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I usually get
a lot of responses to my columns
on LewRockwell.com. Most times, 50 or so; however, sometimes I receive
into the 300 range in this regard. I try to answer all letters (except
the really vicious ones). Please excuse me, though, if, sometimes,
I do not give your very excellent replies the full responses they
really deserve.
Every once
in a while some letters are sent to me that, along with my answers,
might be of interest to a general (well, Austro-libertarian oriented)
audience, such as those who avidly follow LewRockwell.com, as I
do. (Indeed, if I do not get my almost daily "fix" of
LRC, I am even more irritable than ordinarily so.)
In any
case, I thought I would share two recent missives with you, along
with my reaction to them. Here goes.
I. Ex student
This one
is from an ex student of mine. He is one of the most brilliant students
I have ever had, anywhere, in some 4 decades at university. Yet,
this young man teaches in a high school, to the great loss
of education in particular and liberty in general. He writes as
follows:
Dear Walter,
I’m sorry I
missed the get-together in August. How are things with you?
Do you have a fresh batch of seniors this semester, or are you just
doing research? For my own part, school has hit me like a
stack of bricks. I am teaching four classes and have three
preps, but I have some terrific kids.
I read an Economist
article yesterday praising the government for bailing out Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac and was shocked that such an august publication
could be so short-sighted. I talked about it with my liberal
girlfriend and for the first time admitted the extent of my libertarian
sympathies. She cried when I said I didn’t think people had
a right to food. What does one do? I am very tight-lipped
about politics for exactly this reason.
Hope all is
well,
Signed X
Dear X:
I’m doing both:
research, and trying to help promote my students’ careers (speaking
of which, when are you going to get your PhD and teach at university
level, you rotten kid?)
Maybe, tell
your girlfriend that ceteris paribus, more people, paradoxically,
actually starve in societies where they believe in rights to food
than where they don’t. Ask which is more important to her: people
having rights to food plus having little or no food, or, no rights
to food, but plenty of food. Or, get another girlfriend? They don’t
call me Walter "Advice to the Lovelorn" Block, for nothing.
Or, maybe, I should change my name to Aunt Walter?
Is it okay
to use this material for a column I’m going to write? I certainly
won’t mention your name.
Best regards,
Walter
Some further
thoughts on this correspondence. There is no better place to access
the Austro-libertarian view on Fannie and Freddie than the Mises
web. While other so-called "free enterprise" think tanks
are taking the position that this plethora of government bailouts
is "justified" or "necessary," or "required,"
people associated with LRC take a very clear libertarian position.
My favorite on this subject, at least so far, are these
two,
both written by the same person. A prize to those who can guess
his identity. No peeking!
There is nothing
wrong with teaching in a high school. I’m sure that the kids instructed
by this former student of mine will be all the better for it. But,
I have not had a brighter student, a more articulate one, a better
writer, than this young man. His high school’s gain is a loss to
the cause of liberty, given that he could do so much more at a university,
particularly at a graduate school.
As to Aunt
Walter’s advice to the lovelorn, it is tough to be a young male
libertarian. At most gatherings where they frequent, the male–female
ratio is about ten or twenty to one. For example, at the recent
Mises University (look
at the picture; see how many women you can find), my estimate is
that there were almost 200 students; about 15 or so of them were
female. (Hint for young ladies: a word to the wise is sufficient.)
Nor is this merely a modern problem for male libertarians. Things
have always been this way; I can attest to this, at least from 1962,
when I first became a libertarian.
What to do?
Well, get a non-libertarian girlfriend. Now what? Keep quiet about
one of the most important things in your life? Well, engineers,
computer nerds, physicists, mathematicians, etc., do not share their
technical lives with their wives or girlfriends. Of course, libertarianism
is different. It is the rare BBQ, dinner party or PTA meeting
where such narrow scientific issues are discussed. But the state
of the union, unemployment, foreign policy, elections, feminism,
environmentalism, discrimination, etc., are usually at the tip of
everyone’s tongue, and libertarians have passionately strong views
on all of them. Three hints: one, keep dating until you find someone
who can tolerate your views without crying or screaming at you.
This girl need not be a libertarian; mere toleration is quite
enough; hey, more than enough. Two, engage in a do-it-yourself project:
try to convert your date to the one true faith. Three, don’t awfulize
about your failures. Instead, keep trying. If at first you don’t
succeed… As an aid, read this
book.
II.
Over the transom
Here is
the second letter I now wish to share with you. I don’t know this
person at all, but, hopefully, this exchange between us will be
of interest to you. This letter was originally sent to Lew Rockwell,
but Lew asked me to address it.
From: Llewellyn
Rockwell
Sent: Sun 9/14/2008 2:54 PM
To: Walter
Block
Subject: Fwd: Civil Service
Sounds like
he needs a Blockian response...
From: Walter
Block
Sent: Mon 9/15/2008 6:44 PM
To: Lew Rockwell
Cc: Christopher Cambra
Subject: RE: Civil Service
Mr. Rockwell,
I am a 22-year-old political science major at the University of
Massachusetts. Many of my socialist teachers call me a hypocrite
for being anti-state yet attending a state school, yet I consider
myself a good capitalist for taking advantage of the inherent inefficiencies
of government. Either way I do what I can to be the best libertarian
I can be. I read your blog everyday and listen to your podcasts,
I volunteered for Dr. Paul on the ground in New Hampshire last January.
The more I read your blog and other libertarian writings, especially
those of Dr. Murray Rothbard, the more I realize not only am I a
libertarian but I was born a libertarian. My question to you or
to any libertarian theorists is about the possibility and implications
of an upcoming draft. The idea of serving the state goes against
nearly all libertarian principles especially the non-aggression
axiom, however I also feel urged to follow the laws of the land
even if I disagree with them. I know Dr. Paul has recently advocated
acts of non-violent protest, but I also know during the Korean War
he served in the military, as did my own grandfather. Are there
any other libertarian writings about the responsibility of the individual
during a time of the draft? I apologize for being verbose. Especially
if this has already been addressed on your blog. Thank You.
Christopher
Cambra.
Dear Christopher:
As you can
see, Lew Rockwell asked me to respond to your letter.
With regard
to the first item, I entirely agree with you. I think you are fully
justified in going to a state school, and, also, walking on state
streets, riding on government highways, using US currency, mailing
letters, borrowing books from statist libraries, etc. I've written
a bit on this, see here,
here,
here
and here.
Maybe start with Ron Paul and matching funds, then go to Arakaky.
Please read these, and if you have any questions, responses, do
share them with me.
 As
for hypocrisy, if you don't mind failing your courses, ask your
pinko professors if they have a car, house, tennis racket, golf
clubs, television, computer, etc., and how they square these possessions
with their crappy egalitarianism. Better yet, shut up, get your
degree, get a PhD, become a libertarian professor, and join those
of us who are dedicating their lives to opposing commie profs, among
others. Do attend a Mises
event; you'll be among friends.
As to the second,
here
is a paper I wrote quite a while ago on libertarianism and the draft,
attacking Milton Friedman for his support of the voluntary military.
It is not exactly on point re your query, but you might find it
to be of interest.
Best regards,
Walter E. Block, Ph.D.
 Further
thoughts. I wish I had recommended, in addition, some of the many
publications by Laurence
M. Vance on war, the draft, and the moral or proper (e.g., libertarian)
reaction to them.
I now notice,
reading both of these responses of mine a short time after I first
wrote them, that I am encouraging both of these young men to become
professional libertarians. I think that because as I am nearing
the end of my career (well, I’m 67, but I’m a young 67; I
don’t look a day older than 66), I want to ensure that the baton
that was in effect handed on to people of my generation by the likes
of Mises, Rothbard, Hayek, and many, many others, continues to be
carried. There are very few things more precious than liberty, and
all of them are greatly enhanced by liberty. What could be a more
satisfying career for someone who shares our views? Hayek and Mises
are reputed to have said that they expected the libertarian movement
would end with their passing. Happily, this did not occur. Far from
it, judging from the quantity and quality of young people associated
with the Mises Institute. But, if some is good, more is better.
Let’s everyone get off their rear ends and promote liberty!
September
23, 2008
Dr.
Block [send him mail] is a
professor of economics at Loyola University New Orleans, and a senior
fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He is the author of Defending
the Undefendable and the newly released Labor
Economics From A Free Market Perspective.
Walter
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