In my last missive to a list of mine, I announced our upcoming Human Action seminar meeting for Friday, 9/4, from 5:30-7:30pm, to be held at NYPizza, 4418 Magazine St. I also said that wearing masks would be required (except when we were in our meeting room).
Here is a conversation you will find interesting. M is a person who attended the HA seminar for several years, and always made important contributions to it. He is now working out of town, and unable to attend. But, he intends to move back to New Orleans, and I hope and trust he will once again join us. What I get out of this correspondence is that the HA seminar is devoted to Austrian economics (a positive science), not libertarianism (a normative science).
Letter 1
From: m
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2020 4:14 PM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Tu ne cede malis…Except for the face diaper?
Dear Walter,
I am deeply disappointed in your apparent surrender to the madness.
Wearing the “mask” is flying a white flag that screams, “I acknowledge that the State has the legitimate authority to tell people how to breathe!” Make no mistake–the order does come from the State–even as the Jesuits, administrators, shopkeepers, et al., enforce it, and even on private property.
Liberty does not come without a price. In my own way, I have defied the petty Herods and Gauleiters by: resigning my teaching job rather than participate in the conditioning of children; giving up my docent work at the Alamo; daily going about my business every day as best as can (despite the Bexar county “Executive Order”) without a face covering. That has cost me thousands of dollars already, but I have my integrity.
“Liberty” without a price–and surrender to the slavery of the Zeitgeist–is why I never accepted that label, “libertarian.” It’s one thing to talk about “theory” and quite another to live as a free man.
“Closer to home” haven’t we seen how deadly has been the conditioning via ceaseless propaganda, panic stirred up for the purpose of more State control, and all the rest of the plannedemic (the only worthwhile neologism to come out of the craziness) on young people? The way children are being conditioned with the active participation of their teachers has been the most wicked part of the ongoing shame.
Ask yourself, “Would Mises wear a mask?”
Peace,
M
Letter 2
On Mon, Aug 31, 2020 at 2:17 PM Walter Block <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear M:
Sorry to disappoint you. But, libertarianism says nothing about living as a free man, in my view. Rather, it is solely a theory of what is just law. And its conclusion is that just law consists of adherence to the non aggression principle, private property rights based upon homesteading, and the law of free association.
I strongly disagree with your claim that in choosing to wear a mask when standing, as required by pretty much all restaurants and, also, by Loyola University, rather than cancelling my Human Action Seminar and foregoing all restaurant dining, I am acting incompatibly with libertarianism, as defined above. In so doing I have not initiated violence nor the threat thereof, have not violated the NAP, nor free association.
Why do you think I’m acting incompatibly with libertarianism?
If Mises wanted to dine in a restaurant, I’m sure he would wear a mask when standing. But, suppose he would not. That only means he does not highly rank dining in a restaurant, or, in my case, holding the HA seminar. It has nothing to do with libertarianism, as I see matters.
Best regards,
Walter
Letter 3
From: m
Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2020 4:20 PM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Tu ne cede malis…Except for the face diaper?
I do think you are behaving in accord with libertarianism–and with all its moral poverty. Again, why I am not a libertarian.
But this is the medium for this. Face-to-face–not face-to-mask, mind you–we’ll have a chance to discuss it, Deo volente (cf. Exodus 33:11). In the meantime, you might keep in mind that business about millstones, even if you don’t think it applies to Jewish atheists.
Peace,
M
Letter 4
Dear M:
I don’t see why it is immoral to either comply with private property owners’ requirements to wear a mask, or to decline to enter their premises.
WalMart, restaurants, WalGreens and other such places require a mask for entry to their stores. I don’t see why it is immoral to comply.
Best regards,
Walter
2:14 am on September 10, 2020
