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From the
Desk of Burton S. Blumert Dear Friend to LRC: Further down this page I’m going to tell you a horror story of how LRC was attacked and driven off-line by the sort of people who would like to silence us permanently. I’ll be asking you for your most generous contribution so that we can keep alive, and maybe even afford the state-of-the-art technology to thwart future attacks. But first, allow me a moment to lament the death of "Integrity," once honored as a most cherished human virtue. Today, Integrity is no longer considered "cool." Integrity, RIP. Not a day goes by without a major scandal. Majority Leader (and chief fixer) Tom DeLay (R-TX) indicted in Texas. Congressman "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) admits to accepting bribes from a military contractor. Will plea-bargain. Influence peddler Jack Abramoff faces jail time, and top people in George W’s administration and the Congress hold their breaths as the crooked lobbyist and his chief assistants spill their guts to investigators. Dozens of Congressmen could be headed for the crowbar motel. Yawn. No wonder most Americans would rather deal with a pickpocket than with an elected official. Better a petty thief than a Body Snatcher. Libertarian H.L. Mencken summed it up:
Ambrose Bierce defined American politics as:
To retain our sanity, we learn to live with constant corruption. Personally, I maintain equilibrium by thinking of the government as a blind, rabid dog – while praying that it doesn’t bite me. That seemed to work until last week when we were all shocked to learn that the trouble had penetrated our own libertarian movement. It was a story I could not shrug off. A prominent employee of a libertarian think-tank in Washington, D.C, admitted to being on the take from the Jack Abramoff mentioned above. But that is the least of the problems.
Look, we at LRC have never shared priorities with these Beltway think-tanks, which run the gamut from semi-neocon to fully neocon. They thrive in Washington, DC: we suffocate there. That fact alone explains much. They pocket millions to promote the state’s agenda: war, occupation, militarism, the police state, Nafta, vouchers, central banking, Social Security "privatization," and all the rest. We want to take an eraser to the whole federal blackboard. You would think their full agenda of deadly mischief would consume all their time and energies. Nope, they never miss an opportunity to attack LRC. Nice people.
No, I haven’t forgotten my promise to tell you how the bad guys shut down LRC, nor should you forget that I’ll be asking for your dollars to help keep LRC online, safe, and solvent. Indulge me one last thought on this Principles for Sale or Rent Caper: all these "free market" Republican think tanks that vie for your financial support are simply not worthy of it. They speak the language of liberty (in their PR), but true success to them is measured by how close they can get to the seat of power. How many cocktail parties they attend with Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke; how many photographs they collect with El Presidente and his junta; how often they are cited in National Review, the Weekly Standard, the War Street Journal; how many plush government contracts they can get for their corporate-state funders. Not only that: wealthy DC think tanks don’t need your money. To you and me, DC is the belly of the beast. To the think-tankers, it’s a loot-athon. What perverse pleasure it must be to promote plundering as libertarian or conservative, while getting big bucks for doing so.
In contrast, Lew Rockwell carries on the great American tradition of "intractability." That is the accusation hurled at someone who will not compromise with the corporate state, its wars and its welfare, its inflation and its spying, its lies and its manipulation. Both Mises and Rothbard wore the label with pride. And, I respectfully add my two cents worth: "Intractability in the name of liberty is a virtue."
Whenever the subject of "selling-out" comes up, I’m reminded of an incident with Murray Rothbard 20 years ago: Murray was speaking at a small college in Northern California. It was hot; we were late and mired in traffic. "Murray," I complained, "there are so-called free-market economists who get $15,000 for a speaking engagement. What do you think they will pay you tonight?" Murray, becoming wistful, said, "I just hope they don’t serve fish." "Seriously Murray," I said, "how come Milton Friedman gets $15,000 a speech, and you hope for chicken?" "Miltie sold out. That’s why," he cackled. "Why don’t you sell-out?" I blurted. "Because nobody asked me to," he responded, chuckling so hard that his punch line was almost lost. The truth is that they tried to get Murray to sell-out a thousand times, beginning in graduate school when a future Fed chairman, Arthur Burns, pressured him to promote central banking. Burns, and all the rest, never came close. This was just a small snapshot of our great mentor, Murray Rothbard. He was a towering intellect yet warm, unpretentious, kind, and always good-natured. Hang in with me another minute or so, and I pledge to tell you about the bad guys forcing LRC off-line, but I’ve just thought of another vital reason for you to make a generous contribution to LRC. I am reminded time and time again by salesmen that LRC could be getting big bucks if we were to emulate the ad strategy of WorldNetDaily, FrontPagMag, and NewsMax. Take, in effect, neocon money? Be subject to their string pulling? Hah! We will never sell out. But that also means we cannot survive without you. Lew and webmaster Eric Garris tried explaining to me what the bad guys did to get LRC off-line, and what we must do to protect the site from even deadlier attacks in the future. I tried to understand what they were saying, and they tried not to use too many technical terms, but it was like grappling with a slippery mayonnaise jar. My reaction to their very scary report was a brief, oft-repeated mantra, "How much will it cost"? Their answer came to about $1,150 more a month, every month. We can’t afford it. We can’t even afford the extra promotion the site needs either (though it’s already the best-read libertarian site in the world), or all sorts of other improvements. I’m worried about paying the regular bills. Please, put LRC at the top of your year-end list this year. Your tax-deductible contribution of $100, $50, $25, or any amount to the Center for Libertarian Studies for LewRockwell.com would be wonderful. $250, $500 or $1000 would be magnificent. You can make your generous donation online, use PayPal, phone us at 800-325-7257 to charge to your credit card. Or mail your check or money order, made out to CLS, to LewRockwell.com, Center for Libertarian Studies, 851 Burlway, Suite 200, Burlingame, CA 94010. Every dollar you contribute is an investment in freedom. No selling out, no compromising. And you’ll never meet Jack Abramoff at one of our conferences.
Burton
S. Blumert P.S. Earlier, I complained about the loss of Integrity in our country. Well, as you know, even the occasional visitor to LRC gets a full dose of it. We are the "keepers of the flame" and LRC must survive. But, we can’t do it without you. Please help us keep going for 2006. Help us have more influence. Most important, help us stay alive. December 26, 2005 Burt Blumert [send him mail] is publisher of LewRockwell.com, president of the Center for Libertarian Studies, and proprietor of Camino Coin. See Burt's Gold Page. Copyright © 2005 LewRockwell.com |
Sincerely,