Writes Rob:

As of 15 seconds ago, I’ve listened to every episode of your podcast. It took me about a year. Thanks for your work. I found them enormously interesting, educational, and encouraging.

I thought I’d tell you my story as a word of encouragement. I had libertarian leanings as a kid, but I grew up in a thoroughly neoconservative household. I was very interested in airplanes, and some of my earliest memories include my parents and grandparents indoctrinating me to attend the US Air Force Academy and become a fighter pilot.

I followed their advise and found myself at the Academy (or Mordor, if you prefer), absolutely miserable, but intensely achievement oriented and loath to quit. I didn’t awake to a full understanding of the State until after I graduated. I regret that I didn’t wake up sooner, or have the strength of character to follow my inclinations.

I did very well at the Academy and they awarded me a pilot slot, but I was far enough along my journey at that time to reject the offer. I was very suspicious that I would be used immorally as a fighter pilot. In addition, the thought of the 12-year commitment pilot training would incur made me want to puke. Now I’m an acquisitions officer in the bureaucracy. They have no idea how to utilize me effectively. By the grace of God, the worst I’m part of in my daily activities is wasting money, which I honestly regret and abhor, but I thank God that I’m not expected to bomb potential innocents through a computer screen.

My plan is to get a masters degree in economics as soon as I’m free. The Academy curriculum was very math intensive, so I’m well prepared to slog through the Keynesian swamp. I’d like to do something in finance that might also afford me a platform to promote liberty. My dream is to work for Peter Schiff, or a broker of similar orientation. If not that, I thought I might try to join a PhD program and teach economics.

Thanks for being a lighthouse for liberty. I cannot thank you enough.

P.S. I managed to convert my parents and a sibling to liberty. None of us intend to vote in November.

The Best of Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.