLU and keeping the mail monopoly, it chargesfor being too enthusiastic others, for Chief Gates’ immedi- should try to carry out its job as about the , or about ate ouster or for criminal prosecu- efficiently and as like a private firm cuts in the capital gains tax, or for tion of the officers. And there would a:spossible. Some libertarians (not being excessively critical of so- have been no nation-wide hyste- Jilstin Raimondo) hold that all cialism or the . ria by the myriad of other libertar- government functions should be That is not the cutting edge of ian jackasses. In short, what we carried out as inefficientlyas pos- today’spolitical issues, and so the are seeing, among Modal Liber- sible (e.g. mail carriers should be Liberal Establishment is willing to tarians as well as their left-liberal throwing mail into the dumpster) tolerate Left Libertarians who are cousins, is racism-in-reverse. so as to discredit the State and Sorrect on the issues that matter, Of the host of libertarian bring about privatization rapidly. and to keep them around as occa- criticismsof Rockwell’s article, on/y E3ut I think this is a repellent strat- sional pets. Not so, however, with onewas sober, rational, coherent, egy and inflicts needless pain and ialeos, whether paleocons or and non-hysterical, that of Justin i?xtra oppression on a citizenry )aleolibertarians, who, being on Raimondo in the Libertarian Re- already sufficiently oppressed by he cutting edge of today’s issues, publican. Justin did not agree with the State. ?njoy no such indulgencefrom the Rockwell’s position, but it was a So why did such a host of Establishment. But pretty soon, pleasure to read, because it was a ibertarians rouse themselves from he Modals will Get Theirs. What model of what libertarian discus- heir usual stupor to hurl curses Tom Fleming said in his wonderful

6 July 1991 article on “The New ” in inrays brothers and sisters under Nil1 disclose this appointment to the May Chroniclesof the way the the skin. First, it shows that, for :he world. Remember: you heard Establishment will eventually dis- them, joining the Catholic Church t first here. 0 pose of its current conservative IS just about the worst thing you allies, applies in spades to how :an say about your enemy. Why is Contra Don they will get rid of whichever Left- that? Why, for them, should be- Libertarians have managed to coming a Catholic be the ultimate Feder Make It in the current political cli- in disgrace? What deep-structure by M.N.R. mate. motivation accounts for this curi- The latest neo-con tactic on Fleming writes: “they [the DUS phenomenon? As for me, I for the neo-paleo split is to deny that “official conservatives’l have es- one do not consider becoming a such a split within tablished a cozy relationship with Catholic on a par with becoming a exists. Everyoneis supposedly on the leftist establishment media child molester; on the contrary, I the side of the neo-cons, except of who recognize them for what they consider it an honorable course. :ourse Pat Buchanan, who has are: safe and well-groomed Presumably, one reason for this apparently created the split within lapdogs who bark but never bite. rumor is that in recent years I have hisown fevered imagination. What When the day comes that they are been championing the role of about the rest of us? As Rand no longer needed, the conserva- in human affairs, and used to say: Blankout. tives will be treated like a lower- in particular that of the original and Conservative columnist Don class sweetheart picked up for a continuing Christian Church - Feder is the latest to weigh in with summer affair. I only hope they’re known inaccurately to most people this tactic (Boston Herald, May 9). given carfare forthe long ride home as “Roman Catholic.” Apparently, Like so many others, Don was back to their side of town.” Con- these Modals, Randians and post- horrified at Pat’s column quoting sideringtheir social status and their Randians to the man, are inca- Paul Gottfried’s now famous ar- cultural values, I’m sure that the pable of understanding how any- ticle in RRR, “Scrambling for Left-Libertarianswill neither expect one could be appreciative of the Funds.” So what about us? Feder nor receive carfare. They’ll be Christian Church without actually dismisses us as just simply, terri- happy with the right to hitch-hike. having been converted - or, in bly obscure. Poor Paul Gottfried is their eyes, snatched up, something so obscure, he doesn’t have to be The Road To like the invasion of the body named; Feder only mentions that snatchers. How could I, a non- Paul teaches in an “obscure” col- Rome? believer, become an ardent fan of lege. Feder also sneers at RRRs by M.N.R. Christianity? Because, unlike the circulation. Not very long ago, The hottest new rumor Modals, whose world-view has conservatives, in a small minority among Left-Libertarians is that I evidently been frozen in aspic for among opinion molders, did not have taken “The Vows,” that is, decades in the middle of Atlas consider small circulation a badge that I have joined the Catholic Shrugged, I’ve learned something of shame; almost the contrary. But Church. The hottest new rumor over the years. now that the neo-con-run conser- among neo-cons is that Paul I am the last person to decry vative movement is all over the Gottfried has just done likewise. gossip, but it’s amazing how much media, Numbers become the cri- Paul and I have put our heads time and energy Modals spend or terion for being taken seriously. together and agreed that that is inventing, contemplating, o And yet Feder, a former the best single reason yet foi spreading rumors. But why not‘ Randian and therefore a long-time signing up. After all, they’ve got nothing else tc enemy of libertarians, can’t resist What’swith thesedingbats? do. the occasion to fulminate against Well, I might as well let yoi It says agreat deal about the men, obscure me at some length, de- tality of these people - both Left, Modals in on it; the Pope ha! spite our “TropicalFish Quarterly- Libertarian and the neo-con wing decided to make me a Cardinal ir sized circulation.” His major in- of The Enemy, who are in so man) pectore. When the time is right, ht dictment is that, horrors! I favor July 1991