Panam.a: . The Ugly Gringo Strikes March 1990 Vo13,No4 $4.00 Back

((Liberty is a more invigorating coraia{ tlian totay. II -Wi{{iamSliertstone ry Square, he called on the people of Po- land to bring Christian morality to bear as ·s the judge of history and worldly [ L etter ] institutions. That speech set in motion the changes ~======:&I in the East Bloc. Solidarity was formed in Poland, and the Pope's voice has had a Catholic Church on reproductive rights. Reflections of Sexism powerful presence in Eastern Europe and According to Howard Witt of the Chica­ In the ''Reflections'' section of the Janu­ the Soviet Union ever since. His influence go Tribune, prior to the revolution, all wom­ ary 1990 Liberty, JSS reflects on conserva­ on world affairs has also demonstrated that tive and libertarian resistance to the use of en were forced to submit to periodic Christianity has a unique power to unite gynecological check-ups, and when preg;. gender-free language, and their defense of the masses against any and all oppressors. nancy was discovered the police were psuedo-generic terms such as he and man­ Jeffrey Tucker called in to keep track of them. The mon­ kind. I applaud his condemnation of this Fairfax, Va. point of view, but feel he did not go far sterCeausescu even used his secret police, enough: Libertarians and conservatives are the dreaded Securitate, to investigate mis­ Pro-choice not only showing resistance to language carriages for possible criminal prosecution! C.K. Rowley and R.E. Wagner's change, but also to the social change which The result was predictable: thousands "ChOOSing Freedom: Public Choice and the Libertarian Idea" (January 1990) states: underlies and motivates it. of women dying each year as the result of Many feminists, myself among them, botched abortions, the surreptitious but "We would agree that we have not chosen our government. But we would also note are wary of such neologisms as waitperson Widespread occurrence of infanticide, a de­ that none of us has chosen to be governed for waiter and waitress, when server can be clining population, and absolute hatred of by the set of rules that would constitute a used, or even chairperson, where chair pro­ the government. market economy. Both government and vides the same information just as well or And so, when the people of Romania markets are coercive in that they represent better, since it avoids gender bias and radi­ rose up and threw off the bonds of Com­ rules or constraints that we must live by calism at the same time. But utterances munism, one of the first changes they and that we have not chosen." such as 'the doctor ... he' used when no made was to legalize abortion and contra­ This indicates that the authors neither particular doctor is designated only perpet­ ception, rejecting the Catholic/Communist position in one glorious stroke. Perhaps perceive nor understand the difference be­ uates the notion that doctors (or any other tween a government and a free-market socially and financially privileged members there is a lesson here for those who seek to criminalize abortion in the U.S.! economy. I am appalled. of society) are always male. This is obvi­ The most fundamental difference be­ ously more than a linguistic issue. A.K.Moore Chicago, Ill. tween even a "minimal-state" government I should add that even though much and a free-market economy is the freedom about libertarianism attracts me, I would Gorby & The Pope: Heroesl to "opt out." Even in a mini-state, there never become a libertarian-this kind of RW. Bradford's musings on the col­ must be some means of achieVing compli­ sexism combined with the naive notion lapse of socialism ("Now the Real Struggle ance with the absolutely necessary con­ (which I have heard from far too many li­ Begins," January 1990) left out the two straints that apply to all. No one is exempt; bertarians) that once the state falls the sexes keys that made the political demise of so­ otherwise, there really would not be a state will be equal will keep me from aligning cialism possible: Mikhail Gorbachev and or government as we normally think of it. myself with the philosophical movement or John Paul II. It was Gorbachev's repudia­ No one can opt out ofgovernment rules. Just the political party. tion of the Brezhnev doctrine, and his try to opt out of taxes. Margaret E. Winters adoption of a non-interventionist position The beauty of the free market is: no one Carbondale, ill. toward Eastern Europe, that signalled the can force you to participate. If you don't Editors' note: "JSS" are the intials ofJane s. masses to take control of the future of their want to participate, you can opt out peace­ Shaw. Does not your use of the term "he" to countries. If they had had Soviet interven­ fully. In a free-market society, organiza­ identify her perpetuate the notion that editors tion to fear, the formal collapse might have tions and institutions are made up of of Liberty (or any other socially and finan­ been put off for years. Moreover, Gorba­ people who freely choose to be members. If cially privileged members of society) are al­ chev personally shoved history forward a church member, for example, has a disa­ ways male? with his own hand in East Germany, Bul­ greement with the rules of his church, he garia, Romania, and probably elsewhere as has at least three courses of action open to "Pro-Life" Tyranny well. In contrast to any U.S. politician in him: (1) He can accept the rules [go along R. W. Bradford's liThe Death of Social­ memory, Gorbachev actually succeeded in with things and remain a member]; (2) He ism" (January 1990) was the best discussion making people freer. With perfect justice, can negotiate with the powers that be and of the breakup of communism I've seen. he is hailed as a liberator all over Europe try to obtain a change in the rules (and if But I have one complaint. Nowhere did he and Asia, a true hero for our times. the rules change to his satisfaction, remain mention the important role that the abor­ And the Pope played a huge role, too. a member); or (3) He can opt out of the tion issue played in the battle against the Bradford says that socialism began to un­ church and go elsewhere [or start his own communist powers. ravel about a decade ago. That's right, but church]. The Communist government of Roma­ not, as he says, because the theoretical fail­ The (mini) state does not permit one to nia made abortion a criminal act, and un­ ings of socialism only then became estab­ opt out. There is never any choice. You can leashed its full powers against women who lished fact. Socialism never worked in always attempt to "work within the sys­ tried to control their own bodies. It even practice. But something more significant tem" and attempt to effect change by per­ outlawed contraceptives, thereby becoming occurred in 1979: John Paul II, another suasion,.legislation (or bribery), but it is the only government in the world to em­ hero, made his first visit to Poland as Pope. never in the interest of those who are in brace the entire position of the Roman In a triumphant speech in Warsaw's Victo- continued on page 4 2 Liberty Inside Liberty Volume 3~~::~:~

2 Letters Going back to the stone age, defending natural rights, cutting words about taxes, disparaging women... 9 Reflections The editors explain Gorbachev, Arafat and Dan Quayle, solve the problems of the Soviet Union, South Africa, and frigid New England, and explore lies, both philosophical and statistical. 13 Media Notes Hayek on National Public Radio, how the Times aren't a-changin',liberty and culture at Chronicles, and a new look at The New Republic. Features 15 Isolating the Error of Isolationism Stephen Cox argues that knee-jerk isolationism is a dangerous fallacy: it leads to disastrous policies and is disastrous for libertarians to advocate. 21 The Conquest of the United States by Manuel Noriega Second and third thoughts about Bush's little war against his ex-crony. 26 Humanity vs Nature John Hospers explores animal rights and wrongs. 37 Scholarship as Leechcraft George H. Smith unmasks libertarian lackeys of the state. 39 Hong Kong: Capitalism without Democracy R. K. Lamb explains why free markets are not enough. 44 Paleolibertarianism In the Dock In the January Liberty, Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. called for libertarians to "delouse" themselves and form an alliance with the right wing of the right wing; our readers and editors respond. 51 Pozner the Poseur Soviet public relations man Vladimir Pozner is on the talk show circuit promoting his new book, Parting with Illusions. Richard Kostelanetz visited Pozner in Moscow, and learned that much of what Pozner says about himself is an illusion. Reviews 57 H. L. Mencken: The Man vsthe State of Opinion Is Mencken's Diary the self-portrait of a bigot? R. W. Bradford investigates and finds an answer. In the process he explains what Mencken should mean to those who love liberty. 70 In It for the Money James S. Robbins diagnoses Robert A. Heinlein's posthumous grumbles. 73 Booknotes A look at a logical language, the latest novel by the next president of Peru, a glimpse into the mirror of liberalism, and the wonderfully weird world of phenomenology. • 77 Notes on Contributors 78 Terra Incognita Excerpts from the real world. Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 Letters (continued from page 2) firm's earnings and dividends­ servants are God's servants: honor and re­ determines the cost of equity capital. This spect them. Pay your taxes gladly." (0 power to allow opting-out. gives the firm information about where to stormyMON David Michael Myers obtain capital: debt, preferred stock, or Denver, Colo. Martinsburg, W. Va. common stock (where capitalobtained via Plugging Away at Morality common stock does not necessarily mean Put Up or Shut Up Instead of just writing at length, Lew The brief review by Timothy Virkkala issuing new shares, but can also mean re­ Rockwell should do one of these two of David Friedman's The Machinery of Free­ taining part of the earnings and reinvesting things. dom ("The Machinery of Friedman," Janu­ it in the firm's capital projects). 1) Get 5,000 or so of these unnamed in­ ary 1990) contained the comment that (2) Any cut of improperly imposed tax­ dividuals who are middle-class white men Virkkala "found [Friedman's book] a lot es is good. Income taxes are not properly and love tradition and join the national LP. more convincing than all the standard (and imposed, there is no exchange of values in­ Then, instead of being on the outside look­ confusing) stuff about natural rights and volved, citizens are taxed just for working, ing in, you would have the controls. morality." i.e., are treated as slaves. Any slave tax (not 2) If number one is too difficult, then get As someone who has done a lot of justified by a value provided in return and 50 to 100 of the same unnamed individuals work on natural rights and morality, I can a voluntary character) should be cut, cut, to attend the Michigan Libertarian Party appreciate how both could be confusing to cut, and elimina" l. convention in April 1990. Michigan doesn't some people. The theory of natural rights­ Krzysztof Ostaszewski have to spend money on a ballot drive (Ron not unlike many other theories in various Louisville, Ky. Paul's excuse for his poor shOWing in the disciplines-is not simple, nor is it a simple 1988 election). All one has to do is attend matter to grasp the relationship between Thanks for the Malleability I would like to thank MrLlewellyn H. the convention and get his or her name morality and freedom. placed on the ballot. Then, in the real world I hope that Virkkala will keep at it­ Rockwell, Jr (''The Case for Paleolibertari­ anism," January 1990) for using the prefix of politics, use that vast amount of money, both of those areas of study are important people, resources etc. to get the paleoliber­ and mastering them will help supplement "paleo" instead of "ancient" or "archaic." I tarians elected in Michigan and you will the kind of work David Friedman and oth­ like describing myself in words that few have won your case. er economists are doing, work that by no people will even bother to understand and For my friends in the counter-culture means can stand alone in defense of the that will change with time. side of the party: let's cooperate with these free society. John Cralley Shaw paleolibertarians and give them their due. I Tibor Machan Houston, Texas did in 1988 and they lost. If they have two Auburn University, Ala. Libertarianism Grows UP elections in which they lose or cannot find Who the Heck is Ayn Rand? Finally! A published expression of these middle-class folks, we will havethe You must stop doling out column inch­ what I believe are the feelings and beliefs reality of their losses to judge them by and es to people who want to worry the bones of many. shut them up once and for all. of Ayn Rand in public. Is this because we Many people I know are completely Bruce A. Smith should revere dem bones? Of course not; turned off by the "freedom movement's" Douglas, Mich. rather because most libertarians have never perceived libertine atheism. I have been heard of Ayn Rand and don't care about largely unsuccessful in trying to explain Cancer Ward the personal politics of her circle-insiders, that there is another view; that freedom, It is strategically sensible for Libertari­ outsiders, hangers on, the banished, the family, Christianity, culture and social or­ ans to keep their movement open to believ­ blackballed, etc. der are not incompatible. I hope this new ers and non-believers alike. Anybody who Juicy, ridiculous, humorously­ view of libertarianism will take root, grow, renounces the use of force in politics ought presented gossip about Ayn is okay be­ and prosper. to be welcome, regardless of his or her relig­ cause even we the uninitiated can enjoy it. Julie Watner ious and lifestyle choices. Still, one has to However, whiners (here I won't name Gramling, S.C. wonder about people who reject political authority in public life while accepting the names; it's not Tibor Machan's fault that Damned Christian Arguments you published his piece) who need to ex­ authority of scriptures or clergy in their pri­ Llewellyn Rockwell attempts to base li­ vate lives. plain what fine, independent Randians bertarian individualist arguments on they are (despite exclusion from the group) Llewellyn Rockwell wants to purge the "Christian Morality." Murray Rothbard, movement of anybody who thinks for him- do not even inspire enough pity to save us F.A. Hayek, Marshall Fritz and others have from boredom. continued on page 6 also tried this. Michael S. Christian These men conveniently forget that the Paris, France Bible treats women as second-class citizens Letters Policy opportunity Cut aCor. 11:3 & 9, 14:34-35; Numbers 31:14­ I strongly disagree with Michael S. 18, et al). Also, it's very difficult for liber­ We invite readers to comment on Christian's"Against a Capital Gains Cut" tarians to stomach Luke 19:27 where Jesus, articles that have appeared in Liberty. (November 1989) for two reasons: . The Prince of Peace says, "But those mine We reserve the right to edit for length (1) It is not true that only initial stock enemies, which would not that I should and clarity. All letters are assumed to purchases provide an economic investment reign over them, bring hither, and slay be intended for publication unless in productive assets. One of the most im­ them before me." The Catholic Church otherwise stated. Succinct, typewrit­ portant notions in modem economics is op­ took this very literally during the Inquisi­ ten letters are preferred. Please in­ portunity cost. The outstanding shares of tion, as does the current drug witch-hunt. clude your phone number so that we common stock are priced by the market, And libertarian Christian apologists have can verify your identity. and that price, in tum-in comparison to a trouble with Romans 13:1-7 "Government ~ ~ 4 Liberty Who was Felix Morley was editor of the Washington Postfrom 1933 to 1944 Felix Morley, and a winnerofthe PulitzerPrizefor distinguished editorial writing. In the Post and in subsequent writing, at the height of the New Deal and and why is the postwar anti-Communism, Morley emphasizedprivateproperty,volun­ tarism, and a noninterventionistfor­ Institute for eign policy. TheInstitutefor HumaneStudies Humane Studies ispleasedto announce thefourth an­ nual Felix Morley Memorial Writ­ ing Competition. IHS will award awarding First Prize: $2,500 Second Prize: $1,500 Third Prize: $1,000 $7,500 to outstanding young writers whose work demonstrates an appreciation offree enterprise and individual lib­ in his honor? erty. In addition, five runner-up prizes of $500 will be awarded.

Applicants must be students or young writers (25 or under). Judging will be basedon three to five piecespublished between January 1, 1989, andJune 15, 1990, andmayincludereportedarticles, editorials, opinion pieces, essays, criticism, or short stories.

The Morley competition is judged by a distinguished panel of32 jour­ nalists, editors, novelists, and academics. Prizes are awarded based on the writing ability, potential for development, and appreciation of liberty demonstrated in the submitted material. Application Deadline: June 15, 1990

Requests for application forms and completed applications with clippings should be submitted to: Morley Prize Secretary, Institute for Humane Studies, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA, 22030-4444. Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 Letters (continued from page 4) that were published in Liberty before the share the left-libertarian's dislike of authori­ self or herself in personal or cultural mat­ '87 LP convention in Seattle. ty, whether represented by parents, teach­ ters. Points number eight (social authority) What is it about these guys that they ers, or nosy neighbors. and ten Oudeo-Christian tradition) of his feel it necessary to fabricate Libertarian Actually, it turns out that I can't quite be manifesto would certainly outrage such stereotypes and beat up on them? I'm sure fit into any conventional mold, whether itbe people. Is Western culture worthy of pres­ most Libertarians wouldn't consider them­ leftist, rightist, mainstream, countercu1tural, ervation and defense (point nine)? Yes, in selves air people, but how derogatory is or whatever. Isn't that what individual spite of the cancer of organized religion such an epithet? After all, the nice thing liberty is all about-the right of the that has plagued it from the start. about air is it lets us breathe. individual to live his own life regardless of Warren Gibson Brian Wright his level of conformity or nonconformity? San Carlos, Calif. West Bloomfield, Mich. What clothes I wear, what music I listen to, what I eat, drink, and smoke, is my own Paleo-Enforcer? Waving the Black Cat business. ''Political freedom is a necessary but Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr states that Libertarianism is a political creed; unlike not sufficient condition for the good socie­ Christianity emphasizes "... reason, objec­ ObjectiVism, it does not propose to dictate a ty," says Lew Rockwell in the January 1990 tive moral law, and private property ..." standard of morality beyond the nonaggres­ Liberty. No problem there. But he goes on Yet religious faith is completely irrational, sion axiom. Libertarianism neither endorses to say that "neither is it sufficient for the and the Church has long been a vehement nor opposes such private, noncoercive activ­ free society. We also need social institu­ opponent of science. As for property ities as worshipping God or smoking mari­ tions and standards that encourage public rights, the Church has a bloody history of juana; it is up to people as individuals or in virtue, and protect the individual from the taxation, often in league with the state. voluntary groups to establish standards and State." Political freedom isn't sufficient for Rockwell further claims that "The fami­ morals about such things. a free society?!? If we had political free­ ly, the free market, the dignity of the indi­ The great thing about the Libertarian dom, wouldn't that mean we wouldn't need vidual, private property rights, the very movement is its diversity; people of Widely protection from the state? concept of freedom-all are products of varying interests and lifestyles can get to­ Maybe I'm missing something. our religious culture." His attempt to credit gether to promote freedom for all. Rockwell It's also strange to see Murray Roth­ Christianity with the existence of these dislikes this diversity, since it contains ele­ bard joining Rockwell on this crusade to things is laughable. Humans who enjoyed ments which disagree with mainstream posi­ cleanse the libertarian movement of unde­ family life, free enterprise, human dignity, tions held by the majority in the "real sirables. Isn't this the same Rothbard who private property, and liberty existed long world." His ideal vision ofa libertarian excoriated the "tinpot enforcers and petty before their lesser descendents invented movement would be a group of people despots" like Branden and Rand that crip­ God. clothed in suits and ties who agree in princi­ pled the Objectivist movement? They ruth­ He calls animal and plant rights "myth­ ple, intellectually, to a political system that lessly expelled anyone who didn't meet ical," but they are no more mythical than a would permit a diversity oflifestyle, but their standards of purity from their midst. Christian God, for at least there is plenty of God forbid they would actually practice any Isn't Rockwell setting himself up as just evidence that animals and plants exist. such thing. As far as I am concerned, the pa­ such an enforcer? This reminds me of a philosophy joke: A leolibertarians are perfectly welcome in the As Rothbard wrote back in the March theologian, arguing with a metaphysician movement, but so are the so-called '1uft­ 1988 Liberty, freedom is for everybody-the about their respective fields, said, "Meta­ menschen," and so are people like me with "despised rightists"and those who refuse to physics is like a blind man in a darkroom personalities containing elements of both. let their indiViduality be cowed by social trying to find a black cat." No litmus test should be made of potential pressure from the assumed conservative, The metaphysician responded, "At members save that they agree to forgo the middle-class majority whose favor Rock­ least the cat exists." initiation of force. Any additional conditions well is so anxious to curry. Michael Ross turn the movement into a rigid cult rather Rockwell should watch what boat he San Pedro, Calif. than a libertarian movement. jumps on in his attempt to reach the glori­ Daniel Tobias ous shores of political success. As the Baby Throw Away the Molds Shreveport, La. I must take strong issue with Llewellyn boom generation becomes America's most H. Rockwell, Jr.'s call for ''Paleolibertarian­ De-lousing the Conservatives significant demographic group, I'd lay Lew Rockwell's plan (or plot?) to meld ism." He proposes to purge the movement odds that most people's tastes in lifestyle, the small libertarian movement with the in­ of the group that Murray Rothbard has col­ music and mores will not match those of creasingly lonely free-market conservatives orfully labeled ''luftmenschen'': the leftist, Rockwell and his buddies like Thomas requires a change among libertarians, he counterculturally-oriented libertarians. Fleming. says. The good, decent "paleolibertarians" Now, I'm not really in thisgroup my­ J. Mark Hardy must be separated from the "louses" of the self. After all, I have a fairly conventional, Gainesville, Fla. movement-those with libertine, atheistic bourgeois, middle-class lifestyle, dress nor­ values, wild heads of hair, and mystic no­ mally (if informally; I suits and ties), Breathing Room hate tions of nonhuman rights. don't let my hair get too long, don't use il­ Gaaacck! As a serious1 responsible, ca­ Yes, the sale of the ideas of liberty to the pable party regular (and human being), I legal drugs or practice promiscuous sex, general population, like the sale of anything resent being labeled an egalitarian space ca­ and have no opposition to mainstream cul­ else, is best accomplished by people with the det for disdaining Judeo-Christian tradi­ ture except to the extent that statism is in­ look and sound of normalcy. State Libertari­ tionalism, irrationalism and its imperatives grained in it. On the other hand, I can't an parties should seek candidates who will toward bland social conformity. In this arti­ quite fit into the "paleolibertarian" mold, not offend voters by their appearance, lan- cle I can almost hear Murray Rothbard's in­ either; I am an agnostic with a strong dis­ fantile paroxysms contra "luftmenschen" like of organized religion, and generally continued on page 8 6 Liberty R.L. Mencken's JJSecret" Diary Now Revealed! H.L. Mencken was a giant of Ameri­ can culture, a man of bold courage who flailed away at politicians, ~­ tellectuals, and the ''booboisie:' He was one of the most influential figures of his time. By his own order, Mencken's frank and outspoken private diary had been kept under lock and key for a quarter of a century after his death. No less controversial now than he was in his heyda~ the deeply personal Mencken is revealed here in a book that has already become a cause celebre!

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Please send me the following titles: Send your order to: lAISSEZ FAiRE BCDKS Qty. Total D pt. LKOR, 942 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 _ THE DIARY OFH.L. MENCKEN ed. by CharlesFecher HL5236 (hardcover) Pub. Price $30.00/ o Send FREE 32-page catalog OUR PRICE ONLY $24.95....__ _ THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE by H.L. Mencken o My check Ql' money order is enclosed for $ _ HL0296 (paper) $22.95....__ o Please bill my 0 Visa 0 MasterCard _A NEW DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS, selected & edited by H.L. Mencken, 1347 pp. HL0214 (hardcover) $74.95 ....__ _ THE VINTAGE MENCKEN, editedbyAlistair Cooke HL0210 (paper) $5.95....__ Ex ira Date _ _A MENCKEN. CHRESTOMATHY by H.L. Mencken HL0211 (paper) $14.95 __ Postage & Handling: $2.50 U. S. Mail or $3.50 UPS __ (Please Print) CA residents add sales tax __ TOTAL __ Ci y/State/Zip _ Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 Letters (continued from page 6) members, prodUcing visually acceptable idea that libertarians are libertines has tradi­ guage, or social insensitivities. publications, seeking appointment to com­ tionally been Murray Rothbard, "Mr. Liber­ Yet Rockwell suggests no reciprocal missions and committees, joining Rotary tarian." It was always Professor Rothbard journey for would-be paleolibertarian con­ and the Chamber of Commerce, and en­ who watched like a hawk for any sign of servatives, and there are several deficien­ gaging in coalition projects? ideological backsliding within the LP­ cies conservatives must overcome. First is Without doing the necessary work, the backsliding such as the ideas that perhaps the not-unjustified public impression that Libertarians-coalesced with conservatives child labor laws ought not be repealed or conservatives are xenophobes who treat or not-will have to accept Rockwell's pro­ that heroin should not be advertised on net­ any new cultural value as a threat to nouncement of their irrelevancy as more work television. Professor Rothbard would civilization. truth than insult. especially wax indignant toward the heresy Tolerance is the virtue most lacking in Yet as a Libertarian who has tasted po­ of gradualism-hence his crucifixion of the conservatives. In order to fuse with liber­ litical victory, I know that the recent signs supposedly diabolical Ed Crane and the tarians, they must begin to wean them­ of growth in the Libertarian Party can be Cato Institute. selves from the mystical notion that magnified impressively with lots of hard It was thus a surprise to see Professor personal cultural taste is linked to ideologi­ work and determination. In time, the free Rothbard write, in American Libertarian, that cal virtue, and begin to exercise their toler­ market paleoconservatives will build up he had been trying to "carry the Libertarian ance muscle with forays into the world of their nerve enough to try just one little ex­ Party, kicking and screaming, into the real the strange and assumedly distasteful. (As ercise in tolerance-joining the upwardly­ world." This statement sounds very similar often happens, a little exposure might mobile Libertarian Party. There's no place to one made a few weeks earlier by Ed broaden their perspective.) else they can turn. Crane in a Newsweek article in which Mr. Courses in cultural anthropology, Jim McClarin Crane stated that he had left the LP in 1984 comparative religion and science fiction Cool, Calif. after having failed to "drag it into the real world." Can it be that Professor Rothbard appreciation would be fairly safe starting Moderation in Principle points, with bold visits to heathen has renounced radicalism and embraced In ''The Case for Paleolibertarianism," churches, teen concerts and mud-wrestling gradualism, known in fonner days as "clas­ Llewellyn Rockwell expressed his anguish matches reserved for the advanced sicalliberalism"? If so, I wish he would reit­ at the fact that the Libertarian Party does adventurer. erate this renunciation clearly and not have the proper public image to grow Now to ask a question Rockwell as­ forcefully so that there is no confusion as to and succeed. I agree with his assessment. sumed was already answered: "Why?" where he stands. He is very influential LPers are, in the eyes of many, part of the Why should libertarians and conserva­ within the libertarian movement, and many "lunatic fringe." I wince when I hear that tives join forces any more than, say, liber­ party radicals, having learned their radical­ tarians and taxi drivers? Will this merger term. ism from Professor Rothbard, would then convince Americans that they should have Although we both sense that some­ follow his example in adopting a strategy thing is wrong, I think that Mr Rockwell a consistent philosophy of liberty in their of moderation. It would then be possible to relationship with government? Would the failed to hit the nail squarely on the head. salvage the LP so that the Jeffersonians conservatives be a hindrance to the resur­ He states that he believes the LP suffers be­ would not have to team up with the Hamil­ gent Libertarian Party? Would they be even cause of the presence of what I shall call tonians as Mr Rockwell suggested in his t~nn less tasteful to baby boomers than the Li­ for lack of a better "libertines." I have article. bertarian Party has proven to be? been a libertarian for 11 years. Duritlg TheLP should adopt the attitude and And is this merger scheme just one these years I have become acquainted with tactics of classical liberalism as LudWig von more digression from the task Libertarians many other libertarians in the Midwest, Mises propounded them in 'his books Liberal­ seem distressingly loathe to engage-the and never have I met any of these ism and Human Action. The "non-initiation nuts-and-bolts, hands-on work of building libertines. of force" oath, the "abolish everything" atti­ their party in the tedious fashion of the No, libertarians are not libertines, but tude, and the stridency should be ditched. It Democrats and Republicans: knocking on theirradical proposals make them seem like can be claimed that there is no philosophical doors, attending public meetings regularly, libertines. To favor the repeal of age of con­ justification for classical liberalism. This may building lists, asking for money, signing up sent laws is to be '1ibertine," no matter be correct. But classical liberalism is to be how you slice it. To favor abolition of the pursued primarily for strategic reasons, not taxation necessary to keep the defense forc­ philosophical. es going is to favor unilateral disarmament Ifhuman beings were all perfectly ra­ and thus to favor nihilism To favor the tional and highly intelligent, then they Internship sabotage of the machinery of government would be able to swallow libertarian doc­ Available is to favor the creation of chaos and thus trine whole without reservation and with­ favor the destruction of Western Civiliza­ out forming misconceptions about Liberty Publishing offers full­ tion. Libertarians deny that they favor li­ libertinism and nihilism But since human time internshipsto students of all bertinism, nihilism, or chaos and claim that beings have an emotional side, and since majors interested in journalism, given 15 hours to explain, these misconcep­ they generally have limited intellect, they tions can be cleared up-which is 14 hours, are unable to do this. The gradualism and writing, political philosophy or 59 minutes and 30 seconds longer than moderation of classical liberalism are thus public policy. Positions are open most Americans are willing to give. If liber­ necessary. When somebody states that he is at all times of the year. tarians do not wish for people to think of them trying to "drag the LP into the real world," For further information contact as libertines, then they have no other choice but he is stating that libertarians have yet to re­ Liberty magazine, PO Box 1167, to moderate their views. alize this fact. Port Townsend, WA 98368. The guardian of libertarian radicalism David Hoscheidt and hence the unwitting promoter of the Belleville, Ill. Quaylespeak - The most enjoyable spectacle these mon interests and style. I'm sorry, but if anyone wants to con­ days is the apoplexy. of public officials whenever someone vince me that Arafat is a positive element in the Middle East, he prominent defects from the war on drugs. When Federal Judge has his work cut out for him. -WPM Robert Sweet of New York said drugs should be legalized, the Leading edge, receding edge - Among the first articulate Tsar William, Ph.D., philosophy, University of Texas, acts of the new revolutionary Romanian government were the pronounced the idea "stupid." Presumably he was not also re­ decriminalization of smoking, drinking, eating unrationed ferring to Vice President Quayle, whose own remark was more meat, typewriter ownership, abortion, private property and the revealing than the air-head could know. Quayle said through a possession of unlicensed firearms. It is interesting to note that smirk that Judge Sweet obviously had a lifetime job, implying several of these new freedoms are high on many an American's that elected officials like himself must, before opening their agenda for abolition. .. -JSR mouths, think about their careers. Some mischievous reporter ought to remind Quayle of this whenever he speaks. -SLR Learning from the best - When does one finally decide it's all just a nightmare? How about this? "The Drug Gorby the hero?!? - The progress toward liberty Enforcement Administration has proposed to begin training and democracy in Eastern Europe and the public relations cam­ agents of the KGB to snare drug traffickers" (The Washington paign on behalf of Chairman Gorbachev have borne some Post, Dec. 15). "We're looking at them [KGB agents] as police­ strange fruit: many main line commentators and even some li­ men-these guys are cops with a mission similar to ours," said bertarians are hailing Gorby as a hero of liberty. Paul Higdon, deputy assistant DEA administrator for interna­ C'mon fellas, I'm as happy about the collapse of commu­ nism as anyone, but let's keep our wits about us. Gorbachev is tional programs. "The other stuff-that's for spy novels." The no more a hero than is George Bush; he is just another politician Soviets are thinking over the proposal, but they'll no doubt looking out for his own hide, taking a course of action to maxi­ agree. After all, Higdon is right. The KGB's mission is similar to mize his personal power, security and wealth. Faced with the the DEA's: crushing liberty. Meanwhile, the president has de­ failure of socialism, Gorbachev has had little choice but to re- cided that U.S. military forces are legally able to arrest people treat from totalitarianism toward liberty. -RWB overseas. The Justice Department advised him in November that the lll-year-old Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids the Yasser, that's my baby - For years some liber­ military from engaging in law enforcement, does not apply out­ tarians have been telling us that Yasser Arafat is a force for side the country. So now the army can run around the world ar­ moderation in the Arab world, that he is someone we can in resting drug dealers and terrorists. And it doesn't need the good conscience support, at least within the context of permission of foreign countries. Palestinian-Israeli affairs. Maybe they're right. It would be nice When these frightening developments are added to other to believe so, if only because Arafat seems to be the only person things, such as the administration's refusal to remove its occu­ who has enough authority among the Palestinians and their al­ pation army from Europe and its advising Poland on how to set lies to negotiate and enforce a peaceful settlement in what up New Deal programs, one conclusion slaps you in the face: seems a hopeless cauldron of strife. the United States remains the world's greatest threat to liberty. But Arafat often makes it difficult to believe in his good will. -SLR The most recent example: a month before his dispatch to Stalinist heaven, Nicolae Ceausescu harangued for six hours on glasnost Tyranny is only skin deep - What is the most and other signs of softness emanating from the Socialist exhilarating aspect of the breakaway of one Eastern European Motherland. Not a single foreign head of state attended his nation after another from totalitarianism? speech. But intheaudience, occasionally pannedby the television Surely it is the depth of the impulse to freedom. For ,4:0 years camera, was Arafat, gleefully applauding each new promise of the residents of East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungaf1Y and so unrelaxed totalitarianism. Arafat and Ceausescu had been mutu­ on have had the vaunted virtues of statism drummed into them al admirers for years, and the Ceausescu regime had strained its by every propaganda device. Millions of school children have very slender resources to provide a modicum of aid to the PLO, learned it as a sacred dogma. And yet, in a few short weeks, like mostly in the form of weapons training. Some of Arafat's "free­ a snake's skin, it has all been shed, as if it had never existed. The dom fighters" were in fact caught in Romania at the time of the millions of words of indoctrination have all been for nothing. downfall, and were subsequently seen fighting side by side with "Truth is on the march," said Emile Zola, "and nothing can theremnantsofCeausescu's paramilitary secret-police units. stop it." That is an overstatement; lots of truths have been Doesn't all this say something about the character of the lead­ stopped and have not recovered for centuries. What is true, ership of the Palestine Liberation Organization? Romania isn't though, is that freedom can be suppressed and constricted time an Arab country. The relationship was not merely a formality. and again, but the moment it is given a chance to gain a foot­ These forces sought each other out in a symbiotic dance of com- hold (a la Gorbachev), it asserts itself at once, without counter- Liberty 9 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 indoctrination. tering to constituent complaints over higher heating bills. To act in accordance with our choices is a fundamental im­ Oil costs had gone up, ofthat there was no question. But this pulse. Man may not be a rational animal, and he often makes the was a result of increased nationwide demand at mostly constant wrong choices, but he is first and foremost a volitional animal, al­ supply. The "undue profits" the oil companies were making ac­ ways impelled to make his ownchoices and to act on them. -JH tually reflected the increased costs they had to pay to get oil in A modest proposal - Gorbachev's task-that of the first place. A spokesman for Sun Oil defended the higher bringing the Soviet peoples into the world markets all the while prices, saying that the company was in business to make a prof­ maintaining the power and prestige of the Russian elite-was it, and that this was the whole point of having a capitalistic sys­ never easy, and now, after the detotalitarianizing deluge in tem. Just words, and refreshing to hear. The spokesman might Eastern Europe, is more difficult than ever. The rise of political also have pointed out that of all energy consumers, those whose as well as economic liberalization in Europe suggests that sup­ homes are heated by oil have more freedom of choice than oth­ port for the idea of simply kicking the Soviet elites out of power ers in shopping for bargains. If one's home is heated by gas or is growing, much to Gorby's dismay. But still, there may be electricity, one is unable to change suppliers very easily. Those hope for him yet, just so long as he can tum his chief problem who use oil may call any oil supplier he desires (assuming he into a solution. has not locked himself into a long-term contract), and thus get Consider the horns of his dilemma. The Russian elites have the lowest available price. only one real, proven talent: tyranny. In fact, their success in this It is worth noting that heavily regulated gas and electric area has given Gorby his other horn: they have so thoroughly rates also rose significantly, but there was no similar outcry tyrannized the Soviet peoples into a mass of demoralized sheep from legislators. Could it be that the politicians were using the that the Soviets really have little to offer sophisticated Western increase in oil prices as a pretext for extending more control markets other than their natural resources. over the comparatively free market in home heating oil? It's The key to the problem is to discover the comparative ad­ possible. But if the government steps in to protect the public vantage of the Soviets in world markets. What are Soviets good from "rapacious profit-mongers" in the oil industry, it will also at? Why, prison-keeping, of course. Solution: sell this service on learn the realities of the spot market. Oil costs money. Someone the world market. Gorby should redirect his elite of Kafkaesque has to pay for it. Alas, in the end the costs will be spread out bureaucrats and wardens and transform the Gulag system into among taxpayers and non-oil users, who will have to pay not a prison system for foreigners. Charge Western nations a modest only for the increased costs of oil, but for the regulatory appara­ yearly sum for holding life-sentenced felons, and then work tus as well. Who then will be over a barrel? -]SR these felons in the slave labor camps-and other, more creative­ What to do about South Africa - If ly constructed tyrannical institutions-and gain a modest sur­ progress inSouth Africa is too slow to satisfy us outside support­ plus from the proceeds, as well. ers of equal human rights, what should we do? First, we should This would give his elite something to do that they seem learn lessons from u.S. attempts to control political affairs inoth­ particularly gifted at. It would continue to provide them with er countries. Too often our government has sought results onthe work, money, prestige, and the general psychic benefits they cheap-through words, economic sanctions, offers of aid or find in bossing people around, channeling their anti-social threats to withdraw it, and encouragement to opposition groups. Ourproddings have helped displace Batista, Ngo DinhDiem, the What goods or services can the Soviets offer on Shah of Iran, Somoza, and various colonial regimes in Africa; but world markets at competitive prices? What are they have seldom been coherent enoughto determine the succes­ sor regimes and policies. Our incomplete actions have helped in­ Soviets good at? Why, prison-keeping, of course. flict the likes of Castro, Khomeini, Ortega, and Idi Amin on the The solution to their problem: sell this service on supposed beneficiaries ofourgood intentions. the world market. We Americans may feel virtuous as we ban imports of Krugerrands or urge disinvestment in South Africa. Such atti­ tudes and policies seek change while shunning active responsi­ drives away from the poor Soviet masses. It would also take off bility for the nature of the change. As other African experiences Western hands a group of people who now cost millions of dol­ should have taught us, supposed steps toward egalitarian de­ lars each year, and out of the hands of lawyers and citizen ac­ mocracy in South Africa risk bringing bloodshed, tyranny, and tion groups who are always on the watch for such rights misery instead. As Ludwig von Mises explained in Nation, State, violations as "prison overcrowding" and "marital deprivation," and Economy (1919, translated 1953), democracy simply will not etc. And it would prOVide a steady source of income to the work for an activist, economically interventionist state in a terri­ Soviets, thus allowing for a fairly stable entry into the world tory inhabited by mutually suspicious national groups. Under economy. But most importantly, it would allow the victims of presently foreseeable circumstances, urging democracy on Soviet tyranny some time to cope with increasing freedom. South Africa is callously irresponsible. And, if some of these victims yearn for the old ways, perhaps Any action by outsiders should be resolute enough to ensure Gorby should make his new and improved, profit-making the results desired. For example, the governments of the United Gulag voluntary for true citizens ofthe Revolution. - TWV States and other democratic powers might jointly impose a new Snap judgments - During the 1989 cold snap, home constitution on South Africa. (A credible threat of armed inva­ heating oil prices in the Northeast rose about 20%. An outcry sion on the necessary scale would quite probably force the exist­ erupted from politicians, who voiced their concern over "undue ing regime to give way, making it unnecessary to carry the profits" and asked President Bush to declare an energy emer­ threat out.) The imposed constitution should affirmatively es­ gency in New England. But this was typical grandstanding, ca- tablish equality before the law, contain a bill of rights, strictly 10 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 limit the powers of the government, including powers of inter­ been 1985, for example, it would have shown wealth levelling, vention in economic life, and entrench an independent judici­ not becoming more disparate. Another example of clever use of ary. Administration of the government, whose overriding task base years was the recent argument about Congressional pay would be to maintain human rights through peace and security not keeping pace with inflation, if measured from 1977. If meas­ rather than to legislate actively, would be entrusted to a bureau­ ured from 1969, however, Congressional pay had more than cracy headed by a hereditary monarch. For psychological rea­ matched inflation. Which year is "correct"? Neither. sons, the new king (or queen) should probably be neither a 2. Yearly fluctuations: In addition to the base year fallacy South African nor anyone of European descent. Perhaps the there is the problem of yearly data fluctuations. To say that the King of Tonga or Bhutan or Nepal, the Sultan of Brunei, one of share of an income group has changed 2.5% over ten years does the sultans of Malaysia, a former rajah from India, or another not indicate a steady .25% change per year. Some single years member of one of their families could be persuaded to take the might show changes in excess of 2.5%, which are "corrected" in job. This solution should appeal to members of all ethnic groups subsequent years. Only by looking at change year by year can as offering peace, security, personal freedom, and economic op­ one know ifa percentage shift is at all significant. portunity, all under an internationally guaranteed constitution. 3. Measurement of income: In these studies, data show The king should be ultimately responsible to and removable gross, not net, income. The inclusion of taxes would change the by some independent authority. Given the Swedes' propensity picture dramatically. Furthermore, transfer payments and non­ for worldwide moralizing, it would be poetic justice to thrust cash benefits are also excluded. The "increased miseration" the burden ~nto their parliament. No doubt several Swedish among the poor implied by the study is a misconception. politicians would find it useful to their careers to achieve exper­ 4. Non-dynamic data: The data show the standings of in­ tise and fame in monitoring the South African king and his bu­ come groups over ten years, but says nothing about the move­ reaucracy. A sustained record of abuses would be reason for ment of individuals within and between these groups. The the Swedish parliament to depose the king and, with the con­ currence of the guaranteeing powers, to install either his heir or liThe rich are getting richer and the poor are a freshly chosen dynasty. After decades of domestic peace and capitalist prosperity getting poorer," CNN concluded. But this would had dissolved animosities among ethnic groups, South Africa be true only if people never moved from one in­ might become ready for democratic home rule. Premature de­ come group to another. This is not the case: stud­ mocracy is something quite different. Outsiders' efforts to get results on the cheap are immoral because irresponsible. ies on intergroup activity have concluded that The details of the proposed solution are discussable, of many poor are getting richer and rich poorer. course. It is the general approach that I insist on. Perhaps this approach will not be politically feasible any time soon; but study implies that those who are getting richer or poorer are the something like it, in contrast with irresponsible gestures, is in­ same people in 1989 that they were in 1979, that the "classes" cumbent on anyone who preaches action concerning South are stagnant. This is not the case. The few studies that have been Africa. -LBY done that traced individuals have shown that there is substan­ Lies, damn lies - "It's official," CNN reported, ''fhe tial movement between income groups, both poor getting richer rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer." This as­ and rich getting poorer, as the free market model specifies. The sertion was based on the results of a Congressional study of in­ dynamic data show that the United States is indeed a land of come distribution in the United States over the past decade. The opportunity, something the non-dynamic data seem to refute. study showed that the top 20% of earners increased their share 5. Artificial class divisions: The definition of "rich" and of total wealth by 2.5%, while the share of the lowest 20% "poor" by the top and bottom 20% of income is wholly arbi­ dropped by 1.5%. The implication is that the past decade of trary, and sometimes one will see studies using different"class" "Reaganomics," "tax cuts," and "supply-side policies" has divisions (10%, 15%, top 20% vs. bottom 30%, etc.). If one works steered the country towards the very sort of unfair imbalances with the data long enough, one can find a favorable conclusion. of wealth which the venerable Karl Marx predicted over a cen­ Studies of wealth striation are by their very nature an attack tury ago, and that for this trend to be reversed, the policies must on the free market system of "wealth distribution." Not only do be reversed as well. they imply that the polarization of wealth along the Marxist Being faced with these sorts of statistics can place Free model is something to be expected and watched for, they say Marketeers in a bind. The first counter-argument that comes to nothing at all about wealth creation, and treat all dollars as mind is, "So what? What if the rich deserve to get richer?" It is a though they are equally deserved by all segments of the popula­ valid argument, but not expedient; the political culture is not tion and should be spread about based on that premise. These ready to accept it. But neither can libertarians simply accept are both notions which libertarians know to be untrue. But liber­ such studies, or their underlying assumptions. There are several tarians must be able to show to the public at large that this is so, grounds on which to contest them: and parry those who would attempt to prove otherwise. -JSR 1. The base year fallacy: this study compared income levels Hoppephobia - Loren Lomasky's frenetic and almost from 1979 to 1989. Why was 1979 chosen? Perhaps because the hysterical review of Hans-Hermann Hoppe's A Theory of authors of the study wanted to examine a decade. But while Capitalism and Socialism ("The Argument from Mere Argument," round numbers are convenient, there is nothing statistically sig­ September 1989) is an amusing if unwitting vindication of nificant about ten year periods, any more than 12 or 7.5 year pe­ Hoppe's method of exposing "performative contradictions" riods. Furthermore, by choosing a base year cleverly, one may among his opponents. Lomasky's actual arguments against Hoppe prove whatever one wants. If the base year of the study had are meager, but the bulk of Lomasky's review consists, not in ar- Liberty 11 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 gumentation, but in making two angry charges: (1) that Hoppe is In the good old days, this was a common style in philosophy, impolite with philosophers or economists he disagrees with; and employed by Kantians, Thomists, Misesians and Randiansalike. (2) that Hoppe is unscholarly. In the modern age, however, this method of thought and writing· But in making both of these charges, Lomasky is a living con­ has gone severely out of fashion in philosophy, where truth is al­ tradiction. The reader of his review would never know it, but most never arrived at-and certainly never argued for in a deduc­ Hoppe's critiques of his opponents constitute a mere two or three tive fashion. The modern mode is utilitarian, positivist, tangential, footnotes in a several-hundred page book. The great bulk of the puzzle-oriented, and pseudo-empiricist. As a result, modem posi­ book sets out Hoppe's positive deductive theory of economics tivist types have gone flabby and complacent, and reading hard­ and political ethics. This accounts for Hoppe's not spending core deductivists-to say nothing of hard-core libertarians!-hits more time rebutting Nozick, Locke's proviso, etc., which calls these people with the force ofa blow to the gut. down upon him Lomasky's wrath. It is actually Lomasky who is Well, shape up, guys! In argument as in politics, those who ranting and rude in his attack on Hoppe.Performative can't stand deductivist heat should get out of the philosophic or Contradiction Number One. economic kitchen. -MNR Lomasky's second charge against Hoppe is lack of scholar­ ship, for which not spending time on Nozick is a typiccil-and ir­ Gaudy Days in Berlin - West Berlin has been my second city for the past decade, the only place other than New relevant--charge. But what of Lomasky's own scholarship, as York where I feel comfortable and have many friends, and so it evidenced by his review? First, he is shocked and stunned that was only proper that on Wednesday, November 8, 1989, I Hoppe is not simply a defender of existing capitalism; his book is entertained. my Berlin publishers, Peter Gente and Heidi Paris, "no less than a manifesto for untrammeled anarchism." Well, during their first visit to New York. Later that evening I heavens to Betsy! Anarchism! One wonders where Lomasky has telephoned them to advise that German politicians familiar to been for the last 20. years! Perhaps the knowledge has not yet them were speaking English(!) on Ted Koppel's Nightline. The penetrated to the fastnesses of Minnesota, but anarchism has following night, which was incidentally the fifty-first been a vibrant part of the libertarian dialogue for a long time, as anniversary of Kristallnacht, I joined the world in watching the most readers of Liberty well know. party at the crumbling Berlin Wall, knowing full well that it Lomasky then engages in a little trick. He quite correctly de­ would continue through the weekend, wishing that I was there, fines "socialism" as central planning and state ownership of the if only because, as I've often told friends here, "In West Berlin means of production, but then derides Hoppe as "idiosyncratic" they know how to party." By Friday I found Peter-und-Heidi, for calling any government interference with free exchange "soci­ both suitably pissed over missing the party, and told them about alistic." The two, however, are not contradictory. Total govern­ a Jewish orthodox sect who live in the the northern Israeli city of ment is socialism; partial government is socialistic. H Lomasky should ever read any comments on the dramatic events in Eastern Europe, for example, he will find them referred to, quite properly, The people are getting the Wall down bit by bit as movements away from socialism and toward free markets. with hammer and chisel, creating new businesses: Lomasky also writes as if the idea of an a priori of argumenta­ tion is a weird new bizarrerie propounded by Hoppe. He seems hammer and chisel rental at five marks for fifteen never to have heard of the Habermas-Apel doctrine, of which .minutes while the hammering kids sell chunks to Hoppe's is a libertarian extension. Comparing Hoppe's deduc­ tourists. Maybe one should propose for the new tive arguments to Zeno's or Anselm's also misses the point, since these classic arguments are difficult-to-refute demonstrations of East German flag a hammer and chisel, instead of conclusions most of us consider absurd, whereas Hoppe's is a a hammer and sickle. difficult-to-refute argument for a conclusion libertarians are sup­ posed to welcome: a copper-riveted argument for the absolute Safad. They believe that since the Messiah will return to Safad, rights of private property. they should never leave the place, for fear that they will be out Absurdly, Lomasky attacks Hoppe's arguments against pub­ of town. ''You made the mistake," I told Peter-und-Heidi, /Iof lic goods (completely missing Hoppe's subtle and lengthy discus­ picking the wrong week to be out of town./I So did.I. sion) as stating that voluntary actions and exchanges are optimal, ~ ~ ~ while coercive transactions injure people and are therefore worse I spent most of Friday, November 10, with CNN, which I'd than optimal. Again, Lomasky acts as if Hoppe has just come up never watched before at length, and was favorably impressed. I with a bizarre thesis of his own, not seeming to have heard of began to understand that its reputation for honesty depends many decades .of libertarian and free-market thought that has upon being less slick than the older networks and in taking more concluded similarly. It seems, in short, that Lomasky has never time with important stories, much as the live coverage of the San heard of libertarian arguments or doctrines. Talk about lack of scholarship! Performative Contradiction Number Two. Francisco earthquake the month before reminded us of journalis­ The Lomasky review is an interesting example of what is get­ tic authenticity, of reporters trying to find the news rather than ting to be a fairly common phenomenon: Hoppephobia. having it securely in hand. It was charming about 3:30 in the af­ Although he is an amiable man personally, Hoppe's written ternoon to see an interview in German with Marcus Wolf, a trim work seems to have the remarkable capacity to send some read­ gray-haired man simply identified as a "reformer." Didn't the ers up the wall, blood pressure soaring, muttering and chewing CNN.reporter know who Marcus Wolf is, I said to myself? (The the carpet. It is not impolite attacks on critics that does it. more cautious boys at ABC, NBC, and CBS would have done Perhaps the answer is Hoppe's logical and deductive mode of some homework.) Until recently he headed the East German ex­ thought and writing, demonstrating the truth of his propositions ternal spy service, by common consent the second most success­ and showing that those who differ are often trapped in self­ ful in the world (after the Israeli) at planting informants right in contradiction and self-refutation. the enemy's belly. Here on American television was Marcus Wolf, 12 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 whose photograph never appeared in print during his reign; how Since West Germany grants citizenship by culture, rather than spontaneous it all seemed. birth, not even those Turks born in West Germany have citizen­ ~ ~ ~ ship rights. Obviously, if East Berliners can work again in West Years ago I belittled Ronald Reagan's demand to tear down Berlin, it is these guestworkers, as they are called, whose survival the Berlin Wall because I thought it would create grave economic in Germany is most immediately threatened; it is they who are problems for the West. According to West German law, all East most likely to initiate destabilizing moves. Germans are de facto German citizens, entitled to all benefits of I once wanted to write a long essay about the Wall, which the West German state, including unemployment compensation, was a far more curious artifact than most Americans knew. As it pensions, and welfare, as soon as they come west. If the Wall ran around the circumference of West Berlin, it was more appro­ came down, I feared, West Germany would suddenly have 17 priate to say that the West was wall~d in while the East was million more wards on its hands. There would be massive unem­ walled out. Take, for instance, the graffiti, some of which was ployment along with inflation, as more money had to be printed quite imaginative. If there is little graffiti anywhere else in West for the newcomers to use-in short, an economic morass that Berlin, where it is actually forbidden, Why did it fill the Wall? The would be comparable to that afflicting Greece after World War I answer is that the Wall stands on East Berlin property. Indeed, (when its populations were "returned" from the Turkish main­ every once in a while, the East Berliners would send over a car land). I figured that there was no purer way for the Soviets to containing two guys with whitewash and two guys with guns, sabotage West Germany, and by extension all Western Europe, each instructed to shoot to kill should any of the others try to than following Reagan's demand. (All that would be lost to the escape, and the West side of the wall would be temporarily Soviets, I figured, would be another failing economy.) What I did cleaned. A few years ago, through a door one night came East not calculate, and what seems evident now, is how many East Berlin police to arrest a West Berliner defacing their beloved wall. Germans really don't want to leave, simply because their lives They took him to a jail back East, and the last I heard there was are there, much as most Mexicans prefer to stay in Mexico. nothing West Berlin could do to spring him. Much depends upon whether East Germans will be allowed We all know the West Berlin explanation for the Wall-that to work in West Germany and still live in East Germany. Prior to East Berliners were emigrating at a rate that could not be tolerat­ the building of the Wall, it was possible for an East Berliner to ed.What is less known is the East Berlin side of the story. The work in West Berlin, for deutschemarks, which would go a lot Anti-Fascist Protection Barrier, as they call it, was built to protect further in East Berlin than a comparable amount of ostmarks or a against a military invasion from West· Berlin. That accounts for salary for a comparable job in East Berlin. Once the Wall went up why, as can be observed, the uniformed East Germans in the in 1961, West Berlin lost its most immediate supply of cheap la­ guard towers behind the Wall have their binoculars trained upon bor. Into the void came immigrants from Turkey who were will­ West Berlin They are literally looking for the invasion, or signs of ing to assume the less attractive Berlin jobs; by the mid-1980s the invasion; that was their job for twenty-seven years, much as some eight percent of the West Berlin population was Turkish. continued on page 20 Media Notes

The Times they aren't a-changin' - The Cox's recommendation was an excellent one. TNR still ex­ presses left-liberal establishmentarian views more often than not, New York Times has it all sorted out. "The Soviet Union," it edi­ torialized after the Malta summit, "suffers from excessive central but it is hardly dreary. For one thing, it has opened its pages to a planning. Economic signals are so screwy that farmers feed considerable array of opinion. For another, it is consistently the best written ofthe roughly ten dozen periodicals I read regularly. bread to their animals because it is cheaper than unprocessed grain. Consumer items are either nonexistent or shoddy. The An excellent example ofthe kind of article that makes TNR so valuable is Robert Wright's perspicacious review (Jan 29, 1990) of system stagnates." What is the solution? Writes the Times: Stephen Jay Gould's new book, Wonderful Life. Gould is without a "Some central planning can be preserved. But a lot has to go." doubt the best known evolutionist in the world; in fact, he is the Thus spake those sophisticated thinkers at America's venera­ only well-known evolutionist. He has IIstarred" (if that word is ble newspaper. After 70 years of Bolshevism, that's what appropriate in such an obscure medium) on public television, they've come up with. But then, this was the newspaper whose Pulitzer Prize-winning Moscow correspondent during Stalin's writes a regular column for Natural History, and periodically gathers his columns into books which sell fairly well. terror famine in the 1930s, Walter Duranty, wrote that he could The most interesting thing about Gould is that his writing find no one starving. about evolution is interesting: he writes engagingly and has a The bureaucrats in Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, Sofia, and way of making his subject matter relevant to his readers. One East Berlin seem to know more about how the world works than way Gould makes it relevant is by aggressively debunking what the dons on the Times editorial board. -SLR he asserts to be the widely accepted views of prominent evolu­ The evolution of a magazine- A year or so tionists. Another way is by drawing political and meta-political ago, my colleague Steve Cox recommended I read The New implications from it. (His conclusions conform to the politico­ Republic. I had given up on TNR about twenty years earlier. In religion in which Gould was raised: "my daddy raised me as a those days it was a a hopelessly dreary voice of establishment Marxist.) left-liberalism, as dull as a New York Times editorial. In the course of his review, Wright summarizes Gould's Liberty 13 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 thinking, and explores his politics and the economic pressures of as a means of expanding magazine circulation may be the wave appealing to the popular mind. The result is the debunking of of the future: scuttlebutt has it that when Reason was looking for Gould as a scientist. It would be pointless to recapitulate new editors a year ago, it sought people who could do well on Wright's analysis here. But it is well worth reading for anyone television. with an interest in evolution, paleontology, the misuse of science Of course, the appeal of TNR is not that you get to read what for political ends, or the problems inherent in being a scientific TV stars have to say. TNR is worth reading because it consistent­ pop star. ly offers an array ofprovocative opinion with panache. -RWB TNR also features Michael Kinsley, better known to millions as the voice of left-liberalism on Crossfire on CNN. Kinsleyis a A sign of progress - On a recent broadcast of "All better writer than a TV star. He manages to transcend the doctri­ Things Considered" on National Public Radio, the Czechoslovak finance minister explained that the government is debating naire limits of left-liberalism, often coming up with elegant argu­ whether the economy should be transformed to a free market ments against leftist shibboleths. His recent criticism of the FCC's quickly, in the style of Ludwig Erhard in postwar West Germany, or gradually. The minister said he favored the "radi­ Michael Kinsley, better known to the millions cal" approach because, "as Hayek has written," a gradual ap­ proach always has credibility problems. Neither the minister nor as the voice of left-liberalism on Crossfire on the commentator thought it necessary to identify Hayek. Of CNN, is a better writer than a TV star. He man­ course, in the commentator's case it was because he doesn't ages to transcend the doctrinaire limits of left­ know who Hayek is. -SLR liberalism, often coming up with elegant argu­ The culture of Chronicles - The attempt at a ments against leftist shibboleths. paleolibertarian-paleoconservative alliance may already be bear­ ing fruit. The January 1990 issue of Chronicles, the "magazine of American culture" published by the Rockford Institute, the lead­ affirmative action policy in distribution of broadcast licenses pos- ing stronghold of paleoconservatism, features articles by Murray es some very good questions: "Should the advantage being Rothbard and Lew Rockwell (both well-known, to say the least, in fought over exist in the first place? Wouldn't we be better off try- libertarian circles), and its lead piece by editor Thomas Fleming ing to reduce the hierarchies and inequalities, rather than quar- espouses a very old right excoriation of u.s. interventionism in reling over who gets the advantages ofthem?" Central America, concluding that "the old ideals of limited gov- When James Buchanan won the Nobel Prize for his "public ernment and free enterprise ... are still the best weapons against choice" approach to economics a few years back, Kinsley enraged the banana republicans of both parties" and supporting a com­ many libertarians and delighted a few by subjecting Buchanan's ment about how World War I was used by the government as an career and ideology to public choice analysis. excuse to institute a command economy with a reference to the Kinsley isn't the only TNR writer prominent on television. works of Rothbard. The same issue features a debate on free Fred Barnes and Morton Kondracke, both senior editors, are reg- trade. Alan Reynolds provided a thorough, well-reasoned de­ ulars on PBS's lively The McLaughlin Report. (Barnes is the conser- fense of international trade, pointing out that the fight against it is vative who can't restrain himself from laughing out loud when ."essentially a theological dispute," concentrating on vague, mys­ opinions he disagrees with are stated by others; Kondracke is the tical notions of an organic national character that must be pre- dorky liberal whom McLaughlin addresses as "Mor-TARN!") served from foreign rot at any cost to freedom or prosperity. TNR's print ads frequently feature pictures of Barnes, On the other side, William R. Hawkins, a research director for Kondracke and Kinsley on television screens. Television stardom something called The South Foundation (admiration for the folk- Colombian dru9 cartel targets Bush's summlt-boundjet... ways of the Old South is a basic tenet at Chronicles), be- (I) .. gins his argument against "unfettered trade" by com- BUSH IS COMMITTEDTO HE-COULD STAY HOME. plaining that free trade didn't prevent World War I, Ir: FLY TO COLOMBIA BUT W THE:'DRUG CAR:rEt. HAS AND HAND AMORAL "',- and ends it by complaining that it puts IIgreater pres- Q ANTJ-A\RCRAFT MISSIL.ES. IDRY.-ro THE IMMORAL sure on the U.S. to avoid conflict." Free trade is bad be...... CARTEL? NEVER' cause it doesn't stop war, and also because it just en might. Hmm. And Anthony Harrigan, the president of Z BA~~~T~ADE the United States Business and Industrial Council, after WITH COLOMBIA: ) 6') ~;;;;;;;; __;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;~ railing against "transnational" corporations, concludes - ~ ...... -"' that "American-based entities ... have to serve the UJ ~ ~ t:Q ~€'i).• J: l» ~- American national interest. We cannot allow them to I-~-----"" do otherwise." As an American-based entity myself, I'm alarmed. HI: COULD GO BY BOAl: SEND QUAYLE? Even so, the debate is evidence of genuine progress among the paleos: Chronicles had previously champi­ NOW YOU'RE TALK'NG. oned a xenophobic protectionism. -BD OUR= BEjTTERO RIP: American Libertarian- While it lasted, AL provided something the libertarian move­ WHAT THEIR PEOPLE "'SO_~II~StlOULD BUY \lMAjDIJR HAVE 'TO SELL.... ~PRESlteIT*''n>WJ. ment needed: an independent news periodical. Although I sometimes disagreed with what I read in it, a.s ffi I never wanted to miss an issue. Its passage was a sad moment for libertarians. -RWB 14 Liberty Policy Isolating the Error of Isolationism by Stephen Cox

Of the notorious U gray" areas of libertarian thought, national defense and for­ eign policy seem least discussed in libertarian circles-perhaps because it is in these areas that actual political practice has been the blackest.

Are most libertarians isolationists? I don't know. Unquestionably, however, iso­ lationism has been a powerful tendency within libertarian thought throughout the twentieth century. On isolationist grounds, libertarians of both rightward and leftward lean­ The Religious Ground cion, and about the structure of society ings opposed American imperialism in The idea that the threat or use of de­ that is most likely to maximize the first the Philippines and American involve­ structive violence is in all circumstances and minimize the second. While ar­ ment in the 1914-18 war. Libertarians of wrong is an ancient and honorable tenet guing about these things, however, we the Old Right opposed Roosevelt's of certain religions. I do not intend to may easily find ourselves agreeing with preparations for World War II, and li­ argue against it. I wish merely to note the isolationist premise that the same bertarians of the latest generation op­ that virtually all societies have regarded standards that apply to individuals posed Johnson's pursuit of the its practical consequences as disastrous. ought to apply to the countries they in­ Indochina war. America's Christmas in­ As a result, pacifism has never achieved habit. Ifthere is but one standard of mo­ vasion of Panama-a crusade undertak­ substantial influence on the foreign pol­ rality in this world (and why should en to remove a dictator whom icy of any nation. Clearly, however, ~ there not be?), the isolationist can feel American intervention had helped to pacifist society (did such a thing exist) secure in his creed, and view all liber­ install-rightly strengthened many li­ would never be anything but an isola­ tarians who would countenance inter­ bertarians' instinctive aversion to any tionist society. It would never consider ventionism as cynical advocates of a double standard. extension of military force beyond the itself justified in projecting, or even How, the creedal isolationist will borders of this country. threatening to project, a military force ask, how on any theory of rights that No one should be surprised that beyond its borders. pretends to be libertarian, can my coun­ current libertarian leaders often talk as The Moral Ground try possibly be justified in coercing or if isolationism were as obvious a part of Here I will argue. threatening to coerce the people of the libertarian creed as advocacy of free The moral theory oflibertarianism is other countries? If it is wrong for me to speech and free markets. usually understood to be founded on invade my neighbor's house, how can it But the matter does not seem quite the belief that all people have the right be right for us to invade our neighbors' so obvious to me. Isolationism should, I (as the prophet Micah puts it) to sit houses? And many of these "neigh­ believe, be regarded merely as one stra­ under their own vines and their own fig bors" aren't neighbors at all! They're tegic option of a free society; it should trees, with none to make them afraid­ thousands of miles away! not be elevated to the status of a politi­ that they have the right, in other words, If the North Koreans invaded our calor moral creed. to enjoy their property, including their property-so this argument goes-we Let's review the grounds on which property in themselves, secure from the might justly repel them: we are secular isolationist thinking maybe based. I can coercive influence of others. moralists, not religious pacifists. But we think of three: religious, moral, and We may argue about the source of have no right to interfere in other peo­ practical. this right, about the definition of coer- pie's affairs. Liberty 15 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 Let's accept, for the moment, the ic intervention made possible by stand­ uation. But what reasoning could im­ faintly ludicrous analogy of houses and ing military and diplomatic alliances, pose isolationism as a moral absolute­ countries, and see where it leads. Noli­ even the systematic intervention made upon anarchists? bertarian will argue that I as a home­ possible by costly alliances. What's the Anarchists are opposed to the state's owner have the right to march, without matter, in short, with NATO, so long as control of roads, schools, courts, and provocation, into my neighbor's yard it responds realistically to real threats? military intervention. It does not follow and imperialistically occupy his swim­ Here, of course, the creedal isolation­ that anarchists are or should be opposed ming pool. No libertarian will argue that ist hastens to abandon the house­ to roads, schools, courts, or military in­ I have the right to march into my neigh­ country analogy. And no wonder, since tervention per 8e. Rare is the anarchist bor's hall closet and confiscate his many a creedal isolationist is also a who would prefer no roads to govern­ shotgun. creedal anarchist, convinced that no ment roads. Rare also should be the an­ But suppose my neighbor sets his government, however elected, checked, archist who would prefer letting shotgun on his window sill and points it and balanced, will ever possess a legiti­ tyrannies thrive to uprooting them by at my bedroom, meanwhile shouting mate authority that is even remotely the action of freer governments, if the similar to a private householder's prop­ intervention were successful in practice. erty right. To the anarchist, intervention­ At this point, I am afraid, both my What made the difference ism is illegitimate because state power is anarchist and my limited-government between Finland's relatively illegitimate, even if it is used against an­ friends become outraged. "What! Don't easy fate-mere castration­ other example of state power-even if it you know.what happens when you de­ is used against a state that allows dra­ cide to throw your weight·around like and the fate of, say, Czechoslo­ matically less liberty to its citizens than that? Think of Viet Nam! Think of the vakia? Finland's proven will­ that allowed by the intervening state. Bay of Pigs! Think of the military­ ingness to fight and fight hard. If one wishes to respond to the anar­ industrial complex! These are the practi­ chist, one may simply ask why he thinks cal consequences of interventionism!" that states intervened against should be This is exactly the kind of outrage I treated as any more sacred than states want to· provoke, because it is an out­ that my property is not rightfully mine intervening. Why are the borders of rage stemming not from some arbitrari­ and that he intends to redistribute it ly imposed "moral" principle but from a among his poor relations. Suppose that Hungary and East Germany any more sacred than those of Holland and West concern for practical effects, a concern my neighbor has been reported, on good for- authority, already to have liquidated Germany? Why must these illegitimate several other people and seized their states be considered immune from inter­ The Practical Ground goods. Suppose also that no police force ference? Why must their property rights In practice, intervention and isola­ is available to protect me. May I now be protected and their political arrange­ tion can each achieve success or failure, "aggress" upon my neighbor's land and ments be guaranteed absolute freedom and almost any imaginable degree of seize his means of aggression? And may from disruption by any outside force, success or failure..Everything depends I go so far as to form alliances with other even when they are demonstrably inimi­ on the context in which either interven­ neighbors in the pursuit of my cal to the liberties of their citizens, as tion or isolation is adopted as a policy. objective? well as to those of the citizens of other To return to our equivocal "house" anal­ Common sense answers, yes! And countries? ogy: I could not really protect my house do it right away! But there is another way of respond­ from a violent neighbor by a preemptive Now suppose that my neighbor has, ing to the anarchist position,.a way that nuclear strike, but neither could I protect like bad neighbors the world around, a raises issues perhaps more interesting. my house by boarding up all its doors group of confederates, people known to Suppose that America were both anar­ and windows. In either case-that of an give aid and comfort to aggressors such chist and libertarian. Suppose that its unwise intervention or that of an un­ as he. Common sense indicates that I armed forces were actually the private wise isolation-I would ruin my proper­ and my allies may justifiably consider defense forces of which anarchists ty by employing the wrong means of neutralizing his allies, whether they live dream. Would these forces be used only protecting it. Although I might consider next to us, down the block, or merely (as in the service of isolation? Would they that I had a perfect right (as indeed I do) we say in California) freeway-elose. never strike across national boundaries, to break open the door of my neighbor's The obvious question is now ready hoping to destabilize threatening states? house to rescue a person inside who was to be made explicit. What principle of li­ What absolute moral principle could be screaming, "Help me! I'm being bertarian morality prevents a society of used to persuade an anarchist tactician, robbed!", I would not break down his free people (or relatively free people, hired to direct the defense forces of a door if I had reason to believe that my since no libertarian will ever bring him­ free society, to respect the integrity of action would result in the death of ei­ self to regard any society as truly free) any such threatening state-or, for that ther me or the robbery victim. from intervening against societies be­ matter, of any tyrannical state, threaten­ These are practical questions, and yond and perhaps far beyond its bor­ ing or not? Why should an anarchist so­ the correct answers to them can often be ders, breaking. its isolation in order to ciety not attempt to liberate other proven only in action. Would NATO prevent aggression against itself? The societies from oppression? A practical ar­ have saved the Hungarian Revolution of house-eountry analogy clearly authoriz­ gument might be made that the battle 1956 by launching a military strike on es such intervention, even the systemat- might not be winnable in this or that sit- the Russian forces closing in on Buda- 16 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 pest? We do not know; the tactic was a scheme would have been opposed, for be engaged in frequent controversies, not tried. An American-supported strike quite plausible reasons, by libertarians the causes of which are essentially for­ at the Bay of Pigs was tried with some of the Old Right, but they might have eign to our concerns." But do the proper possibility of success; it failed ignomin­ lost their bets. concerns and interests of contemporary iously. But this was a practical miscalcu­ The Current Issue Americans have nothing in common with the interest of contemporary Euro­ lation, not a moral failure of the kind Well; so what? We aren't facing Hit­ that would instance the universal truth peans in economic and political liberty? ler now; we aren't even facing Khrush­ of a non-interventionist creed. chev. Americans in general are weary of Truly interesting philosophical de­ supporting troops in prosperous and bates can take place about the point at more or less free West Germany and Only wishful thinking which failures of practical knowledge Japan, and Americans of libertarian may become morally culpable. If I, with about life in some other world sympathies are of course still wearier of will justify the view that "just­ the "best intentions in the world," de­ doing so. Some people fear that inter­ cide to remove my friend's appendiX, vention in places like Nicaragua can let -them -destroy -themselves" but find that I cannot complete the oper­ drag us into another Vietnam. Why not, is the right prescription for all ation because of my insufficient study of then, fly the banner of Isolation beside medicine, certain negative conclusions the banner of Liberty? foreign ills. may be drawn about the ethical quality The reason is simple: A belief in Iso­ of my intentions. At the other extreme, lation as an eternal creed, rather than a Creedal isolationism can easily lead no negative conclusions will be warrant­ strategy that may be useful at one time us to mistake the practical interests of ed in the case of a physician who has or another, leads us to say and to think yesterday for the practical interests of never failed in her attempts to remove some very silly things. today, especially if we assume that prac­ appendixes, but who fails one time be­ It leads us to confuse one particular tice can never be at odds with creed. caus~ an earthquake knocks out the tradition of the American republic with This assumption is endemic to libertari­ lights during the most delicate proce­ a policy by which all right-thinking peo­ anism, largely (I suspect) because of the dure.Between the extremes lie many oc­ ple should live. There is no obvious rea­ providential linkage between a free soci­ casions for argument. son to believe that the "entangling etyand a good economy. We have excel­ What cannot successfully be argued alliances" invoked by Jefferson should lent reason to think that the freedom we is the idea that the practical effects of in­ be viewed as entangling by the citizens advocate on moral grounds really works terventionism are systematically (much of twentieth-century Denmark, or of in the economic sphere and in the wider less universally) threatening to the ethi­ twentieth-century America. The Ameri­ social sphere so largely dependent on cal goal of liberty. During the Jefferson can tradition of isolation was, after all, economics. and Madison administrations (and it an eminently practical tradition, one But even the best-founded moral was Jefferson who coined the famous based on a sense of practical interests principles (and I will not allow isolation­ anti-interventionist phrase about "en­ and not on an idealistic vision of how ism to have this status) sometimes fail to tangling alliances"), the United States re­ everything would turn out for the best if produce positive results. I may unwit­ peatedly attacked North Africa, with no all good people stayed at home. tingly kill my friend while attempting, significant ill effects except on the pi­ In the fourth number of The Federal­ with good probability of success, to rates who had been demanding tribute ist, for instance, John Jay takes quite a push him out of the way of an oncoming from U.S. vessels. The American occupa­ different slant on the moral issue from truck. On the other hand, someone may tion of Europe and Japan' following that taken by creedal isolationists. He save my life for the sole purpose of World War II had, on balance, distinctly decries the tendency of free peoples to being able to swindle me out of my last positive effects for economic and other be "flattered into neutrality by specious dime and leave me to starve. liberties in the countries occupied, promises, or seduced by a too great If we assume that isolationism is al­ though it had mixed effects on the eco­ fondness for peace to decline hazarding ways right and always works, with the nomic and certainly on the political life their tranquillity and present safety for corollary that interventionism is always of America itself. American intervention the sake of neighbours." wrong and never works, we will be vul­ in World War I, however, was wholly Perhaps libertarian isolationists will nerable to grossly fallacious readings of inimical to the evolution of libertarian reject Jay's counsel because he was a history. I have recently been startled by societies everywhere. federalist arguing for a stronger govern­ the number of otherwise well-informed No universal law decrees how inter­ ment than that of the Confederation­ libertarian scholars who are willing to vention shall turn out. Can anyone though such libertarians are fond of maintain, at least in conversation, that doubt that a scheme on the part of quoting the locus classicus of isolation­ Stalin's imperialism, from which Europe France, Britain, and the United States to ism, the Farewell Address of Washing­ has yet to recover, was a reaction to an prevent, by force if necessary, the con­ ton, greatest of federalists. Very well: aggressive NATO, not to Western ac­ solidation of a fascist regime in Germa­ Washington in his Farewell Address commodations at Teheran and Yalta or ny could have proven helpful to the urged Americans to have"as little politi­ to the willingness of the West to over­ cause ofliberty, if it had succeeded in its cal connection as possible with Europe," look his imperial adventures. Such goal--<>r harmful, if it had provoked a observing that "Europe has a set of pri­ scholars emphasize Stalin's alleged still longer-lasting form of fascism than mary interests which to us have none or "conservatism" in pushing himself back the one that Germany actually got? Such a very remote relation. Hence she must from the table before he had swallowed Liberty 17 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 Greece, Italy, and France. In an article in the January 1990 issue of any thing by it, nay that absolute mon­ This kind of "revisionism" is useful Liberty, Richman points out that in 1948 archs [of whom the Marxist powers neither to truth nor to liberty. Stalin an­ Finland agreed to a treaty of friendship have offered many examples] will often nexed the Baltic states in 1940; he had with the Soviet Union, a course that make war when their nations are to get mastered Albania and Yugoslavia by brought the Finnish people "forty pros­ nothing by it, but for purposes and ob­ 1945 (though the latter was to escape in perous years of liberty, capitalism, and jects merely personal, such as, a thirst 1948), East Germany and Bulgaria by peace," instead of "the crushing of Fin­ for military glory, revenge for personal 1946, Poland and Romania by 1947, and land and possibly another world war." affronts [such as the affront of other Hungary and Czechoslovakia by 1948. And forty years have brought greater re­ people's freedom and prosperity]; ambi­ NATO was formed in 1949--evidently wards with them, as Richman thinks: in tion or private compacts to aggrandize not a moment too soon. But this the the January 1990 issue of The Free Mar­ or support their particular families, or creedal isolationist will never grant. ket, he uses communism's 1989 catas­ partisans." Since he regards American intervention trophe as evidence that no one needed If, as the isolationists often insist, in Europe as by definition morally to intervene against the Soviet bloc, be­ "elite groups" in the United States are wrong and practically unnecessary, he cause its downfall was always ensured perpetually yearning to begin aggres­ depicts Stalin as a "conservative" who by the ineffectiveness of its social­ sive wars which are not, perhaps, in economic system. The Cold War was anyone's long-term interest but are very useless, he believes, either to contain much in some people's short-term inter­ Isolationism should be re­ communism or to destroy it. If America est, then we must assume that officers of garded merely as one strategic had simply done nothing, practiced no tyrant-states possess at least an equal intervention in Europe, the Soviet sys­ readiness to get things by aggressive option of a free society; it tem would eventually have collapsed means. And many a tyrant-state has had should not be elevated to the anyhow; in the meantime, America ac­ time to destroy its neighbors before de­ status of a political or moral complished nothing but the strengthen­ stroying itself. How persuasively could ing of its own warfare state. one argue with England not to contest creed. Unfortunately, the implications of Hitler's aggression in central Europe­ Richman's brass-tacks realism are far because Nazism would eventually de­ from realistic. It encourages us to ima­ stroy itself? How persuasively can one never needed to be deterred; or he de­ argue with the American public that picts the Western alliance as driven by gine that we inhabit a world in which "interests" no more important to liberty old tyrants never aggress, they just fade than those of the Marxists. away. Tyrants in this imaginary world And as he underemphasizes the po­ can be depended upon to sink deeper I could not really protect my litical and moral weight of the Western and deeper into the political and eco­ house from a violent neighbor threat in keeping one part of the Europe­ nomic hole, without ever deciding to an peninsula more or less free in the late distract their populace or replenish their by a preemptive nuclear strike, ,40s, so he underemphasizes the weight funds by looting and enslaving their but neither could I protect my of the West in bringing a measure of neighbors. Tyrants are, apparently, at house by boarding up all its freedom to other parts of Europe in the once too smart and too dumb to require late '80s. Thus, we hear progress de­ containment. They are dumb enough doors and windows. In either scribed as emanating entirely from the about economics to embrace the case-that of an unwise inter­ Soviet government's longstanding con.. doomed policies of communism, but vention or that of an unwise cern for self-protective peace; we hear smart enough about economics to sense God thanked for ensuring that Reagan is that aggressive war doesn't pay. Pru­ isolation-I would ruin my no longer around to bother the Soviets dence, unaided by any external threat, property by employing the with his cold warrior talk of an evil em­ seems to be sufficient to restrain them wrong means of protecting it. pire -as if the evil empire were actually from annexing unprotected countries the West. that might, one or two generations later, A much more sophisticated expres­ be seen as mere liabilities. Although sion of isolationist views has recently they are savage to their citizens, they are NATO was never necessary, because the been advanced by Sheldon Richman, an respectful of their neighbors-much Soviet Union may eventually implode? editor of this journal. I respect Rich­ more respectful than the power-mad di­ It hasn't imploded yet, and generations man's work and have learned from it, rectors of the American military- indus­ of central and eastern Europeans (not to but this time, if I read him correctly, I trial complex. mention Africans, Cubans, and Vietna­ am sure he iswrong. He makes a lauda­ In such a curiously rational but un­ mese) have paid the price of its failure ble, but unsuccessful, attempt to base real world, America's Cold War inter­ to do so. his isolationism on stern reality instead vention would not have been justified. "Gorbachev seems to understand," of creedal thinking. The argument that But the real world is that of John Jay's Richman remarks, "that big-power stat­ results from his attempt might be called maxim: "It is too true, however dis­ us and prestige would be denied a coun­ the "accommodate now, triumph later" graceful it may be to human nature, that try that cannot grow enough food for its thesis-and it is one that is more con­ nations in general will make war when­ own people. His solution is to begin to groent with creed than with experience. ever they have the prospect of getting integrate the Soviet economy with the 18 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 world economy. He wants trade and popular than in any other state, demon­ But it is unfair to use even Finland technology, and to get it he must com­ strates how little the people needed to as an example of peaceful coexistence mence, however modestly, market re­ be "awoken." They had rebelled-but with tyranny. What made the difference forms. The people have demanded their rebellions had always been sup­ between Finland's relatively easy fate­ change, and the rulers could not ignore pressed. The United States prudently mere castration--and the fate of, say, it." But they did ignore-or brutally re­ decided that it would be counterproduc­ Czechoslovakia? It was, quite simply, press-it for many years, years during tive to attempt to liberate eastern. Eu­ Finland's proven willingness to fight which they used military force to seize rope by force, but it could and did and fight hard; it was the military threat their neighbors' raw materials, strategic intervene in Europe and elsewhere to that Finland would surely pose in the positions, technology, and technologists, keep pressure on the tyrants. It did what event of a general Western move years during which they lavished, on Finland, for instance, could not do, and against the Soviets. And this returns us military competition with the West, re­ the policy accomplished its major to the more important question: What sources that they might have spent in objectives. shoring up their domestic economies, at continued on page 76 least for the comparatively short term that usually represents the effective ho­ rizon of political decision-making. Certainly it is true, as Richman NEW FROM LIBERTY FUND argues, that the Soviet "consumer econ­ omy would still have been starkly inferi­ THE ETHICS OF or to the West's" if the Soviets had not REDISTRIBUTION been "forced to spend resources on arms by Bertrand de Jouvenel rather than consumer products." But Introduction by John Gray this is a long way from proving the hy­ he distinguished French political philosopher pothesis that "given the inherent incom­ T Bertrand de Jouvenel shows, through many varied petence of bureaucratic economies, it and insightful arguments, that redistribution is ethically would not have mattered if the Soviets indefensible for, and practically unworkable in, a com­ spent no resources on arms." If they had plex society. In fact, it would result, not in the redistribu­ spent no resources on arms, the Soviets tion of income, but in the redistribution of power from would not now be running deficits of individuals and the marketplace to the State and cen­ 98 + xviii pages. Foreward between 10% and 20% of GNP, and that tralized decision-making. and preface to the 1st Edi­ is something that matters. "This seminal little work remains extraordinarily fertile tion, introduction, appen­ The current disintegration of com­ and suggestive of further thought and inquiry as we can dix, index. munism in eastern Europe is not, as see from its many points ofaffinity with the more recent Hardcover $12.00 work of Buchanan, Hayek, Nozick, Rawls, and others. 0-86597 -084-x Richman asserts, the "spontaneous" It is an important contribution to discussion about the Paperback $ 5.00 product of internal problems. Commu­ redistributionist state and its implications for liberty." 0-86597-085-8 nism was contained by Western armed -John Gray, from his new Introduction LibertyPress, 1989 forces, prevented from further expan­ ALSO AVAILABLE ------­ sion and looting; it was harassed by WHAT SHOULD TEACHERXN Western schemes of subversion; and it was taxed by competition with the West ECONOMKSTS DO? AMERKCA By James M. Buchanan By Jacques Barzun for military supremacy. It was this com­ Preface by H. Geoffrey Brennan and With a new Introduction by petition that rendered desperate the Robert D. Tollison the author need for advanced "technology" to ixteen essays on the relevance of eco­ r. Barzun writes about teaching, as it is which Richman refers as a motive for § nomics from the 1986 Nobel Prize D done, as it should be done, and as it Gorbachev's decision to change the So­ winner in economics. should not be done. viet Union's ways. 292 pages. Hardcover $8.00 476 + xxvi pages. Hardcover $9.00 "In the broadest terms," Richman LibertyPress, 1979 Paperback $3.50 LibertyPress, 198 1 Paperback $4.00 says, the people of the East Bloc "have Please send me: o Enclosed is my check or money awoken to what they've been missing. Quantity order made payable to Liberty How long could people be expected to Ordered Tide Edition Price Amount Fund, Inc. live under [communist] conditions if The Ethics of Hardcover $12.00 o Please send me a copy of your current catalogue. they have an inkling of what people in Redistribution Paperback $ 5.00 the West have?" The answer is,.A good What Should Hardcover $ 8.00 Name _ long time-70 years in the Soviet Union, Economists Do? Paperback $ 3.50 Address _ 45 years in neighboring countries. Dur­ Teacher in America Hardcover $ 9.00 ing virtually all of that period, people Paperback $ 4.00 City _ had more than an inkling of what they Subtotal State/Zip _ were missing, and they often rebelled. The dramatic collapse of East Germany, Indiana residents add 5% sales tax Mail to: Liberty Fund. Inc. We pay book rate postage. I 7440 North Shadeland Avc.. where communism was arguably more Please allow approximately 4 :»eeks for delivery. Tota Dept. 88107 All orders must be prepaid tn U.S. dollars. Indianapolis. IN 462S0 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 "Gaudy Days in Berlin," from page 13 the Wall fall has brought to West Berlin. There have been immi­ grants, of course, but fewer than anticipated. Instead, there has some of our own soldiers have been working around the clock an­ been a massive influx of day visitors to a city that is accustomed to ticipating a Soviet missile invasion. having visitors, but these newcomers differ from the visiting West ~ ~ ~ Germans (called ''Wessies'') in having no money. It would be The Wall made Berlin a showplace, not of Western achieve- comparable to importing a million Mexicans into San Diego and ments so much as the difference between East and West. You turning them loose. Obviously, they would spend most of their could inspect and feel the other world simply by taking public time hypnotized before store windows and thus clog up side­ transportation or a short walk and come back before midnight. walks on the shopping streets (even on the Kurfiirstendamm, You could go from a city that had an abundance of consumer where the sidewalks are fifty feet wide). It was reported here that goods to one that did not, from homelessness to its absence, from the local soccer team, Hertha, invited all East Berliners to attend efficient automobiles to noisy plastic mobile carts. You could see their games free. Anyone who knows Berlin would recognize this for yourself how "socialism" was deficient and why thought­ as a less magnanimous gesture than it seems. For one thing, it control failed. I remember having dinner in East Berlin. At seven would get thousands of shabbily attired people off the Ku'damm. 0'clock, my hostess excused herself to turn on her television. On Second, Hertha has never been a good team, which means that it the screen was a crawl announcing the evening's programs on the rarely packs more than a few thousand fans into the historic West Berlin station that East Berliners were officially forbidden to Olympic Stadium that was built during the 1930s to hold a hun­ watch. Since the East Berlin newspapers didn't print the schedules dred thousand. Inviting the East Berliners gratis was merely "pa­ of Western television, this was the best way for her to discover pering the house," as they say in the NYC theater biz. what might be worth watching that evening; a few minutes later The demise of the Wall generates new problems for West she telephoned a friend about a program that would interest them Berliners. What do you do with all these visitors who don't have both. I had an image of East Berlin telephone lines suddenly hum­ your money, whom you're obliged to accept as guests but would ming immediately after the schedule-crawl, much as American rather not have stay? One fact lost in current reporting is that a toilets are flushed almost in unison during the ads in the Super border remains, with fixed checkpoints, as they are called, whose Bowl. I also remember crates of peaches stacked outside the gr0­ restrictions can be tightened from either side. As I write, I hear cery store on Sunday. East Berliners were rushing up and pur­ that West Germany is no longer giving a hundred DM to every chasing whole crates. Why, I asked. liThe peaches come from visitor, recognizing that some "incentives" are by now counter­ Bulgaria only twice a year; and if you don't get them today, productive. I hear that the annual Berlin Film Festival will be held there'll be none tomorrow." When channels of demand and sup­ in both parts of the city, which is not only clever, keeping some ply are clogged, many trivial things, taken for granted in the West, viewers at home, but remarkable, remembering, as my filmmak­ become persistently problematic. Living in West Berlin made me ing partner Martin Koerber writes me, that, "It had been invented more of a libertarian. by U.S. intelligence officers as a weapon ofthe Cold War." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The Wall was less of a problem for West Berliners than outsid- As a veteran of radically alternative politics, I've always been ers imagine. The post-war city was reconstructed to realize three bothered by the piety "that's impossible." Recently talking with great illusions-there was no war, there is no Wall, and the great the New York correspondent for ARD, one of the German televi­ cultural traditions continue; and all three artifices are persuasive sion networks, I argued that drugs will be decriminalized sudden­ while you live there. For one thing, in a city as spacious as Berlin ly in America, much as alcohol prohibition, which was similar, you hardly saw the Wall, as it ran along places you didn't usually ended suddenly a half-century ago. He replied, 'Pfhat would be go near, much as New Yorkers rarely see the large garbage dump impossible." What would you have said, I replied, only a few in Staten Island or most Manhattanites are hardly conscious of the months ago about East Germans opening their Wall. ''That's im­ surrounding rivers. Thus, you felt the Wall only indirectly, as in, possible." The next political miracle in the coming years will be not say, the inferior air quality in neighborhoods along the Wall (re­ greater effort/expense in the ever-failing "war on drugs" but sim­ flecting lower East German emissions standards for both coal and ple surrender, for much the same reason as, everyone now agrees, gasoline) or in packed lakeside beaches during a summer day and the Wall had to come down-given human nature, it didn't work. then packed streets at night. (As I would joke, one of the charms ~ ~ ~ of living in West Berlin was that no one ever invited you to spend Martin Koerber continues, "If you want to see the Berlin Wall a boring weekend at a country home.) Having accustomed myself one more time, you'll have to hurry. Apart from wholesale on the to its peculiarities, I figured that West Berlin could survive forever international art market by the DDR-govemment, the people are as an island; and not unlike other West Berliners, I doubted if the getting it down bit by bit with hammer and chisel, creating new Wall would come down in my lifetime. Indeed, I remember re­ businesses: hammer and chisel rental at five DM for fifteen min­ marking more than once that, "1 couldn't imagine what Berlin utes while the hammering kids sell chunks to tourists. The most must have been like before the Wall." I remember a Jewish friend incredible part of it is the noise, audible all along the Wall. Maybe who had grown up in Berlin in the 1960s attributing the absence one should propose for the new DDR flag a hammer and chisel, of anti-Semitism to the Wall-German anti-Semitism, she ex­ instead of a hammer and sickle." plained, usually comes from the provinces whose peasants, He also writes that instead of ignoring East Berlin television, thanks to the Wall, were kept out of West Berlin. Now that censor­ as most Berliners on both sides used to do, he now watches it all ship is relaxed, while Honecker's latest successor, Gisy, is identi­ the time: "fantastic glasnost news-shows, no reliable program pat­ fied as having a Jewish background, one fears provincial anti­ tern, but sudden broadcasts ofunshelved films, etc." That's anoth­ Semitism will creep back into Berlin. One policy question now is er way of saying that DDR-television succeeds with spontaneity, whether East Germany, ever desirous of hard currency, will let by being a genuine communications channel among people in­ West Berliners purchase second homes in the countryside? forming one another. ~ ~ ~ He continues, /'Lots of topics for new journalism in Berlin, so Still out of town, I hear only secondhand what changes that come and look in 1990." I think I will. --RK 20 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 Analysis The Conquest of the United States by Noriega

"What else are you going to do with a man like Noriega?" George Schultz responded to a question about the appropriateness of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Panama. Liberty's editors offer their answers to that question and others posed by America's Isthmusian adventure.

Making the world safe for democracy- America. In this, of course, he was right. The United States had "Secretary of Defense Cheney said that the U.S. invasion of all but declared war on Panama, embargoing trade, freezing as­ Panama does not point to a new policy, does not mean that the sets, oiling the campaign of the opposition candidate, etc. U.S. will invade Nicaragua if it doesn't like the results of the Change a little word like "recognize" to "declare" and you've Nicaraguan election next month. All options are open, he said, got yourself a swell little war. but so far, no commitments have been made." Then there was the "provocation" that the United States sim­ -dispatch from CBS Radio News, Jan 5, 1990 ply could not ignore. The shooting of that American soldier was a classic casus belli in official minds intent on invasion, but in No wimps here - The worst thing about the invasion fact it can be blown off as fraudulent. A car full of GIs ran a is that Bush got away with exactly what he accused Noriega of checkpoint near a strategic location in Panama City, resulting in doing: flouting the law. Bush did so on a grand scale, thumbing the firing on the car and the death of a soldier. I wonder what his nose at U.S. law, international law, common decency, and might have happened had a bunch of Panamanian soldiers re­ morality. Many Republicans gleefully observed as Bush's popu­ fused to stop as they drove by the White House one night. larity with the American rabble skyrocketed, no one will ever Moreover, there is no evidence that this was anything more call Bush a wimp again. Nor did any Germans, who had sus­ than an ad hoc tragedy. Certainly no one ever produced an order pected vegetarian Hitler of that same crime, call Hitler a wimp from Noriega. after Kristallnacht. -R. W. Bradford Oh, yes, there was another incident. As syndicated colum­ nist Joseph Sobran, who has progressed from conservative to li­ The ugly gringo lives - That's a fair summation bertarian in record time, observed: "There was a sad absurdity of Operation Just Cause, the absurd Latin adventure launched in listening to him [Bush] explain, with all the macho he could by yet another president in search of his manhood. Maybe the muster, that when an American Marine is repeatedly kicked in man who is ultimately to blame for Bush's criminal activity is the groin, then by golly, Mr Gorbachev, thisPresident is going Gary Trudeau-a man can be expected to take only so much to do something. Is that how American foreign policy is made? ribbing about being a wimp before he Does Something. And here I was picturing a lot of high-level strategists in some Bush once again got lucky. (I say "once again" because here oak-paneled conference room." is a man who should not have risen above middle management American indignation at dictators and their treatment of in the Customs Service.) He pulled off a two-bit military opera­ American nationals is highly selective, so we might ask what tion with aplomb-at least in the eyes of the somnambulant lessons there are in the Panama invasion for other tinhorn American population-by having as his bogey an untelegenic Maximum Leaders. First, ifyou're on the CIA payroll, you had caricature of a Latin Strongman. We can overlook such clumsi­ better be discreet about any double-dealing. Second, try to ap­ ness as ransacking the Nicaraguan ambassador's home and oth­ pear as though you are helping the Contras; we don't mind er peccadilloes. drug-running as long as some of the proceeds go to a good The Bush regime craftily manipulated the highly­ cause. Third, don't refuse when the United States leans on you manipulable domestic herd in the days ahead of the invasion. to ease up on your bank-secrecy laws. If you do these things, For example, he and what passes for the news media trumpeted you can probably stay in power for as long as you want. And Manuel Noriega's impudent "declaration" of war against the don't take too seriously the American blather about respecting United States. In fact, the Maximum Leader of Panama-or the democratic process. That swill was flowing from the State whatever the hell he dubbed himself-apparently had merely Department when the United States turned a successful un­ recognized a state of war between the two countries. That's armed Panamanian police force into an armed militia powerful how his pronunciamentos were interpreted throughout Latin enough to overthrow a constitutionally-elected government in Liberty 21 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 1968. And there was no shortage of it in 1984, when General tion is prudent on a particular occasion is another question. Noriega stole an election and put his man in power-with bra­ Anyway, I regret seeing the intervention in Panama linked to a vos from the Reagan administration. And even as the Bush supposed criminal case instead of being frankly defended for gang chanted hosannas to the Will of the People, it was install­ what it was. I have seen practically no discussion of what ing top Noriega bludgeoner Colonel Eduardo Herrara as head crimes Noriega is supposed to have committed within the territo- of the new defense force and keeping lots of locals in prison rial jurisdiction of the United States. -Leland B. Yeager camps without charge. George Gilder once wrote that there was a compensatory Defending our women - It was embarrassingly logic to the cosmos. I doubt it (the rebuttal is that Nelson obvious from his performance on TV that George Bush was pre­ Rockefeller reportedly died instantly at the moment of ecstasy pared to put up with damn near anything in Panama except while in bed with a woman not his wife). George "Charles Messing Around With Our Women. Atlas" Bush will suffer neither politically nor otherwise-as he Noriega had been a dope dealing, dictatorial dacoit for assuredly should-for his intervention and killing of hundreds years-probably going back to his collegial association with of civilians. His popularity is expectedly high because the Bush himself at the CIA. The thing that Bush spoke of as the American people like to kick posteriors, especially easy Latin last straw, and with obvious, sincere passion, was that an ones. And as much as they like their Presidents to have a streak American woman had been sexually harassed by Panamanians of barroom brawler in them, they dislike history. The last thing at a roadblock. -Karl Hess they want to hear about.is how U.S. policy, with the help of Advancing the rule of law - The jurisdiction Bush, created Noriega. Bush perfectly exemplifies this willful, of U.S. law enforcement agents extends throughout the world enthusiastic ignorance:. his magic words for dismissing any dis­ (and, presumably, the entire universe), the courts have ruled, cussion of how the United States caused any mess are, "That's but the requirement that law enforcement agents must recog­ history." I would look forward to the day he's history, except nize the rights of citizens guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, that I remember who stands behind him. the Bill of Rights and the laws of the land, do not extend be­ Even the worst situation has its good side. Because of the in­ yond U.S. territory. Therefore, there was no need to inform vasion, Peru has pulled out of the Colombian drug summit. We Noriega of his rights until the plane hauling him to the United must be grateful for even the smallest of blessings. States had cleared Panama, and the warrantless search of his -Sheldon L. Richman home is perfectly legal and the items seized there are perfectly admissible as evidence. So, presumably would be a confession made after Noriega's finger nails were extracted, his genitals Maybe the man who is ultimately to blame for fried by electrodes, and the soles of his feet seared with a Bush's criminal activity is Gary Trudeau-a branding iron. -R. W. Bradford man can be expected to take only so much ribbing The Law and Mr Noriega - There are many le­ about being a wimp before he Does Something. gal dimensions to the case of Uncle Sam v. Manuel (Pineapple Puss) Noreiga. Quite a few of them trouble me, but I am going to limit my observations to the most general one: can it really be argued that General Noriega owes faith, obedience, and ob­ ~~justice" Just a few weeks after The cost of - servance to the statutes ofthe United States? Gorbachev had taken the "No More Invasions!" pledge toward Our legal system rests on two bedrocks-Roman civil law the satellite countries, Bush urged him to renounce it by invad­ and English common law. The former legal edifice centers on ing Romania to assist the anti-Ceausescu forces there, and in the the concept of civitas, which was given its most profound analy­ process implying a sanction of the U.S. invasion of Panama. sis by Cicero. The great orator's characterization of this civic Why Gorby turned down Bush's suggestion I do not know: virtue can be paraphrased as: an informed and spontaneous maybe he figured intervention wasn't necessary, maybe he willingness to obey the law, derived from an acceptance of the feared the cost of such an invasion in terms of Soviet life and protection and succor of the community. The Anglo-Saxon con­ treasure, maybe he has become a sincere non-interventionist. ception is analogous-the rule of law rests ultimately on an un­ But one thing is plain: the U.S. invades its satellite as the Soviets spoken contract between statutory authority and the informed stand by and watch armed revolution in its satellites. Bush has consent of the governed, to summarize Blackstone and others. voluntarily given Gorby the high moral ground. (As a point of information, note that the Panamanian civil code In the long run, this may be the greatest loss in America's is derived from Roman law.) humiliating defeat in Panama, greater than the cost in American Is there any sense whatever in which Manuel Noriega owes lives, in Panamanian lives, in American property (already the obedience to the United States? He is not a citizen, not a nation­ Administration is talking about giving $2,000,000,000 to al, not a resident. He is not under the protection of this country Panama to help rebuild the country after the invasion), and in (except, obviously, in a very sinister sense at the moment). I re­ America's reputation in Latin America. -R. W. Bradford alize that there are some legal theorists who argue that offenses Jurisdiction: moral and legal- If we as a na­ which transgress the common prohibitions of civilized mankind tion are ever entitled to act collectively at all, then we are moral­ may be punished by any lawful authority. But these are not rel­ ly entitled to intervene to help depose a tyrant. This is evant here. Noriega is not accused in this country of crimes especially true if we are guilty of having given the tyrant some against common law-murder, rape, theft-nor is he accused of support in the past and if, more recently, our half-hearted ef­ piracy, which has aspecial status in that by international agree­ forts against him have proved ineffectual and have only ment it is regarded as an assault against civilization itself. wreaked hardship on his subjects. Whether remedial interven- Rather, we are dealing with such charges as money launder- 22 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 ing, traveling (to Cuba) in furtherance of a criminal enterprise, gets-a milestone for the feminist cause. One feels some linger­ allowing drug merchants to use Panamanian territory as a ing regrets for the Panamanian dead, but that is the price they transshipment point, and assorted RICO offenses. Whatever must pay for the democracy we have conferred on them. these alleged transgressions are, they are definitely not crimes Let's not deny it: Operation Just Cause has been a success. against the common legal heritage of mankind. Most of them Still, if Bush was itching to get his hands on Noriega, one won­ weren't even crimes in the United States ten years ago. ders why he didn't simply accept the gift that leaders of the This whole dubious matter reminds me of the allegation one preceding abortive coup attempt tried to offer? Could that be often hears (usually from right-wing sources) that so-and-so the down side to having a cautious president? And might there (Ortega, Castro, the USSR) has "violated the Monroe Doctrine." be repercussions to picking up Teddy Roosevelt's big stick at Well, maybe so, but this "doctrine" is merely the unilateral de­ precisely the moment when restive captives of the Soviet em­ mand of one American president. It isn't even a law in the pire are endeavoring to release their bonds? If Panama is a le­ United States. Why should Ortega or other non-Americans gitimate target of our national interest, all the more so for the "obey" it? Is Lech Walesa obligated to obey the Brezhnev USSR are Lithuania, East Germany, and the rest of Gorbachev's Doctrine? -William P. Moulton precariously balanced dominos. Finally, it is difficult to over­ come the nagging suspicion that Panama was invaded not be­ Arms and the revolution - One startling con­ cause of its own intrinsic importance but because an trast between the U.S. invasion of Panama and the anti­ administration whose policies in Central America have consis­ communist revolution in Romania was in their treatment of tently become undone was in desperate need of a quick fix that gun ownership. The U.S. Army confiscated every gun it could could be labeled a "success." find in Panama. The Provisional Government of Romania re­ .Stepping back a bit from the current hoopla, one notes that stored to the people their right to own weapons. Whether or there would have been. no illicit millions stashed in Noriega's not this relates to the fact that Romania experienced a demo­ cratic revolution and Panama experienced a foreign invasion I leave to the readers. -R. W. Bradford If Panama is a legitimate target of our national Barring catastrophe - Well, why not invade Interest, all the more so for the USSR are Panama? Presidents do seem to need an opportunity to flex Lithuania, East Germany, and the rest of their muscles, and George Bush picked his shrewdly. Not for Gorbachev's precariously balanced dominos. him the derring-do of a Jimmy 'Make My Day" Carter esca­ pade that comes undone in Iranian desert sands. Improving on Reagan's Grenada sortie, this Republican president selected a Swiss bank accounts, no call for American battle ships to be pa­ banana republic whole name most Americans can correctly pro­ trolling waters off the coasts of a civil war-ridden Colombia, no nounce and which some are able to locate on a map. The tim­ need to interrupt Bill Bennett's love affair with the Great Books, ing, too, was impeccable. Not anticipating an American visit, were it not for this country's declaration of war on drugs. Just Noriega was passing the evening in dalliance with one of his possibly there is reason to reevaluate that commitment. Indeed, mistresses. In more than one sense of the term, the general was poor George Bush has become one of its inadvertent casualties. caught with his pants down. The entire event stands as testimo­ It cannot be good for his career prospects to be required on his nial to a self-professedly "cautious" president who never wan­ resume to list residence in a city whose mayor has been obliged ders far from the latest opinion poll tallies. How fitting that, to conduct municipal business from the local lockup. within days of the invasion, figures were duly released show­ -Loren E. Lomasky ing that 92% of all Panamanians approved the operation. Pluralities like that are-oops, make that "used to be"­ Popular invasion - There is little surprise that the observed only in Soviet elections, so who can complain? Panamanian people have shown some public support of the Noriega for one, but he is a thug. Having been a principal in United States. The invading U.S. force of 26,000 men quickly a thriving commodity export business to Miami, by what right conquered Panama, killing approximately 1,000 civilians in the can he protest a summons to the scene of his operations? Bean process. Panama has about 2.37 million residents; the U.S. has about counter types may complain at the costs incurred, but that is to 247.5 million. Simple extrapolation shows that a similar inva­ quibble. A sum that amounts to no more than a blip in the total sion in the United States would consist of an army of 2,715,000 defense budget has allowed so many of us to feel good about soldiers, with U.S. civilian casualities totalling about 105,000. ourselves ('We're number ONE! We're number ONE!") and af­ Besides the civilian deaths, the soldiers would have done hun- forded weeks of televised entertainment to a populace grown weary of Roseanne-who, by striking coincidence, is another personality sometimes captured in a state of pants-down merri­ ment. The upcoming Noriega trial will represent a bonanza of r:~ Keynesian proportions for the legal industry via massive in­ vestment in machinery to break new jurisprudential ground. Those killed or seriously wounded during the invasion are, ad­ mittedly, losers, but presumably the reason young men join the _L__ all-volunteer U.S. forces is to kick some butt, not to draw end­ less rounds of dreary KP detail. That is not to minimize the ad­ venture's significance to young women who, for the first time, "You shouldn't keep things like that bottled up inside youfself­ have enjoyed an opportunity to fire live ammunition at live tar- go ahead and invade Austria!" Liberty 23 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 dreds of billions ofdollars of damage, made thousands of sum­ the world are involved in the drug trade, including many mary arrests, searched virtually any piece of private property it whom the U.S. supports. In fact, the' CIA itself has been in­ pleased, and confiscated nearly all weapons it found. volved in drug trade in both Asia and Latin America. So was If the United States were ever subject to such an invasion, the Afghan resistance, a fact that did not prevent our extending wouldn't at least some Americans read the handwriting on the aid. wall and "welcome" the invaders? 2) Noriega is undemocratic. Aside from Western Europe and Given the magnitude of the U.S. invasion, the amazing thing North America, most of the world's governments are undemo­ is that more Panamanians don't take to the streets supporting cratic. The USSR, for example, has been undemocratic for more it. It would be imprudent to do otherwise. -R. W. Bradford than 70 years. Yet we plan no invasions elsewhere on this score. 3) Noriega threatened the security of the Panama Canal. This Why Bush will not be impeached - The is pure conjecture. Neither Noriega nor any representative of chief lesson of the Panama invasion and the surrender and im­ his government ever suggested interference with the canal or prisonment of Gen. Manuel Noriega is that the Constitution has took any threatening action. In fact, the U.S. closed down the very little influence on what is considered right or legal in these canal for the first time in its history in the wake of the invasion. United States. 4) Noriega threatened American lives. There is some reality The Constitution gives the power to declare war to to this charge: Noriega had made it clear that if the U.S. invad­ Congress. But presidents have always coveted this power, and ed, his forces would fight back, presumably killing the invad­ in this age of the Imperial Presidency, Congress's power has de­ ing American soldiers. But by this criterion, so presumably has volved to the President in many ways-some by law, some less every country on earth threatened the lives of American formally. Most of the arguments for this change in practice servicemen. have rested on the problems of modern warfare, with the spec­ Other statements from the Administration indicated that the tre of the Bomb and Instantaneous Armageddon as chief mov­ invasion was justified because a Panamanian soldier had shot a ers. Bush's war on Noriega, however, was a war that cried out U.S. soldier who had refused to stop at a military checkpoint for Congressional debate before it began; but Americans like a (try running a checkpoint at a U.S. military base and see if you good show, full of independent-not debated-action, and have better luck than the U.S. soldier did), that a group of Bush provided it in spades. Panamanian soldiers had roughed up an American soldier and So what ifthe war on Panama was unconstitutional! So what threatened his wife (sometime earlier, EI Salvador soldiers mur­ if many innocent people were killed-they weren't Americans! dered a group of priests, one of whom was an American, with So what if the new Bush doctrine of capturing criminals abroad no invasion from the U.S.), that Noriega had "declared war" on without the agreement of foreign governments treats other na­ the U.S. (he had acknowledged that in light the U.S. acts of ag­ tions as second-elass-after all, America is No.1! This sort of gression toward his government, a state of war apparently ex­ patriotism is coming back in its most ugly forms, these days, isted between the two countries), that Noriega has been and nearly everyone, by jingo, has joined the parade. indicted for a felony in the United States and an invasion was the only way to apprehend him (does this mean Bush would consider an Iranian invasion of England, which continues to harbor indicted felon Salman Rushdie, to be justified?). What we are witnessing is not the beginning of The real explanation lies elsewhere. The first element can be a long, new age of American "police-keeping," but found in the press reports that a close, but unnamed, associate the last gasp of the American' Empire. of President Bush explained that the president was "tired of Noriega thumbing his nose" athim. While this is apparently a motivation of this particular invasion, I don't think it offers a Still, this depressing trend may reverse. Bush's bullying is full explanation. out of place in our new world of rising powers. I suspect that It is plain from an examination of the record that Bush's log­ what we are witnessing is not the beginning of a long, new age ic for invading a small country is remarkably simple. The neces­ of American "police-keeping," but the last gasp of the sary and sufficient conditions for invasion are: American Empire. Third World countries are not going to take 1) Bush's political power and popularity will be increased by this sort of heavy-handed police action for long. We can expect the invasion; and a backlash of major proportions, maybe not this year, or the 2) He could get away with it (i.e. win the battles at small cost next, but soon. in American lives and without the intervention of other Unfortunately, this backlash is apt to be very ugly, and will countries). probably take the form of terrorism against Americans in Small countries of the world beware! -R. W. Bradford America-modelled, perhaps, on American actions abroad. ~~Noriega" When is the government of Rough justice, to be sure, but it may be the only thing that will Just say -- one nation justified in sending troops across the boundaries of put America in its place. Justice, not patriotism, is the last ref­ another nation? Not when the rulers of the first nation happen uge of scoundrels-a class that unfortunately includes many to feel like it, or are on an ego-trip, or feel they can be successful Americans. -TimothyVirkkala in subduing that other nation. Not even when they think they The logic of ~~Operation Just Cause"- can put the second nation's house in better order than the sec­ There is an obvious gap between the reasons Bush offered for ond nation can do itself-that's paternalism with a vengeance! the Panamanian invasion and the actual logic that lay behind it. If there is to be any justification, there must be a clear and Let's take a quick look at Bush's ostensible reasons: demonstrable threat to the first nation. For example, if a missile 1) Noriega is involved in drug traffic. Lots of other people in base were stationed in Tijuana and threatened the United 24 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 States, the United States might be justified in neutralizing that good opportunity to go after some of those banks where much threat. (Even here, there are qualifications. Perhaps the base of the billions in cocaine profits from throughout the world are was constructed in response to a quite different danger; or per­ now located." On January 29, five weeks into U.S. occupation of haps in response to the United States having already done the Panama, Vice President Dan Quayle told Panamanian officials same thing; and so on.) But not, for example, if the second na­ that they must do away with bank privacy in order to help in tion threatened to become economically competitive with the the War on Drugs. Panamanian puppet Endara responded that United States and we were afraid of losing some of our markets bank privacy must be retained, though he would seek ways to to them. avoid drug money. But with Quayle representing a government Ifwe were a small nation and a larger nation to the north pe­ that occupies his nation, the odds are that the Bush-Quayle war riodically interfered with our internal affairs, to satisfy either its on privacy will prevail. power-impulse or even its sense of justice, would we feel that Is this the first time in history an invasion was undertaken in such interference was justified? But surely that's the way Latin part to force a country to change its banking regulations? American nations feel toward us now. Decades of gunboat di­ -Brian Doherty plomacy have left them with a bad taste in their mouths about The power of a free press - This was the news "Yankee imperialism." So even if we went in with a good rea­ media at its most servile. The only point at which they voiced son, they would think we were going in with a bad one. Our any criticism during the first day's coverage was when a few track record doesn't particularly entitle us to their trust. U.S. reporters and producers were briefly arrested by Was the safety of the citizens of the United States really Panamanian police forces, and the media responded by hector­ threatened by what was going on in Par.atna? On the basis of ing the Army for failing to provide better protection for their everything we've been told so far, the answer seems to be No. employees. The media dwelled on the tiny losses of the Army, And even if it were Yes, we should still hesitate because of our while practically ignoring the massive loss of lives among sorry record in the past. "When in doubt, don't." Panamian civilians. As late as Jan 5, two weeks after the Army -John Hospers destroyed several acres of densely populated .housing in Overkill- It is shocking that the commander of argua­ bly the finest commando-type troops on earth would have to stoop to a continent-crashing invasion in order to bust one The only point at which they voiced any criti­ lousy drug dealer. Just look at the specialists Bush now con­ cism during the first day's coverage was when a trols: the Navy SEALS, the several airborne special strike units, few u.s. reporters and producers were briefly ar­ and the Marine Corps long range reconnaissance force. I know rested by Panamanian police forces. The media re­ some of these people and as much as a libertarian may cringe at their very existence, the fact is that they are good at what they sponded by hectoring the Army for failing to do and they were not given the job of grabbing Noriega on the provide better protection for their employees. quick. Once the American government had decided to get him, it seems mere foolishness to say that an invasion in the open was in any way morally superior to a kidnapping. Panama City, the Army claimed that as few as 83 Panamanian Think of the way Mossad has yanked people out of protect­ civilians were killed. Latin American journalists estimate civil­ ed quarters, putting the ordInary Mafia hit squad to shame. All ian losses at a thousand or more, but we may never know: the such invasive violence is abhorrent to libertarians, of course. attack on the civilian housing was a holocaust in which bodies And the lesser of two evils is still evil. But there is a detectable were incinerated, sometimes leaving only charred remnants of difference between a kidnapping and a town-shattering artil­ bones, sometimes l.eaving nothing. -R. W. Bradford lery barrage or an outright invasion. More to come - David Gergen of U.S. News & World Since we all know that the state is a killer and that George Report, commenting on the invasion on the MacNeil-Lehrer Bush seems as rabid a war fancier as any, and since there has News Hour (January, 1990): not appeared, so far, a way to curb the murderous inclinations "I think it's been-in American terms-successful. of state power, I hope I may be excused for wistfully complain­ Militarily, the affair is over, basically. It accomplished its politi­ ing that along with the international lawlessness and immorali­ cal purpose, which was to depose the government of Noriega ty of the Panama invasion there also is a sad sort of and to put in place a democratic government. Politically, here incompetence in which so many lives were spent in doing what and at home, it has played extraordinarily well. It's surprising, a few good men probably could have accomplished not only in fact, how jingoistic the country has become about this. The quickly but on the cheap. press and everybody else seems to be celebrating. I would have protested that also. But at least there would be "I do think what we're seeing evolve, interestingly enough, more people alive and less of a nation ruined. Until the ideas of is possibly a new role for the United States military in the post­ liberty and· classical liberalism really spread in this land, that war era in this hemisphere. Increasingly, the military is going to may be about the best we can hope for. -Karl Hess be used for such police activities. The Bush Administration this The war on banking -.- Less than eight hours after week-in fact yesterday-the press spokesman has started talk­ the invasion began, NBC News reported that, "Noriega was the ing about using U.S. military forces to cordon off, to draw a man who provided a financial safe haven for the Colombian co­ tight noose around Colombia and the drug exports that are caine bosses. Much of the Colombian cocaine money was de­ coming out ofColombia. posited in Panamanian banks. Bank secrecy was just a part of it 'What we're seeing may be the first chapter of more to ... American authorities are saying this morning that this is a come." 0 Liberty 25 Essay Humanity vs Nature Two Views of People and Animals by John Hospers

Morality often requires us to support the "underdog"-·but what about man's real underdogs, the animals? Prof. Hospers sharply contrasts two distinct ratio"" nales for giving animals special consideration, and shows how one of them re... futes the other.

Most people today are likely to agree that killing and injuring other human beings is wrong, except when done under special conditions such as self-defense. Causing death or injury to others is something that requires a special justifica~ion. But concerning our behavior·toward an", imals there is far less uniformity of opinion. People from time immemorial 1 un rn 1 1 1 1 1 un 1 m" 1" 1 1 1 1 1 1 l' 111 111 "" 11 T. , 1 . , II I. "on" , have killed animals and caused them Native Americans were human beings manism" is more closely related to hu.. suffering, and have done so without like themselves. But just as there was an mane than to human.) Books are devoted guilt, not questioning the morality of increasing minority of whites who con­ to it, and magazines such as The such actions. demned the mistreatment of slaves and Animals' Voice contain not only articles In most Western nations it is consid- Indians, so there is an increasing num­ but vivid and unforgettable photo.. ered wrong to mistreat those animals ber of people who have moral qualms graphs of human mistreatment ofani~ that are adopted as pets; but in other about the mistreatment of animals and mals, especially in "factory farms," parts of the world, such as most of the use of animals to serve our ends slaughterhouses, and experimental Latin America, the mistreatment of rather than their own: for example, kill­ laboratories. dogs, cats, and other domestic animals ing them for sport, killing them for After so many centuries of not w()r.. is a matter of indifference. Perhaps this food, and using them in medical rying much about the fate of animals, is because they don't really view them experiments. why should this concern for animals as pets but only as things or property; I. "Enlightened Humanism" come into such prominence in our own once they adopt them they are there for day? One reason may be that we no the owners' convenience and can be dis- The 17th-century philosopher Rene longer need animals for food; agricql.. posed of at· their convenience. We, on Descartes wrote that animals are au­ ture is less than ten thousand years old, the other hand, feel responsible for their tomata who do not really feel pain, but and before that (except for occasiQnal feeding and grooming and certain other are wired up to act as if they do. (How wild fruits and berries) people lived creature-comforts. In poverty-stricken he behaved toward his dog is not re­ largely on fish and game. Still, this con.. areas of the world it is not possible to corded.) A century later, Immanuel dition is not peculiar to our century. give them food and sustenance when Kant wrote that the only reason we The main reason, I suspect, lies e1"" their owners do not even have these should not be cruel to animals is that where: we will always find reasonS for benefits themselves. this encourages us to be cruel to peo- eliminating what is ~ threat to us, .and As for wild animals, millions.of peo~ pIe: presumably if we were cruel to ani­ once the threat is past the need to prOr pIe hunt deer and grouse, and often mals without the habit carrying over to teet ourselves against it dissolves. By leave injured creatures to die without people,. this would be all right. Most and large, animals no longer threaten any feelings of guilt about doing so. It is philosophers, like most theologians and the human species (rather, humans· are doubtful that they even think·of these religious leaders, have been silent on a threat to them). Unlike the pioneers, creatures as sentient beings capable of the question. But today there is an up­ we no longer have to worry about bears feeling pain, any more than it occurred surge of concern about the treatment of and bison, having already extermb1ated to most slave owners that blacks and animals by humans. (The term "hu- almost all of them, and now we keep 4' 26 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 few of them around in national parks as (3) The infliction of pain and suffer­ tion" movement, came into prominence a kind of decoration. There are many ing on others is wrong-again, unless largely as a result of the publication of threats to the human race-war, pollu­ some eminently worthy goal is achieved Peter Singer's very popular and com­ tion, holes in the ozone layer-but ani­ by it that can be achieved in no other pelling 1975 book Animal Liberation.S In mal predation is no longer one of them. way, such as a physician inflicting pain chapter after chapter he exposed the Having already vanquished most of the on a patient if this is necessary to save "factory farming" industry; in which animal kingdom, however, we can now the patient's life. (If the physician could people raise pigs, cows, and chickens afford to be generous. achieve the patient's recovery without for market, subjecting them to unbeliev­ So much for the genesis of our shift inflicting the pain, but inflicted it any­ ably unsanitary and uncomfortable con­ in attitude. But what about the moral way, he would be a sadist.) Since people ditions such as crowdedness and basis of our (however tentative) pro­ have finite powers, they may sometimes inability to move. The conditions them­ animal stance? Here some distinctions be in such a situation. An omnipotent selves can be appreciated only after must be made: God would not have such an excuse for reading detailed descriptions such as (1) Situations, or states-of-affairs, can inflicting pain, for being omnipotent he Singer's. Farmers raise chickens, not in be described as (among other things) could effect the cure without inflicting nature's dirt, but in wire netting that good and bad; actions are. described as the pain, or create creatures that cuts their feet, with unremitting bright (among other things) right and wrong. It wouldn't have diseases at all.3 lights (so as to produce more eggs) in is a basic premise of many ethical theo­ Such is the "enlightened humanist" cages so crowded that the creatures ries that pain, misery, and suffering are position with regard to pain and its in­ can't tum around, and conditions so bad. Humane individuals try to mini­ fliction. Throughout most of human his­ unsanitary as to be unbearable to smell. mize suffering, their own and that of tory the view has been applied others, and often devote their entire primarily to human beings. But of lives to this cause. A world containing course pain and suffering are not limit­ The 17th-century philoso­ large amounts of suffering would be a ed to human beings. Animals, certainly world ·less worth having, and certainly mammals and some others as well, have pher Rene Descartes wrote less worth creating, than one containing nervous systems similar to ours, and ex­ that animals are automata who little or none. Pain and suffering are hibit pain-behavior very similar to that do not really feel pain, but are "just bad things to have around," and of humans. The dog whose leg has been we try not to increase them.1 cut off by a power-mower gives most of wired up to act as if they do. (2) Pain may sometimes be instru­ the same indications of pain that people (How he behaved toward his mentally good-a necessary means to­ do. Whether or not animals know that dog is not recorded.) ward a good or worthwhile end. For they are in pain, they are in pain. example, pain is often nature's warning Thus it is only a short and obvious signal that something is amiss in the step that takes us from ''Do not inflict pain and suffering on persons" to ''Do What is inflicted on pigs and cows (es­ body. If our feet were dangling in the pecially veal calves) is even worse. To fire and we·felt no pain, we would soon not inflict pain and suffering on animals" (or any sentient beings, that is, creatures inflict all this on animals, says Singer, is find ourselves without feet. The world capable of experiencing pain and pleas­ inexcusable. People's liking for beef and being as it is, pain is often a good thing ure). And the same for the somewhat pork does not excuse it. Bentham's own to have as a means of correcting a situa­ vague proviso II. •• unless it is the only example of 200 years ago is as good as tion (moving one's feet elsewhere; or way to achieve an eminently worth­ any: if pigs that were whipped to death going to see a physician about the pain). while end that can be achieved in nO made far more succulent and delicious (The world would be still better if pain other way." It is not capacity to reason pork, we still would not be justified in were not needed at all as a signal.) 6 that is our criterion here, but, as Bent­ whipping them to death. Much of the time pain is not ham said, the capacity to suffer. Capacity What· is the solution? One solution instrumental to any good end, as in the to reason is relevant to some enterprises, would be to raise the animals in the case of terminal cancer when prolonga­ such as signing contracts, but it has good old-fashioned manner, with chick­ tion of the agony serves no purpose. nothing to do with the reason for not ens picking worms out of the earth and Again, human nature being as it is, treating our fellow-creaturescruelly. living in uncrowded and sanitary con­ sometimes nothing lessthan one's own "Why should beings who reason or use ditions, and cows grazing in the pasture suffering is what it takes to appreciate speech (and so forth) qualify for moral contentedly, able to go into warm clean the suffering of others. We should not status, and those who do not fail to qual­ barns when they want to. But factory­ conclude that suffering is always good ify? Isn't this just like saying that only farm methods produce many more mar­ if it leads to something worth-while: the persons with white skin should be free, ketable animals, and old-fashioned end must be worth the suffering. It's not or that only persoJ.ls who beget and not methods cannot compete with factory worth being tortured to death just so those who bear should own property? farms in a· competitive market. So the that someone else who is watching may The criterion seems utterly unrelated to only solution, says Singer, is to stop say "It taught me a lesson." The exis­ the benefit for which it selects."4 raising these animals entirely. Perhaps tence of suffering must be justified by this could be done by passing laws, but some overriding goal that it achieves A. "Animal liberation" it would be vastly preferable for people and which cannot be achieved without The "animal liberation" movement, to become vegetarian voluntarily: the suffering.2 following upon the "women's libera- "don't eat anything that ever moved on Liberty 27 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 its own." If no one any longer ate meat" time in reply to the question "What often get in the spirit of racing and the market for it would dry up, and the shall I do?" we have to reply "I don't seem to enjoy it. (Is it "worth it" to them animals would no longer be raised. know, because nobody knows just what to go through all this for the Thus the crowded pigpens and the the consequences of doing this or that exhilaration of the contest?) If that's all slaughterhouses would perforce go out will be." The consequences differ from right, what about bull-fighting? No, of business. case to case even in actions of the same this involves the animals' pain and According to Singer, not only should type. Thus utilitarianism, even com­ death; even if people enjoy it, it's like we refrain from eating these animals, bined with the view that animals are to Bentham's flogged pig. Presumably the and raising them for food, we should be considered.as well as people, does same should be said of cock-fighting, never use them in animal experiments not entitle us to draw the conclusion which typically results in death, at least

over many countless generations by ble practical differences between en­ mals out and extinguishing entire their former owners, might be altogeth­ vironmental ethics and the animal species of them. er impossible ..."20 liberation movement. Very different For animal rights theorists, every They are also at odds without the en­ moral obligations follow in respect, human life is precious, and so is every vironments into which they are intro­ most importantly, to domestic ani­ animal life. It is just not clear what is duced. Cattle became big business in mals, the principal beneficiaries of supposed to happen when the one. gets Africa to satisfy an overseas market and the humane ethic. Environmental in the way of the other. "Don't kill them, repay the nations' loans. But unlike the ethics sets a very low priority on do­ let nature take its course" the who eat beef ingest also the anti-biotics before the onset of old age, just as they needs or desires of a vastly increased that are fed the cattle to keep them alive still kill most animals in the wild today. human population. One example: pesti­ in their filthy pens (which makes us pro­ But people have acquired the technology cides were not needed for farming in gressively immune to the anti-biotics). to increase their numbers vastly and still Iowa at the turn of the century, but And Eskimos who have eaten reindeer survive. What is now the United States today one has to farm for two to three for hundreds of years do not get the cho­ could once sustain only about a million times as many consumers, and must use lesterol-related diseases that today's people (prior to modern technology). It methods that are ultimately self­ beef-eaters do. When nutritionists con­ now sustains 250 million, crowding ani- destroying if one is to make any money demn the eating of meat, they mean (or should mean) the products of modern agriculture, not reindeer or caribou. It is solely the domestic animals whose use Subscribe to the New is condemned in passages such as the following: Libertarian Monthly! We don't realize that in every Big Mac there is a piece of the tropical rainforests, and with every billion The Rothbard-Rockwell Report burgers sold another hundred spe­ cies become extinct. We don't realize that in the sizzle of our steaks there The sizzling Murray N. Rothbard and Llewellyn H. is the suffering of animals, the min­ Rockwell, Jr., on politics, economics, culture, andthe ing of our topsoil, the slashing of Movement, plusgossip from "The Ear." Thepostman our forests, the harming of our econ­ may need asbestos gloves; certainly libertarianism omy, and the eroding of our health. $49 We don't hear in the sizzle the cry of will never be the same again. for 12 issues to: the hungry millions who might oth­ The Center for Libertarian Studies erwise be fed. We don't see the toxic poisons accumulating in the food P. O. Box 4091 chains, poisoning our children and Burlingame, CA 94011 our earth for generations to come.22 In summary, then, there are intracta- 34 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 at farming. Without doing so the farmer have gone still further: "Massive human dire warnings of famine and death. In goes broke in. the competition. Another diebacks would be good. It is our duty general these predicted events have not example: we are constantly hungry for to cause them. It is our species' duty, rel­ taken place. Meanwhile, we are here, more electric power, gobbling it up in ative to the whole, to eliminate 90% of which is already some kind of success ever-increasing quantities for every con­ our numbers."26 story. Unlike many species and count­ ceivable kind of mechanical device. So One wonders whether the author of less individuals, we have survived. we have to fill the wild spaces with these lines really means this and if he Shouldn't that tell us something? huge concrete dams and towers.and does whether he would be willing to put But what it tells us is unfortunately wires to make this possible, destroying it into practice. Would he be willing to far from clear. Surely it doesn't tell us in the process the habitat of the moun­ be killed off, along with his family and that we are safe. Surely it doesn't tell us tain goat and the prairie dog, and the friends, as part of that eliminable 90%? that human population can continue ex­ spawning grounds of the salmon. Spe­ And who would be the "we" that made panding indefinitely, 5 billion in 1989 cies are becoming extinct every day, but the decisions as to which persons live and 10 billion in 2029, and so on. And in every nook and cranny of this planet and which persons die? and by what cri­ more human beings are to be found. terion would they be selected? This sounds like a nightmarish return to Or­ What, according to ecologists, It's not a matter of justice I should be the ideal human population well, with added horrors thrown in. it's a matter of what nature of this planet? One estimate: liThe popu­ Anyway, most are convinced that lation of human beings should, perhaps, such measures aren't necessary. We will do to us if we don't do be roughly twice that of bears, allowing could voluntarily decrease our numbers, something ourselves. for differences in size." A global popula­ through birth control. But this is a very unlikely scenario, in view of the strong tion of more than 4 billion persons and impulse of human beings to beget and showing no signs of an orderly decline of course people don't want merely to bear children, which is often a person's presents an alarming prospect; it is at have offspring, they want to raise them greatest satisfaction in life. If that with a higher standard of.living than doesn't work, population reduction they themselves had-which means could be made compulsory through that it is necessary to keep growing eco­ laws (as in China) forbidding every What, according to ecolo­ nomically. But others (usually from the couple to have more than one child. gists I should be the ideal left) have seen a fatal flaw in such in­ human population of this plan­ With severe punishments for violation, definitely continued economic growth: this could be effective, though at a tre­ "The biosphere will eventually be de­ et? One estimate: "The popu­ mendous emotional cost. stroyed whether 5 billion or 50 billion lation of human beings should, "There may be too many of us," we live on the planet. Competing firms in a may say, ''but we are already here. We perhaps, be roughly twice that 'dog-eat-dog' market must outproduce may be the products of overbreeding, each other if they are to remain in exis­ of bears, allowing for differ­ but we can't help that, we had nothing tence. They must plunder the soil, re­ ences in size." to do with it, we didn't ask to be born. move the earth's forests, kill off its Why should we be eliminated for what wildlife, pollute its air and water­ isn't our fault? "But it is your fault­ ways-not because their intentions are yours among others," someone may bad ... but because they must simply present a global disaster (the more per reply; "we have all done our bit to be­ survive. Only a radical restructuring of capita prosperity, indeed, the more dis­ foul the planet, and have now backed society as a whole, including its anti­ astrous it appears) for the biotic ourselves into a terrible ecological cor­ ecological sensibilities, can remove this community." 24 ner. You and I didn't individually have all-commanding social compulsion.,,27 Final questions much to do with that, but together with It seems that we have violated the 1. If these population projections are a few billion others, we did. So we have ecological ethic for so long that we are true, what can be done about it? '1f it is to pay the price." almost past recovery. But this of course not only morally permissible, from the But nature does not operate on prin­ remains to be seen. Meanwhile, another point of view of the land ethic, but mo­ ciples of justice such as these. It's not a more theoretical, but more fundamen­ rally required, that members of certain matter of justice, it's a matter of what tal, issue should also be addressed. species be abandoned to predation and nature will do to us if we don't do some­ 2. Should we value the continued other vicissitudes of wild life or even de­ thing ourselves. Nature will exact a pen­ health of the biotic community as a liberately culled (as in the case of alert alty from you and me even if the fault means toward achieving our ends, or as and sentient whitetail deer) for the sake isn't yours or mine. A. single famine, a an end in itself? Let's first make an im­ of the integrity, stability, and beauty of single large drought, and millions will portant distinction. the biotic community, how can we con­ die-and there's no habitable spot left (1) There is no value apart from a va­ sistently exempt ourselves from a simi­ on the world where they can go to be luer. Value must be value to someone. lar draconian regime? We too are only safer. These lands are all occupied. An uninhabited planet has no value to 'plain members and citizens' of the bio­ But perhaps nothing nearly th'!-t radi­ anyone because there is no one there to tic community. And our global popula­ cal is called for. Every doubling of observe it or enjoy anything in it. It has tion is growing unchecked."25 Others human numbers was accompanied by no more value than if it did not exist. Liberty 35 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 But animals can value things as well wonderful system, filled as it is with Notes as people. To the giraffe, the water from pain and death and suffering? Why the river has value. To the cat the cream keep it going? One reason is: it's the 1. One classical work (among many) on this is HaS­ has value. Not that the cat makes this only game in town; it's the only system tings Rashdall, Theory of Good and Evil (2 vol­ statement to itself, of course; but we can we've got. The alternative is not a better umes, Oxford University Press, 1924). 2. See John Hospers, Human Conduct (Harcourt observe by its actions what it values, one but universal death, a lifeless planet Brace rev. ed. 1982), Chapter2. what it forsakes, what things it prefers whirling through space. It's difficult 3. See John Hospers, Introduction to Philosophical to what other things, what things it ig­ Murray Bookchin, Green Perspectioe, July 1988, larder, laboratory materials, recrea­ Whatever he does to the web, No. 8,p. 4. tion for their ride? ... Ought not He does to himself ... 28. Holmes Rolston ill,p. 215. Homo sapiens value this host of spe­ The white man must treat the beasts of 29. Callicott, p. 26. cies as something with a claim to 29. Holmes Rolston ill, op. cit., p. 218. care in its own right?29 this land 30. Quoted in John Robbins, pp. 380-1. Since the One could of course ask, for what or As his brothers, For whatever happens only indication we have of what Chief Seattle said is from notes taken by an observer, the au­ whom is this varied biotic community to to the beasts be preserved? Not only for human be­ thenticity of the quoted speech has been ques­ Soon happens to man. tioned. See J. Baird Callicott, IIAmerican Indian ings. Why, however, should it be pre­ Land Wisdom? Sorting Out the Issues," in Jour­ served at all? Is it really such a All things are connected.30 o nal ofForest History, January 1989, pp. 35-42. 36 Liberty Expose

Scholarship as Leechcraft by George H. Smith

The State's strangest subsidy: the scholarship of anti-statism. Libertarianism's biggest challenge: weaning its intellectuals from the State.

The libertarian community has its own unspeakable truths. Through a tacit agreement not to offend or embarrass, these awkward truths are rarely mentioned in polite company. It is time to speak about the unspeakable. Has anyone noticed that many liber- tarian intellectuals are on welfare? Of course, we're not supposed to call it cation that it is impossible to make it ly pro-government. After all, there is a "welfare"-that would be impolite. But 'out there' in the market. Yes, that's it­ natural and understandable tendency these academics are paid by the state, that's why I work for the government. not to bite the hand that feeds you. often receiving handsome salaries for a Enough said. Now back to the struggle Even libertarian philosophers, I suggest­ few hours of work each week, not to for liberty." ed ever-so-d.elicately, might not be im­ mention three months off each year. It is time to ask these conscientious mune to this corrupting tendency, for Then there is the"sabbatical"-a year of libertarians some unspeakable ques­ we too are only human. paid vacation every six or seven years. tions: "Have you ever tried, even once, The response was swift and severe. Of course, we're not supposed to call to escape the welfare system? Indeed, "Are you suggesting," sneered one phi­ this a "vacation"-that would be have you ever given the possibility seri­ losopher, his eyes filled with that cre­ impolite. ous thought? When you and your col­ dentialed 'Who are you?' look-flare you Intellectuals tend to be smarter than leagues meet at conferences, do you suggesting that we sell-out to the the average welfare recipient, so they discuss the vicious effects of the aca­ government?" have devised "tenure"-guaranteed wel­ demic cycle of welfare-how (like all "No," I replied, "it's not that simple. fare. Think of it! A tenured professor welfare) it saps your incentive, how it We know the state breeds strong vested will never lose his job, unless' (as Mi­ demeans you, how the government sup­ interests, and I don't see why this ten­ chael Caine's character put it in the ports you not because it cares about dency shouldn't apply to state­ movie Educating Rita) he "buggers the you, but because it wants to control you? supported philosophers-all of them. bursar." Granted, you are very busy congratulat­ This doesn't mean a libertarian philoso­ Quite a feathered nest this, and li­ ing each other on your latest unread pher sells out overtly. But when decid­ bertarian intellectuals flock to its com­ scholarly article. Granted, you are very ing which subject to write about or fortable warm security. The welfare­ busy discussing really important issues, which cause to defend, he might be re­ libertarian will never be rich, but he will like how the market can save the snail luctant to target· universities for attack. never be poor, either. His government darter. Granted, all this and more. But After all, if philosophers were thrown dole furnishes him with abundant free can't you find at least some time to dis­ out on the market, few would survive, time, enabling him to think deep cuss how to get libertarian intellectuals because the market demand for philoso­ thoughts, sing hymns to the free mar­ off welfare?" phers is far less than the artificial de­ ket, and "double dip" by taking on ad­ That "libertarians on welfare" is an mand created by the state. So why rock ditional projects in his spare time. unspeakable topic was made clear to me the boat? Why select a controversy These truths bother some libertarian many years ago during a seminar for li­ which, if you eventually win, might ren­ academics, who feel pangs of con­ bertarian philosophers. During my brief der you unable to make a living as a science from time to time. Such feelings talk, I pointed. out that modern philoso­ philosopher? There are plenty of other are quickly suppressed, however, with phy is predominantly a creature of legitimate topics that can keep a philos­ a standard rationale: 'l'J'he government state-:-supported intellectuals, and that opher occupied for a lifetime. Plus, your has a virtual monopoly over higher edu­ this may partially explain why the vast colleagues aren't stupid. If they see you cation; it has so enmeshed itself in edu- majority of philosophers are so fervent- arguing that state universities are bad Liberty ·37 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 things, they might ask an embarrassing numbers of libertarians enter state the intellectual may have used a sophis­ question: So why are you here?" universities. ticated version of that old ruse popular My opponent was livid. '1 am a phi­ Who is to blame for this disturbing among school kids: You, a fifth-grader, losopher," he intoned. '1 am concerned trend? The administrators of founda­ have a half-hour before bedtime, and the only with truth." I don't think he got the tions? Usually not, for they must justify essay assigned last week is due tomor­ point. their decisions to donors, and these do­ row morning. No problem. You run to A few more philosophers joined the nors want the most bang for their buck. that encyclopedia you talked your par­ argument while others whispered and If administrators hire market intellectu­ ents into buying. (Remember how joked among themselves, clearly indicat­ als, their higher price tag will mean that pleased they were: those innocent souls ing that they regarded my thesis as too fewer projects can be funded. And do­ really believed that. you had developed ludicrous for consideration. Not one of nors don't like that. an interest in school.) You know the these libertarian philosophers came to What about the donors-those busi­ rest--change some words, shift some my defense. Not one conceded that state­ nessmen who contribute to foundations? paragraphs, and-whammo!-you have funding of philosophy might influence Here the problem· gets complicated. Li­ an essay with time to spare. the outcome-at least not where libertar­ bertarian donors want their contribu­ (Businessmen: do you remember ians are concerned. The problem of vest­ tions to accomplish something how· you always got caught, but there ed interests, it seems, affected everyone worthwhile. And, in a society spell­ but themselves. bound by the mystique of credentials Such was their response to that un­ and prestigious universities, welfare­ If philosophers were thrown speakable question, ~'What are the effects intellectuals will be taken seriously and when libertarian intellectuals go on so are more likely to effect change than out on the ·market, few would welfare?" market-intellectuals. survive, because the market de­ The real problem here is one of prior­ mand for philosophers is far less ities. The funding of welfare-intellectuals than the artificial demand creat­ The welfare-libertarian will to the exclusion of market-intellectuals ed by the state. never be rich, but he will never may achieve results more quickly, but it also creates incentives for libertarians to be poor, either. His government go on welfare rather than work in the dole furnishes him with abun­ was one kid in class who always got market. In the long run, therefore, this away with it? Not only that-the teacher dant free time, enabling him to policy threatens to create a libertarian would actually read that kid's plagiar­ think deep thoughts, sing overclass of intellectuals. ism as a model for you to follow. Do you hymns to the free market, and In addition, the businessman often remember how you wanted to beat the falls prey to the myth of credentialism. stuffing out of that kid, but at. the same 1/double dip" by taking on addi­ He smiles knowingly at the consumer time, you were in awe of his mysterious who purchases shoddy merchandise be­ tional projects in his spare time. abilities? Here was his secret: when he cause of glitzy advertising-unaware copied from the encyclopedia, he insert­ that he, the businessman, may purchase ed one or two grammatical errors-three shoddy intellectual merchandise because Libertarian foundations operate on was pushing it, for it might lower the of the glitzy advertising called "creden­ market principles; in dispensing their grade; he deliberately misspelled a tials" and "university affiliation." scarce resources, they want the best couple of words; and he crossed out sev­ The businessman may be impressed product for the least cost. Suppose they eral sentences, scribbling revisions in the by an article filled with stodgy prose­ are looking for someone to do Project X. cramped spaces above. That kid knew unaware that the article may have been A welfare-intellectual will.do it for $500, that an essay shouldn't be too good; it written that way for no other reason because he receives full-time pay from had to be written like a kid really writes. than to impress the businessman. tax funds for less than full-time work. You didn't think of that, did you? Nope. The businessman may be dazzled by The $500 is gravy; it supplements his You thought the teacher must have an article littered with hundreds of foot­ welfare payments. memorized the whole damned encyclo­ notes--unaware how easily an article The unsubsidized market- pedia. By the way, guess what· that kid can be padded in an hour or two (for ex­ intellectual, on the other hand, requires does for a living now?)' ample, by culling information from a $1500 for Project X, because he must pay Contrary to popular opinion, the wel­ secondary source and then duplicating his bills from that money. Therefore, he fare-intellectual is by no means inferior the footnotes contained in that secon­ cannot compete against the welfare­ to the businessman when it comes to dary source without ever consulting the intellectual. making money. Rather, the welfare­ originals). Then financial incentives set in. intellectual lets the businessman earn the Young libertarians learn early that they The businessman may be impressed money; then he collects money wrested can never make a living in the market, by the intellectual's promptness and dili­ from the businessman through taxation; because even libertarian foundations gence-unaware that an article may be then he persuades the businessman to will not help them. They will be dead in old material that has been. recycled (in donate even more money to welfare­ the water if they don't acquire slightly different forms) over and over intellectuals so they can undertake pro­ establishment credentials and go on wel­ again. jects valued by the businessman. fare. Thus does the vicious cycle of wel­ The businessman may be awed by fare perpetuate itself, as increasing the depth of scholarship-unaware that continued.on page 76 38 Liberty Dissent

Capitalism Without Democracy, Hong Kong Without Hope by R. K. Lamb

There is more to freedom than free markets. Because the people of Hong Kong do not realize this, their future is in peril.

The collaps+ ofCommunist authority in Eastern Europe has been all over the TV screens here i~ Hong Kong. But for the rich British city-state perched on the scrawny under­ belly of the Peopl~'s Republic of China, the main story is closer to home. China's democracy protesters were the first of the revolutionaries of 1989, and they lost. China's t~p economic reform­ tit tlr tI tI tI t I 11111 rr r ret It trrrr er, Communist Part~ General Secretary ting up with it for a long time and knew Hong Kong is to be given back to Zhao Ziyang-whd was bold enough the capitalists well. It had even become China. That it is being done with so lit­ even to meet with Milton Friedman-is one of the colony's largest capitalists it­ tle protest and so little genuine pressure out. China is in the i,grip of nervous old self. Its Bank of China had the colony's by the Hong Kong people is as much an men, who are squeezing its economy of tallest skyscraper, a bold tower of trian­ indictment of them as it is of the oblig­ vitality, throttling its cultural life of any gles by Chinese-American modernist ing expatriate Brits. hints of deviant thought, and eying the I.M. Pei like no building in the People's Hong Kong has a unique system: fteedoM of Hong Kong like a mother Republic. laissez-faire but no democracy. Its who has just discovered her boy read­ There were skeptics from the begin­ plight shows how debilitating and un­ ing forbidden mag~ines. ning. Many have already emigrated to natural that mix is-and is an instruc­ Hong Kong is stuck. Its 5.5 million Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney, or San tive tale to supporters of capitalism Chinese have been saddled with an Francisco. But as long as China was on who bad-mouth nationalist sentiment agreement signed ~y Zhao and Prime the reformist path, the optimists set the and swear off politics. Minister Margaret thatcher in 1984 to public tone. By 1997, some said, China Milton Friedman once came here give the colony back to China on June would not be very communist at all. and proclaimed Hong Kong the most 00, 1997. Hong Kolig's people had no Then came 1989, and the blood and capitalist place on earth. He was proba­ say in it. Under thei bizarre formula of tanks in Beijing. Hundreds of thou­ bly right. A purist will find exceptions: "one country, two systems," China sands of Hong Kong people, who never public housing, public hospitals, and agreed that the colony could keep its protested much of anything, flooded government ownership of undeveloped capitalist ways and British law for a fur­ the streets and filled the Happy Valley land. But the economy is in private ther SO years, but under Beijing's ulti­ racetrack to protest the brutality in hands, including even the two cross­ mate control. Britain's colonial China. It looked like the Hong Kong harbor tunnels, the bus lines, and the administrators would do right by their people's great political awakening. antique electric tram. The paper curren­ last great colony in! Asia and retire to But for the most part, it was not. The cy, though pegged to the U.S. dollar by Sussex and Surrey with their honor and tanks in Tiananmen Square awakened a the government, is issued by the pri­ government pensions intact. China lot of individuals, but they did not vately-owned Hong Kong and Shang­ would get back the last European con­ awaken a genuine mass movement. The hai Bank and the Standard Chartered cession carved frorn its territory by massacre strained the relations between Bank. Depositors can keep their funds nineteenth-century imperialists. It the British, Beijing, and the Hong Kong in the currencies of the United States, would have to put up with Hong people, but the 1997 agreement remains Canada, Australia, Britain, Japan, or Kong's capitalism, but it had been put- unchallenged. Everyone accepts that Germany. There are no antitrust laws, Liberty 39 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 few labor laws, no unemployment com­ is much less consumer protection, build­ lithe territory" (not "colony") and·its pensation and no Social Security. There ing-code enforcement and court enforce­ people are ''Hong Kong people." It has a is no withholding-notany!-from pay­ ment of strict liability, and more stories flag that could easily be mistaken for the checks. There are no tariffs or import in the newspapers about children being Union Jack-and-blue of Australia or quotas, making Hong Kong one vast crushed in automatic gates and falling New Zealand, and you hardly ever see shopping center where an American can out of buildings with inadequate rail­ it. Hong Kong is not a nation, but a buy a man's shirt for less than half the ings. People feel much less assured place to do business. price at home. Middle-class people can about the purity of their air, their drink­ The leader of the government, Sir get a live-in Filipina maid for $360 a ing water, and the ingredients in their David Wilson, is an official appointed month, because Immigration allows food. There are no public drinking foun­ by Margaret Thatcher. Hong Kong peo­ them in, and there are nearly 50,000 tains because nobody would drink from ple have no leader, nobody like Singa­ such maids. The govemment provides them. And if you buy something, you pore's Lee Kuan Yew or the Philippines' schools, but most of the middle class can just about forget about getting a Corazon Aquino to speak for them. send their children to schools run by pri- refund. They watch demonstrators bringing Economically, Hong Kong is a roar­ down the govemments in East Germany ing success: It's annual per-capita GNP and Czechoslovakia on TV, but they By 1997, some said, China is $10,9SD-about half that of the U.S. would never do it themselves. They are would not be very communist but 30 times greater than the $355 in sure that nothing they do could change China. It is without question a triumph either the Chinese communists or the at all. Then came 1989, and of capitalism and the entrepreneurial British. In 1989, the British government the blood and tanks in Beijing. spirit and hard work of the southern ran a big publicity campaign about the The tanks in Tiananmen Chinese. Basic· Law-Hong Kong's post-1997 The Chinese· have been a merchant "constitution" being hammered out by Square awakened a lot of indi­ people for centuries. Like the Jews in British, Hong Kong, and Beijing negotia­ viduals, but they did not old Europe and the Lebanese and Indi­ tors-and asked for public input. There awaken agenuine mass move­ ans in Africa and the Caribbean, over­ was little. The British had asked once be­ seas Chinese are the capitalists of fore ~nd a lot of people wrote in, but ment. The massacre strained Asia-in the Philippines, Indonesia, nothing had seemed to come of it. the relations between the Brit­ Thailand, Malaysia, Burma. They are Hongkongers .are bored by the Basic ish and Beijing, but the 1997 not, by and large, a politically active Law, and feel that the Chinese will do people. Of the two Chinese "democrat­ agreement remains unchal­ ic" states, Singapore is a virtual dictator­ There are no antitrust laws, lenged. Everyone accepts that ship of Lee Kuan Yew and his People's few labor laws, no unemploy­ Hong Kong is to be given back Action Party, and Taiwan is ruled by the late Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang, ment compensation and no So­ to China. which has just had its first partly-free cial Security. There is no election with a legal opposition party. withholding-not any!-from vate organizations such as the Catholic In Hong Kong, the British rule unchal­ Church. lenged. The "Legco" (legislature) has lit­ paychecks. There are no tariffs The ethos here is a rawer capitalism tle power, and its elected members are or import quotas, making than in America. In many ways, I'm not chosen by functional constituencies­ Hong Kong one vast shopping sure America's fans of laissez-faire professional groups-rather than by the would like it. Children are expected to popular ballot. There are no political center where an American can take care of their parents in old age. The parties because nobody has. formed buy a man's shirt for less than education system is inadequate, it's them. What rights the people have­ half the price at home. hard to get into the University, and freedom of the press unrivaled in Asia many students go abroad. Competition except for Japan-were given by the in all walks of life is much keener: There British, not achieved by any political ef­ what they like after the British are gone. is less "fair play" and getting your fort here. Who would stopthem? What argument "share." Here you push to be noticed, Its citizens like living here, but there there is focuses on the details of Hong push to get served, push to get all you is little Hong Kong nationalism. When Kong's sluggish progress toward de­ can. Money is status, discounts and spe- . the people had their one great protest mocracy-how many seats will be elect­ cial deals the subject of boasts. Stores march, in June 1989, the song they sang ed by popular vote by 1997 (probably sell showy brands-Gucci, Yves St. was, "1 Am Chinese"-not '1 Am Hong­ less than half), and not on the larger Laurent, Saatchi, Dunhill, Cartier, Rolex. kongese." They were focused on show­ issue of whether "one country, two sys­ There are ·many more Mercedes-Benzes ing their compassion for their brothers tems" makes any sense. in the streets than in an American city, in China, not their determination to Perhaps Hong Kong should have and reportedly the highest proportion of keep the Chinese communists out of joined Taiwan~ China, of course, would Rolls-Royces in the world; there are also Hong Kong. To be nationalist here is to have opposed it. And there is little en­ poor people on the sidewalk selling be pro-China (or pro-Kuomintang), not thusiasm in freewheeling Hong Kong deep-fried bean curd for 25 cents. There pro-Hong Kong. Hong Kong is called for the dour Kuomintang and their fan- 40 Liberty., Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 tasies of recovering the mainland. The university educations, provide the base move to the U.S. permanently, and Can­ logical solution to Hong Kong's prob­ of support for the two outspoken liber- ada's, that they move for several years lem is independence, not absorption by als in the Legco, attorney Martin Lee or invest C$250,000. Few Hongkongers somebody .else. Singapore did it; why and teacher's union president Szeto want actually to live in Britain, which not Hong Kong? I have asked several Wah. But too many are focused on emi- they see as a cold, dull, racist country people, "What if Hong Kong people de­ gration. To ."maintain confidence," the that clearly does not want them. They clared independence?" The answers: (1), British plan to offer passports to 50,000 are going to Canada, Australia and the Hong Kong people would never do it; Hong Kong families they don't want to United States at the rate of about 1,000 a the question shows how naive you are; lose down the ''brain drain." These pass- week--and would be leaving much (2) China wouldn't allow it; they'd send ports, unlike the U.S. and Canadian va- faster if those countries allowed it. The in the tanks; (3) the British wouldn't riety, would not require moving even queue for family members (brothers allow it; they'd send in the cops. But a temporarily out of Hong Kong, or mak- and sisters of U.S. citizens) to get into quarter of the globe has divested itself ing any kind of investment abroad. U.S. the United States is ten years long. (Can­ of British colonialism; this place could immigration generally requires that they ada allows rich people to buy their way do it in a weekend. Just watch the Czechs on TV and do the same! As for China sending in the tanks, maybe they would and maybe they wouldn't. They could have sent them in any time in the past 40 years-indeed, they could have taken Hong Kong by merely cutting off the water supply. They did not. Perhaps at this late date, they would, if Hong Breaking the chains of slavery through the pursuit of freedom. Kong actually stood up for itself. I have ,j not met one Hong Kong Chinese who thinks it's worth trying-which leaves the first answer, that people would never do it. Hong Kong's capitalists are the first WHY to kowtow to China. Their suppliers, customers, and even their employees (some 2 million) are in China. A few of the trading houses have reincorporated SHOULD in Bermuda (and assured everybody it was just a formality), and a few busi­ nessmen made cautiously critical state­ YOU ments after the crackdown in Beijing. But generally business leaders are opti­ mists about the 1997 arrangement. They are all for "boosting confidence" by BE spending billions on a new airport and other economic measures that have nothing to do with the confidence crisis. Publicly they are sure that they can READING "work with" China. Privately they are keeping plenty of money abroad and have no problem getting foreign pass­ ports. They are not much interested in FREEDOM democracy, or non-economic rights like freedom of the press. Like their counter­ parts in capitalist Singapore, where Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew has banned the Asian Wall Street Journal and DAILY?* keeps the Straits Times under his thumb, they couldn't give a damn as long as trade and money transfers are free of re­ striction. Hong Kong's press remains free and vigorous, but only because the British are here. Hong Kong's middle class profes­ sionals, who have cars and .condos and Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 to the front of the line, which is why the Hong Kong office or factory worker ed, but there were no apologies from the there's so many of them in Vancouver.) is certainly not going to make a stink for British. Of course, Hong Kong's middle class independence, democracy or any other Item: Hong Kong activists demanded would rather not go anywhere at all. abstract political issue. He could get in that China agree not to station Peoples Ask them whether they would stay if trouble with the British. Friends of Liberation Army troops in downtown they could live without the uncertainty China might note down his name on a Hong Kong after 1997. China refused: It of 1997, and they say, sure. But they roster of troublemakers, and settle scores was sovereign, and it would put them have no faith in political action to pro­ with him and. his family after 1997. He wherever it liked. /Britain announced vide security. The watchword here is to could lose his job. It's just none of his that it would move its Navy base in look out for yourself and your family­ business. downtown Hong Kong to tiny Stonecut­ don't stand up, don't start a pressure All this is not to say there is no poli­ ter's Island, and sell the immensely valu... group, don't make a stink. Keep quiet, tics here. There is a largely middle-class able land to private office developers. make money and make plans. Hong Kong Alliance for Democracy in China protested: It wanted its troops to Even their homes tell something of China, which recently held a candlelight be right in the midst of the skyscrapers, their mindset: they live behind barred ceremony for the casualties in Romania. not marooned on some dinky island, windows and jail-like steel grates that There is the student-radical April 5th and the British base was the best piece of Action Group, which got its heads real estate to do it on. Britain has not knocked for protesting outside of a cere­ backed down on that, yet. The logical solution to monial dinner on Oct. 1, the 4Othllnni­ Item: When Britain announced its versary of the People's Republic. China scheme to grant 50,000 elite families Brit­ Hong Kong's problem is inde­ is pressing the British to ban both QI'gan­ ish passports (far fewer than Hongkong.. pendence, not absorption by izations. But such groups don't amount ers wanted), China said it violated the somebody else. Singapore did to much. The big political battles since 1997 agreement. When Britain sent the the crackdown in Tiananmen Siquare word around other Western nations to it; why not Hong Kong? have been between the British colonials do something similar (but NOT to in­ and Beijing. crease their ordinary quotas, which re­ Item: Yang Yang, a Chinese swim­ quire resettlement), China accused slide with a clang over their front doors. The place I rent has three locks on the mer, stopped in Hong Kong and asked Britain of trying to "internationalize" a dem~ded door, a chain, a locked steel grate, TV for political asylum. China matter solely between the two of them. cameras in the elevator, a key-code lock him back. Hong Kong let him go to Britain has held its ground on that, too. on the front door, and security guards. America. China immediately quit ac­ These kinds of battles are sure to The laid-back people of Vancouver are cepting back the 100 or so escapees continue, but only within the bounds of being quite unreasonable if they expect caught each day crawling through the the 1997 giveback. They are battles about their new neighbors to open their doors wire to Hong Kong. The refugees began political freedom and democracy, not to kids selling Girl Scout cookies. piling up, creating demand for even about capitalism. China has never Hong Kong's lower classes, many of more concentration camps. British offi­ backed away from its promise to allow them refugees from China, are fatalistic. cials assured the Chinese they would not capitalism in Hong Kong, though it re­ The taxi drivers and office workers say allow Hong Kong to be a center of "sub­ mains a Communist's promise. But the they don't think their lives would version," and reminded them how po­ experience of Hong Kong shows that change that much under Chinese admin­ lice had roughed up the April 5 Action there is more to freedom than the right istration, and there is nothing they can Group and confiscated a TV station's to make money. Democratic institutions do about it anyway. They don't have the tape to identify protesters. They also re­ are crucial. So are a sense of public re­ money to get out. Their concern about minded China of how Hong Kong police sponsibility and political entrepreneur­ immigration is the movement of people tore down some Taiwan flags on the ship. The leaders in Eastern Europe may in, which would undercu~ the tight Kuomintang's national day, Oct. 10. inherit states that are socialist and bank­ labor market that has been pushing up China accepted the kowtow, and began rupt, but the people there have arejuve... their wages. The average Hongkonger taking its refugees back. nated "civic life," a consciousness of particularly resents the 55,000 Vietna­ Item: Hong Kong's video censors cut nationhood, a willingness to take to the mese ''boat people" the British adminis­ out a section of a Taiwanese documen­ streets and get their heads beat in to col.. tration has penned up in concentration tary on the Chinese democracy move­ lectively create an independent, free re­ camps, and would shove them all back ment. It was nothing people hadn't seen public. They have leaders who are out to sea if he had anything to say on TV or read in the South China Morn­ willing to spend time in jail to defend about it. Tohim they are aliens and free­ ing Post a dozen times-an interview freedom of conscience and national in­ loaders, and suspiciously barbaric with with protest leader Wu'er Kaixi-but it dependence. Perhaps if Hong Kong peo­ their knife fights and outbreaks of chole­ was the first such act of political censor­ ple had done the same, they would have ra. The Hongkonger has no sympathy ship under a new rule forbidding videos ejected the British long ago and would for them. Nor is he eager for his Canto­ that "damage relations" with foreign now be living in an independent repub-­ nese compatriots to come flooding countries. Authorities also turned back a lie. They did not, and probably will not. across the border, which they surely U.S.-based democracy activist at Kai-Tak They have been too busy in Mr Fried­ would do if the British removed the Airport. Both actions were clearly meant man's capitalist paradise, making Gurkhas and barbed wire. In any case, to mollify China. A few people· protest- money. a 42 Liberty Breaking the chains of slavery through the pursuit of freedom. WHY SHOULD YOU BE READING FREEDOMDAILY? *

BECAUSE $10 PER YEAR (12 ISSUES) * ($15 Foreign) THE FUTURE OF FREEDOM FOUNDATION WE DON'T P.O. Box 9752 Denver, CO 80209 COMPROMISE. 303-777-3588 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 Comments Libertarianism.: Paleo and Con

In the January Liberty, Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr, made uThe Case for Paleolibertarianism," challenging the libertarian movement to udelouse" itself of anti-authoritarian and non­ Judeo-Christian elements and form an alliance with Paleo-conservatives in the political are- na. Several editors and readers of Liberty respond. l

Cheers for Bourgeois Virtue dition consider the "dominant tthan" so forth, seems pointless and counter­ theme the full story about humans' re­ productive. Leland B. Yeager sponsibilny to the Earth. In his article Attempts to set up definitional n schemes· are by their nature exclusive, Rockwell is right: the "libertine ''fhe Christian and Creation in not inclusive. Rockwell's tone is adver­ muck" clinging to much of the libertari­ Chronicles (February 1988), Peter J. Hill sarial; he wants to start a brawl. He wel­ an movement not only discredits the emphasizes that the key passage from comes the "nasty fight" ahead and the movement but also indicates an un­ Genesis needs to be "informed by other long past due "cleansing process." This healthy society. If, however, healthy val­ passages." One is Psalm 8, which, he ob­ is all very romantic, but hardly produc­ ues and standards prevail voluntarily serves, imparts "a sense of awe and tive. Rockwell makes it sound like the li­ and are supported by a wide range of wonder to us at our being made a· part bertarian movement (apart from the LP) social institutions, they reduce the need of God's magnificent creation," and an­ is a well-defined group with a specific (or apparent need) for widespread polic­ other is the passage in. Genesis that membership and a central infrastructure. ing by the government. Three cheers for charges mankind to care for the Garden the bourgeois virtues. of Eden. I wonder whether some of the liber­ On the other side of the issue, those tine libertarians may not unconsciously who don't feel mankind has a special Rockwell seems to be attack­ harbor a curiously statist notion-that God-given place in nature must recog­ ing a part of the libertarian anything really important must be ad­ nize that humans have a niche within na­ ministered by the state and that if they ture (as all creatures do) that allows movement with which I've had do not want morality (for example) ad­ survival. Humans' niche involves some little contact. Who doesn't op­ ministered by the state, they must dis- shaping of the environment. While hu­ pose anti-merit anti-individual pamgen. a mans have done this quite extensively, they are not the only animals to change affirmative action programs? Man is Part of the Environment their surroundings-beavers, for exam­ And what libertarian worth JaneS. Shaw ple, change the environment when they his salt has ever opposed the build dams, and farmers and ranchers Given that.his goal is "intelligent ex­ can attest to how significant those chang­ notion of non-state solutions change and cooperation," Llewellyn es can be. There is a· larger middle to the problems of crime? Rockwell is unnecessarily divisive in his ground on this issue than Rockwell position on environmental matters. He seems to think. a draws two extremes-the radical eco­ In fact, libertarianism is a loose agglom­ freak who treats humans as a scourge on Beyond Irrelevance eration of freedom-minded people, none the Earth and his paleolibertarian who James S. Robbins of whom have any control over any oth­ views Man as the dominant being who er. So just how is this "delousing" (what has a Cod-given right to crush the Earth The potential breakdown of the anti­ a silly word) to be undertaken? Are the under his feet. Communist alliance poses problems for libertines to be gagged, drummed out, While I believe Rockwell is getting conservatives and opportunities for liber­ shunned, not allowed to play with us at something worthwhile with his tarians. But Rockwell's approach to the anymore? If libertarianism is to take a paleolibertarianism idea, I don't believe .opportunity, setting up alliances, defin­ new direction, and I think this is a good most people in the Judeo-Christian tra- ing who believes what, "cleansing," and idea, it will only do so through persua- 44 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 sion and reasoned discussion. The com­ oconservatives (whoever they are) so to "Authority vs Coercion" for his opin­ bative concepts Rockwell introduces much, maybe he should join them (what­ ion on this slogan.> Of course, my views serve no oneand only contribute to an at­ ever that means); I'll bet he won't have to are so far from being ''leftist'' that no one mosphere ofspite. take any foolish oath. Q with a lick ofsense could mistake me for Libertarian tactics could use some re­ anything but a libertarian. Perhaps what form, but Rockwell seems to be attack­ Anarchism leads to atheism? Mr Rockwell hates so much about that ing a part of the libertarian movement Sheldon L. Richman button is that any libertarian wearing it with which I've had Uttle contact. Who cannot be mistaken for a right-wing con­ isn't fed up with modern art, something Llewellyn Rockwell's January 1990 servative either, and this mistake is precise­ which only persists because of Federal article on paleolibertarianism raises the ly what he wants to encourage. funding? Who doesn't oppose anti-merit question of why so few libertarian acti­ There is something about the concept anti-individual affirmative action pro- vists are theists, and he answers by sug­ "authority" that conservatives love­ gesting that the palpable atheism of the despite (or because of?) all the murki­ movement turns off believers. I doubt it. ness and confusion surrounding it. If Rockwell wants to see a For starters, I don't think the move­ Though the meaning of "Question movement become irrelevant, ment's (or the Libertarian Party's) atti­ Authority" is slippery, "Support tude toward religion is very palpable. Authority" is an even worse slogan. In let him go around talking Since 1968 I've been to my share of liber­ addition. to the obscurity of its meaning, about Nthe white thing!" tarian conferences, conventions, semi­ it suggests servility and the fear of rea­ nars, shindigs, etc., and I don't recall son. While it might be best to avoid the antiJreligion being an issue at any of term altogether, philosophic-minded li­ them. To be sure, none of these events bertarians must respond to Rockwell's grams? And what libertarian worth his had jan ecclesiastical tint, but neither do ostensibly libertarian defense of it. And salt has ever opposed the notion of non­ baseball games or bullfights and I don't the first challenge is to unravel some of state solutions to the problems of crime? notice that keeping the devout away. the absurdities of Rockwell's (s)creed. These simply are not issues within the There's a better explanation for the movement. On the issue of public per­ preponderance of pagans that disturbs Unspeakable Practices, ceptions, a libertarian movement whose Rocl

Max Weber's theory. Weber believed modernist tendency. quires a hierarchy of command," he that there are three forms of authority: 4) To most moderns, the problem of writes, "and every employer has the right traditional, charismatic, and rational­ the "authority" of some legal practice to expect obedience within his proper legal. Traditional authority is authority collapses into the problem of political ob­ sphere of authority." But we do not need conferred by long practice-it is the ligation in general. Indeed, the authority to defend the employer's right to "com­ most conventional of the three, with its of a legal system is often thought of in mand" his employees in a hierarchical most salient reason for acquiescence be­ moral terms, and the moral foundation system by reference to an essentially hier- ing that everyone knows what to ex­ of the system is seen as rational, and pect from it, thus it requires the least thus in an important sense not authoritari­ amount of mental effort to sustain the an. The word "authority" is thus com­ It is disturbing to note the social practice of accommodation. pletely relegated to the traditional and values that he says families pro­ Charismatic authority, on the other charismatic forms, and an authoritarian hand, is characterized by reverence for approach to politics is seen as one· es... mote; they are the values most a particular person, who is seen as hav­ chewing explicit reasons and high moral important to an authoritarian, ing exceptional qualities. This can principle. hierarchical society, and are not sometimes be interpreted as simply an And it is the cogency of this fourth acknowledgement of expertise (which poirt that explains why libertarians tend balanced by the virtues of a could elicit the slogan: Question to rbe suspicious of paleolibertarians modern, open society. Expertise-you may learn something), and whqring after paleoconservatives, for pa­ thus a recognition of a need for a divi­ leoconservatives, being conservatives, sion of labor, but is usually associated are qieeply suspicious of the whole mod­ archical moral theory-in fact, we must with less rational impulses, with alle­ ernist project of finding rational reasons defend it in reference to an essentially giance growing out of love and adora­ for political obligations; in the modernist egalitarian one. All we have to do is de­ tion and taking the form of self­ project, in theory, at least, everyone is fend the free contract; for at the "constitu­ abnegation and faith. The rational-legal supposed to have a rational reason to tional" level, the wage contract is an form of authority is in marked contrast support the political order. Nearly all the agreement between equals. To speak of to this; acts and offices possess authori­ various modern political theories built the "authority" of the employer smacks ty only when they conform to rules or on consent, contract, or utility express a of slavery and feudal theories of servi­ formal reasons-which seems to make conception of man's essential moral tude, which no libertarian should advo­ this form of authority the most obvi­ equality. Man as seen by many conserva­ cate. Paleo, we note, means primitive or ously "artificial" of the three. tives, however (and this includes many archaic; Rockwell has in this case gone paleoconservatives, no· matter how sus­ way too far back. picious they may be of the State), is radi­ I will skip Rockwell's discussion of re­ If we want our society to be cally unequal in the moral realm, and ligion, and move directly to the very con­ free, the moral values that fam­ obligations are seen as arising from "my troversial subject of the family. Now, station and its duties" (in F.H. Bradley's families are obviously inegalitarian-the ilies inculcate must not be famous phrase) rather than from a uni­ gulf in status separating parents and chil­ "authoritarian," but rational, versalistic moral perspective. dren is great. But the danger in speaking humane, and "libertarian." Libertarianism-as indeed suggested of "the authority of the family" is that it by Rockwell, amusingly enough-is in at tempts us to interpret it as "the authority least one sense egalitarian: all people (or of parents" and this, in turn, as a defense Now at this point a number of at least all adults) are seen as possessing of authoritarian disciplinary systems. thoughts immediately come to mind- the same basic rights and thus the same And this would be disastrous. Though 1) When people speak of an "author­ basic obligations, with all other specific children and parents are not morally itarian" personality, they are thinking rights arising from whatever particular equal, the primary obligation of the par­ especially of the "charismatic" and "tra­ acts they engage in. Authoritarianism, ents is to prepare their children for adult ditional" types of authority. The author­ on the other hand, is understood by society, to make them able to participate itarian individual is one who expects to most people-especially those leftists in it as moral equals. But few things scut­ get compliance simply because he is and libertarians who wear "Question tle this task more than does the practice "who he is," and that's just "the way it Authority" buttons-to mean .an ap­ of authoritarian discipline. is." proach to politics diametrically opposed This is not to argue against the paren­ 2) Rational-legal rules are often ac­ to the idea of equal rights. Obligations tal use of physical punishment; what I am cepted not because of any salience they are ordered hierarchically, not from an arguing against is a particular moral style may have, but simply because they are even plane of humanity. that can be aptly characterized as "au­ traditional. This is one of the many ways And it is from this very libertarian thoritarian." When a child asks why he Weber's three categories overlap. perspective that we should oppose may not do something, the answer all too 3) It is the rational-legal form of au­ Rockwell's defense of authority. His dis­ often given is ''because I told you so," or, thority that most modern societies con­ cussion of the "authority of the employ­ "'because I am your father," etc. Though centrate on in practice and in ideological er" is profoundly archaic, and, well, in our society-and, I believe, in a liber­ battle. Libertarianism is part of this deeply offensive. "Every business re- tarian society-parents have specia1 Liberty 47 Volume 3, Number 4 March·l990

rights and special obligations relating to not balanced by the virtues of a modern, human beings when coercion is mInI­ their children, these· rights must not be open society. mized and equalized. The State, which is seen as grounded in a traditionalist or Nevertheless, I share with Rockwell in the business of practicing coercion in charismatic inegalitarianism. The rules the view that domestic and other non­ order to regulate· coercion, is necessarily that parents make for their children political institutions can be countervail­ limited in the libertarian system. must be defended using the moral style ing forces arrayed against the State; my All of which has little to do with "au­ appropriate to the rational-legal forms complaint with his account is his insis­ thority." The authority of the State is justi­ of normativity; that is, by appealing to tence on conflating this idea with "au­ fied if it conforms to the rational-legal the self-interest of the child, empathic thority." Because authority is a bond prinCiples of libertarianism. What this imagination, and universalizability, and between unequals, it cannot be taken as means, in practice, is that we should ac­ not solely on the threat of parental. su­ fundamental to libertarianism for the commodate the coercions and demands of periority or the enticement of parental simple reason that libertarianism is, basi­ the State by the standards of libertarian "love." cally, egalitarian. justice as well as. prudence, and we Why? Because, as Rockwell states, Of course, his own discussion of egal­ should encourage others to·do the·same. "families encourage" the "moral behav­ itarianism is completely beside the point: When enough other people begin to think ior" necessary to society. If we want our libertarians are not egalitarian in the as we do, the time willbe ripe for change; society to be free, the moral values that sense that contemporary liberals (i.e.., il­ power will devolve to the people; and, if families inculcate must not be "authori­ liberals) are, and the evidence that SOme we are careful, we might achieve a free tarian," but ratio~al, humane, and ''li­ contemporary libertarians engage in "re­ society. bertarian." The style of moral suasion verse racism" can be explained in other But to this task, preoccupation with used in the family creates the style of ways (which have nothing to do wlth a authority yields us no help. Authority is moral imagination used by adults in the naive egalitarianism of outcomes). too complicated and contentious a con­ open society. One of the reasons for the Rockwell's defense of Christianity as a cept to aid in our emancipation. While it eclipse of liberalism in the late nine­ source of freedom, particularly in!' that is a fine thing to use common language to teenth century may have been because Christians have taught that "all men are approach conservatives with libertarian the traditional styles of parental authori­ equally children of God (although not ideas, it is a serious mistake to abandon ty still used at the time trained people to equal in any other sense)," comes closer key libertarian insights in the process. The regard individualliberty as unsatisfacto­ to the point. Most humanistic libertari­ libertarian who is also an authoritarian is ry; people grew up still craving radically ans, however, express the same id~a in not a very good libertarian .. .. by defini­ inegalitarian forms of governance, and reference to such philosophical con­ &~ Q many could not even conceive of the mo­ structs as Aristotelian essences, social ral and political equality of all men. contracts, veils of ignorance, states of na­ Our Judeo-Christian-Moslem­ Unfortunately, as Bruno Bettelheim has ture and the like. All libertarians­ Pagan Tradition observed, moral and disciplinary prac­ including Rockwell-are egalitarians in Richard N. Draheim, Jr. tices used by contemporary American this sense. More importantly, they are families are still mired in archaic and egalitarians in an additional sense as It never occurred to me that one big stultifying practices that are inimical to well: they advocate equal liberty for all reason for our lack of success at the polls a full life in an open society. people. is that our holy word, "libertarianism," I am not sure just how authoritarian Which brings us back to the State. has too few letters. So, Mr Rockwell sug­ Rockwell really is on the family, because According to the modern rational­ gests something even more polysyllabi­ his account here as elsewhere is con­ legal tradition of political obligation, all cally monstrous. Is it just coincidence that fused.But it is disturbing to note the political obligations must be grounded in his neologism, "paleolibertarianism," values that he says families promote: general rules that "parental love, self-discipline, patience, recognize the fun- cooperation, respect for elders, and self­ damentally equal sacrifice." Instead of mentioning moral status of. all. "respect for others," he mentions "re­ This project has, of spect for elders"-the traditionalist­ course, been authoritarian preference, not the mod­ fraught with many ern-universalistic one. He mentions self­ difficulties. The li- discipline and self-sacrifice but not, in­ bertarian contribu­ terestingly enough, self-respect. And he tion to this includes cooperation-the fundamental tradition has been necessity of social life-but not the will to concentrate on to not cooperate, or resist~the ability to coercion, seeing po­ "just say no" that makes individuality litical obligation in and independence possible. His inc1u- the equal limits ap­ .sions are all virtues, I believe, but they plied to its practice. are the virtues most important to an au­ Liberty is .defined "Don't you people understand? - Tyranny and oppression thoritarian, hierarchical society, and are as the condition of are a part ofour cultural heritage!" 48 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 sounds like something out of a Fred more than Western Christianity went can't insist that following one religious Flintstone cartoon? Ah, the paleolithic into the philosophyofindividual liberty. tradition should be a general rule for a era; those were the good old days. Hayek may sometimes formulate his whole society. To require that aIL individ­ While we certainly must appeal to views on religion as Rockwell quotes. uals adopt a partic1uar tradition will re­ the conservative middle class to win But one should consider this in the con­ sult in the stagnation and decay of the elections, it is foolish to tailor our argu­ text of the vast bulk of what Hayek social order and impede the future de­ ments and image in such a way that we . velopment of culture. wrote before concluding, as does appeal exclusively t:o t:hem. There are Although despised by the conserva­ Rockwell, that Hayek believes religion is many voters who classify themselves as tive majority, the avant-garde must exist liberal, moderate or otherwise non­ the alpha and omega of the West. In to keep culture healthy. Those who hate conservative. It is one of the great Hayek's view, the essential moral tradi­ Western culture, religion, or modernism, strengths of libertarianism that we are tions upon which our advanced civiliza­ no matter how deplorable their lack of beyond the unrealistic, two­ tion and our physical existence rely are historical and philosophical perspective dimensional, left-right paradigm. To be­ and their poor manners, perform a valu­ come a major party, we must become in­ able function in helping me broaden my clusionist rather than exclusionist. We The Western Christian tradi­ perspective. need more conservatives and more long­ tion is a mixed bag, and many Of course conservatism has its value hairs. of its best elements owe much in preserving traditional principles and Similarly, Rockwell's complaints mores, even those whose importance are about environmentalists in the move­ to external influences and to in­ not fully understood. The Western ment are wrong-headed. The vast major­ ternal developments that have Christian tradition is a mixed bag, and ity of voters are in favor of protecting little or nothing to do with, or many of its best elements owe much to the environment to one extent or anoth­ external influences and to internal devel­ er. Libertarians, as politicians and public even run contrary to, the major opments that have little or nothing to do policy analysts, must demonstrate how thrust of its theology. with, or even run contrary to, the major the protection .of property rights (and thrust of its theology. 0 the elimination of government subsidies for environmental destruction) can best not so much derived from religion, or Point by Point do this. We won't get anywhere by tell­ any known singular source, but arose in Timothy O'Brien ing voters that their desires to avoid pol­ an evolutionary process by such an ob­ lution and have some parks are evil. scure and undesigned way that they As a proud veteran of the sixties anti­ In fact, rather than being a destruc­ have come to be ascribed to religion out war effort who retains his counter­ tive influence from the Left, the environ­ of a kind of naive rationalism that insists cultural roots, I challenge Llewellyn H. mentalist movement could be a means that important structures must have Rockwell, Jr.'s paleolithic version of of advancing libertarian ideas on the comE7 from some directive intelligence, libertarianism. even' a supernatural one. And in Hayek's Rockwell agrees with the conserva­ Left. Ifleftists can understand how large undesigned orders can arise on the plan­ latest work, The Fatal Conceit, he echoes tive observations that "political freedom et and how particular species can devel­ the almost Randian argument that altru­ is a necessary but not sufficient condi­ tion for the good society." So do I. A po­ op by biological evolution and be ism, a major part of that Western relig­ interdependent with other species and ious tradition, can actually be.destructive litically free society might choose, for of the classical liberal social order. 'example, to abandon the efforts to find the rest of the biosphere, maybe they cures for debilitating and deadly diseas­ can understand that the free market is Many of our own American revolu­ tionaries were as much Deist and free­ es. That would certainly make it less also a spontaneous order, beneficial to thinking as Christian, developing many good, though no less free. its constituent parts (i.e., acting of their ideas within the intellectual shel­ Rockwell observes that "Most individuals). ter of resurrected pagan mystery lodges. Americans agree that aggression against Truths About Traditions Ben Franklin, to name one, might as like­ the innocent and their property is Intellectual history does not proceed ly be found at the Hell Fire Club, mock­ wrong." Would that that were true! I in the kind of linear progression from ing Christianity and drinking wine from have yet to find a single non-libertarian Moses to the market order that Rockwell a virgin's navel, than studying scripture. American who, once the implications are seems to think has occurred. The devel­ And the Japanese and other East Asians made plain (Le., no taxation, no drug opment of individual liberty was more are doing quite well economically with laws, etc.), did not quickly back away of a dialectical process. Christianity both barely the dimmest glimmer of Christian from the non-aggression axiom and ad­ stimulated the growth of liberty Ron Paul for his opposi­ that he has no opportunity to spend of preservation and defense. All of us tion to the tax-financed Martin Luther them. Ifwe ever manage to achieve a free appreciate the importance of objective King holiday. society in our lifetime, he and the rest of standards of morality to a civilized so­ It is also strange that the same peo­ the bean counters would undoubtedly all cialorder. ple who are attacked a few hundred sit around discussing the wonders and Libertarians are fond of. pointing to words earlier for rejecting cultural opportunities of the free market and nev­ political government as the greatest norms of manners and taste are then in­ er do anything. mass murderer in history, but belief by dicted for "using the charge of racism to It is ironic that after all the vitriol, the individuals and groups that they are on bash non-conformists." calls for a "purge," the claim that we "a mission from God" is a worthy con­ "Some libertarians tell us to be soft should "cleanse" the movement and tender for the title. After conquering a on crime," says Rockwell. Once again, I "dump that garbage," we are told that variety of opponents, the Jews were in­ would like to be introduced to even one we "ought to welcome, in conservative structed by their Cod (according to of these. In what is, perhaps, the most middle-class America, libertarians who their own writings) to "kill every man, telling line is his essay, Rockwell states are cultural and moral traditionalists." woman, child and piece of livestock" in that "crime must ,be punished swiftly This from a man whose intolerance is so the land. Christians, with their crusades and harshly," adding only as an after­ extreme that he says the movement and inquisitions, have a similarly thought, "although a libertarian crimi­ should be "deloused" of us? It is difficult bloody history (which is particularly nal justice system would make u~ of to see how his attitude is advancing us ironic for the followers of an avowed restitution as well." But restitution is at toward Rothbard's "more comfortable pacifist). And who knows how many the heart of libertarian criminal justice. and harmonious society." Q people Moslem sects have sent to Allah The amount of restitution is, in most t3as­ in their unremitting wars? es, fairly easy to calculate and agree No Comment Rockwell's claim that "too many li- . upon. Severity of punishment is infirtite­ Ron Paul bertarians agree with the Left" in mat­ ly more nebulous---though apparently ters of culture is completely not to conservatives who are always ea­ I hesitate to comment on Rockwell's unsupported by my experience in the ger to apply their own standards to any article because I see the debate as being movement. With the exception of a few situation. more divisive than productive. I prefer to computer nerds who seem to admire Rockwell is also wrong about the at­ use my energy attacking those who sup­ the beehive culture of the Japanese, all titude of libertarians who care about the port statism, whether they do so inten­ the libertarians I know are practically environment. Obviously, only man has tionally or out of ignorance. obsessed withWestern culture.. rights. Only an idiot would argue that Having said this, I will make one In addition, during the two years I plants and animals have rights. The comment: it's obvious to me that the edited the Libertarian Party of problem is how to protect the rights of Libertarian Party would be a lot bigger Michigan's newsletter, I received ex­ some men to enjoy the benefits and po­ than it is now if its image were perceived change copies of party newsletters from tential benefits of plants and animals in as more libertarian and less libertine. Q all over the country. I can't recall a sin­ the face of the rights of other men who gle newsletter that was "far more upset may have no regard for the survival of with Jesse Helms' correct position on those species. this outrage than with taxpayer fund­ If the U.S. Army wants to use the last LleuJellyn H. Rockwell, Jr, declined our ing for the National Endowment for the remaining nesting site of'the Kirtland's offer to publish his comments on these Arts." Warbler for artillery practice and it responses. 50 Liberty Profile Pozner the Poseur by Richard Kostelanetz

Don't be surprised to once again see Soviet P.R. flack Vladimir Pozner posing on every talk show in America, promoting his new book, Parting With Illusions. Richard Kostelanetz travelled to Moscow and back and learned much of what Pozner says about himself is an illusion.

On network news and feature programs ranging from Nightline to Phil Dona­ hue's "A Citizens' Summit" to a response to a President Reagan address, American television has from time to time presented Vladimir Pozner, "a Soviet journalist" who appears from Moscow live via satel­ lite, looks straight into the camera and then answers all questions from JIU If., III I America without pause. He speaks in tive Russian who had been thoroughly He told me that he was born in complicated sentences and absolutely trained by the KGB to pass as an Paris, April 1, 1934, the son of a state­ flawless English, without accent. He American, much as super-spies are less Russian-Jewish father and a French uses such Americanisms as "the mili­ trained. Another friend speculated that mother who were then unmarried. tary brass," "a kind of political foot­ Pozner is a superior Soviet actor who Pozner's grandfather was an engineer ball," "on the sidelines," "jumping the has labored to appear like a U.s. news.. who left Russia soon after the 1917 gun," or "I hope to God war doesn't caster largely by imitating Videotapes Revolution, ·settling first in the refugee happen," and he says "yeah" and "yep" gathered for him in' New York City. colony in Berlin. In tow was his son, among other sounds characteristic of Whenever Pozner appears, everyone Pozner's father, also named Vladimir American mediamen. stops to listen and look in awe, in part Pozner, who had been born in St. Since American intermediaries cus­ wondering where this guy came from. Petersburg in 1908. When the grandpar­ tomarily provide no biographical infor­ With all these images in mind, dur... ents separated, the Pozner grandmother mation other than Pozner's recent ing a trip several years ago to Moscow took her children to Paris, where young position as ''Deputy Director of the fOf something else, I planned a visit Vladimir worked in the film industry, State Committee for Radio and with the enigmatic "journalist." When I initially as a sound engineer. He met a Television," viewers naturally wonder got there, I telephoned him. A voice young Frenchwomen, Geraldine who he is, and how he learned to speak first said "Dah," but as I spoke his name Lutton, also working in the film indus­ American English so well? Indeed, he with an American accent, he replied, try, and fathered her son whom they talks like a New Yorker, not in the "Hello." Once I asked to interview him, called Vladimir Gerald after them­ sound of his voice, but in his penchant he promised to pick me up in front of selves. Later that year, in 1934, the for running his sentences together with my hotel and, when he arrived, greeted mother took the boy to New York, "andll or "but" with scarcely a pause me, ,American-style, by my first name. where she worked in the film industry. between them; so initially I imagined Out stepped a man '5'11" tall, slender, In 1939, the senior Vladimir Pozner, de­ him either a child of a former Soviet with thinning hair, broad nostrils, gray... ciding he wanted to marry the mother diplomat here or, perhaps, a defector­ ing sideburns, and a face that ·resem... of his child, came to New York City to a Lee Harvey Oswald, who never bled Richard Burton's. He wore an fetch them both. returned. open-necked sports shirt revealing a "I· first met my father when I was However, friends recently emigrat­ golden horseshoe on a thin goldE!n five," Pozner told me, as we were driv­ ed from Russia assured me that no de­ chain; and of course, he spoke familiar, ing to his house, "and I remember him fector would be allowed to talk live to pure American. Affixed to the dash... distinctly. It was the summer of ·1939. I America; he might say something that board of his four-door Lada, a Soviet was liVing with friends in the country. would embarrass the Soviet· govern­ car, was a metal U.S. flag. I asked direct"" My mother used to come on Saturday ment. Pozner was, they suggested, a na- ly, ''Who are you?" and Sunday. One Saturday I was up- Liberty 51 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 stairs in a vile temper because I had a lit", Gestapo was corruptible but we didn't after leaVing Berlin and that, once the tie boat with a string on it, :and I could have the money. These were things I Soviet Union annexed Lithuania, all not get it untied, and so I was mad at the learned later, of course. Lithuanians and their children were au­ boat and mad at the string and mad at "But there was a brave rich woman tomatically entitled to Soviet citizenship. the world. My mother said there was a of Jewish origins who did have the This grandfather was shot by the Nazis man downstairs who was very good at money, but didn't have the contacts. in 1941. untying knots. And so I traipsed down... And she was agreeable to giVing us the "By 1947," the son continued, speak­ stairs and there was. this man. And I money if we would take her out as my ing into his own tape machine, "the kind of said, you know, what about this nanny. And I very clearly remember that Cold War began, and we were being ha­ knot? And he said, yes, I think I can do my mother told me that we are leaving rassed by the FBI. Our phones were it. And you know, it's strange; I remem­ tomorrow with your nurse. At that time tapped. Our old friends were scared to ber his hands. I remember that he had a I was six, but the war makes you some­ call us; it was becoming really scary. The kind of wart on.his fourth right...hand how older than you really are. And I man who ran Loews International, finger. And he untied the knot, and I somehow understood that this was to be Major Arthur Loew, called up my father my nurse, if I were ever asked. And so and said, 'Now, look, you have to real­ we boarded the· train and crossed the ize that I cannot keep you in this capaci­ He wore an open-necked border into Spain with my nurse, who ty as a Soviet citizen. Things have incidentally had diamonds on her fin­ changed. Either you will become an sports shirt revealing a golden gers larger than my mother ever saw, let American citizen-and that I can do for horseshoe on a thin golden alone owned. We sailed from Lisbon to you in three days-and I will double chain; and of course, he spoke the United States, arriving early in 1941. your salary, or I'm going to have to fire That's where I grew up, really." you.' My father said that he realized the familiar, pure American. The senior Pozner went to work for predicament. 'Go ahead and fire me.' Affixed to the dashboard of his Loews International, a divison of MGM, "And he was fired. Well, we had to in a unit dubbing films into Spanish for move out of the duplex pretty fast, be­ four-door Lada, a Soviet car, Latin America. As the son tells it, his fa­ cause we didn't have the money to pay was a metal u.S. flag. I asked ther was earning "$25,000 a year han­ for it anymore. My parents and baby directly, HWho are you?" dling distribution of films to Latin brother moved into a very small apart­ America and Europe for Loews ment, a ground floor job on West International, a division of MGM." They was very glad about that. And my moth... lived in a nine-room duplex at 24 East er said, "That's your father,' and I can reoo 10th Street, just off University Place. '1 One reason why Pozner has call looking at him, appraising him, had my own bedroom, my own bath­ been such an effective broad­ sizing him up and saying, 'Oh, I see.''' room and my own playroom. I know caster and also such an effec­ By now we have arrived in Pozner's what wealth can bring. It is not some­ six-room apartment in a renovated thing I've heard about; I've experieRced tive spokesman for Moscow is, building off the street, behind a court­ it." Young Vladimir went to City .and of course, that he speaks to us yard, in an old part of Moscow. As a Country, a Greenwich village progres­ as one American might to an­ party was Winding down in the kitchen, sive school that still exists. A second son, we went into Pozner's study, perhaps Paul, was born in 1945 in New York other, without the hostile pos­ eight feet by sixteen, with its library of City. (He also lives in Moscow andnas ture or Soviet lingo or the current American literature (securely been working as a research associat~ in lugubrious accent that all locked in a glass case) and a desk graced Vietnamese medieval history.) .. with fresh flowers and a Smith...Q>rona In his Moscow studio, speaking into sound so suspect and sinister portable typewriter with an American his own tape recorder, with tape he later to American ears. keyboard. As we settled into .chairs be.. gave me, Pozner told me that in 1947 he fore a window open to the noise of the entered Stuyvesant High School, .that summer courtyard, Pozner told me that special Manhattan public school for Eleventh Street." In 1948, his father went his father took his wife and son back to bright boys interested in science. He said with his wife and younger son to East France. When World War II began, the he played basketball and track,.even cit­ Berlin, where he worked for the Soviet elder Vladimir enlisted in the French ing his best time (49.2 for the 440), and in film organization. As Pozner now tells it, Airforce; but once France capitulated, 1950 entered Columbia College, where already politically hypersensitive, he de­ his family went first to Marseilles in he majored in American literature. By cided that he did not want to live in post­ Vichy France. "They decided to leave then, however, the Pozner family had Nazi Germany and so remained in the France via Spain and Portugal for the split up. As the son tells it, the senior United States, boarding with a family United States. His elder sister. married Pozner had always planned to return to named "Perez" on Park AVenue. an American around 1926 and went to Russia and so obtained Soviet citizen­ "1 had problems in Stuyvesant. My live in New York. Again it was difficult ship soon after his return to America in father had educated me in a pro-Soviet for my father, because he had no pass-­ 1941. This he was ·granted on the way, which was fine throughout the port that was really valid. We had to grounds that his own father, grandfather War. By 1946, I began to run into animos­ find a way of bUying a passport-the Pozner, had become a Lithuanian citizen ity and emotional problems. There were 52 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 monumental fights. Kids ganged up on Baikal-that's in Western Siberia-to Pozner Talks," that has. been broadcast me at school. It was almost like being a Bratsk. That's about 400 miles through daily over Radio Moscow's North black in the south. I was pretty much of the forest. It took me three months in the American Service. In the U.S. this could a loner. I was kind of cut off. As soon as summer. I saw the lumber camps and be heard only on short-wave sets, except people heard about me, they didn't fre­ the lumberjacks. I had tried to meet the in Florida where it is received as an AM quent me. I wasn't close to anyone at all. people that I had learned about in signal from Cuba. For this work he told Most of myoid friends had completely America, and I found that there were me he earned 370 roubles a month, plus stopped seeing me. They were afraid; many similarities-in the songs, in the a percentage for his knowledge of a for.., they said so. way of acting, in the openness. eign language that raised his base salary ''It was a feeling of apprehension, of Gradually, I came to have a feeling for to 420 per month. being surveyed, of having your mail this country. I think today I can say that Since his bosses have instituted an opened. You realized that there were it is as much a part of me as my incentive scheme (a device more familiar nice people, good people whom you ·"'American background is. And that has would like to frequent, who would like determined my role here, as I under­ to be with you, but who simply were stand it." Since his bosses have insti­ afraid. At that time there was a real fear In 1954, he took a competitive exami­ of haVing anything to do with anyone nation that enabled him to study biology tuted an incentive scheme (a like myself. Most of all I liked to sit in on at Moscow' University and graduated in device more familiar to capital­ jam sessions and play and sing. They 1958 as a physiologist. Instead of pursu­ ism), Pozner has been paid weren't hootenanies, because they were ing graduate work, he became the secre­ just in people's apartments or in lofts. tary to Samuel Marshak, a Soviet "extra for everything I write," That's where I first met Woody translator of English literature. In 1958, including his appearances on Guthrie." This love of American vernac­ he also married his first wife Valentina American television. ular music persists in Pozner's collection Chemberdzy, the daughter of the well­ of jazz and folk records-the best collec­ known Soviet composer Sara Levina and tion in Moscow, he claims-as well as lately a professor of Latin and Greek; to capitalism), Pozner has been paid his translation of Woody Guthrie's auto­ and in 1961, they had a daughter Katya, "extra for everything I write," including biography, Bound for Glory into Russian. who has since studied music. By the his appearances on American television. he tells it, he The three Pozners moved from East time of his first marriage, as (American television pays Gosteleradio Berlin to Moscow in December, 1952, a had decided to remain in Moscow; there for the studio, the technicians and the few months before Stalin died. "They would be no return to America or satellite. Gosteleradio gives Pozner be.. came back at a good time, relatively France. That same Ylear he was offered a tween 30 and a hundred roubles per ap­ speaking," the son judged between puffs job at Novisti, a ne1iV press agency that pearance, depending upon how much on his CameL "IfStalin had died later, or was then organized by the writers time he spends on the air.) All these ex­ they had come earlier, I have reason to union, and there he worked, entirely in tras bring his average monthly income to believe that my father would have been Russian, until 1970. He joined the a thousand roubles (or $1,300 by the offi­ sent to Siberia, like so many' others be­ Communist Party in. 1967 and has since cial rate of exchange). '1n this country, fore him. But, thankfully, things worked contributed three pE!rcent of his income this is a lot of money," he boasted--­ out differently. I joined them at the end to its coffers. In 1969 he married roughly the wage, I later discovered, of a of 1953, having dropped 'out of Yekatarina Orlova, a large, handsome high government bureaucrat or a Columbia and obtained my own Soviet redhead who has beE~n an economics cor­ Siberian oil worker. What do you do passport. I was going on twenty. That respondent for thc~ magazine Soviet with it, I asked? "Spend it. Last year my was my first time in the Soviet Union, Union; she speaks little English. wife and I spent a month in Paris. We and I did not speak a word of Russian, Pozner started freelance broadcast­ both like antique furniture. Books." because I had never spoken it at home. ing, mostly in English, in 1%6 and in On many American programs, There was no need to." 1970 was invited to work fulltime as a Pozner has frequently engaged in spon­ He had to learn to be a Moscovite commentator for Gosteleradio, which is taneous debates with American spokes... from scratch. 'When I first came here, it the nickname for the State Committee men, and these are always disconcerting, was to me a totally alien country. All I for Television and Radio. "I took it be­ because he looks and sounds as knew were the ideas and the ideals of cause being a commentator means just American as the Americans. Therefore, which my father had spoken a lot. But I writing your own stuff and reading it either the producers or the American op­ really didn't know anything. I didn't and being totally independent in the ponents customarily insist that Pozner know the language, little things: People sense of not responsible to or for anyone be given some visual sign of his alle­ walk differently. It's a different culture, else and just doing your own work. And giances. For BBC television, he had a and that is very hard to take when you that is what I thought I really wanted to Soviet flag behind him; for the are twenty. It took me some time; it took do. I was hoping to address a larger au­ Canadian-produced pilot for PBS, he had me some time. I went about to learn dience and always thought that radio a small Soviet flag on a stand in front of about this country in a conscientious and television gave you that opportuni­ him. Reviewing Pozner's BBC debate way, as I learned about the United ty." His principal job at the time was with Robert Kaiser, a Washington Post States. I began to travel. I went allover. I writing and speaking a five-minute correspondent, London's Sunday went by foot from Irkutsk near Lake English-language program, "Vladimir Telegraph commented, liThe problem was Liberty 53 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 that Mr Pozner was at least as nice and cere, fall :into incoherence and, in gener­ doesn't make me an official. I'm hired by dear as Mr Kaiser and, forgive me, but I al, have far less credibility. He is not just that organization." think he actually spoke English better. Radio Moscow's best "American"; he ''1 speak my mind of whatever sub­ Or rather American. Because if it wasn't may well be its only sympathetic voice. ject," he told me over tea. ''It may coin­ for the hammer and sickle draped above In truth, the Soviets could not have in­ cide or not coincide with official policy. his head, Vladimir Pozner could easily vented a better publicist if they tried. Take capital punishment: I'm against it; I have been mistaken for one of Mr. Why his bosses took so long to "discov­ don't think it serves any purpose, even Reagan's bright young men." er" him is an interesting question. though it exists in this country as a law. One reason why Pozner has been The Pozner I met in Moscow looked In domestic policy, we tend to subsidize such an effective broadcaster and also and talked and felt like an American­ too much. Meat is subsidized. It costs such an effective spokesman for Moscow better yet, like a New Yorker; he made about three roubles to produce a kilo­ is, of course, that he speaks to us as one me feel at home. He had his favorite folk gram of meat; it is sold for two-sixty. It American might to another, without the singers-Judy Collins, Bob Dylan and, is ridiculous that I should pay 16 ko­ hostile posture or Soviet lingo or the lu- especially, Dave Van Ronk; his favorite pecks for gas in my house, no matter jazzmen-Ellington, Parker, and how much I earn. I think rents should be Armstrong; his favorite American mo­ higher than they are today. When I pay This image of young Pozner vies-One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest fifteen roubles per month for this apart­ ("not the novel"); his favorite contempo­ ment, that's stealing. I'm stealing from as a story-teller prompted me rary novelists-Kurt Vonnegut and Saul everybody. to check out other details of his Bellow, "if you still regard Bellow as '1'm totally independent. I write my autobiography. Elementary­ contemporary." Why Vonnegut? "Much own material; I read my own materials, of what Vonnegut says is simply what I and there's nobody to control it. But I re­ school classmates whom I in­ think and what I feel. Generally speak­ alize full well that I'm working within a terviewed likewise remembered ing, in my literary tastes I'm inclined to framework, and what I do and say is that "he sought escape into like people who have something to say. I something that is accepted. There is don't want to sound corny about this, much more difference of opinion here fantasy," "he was full of fairy but to me the man is vomiting blood than Americans tend to believe, and tales," "he could turn the when he speaks. He's in pain about the much more freedom of expression. In slightest thing into a fantastic human condition. His books are so pop­ fact, the limits of freedom of expression ular here they are snapped up the min­ are very clear cut. You do not have the story." ute they appear. They are brought out possibility in this country of attacking and, wham, they're gone." There was the system per se-attacking socialism of even a book of mine on his shelves; and the Soviet Union. That's not the same as gubrious accent that all sound so suspect from one colleague to another, I happily saying that something is not working and sinister to American ears. As Ted inscribed it. and we should try to improve it, or that Koppel told me, ''Instead of speaking in Nonetheless, once talk turns to'poli­ so-and-so is not doing a good job. There bureaucratese, or even worse in Marxist tics, no one can mistake Pozner for an are laws banning the former; it's called bureaucratese, that we find so stilted American. His positions have been clear­ anti-Soviet activity. There are laws and thus automatically reject, he speaks ly and profoundly Soviet. As the folks at against it, whether you like them or dis­ in language we are accustomed to hear­ ABC told me, "None of us have any illu­ like them; they have their reasons, which ing." (Another ABC staffer told me a sions that Pozner will give us anything are mainly historical. If you want to do while back, "rutting him on is like hav­ other than official reaction." On national that, go ahead; but you are breaking the ing Brezhnev speak American.") A sec­ television, the night John Lennon died, law and you can take the consequences, ond reason is that his performance is he defended in advance the possible in­ whatever they may be. Aside from that, unslick, as he stumbles through "ums" vasion of Poland: "As a matter of fact there is a lot of freedom of expression and "uhs" and frequently smacks his the Soviet Union has made it quite clear here." lips, as well as betraying a slight lisp that it has no intention whatsoever of in­ The disagreements with official poli­ that has plagued him since childhood. tervening, but ... that should Poland cy that Pozner mentioned at that time all Because he answers nearly all questions need the help of the Socialist community concerned domestic matters. In a differ­ immediately, rarely refusing or misun­ and should it ask for that help, that aid ent context, he mentioned another, more derstanding or fumbling for the most ac­ would be coming." profound deviation: "I think that any­ ceptable phrasing, his responses appear ''You called me an official of the body, no matter where you live, no mat­ more spontaneous than calculated. A Soviet government, and of course that's ter who you are: If you want to leave third, more subtle reason is his eyes, very honorable to me. But I'm not that. your country, you can leave it. That's a which engage the camera (and sparkle) And I mean my words should not be human right, basic. But I know what it is in ways unknown to nearly all other taken as any kind of statement from the to emigrate and therefore I always have Soviets appearing here. By contrast, Kremlin." Another time he insisted, compassion for emigres. It's okay for the other Russians on American television "Don't confuse myself with the Soviet kids, if they are small; but for adults, it is fail to look into the camera, have shifty officials you're speaking of. I'm a jour­ a very painful. procedure. It's tearing up eyes, stumble through EngliSH, pause nalist working for the State Committee your roots and that, in my experience, is suspiciously, seem secretive and insin- on Radio and Television. But that very, very difficult." In a country that 54 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 few natives ever leave in their entire names of people he knew in New York. lived at 24 East Tenth Street, that be­ lives, where exit visas just for travel­ His claim was that he was too alienated tween 1934 and 1939 he attended Dalton even for brief trips to satellite states-are to have friends in college or high school Nursery School, Riverside School and a hard to obtain, this remains a radical or that the "family friends" who board­ public school on 14th Street near First position. ed him on Park Avenue were dead. As Avenue. Other elementary-school class- By no accounts has Pozner been a we spoke about his possibly returning to typical Soviet;. he has possessions and America, perhaps for a lecture tour, I privileges that are not commonly availa­ asked him what he might like to do in ble. Our conversations were recorded on New York City. He spoke of wanting to Pozner told me that in 1960 his portable German tape machine visit his old house, to walk the streets of he published a book of transla­ worth several hundred dollars. He downtown Manhattan, to look up ele­ tions of "John Donne and the seemed to' get all the American books mentary school friends such as "Bobby and magazines he wanted, even those Hollander and the McGee brothers." I poets of that period. /I The emi­ that Soviet inspectors customarily confis­ stopped him short. The first name was gre poet, Joseph Brodsky, him­ cate as inimical to the Soviet system. In familiar to me: Robert Hollander, a self a translator of English the early 1980s he obtained permission Princeton professor of comparative liter­ to travel abroad, not only for business ature, born a year before Pozner. Was literature into Russian, insists but for pleasure, even with his wife this he? Pozner could not confirm my that this book does not exist; (which is itself remarkable, as Soviet offi­ hunch (and refrained from mentioning the first Soviet volume of cials are usually reluctant to let couples any more names). out of the country together). The Once back in the U.S., I wrote Donne translations appeared Pozners had telephones in every room. Hollander, who acknowledged the child­ over a dozen years later, trans­ His apartment had a burglar alarm that hood friendship and provided this me­ lated by someone else. was wired to the local police station moir: 'What I remember most Vividly (forcing the Pozners to close all their about Vladimir were his capacities for, windows before leaVing, and to tele­ one, having extraordinarily attractive mates whom I interviewed likewise re­ phone the police station immediately fantasies and, two, for getting the rest of membered that ''he sought escape into after coming home). He could freely us to believe them. For the better part of fantasy," "he was full of fairy tales," "he enter the Intourist Hotels that were a year he had me convinced that he had could turn the slightest thing into a fan­ in his basement a trunk full of the most tastic story." I also discovered that marvelous tin soldiers, tanks, ships, etc. Columbia College had no record of him, Pozner is less a liar or an He promised me (we were twelve at the that his transcript at Stuyvesant High imposter than a fibber, a guy time) that, whenever he could arrange to School revealed that he dropped out invite me on a Friday afternoon, he suddenly in November, 1948, and then who since childhood has told would give me a warship-a cruiser or that this transcript was not forwarded petty falsehoods because he battleship, I don't remember-with mov­ anywhere (which indicates that he did likes to tell stories, not only be­ ing turrets. not continue in another American high "The crucial invitation never came, school). His schoolmates here at the time cause that is his way of charm­ despite my incessant inquiries, until the remember that in 1948 he went with his ing people but because like all whole beguiling scheme was allowed t~ family to East Berlin. good fictions his stories made dwindle and disappear into the pile of Pozner told me that in 1960, while lost :implausible hopes that childhood working as a secretary to the noted writ­ his life richer and more liter­ wisely accommodates. On two or three er SamuelMarshak, he published a book ary than it would otherwise be. occasions that same year Vladimir came of translations of ''John Donne and the to school with money, five and ten- dol­ poets of that period." The emigre poet, lar bills, which he found, he said, in the Joseph Brodsky, himself a translator of gutter. I recall that one afternoon a con­ English literature into Russian, insists closed to nonoccupants, meeting foreign tingent of other C & C classmates accom­ that this book does not exist; the first journalists, so he told me, without ob­ panied him to forage for currency in Soviet volume of Donne translations ap­ taining permission. In a fundamental unlikely streets. They found none." No peared over a dozen years later, translat­ sense, he functioned as though he was a one could be more surprised than ed by someone else. Asked to account wholly unrestrained ''Western'' report­ Hollander to find his childhood buddy, for this discrepancy, Pozner told me, "If er, in a culture that supposedly does not "thirty-three years later-what you asked to see it here, I would have have wholly unrestrained journalists. As Herodotus calls a generation," now in shown it to you." Brodsky: "!'d like to he drove me back to my hotel, my Moscow "talking details with Ted see it." Pozner told me that he got a free thought was that Vladimir Pozner had Koppel." subscription to the Book of the Month made himself into a character in a work This image of young Pozner as a Club from Arthur Krim, a prominent of fiction. story-teller prompted me to check out New York film executive. The latter re­ His taste for fiction came out in other other details of his autobiography. Once members meeting Pozner's father once ways. During our conversation he was back in New York, I could confirm that in Moscow around 1957, but has no rec­ persistently reluctant to tell me the he went to City and Country, that he ollection of sending the son any books. Liberty 55 Volume 3, Number 4 MarCh 1990 The person who introduced Krim to him and who had cared for his future Pozner, senior, was Ilya Lopert, then an wife and their son during their first stay American film producer-distributor who in New York. Known as Mrs. Helen How to had known the senior Poiner since they Kagan, she had worked as a buyer at worked together in 1932 in Paris and had Macy's and then at the U.N. and lived employed him in New York in the 1940s. with a man, a Russian, who was thought Subscribe It was Lopert and his family who gave to be a communist. Secondly, there was the Pozners American books and clothes, a delay in the Pozner family's depar­ to among other supplies unavailable in ture-a delay having something to do Russia. with receiving appropriate papers, The more I questioned, the more dis­ which is to say a new passport or a new Liberty crepancies I found. The father was not in citizenship. charge of MGM distribution to Europe In my judgment, Pozner is less a liar and Latin America; other people were. In or an imposter-two possible charges Liberty celebrates the the International Motion Picture Almanac that come to mind-than a fibber, a guy diversity of libertarian for 1947-48, Wladimir A. Pozner lists who since childhood has told petty false­ thought! himself as "General Manager" of Loews hoods because he likes to tell stories, not International. In fact, he had worked only because that is his way of charming Liberty tackles the tough problems. since 1941 as a sound engineer in a dub­ Every issue of Liberty presents es­ people but because like all good fictions says studying current trends in po­ bing operation that was initially owned his stories made his life richer and more litical and social thought; by Lopert and later subsumed into literary than it would otherwise be. discussions of the strategy and tac- Loews International. The work consisted Notice that he fibs not about others but .tics of social change; analyses of mostly of dubbing American films into about himself (and his ancestors). As a current events and challenges to Spanish for Latin American distribution. good fibber, Pozner can persuade others popular beliefs. Liberty also offers George Muchnic, then a Vice-president of of the "truth" of his fictions; perhaps lively book reviews, fiction and LI, remembers that Pozner, senior, was after many years, he eventually per­ humor. "well-spoken, wrote good memos, knew suades himself, or even transforms him­ his job. I know he got increases in com­ self into a persuasive example. An You won't want to miss a single pensation when I was there." emigre here, who remembers Pozner in issue! Along with others who worked in Moscow as "someone who lied when he Money-Back Guarantee that office at that time, Muchnic ques­ did not need to lie," nonetheless be­ At any time during your subscrip.:. tioned Pozner's story of his father's dis­ lieved that Pozner had, in fact, attended tion, we will guarantee a full pro­ missal by Arthur M. Loew, long college in America, in part because he rated refund for any unmailed is­ deceased. '1 worked with Arthur every developed a linguistic competence equal sues. No questions asked! day. I wasn't ther~, but I can't imagine to that of American university gradu­ that he would double anyone's salary." ates. Now that this profile is finallyap­ Act Today! Seymour Mayer, then in charge of inter­ pearing in print, I wonder how many Liberty offers you the best in liber­ national sales, told me, '1t was not like other "attractive fantasies" are left in tarian thinking and writing. So Arthur Lowe to say that--ehange .your this piece. (It is a long way, after all, don't hesitate. With our guarantee, citizenship and I'll double your salary. from Irkutsk to Bratsk.) you have nothing to lose, and the $50,000-that's ludicrous; no one got Knowing what I know now about fruits ofLiberty to gain! that kind of money in thattype of job in Pozner, my hunch is that, especially those days." when he talks to us, he believes himself ... _------, What happened in fact was that to be an American, all truth to the con­ Pozner, senior, decided on his own to trary notWithstanding; and his capacity emigrate, only suddenly informing his to persuade not just us but himself of colleagues and family. "He kept it a dead this illusion accounts for why he is such secret," a close family friend remembers. a uniquely successful Soviet communi­ '1 don't think anyone knew about it, not cator. Of course, there is also a differ­ even Jerry. We were afraid at the time ence in political meaning between a name that Jerry wouldn't leave America. Vovo college student, a could-have-been address had dreams of becoming a head of American, spuming America for Mosfilm." And then there were circum­ Communism and a younger high school city, state, zip stantial reasons to doubt the son's story student being taken there by his parents; I enclose my check (payable to Liberty) a of the elder Pozner obtaining Russian cit­ but my own opinion is that such a politi­ o Charge my 0 VISA 0 Mastercard izenship as early as 1941. Pozner was not cal nuance is perhaps less necessary a Communist when he came to America. than his romantic, essentially literary de­ sire to believe that the crucial decision of signature Indeed, back in Paris he had captained a White Russian basketball team. While his life-the one that determined his fu­ account # expires here, he fell under the influence of his ture-was made by him, rather than, as Send to: Liberty, Dept. L16, sister who had gone to New York before it was, by someone else, for him. 0 L ~~}~7.!~rt!o.:n.:e~,.:v~9~~.1 The Diary ofH.L. Mencken, fied with daily journalism, he experi­ Charles A. Fecher, ed. Alfred A. Knopf, 1989,476 pp., $30.00 mented with a wide variety of writing, including poetry and fiction. (His first book, published in 1903, was a collection of poems.) His writing was iconoclastic, bombastic, witty, acerbic, ebullient, 'scholarly, irrepressible, intelligent, and Mencken: The Man vs full of joy. It was in literary criticism that Mencken first gained national promi­ the State of Opinion nence. In 1905, he published a critical study of George Bernard Shaw, not then well-known to Americans; in 1907 he wrote the introduction and notes for­ R. W. Bradford fuse to analyze its contents, instead par­ and oversaw the translation of-two of roting the sensational charge of bigotry. Ibsen's plays. A year later, he became the In a discussion of the book on CBS For 40 years, H.L. Mencken exerted book editor of The Smart Set, a minor Nightwatch, not a single participant an enormous influence on the arts and magazine published in New York. In its claimed to have read the entire book; politics of the United States. As a critic of pages, he reviewed thousands of books when asked to cite evidence for his case, literature, a commentator on public af­ and achieved a formidable reputation as the individual asserting that the book fairs, a scholar, and an editor, Mencken a literary critic. proved Mencken an anti-Semite didn't was, in the words of Walter Lippmann, At this time, he also began a lifelong quote from the Diary at all, instead citing lithe most powerful personal influence acquaintance with George Jean Nathan, as evidence a passage from a long dis­ on this whole generation of educated the drama critic. In 1915, he and Nathan credited biography of Mencken. people." 1 During the 1920s, his influence became co-editors of The Smart Set, and This is a shame. Mencken and his as a critic reached a level unequaled in in 1919, he began to collect his critical es­ diary deserve to be considered on their American literary history. Because of his says from The Smart Set and elsewhere merits. trenchant criticism of government and and published the first of six annual edi­ his unwavering support for maximum The Man tions of Prejudices. By the time he and individual freedom, he also earned a spe­ Henry L. Mencken was born in Nathan left The Smart Set in 1924, it was cial place in the libertarian imagination. Baltimore on September 12, 1880. His fa­ no longer a minor magazine. When they Throughout his career, he was a con­ ther owned a cigar-making business and left over differences with its owner, and troversial figure. He still is. educated his son in a German-language founded The American Mercury, their Mencken's diary, parts of which have technical school for eventual manage­ new publication quickly became the just been published, has been greeted ment of his business. Young Henry had most influential magazine in America. with a chorus of accusations of bigotry. little interest in cigar-making, and when Meanwhile, Mencken acted as editor Curiously, the controversy has been en­ his father died unexpectedly when of a major daily newspaper and wrote a gendered mostly by the introduction Mencken was 18 years old, Mencken widely read newspaper column. He also written by Charles A. Fecher, its editor, took the opportunity to quit the world of found time to write The Philosophy of who opines that the diary proves business and pursue his great ambition Friedrich Nietzsche (1908), a book-length ~encken anti-Semitic, anti-black, and to be a writer. He pestered a local news­ debate with a socialist (Men vs the Man, maniacally hateful toward Franklin paper and was finally given an unpaid 1910), a travel book (Europe After 8:15, Delano Roosevelt. job. His first article appeared in the with Nathan and W. H. Wright, 1913), a Mencken has been excoriated byjour­ Baltimore Morning Herald on Feb 23, collection of satires (A Book of Burlesques, nalists, denounced by preachers, and 1899. 1915), a book of aphorisms (A Little Book trashed by television smarties. The con­ Within a year, he was selling articles in C Major, 1916), a collection of literary troversy has no doubt stimulated sales of to New York papers. Six months later he criticism (A Book of Prefaces), an impor­ the Diary, presumably enriching the became a columnist; a few months after tant book on linguistics (The American Pratt Library in Baltimore, which owns his 21st birthday, he was named editor Language, 1918), and a translation of its copyright, and the firm of Alfred A. of the Sunday Herald. At age 23 he was Nietzsche's The Antichrist. He also found Knopf, its publisher. named city editor of the Evening Herald, time to cover the Great War and a revo­ Comments on the Diary typically re- and ~~ 24 its managing editor. Not satis- lution in Cuba as a news correspondent. Liberty 57 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990

Gradually during the 1920s, the fo­ retary to a Congressman, a meteorologist, Manchester noted. 7 Ironically, in light of cus of Mencken's attention began to a poet and critic who knows jewelry, a the current campaign against Mencken, turn from literature to public affairs. He printer, a Chilean journalist, a ship's engi­ he. was also denounced as a Jew. G. K. ridiculed all politicians without favor, neer, a librettist, newspaper men and Chesterton, for example, called him "A women, physicians, surgeons, professors railed against Prohibition, campaigned and instructors from all over the country, clever and bitter Jew in whom a real love for free speech and press, and forcefully a musician and a Chatauqua lecturer! of letters is everlastingly exasperated by advocated his own liberal ideals of indi­ These are a few of the writers who have the American love of cheap pathos and vidual freedom and a state with very contributed to The American Mercury. platitude ... [his nihilistic philosophy limited powers: Ever~ number a symposium on American appropriate] to a man with a sensitive Good government is that which de­ life. race and a dead religion." 8 Mencken re­ livers the citizen from the risk of be­ Mencken's popularity soared during sponded by collecting the attacks and ing done out of his life and property the 1920s. At college campuses across publishing an anthology of them, too arbitrarily and violently-one the nation, a copy of the Paris-green Menckeniana: A Schimpflexicon (1927). that relieves him sufficiently from the Mercury became a badge of intellectual In the 1930s, as the Western world barbaric business of guarding them to vigor. His battles with Methodists and fell into the morass of the Great enable him to engage in gentler, more Baptists (the chief architects of Depression and fascist and socialist ideas dignified and more agreeable under­ Prohibition) and with Fundamentalists takings, to his own content and prof­ (opponents of evolution and modernity) it, and the advanta~e, it may be, of put him in the headlines. In 1925, an at­ Mencken always addressed the commonwealth. tack on censorship drew the attention of The ideal government of all reflec­ the Watch and Ward Society of Boston; a himself to America's IIcivilized tive men from Aristotle to Herbert few months later it conspired to ban an minority," and railed endlessly Spencer, is one which lets the individ­ issue of the Mercury from sale in against the attitudes of the ual alone-one which barelr escapes Massachusetts on the preposterous being no government at all. ground that an article about a small­ "booboisie"-its childish relig­ But his interests were wide and town prostitute (excerpted from Up From ion, its faith in its politicians, deep. He fell out with Nathan over the Methodism, by Herbert Asbury) was ob­ its boosterism. issue of what the Mercury should con­ scene. Mencken himself went to Boston cern itself with. In the words of their and challenged the censors by openly of­ mutual friend, Theodore Dreiser, fering the Mercury for sale on Boston Nathan favored lithe frothy intellectual Common, for which act he was arrested, took hold. Mencken's popularity gradu­ ally declined. For most of the decade, he tried and found innocent, thereby strik­ ing a victory for freedom ofthe press. argued brilliantly against these collecti­ vist notions. But as war broke out in The Diary sparkles and out­ Mencken always addressed himself Europe, it became clear to him that his rages, reminding us of what a to America's "civilized minority," and railed endlessly against the attitudes of own opposition to U.S. participation iso­ lated him from many of his friends and superb writer Mencken was. the ''booboisie''-its childish religion, its much of the public, and he stopped writ­ This is all the more remarkable faith in its politicians, its boosterism. ing for publication about public affairs. With regard to American· literature, for when one considers that it is a He did not stop writing, however. He example, he opined: first draft, corrected only for wrote a series of charming reminiscences What ails the beautiful letters of the about his childhood and youthful experi­ typographical errors. Republic, I repeat, is what ails the ences as a newspaperman for The New general culture of the Republic-the Yorker, eventually gathering them into lack of a body of sophisticated and three collections, Happy Days, Newspaper and social interests of the stage, the Four civilized public opinion, independent Days and Heathen Days. More than once Hundred, the Bohemian and mentally of plutocratic control and superior to dilettante worlds, 'whereas he the infantile philosophies of the they were compared to Huckleberry Finn (a comparison Mencken detested: his ad­ [Mencken] personally was for serious mob-a body of opinion showing the miration for Twain was too great), and contemplation of science, medicine, edu­ eager curiosity, the educated skepti­ cism and the hospitality to ideas of a they were critical and commercial suc­ cation, literature and what not." 4 Early true aristocracy. This lack is felt by the cesses. He published his New Dictionary in 1925, their editorial partnership end­ American author, imagining him to of Quotations in 1942 and a massive sup­ ed. In August of that year, a Mercury ad­ have anything new to say, every day plement to The American Language in vertisement reflected Mencken's victory of his life. 6 1945. and the breadth of his focus: Not surprisingly, the booboisie str;,uck After the war, Mencken's ideas were The American Mercury Authors back. Mencken was denounced from Ful­ again fit for popular consumption, and it An architect, a perfumer, a United States pit and editorial page from coast to coast. looked for a while as if he might again Senator, a chemist and pharmacologist, a ''He was denounced as a mangy ape, a ride the cycle of popularity he had rid­ negro poet, a dentist, a naval officer, a dog, a howling hyena, a bilious buffoon, den after the first Great War. He was fea­ tramp, a lawyer, a lumber-jack, a radio­ a' cad, a British toady, a super-Boch.~ of tured in Life magazine, edited an engineer, a consular attache, a Porto German Kultur, a cankerworm, a ra<;iical anthology of his early writing, wrote yet Rican, a photographer, a composer, a sec- Red, and a reactionary," WilJiam another huge supplement to The 58 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 American Language. He sold the film Bode had access to a considerable phies I haven't read for two decades, to rights to his Christmas Story (1946), a number of Mencken's confidential pa­ re-read his letters, to dig through my small book that grew out of a New Yorker pers and he interviewed many of collection of American Mercuries. At first article, for a case of ale to be delivered to Mencken's friends and colleagues. it was my curiosity that was aroused, him every week for the remainder of his Consequently, his biography is far more but gradually I realized that something life. He even returned to political report­ rigorous. It is first-rate scholarship, else was also: my lust for the pure pleas­ ing, attending the political conventions though it lacks the warmth and literary ure of reading his prose. The Diary spar­ that nominated Truman, Dewey, and merit of Manchester's. Fecher's Mencken: kles and outrages, reminding us of what Wallace. A Study of His Thought (1978) is an inter­ a superb writer Mencken was. This is all But age caught up with him: on esting attempt to examine Mencken's the more remarkable when one consid­ November 23, 1948, he was stricken with ideas, though I think it fails on many ers that it is a first draft, corrected only a massive cerebral thrombosis. It was the counts. Fecher, long an employee of the for typographical errors. worst thing that could happen to him; it Roman Catholic Archdiocese of affected his brain in such a way that he Baltimore and apparently unable to The Diary could neither read nor write, sentencing grasp as simple a fact as Mencken's abso­ As published, The Diary includes him to the torture of seven empty years lute and resolute agnosticism and con­ only about a third of the 2100 typewrit­ of waiting to die. tempt for religious belief, labors mightily ten pages that Mencken wrote. Most of to save his soul: "It is not easy to tell just the roughly 1400 pages that editor The Private and the Public Man how Mencken felt about Jesus." He also Fecher cut consisted of repetitions, hypo­ In a sense, knowing Mencken is the comes perilously dose to making chondriacal complaints,** and the details easiest thing in the world: one need only Mencken into a dull fellow.* of Mencken's role as a director of the read his astonishingly varied writing, Despite Mencken's gigantic literary Knopf book publishing firm, and of the amounting by his account to some output, the large number of contempo- A. S. Abell Co, publisher of the 10,000,000 words. But he was, by all ac­ Baltimore Sun. Fecher seems to have counts, an extremely private person, and done an admirable job of editing. while he reveals his beliefs in his writing He ridiculed all politicians The defining characteristic of a diary with great lucidity, it is difficult to under­ is its privacy: what a person writes in his stand his personality from his writing without favor, railed against diary records private details of his life, alone. He was very concerned about the prohibition, campaigned for free private opinions about people he knows, privacy of his friends and colleagues, and speech and press, and forcefully and private thoughts in general. Of was circumspect in what he said of them. course, a diarist may write a record for As a consequence, his biographies tend advocated his own liberal ideals future reference: by referring to his to focus on his literary and public career. of individual freedom and a, diary, he can discover or Verify just Mencken's writing is so lively and state with very limited powers. when a certain event occurred, whom he amusing and his public career so gaudy met where to discuss what business, and that it is hard to imagine a biography that so forth. would not be a joy to read. From Isaac rary portraits of him, and the availability A diary written for eventual publica­ Goldberg's The Man Mencken (1925) to of several first-rate biographies, there are tion has a different character: it is always Carl Bode's Mencken (1969), they are im­ massive gaps in our understanding of under suspicion of playing to its audi­ mensely pleasurable. In my judgment, Mencken the man. ence. This is true even when it is written William Manchester's Disturber of the That is one reason why the publica­ for publication after death: the diarist Peace (1950) is the best of the lot, thanks tion of his Diary is such an important may be tempted to use it to influence the to Manchester's literary talent and appre­ event. As I read the Diary I began to get a opinion of future historians, to get in the ciation of both Mencken's writing and his feel for the first time of Mencken the hu­ last word on disputes and controversies. personality (Manchester had the advan­ man being, rather than Mencken the It is plain that Mencken planned that tage of knowing Mencken personally and writer. Limited by the semi­ his Diary eventually would be pub­ well). But Manchester worked under the selfconsciousness inherent to any journal lished, if only to the scholarly communi­ genuine handicap of Mencken's reticence written for eventual publication, The ty. So we must ask ourselves: to what about his friends and personal relation­ Diary brought his personality into sharp­ extent does his Diary reflect his private ships. As a result, Manchester's portrait er focus. thoughts? to what extent a record in­ has substantial gaps: he wrote little about And it did something else: as I read tended for a future readers? Mencken's relationships with women, ex­ the Diary, I felt an urge to re-read biogra- There are several occasions in which cept for Sara Haardt, Mencken's wife he obviously uses his Diary as some- from 1930 until her death in 1935, and .. The most peculiar of the biographies of even the account of that relationship is Mencken is Charles Angoff's· Mencken: A "' Mencken reputation as a hypochondriac is sketchy. Given Mencken's famous, if del­ Porfrait from Memory. Angoff, Mencken's assist­ well deserved. At one point in his diary he phic, hostility toward women, this· is an anMeditor at the Mercury, portrays Mencken as threatens to write a detailed history of his per­ important gap. Also lacking is detail of an unbelievably foul-mouthed, crude, incon­ sonal health: IlSo far as I know, no one has ever Mencken's intimate relationship with the siderate, cruel, and vile human being-a por­ set down such a record of himself, though all Baltimore Sun, for which he worked in traitat variance with the memory of virtually the books by literati are full of complaints ofill­ everyone who knew Mencken. It was this book ness. To this end I have got memoranda from one capacity or another from 1906 until cited as evidence of Mencken's anti-Semitism the various hospitals where I have been a pa­ his stroke in 1948. on CBS NightwAtch. tient ... " (Sept. 12, 1945) Liberty 59 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 thing other than a record of private reer, and his times. It makes The Diary of dous variety in her, and yet she was al­ thoughts and activities. For example,­ H. L. Mencken the most intimate kind of ways steadfast. I can recall no single when he twice writes of a woman who is historical document. moment during our years together publicly claiming some sort of sexual re­ The Diary reveals him to be·a man when I ever had the slightest doubt of lationship with him, he is clearly trying who worked hard at his writing and our marriage, or wished that it had to establish an alibi; in fact, he says as who strictly adhered to his code of eth­ never been. I believe that she was much. In his accounts of his struggles to ics: he believed a man should practice in­ equally content. We had our troubles, convince Paul Patterson of the Sun that dustry and thrift, pay his debts, take care especially during her illnesses, but they never set up any difference be­ important changes in editorial policy are of his family, be good to his friends, tell tween us: they always drew us closer needed, he may be trying to see to it that the truth, be moderate in his personal and closer together. (May 31, 1940) his views will be known in the future" habits, and practice good manners to­ For some 2,000 words, he continues to trying to get the last word. Sometimes ward everyone. He was, in some ways, a describe his relationship with his wife Mencken may have written for the sake typical bourgeois Victorian, but he com­ and his love for her: of his reputation with future historians. bined this Victorian ethos with a skepti­ But this need not limit his candor: al­ cism toward philosophical and She had a sharp intelligence, and yet though Richard Nixon knew he was be­ theological belief that is characteristically she was always thoroughly feminine and Southern, and there was not the ing taped for future historians, in the modern-though, I suspect, he would slightest trace of the bluestocking in Watergate tapes, he nevertheless forever view his skepticism as a simple matter of embarrassed himself with the petulance, her. Marriage is largely talk, and I still intellectual honesty and vigor. recall clearly the long palavers that we dishonesty, and ~ttiness that character­ In at least one sense, Mencken was a used to have ... We had plenty to talk ized his conversations. Victorian regarding his relationships of. I talked out my projects with her, But Mencken's Diary is extremely with women: he believed a gentleman and she talked out hers with me. I forthright. It is singularly un-self­ never speaks of sex, even in his diary: don't think we ever bored each other. I righteous. It pays little heed to the opin- Such things, it seems to me, are no­ know that, for my part, the last days of body's business-and I must always that gabbling were as stimulating as remember that what I write may be the first. I never heard her say a down­ Mencken's popularity soar­ read by others after I am gone. As a right foolish thing. She had violent matter of fact, they are not even the prejudices, but so did I have them, and ed during the 1920s. At col­ author's business. The women a man we seldom disagreed. It seemed to me lege campuses across the na­ sleeps with make charming episodes that she always maintained hers with in his life, but it is seldom that they in­ great plausibility. I have never known tion, a copy of the Paris-green fluence the main course of it. a more rational woman, nor another Mercury .became a badge of Marriage, of course is quite another half so charming. She was far too re­ intellectual vigor. story ... (Feb. 5, 1942) served to be described as a popular fa­ Despite the skepticism he had dis­ vorite, but she always made a good played in print about love and marriage impression on people of sense. ... ("love is the delusion that one woman (May 31, 1940) ions of others. Mencken insisted that his Over the remaining eight years of his diary be sealed until 25 years after his differs from another"), he reveals him­ self to have been deeply and romantical­ Diary, he occasionally writes again of death, and even then be open only to Sara. His voice never changes: his love scholars; he intended it to be read only ly in love with his wife, Sara Haardt. He doesn't mention her death at all until and respect for her and his profound sor­ when the people and events involved row at herdeath never vary. were dimly remembered, beyond the five years later, when he makes very plain his grief over her death and the His Victorianism stops far short of praise or blame of contemporaries. That prudery. Despite his reticence about writ­ depth of his romantic feelings: the Diary was published at all required ing of sexual matters, he does let slip a (a) getting a legal opinion authorizing Sara is dead five years today-a few of the details of his losing his virgini­ publication from the Maryland Attorney longer time than the time of our mar­ ty at age 14, reveals a bit of his attitude riage, which lasted but fouryears and General; and (b) convincing the Board of toward homosexuality, tell a slightly nine months. It is amazing what a Directors of the Pratt Library, to whom smutty joke, describes a stag party at the he bequeathed it, that it was a good idea deep mark she left upon my life-and yet, after all, it is not amazing at all, Sun at which the entertainment was pro­ to repudiate Mencken's explicitly stated vided by a transvestite sex show, and instructions forbidding its publication. for a happy marriage throws out nu­ merous and powerful tentacles. They tells an amusing tale about one of his The Diary is a place where Mencken more Victorian friends: recorded the details of his life, his liter­ may loosen with years and habit, but when a marriage ends at the height of One night at the beer table, as I recall, ary plans, his frank opinions of his its success they endure. It is a lite1JlI there was some mention of sexual in­ friends and colleagues, and his private fact that I still think of Sara every dC\lY tercourse in human beings, and Max opinions on what was happening in the of my. life, and almost every hour of [Brodel] ventured that it was a trivial world. The ingenuousness and spontane­ the day. Whenever I see anything that business, and not half so thrilling as ity of his opinions does more than add she would have liked I find my~lf was commonly assumed. "After all," color to his record. It provides a valuable saying that I'll buy it and take it to he said, "it seldom lasts more than a resource to those interested in his think­ her, and I am always thinking ,of minute, and never more than two." ing, his writing, his scholarship, his ca- things to tell her. There was a trem~jn- This astonished [Raymond] Pearl, as it 60 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 astonished me, and we both had at $1,000 from Harry C. Black, though he thinking seriously of getting castrat­ him. The more we cross-examined already owed Black $1,000 and had ed himseH. His prostate is normal, him the plainer it became that he actu­ owed it for years. I detest men who but he believes that he is under­ ally believed what he had said. When borrow, and especially men who bor­ weight and that adding 30 or 40 Pearl argued that any man who enter­ row as a result of their own indolence. pounds would improve his general tained a lady for so little as two min­ (July 30, 1931) health. He said somewhat primly: utes was guilty of a gross offense, not For a man who identified himself as liMy reproductive stage is now over, only against her person but also "ombibulous," who campaigned against and I see no reason why I shouldn't against the peace and dignity of the Prohibition both in public campaigns sacrifice a couple of useless glands." human race, it was Max's turn to be and in extensive disobedience of the law, O"une 2, 1943) astonished. He simply never heard who cherished good beer, wine, and This story, which Mencken reports that copulation could be prolonged at whiskey, his lack of a sympathy for without comment, offers considerable will-at all events, far beyond the lim­ those who inbibe to the point at which support for Mencken's belief that a per­ its he had set ... On the heels of this drink interferes with their work is per­ son who is a crackpot in one field will grotesque discussion Pearl announced haps a bit surprising: he had reason to likely be a crackpot in others. At the end the founding of an organization to be of another vignette of a quack, Dr. J. B. called the Society for More and Better deplore this weakness in Sinclair Lewis, Fucking in the Home ... Scott Fitzgerald, and even his old friend We learn that Mencken took joy in Paul Patterson, president of the Sun. The ingenuousness and work, in food, in drink, and most of all in But the Diary is primarily a joyous af­ the companionship of friends. His close firmative work. Along the way we meet spontaneity ofhis opinions does friendship with his publisher Knopf in­ a great many interesting people, and more than add color. It provides volved sharing all these pleasures: they catch glimpses of many more, including rarely discussed business except over a Rose Wilder Lane, Albert Jay Nock, and a valuable resource to those in­ fine meal with a good wine, and they en­ Dashiell Hammett. There is a treasure terested in his thinking, his joyed annual pilgrimages to Bethlehem, trove of anecdotal information about im­ writing, his scholarship, his ca­ Pennsylvania, for its Bach Festival and portant literary figures like Sinclair the excellent local beer. The Saturday Lewis, Edgar Lee Masters, Theodore reer, and his times. Night Club combined all of these pleas­ Dreiser, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joseph ures but work: it consisted of a group of Hergesheimer, Harold Ross, Ezra Pound, Rhine, promoter of the notion of extra­ friends who met each Saturday night to and others. sensory perception, he provides this eat dinner, perform music (Mencken We also meet the peculiarly charming insight into marriage: played second piano), drink beer, and American eccentrics whom Mencken talk. Mencken attended it regularly for found so amusing, like Dr F. E. His wife seemed to be much more more than 40 years, even inviting its Townsend, originator of the Townsend intelligent than he. She is a native of Ohio, apparently of German origin, members to his own home for meetings Plan, according to which the govern­ ment would give every person in the as Rhine seems to be himself. I no­ United States of 60 or more years of age ticed that while he was expounding his ideas she sat regarding him in si­ the sum of $200 per month, on the condi­ In 1925 Mencken was ar­ 1ence' with a quizzical smile. My rested, tried for, and found in­ tion that the money be spent before the guess is that she knows the answers, month ended. All this spending, nocent of selling a banned ~opy but is too discreet to utter them. I Townsend argued, would stimulate the have often noticed the same look of the Mercury on Boston economy and cure the Depression. His among the wives of quacks and en­ Common, thereby striking a theory never was enacted, though it did thusiasts. Women in generalseemap­ stimulate Roosevelt to enact Social preciably more intelligent than men. victory for freedom of the press. Security. But it did gain considerable A great many of them suffer in si­ support among people 60 years or older. lence from the imbecilities of their In 1943, Townsend visited Mencken to husbands. I daresay that poor Sara during Prohibition when public con­ ask advice on the publication of his auto­ occasionally shouldered her share of sumption ofbeer was risky. biography. Their conversation touched this burden. (May 1, 1939) It wasn't all fun. Mencken speaks on many subjects. Mencken relates one Elsewhere Mencken tells the story of with contempt, tinged with disappoint­ curious episode: waiting in line in a pissoir with the Duke ment, of friends who borrow money and of Windsor, getting annoyed by the The doctor told me a long tale about don't pay their debts, or who are other­ wait, hunting up a pay toilet with Felix his cousin, a man of his own age [76], wise irresponsible: who lately came down with cancer of Frankfurter, and leaving its door ajar so Phil Goodman tells me that Ernest the prostate. He said that at his advice no other guest would have to cough up Boyd is miffed because I have seen lit­ the cousin submitted to castration and five cents. But mostly, the experiences tle of him during the past year. My that the effects were magnificent. The he relates are of his own work and of reason for avoiding him is that he has cancer vanished and the patient put the two business enterprises in which he been devoting far more of his energies on 40 pounds of flesh ... his cousin is was interested, the Baltimore Sun and to drink than to work In consequence, now strong enough to operate a three­ Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Mencken served he is constantly in money difficulties. acre chicken farm and is otherwise in on the Board of Directors of each firm. Some time ago he tried to borrow prime condition. He said that he was Those who ran each firm were friends. Liberty 61 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 He took his responsibilities seriously and decent fellow. He told me that he of writing on its merits; as a human be­ recorded his experiences and his think­ hoped some day to put in a central ing, he did the same with people. ing about them in considerable detail. heating plant, and I was tempted to This is not to say, of course, that he Fecher tells us that he cut much of these offer him the price. I'll probably go was reluctant to make sweeping generali­ accounts, on the theory that readers back to see him at some time in the zations about whole classes of people, by would not be greatly interested. I found near future. (April 15, 1939) race or class or religion or geographical these entries to be fascinating and would In 1939, he notes an interesting con­ location. He often over-generalized for have liked more of them, although I sus­ versation with the chauffeur of a friend literary effect. But he always realized that pect my appetite for them may be great- in North Carolina: these generalizations were post hoc, never Last night the Hanes' colored chauf­ the major premise of a syllogism of the feur drove me from Durham to following sort: Mencken reveals himself as Greensboro in order that I might pick All xxxx are fools. remarkably individualistic at a up my train. The distance is about 55 So-and-so is an xxxx. miles, and I seized the chance to set Therefore, so-and-so is a fool. personal level. He judges eve-· the chauffeur to talking. He turned The Menckenian logic took some­ out to be an uneducated but extreme­ thing like the following form: ryone he meets on the basis of ly sharp-witted colored man, and he Most of the xxxx's I have encoun­ his character. He is quite will­ told me a great deal of interesting tered are fools. ing to denounce the high and stuff ... (May 1) Mencken goes on for another 250 So-and-so is an xxxx. mighty who fail to meet his words summarizing the chauffeur's So-and-so should be judged on his moral or intellectual stan­ opinions about the local economy and merits. related manners. Five years later, he Even this overstates the way he dards, while observing moral writes of his disappointment at missing thought, for it would never occur to him and intellectual virtue among a conversation with the driver, whom he to judge any man by class or station. Of common people. identifies this time by name, "In the past course, this did not prevent him from I have always enjoyed such trips with fuming in this way: him ... but this time, because of the gas er than most readers'. shortage, he had to take another passen­ People have often observed At a personal level, Mencken reveals ger-a Winston lady whose name I for­ himself as remarkably individualistic; he get-and in her presence he was shy and that a certain sort of left-liberal judges everyone he meets on the basis of retiring. Moreover, she did a great deal "loves humanity but hates indi­ his character. He is quite willing to de­ of talking herself ..." (July 17, 1944) vidual human beings." The nounce the high and mighty who fail to This respect for merit is hardly sur­ meet his moral or intellectual standards, prising: as an editor, Mencken always converse of this proposition while observing moral and intellectual gave careful consideration to articles seems to apply to Mencken: he virtue among people of modest social or submitted by people of humble station; hated humanity but loved indi­ intellectual standing. In 1939, for exam· more than one of his biographers noted pIe, he happened to learn the address of that he seemed. to relish submissions vidual human beings. the house where he was born: from prisoners, and he published many. One of the more frequent contributors to This morning I went down to So-and-so is a fool. the while he edited it was Jim Lexington street to have a look. I Mercury So-and-so is an xxxx. Tully, a hobo. When he writes of such found a pleasant little three-story Nearly all the xxxx's I have encoun­ people, there is never the tone of condes­ house, directly opposite a slum area tered are fools. cension; he treats them with the samere­ that is being cleared under the Federal So this doesn't surprise me. housing scheme. The door of the place spect that he accords to anyone else The foregoing discussion, I suppose, was open, and inside I found a col­ whose thinking or writing he values. suggests my answer to the question: was ored man on a stepladder and a white This curious egalitarianism is very Mencken a bigot? man on another. The colored man told appealing. Of course, Mencken was an me that he was the new owner of the avowed advocate of the "superior man" A Portrait of an Anti-Semite? place. He had been living in his own and the "aristocracy," and he would be The attack on Mencken's character house in the slum area, but the gov­ shocked to hear himself described as an begins on the dust jacket of The Diary, emmenthad now condemned it. He egalitarian. But the fact remains that his which describes Mencken as a ''bigot.'' A told me that the price he got for it was extreme· methodological individualism bill of particulars against Mencken is considerably less than his investment. meant that the "superior men" whom he spelled out in Fecher's "Introduction." He had used the money to buy [the included in his "aristocracy" were lrery After discussing a number of insignifi­ house where I was born] and was now engaged in rehabilitating it. He often people of rude means and educa­ cant instances of Mencken's cantanker­ was scraping the accumulated wallpa­ tion, and the people he denounced as ousness, Fecher writes: per off the walls, and the white man, a buffoons and fools and consigned to the Much more important, and infinitely plasterer, was patching holes that this rabble were very often people of elevat­ less comprehensible, are his attitudes work revealed. The colored man ed .status and schooling. As an editor toward the war that was raging dur­ seemed to be a very intelligent and and a critic, Mencken judged every.piece ing much of this time, toward 62 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 Franklin D. Roosevelt, toward black the Detroit Free Press proclaims that liThe to support the thesis that Mencken was people, and most especially toward diary ... is peppered with scores of anti­ anti-Semitic. Let us consider them Jews. Semitic slurs and evidence of a deeply in­ individually. His feelings about World War IT are grained conviction that people of differ­ 1. His entry for February 10, 1942, re­ incredible ... His hatred of Roosevelt ent skin color were inferior to whites." lates a conversation with Samuel Eliot was, indeed, maniacal-there is no Doris Grum1:?ach in the Washington Post Morison, professor of history at Harvard other word to use . .. His attitude to­ wins the prize for the most immoderate University: ward black people was a curious min­ position: #Those who defend a writer gling of total egalitarianism on the It is plain to see that Morison's opin­ such as H.L. Mencken must be said to one hand and patronizing superiority ion of [Harvard's] history department on the other ... the most inexplicable possess an antisemitic sensibility is low, though he is naturally cautious and least pleasant aspect of his per­ themselves." about saying so. I asked him. what sonality as it is revealed to us in the The Jewish Question sort of students he was encountering. He said that they were mainly Jews, diary [is] his feelings about Jews. In Forewarned by Fecher's Introduction and that few of them showed. any [my earlier book] I sought to defend to the Diary, and by comments in the him from the charge of anti-Semitism capacity. press, I. attempted to note as I read the ... But at that time I, like everyone 2. His entry for December 2, 1943, re­ book every use of the word '']ew" in any else, had not seen the diary. Today I lates a conversation with the secretary of of its forms. I found 31 cases. Twenty- would be much less ready to take a private club of which Mencken was a such a stand. Let it be said at once, member and where he frequently dined clearly and unequivocally: Mencken with guests, who told him that "some was an anti-Semite. Ironically, in light of the time ago" a man had been admitted to Fecher's charges, particularly the sen­ campaign against Mencken, he membership who turned out to be a Jew sational charges of racial bigotry, have was denounced as a Jew: G.K. who had acted to conceal his heritage. been widely taken up. In The New York Once admitted, this person had revealed Times Book Review, Robert Ward writes Chesterton, for example, called that he was Jewish, only to have his about "Mencken's strange blindness him # A clever and bitter Jew in sponsoring friends ask him to resign: regarding World War II ... near patho­ Mason told me that there was no ob­ logical hatred of Franklin Delano whom a real love of letters is jection in the board of governors to Roosevelt ... More offensive and shock­ everlastingly exasperated by bringing an occasional Jew to a meal ing is Mencken's anti-Semitism and his the American love of cheap pa­ in the club, but that this applied only deeply condescending views of blacks." to out of town Jews, not to local ones. In the Detroit Free Press, Les Payne asks: thos and platitude . .. his nihil­ There was a time when the club al­ "Was H.L. Mencken a racist? The answer istic philosophy is appropriate ways had one Jewish member, but the is quite clear, and the answer is yes." In for a man with a sensitive race last was Jacob Ulman. Ulman was The Wall St Journal, Michael Kott writes married to a Christian woman, a "So great was his loathing for F.D.R., he and a dead religion." great-granddaugher of Thomas got fuzzy-eyed thinking about the Jefferson, and had little to do with the Reich." Richard Cohen writes in The other Jews of Baltimore. When he Washington Post Magazine that the five of these were simple mentions that a died the board of gOYemors decided diaries "revealed him to be an anti­ certain acquaintance was a Jew, e.g., "a that he should be the last of the semite and a racist."'" In Mencken's be­ Harvard Jew"). The frequency of such Chosen on the club roll. There was no loved Baltimore Evening Sun, Neil A. usages is hardly surprising; Mencken other Jew in Baltimore who seemed Grauer writes that "The reputation of was a professional intellectual, editor, suitable. H.L. Mencken, one of the nation's liter­ author, and publisher;·he was part of a 3. His entry for July 17, 1944, de­ ary and journalistic icons, may be tar­ highly literary world in which Jews were scribes the Whitestone Inn, a resort in nished permanently by publication of his (and remain) very prominent. (Mencken North Carolina at which an acquain­ previously secret diary." An editorial in elsewhere mentions the ethnic back­ tance ofa friend is staying: ground of other non-Jews-e.g., The only Jew on the guest list is ,.. Cohen also makes the ludicrous charge that "Harcourt is a clever Dutchman," "She is Milton J. Rosenau, the sanitarian. He Mencken has escaped condemnation in his a native of Ohio, apparently of German got in on the score of his acquaintance home town of Baltimore because the citizens origin, as Rhine seems to be himself," with Fred Hanes-and immediately of that city are IIreluctant to condemn Mencken and reduce its tourist attractions by "We had two Jews among the members, proposed the bring in other Jews. But a third (only Fort McHenry and Edgar Allan a Czech, and Americans of widely vary­ Bovard [the owner], by various devic­ Poe's grave would remain)." I do not know ing views" [Mar. 10, 1931, May I, 1939, es, has managed to keep theI1l out. the motives of those unnamed defenders of Feb. 5, 1942]-no one has yet to my What can we say of these episodes? Mencken from Baltimore, but I cannot ima­ knowledge cited these as evidence of his These are anecdotes told to Mencken gine Cohen has itright. I remember the day in anti-Dutch, anti-Czech, or anti-German and recorded without comment in his 1985 when I visited Mencken's home, now bigotry.) Diary, without the slightest hint that he open as a museum: I noted from the guest In two other cases Mencken observed approves of the attitudes they suggest. book that I was the first visitor in three days, and the guide was reluctant to let me leave, anti-Semitism in other people. Four other Curiously, the individual expressing the not because he valued my personal charm, passages in the Diary mention Jews. It is anti-Semitic sentiments in first case, but because he was lonely. these fpur that are most frequently cited Samuel Eliot Morison, is identified by Liberty 63 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 Fecher in a footnote as a "distinguished George Jean Nathan for Nathan's at­ ger. I am no more convinced that American historian." But Mencken, who tempts "to deny, or at all events to con­ Mencken was an anti-Semitic bigot than I reported Morison's remarks without ceal, his Jewishness." Lawrence Spivak, was that any of the black children who comment is condemned as an anti­ who knew both Mencken and Nathan, occasionally used that ugly word in anger Semite on the basis of this evidence. goes further. In a recent interview, he were anti-black bigots, or examples of Mencken did not denounce Morison, said, "Ifanybody was anti-Semitic, it was self-hating blacks. the Maryland Club or the Whitestone Nathan./ 9 Some of those who charge Mencken Inn as anti-Semitic. Nor did he ostracize The entry most frequently cited as ev­ with anti-Semitism cite his use of the Morison, resign from the Club, or orga­ idence of his anti-Semitism was not in­ term "Jew." This usage doesn't seem like nize a boycott of the Whitestone Inn. cluded in the published Diary, though evidence of anti-Semitism to me, nor does Mencken mentions the Inn only in pass­ Fecher quotes it in his introduction. it seem so to Lawrence Spivak, the object ing, without indicating whether he pa­ Mencken refered to two Jewish business­ of one such characterization: "Spivak is a tronized it. Does his failure to take these man whom he apparently considered to young Harvard Jew." Reached by tele­ actions constitute proof that he was a be unethical as "dreadful kikes." Now phone at his Washington home, Spivak bigot? Can a person record in his diary this is certainly uncouth by today's stan­ said that the charge that Mencken was an anecdote told to him without thereby dards, and probably by the standards of anti-Semitic is "all nonsense ... He called agreeing with the attitude implicit in the Mencken's day. But does this entry, even me a Harvard Jew. Well, I was at teller of the anecdote? in combination with the entries cited Harvard and I am a Jew ... His only prej­ 4. His entry for April 27, 1944, de~ above, among the thousands of pages of udice is that he was strongly pro-German scribes a disagreement with Alfred a diary covering 18 years, demonstrate ...I can remember that Mencken once Knopf. Mencken was a good friend of said that he couldn't understand how any Knopf; he was also one of the best­ intelligent, civilized person could be anti­ selling authors whom Knopf's firm pub­ Some of those who charge Semitic." Still feisty and alert, the 89-year­ lished. Knopf had financed and pub­ old Spivak volunteered to defend lished The American Mercury, and Mencken with anti-Semitism Mencken against the charge of anti­ Mencken's friendship and unpaid edito­ cite his use of the term "Jew" Semitism by the National Press Cub, rial work had been rewarded with a seat to describe Jews. This usage which is considering removing his name on the board of directors of Alfred A. from their library. (The Press Club has Knopf, Inc. The disagreement was over doesn't seem like evidence of not taken Spivak up on his offer.) 10 a book Knopf had published: anti-Semitism to Lawrence Part of the problem with Mencken's I believed the little book of prayers Spivak, the object of one such using the term "Jew" to describe a person for soldiers, just brought out by the lies in the fact that the world has house, disgraced its list and damaged characterization ("Spivak is a changed. Two generations ago, the ethnic its trade-mark. There are actually young Harvard Jew"). Spivak and geographical identity of a person was prayers by Generals Eisenhower and believes that the accusation is a very important component of his char­ Patton-the latter the hero who lately acter. To describe a person as a "New got into the newspaper by cuffing a "all nonsense ... He called me York Jew" or a "Milwaukee German" or a wounded soldier. I said that such I "Georgia Cracker" was to say something trash undid the work of years, and a Harvard Jew. Well, was at of defining significance about that per­ left the house imprint ridiculous ... Harvard and I am a Jew." son. Nowadays, of course, a person's par­ The idea for the book of prayers, [Blanche Knopf] said, came from entage and home town mean very little: Bernard Smith, the sales manager. anti-Semitic bigotry? the values and beliefs of a person reared What his name was before he Certainly, the word "kike" is ugly by Jewish parents in New York, German changed it I do not know. He, too, is a and shocking.'" But I am not convinced parents in Milwaukee, or poor white par­ Jew, and moreover, a jackass. that Mencken's using it a single time, ap­ ents in Georgia tend to be more similar The episode is more troublesome parently in anger, proves him anti­ than they were in the past. We should re­ than the first three. Mencken is plainly Semitic. I recall that when I taught fourth member that mass culture is largely a upset at the decision to publish the book grade in an inner-city school twenty mid-20th-century phenomenon, although . ..of war-prayers-upset to the point years ago I was shocked to hear one tiny in America at least it had its roots in the which he notes the book's sponsor is a black child call another "nigger!" in an- 19th century. Jew and a "jackass." It is plain that Homogenization of culture advanced Mencken is upset with the fact that earlier and more quickly in the U.S. than Smith is a jackass rather than with the .. Menden had preViously used this ugly word in in other countries, for obvious reasons. print: inan essay about conservative literary crit­ America has a tradition of egalitarianism: fact that he is a Jew. But does this re­ ic Stuart Pratt Sherman in SmRrt Set in 19:¥, he mark demonstrate anti-Semitic bigotry? wrote: "For what distinguishes the American we believe that all men are created equal, There is, of course another possible Goths, Wops and INew Right, women's lib, and ing game in the early forties. Mencken has given us a rare gift, a the hippie culture all in the same When war broke out in Europe, detailed record of an important life and breath?" This is only one of the ques­ Heinlein attempted to put some emo­ the frank opinions of a man whose opin­ tions addressed in the late science fiction tional distance between himself and ions mattered. (J writer Robert Heinlein's final book, Grumbles from the Grave. First conceived events by following the news on a I am grateful to Stephen Cox, Richard in the late 1960s but not to be published month delay. But after Pearl Harbor was Kostelanetz and Sheldon Richman for help­ until after his death, Grumbles is a collec­ attacked, things became personal. ful suggestions at various stages in the writ­ tion of letters by and to Heinlein which Heinlein immediately rejoined the Navy. ing of this essay, and to Sheldon Richman for A letter dated December 9, 1941, disclos­ permission to quote from his interview with span his entire career. Lawrence Spivak. Of course, the finished The book opens with a short biogra­ es his reasons for doing so, and reveals product is my responsibility alone. phy by Heinlein's wife, Virginia. something of his thinking on foreign pol­ Notes Heinlein was born in 1907, and spent icy: "Germany and Japan are not safe to most of his youth in Kansas City. He have around; we are bigger and tougher 1.S4turday Review ofLiterature, Dec 11,1926. than they are, I sincerely believe. Let's 2 Prejudices: Fourth Series (New York: Knopf, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy 1922), p. 221. in 1929 and served aboard the Lexington rule them. We do not want it that way­ 3 Prejudices: Third Series(New York: Knopf, until a medical discharge in 1934. Back but if somebody has to be boss, I want it 1921), p. 292. on land he held down various odd jobs, to be us." (27) He also supported the re­ 4 Creiser's letter isin the University of and, faced with .mortgage payments, striction of free speech during wartime. Pennsylvania library. Itis quoted byCarl started writing short stories in 1939. He This was probably an emotional reaction Bode in Mencken (Carbondale, ill: Southern looked at the check for his first sale, by a patriotic American, and Heinlein Illinois University Press, 1969), p. 219. "Lifeline," said, "How long has this rack­ may not have been so imperialistic later 5 American MeTcury, August 1925, p. xxxiv. et been going on?" and with this insight in life. But the book does not reveal 6 Quoted byWilliam Manchester in Disturber of began a stellar career. whether Heinlein's attitude ever the Peace (New York: Collier Books, 1962), p. The early letters are mainly between changed, and though Virginia added 146. some connecting text between letters and 8 Manchester, p 147. Heinlein and John W. Campbell Jr, pub­ chapters, the lack of more in-depth com­ 9 Lawrence Spivak, telephone interview with lisher of Astounding, an important early Sheldon Richman, January 16, 1990. science fiction magazine and Heinlein's mentary is a major shortcoming. 10 Ibid. first literary home. Within a few years, Heinlein's letters pick up again after 11lbid. Heinlein became a dominant presence at the war, where they give some insight 12 The American Mercury, Dec. 1933, pp. 508-9. Astounding. The Heinlein/Campbell ex- into the science-fiction publishing indus- 70 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 try of the 1940s and 1950s, when ing "spiced with interesting sex." (170) was so polite that he had a difficult time Heinlein moved from short stories to Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) ele­ carving out the necessary privacy that novels for the juvenile market. Several vated Heinlein from the status of famous many celebrities would seize without a letters show the problems of dealing writer to cult hero. It is the story of an second thought. In several letters he de­ with what can only be called an irration­ Earthman raised by Martians who re­ bates the merits of using computerized al editor at Scribner's, who made chang­ turns to his native planet and is mistaken form letters to cope with his voluminous es seemingly without reason and offered for a messiah. In Stranger, Heinlein want­ fan mail (finally opting to do so), a tech­ contradictory explanations. Heinlein ed to address the two "sacred cows" of nique others would adopt as a matter of went along with this, grudgingly, for Western culture: monogamy and mon­ course. But Heinlein expected politeness several years, until he presented an ulti­ otheism. He referred to it as his "Sex and in return, and bemoaned the fact that few matum: "if I ever submit to her another Jesus book." (233) Grumbles features an fans who wrote to him included a self­ story, it will be sight unseen till then and entire chapter on Stranger, a controver­ addressed stamped envelope. But he nev- take it or leave it." (79) sial book that was an instant hit among As with any epistolary work, one readers of science fiction and college stu­ must be sensitive to context, names, dents (two widely overlapping groups). Stranger in a Strange dates, and other signals if one is to make Heinlein's letters are very frank in de­ any sense of the events behind the let­ scribing the messages of the book. Land elevated Heinlein from ters. There is no plot, of course, and dra­ "Concerning sex, my book says: sex is a the status of famous writer to ma hits unexpectedly, as when hell of a lot of fun, not shameful in any cult hero. In Stranger, Heinlein's simmering dissatisfaction aspect, and not a bit sacred." (229) with Scribner's turns to open war over Monogamy is described as a useful "so­ Heinlein wanted to address the the rejection of Starship Troopers. After cial pattern," but not connected in any two "sacred cows" of Western twelve successful novels, Scribner's re­ way to sin. And as sex is fun, religion is culture: monogamy and mon­ jected Troopers with a perfunctory note its antithesis. "My book says:· a personal and no explanation. The dispute led to God is unprovable, most unlikely, and otheism. He referred to it as his Heinlein's departure from the publisher, all contemporary theology is supersti­ "Sex and Jesus book." and the book went on to gamer Heinlein tious twaddle insulting to a mature his second Hugo award for best novel mind." (229) Agnosticism is only more (the first being for Double Star in 1956). acceptable in that it "pleads ignorance, er questioned the tastes of his admirers; utter intellectual bankruptcy, and gives The letters also chronicle the transi­ while he minimized his contacts with tion in the publishing industry from the up." All other religions are "Just as silly, "organized fandom," he did accept four and the very notion of 'worship' is intel­ period of self-censorship in the thirties fan-awarded Hugos. and forties to the introduction of sex and lectually on all fours with a jungle sav­ Because Grumbles is not explicitly violence in the fifties and sixties, both of age's appeasing of Mumbo Jumbo." concerned with politics or philosophy, which now seem mandatory in most fic­ (229) Almost everybody connected with there are few passages more than a tion. Heinlein's "juveniles" were ruth­ the book's production wanted him to couple of sentences long in which lessly purged of anything even remotely tone it down. "I know the story is shock':' Heinlein expresses his political opinions. suggesting sex, and his editor, a self- de­ ing," he wrote. "But I don't see how to The most direct and interesting political scribed "good Freudian," went to absurd take out the sex and the religion. If I do, discussion is in a letter dated April 19, lengths to blot out sexual symbols. there isn't any story left." (228) 1949, concerning the novel Red Planet. Heinlein's response was a lengthy com­ Heinlein's reaction to fame and pop­ Heinlein writes to his editor, "1 have one mentary on Freud, beginning "Freud ularity, and most of the "grumbles," can of my characters say that the right to was not a scientist; he was simply a bril­ be found in Chapter VIII, ''Fan Mail and bear arms is the basis of all human free­ liant charlatan." (66) Heinlein also had to Other Time Wasters." He refers to fan dom. I strongly believed that, but you re­ defend himself against a claim that his mail as "unsolicited letters from strang­ quired me to blue-pencil it." (54) In the books, which portrayed free-spirited ers," and seems constantly annoyed by three-page exegesis which follows, youths, caused juvenile delinquency. those whom he does not know who Heinlein makes a succinct case for his Heinlein thought this was nonsense, and want something from him. He is critical proposition, and states that he is "op­ believed that young people were far of those who write about him, and men­ posed to all attempts to license or restrict more perceptive and interested in seri­ tions incredulously one Heinlein "ex­ the arming of individuals." Such laws, ous issues than their parents. And any­ pert" whom he had never met. As the Heinlein writes, are "a violation of civil one who is familiar with the science­ years passed and his popularity grew, liberty, subversive of democratic politi­ fiction-reading section of the youth cul­ Heinlein became more exasperated. In cal institutions, and self-defeating in ture would know that they are unlikely 1964, he decided to cut off his fans and their purpose." Heinlein ruefully admit­ candidates for criminality. Imagine if end personal appearances. He wrote that ted, though, that even if he could con­ you will a young leather-clad crack­ he was "lowering the boom on all of it­ vince his editor to change her opinions, dealing gangster with an Uzi in one hand and if this makes me a rude son of a they would still be faced with selling the and a copy of Starman Jones in the other. bitch, so be it." (144) book to ."librarians and teachers" whom Heinlein was allowed more latitude in But even after this ultimatum, he assumes to be opponents of firearms. his later "adult" fiction, and the publish­ Heinlein made some attempts to accom­ In 1958, in response to a SANE ad er of Glory Road (1962) praised it for be- modate his fans; far from being rude, he campaign, a "pacifist-internationalist- Liberty 71 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 cum-clandestine Communist drive," likened his political views to those of Heinlein's writings (with some notable Heinlein started the Patrick Henry Ayn Rand, and one can find several exceptions) deals not with the ideas con­ League,. which opposed international Objectivist references in his work. The tained therein, but the problems associat­ atomic controls and world government. Hugo award-winning The Moon is Marsh ed with their publication. One also Wrote Heinlein, '1 wish some of those Mistress (1966) describes a lunar colonial wonders if these letters truly represent starry-eyed internationalists would go revolt against an oppressive, U.N. world Heinlein's most interesting private writ­ take a look at the illiterate, unwashed government. (Heinlein was very critical ings. There are none from World War II uncivilized billions whose noses they of. "One-Worlders.") 'The Professor," or his earlier days in the service, though a want to count in a 'world state'!" (210) one of the leaders of the revolution, ex­ 1973 letter makes passing reference to a plains his political beliefs: crisis with Japan "involving a war ulti­ "I'ma rational anarchist." matum that never got into the news" in He refers to fan mail as "un­ "1 don't know that brand.... But which he had a "front row seat." (99) what's this? A Randite?" Heinlein writes in this letter that he will solicited letters from strang­ '1 can get along with a Randite. A put a description of ~heevent in ers," and seems constantly rational anarchist believes that Grumbles, but it does not appear. annoyed by those whom he does concepts such as 'state' and 'socie­ The Heinleins travelled extensively, ty'and 'government' have no exis­ but there is very little concerning their not know who want something tence save as physically exemplified trips, and the lack of impressions from from him. In 1964, he decided in the acts of self-responsible indi­ anti-eommunist Heinlein's 1961 journey viduals. He believes that it is impos­ to Samarkand inside the Soviet Union is to cut off his fans and end per­ sible to shift blame, share blame, particularly discouraging. The reader is sonal appearances. He wrote distribute blame. .. as blame, guilt, referred to two articles on the visit re­ tJuzt he was "lowering the boom responsibility are matters taking place inside human beings singly and no­ printed in Expanded Universe (1980), but if on all of it-and if this makes where else. But being rational, he Heinlein wrote any letters during his ex­ me a rude son of a bitch, so be knows that not all individuals hold cursion, they do not appear. his evaluations, so he tries to live per­ it." fectly in an imperfect world. .. aware that his efforts will be less than per­ Heinlein had to defend him­ fect yet undismayed by self­ The League was not a serious effort, but knowledge of self-failure." self against the claim that his when it garnered greater than expected Rand is mentioned only once in the books, which portrayed free­ support, Heinlein let it continue. His at­ book, in a letter dated January 28, 1949: spirited youths, caused juvenile titude towards .the possibility and sur­ I have fallen ill of the desire to turn vivability of nuclear war is contained in out a "literary" job. Specifically, I delinquency. Imagine if you a sentence in a letter dated (significant­ would like to do a job somewhat like will a young leather-clad crack­ ly) November 16, 1961: "Our bomb shel­ Ayn Rand did in The Fountainhead, dealing gangster with ~n Uzi ter is completed and stocked...." (96) but with modern art, especially picto­ Heinlein was libertarian in his sym­ rial art, as my target. (94) in one hand and a copy of pathies, but the book makes no mention Unfortunately, Heinlein never went Starman Jones in the other. of contacts with the LP or any other li­ forward with this project. But he had an bertarian group. But Heinlein publicly undeniable Howard Roarkish streak, building two of his Grumbles From the Grave may be too homes ("I finally strong a title. Perhaps Complaints From the fired our silly archi­ Crypt would have been better.. 'T,he book tect and took over promises controversy, but is in fact fairly the job myself." tame. Heinlein promised to "name (125» and doing ex­ names," but those he names are not well tensive work land­ known. The letters also do not reveal scaping. anything about Heinlein's political views Grumbles From the that wasn't known before, and may even Grave is not a book understate them. for every libertarian. It is ironic that a man who craved pri­ Those with no inter­ vacy in life would want to publish a book est in science-fiction of personal letters after his death, and will probably find doubly so that the book clearly states his most of it dull. In irritation with fans, who will be the book's primary consumers. Yet a letter of / fact, many SF fans may find it dull as September 16, 1973, reveals part of his "It's nothing personally against you, sir-I just well. Most of the motivation. He was assembling the book want to be somebody." commentary on as a reward to his wife for putting up 72 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 with his "cantankerous ways." Heinlein swer is dishonest ..." difficult to follow at first, mainly because thought it would bring her "some re­ If the reader wants to read about of the Machiguenga lexicon, which the turn" after his death. So in a sense Heinlein and his ideas, skip over reader must figure out, a lexicon that in­ Grumbles From the Grave is a memorial to Grumbles and go directly to his novels. volves such terms as "Tasurinchi/'(God/ one of Heinlein's primary motivations, Left-libertarians should try Time Enough Messiah) "Kientibakuri," (the Devil) and and one most libertarians can respect: for Love, and right-libertarians will enjoy "seripigari" (sorcerer/witch doctor). cash. And this is something about which The Moon is a Harsh Mistress or Starship Nevertheless, The Storyteller is worth the he was always very straightforward: Troopers. And if the reader respects the time that elapses as we are captured by "when anyone asks me why I write, if it author and his motives, he will feel se­ its mysterious, exotic, and thought­ is a quick answer, standing up, I simply cure knowing that he is helping to keep provoking laissez-faire undertones. say, ~or money.' Any other short an- Heinlein's estate in the black. a -Richard Duenez Liberalism as the Mirror of Modernity - In a scant 106 pages, John Gray provides, in Liberalism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1986, $25.00hc, $9.95sc), one of the best introductions to the classical liberal Booknotes movement. It is written chiefly from a philosophical perspective; even its first section, devoted to the history of the movement, concentrates on the work of Although the Machiguengas shroud the philosophical theorists. But it never gets Tales with Morals - Mario boring or arcane (which is, I am told, the Vargas Llosa, libertarianism's favorite reason for their infanticide with mytholo­ gy, Saul unravels it through his role as an besetting sin of philosophy). Though it Latin American, takes us on a journey in covers a lot of territory, I will restrict my his latest novel, The Storyteller (New adopted Machiguenga "hablador," a mysterious form of oracle unique to the comments to two areas that are of special York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1989,246 pp., interest to me. $17.95)--eommencing in Lima, then mov­ Machiguenga communities. Saul evaluates both his own morality 1. Gray's discussion of Christianity's ing on to the Amazon jungle of Peru influence on the development of liberal where the Machiguenga Indians are wov­ and that of the Machiguengas by "story­ telling" a Machiguengan version ofa gen­ thought is right on target, and deserves en a theology and ethos by "El Hablador" careful consideration by those libertari­ (The Storyteller). esis{ and a messianic ontology. Saul tries to distinguish the justification, if any, for ans who like to make claims either for or "The Storyteller" is Saul Zuratas, a the infanticide practiced by the animal' against the Christian influence on their red-headed, half-Jewish, brilliant kingdom from that of remote, primitive, tradition~ Few other areas of intellectual Peruvian underground ethnologist. But indigenous society, neither of which has history are as prone to distortion at the his really outstanding feature is not his the means of properly caring for severely hands of people who care more for rheto­ scholastic accomplishments or bright red defo~ed and handicapped infants. It is a ric than for history and truth. hair, but his birthmark, an enlarged port question of utilitarianism versus natural 2. Gray makes an argument about the wine stain covering the right side of his rights. "minimum state" that every serious liber­ face. His nickname is thus "Mascarita" The introduction to the book de-" tarian, theorist should address: he pur­ (Mask Face). scribes Saul as "one of the most moving ports to demonstrate that minarchism is Saul's closest friend during the aca­ and extraordinary people Vargas Llosa "indefensible and, indeed, only partly co­ demic years he spent in Lima before his has ever created." I would add that The herent" (77). He makes a very good case, secretive, self-imposed exile to Storyteller is probably one of the most but, alas, 'his argument is crippled by a Machiguenga country is an unnamed fel­ cleverly-written works of the (I hope) lack of real consideration of "free­ low ethnology student who serves as the next president of Peru, who has arranged market" anarchism; aside from his dis­ novel's supporting character and narra­ the narrative to alternate between chap­ cussion of Nozick, anarchist ideas are not tor. The narrator is intrigued by Saul's ters using Saul's nameless friend (the nar­ mentioned in his account, and never once consciousness-a ~onsciousness that rator) as Saul's storyteller, and chapters does he suggest that anarchism became, struggles with not 0ttly his own "misfit­ using Saul as the Machiguengas' in essence, a culmination of classical lib­ tedness," but thel misfittedness of storyteller. eral ideology. In my judgment, this omis­ Amazonia's indigen~us people and ex­ Although I have not yet been able to sion amounts to a distortion. ploitation by every loutsider from mis­ find a copy of the original Spanish ver­ Still, the book is important. Gray be­ sionaries and "Yiracochas" (rural sion (El Hablador), Helen Lake appears to lieves that liberalism is the most modem developers) to anthrqpologists. have done a competent job of translating of political ideologies. No other ideology As Saul engrosse~ himself in the souls the work into English, perhaps even so directly confronts-and so eagerly ac­ of the Machiguengas} ~e must confront a over-Anglicizing it a little when, for ex­ comodates-the dominant aspects of seemingly shocking ~achiguenga law of ample, Saul repeatedly refers to his anon­ modem life: the rise of the "loose indi­ the jungle toward their own misfits­ ymous confidant as "pal" instead of vidual," the decline of religion, and the their birth-defected I newborns, whom "amigo." dangerous spectre of catastrophic war. they throw into t~e river to drown. Saul's storytelling is also somewhat His paean to the great liberal writers of Liberty 73 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 the past is admirable and correct: "in the would be easy to learn for just about eve­ English constructions are. You can't ex­ works of the great classical liberal think­ rybody, so that it could serve as every­ press simple logical concepts in a simple ers ... we have the most profound reflec­ body's second language, and therefore a way in English. Of course, English has the tive response to the dangers and worldwide lingua franca. In order to do disadvantage of having developed before opportunities of the modern age" (93). that, he regularized the spelling and logic did. With Loglan it's the reverse. So, -TimothyW. Virkkala grammar, and set up a flexible word­ the simplest possible logical connections derivation system whereby one could ac­ are expressed in Loglan with the simplest Tongues of Men and quire a large vocabulary in a short time. possible words: e, a, 0, u. Computers - Once in a blue moon In all of this he was pretty successful, but On the other hand, you have what a book comes along that gives me a long that was as far as he went. seems like a simple connective concept in term ecstatic brain-wallow. Hofstadter's All artificial languages that have been English: I am human if I am wise. Just an Godel, Escher, Bach was one, Rothbard's invented since Esperanto's debut in 1887 "if." Should be easily reducible to a logi­ For a New Liberty was another, and now (and there are hundreds of them) have cal set of truth-conditions, but it's not. there is James Cooke Brown's Loglan 1: gone the same route of regularization, What it breaks down to is this-this state­ A Logical Language (Gainesville, Fla.: and that's what they all mean when they ment as a whole is true if both Wand H The Loglan Institute, 1989, 559 pp., speak of themselves as '10gical." are true, or if W is false and H is true, or if $21.50). Loglan is logical in that sense, but also both Wand H are false. In short, it's Do we all remember the throwaway in a much deeper sense. An example is equivalent to saying: I am not wise and/ line in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress about how Loglan handles the awkward­ or I am human. Damned difficult to see in Manuel using the programming lan­ seeming symbolic logic that we learn in English, but easy in Loglan, because that's guage Loglan? Heinlein didn't make it school. It seems awkward because how they say it: Mi sadji noa humni (the up. Loglan is a real language, the first English handles such things clumsily and "noa" is a combination of "no," which ne­ principles of which were conceived in we're used to it. There are four basic con­ gates the first element, and the "a," mean­ 1955 by social psychologist and board­ nectives between ideas in any logic ing and/or.) game inventor James Cooke Brown. His system: The whole language is like that. primary goal was to test the Sapir-Whorf 1. Conjunction: I am wise and human. Learning grammar for most languages is hypothesis that the range of human The "and" signifies that I must be both like learning theology. This is the way it's thought is limited by the structure of lan­ wise and human for the statement to be done and never mind why-there are guage. This is big stuff in linguistics. In true. Call statement ''I am wise" ''W'' and things men were not meant to know. But simplistic layman's terms, if your lan­ statement "I am human" "H." Then for not so in Loglan. In spots, learning the guage lacks a future tense, it's hard to the double statement to be true, Wand H grammar is challenging, but only because think in terms of the future. And if the must both be true. In Loglan: Mi sadji e you're also learning about logic and think­ tense/mood/aspect structure of English humni. ing. And the lagniappe to all this is that verbs were more flexible, we'd find it a 2. Alternation: I am wise or human, or the incorporation of symbolic-logic princi­ lot easier to think in Einsteinian non­ both (sometimes stated ''I am wise and/ ples and the attendant non-ambiguity simultaneous terms. or human"). For the double statement to makes Loglan a prime candidate to be So Brown set out to devise a lan­ be true, either W or H must be true, or both a human and a cybernetic language. guage without limits. maybe both of them. In Loglan: Mi sadji a The word-derivation system is also in­ Don't, by the way, confuse this with humni. triguing. Words from the eight biggest Esperanto. I learned Esperanto as a boy, 3. Equivalence: I am wise if and only languages-from English down to and I'm now in the process of learning if human. For the double statement to be Japanese-are combined and whichever Loglan, so I know whereof I speak. true, both Wand H must be true, or both word is found to be the most recognizable Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto, had must be false. The double statement is not to the largest number of people is the a totally different goal in mind. His pur­ true if only one of them is true. In Loglan: word picked for inclusion in Loglan. A pose was to devise a language that Mi sadji 0 humni. good example is the word djano (pro­ nounced ja-no) which is derived from a 4. Independence: I combination of the Hindi jan, the Chinese am wise whether I j-dao, and the English know. All of these am human or not. For mean "know," and so does the Loglan. the double statement Loglan has attracted the attention of to be true, only W philosophers (Quine at Harvard, in partic­ must be true. The ular), logicians, computer scientists, an­ truth of H does not thropologists, science-fiction writers, and matter. In Loglan: Mi (of course) linguists. sadji u humni. And since we in the libertarian move­ If you think ment aspire to think logically, and would about it, these are in­ like it a lot if other people would give it a deed the basic four try, I commend Loglan and all its implica­ ways of connecting tions to your attention. At most, a solution statements in any­ to human irrationality, and at the very "Ifyou say, 'What is this, Russia?' one more time, body's logic. But note least, a terrific mind-game. ,Mr Mulholland, I'm sending you to Alaska!" how clumsy the ~RexF.May 74 Liberty Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 From Central Europe, with provides a number of instructive looks at objectivists and subjectivists can be Perspicacity - The great danger of the hermeneutic wing of the movement, it bridged, it is also worth noting that his intellectual life is parochialism; fish must is the discussions of ethics that are most essay-and almost all the essays in this travel in schools, but thinkers should ex­ interesting. Disagreements among liber­ volume-repudiate epistemological sub­ plore foreign waters. Modern libertari­ tarians over the subjective and objective jectivism, which some Austrian econo­ ans, it often seems, have too narrow a conceptions of value are causing much mists have charged is the inherent range of philosophical reading. Even confusion in the realm of ethics. Though danger of the ''hermeneutics'' of the when they dare brave the main stream of none of the authors approach the subject younger Austrian scholars. modern philosophy, they generally dip as I do (that is, correctly!), their discus­ The most astounding thing about this in only to prepare a condemnatory tract. sions are astute, and suggest that a middle book, however, is its style. Every essay I Pragmatism, positivism, linguistic analy­ ground can be reached. Indeed, Dumitru have read (no, I haven't read all thirty­ sis, existentialism-these are mostly for­ Ghise insists that "value is objective and nine, yet!) is eminently accessible. This is eign elements in the community of subjective at the same time. Without a rela­ saying a lot, for phenomenology has a libertarian scholars, and anathema to tion between an axiological object (material well-deserved reputation for opacity. In most libertarian intellectuals and ideo­ or ideal) which, through its qualities­ part this is due to the aims ofthe philoso­ logues. And phenomenology is simply be­ existing objectively, independent of and phy, which are ambitious. Another rea­ yond the pale. outside the consciousness of the one who son for opacity.is simply the perverse But it isn't, really. Phenomenologists perceives them-answers human require­ currents of academic tradition, currents have an ambitious program: phenome­ ments, aspirations, and wishes and a sub­ that also buffet English and American nology is the attempt to turn common ex­ ject ... one cannot conceive of either the philosophy. The editor and translators of perience into the ground of all genesis or the establishment of some val­ this volume deserve unreserved praise. philosophy and science without adding ue.... There is no break between exis­ For serious students of philosophy, any presuppositions to this experience, just tence and value, and no overlapping the Analecta Husserliana are well-worth by categorizing the recurring forms and either, but an intersection of a dialectical perusing. Indeed, if the reader can stand content of consciousness. Though it is all type, a conjunction ..." ("Man's Existence the occasional obligatory quotation from the rage on the European continent, it in the Realm ofValues," p. 263). Karl Marx (the essays are from Central has several interesting ties to the modern Though one of the lessons to be and East Europe, after all), this particular libertarian movement (which is most learned from the contributions of Ghise volume might even prove pleasurable. prominent in the English-speaking and others may be that the gulf between -TWV world). For instance, the Austrian School of Economics grew out of the same philo­ sophical environment as did the precur­ sors of the phenomenological movement (such as Brentano, Dilthey, Meinong,and Classified Advertisements Ehrenfels), and has many parallel inter­ ests and methods. Alfred Schutz, the man who met Ludwig von Mises at the Classified Advertising is available for $0.25 per word, plus $1.00 per insertion. 10% off American shore, was one of the most as­ for six or more insertions. Payment must accompany order. tute developers of Edmund Husserl's method. And today, several young neo­ Literature Walter Williams - Libertarian for Austrians are exploring something called President '92 - Quality Red, White, and Blue "hermeneutics," which is an offshoot of Don't Procrastinate! The time to stop the buttons with picture of Williams, Postpaid: Each the philosophy. anti-drug insanity is now! Send $5 for your per­ $2,3/$5,7/$10, 16/$20. Dept LI, 1239 Kenyon St Libertarians should approach the sonal freedom manual before it's too late! NW, Washington, DC 20010 Panarchy: Government by choice, not chance. ing to the power of the state. To learn more People-oriented Government not government­ "Contributions to Phenomenology by about it, write Jane Shaw, Political Economy oriented people. Idea whose time has come. Scholars from East-Central Europe," this Research Center, 502 S. 19th Avenue, Bozeman, Investigate a political system offering both hefty volume contains numerous essays MT 59715. Freedom and security. Ultimate Libertarianism exploring the phenomenological ap­ Newsletter. $8 year or $3 sample. Checks to proach to social theory, aesthetics, semi­ Merchandise LeGrand E. Day, Editor, Panarchy Dialectic, Box otics and ethics. Coming from behind the Enlargement of your favorite Burons (as fea­ 353 Reseda, CA91333. iron curtain, these essays provide per­ tured in Liberty) suitable for framing, $5.00. Any Personal spectives elf the phenomenological move­ two $7.50, three $10.00. Available in shrink­ wrapped matte frame, add $5.00 each. When or­ Gay libertarian man, 29, is interested in con­ ment rather different from what are dering, identify by punch line and/or subject tacting other gay libertarian men. Nonsmokers usually shown in the West. and issue of Liberty. Bob Ortin Baures, 2351 only. Occupant, 4 Bayside Village Place #307, Though Man Within His Life-World China Gulch Road, Jacksonville, OR 97530. San Francisco, CA 94HYJ. Liberty .75 Volume 3, Number 4 March 1990 Stephen Cox, "Isolating the Error of Isolationism," continued from page 19 accounts for the Soviet Union's failure, ble issue, that the wrong side may help the material and spiritual cost involved in the postwar world, to extend its sway the wrong, but the right must not help in such efforts-to oppose needless beyond Czechoslovakia? A nagging the right." military expenditure, to denounce real memory of the deals that Stalin made Isabel Paterson, who in The God of the waste of life, to educate people to the with Roosevelt? A subconscious aware­ Machine (1943) brilliantly adumbrated the abominable nature ofa militarized socie­ ness of its own mortal illness and even­ tyranny-cannot-forever-support-itself ar­ ty. But it is not the job of libertarians to tual death? Or an acute realization of the gument so ·often rehearsed by later liber­ suggest that domestic tyranny is the only dangers of a general war with NATO tarians, claimed with perfect truth that "If danger. forces occupying positions in the heart freedom were extinguished everywhere To detect the lack of verisimilitude in of Europe? in the world, the whole high energy pro­ the depictions of twentieth-century Only wishful thinking about life in duction system must break down and events produced by creedal isolationism, some other world will justify the view cease to function. No despotism can one need not be employed by Lockheed, that "just-Iet-them-destroy-themselves" maintain independently and indefinitely the Council on Foreign Relations, or the is the right prescription for all foreign a machine economy or a mechanized U.S. embassy in Managua; and one need ills. Such wishful thinking was not in army. But"-and this is an important not be a believer of the lie that American practice among certain hard-headed But-"until the batteries are completely taxpayers and conscripts should be will­ founders of the libertarian tradition. As exhausted, a despotism can do enormous ing to "pay any price, bear any burden" Robert S. Leiken recently observed in an damage." to project their country's power abroad. essay in the LA Times, John Stuart Mill The purpose of a prudent intervention One need only be prepared to look at maintained that "The doctrine of non­ is to keep damage from spreading to new history in a way that is not wholly intervention, to be a legitimate principle countries and to shorten its duration in bound by creedal thinking, however of morality, must be accepted by all gov­ countries already afflicted. This Finland high-minded. Unfortunately, a libertari­ ernments. The despots must consent to could not do; this the United States and an movement that is bound by creedal be bound by it as well as the free States. its allies have helped to do, though at isolationism will have little chance of Unless they do, the profession of it by enormous and often unnecessary cost. It serving liberty, because its creed will be free countries comes but to this misera- is the job of libertarians to try to reduce preached to a nearly empty church. 0

George H. Smith, "Scholarship as Leechcraft," continued from page 38

So how is it that the welfare­ versities, or because they couldn't stom­ welfare-intellectuals who were not even intellectual has so much spare time on ach the stifling, repressive atmosphere of libertarians, or anything close. I once at­ his hands? .He receives a full-time sala­ graduate schools. Nevertheless, they tended a conference on education spon­ ry, so doesn't that suggest that he has a wrote article after article, hammering out sored by a free-market foundation. full-time job? No, the "job" is more like the theoretical details that most libertari­ There were only a few libertarians in the welfare, so this fortunate intellectual has ans now take for granted. bunch; the rest were establishment plenty of time to kill-leisure made pos­ As libertarians became respectable­ educators and administrators. On those sible by the businessman's taxes. If the thanks in large measure to the efforts of rare occasions when a libertarian got a welfare-intellectual really wishes to pro­ market-intellectuals-money became word in edgewise, the establishment mote the values of the businessman, available from private institutions. clique listened condescendingly and why doesn't he do so with the business­ Market-intellectuals took heart. Now, fi­ then returned to talking among them­ man's tax money? Why should the busi­ nally, they could make a decent living selves about the pressing need for high­ nessman pay again? from their labor. But this didn't happen. er taxes. To those businessmen who are fond Instead, the money went to welfare­ The money invested in that useless of folksy, down-to-earth wisdom, I ask: intellectuals moonlighting in their spare conference could have supported a mar­ Have you ever heard the saying, "Don't time, or to those future welfare recipients ket-intellectual for many months. let the same dog bite you twice?" known as graduate students. Indeed, a Instead, a dozen anti-libertarians re­ Meanwhile, as the businessman re­ graduate student could receive more turned home after two days of chatting, covers from the second bite, the market money in one year than a market­ fat libertarian checks in hand. They intellectual is scraping together next intellectual had gotten in ten. The must have laughed all the way to the month's rent. market-intellectuals-those who had la­ bank. There is a tragic personal side to all bored long and hard for something they No libertarian foundation to help this. The libertarian intellectuals who be­ believed in-were left to twist in the market-intellectuals has been estab­ gan in the Sixties (when there was little wind. And twist most of them did, as lished or seriously considered. Every money available to anyone) were fired they struggled to make ends meet, and as year thousands of libertarian dollars dis­ by enthusiasm and dedication alone. they watched a new breed of welfare­ appear down the establishment rathole They didn't get credentials, either be­ intellectual rake in libertarian money. while brilliant and dedicated market­ cause they were uninterested in entering To add insult to injury, libertarian intellectuals go begging. Is this any way those bastions of welfare known as uni- money began pouring into the hands of to run a movement? (J 76 Liberty r Notes on Contributors

"Baloo" is the nom de plume of Rex F. May, WillUlm P. Moulton deals in antiques, antiqui­ whose cartoons appear in The Wall Street Journal ties and trilobites in northern Michigan. and other periodicals. Timothy O'Brien is a free-lance writer and R. W. Bradford is editor of Liberty. broadcast producer. He was twice a candidate for Stephen Cox, a senior editor of Liberty, is U.S. Congress. Associate Professor of Literature, University of Bob Ortin lives in southern Oregon. California, San Diego. Ron Paul was the Libertarian Party's candidate Brinn Doherty is editorial assistant at Liberty. for president in 1988, and is a former U.S. Richard N. Draheim, Jr., retired furniture mov­ Congressman from Texas. er, is at work on Dictator, a biography of Lincoln. Sheldon L. Richman is senior editor at the Richard Duenez of San Diego is a private inves­ Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason tigator specializing in workers' compensation University. cases. James S. Robbins is a doctoral candidate at the Karl Hess, a senior editor of Liberty, is also the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts editor of Libertarian Party News. His most recent University. book is Capitalism for Kids. Murray N. Rothbard, a senior editor of Liberty, John Hospers is editor of The Monist and author is the author of numerous books and articles. He of numerous articles and several works·of modern is the Vice President of Academic Affairs of the philosophy, including An Introduction to Philo­ Ludwig von Mises Institute. sophical Analysis, which has just recently been pub­ Jane S. Shaw, formerly Associate Economics lished in its third edition. Editor at Business Week, writes from Bozeman, Richard Kostelanetz is a writer and artist living Montana. in New York. His most recent books are On George H. Smith is a lecturer for the Cato Innovative Music(Uln)s and Conversing with Cage. Institute and the Institute for Humane Studies. He R. K. Lamb is an American writer living in is currently completing work on a book, Education Hong Kong. and Liberty: The Separation of School and State. Loren E. Lomasky is Professor of Philosophy at Timothy Virkkala is assistant editor of Liberty. the University of Minnesota, Duluth. He is the au­ Leland B. Yeager is Ludwig von Mises thor of Persons, Rights, and the Moral Community. Professor of Economics at Auburn University.

Coming in Liberty ...

• The End of Conservatism - Are you unable to tell a neo-eon from a paleo-con at 300 yards? You used to know pretty much what conservatism stood for, whether you liked it or loathed it ... Bill Moulton untangles the gordian knot, and analyzes the recent moveto submerge libertarianism within conservatism. • What Population Crisis? - Jane S. Shaw sifts through the hysteria about population growth, and explains why things are not nearly as bad as the crisis-mongers would have us believe,and how the real problems entailed by population growth can be averted. • Novelist, Naturalist, Anarchist, Monkey Wrencher - Bill Kauffman surveys the life and work of Edward Abbey, maverick novelist of the American West, inspiration to a new generation of ecologi­ cal saboteurs. •A Management Consultant Looks at the Libertarian Party -Ronald E. Merrill offers his expert advice to the Libertarian Party and explains why the Party will probably ignore it. ,

Tokyo Crystal Falls, Mich. Advance in the science of public relations, as reported on "To­ The beneficial effects of citizen involvement in the War on day's Japan," onNHK-1V: Drugs, from a dispatch from the Detroit Free Press: The Japanese Public Employment Security Commission has re­ Volunteer drug undercover agent Wendy Stanek described her first named itself, "Hello, World" big bust: UIt was a piece of cake, in and out and just like buying grocer­ ies. One of the guys I busted was my lifelong friend. He came to me and U.S.A. I said, COh my God, I don't want to hear that.'" But she turned him in Note to princesses in search ofprinces, as reported in the author­ anyway. itative National Enquirer: Mrs Stanek was inspired to become an undercover agent by the Because the skin of certain toads contains a chemical substance be­ c-drug-related" death of her son in an automobile accident, in which a lieved to cause a "high" when eaten, it is now a felony in the United marijuana pipe was found in the toe of the shoe of one of the passengers. States to lick toads. A drug enforcement agent who asked not to be named said that he didn't know of anyone arrested yet for toad licking, U.S.A. but he added, "It is in the same category of illegal drugs as heroin and Interesting observation on the track record of Soviet communism, LSD. It's a felony to possess it and a felony to use the drug." from Nobel-laureate Paul Samuelson, in his widely-used undergraduate economics textbook, Economics: Benin UWhat counts is results, and there can be no doubt that the Soviet Linguistic progress in West Africa, as reported by The Wall planning system has been a powerful engine for economic growth." Street Journal: Benin is in step with events in Eastern Europe. On Dec. 8, the gov­ London ernment of Benin issued an official proclamation: "From now on Marx­ "Out with the old and in with the new," as reported by the Lon­ ism-Leninism is no longer the official ideology ... Consequently, the don Sunday Ti",es: use of the tenn -comrade' is no longer mandatory." Britishers who wanted to dance on New Year's Eve were prohibited by the Sunday Observance Law of 1780, which prohibits dancing in Washington, D.C. commercial establishments on the Sabbath, unless the establishment is a The value of psychiatric research for the safety of public ser­ museum, botanical garden, aquarium or zoo. John Roberts, secretary of vants, as demonstrated in a dispatch in the Detroit News: the Lord's Day Observance Society, which policed the celebrations, Park Deitz, a California psychiatrist, has concluded a study of 200 commented: "Sunday, whether it is New Year's Eve or not, should be set "inappropriate" letters to members of Congress. The study concluded aside for worship and rest." that more than 80% of writers of "inappropriate" letters were male, more than 95% identify themselves, and that "about 90%" are mentally Pontiac, Mich. ill. The study cost taxpayers $400,000, or about $2,000 per uinappropri­ Evidence that justice is not blind in the Wolverine State, as re­ ate" letter. ported in the DetroitNews: Islamabad, Pakistan Brent Nelson, who wore four gold chains, a gold chann and six gold The protection of traditional family values in Pakistan, as report­ rings at his court appearance, was sentenced to two years probation and six ed by the Associated Press: month's of electronic tethering to his home for the crime oflying about his uRape victims in Pakistan seldom bring charges against their attack­ identity to a merchant. Judge David Breck explained the the unusually stiff ers' out offear of being accused of willingly having illicit sex, which is sentence: UIt offended me, wearing all that jewelry." punishable by stoning to death. uTo disprove the charge, a woman needs to find four men to testify Anderson, S.C. that she was sexually assaulted, or get the rapist to confess. A woman's Privatization of law enforcement in America's South, as reported testimony, even the victim's, doesn't count." in the Chicago Tribune: "Need Cash? Tum in a dope dealer." That's the message on bill­ boards going up in Anderson. 1'1 want people to realize that they can make some really good money, depending on how much they cooper­ ate," added Sheriff Gene Taylor. He promised to pay bonuses to infor­ mants who agree to testify in court. The United Nations Why drug legalization won't work, according to Francisco Ra­ mos-Galino, director of the UN Division of Narcatic Drugs, as reported by Vienna Radio Service: UThe State, the United Nations, and Society--everyone-would sim­ ply shift the responsibility to individuals." (Readers are encouraged to forward newsclippings or other docu­ ments for publication in Terra Incognita.) .

78 Liberty Attend The Ludwig von Mises Insti- the economics. There will also be a tute's O. ~ Alford III Center again seminar on effective writing. presents the ultimate Aus-"L d · The "Mises University" trian economics week. At U WIg includes world-class teach- Stanford University in Palo, . ing; dormitory housing; Alto, California, from July • three excellent meals a day; 7-14, 1990, a 14- '~on study materials; li- ~ se-s member Misesian de- V brary privileges (4.5 partment will teach U. ·ty" million volumes); ex- under the direction of ill'~e~Sl tensive cultural, rec- the leading Austrian ~ V ~ ~ I reational, and athletic economist in the . facilities; and a mag- world, Professor Murray N. Roth- nificent climate. bard. The fee is $695; students are Students will be able to "spe- $100. Some full scholarships and cialize" and programs will be avail- travel grants are available. able at the introductory, interme- .' For more information, write the diate, and advanced levels. The 56 Ludwig von Mises Institute, Au- classes range from the history of burn University, Auburn, Alabama thought to the future of Austrian 36849, (205) 844-2500.

~ INSTITUTE Auburn University. Auburn, Alabama 36849 • (205) 844- 2500 Stimulate Your Mind! One way to make those winter days less dreary and those winter nights more fun is to stimulate your mind. There is a world of good reading in Liberty ...·and there has been ever since Liberty began publishing! Happily, copies of all editions of Liberty are available at very reasonable prices. Whether you want to catch up on what you missed, stimulate your mind, or complete your collection, nOw is a good time to buy. The first issue is a reprint; all others are original printings. Enjoy! Back Issues of Liberty August1987 byJohn Dentinger, Walter Block, James Robbins, Stephen Cox and others. • 'TheFilms ofAyn Rand," by Stephen Cox (80 pages) • 'Witch-Bashing, Book Burning, and Prof. Harold Hill's Lessons in January 19. Practical Politics," byButler Shaffer • "Public Oloice: A Useful Tool," byJaneS. Shaw Plus reviews and articles by Murray Rothbard, Ida Walters, Ross • "High Noonfor the Libertarian Party?" by Chester Alan Arthur Overbeek and others; and a short story byJo McIntyre. (48 pages) Plus writings by Leland Yeager, William Niskanen, John Hospers and oth­ Odober1987 ers; and a short story byJeffrey Olson. 02 pages) • "TheSociology of Libertarians," byJ. C. Green andJ. L. Guth March 1989 • 'TheRise of the Statism," by Murray N. Rothbard • "Ronald Reagan: An Autopsy," byMurray N. Rothbard Plus reviews and articles by Mike Holmes, Tibor Machan, William • ''WhatifEverything YouKnew About Safety Was Wrong?" by John Moulton and othe~; and a short story by FranklinSanders. (48 pages) Semmens and DianneKresich December1987 Plus articles and reviewsby Stephen Cox, Jeffrey Friedman, TIbor Ma­ • "Libertarians in a State RWl World," byMurray N. Rothbard chan, David Ramsay Steele, Michael Krauss, and others. (72 p~ges) • "TheMost UnforgettableLibertarian I Ever Knew," by Karl Hess May 1989 Plus essays and reviews by Stephen Cox, Walter Block, Mark Skousen and • ''Man, Nature, and State," by Karl Hess,Jr others; and a short story by David Galland. (56 pages) • "A Conspiracy ofSilence: Uncovering theMedia's Election Night 'Cov­ March 1988 erage' Policy," by Margaret M. Fries • "Libertarians and Conservatives: Allies or Enemies?" byJohn Dentinger Plus articles and reviews by Murray N. Rothbard, Stephen Cox, Justin Rai­ and Murray Rothbard mondo/ Phillip Salin, JaneS. Shaw and others; and a short story byJef­ • "FreeSpeech and theFutureofMedicine," by S. Shaw &t D. Pearson frey Olson. (72 pages) Plus reviews and articles by Ross Overbeek, Stephen Cox, and others; and July 1989 a short story by Raul Santana. (64 pages) • "Viking Iceland: Anarchy That Worked," by David Friedman May1988 • "The Myth of theRights ofMental Patients," by Thomas Szasz • 'The ACLU: Suspicious Principles, Salutary Effects," by W. P. Moulton • "Puritanism Comes Full Circle," byJeffrey A. Tucker • "Nicaragua: A Front Line Report," by Gary Alexander Plus articles and reviews by Tibor Machan, John Hospers, RW. Bradford, Plus reviews and articles by Nathaniel Branden,Jeff Hummel, Sheldon Murray Rothbard, Jane Shaw, and others. (80 pages) Richman, David Steele, David Brown, and others. (64 pages) September1989 July 1988 • "The Taboo Against the Truth: Holocausts and the Historians/' by • "Rebel Without a Clue: Lessons from the Mecham Experience," by Matt Ralph Raico Kessler • ''My Break With Branden and the Rand Cult," by Murray N. 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(72 pages) and others; and a short story by Erika Holzer. (80 pages) January 1990 November1988 • "TheDeath ofSocialism," by RW. Bradford, Stephen Cox and others • "TakingOver the Roads," byJohn Semmens • "The Greenhouse Effed," by Patrick J. Michaels • "TheSearchfor Wt The Uving," byR W. Bradford Plus articles and reviews by Richard Kostelanetz, Sheldon Richman, Plus a symposiumonHoppe's Argumentation Ethics featuring David Uewelyn Rockwell, Charles Rowley, Richard Wagner and others; and Friedman, Murray Rothbard, Tibor Machan and others; plus writings an interview with Barbara Branden. (80 pages) r------,Please send me the back issues of Liberty I have·selected below. .. (If outside North America, add $1 per issue.) I I Q My check is enclosed (payable to Liberty) Aug. '87/ $4.00 __ Jan. '89, $4.00 __ Q Charge my 0 VISA 0 Mastercard Exp _ Oct. '87/ $4.50 -_ Mar. '89/ $4.00 -- I I Account # Dec. 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