C asked me a question about Radio Shack; here is his background

C asked me a question about Radio Shack, privacy, intellectual property. I recently published my answer to him. Also, I asked him to tell me a bit about himself, his background, how he came to libertarianism, etc. Why do I do this? I am fascinated by the process through which people came to the one true political philosophy. Here is a book of mine on that subject: Block, Walter E., ed. 2010. I Chose Liberty: Autobiographies of Contemporary Libertarians; Auburn, AL: Mises Institute. I highly regard this inspirational book. It gives the stories of about 50 well-known libertarians, what they were like before, and what they are like now.

Here is C’s response to my request:

Dear Walter,

I think you set a record for the fastest response I’ve ever gotten to an email… 😉

My first exposure to libertarian thought was reading James Bovard’s books “Lost Rights” and “Freedom in Chains”. Although those books gave me quite a bit to be enraged about, with Bovard’s exposure of government overreach, they didn’t give me much of any foundation to learn how to think in a libertarian fashion. I think I started a slide towards minarchism at that point, though. I found Lew’s site by accident one day several years back, and I don’t remember the precise circumstances. I think I was starting to study Ron Paul’s career and that led me to LRC. I quickly built a slate of favorite columnists, namely Karen Decoster, Justin Raimondo, Eric Margolis, Gary North, and of course, yourself. I was particularly attracted to your work since it dealt with increasingly pure libertarian theory, and Gary North as he seemed to have a great handle on practical application of theory.

I’ve corresponded with you several times in the past, most recently in January of 2012 to thank you for succinctly explaining how government jobs are a waste not a benefit to the economy. Also, in December of 2011 to ask for help in finding refutation to the charges of racism against Ron Paul, and a few months earlier to ask for criticism of John Quiggin’s baseless rebuttal to “I, Pencil”.

Finally, you may remember me as the guy who answers those people who call me “closed-minded” because being a libertarian blinds me towards social needs, the greater good, blah blah blah, with the following statement: “I’m an anarcho-capitalist libertarian, born-again, anti-denominational Christian that frequents a web site run by a devout Roman Catholic, and two of my favorite authors are an atheist Jew and a a gay man who doesn’t believe in gay marriage or gay rights. How can I be called ‘closed-minded’?”
Anyway, I respect you a great deal, and I always reference your columns when I want to discuss pure libertarian theory. Thanks, C

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