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The Freeman 1997 THEFREEMAN IDEAS ON LIBERTY FEATURES 252 Free Trade and Human Rights in China by James A. Dorn How free trade promotes human rights around the world. 256 What We Know, When We Know It by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. Another Nobel Prize for irrelevant trivia. 260 Wisdom of a "Liberal" Giant by William H. Peterson The economic principles ofLudwig von Mises. 266 Government Schooling: The Bureaucratization ofthe Mind by Thomas E. Lehman Why privatization is the only "education reform" that can succeed. 270 The Moral Obligations ofWorkers by Jeffrey Tucker The free market promotes productive and ethical labor relations. 276 American Labor Law-Bad and Still Getting Worse by George C. Leef Legislation has corrupted labor relations. 279 Life, Liberty, and Pizza Delivery by Thomas J. DiLorenzo How the free market eliminates "service redlining." 281 Free-Market Emancipation by Karol Boudreaux How competitive markets freed slaves in Colonial America. 285 A Friendly View ofDealing by Tibor R. Machan The justice of free exchange. 287 Benefit Societies in America: The Way It Used to Be by Michael 1. Probst Benefit societies can provide genuine welfare reform. 290 How Galveston Opted Out of Social Security by Ed Myers One county's success in privatizing Social Security. 293 The True American Tradition by Wesley Allen Riddle We ignore our constitutional history at our peril. 295 Atlas Shrugged Revisited: FortyYears ofVoicing the Philosophy of Freedom by Edward W Younkins Ayn Rand's masterpiece lives on. 299 Private Property and "Social" Justice byAntony Flew The charade of"social justice" is exposed. 302 Free-Born John Lilburne: Mighty Martyr for Liberty by Jim Powell A seventeenth-century champion oflimited government. COLUMNS Center NOTES from FEE-A Farewell by Hans F: Sennholz 264 IDEAS and CONSEQUENCES-The New Zealand "Revolution" by Lawrence W Reed 283 POTOMAC PRINCIPLES-The New Assault on Capitalism by Doug Bandow 314 ECONOMICS on TRIAL-What's the Best Measure of Inflation? by Mark Skousen DEPARTMENTS 250 Perspective-Thomas J. DiLorenzo, Thomas Jefferson, John Randolph 316 Book Reviews -Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics by George Reisman, reviewed by Jim Powell; The Pyramid by Ismail Kadare, reviewed by Richard A. Cooper; Sovereign Nations or Reservations? An Economic History ofAmerican Indians by Terry L. Anderson, reviewed by Bruce L. Benson; Jefferson's "Bible": The Life and Morals ofJesus of Nazareth by Thomas Jefferson, reviewed by William H. Peterson; Migrations and Cultures by Thomas Sowell, reviewed by George C. Leef. THEFREEMAN IDEAS ON LIBERTY PERSPECTIVE Published by George Washington on The Foundation for Economic Education Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 10533 The Role of Government Phone (914) 591-7230 FAX (914) 591-8910 E-mail: [email protected] Lost in the fog of another presidential FEE Home Page: http://www.fee.org election year was the fact that 1996 was also President: Hans F. Sennholz the bicentennial of one of the greatest Managing Editor: Beth A. Hoffman speeches ever made by an American presi­ Guest Editor: Thomas J. DiLorenzo Editor Emeritus dent: George Washington's Farewell Address Paul L. Poirot to the Nation in September of 1796. Review­ Lewisburg, Pennsylvania Book Review Editor ing some of the highlights of Washington's George C. Leef last presidential address sadly reminds us of Adjunct Professor ofLaw and Economics, Northwood University how the American republic, as envisioned by Editorial Assistant the founding fathers, has been lost. But it also Mary Ann Murphy Columnists serves as an eternal road map for regaining Doug Bandow our freedoms. Cato Institute, Washington, D. C. Lawrence W. Reed Though he was the most famous military Mackinac Center for Public Policy .Midland, Michigan leader of his time, Washington disdained the Mark Skousen existence of a permanent military establish­ Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida ment. "Avoid the necessity of those over­ Contributing Editors Charles W. Baird grown Military establishments," he said, California State University, Hayward Peter J. Boettke "which, under any form of Government, are New York University inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be Clarence B. Carson American Textbook Committee regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Wadley, Alabama Liberty." Thomas J. DiLorenzo Loyola College, Baltimore, Maryland It is wise to assume that all politicians are Joseph S. Fulda New York, New York liars, Washington advised, for "one of the Bettina Bien Greaves expedients of Party to acquire influence, Resident Scholar, FEE John Hospers within particular Districts, is to misrepresent University of Southern California the opinions and aims of other Districts." Tibor R. Machan Auburn University Special-interest groups may "now and then Ronald Nash answer to popular ends," but as a rule they Reformed Theological Seminary Edmund A. Opitz should be despised. For they inevitably "be­ Chatham, Massachusetts James L. Payne come potent engines, by which cunning, am­ Sandpoint, Idaho bitious and unprincipled men will be enabled Jim Powell Westport, Connecticut to subvert the Power of the People, and to William H. Peterson Adjunct Scholar, Heritage Foundation, usurp for themselves the reins of Govern­ Washington, D. C. ment." It is "the interest and duty of a wise Jane S. Shaw PERC, Bozeman, Montana people," moreover, to "discourage and re­ Richard H. Timberlake strain" government power by every available University of Georgia means. The Freeman is the monthly publication of The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., Irvington-on-Hudson, NY lOS33. FEE, Washington would be appalled at all the established in 1946 by Leonard E. Read, is a non-political, educational foreign campaign contributions solicited by champion of private property, the free market, and limited government. FEE is classified as a 26 USC S01(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. today's politicians, for such solicitation Copyright © 1997 by The· Foundation for Economic Education. Permission is granted to reprint any article in this issue, except "John "opens the door to foreign influence and Lilburne," provided credit is given and two copies of the reprinted material are sent to FEE. corruption," whereby "the policy and the will The costs of Foundation projects and services are met through dona­ tions, which are invited in any amount. Donors of $30.00 or more receive ofone country, are subjected to the policy and a subscription to The Freeman. Student subscriptions are $10.00 for the nine-month academic year; $S.OO per semester. Additional copies of this will of another." issue of The Freeman are $3.00 each. For foreign delivery, a donation of The "Great rule of conduct for us" in $4S.00 a year is suggested to cover mailing costs. Bound volumes of The Freeman are available from The Foundation for foreign affairs ought to be to trade with other calendar years 1972 to date. The Freeman is available in microform from University Microfilms, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106. countries, but "to have with them as little 250 PERSPECTIVE political connection as possible" and to "steer Constitution for the United States and of clear of permanent Alliances, with any por­ amendments thereto, they constituted a gen­ tion of the foreign world" except in the case eral government for special purposes, dele­ of extraordinary emergencies. gated to that government certain definite Modern-day "judicial activism" would powers, reserving each state to itself, the likely cause Washington to reach for his residuary mass of right to their own self­ sword, for he believed it to be a devious means government; that whensoever the general of constitutional "change by usurpation" and government assumes undelegated powers, its a dire threat to liberty. Judicial activism is acts are unauthoritative, void, and ofno force: nothing less than "the customary weapon by That to this compact each state acceded as a which free governments are destroyed." state, and is an integral party, its co-states On economic policy George Washington forming, as to itself, the other party: That the favored strict laissez faire. Our commercial government created by this compact was not policy should "hold an equal and impartial made the exclusive or final judge ofthe extent hand: neither seeking nor granting exclusive of the powers delegated to itself; since that favors or preferences" to anyone. Instead, we would have made its discretion, and not the should rely on "consulting the natural course Constitution, the measure of its powers; but ofthings" and "forcing nothing" by legislation that as in all other cases of compact among and regulation. parties having no common judge, each party In Washington's eyes, a laissez-faire eco­ has an equal right to judge for itself ... nomic policy, minimal military establishment, --THOMAS JEFFERSON, the absence of entangling political alliances Kentucky Resolution of 1798 with foreign nations, and a Constitution that would perpetually confound special-interest Parchment Promises politics and keep the size and scope of gov­ ernment to a bare minimum were essential to I have no faith in parchment, sir, I have no "prevent our Nation from running the course faith in the abracadabra of the constitution; I which has hitherto marked the Destiny of have no faith in it. ... If, under a power to Nations." This message is just as important to regulate trade, you draw the last drop ofblood Americans in 1997 as it was in 1797. from ourveins; if ...you draw the last shilling --THOMASJ.DILoRENZO from our pockets, what are the
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