2020 is a milestone year in my life. The end of May commemorates two major events. My graduation from high school fifty years ago, and the end of my career as a high school teacher since 1993. Over that course of time in the classroom, I have tried to remain true to my Philosophy of Education I drafted several years before entering my profession full time. I will truly never know how many of the thousands of young minds who sat in my classroom were intellectually shaped and affected by the knowledge and civility I tried to impart to them.

This November is also a milestone month. For it was five decades ago that a providential and fortuitous spark lit my life and I became a libertarian.

I want to briefly discuss those lighthouses of liberty whose torches ignited those illuminating insights in my quest for truth.

First there was author Jerome Tuccille whose pioneering 1970 book, Radical Libertarianism: A Right Wing Alternative, which blazed the way.

I soon became a young libertarian activist, first on my college campus of the University of Tulsa, and later with the Libertarian Party for many years until I ended my intimate relationship with them for reasons that broke my heart.

Along the path of this journey several key persons were crucial to my education and enlightenment: First and foremost Murray N. Rothbard, the most important influence who shaped and molded my intellectual world view; Walter E. Grinder, my mentor in formulating what has been the central focus of my reading and subsequent writing here at LRC — Libertarian Class Analysis (power elite analysis or Establishment Studies).

An understanding of power elite analysis is the “litmus test” separating real libertarians from alternative lifestyle dilettantes dabbling in free market theory. This examination of causal relationships regarding the nature and scope of political power, who has it and how it is exercised, is crucial to understanding the State as organized crime.

The similarity between this analysis and what researcher Peter Dale Scott calls “Deep Politics,” the critical examination of the sub-rosa reality behind surface events, are both attempts to unmask the true face of power, exposing the elite social, economic, and financial groups and individuals who benefit from the exercise of State coercion.

In July of 1978 I had the honor of attending the Cato Institute’s First Summer Seminar on Political Economy at Wake Forrest University. The distinguished faculty of libertarian luminaries included Murray N. Rothbard, Leonard P. Liggio, Arthur A. Ekirch, Walter E. Grinder, and Roy A. Childs. This was before the devastating Cato Institute split detailed by David Gordon in his excellent series of articles at LRC.

The curriculum was hard-core Rothbardian – natural rights libertarianism from The Ethics of Liberty, Austrian Economics, revisionist history, and libertarian class analysis.

The Cato organizers gave us each a ton of excellent books (including Rothbard’s Power and Market) and photocopy reprints of classic articles including Rothbard’s libertarian strategy memorandum which served as the guideline for the Institute’s creation.

Rothbard later admitted that these early Seminars were organized as “best and brightest” talent searches for Cato.

But it was the powerful lecture presentations by Walter E. Grinder, “Libertarian Class Analysis” and “American Power Elites” which had the most truly lasting impact upon me. Over the decades Walter has remained my mentor and inspiration in these areas.

David M. Hart, has played a seminal role in refining these insights of power elite analysis, particularly in his exemplary work as former Director of the Online Library of Liberty, and at the Institute for Humane Studies. The Humane Studies Review: A Research and Study Guide, although rather short lived remains an unparalleled endeavor in this field of study.

And lastly, Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr., whose sterling example of integrity and devotion to scholarly truth has been my principled guide for the past twenty years. Lew’s unwavering trust in me, through the publication on LRC of over 1500 articles and blogs has been one of the most important and gratifying experiences of my life. Through his leadership and generosity he has made LewRockwell.com the definitive source for libertarian commentary for the attentive public throughout the world.

With my retirement from active teaching, my life begins a new phase. One cannot help but wonder what the future will bring, both for me and the civilization in crisis.

The Best of Charles Burris