Libertarian antidotes in cool, calm discussions

SeedShip ^ | FR Post 01-23-01 | Editorial Staff

[vannrox]

Libertarian antidotes in cool, calm discussions

Three volumes don't overheat in their passion for individual liberty.

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Save $$$:		WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A LIBERTARIAN A Personal Interpretation By Charles Murray Broadway Books. 178 pp. $20
Save $$$:		LIBERTARIANISM A Primer By David Boaz Free Press. 314 pp. $23
Save $$$:		THE LIBERTARIAN READER Classic & Contemporary Writings From Lao-Tzu to Milton Friedman Edited by David Boaz Free Press. 458 pp. $27.50

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Reviewed by Frank Wilson, an Inquirer copy editor.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Sunday, February 2, 1997 - Section Q: pages 1, 10

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For those who think this nation's political discourse has lately grown toxic, libertarianism -- as presented in three new books -- may be just the kind of soothing antidote they need.

Conspicuously absent from these books is any overheated rhetoric.

In its place are coolheaded, often eloquent suggestions for alternative ways to approaching matters of polity.

Charles Murray's What It Means to Be a Libertarian and David Boaz's Libertarianism: A Primer complement each other nicely.

Murray calls himself "a lower-case libertarian," to distinguish himself from "Libertarians with a capital l" -- such as Boaz -- whose "logic of individual liberty . . . is purer and more uncompromising" than Murray's own.

Libertarianism is a political philosophy based on a passionate belief in individual freedom and espousing the strictest limitations on government. Like Ralph Waldo Emerson, libertarians hold that, "The less government we have, the better . . . "

But they are not to be confused with anti-government fanatics. They don't believe in blowing up federal buildings or forcing their will on anybody.

Nor are all libertarians members of the Libertarian Party, which fields candidates for public office.

While Boaz would go further than Murray in dismantling the works and pomps of the modern state, their differences are only of degree, and the degree of difference is in most cases not so great.

Boaz -- the executive vice president of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank -- discusses in far greater detail the principles of libertarianism, but Murray -- a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute who is best known these days as coauthor of the controversial The Bell Curve in 1994 -- offers the more precise strategy for implementing those principles in today's political environment.

The two principal intellectual forebears of libertarianism are John Locke (1632-1704), with his notion that governments are compacts arrived at for the securing of individual rights, and Adam Smith (1723-1790), with his doctrine of a "spontaneous order" brought about by the "invisible hand" of the marketplace.

Indeed, the first principle of libertarianism is self-ownership, and the reason libertarians place such emphasis on property rights is that all human action involves the use of property. For the libertarian, all rights are property rights. "A theory of privacy rooted in property rights," Boaz observes, "wouldn't have needed penumbras and emanations" to find that a woman has the right to terminate a pregnancy.

The libertarian position on abortion, in fact, illustrates the libertarian stance overall: A consistent libertarian (and most libertarians are nothing if not consistent) -- even one who regarded abortion as wrong -- would not advocate making it a crime. Nor would a libertarian who finds abortion morally acceptable advocate public funding for it. Not surprisingly, Boaz not only approves of separation of church and state, but he further advocates separation of state from family, school and art.

So the aims of latter-day libertarians are the same as their Whig predecessors two centuries ago: the repeal of laws.

Murray's most intriguing suggestion is that Congress pass a resolution permitting businesses to "opt out of the regulatory system," at all levels, including state and local. The only proviso would be that those taking advantage of the option prominently advertise that they are unregulated. Businesses that did not opt out could proudly advertise that they were in full compliance with government regulations.

"In a world where both regulated and unregulated goods are available, everyone may capture the advantages of the regulation, real or imagined, by choosing to buy the regulated product," Murray writes. "The self-proclaimed consumer advocates of the world may live just as securely in that world as they do in the one that exists now. They may continue to buy government-regulated products and services. They may also write angry articles, declaim on television, and take out advertisements in newspapers warning the public when they discern a danger. . . . [But they] will not have the right to use the government to force everyone else to share their particular level of risk aversion."

For libertarians, the term society is strictly an abstraction designating interaction among individuals. Individuals are the reality. Critics of libertarianism, Marxists especially, have used this emphasis on the individual to argue that libertarianism in practice leads to atomization and alienation. Libertarians counter that individuals are social by nature, that it is in their self-interest to cooperate. Boaz puts it this way:

"Critics of libertarianism say, `You want to abolish essential government programs and put nothing in their place.' But the absence of coercive government programs is most decidedly not nothing. It's a growing economy, the individual initiative and creativity of millions of people, and thousands of associations set up to achieve common purposes. What kind of social analysis is it that looks at a complex society like the United States and sees `nothing' except what government does?"

Nevertheless, precisely because libertarians do not seek political solutions to social problems, they often find themselves at a disadvantage in political debate for the simple reason that they have nothing to propose. Environmental enthusiasts are unlikely to be persuaded by what Murray and Boaz have to say, not because the principles they enunciate are unsound (they aren't) or because they do not discuss matters in enough detail (which to some extent is true) but because it has become environmental orthodoxy that, as Murray puts it, "apocalypse is upon us unless the government steps in."

To counter, as Murray does, that "strict property rights, extended rather than limited, offer our best hope of protecting the environment," is to invite shunning by the environmentally pure.

Murray underscores his lower-case libertarianism by actually proposing a large federal expenditure -- a $3,000 unrestricted tuition voucher for each child attending elementary and secondary school. He estimates the program's total cost at $150 billion annually. This is not a proposal that Boaz, who favors a sharp reduction in taxation, would be likely to support. (Murray envisions a much larger federal government than Boaz does, one that "absorbs the same percentage of the gross national product as it did during Franklin Roosevelt's first two terms").

But such is the way among libertarians. One of the most appealing things about libertarianism is that it is not a monolithic system. It encompasses a wide variety of views, as becomes apparent from the anthology of libertarian writings Boaz has compiled in The Libertarian Reader. These essays and excerpts share an uncommon lucidity, which is something else that distinguishes libertarianism from Marxists and other statists with their obscurantist rhetoric.

Interestingly, neither Murray nor Boaz has much to say about what is likely to become the wedge issue for libertarians in the coming months: judicial nullification of voting results. After all, if judges can cancel the vote, we're no longer living in a democracy. Boaz deplores certain U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding contract law and the right to privacy, but neither he nor Murray goes so far as former Judge Robert Bork does in suggesting a constitutional amendment to place constraints on judicial review.

These books deserve to be read, not because they are going to persuade anyone to change long-held views, but because they offer well-written and soundly reasoned presentations of views deserving of consideration, views with a long and honorable intellectual pedigree.

Boaz titles his opening chapter "The Coming Libertarian Age." If such an age does indeed come, it will be precisely because contemporary libertarianism really is different from modern liberalism and conservatism. Moreover, if public dissatisfaction with government continues to grow, both major political parties are likely to be weighed in the balance and found wanting.

[vannrox]

A very good time to offer some soothing thoughts on Liberty and the real maning of liberty. Rather than get bogged down on the trivial issues normally argued about libertarian thought and belief. The primary issue is LIBERTY. Where is the dividing line between individual Liberty and State Government restrictions on Liberty? There are no easy answers. These books look at the real intent of our founders and attempt to answer these questions.

[vannrox]

From the CONSERVATIVE BOOK CLUB...

What It Means to be a Libertarian
Murray, Charles

Over the years the Club has proudly offered two of the most widely debated and influential social policy books to appear in recent decades, both authored by Charles Murray: Losing Ground and The Bell Curve. Now, a different book - and perhaps your best source on what it means to be a libertarian.

What makes Dr. Murray's latest book different from all his others? A political scientist of the highest order, Murray's works have always been impeccable documented and technically challenging. But now, after "unanswerably [demolishing] both the moral and the practical claims of the welfare state" (George Gilder), he speaks to us on a much more personal level, as he explains in his introduction: "Many books address the historical, economic, sociological, philosophical, and constitutional issues raised in these pages. A bibliographic essay at the end of the book points you to some of the basic source, but the book you are about to read contains no footnotes. It has no tables and but a single graph. My purpose is not to provide proof but to explain a way of looking at the world."

More than a primer on libertarian ideals, Dr. Murray offers a radical blueprint for overhauling our dysfunctional government and replacing it with a system that safeguards freedom.

[Asclepius]

They don't believe in blowing up federal buildings or forcing their will on anybody.

What a relief. Now I can put away my revolver.

[vannrox]

This recommended reading list comes from the National LP.ORG. You should be able to find these books on-line at places like Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or the National LP newsletter sent monthly to current LP members. You may also email your suggestions to GinaLP@LPMaine.com .

Recommended Reading List

Last Updated: October 2000

        The following is a list of books sure to be of interest to

Libertarians -- and to people interested in learning more about Libertarian

philosophy. Included are a wide range of works covering everything from the

free market to individual rights; from environmental issues to foreign policy;

and from American history to basic economic principles. These books will give

any American a solid base of knowledge to better understand - and defend --

the philosophy of liberty.

        Books marked with a "*" are introductory works; if you're only

interested in reading one or two books from each area, choose one of these.

        Also included are a number of novels, plays, and children's books.

They are not only entertaining, but feature a solid core of Libertarian

philosophy, or illustrate libertarian principles at work. Enjoy!

By clicking the hyper-linked titles below, you will be able to go directly to Amazon.com to read excerpts from the books, see the cover photos, write reviews of the books (or read reviews by others) & order the book securely on-line (or add it to your wish list). By purchasing your books this way, we get a small referral fee which will help defray the costs for the LP Maine Party and web site. 

Other Book Sources: Laissez Faire Books-Liberty Library Titles

[x] Introductory Politics

* Harry Brown, How I found Freedom in an Unfree World

* Harry Browne, Why Government Doesn't Work

* David Boaz, Libertarianism: A Primer Also by Boaz: The Libertarian Reader

* Charles Murray, What It Means to Be A Libertarian

Frederic Bastiat, The Law

* David Bergland, Libertarianism in One Lesson

* F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom & The Constitution of Liberty

Rose Wilder Lane, The Discovery of Freedom & Free Land

P. J. O'Rourke, A Parliament of Whores

Ayn Rand, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

Leonard Read, Anything That's Peaceful

* Robert Ringer, Restoring the American Dream

* Morris and Linda Tannehill, The Market For Liberty

* James Bovard, Freedom In Chains

[x] Classics of Political Thought before the 20th Century

* Lord Acton, Essays on Freedom & Power & Essays on the History of Liberty

* Benjamin Constant, The Liberty of the Ancients Compared with that of the

Moderns & Political Writings

* Auberon Herbert, The Right & Wrong of Compulsion by the State

* Wilhelm von Humboldt, The Limits of State Action

* Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence

* John Locke, Two Treatises of Government

* John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

* John Milton, Areopagitica

* Tom Paine, The Rights of Man

* Herbert Spencer, Social Statics; Man vs. the State

* Lysander Spooner, No Treason & Collective Works

* Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

[x] The Internet

* Kevin Kelly, New Rules for a New Economy

[x] Taxes & Tax Policy

* Charles Adams, Those Dirty Rotten Taxes

* Sheldon Richman, Your Money Or Your Life: Why We Must Abolish the Income Tax

* Amity Shlaes, The Greedy Hand

[x] 20th-Century Classics of Political Thought

* Isaiah Berlin, Four Essays on Liberty

* James M. Buchanan & Gordon Tullock, The Calculus of Consent

* F. A. Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty

* Ludwig von Mises, Liberalism

* Albert Jay Nock, Our Enemy the State

* Michael Novak, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism

* Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, & Utopia

* Karl R. Popper, The Open Society & Its Enemies

* Murray N. Rothbard, The Ethics of Liberty

[x] Economics, Economic History & Economic Policy

* P.J. O'Rourke, Eat the Rich

* D. T. Armentano, Antitrust Policy: The Case for Repeal

* Frederic Bastiat, Economic Sophisms

* P. T. Bauer, Dissent on Development

* James Bovard, The Farm Fiasco

* Milton Friedman, Free to Choose; Capitalism and Freedom

* F. A. Hayek, Ed., Capitalism & the Historians

* Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson

* Ludwig von Mises, Human Action; Planning for Freedom

* Llewellyn Rockwell, Ed., The Free Market Reader; Economics of Liberty

* Murray Rothbard, Man, Economy & State; Power & Market; What Has Government Done to Our Money?

* Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

* Michael A. Walker, Ed., Rent Control: A Popular Paradox

[x] Privatization

* Randall Fitzgerald, When Government Goes Private

* Robert W. Poole Jr., Cutting Back City Hall & Defending a Free Society

[x] History of Economic Thought

* Alejandro A. Chafuen, Christians for Freedom: Late-Scholastic Economics

* Israel Kirzner, The Economic Point of View

* Tod G. Buchholz, New Ideas from Dead Economists

[x] Why Marxism & Socialism Don't Work

* M. M. Bober, Karl Marx's Interpretation of History

* David Conway, A Farewell to Marx

* Lesek Kolakowski, Main Currents of Marxism

* Tibor R. Machan, Ed., The Main Debate

* Ludwig von Mises, Theory and History

* Karl R. Popper, The Poverty of Historicism & The Logic of Scientific Discovery

* J. L. Talmon, The Origins of Totalitarian Democracy; Political Messianism

* Robert C. Tucker, The Marxian Revolutionary Idea; Philosophy & Myth in Karl Marx

* Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk, Karl Marx and the Close of His System

* Henry Hazlitt, Time Will Run Back

* Trygve Hoff, Economic Calculation in the Socialist Society

* Ludwig von Mises, Socialism

[x] Foreign Trade

* Jagdish Bhagwati, Protectionism

* James Bovard, The Fair Trade Fraud

* Henry George, Protection or Free Trade

* Joan Kennedy Taylor, Ed., Free Trade: The Necessary Foundation for World Peace

[x] Foreign Policy & National Defense

* Steven E. Ambrose, Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938

* James Bamford, The Puzzle Palace

* Ted Galen Carpenter, Ed., America Entangled: The Persian Gulf Crisis & Its Consequences

* Theodore Draper, A Very Thin Line: The Iran-Contra Affairs

* Fred Kaplan, The Wizards of Armageddon

* Jonathan Kwitny, Endless Enemies

* Seymour Melman, The Permanent War Economy

* John Prados, Presidents' Secret Wars

[x] America and American History

* Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution

* Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses & the Fall of New York;

The Years of Lyndon Johnson

* Arthur A. Ekrich Jr., The Decline of American Liberalism

* Paul Fussell, Wartime

* Robert Higgs, Crisis & Leviathan

* Murray N. Rothbard, Conceived in Liberty

* Thomas Sowell, Ethnic America

* Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

[x] Perspectives on the World and People

* Paul Johnson, Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Nineties

* Francis Kendall & Leon Louw, After Apartheid: The Solution for South Africa

** Walter Williams, South Africa's War Against Capitalism

[x] Social Policy

* Walter Block, Defending the Undefendable

* Peter McWilliams, Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do

* Clint Bolick, Unfinished Business: A Civil Rights Strategy for America's Third Century; Changing Course: Civil Rights at the Crossroads

* Henry Hazlitt, The Conquest of Poverty

* Michael Levin, Feminism & Freedom

* Wendy McElroy, Ed., Freedom, Feminism & the State

* Charles Murray, Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980; In Pursuit of Happiness & Good Government

* Ellen Frankel Paul, Equity & Gender: The Comparable Worth Debate

* Joseph Peden & Fred Glahe, Eds., The American Family & the State

* Helmut Schoeck, Envy

* Julian L. Simon, The Ultimate Resource; The Economic Consequences of Immigration

* Thomas Sowell, Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality?; The Economics of Race

* William Tucker, The Excluded Americans: Homelessness & Housing Policies

* Gordon Tullock, Welfare for the Well-To-Do

* Walter Williams, The State Against Blacks

* S. David Young, The Rule of Experts: Occupational Licensing in America

[x] Drug Policy

* Mike Gray, Drug Crazy

* David Boaz, Ed., The Crisis in Drug Prohibition

* Ronald Hamowy, Ed., Dealing with Drugs

* Melvin B. Krauss & Edward P. Lazear, Eds., Searching for Alternatives: Drug-Control Policy in the United States

* Thomas S. Szasz, Ceremonial Chemistry

* Steven Wisotsky, Beyond the War on Drugs

[x] Education

* John E. Chubb & Terry M. Moe, Politics, Markets & American Schools

* Myron Lieberman, Beyond Public Education

[x] Health Care

* John C. Goodman, Twenty Myths About National Health Insurance

* Ronald Hamowy, Canadian Medicine

* Sam Pelzman, Regulation of Pharmaceutical Innovation

[x] The Environment & Land Use

* Terry Anderson & Donald R. Leal, Free Market Environmentalism

* Walter Block, Ed., Economics & the Environment: A Reconciliation

* Bernard Siegan, Land Use Without Zoning

* Richard L. Stroup & John Baden, Natural Resources

[x] Law and Legal History

Clint Bolick, Grass-Roots Tyranny

David Burnham, A Law Unto Itself: Power, Politics & the IRS

Jonathan Emord, Freedom, Technology, & the First Amendment

Richard A. Epstein, Takings: Private Property & the Power of Eminent Domain; A

Theory of Strict Liability; Principles for a Free Society : Reconciling Individual Liberty With the
Common Good ; Forbidden Grounds: The Case against Employment Discrimination Laws

Henry Mark Holzer, Sweet Land of Liberty

Harry Kalven, Jr., A Worthy Tradition: Freedom of Speech in America

Stephen Macedo, The New Right Versus the Constitution

Felix Morley, Freedom & Federalism

Roger Pilon, Ed., Flag-Burning, Discrimination & the Right to Do Wrong: Two

Debates

Lysander Spooner, An Essay on the Trial by Jury

Ralph K. Winter, Jr. & John R. Bolton, Campaign Finance & Political Freedom

[x] Religion

Walter Block, The U.S. Bishops & their Critics

Irving Hexham, Eds., Religion, Economics, & Social Thought

Geoffrey Brennan, & Kenneth Elzinga, Eds., Morality of the Market: Religious & Economic Perspectives

Donald E. Shaw, Eds., Theology, Third World Development & Economic Justice

Leonard W. Levy, The Establishment Clause: Religion and the First Amendment

Ronald Nash, Poverty and Wealth: The Christian Debate over Capitalism

Ed Nelson & James Singleton, Lessons from Louisville: Observations on Christianity & Confrontation

Michael Novak, Free Persons & the Common Good

[x] Right to Bear Arms

Stephen P. Halbrook, That Every Man Be Armed; A Right to Bear Arms

Don B. Kates Jr., Ed., Restricting Handguns; Firearms & Violence; 
The Great American Gun Debate: Essays on Firearms and Violence 

Gary Kleck, Point Blank: Guns & Violence in America

[x] Regulation

James Bovard, Lost Rights : The Destruction of American Liberty

[x] Social Change

Richard Ashcraft, Revolutionary Politics & Locke's Two Treatises of Government

Eric Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican

Party Before the Civil War

Norman Gash, Politics in the Age of Peel

Joseph Hamburger, James Mill & the Art of Revolution

Aileen S. Kraditor, Means & Ends in American Abolitionism: Garrison & His Critics on Strategy and Tactics, 1834-1850

Pauline Maier, From Resistance to Revolution: Colonial Radicals & the Development of American Opposition to Britain, 1765-1776

John Morley, On Compromise

Robert V. Remini, Martin van Buren & the Making of the Democratic Party

[x] Classic Fiction & Drama

Charlotte Bronte, Shirley Elizabeth Gaskell, North & South

Alessandro Manzoni, The Betrothed

Stendhal, The Red & the Black

[x] Contemporary Fiction

Cameron Hawley, Cash McCall; Executive Suite

Jonathan Lynn & Anthony Jay, Eds., The Complete Yes, Minister; The Complete Yes, Prime Minister

Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead; Atlas Shrugged

Nevil Shute, On the Beach;  A Town Like Alice

[x] Science Fiction

Robert Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

John Varley, The Golden Globe

James Hogan, Mirror Maze;Voyage from Yesteryear

Ira Levin, This Perfect Day

C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength

George Orwell, 1984  

Ayn Rand, Anthem

H.F. Saint, Memoirs of an Invisible Man

L. Neil Smith, The Probability Broach

Melinda M. Snodgrass, Circuit; Circuit Breaker; Final Circuit

Vernor Vinge, The Peace War; True Names

[x] Children's Literature

Natalie S. Carlson, The Family under the Bridge

Rebecca Caudill, Tree of Freedom

Paul Galdone, Illus., The Little Red Hen

Donald Hall, Ox-Cart Man

Robert Heinlein, Between Planets; Red Planet; The Rolling Stones; Starman Jones

Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time

Jean Merrill, The Pushcart War

O. T. Nelson, The Girl Who Owned a City

Kate Seredy, The Singing Tree

Dr. Seuss, Yertle the Turtle; The Butter Battle Book; Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose

Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Fools of Chelm & Their History

Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Little House Stories

Other Libertarian Books Search Results

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[ImpBill]

It will be interesting to read this thread as time passes and see how cool and calm the discussions remain.

[KneelBeforeZod]

antidotes or anecdotes?