Dear Mr. Rockwell,
I had written to you a couple of times in the wake of 9/11. I was in favor of going to war with Afghanistan at that point. I was highly critical of suggestions on your web site that US foreign policy had in any way provoked the attacks against us. I also criticized the libertarian movement as being reoccupied with liberty for the sake of wallowing in vice.
I owe you an apology. Having continued to visit your web site over the past year and a half, I have come to see that you do not blame the American people for the acts of terrorism committed against us, but rather the conduct of the US government. Contrary to my initial suspicions, I see no evidence that you and your correspondents embrace libertarianism merely to defend pot-smoking and pulling down your pants in public.
Lew, I am now a regular visitor to your web site. I argued as best I could against my friends and family in opposing the cruel and dishonest war on Iraq. I have cancelled my subscriptions to NR and The American Spectator (and Crisis and First Things), and have instead signed on with Chronicles and The American Conservative. I have started reading my Murray Rothbard books and plan to purchase the book of his essays you have compiled. (I'm sorry to say I used to consider him a "nut" based on what I now think was a hatchet job written by my former hero, William F. Buckley.) I really enjoy Joe Sobran's columns. (Speaking of hatchet jobs, the attacks launched against Sobran --first by Norman Podhoretz in Commentary in 1986, and then by Buckley in NR in 1991, and then by Richard Neuhaus in First Things in 1994-- were truly despicable, although again, I'm sorry to say, I didn't realize it at the time.)
I wanted you to know that you've helped me change my mind. I'll keep visiting your web site.
J.R.
