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Statement
of Walter Block
There is precedence
for publishing, on a co-authored basis, conversations,
or letters
between two parties, and this present correspondence is brought
to you on this basis. It began with a very complimentary letter
sent to me by Tennyson McCalla. On most such occasions I merely
write a brief letter of thanks, and let matters go at that. Rarely,
I receive a letter that touches me so deeply that I ask its author
to tell me a bit about himself. In the present case, in response
to such an inquiry not only did I think the correspondence was worthy
of greater circulation, but, as its author was a young black man,
this made it even more important for me to share this with others.
Why? Because I am of the opinion that the freedom philosophy is
valuable for all peoples, and that it is a crying shame that
so few members of the black community are even willing to give libertarianism
a hearing, let alone embrace it. In my opinion Mr. McCalla still
has some way to go before he can be considered a full libertarian,
but, as he is well on his way, and so eloquently expresses his views,
I thought it well worthwhile to publish this correspondence on LRC
with him.
Statement
of Tennyson McCalla
This
is a record of correspondence between Dr. Walter Block and me. It
began with this e-mail I originally wrote to Dr. Block on November
14th. After the last e-mail between us Dr. Block recommended
that I edit this correspondence, and contribute it with him to LRC.
I thank him for the opportunity.
11/14/06
To: Dr.
Walter Block
Subject:
The Patience of a Saint
I just had
the opportunity to watch the episode of "Our
Story" in which you appeared via a media link at the Mises Institute.
I must say you have the patience of a saint. I guess
that quality either comes from years of being a successful professor,
or is a pre-requisite for becoming a successful professor. The
thick-veil ignorance displayed by your two interlocutors and that
first caller was almost palpable through the monitor. Believe
when I say I sympathize with your situation. I have to go
through inane discussions like that all the time as the only black
adherent to the philosophy and economics of Capitalism / Classical
Liberalism / Austrian Economics that I personally know. The
black "community" seems to be masters of isolating, ostracizing,
and demonizing people who don't conform to their "groupthink."
I'm certainly
not as good at handling the situations as you are. Watching the
video and hearing the spurious "known facts" that the host and his
"brother" spout, or seeing them lose track of their own spiel and
switch talking points, brought out in me such a feeling of frustration
that I thought I would scream. I have trouble dealing with
blatant racists like the host of "Our Story"; I wish I had
your ability to coolly, calmly deal with them.
Keep fighting
the good fight for freedom Prof. Block,
Tennyson.
~ If we don't
stand for anything we will fall for everything
11/16/06
To: Tennyson
McCalla
Subject:
The Patience of a Saint
Dear Tennyson:
Thanks for
your very kind comments. Please tell me a bit about yourself. Are
you a student? How old are you? What do you do? How did you come
to your present views? Would it be okay with you if I shared this
correspondence with some black friends of mine who are also free
enterprise types like us? Do you know of any other black libertarians?
Best regards,
Walter
11/18/06
To: Dr.
Walter Block
Subject:
The Patience of a Saint
Thanks for
the quick reply, I must say it was unexpected. You deserve
every word of kind comments for that display of patience and unwavering
logic.
About myself?
I'm 23 years old, I live in NY. I attended a CUNY school
(Hunter College), and became dissatisfied with the intellectual
atmosphere I encountered. By the time I graduated high school
I had internalized that perennial victim mentality that so many
people of my hue exhibit. What I did have as an advantage
over so many others was an immigrant's love for America, its founding
philosophy of Liberty, and the resultant opportunities only available
in Liberty. At the time I didn't know anything about economics,
Mises, Rothbard, Reisman, or the enemies of free enterprise. I
certainly didn't know about Capitalism or Socialism/Communism except
as buzzwords.
I found college
intellectually dominated by Marxism and Chomsky. The most
active groups around were the ISO, the ISM, and some Green groups.
They set the agenda and I didn't begin to question any of
it for a while. I took only one economics course there, and
though the class in retrospect had a decidedly Keynesian-Neo-Classical
bent to it, I found it fascinating. My professors (e.g. anthropology,
psychology, and black and Latin studies) pushed disdain for Western
civilization and at times engaged more in propaganda than instruction.
I became so jaded with the prevailing mood expressed by the
Socialist or Third Way teachers, students, and TAs that I eventually
just left.
Today I'm a
professional photographer, and I have no desire to get back in the
clutches of the education industry. I had my first introduction
to Austrian economics on the internet. Plenty of conservative
and libertarian forums gave links to the LvMI website, and at first
I rejected it's "radical" conclusions. What really changed
me over was in trying to argue against it. I was never a subscriber
to Socialism or a Western thrall to the Soviets so I tried to argue
against points made by Rothbard, Reisman, and Mises from a hampered
Capitalist point of view. It didn't work. The force
of reason, and the evidence of history brought me to where I am.
Now I do what
I can to cement my thoughts on the complete separation of money
and state, school and state, business and state etc. before sharing
them with others. It's hard work, especially on my own, but
it's worth it. Reading Rothbard's What
Has Government Done to Our Money?, Education:
Free and Compulsory, George Reisman's articles on Capitalism.net,
and parts of his (enormous) book Capitalism:
A Treatise
on Economics
are some of my preparation. Bastiat has become a favorite
author of mine to recommend.
I don't mind
if you share any of this info with others. Suggestion on "black
libertarians": Google it.
Thanks again
for the reply Dr. Block,
Tennyson.
p.s. I downloaded
audio of yours earlier this year, specifically "Gold is free enterprise
money" and "Interventionism." I still refer back to them
to get the words and phrases I need to present a case for liberty
person to person.
11/20/06
To: Tennyson
McCalla
Subject:
The Patience of a Saint
Dear Tennyson:
I am taking
the liberty of sending you some readings that might be of interest
to you. This piece
by Roderick Long is, as far as I’m concerned, the best short explication
of the anarchist position.
I would like
you to consider co authoring this correspondence with me. Please
feel free to add to it, if you wish. I think it important that people
realize there are at least some black libertarians – more than they
realize – and these letters of yours would certainly help demonstrate
this.
What a moron
I am for not thinking to Google "black libertarians."
What disagreements
do you have with LRC authors?
Best regards,
Walter
11/22/06
To: Dr.
Walter Block
Subject:
The Patience of a Saint
Regarding differences
between Austrians, I wouldn't have imagined that there were so many
differences of opinion on certain things. The only disagreement
that I had been aware of was the split between Dr. Reisman and Dr.
Rothbard after Ayn Rand. I have always been more aligned with Dr.
Reisman than with any of the other authors on Mises.org. I know
that he disagreed with Mises about moral subjectivity. I disagree
with Dr. Reisman on the importance of Böhm-Bawerk's idea of
the labor theory of value. I disagree with Rothbard and his followers
about the Civil War. I disagree with pretty much everyone about
abortion. Objectivists that I'm in contact with find all this disagreement
among libertarians as proof of their hopelessness. Of course, I
disagree with the Objectivists.
World Wars
One and Two, I feel were defensive wars. In both, the government
would have been derelict in their duty had they not defended the
lives and liberties of Americans. I could make the argument for
Korea, but Vietnam is slightly beyond me. The current "war on terror"
if it were fought the right way, I could be behind 100 percent.
Since it isn't being fought the right way, I'm only supporting it
about 60 percent.
Thanks for
the link to the Anarchist piece by Roderick Long, it's very convincing,
and it even addressed my personal complaint about final authority.
I'm still not entirely convinced, but I suppose I'll have to think
about it for a longer time. The other links are icing on the cake.
You're not
a moron. Thinking to Google "black libertarians" would only occur
to the desperate.
Disagreements
with LRC authors? I hate bringing up disagreements with someone
I'm just getting to know, but you asked:
I'm not anti-war.
Well, let me clarify that, I am not against any and all wars, as
I conceive of going to war for defense, justice, and retribution
to be legitimate. Wars of conquest, wars for tribute, wars for enslavement
and domination that have nothing to do with a collective expression
of self-defense are illegitimate and I do not support them. I cannot
agree with Murray Rothbard (and perhaps yourself, Prof. DiLorenzo,
and Mr. Rockwell) that the only legitimate wars have been the Revolution
and the Civil War (on the CSA side).
I do not believe
that there can be no success in the political realm.
Many libertarians
divest themselves of their "Capital L," and reject the political
process altogether. I have not come to that stage as of yet. I believe
that the LP can be a legitimate vehicle for Liberty in our struggle
for intellectual and cultural dominance. I believe that the GOP
and the DNC are more often than not the same party when it comes
to betraying the philosophy of Capitalism or Laissez-faire, but
I at least appreciate the GOP's words in favor of the market.
I am not an
anarcho-Capitalist. Though I have already ceded the moral argument
to the anarchists when I refer to the government as a "necessary
evil." The anarcho-Capitalists need only disprove the necessary
part, and they have won. Since I'd like to minimize all instances
of evil in existence, I'll listen attentively to and hope for the
success of anarchist plans to replace government functions.
I'm pretty
radical in my pro-life stance. I've read Rothbard and yourself on
this topic, but I haven't moved from my initial position. I don't
see myself compromising on the "uncompromisable" (that's not a word
is it?).
While the idea
of evacuating a trespasser in the gentlest way possible appeals
to me, I can't sign on to it for at least a few more decades.
In the future
as medical technology progresses human beings will be viable from
the very first moments of conception.
I think that's
about all I can come up with off the top of my head.
Tennyson.
11/24/06
To: Tennyson
McCalla
Subject:
The Patience of a Saint
Dear Tennyson:
Don’t feel
too badly about the black community not embracing capitalism. This
holds true, too, for people of my own ethnic persuasion, Jews. Yes,
there are those who counterbalance this, such as Ludwig von Mises,
Murray Rothbard and to a lesser extent, Milton Friedman, but the
overwhelming majority of my co-religionists vote for the most socialist
candidate, support unions, were in the forefront of Marxist organizations,
etc. However, there are also black scholars who counterbalance matters
on your side of the aisle. I would include here at least in terms
of economics Thomas Sowell, and also Walter Williams, James Ahiakpor,
George Ayittey, Wilt Alston, Robert Wicks and Thompson Ayodele.
As it happens, one of the books I edited features an article by
Sowell, and I am a co-author of Williams and Alston, I am proud
to say.
I am greatly
enjoying this conversation, and I hereby "order" you to
continue it.
Best regards,
Walter
11/29/06
My apologies
for not responding earlier Dr. Block, I've been out of range of
internet capable computers for a few days. Your "orders" were
quite acceptable, nothing too strong :-) To be honest, I have my
apprehensions about the LRC because of some philosophical and political
differences I have with the main contributors. Despite my hesitations,
I'll be glad to edit work with you on publishing this correspondence.
I agree with
you about the tragedy of ignorance weighing down the people with
whom we share ethnic or racial ties. A slight consolation may be
that economic ignorance is nearly universal (to varying degrees)
but in truth this "reassurance" is an even darker fact than the
one we started with. I suppose some of the blame can be put down
to a psychic distaste for the ideas of the market. Advertisers and
propagandists have long known the power of thought association.
For the Jewish
community it can be related to the eastern European immigration
of the early to mid 20th century when Jews fled in vast numbers
from militaristic aggression. Many of the ideological giants of
the Jewish refugees were proponents of one or another strands of
Marxism. Following the historicist dialectical interpretations of
a Marxian the conclusion to draw from their persecution and expelling
would be that the Capitalist exploiter class has finally unsheathed
their reactionary weapons in defense against the inevitable worker
revolution.
The black populations
are a puzzle to me, though I know that the intellectual influence
of the neighboring Jewish communities were powerful during the Harlem
Renaissance. Discussing any of this today with my family and friends
in NYC is almost impossible. Since we have such differing strains
of information sources it sometimes seems like we're speaking a
different language to one another. Thinking back to the "Our Story"
show, it was amazing to see you lay out the logical case for why
and how the free market punishes racists for their racist practices,
and then to see your opponents completely miss it. The thought patterns
were so different that they believed that you were condoning racism
and showing how free enterprise rewards racism!
Still, in spite
of the built-in bias against capitalism, I try to communicate the
positives of freedom. I know of almost all of the authors you mentioned
in the other e-mail. I've recommended Dr. Sowell's "Basic Economics"
to people I feel are untainted by Socialist ideas. I have Dr. Williams'
"The State Against Blacks" and "South Africa's War on Capitalism"
on wish lists, I know of James Ahiakpor through I.S.I.L, and I have
George Ayittey's lecture "Why Socialism Failed In Africa" that he
delivered before FEE saved on my Mac. The others I have found at
one time or another by Googling "black libertarians."
Tennyson.
p.s. I liked
the memorial article
you did for the late Milton Friedman (another New Yorker); I think
he would've appreciated it. New York has had so many lights like
him, Rand, Mises, Reisman, Rothbard, Sowell, and you that it makes
the tragedy of its statism all the greater.
Yours truly,
Tennyson
12/2/06
To: Tennyson
McCalla
Subject:
The Patience of a Saint
Dear Tennyson:
We have many
disagreements especially about the War Between the States, and foreign
policy in general: specifically about World Wars I and II and the
Iraqi situation. I would highly recommend the works of Tom DiLorenzo
on the former, and those of Bob Higgs and Murray Rothbard in particular
on the latter. The Mises Institute offers a treasure trove of material
on all these subjects.
 But,
we are not Randians here. We tolerate disagreement; heck, even encourage
it. In the Objectivist movement, if you disagree with the higher
ups on even the slightest detail, you are summarily booted out of
their movement. The Austro-libertarian movement, at least as organized
through the Mises Institute, is very different. I have had sharp
disagreements in the literature with people such as Murray Rothbard,
Hans Hoppe, Stephan Kinsella and Roderick Long, very sharp disagreements,
and not only is no one purging anyone else, I count myself lucky
to be and to continue to be good friends with all of them. Heck,
I have even published several articles critical of Mises himself,
and the ground has not opened up and swallowed me.
 I
greatly regret that you are now a photographer, and are not actively
pursuing a career where you can promote liberty on a full-time basis.
I give you fair warning: when I get to know you better, I am going
to "order" you to switch careers. For the present, my
only "orders" are that you attend one of the upcoming
events at the Mises
Institute. It would be a pleasure to meet you in person. Perhaps,
even, we could get up a panel on black libertarianism for the ASC.
(Hint, hint: Wilt, Robert, James, George, are you guys up for this?)
Best regards,
Walter
December
6, 2006
Dr.
Block [send him mail] is a
professor of economics at Loyola University New Orleans. He is the
author of Defending
the Undefendable. Tennyson McCalla [send
him mail] is a professional photographer working in New York
City.
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