The Crash of '97: J_an_u_ar:.-y1_99_8 ..:..-V_ol_,1_l,_N_o,_3 $4_,_00 Prelude to Disaster? "Individuality is the arm ofpolitical liberty. " -James Fenimore Cooper This specialseries oftalks andpanels is yoursfor only $105 (video) orjust $35 (audiocassette): The Problems and Challenges ofWriting Rand's Biography. Featuring Barbara Branden. (Audio: A225; Video: V225) Arguing with Ayn Rand. Featuring Rand's friend, eminent philosopher John Hospers. (Audio: A226; Video: V226) Ayn Rand's Ethics. Is egoism ancient? The Russian Radical . .. Featuring Nietzsche scholar Lester Chris Sciabarra's breakthrough study ofRand's Hunt. (Audio: A227; Video: philosophical origins has challenged thousands of V227) readers. A fascinating re-interpretation ofRand's whole That Fountainhead Rape. A approach to philosophy. discussion ofRand's sex '~The most thorough and scholarly work ever scenes, featuring Barbara done on Ayn Rand. " -John Hospers Branden. 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Send-----------------------------to: Liberty Foundation, Dept BC63, P.O. Box 1181, Port Townsend, WA 98368 '" Please add shipping & handling as indicated above. .I January 1998 Inside Liberty Volume 11, Number 3 4 Letters Everybody's a critic. 7 Reflections Liberty's editors negotiate with the Secret Service, caddy for the president, shoot BBs at dead pigs, poke around in the vein of a hell-bent American writer, and take the logic of the 9th Circuit Court and run with it. 15 Achieving Liberty What can be done, today, to make the world a freer place? Timothy Virkkala and David F. Nolan rethink. Features 19 The Crash That Wasn't The world's equity markets weathered a "gale of creative destruction." Richard Stroup offers a forecast. 21 The Man Who Would Unseat Whitman Mike Buoncristiano tells what went wrong with the most promising Libertarian Party campaign in years. George Reis, Jo Jorgenson, and Vin Suprynowicz offer additional perspectives. 25 Of Rednecks and Caryatids Pierre Lemieux strikes a balance between the cultures of individualist America and individualist France. 29 Mail from Malawi Richard Rieben finds East Africa more exhausted than exotic. 31 The Fight For Medical Marijuana Paul Armentano chronicles the war. 33 Thirty-four Curious Facts About Marijuana Steve Cason provides a list that is, if not definitive, definitely curious. 38 What Am I Doing Here? Rycke Brown finds herself a martyr to the War on Drugs. 39 Free-Market Money Richard Timberlake explains why the best alter­ native to central banking is not the gold standard, but something freer. 45 For Mises' Sake Tom Palmer wonders: is the Ludwig von Mises Institute . worthy of its namesake? 48 Expectations and the End of Central Banking Roger Garrison and Leland Yeager find the expectations that rule society less rational than do some other economists, including Harry Watson and Ida Waiters. 55 The Devil's Reading List It is fashionable, among literary educators, to deny the existence of "great literature." But, as Stephen Cox shows, even college professors know truly bad writing when they see it. Reviews 61 The Unmaking of an Ideology Jane S. Shaw traces the strange evolution of Robert Heilbroner, worldly philosopher. 63 Epistles from the Edge Thomas Knapp reads the early letters of the God of Gonzo. 64 Master Spy, Mister Liar Richard Kostelanetz doubts that Markus Wolf, late of the East German spy network, is all that honest an autobiographer. 66 A Sewer Runs Through It Brien Bartels finds a hologram of Ayn Rand, an Objectivist anti-hero, and a whole new meaning of "marginal utilities." 67 Booknotes on the Apostle Paul, Vaclav Klaus, farmer Lear, the women of the Bauhaus, fires holy and fires unfriendly, and an end to smoking. 68 Classified Advertising 70 Notes on Contributors January 1998 The Unimportance of Ideas Letters It maybe that Alan Greenspan, J deep within himself, believes in liberty. The question is, does he contribute to it? As chairman of the Federal Reserve Educate This! offered John Galt: economic dictator of Board, Greenspan symbolizes govern­ Lawrence Ludlow (Letters, Novem­ the country. ment control over the economy. He ber 1997) makes a very good point on As chairman of the Federal Reserve exercises and wields government the essential injustice of forcing child­ System, Greenspan continues Paul power. less people to subsidize the education Volker's fight against inflation, thereby As an Objectivist, Greenspan is a pf the children of "breeders" like my making the dollar a safe store of value wonderful symbol of the unimportance ~ife. and me. I agree that education again, igniting the stock market, leaving of ideas. You can be an Objectivist and !sh'aUld be a private business. However, more money in the hands of the produc­ the wielder of enormous political he hysterically exaggerates the real tive, and, through reduced inflation, power over the economy at the same value of our "subsidy." I guarantee that less in the hands of the parasites. time. There is no such thing as a contra­ the "education" a youngster in Califor­ Alan's secret ally, former Goldwater diction. A is not A. nia (or here in Georgia) receives is girl Hillary Clinton, thwarts the liberal Greenspan is not an innocent hardly worth $5,400 a year. In reality, it plan for national health care by appoint­ worker doing a legitimate job in a might be negative dollars. Perhaps the ing the most incompetent person she world where there is no reasonable state should be paying us parents for can find to head the Health Care Task alternative to state employment. He the tort damage they are doing to our Force: Ira Magaziner, whose prior job heads an agency which exerts enor­ children: locking them up and indoctri­ was PR flack for cold fusion! (I'm not mous control over people's lives and nating them with 12 years of statist lies. making this up: see pages 49-52 of property, an agency whose power is Mr. Ludlow, I think the damage being "Cold Fusion" by John R. Huizenga, utterly illegitimate and immoral. For done to the minds of three future citi­ Oxford University Press, 1993.) Her that he should be called to account, not zens is easily worth more than the pal­ efforts are amazingly successful: in celebrated. try $200,000 you will pay in your life! 1994, she single-handedly elects a Paul Grant By the way, Lawrence, please don't Republican House, Senate, and majority Parker, Colo. collect any social security benefits of Governors. Every high-level Republi­ when you get old, because my "hide­ can incumbent is re-elected. The Fusionist Who Came in From ous progeny" would then have to pay Meanwhile, Bill Clinton sells out his the Cold the cost of keeping your parasitic ass . liberal allies, brings theboys home from In his mean-spirited attempt to confortable on it's bedpan. Europe, ends federal welfare, balances make Ludwig von Mises look good by Steve Olivier thebudget, and wins re-election over making F.