The Once and Future Controversy

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The Once and Future Controversy JFK The Once and Future March 1992 Vol. 5, No.4 $4.00 Controversy II III I ((Liherty is always aangerous, hut it is tIie safest tfiing we nave. n -J£'£.. "',,'le/I,'If'I/, o 74470 80199 3 Peace Silver Dollars • Brilliant Uncirculated • Pre-1925 • $12.50 each! Why Mint State Peace Dollars are a Bargain Right Now by Patick A. Heller Peace type silver dollars in Mint condition are at historic will low prices, offering the astute investor an excellent opportunity find ready for profit. buyers. The rare coin market has risen substantially since its lows Even Rarer last November, but Peace silver dollars are still available at very than Morgan Dollars! low prices. In all my years as a professional numismatist, I have Issued to commemorate the Peace that followed World War I, never seen such bargains available. the Peace dollar was minted only from 1921 to 1935. As a result, And the funny thing is, the Peace silver dollar is the most far fewer Peace dollars were minted than Morgan dollars- yet popular silver coin with collectors. It's easy to see why collec­ we offer Peace dollars at a price $5 lower than Morgans! (See tors love these coins- they are big, and they are beautiful! the graph below.) And right now, they are also downright cheap. I believe that While our supply lasts, we offer Mint State Peace Dollars prices for Mint State Peace dollars may never be this low again! as low as $12.50 each. (See price list in coupon at right.) That's why our numismatists have been busy bargain-hunting, All are in Brilliant Uncirculated, personally graded by acquiring quality Peace dollars at prices so cheap that I know we Allan Beegle, our chief numismatist. And all are backed by our exclusive guarantee: you may return any rare coin for a full, ---------------, 100% refund for any reason, at any time within 15 days of when I Please send me the Mint State Peace I you receive them. I Yes • silver dollars that I have indicated Warning: Although we have accumulated a substan­ below. I understand all are minted prior to 1925, I tial quantity of Mint State early Peace silver dollars for this I and that I may return them for a full refund for any offering, we believe that there is a good possibility that we will reason within 15 days of receipt. I sell out completely. In this volatile market, it may be impossible I __ Half Rolls (10 Coins) @ $ 135 = for us to acquire additional coins without raising our prices. I --Full Rolls (20 Coins) @ $ 260 = I Therefore, to avoid disappointment, I recommend you telephone 5 Roll Lots (100 Coins) @ $1275 = us if you want to reserve your purchase. I 10 Roll Lots (200 Coins) @ $2520 = I Act Today: Orders will be filled on a first come, first served basis. This offer is limited to stock on hand. To reserve I 25 Roll Lots (500 Coins) @ $6250 = I your purchase U.S. Silver Dollar Mintages postage & handling $5.00 and lock in I Total Enclosed I today's price, call I I me (or another name LCS trader) to11­ I I free at 1-800-321- address 1542. Michigan Early I I residents call 1­ city/ state/zip 800-933-4720. Or return the coupon I phone# I Liberty Coin Service I at left. Michigan I 300 Frandor Ave, Lansing MI 48912 residents add 4% 1r 1-800-321-1542 (Michigan: 1-800-933-4720) .I sales tax. ..II.. --_.- -_.- ------ ·d L· bert March 1992 InSl e .1 YVolume 5, Number 4 4 Letters Our readers take Liberty into their own hands. 7 Reflections Liberty's editors on Presidents, living and dead; voters, active and inactive; breasts, implanted and deflated; taxes, cut and uncut; Russians, powerful and powerless; and other images, tightly focused. Features 17 Patrick J. Buchanan James Robbins talked with Bush's right-wing challenger about America, Japan, illegal immigrants, drugs, the names of sports teams, and libertarian should support him. 21 Inside Pat Buchanan Chester Alan Arthur explores the mindscape of America's pre-eminent "paleo-conservative," looking for something even remotely libertarian. 29 Acid Rain and the Corrosion of Science Edward C. Krug, a scientist on the Reagan Administration's infamous "acid rain" commission, explains the real nature of the political pressure bearing down on science. 31 P.C. or B.S.? Meredith McGhan finds herself caught between the fascism of Political Correctness and the Stalinism of the Right. 33 America's Experiment In Sylvan Socialism John Baden has prepared an environmental impact statement on the u.S. Forest Service. The agency runs about as well as you can expect a government boondoggle to run. 31 No Accounting for Waste RandalO'Toole audits the U. S. Forest Service's accounting system: the bottom line is pork. 39 Albert Jay Nock: Prophet of Libertarianism? The great libertarian writer was a riddle wrapped inside a mystery wrapped inside an enigma. Stephen Cox unveils the genius behind the nut beneath the master. 47 Hong Kong After Tlananmen Kin-ming Liu examines the prospects for the future of his hometown. 51 The Ghost In the Little House Books William Holtz examines the professional relationship between Rose Wilder Lane, libertarian novelist, and her mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder, the official author of The Little House on the Prairie books. 55 Economics vs Bionomics? Ross Overbeek explains why he is not impressed with "bionomics." Michael Rothschild, bionomics' originator, explains why he isn't impressed with Overbeek. Reviews 59 JFK, Conspiracies, and Me Oliver Stone made a movie. Lee Harvey Oswald shot a preSident. Sheldon Richman wrote this review. Where's the controversy? Read on . .. 61 A Paradigm Shifts Gears Jane S. Shaw puts the latest model of Public Choice through a test drive. Behind all the fancy new features lies a very practical development - constitutional politics - that means one thing: economics has gone into overdrive. 63 The illusions of a Technique Lawrence White enumerates the benefits and hazards of cost-benefit analysis. 65 Booknotes on feminists, strangers, puns, lawyers, sports. Departments 69 Notes on Contributors 70 Terra Incognita Excerpts from the real and unreal worlds of the media, the state, and the booboisie. what the Objectivist movement is about. Mr Steele is in~ppropriately angry a,nd vi- tuperative, whIch are usually sure sIgns ( et t erS ]] L of a case without merit. Mr Veatch, b================================::;.o whether intentionally or not, is a master Steele's Aborted Argument P.C. in the Sixties at concealing the meaning of his sentenc­ That David Ramsay Steele ("Peikoff's Henry Veatch, though mostly right, is es and paragraphs. Objectivism: An Autopsy," January 1992) a little wrong when he says that, some 25 Robert J. O'Donnell gave a critical review of Peikoff's latest years ago, Rand's objectivism "was a cult San Rafael, Calif. book is an understatement. But do that touched only the students and not Clue Steele's ideas (e.g., "a fetus is pro­ the professors - at least not those pro­ grammed withtheories ... we are born R.W. Bradford ("Happy Anniversary, fessors whose calling was 'academic phi­ National Park Service," January 1992) has theorizing ... we are all born into the losophy'" ("Might 'Objectivism' Ever Be­ sha~pened the horns of the dilemma of world holding theories....") improve come Academically Respectable?" purpose faced by the National Park Ser­ any on those ideas of Peikoff that he January 1992). vice and by U.S. citizens. He illustrates characterizes as "barely coherent"? I Leonard Peikoff, for one, was ex­ the anguish caused by the impalement on doubt it; in fact, one of my fetal theories pounding Rand's Objectivism at that first one horn and then the other. They that I've never seen fit to revise is that time as an academic philosopher (at Den­ "Steele is full of shit." (Just for a brief in­ can't rest on either point - that of permit­ ver University), and so was I at the Uni­ ted public access to, or absolute preserva­ kind review. So, sue my grandfather!) versity of Colorado. From 1962 onwards, Steele sounds more like an abortion clin­ tion of, National Park property. My moth­ I assigned various works of Rand in my er, Lena Fletcher, daughter of the John ic picketer than a critic of philosophy. classes in social and political philosophy. Huelsdonk mentioned in the article, once Not by way of defending Peikoff, I even had an article published in Rand's Steele is no better for "(stopping) ... wrote that the ideal National Park would Objectivist. be on the other side of the moon, hidden where the interesting questions start." This is not to say that I did not suffer from view of the vulgar, and untracked or Like: How is a fetus so programmed? By for my temerity in certain ways at the trodden by the feet of the elite. whom? or what? Is every fetus conscious hands of my department. Students were My own characterization of "natural" of its theories? Starting when? What theo­ told by the chairman of the department National Parks comes from myexperi­ ries does a fetus have? What meaning can (a great exponent of non-eonformity of ence and training in the administration of a theory have to, and how can it be under­ thought) not to take my courses. There public zoos. The popular National Parks stood by, an embryo with no language or was even hostility to my getting salary are oversized public zoological gardens, concepts? What happened to adults who raises.
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