Tom and Laurence, Boaz’s attack on Jacob Hornberger, a leading libertarian activist and theoretician, comes with particular ill grace. Boaz, after all, claimed “Clinton years as a sort of Golden Age…” Why? Because “we bombed a lot of countries but didn’t put American troops at risk.” At worst, Hornberger’s “sin” was one of omission, one that we all make, even Boaz himself, by his own admission (“I’ve probably been guilty of similar thoughtless and ahistorical exhortations of our glorious libertarian past.”); but it is simply silly to criticize anyone for failing to say everything that is true, Hornberger’s “failure.” Boaz’s violation of libertarian principle, in sharp contrast, is not one of omission, but commission. Only a “libertarian” like Boaz could say that it is good to “bomb a lot of countries but” not “put American troops at risk.”

The Best of Walter E. Block