Professional Documents
Culture Documents
12 Summer of Liberty
9 Campus Round-Up By Bonnie Kristian By Wesley Messamore
YAL had been busy on college campuses across the country
Get a degree in fighting the state
—by interning with YAL
15 Where Statists Are Made By Ben Wetmore
Meet your foe: the big-government campus Left 25 Mind Your Language
By Vladimir Rudenko
How to talk about liberty
20 Concealed Carry—On Campus By Andrew W. Smith
—to any audience
The Second Amendment goes to college
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Young American Revolution
The Year of Youth: Project 2012
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March 2011
Revolutionary Reading
The books you need to win the war of ideas
Daniel McCarthy
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March 2011
was no friend of capitalism, but he was not a published a decade ago, but it still represents
communist or mega-statist, either. For a long the most comprehensive synthesis of Austri-
time, conservatives and many libertarians have an economics and radical libertarian political
only understood the Left through caricature. theory. Hoppe argues for a “natural order”
A more accurate understanding of what the based on property rights and self-ownership,
Left really is—and of the crucial distinction and he shows that democracy as a political
between the coercive “Force Left” and the system is inevitably corrosive of liberty. Mon-
relatively non-coercive “Freedom Left”—can archs at least think of their countries as their
be obtained from reading Daniel J. Flynn’s A own property, and attempt to conserve them
Conservative History of the American Left. From as such. Democracy encourages short-term
his own perspective on the Right, Flynn gives thinking in rulers and the ruled alike, which
a fair-minded and highly readable account of leads to a steady decay of civilization.
the Left’s evolution. There is an important mi- French political theorist Bertrand de Jou-
natory lesson for the Right in the tale of how venel, meanwhile, shows historically how
the Force Left ultimately routed the Freedom attempts to minimize political power have
Left. actually led to its concentration—indeed to
If you want to dig deeper into the history the creation of the modern all-encompassing
of the Left, and see it from the perspective State. But the intermediary institutions that
of a progressive, try The Long Detour by James stand between the individual and govern-
Weinstein. Weinstein was publisher of the left- ment—the groups and habits of civil soci-
wing magazine In These Times, and his book is ety—can act as “counterweights,” Jouvenel
brutally honest about how an infatuation with Soviet Commu- argues, and preserve freedom in the face of encroaching power.
nism subverted a genuinely American Left. As an addendum to Another Frenchman, the Christian anarchist Jacques Ellul,
the Rothbard and Carey readings, meanwhile, consider exploring provides an insightful and deeply troubling account of systems of
The Irrepressible Rothbard, available from Mises.org. That collection indoctrination and control in his book Propaganda. The phenom-
includes many of Rothbard’s later writings, in which he empha- enon he describes is more than just the advertising of political
sizes his affinities with cultural conservatives. ideas—it is the shaping of an individual’s and a society’s mental
horizons. Propaganda is a difficult but vastly rewarding work.
Unit 4: Advanced Studies
Finally, if the production of propaganda is about falsifying
Hans-Hermann Hoppe—Democracy, The God That Failed the world to serve political power, Richard Weaver’s Ideas Have
Bertrand de Jouvenel—On Power Consequences, a famous book little read, provides a cure: Weaver
Jacques Ellul—Propaganda is a metaphysical realist concerned to restore words and ideas to
Richard Weaver—Ideas Have Consequences their true meanings—or at least to restore meaning to the idea
of truth. Ideas Have Consequences diagnoses the evils of modern
Bibliographies in the books from the first three units will give politics on a philosophical level, seeking ultimate explanations for
you many ideas for further study. This fourth unit is intended how contemporary warfare has slipped all civilized restraints and
to highlight works that you may otherwise miss: four advanced what forces have reduced the citizens to political serfdom. The
books that every student of freedom should tackle at some point book is as much a work of prophecy as philosophy.
during his or her college years.
Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s Democracy, The God That Failed was Daniel McCarthy is editorial director of Young American Revolution.
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Young American Revolution
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March 2011
Campus Roundup
YAL has been busy on college campuses across the country
Bonnie Kristian
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Young American Revolution
angry students. These students, members of the Socialist Stu- from the University of Virginia. Included in YAL’s activism guide
dent/Worker Coalition, gathered at various locations across were several flyer templates which chapters could download and
campus and yelled in an all-day strike for progressive solutions customize with their own contact information. When the YAL
to the state-wide budget cuts… chapter at UVA downloaded a template which depicted as the
Rather than decrease regulation and state involvement to TSA mascot Pedobear, a well-known internet meme represent-
promote competition and lower prices, they propose salary ing sexual deviance, to post around campus for their protest, they
caps, a state income tax exclusively for wealthy Washingto- snapped a picture of one of their flyers and put it on Reddit. The
nians, and a freeze on tuition. image made it to the front page of this high-traffic website, gar-
nering more than 400,000 views and over 400 comments! From
“In an effort to remind people that more government is not
there, it was picked up by the Huffington Post and was subse-
the solution,” Hall continued, “the local YAL chapter stepped up
quently posted on several other sites. Congratulations again to the
and hosted a counter-strike.” Their efforts paid off when the
UVA chapter for this incredible viral success!
YAL members became the angle of the story many local news
sources chose to highlight. Standing amid more than a hundred
angry socialists, the YAL members’ message of free trade and lim- Some sort of headline here
ited government became the center of attention.
To encourage involvement on Constitution Day 2010, YAL
held an activism contest for all participating chapters. Aside from
Some sort of headline here some awesome prizes – including and HD flipcam for the first
place winners – these chapters took home bragging rights for the
Western Michigan University’s YAL chapter teamed up with a
coming year. The competition was stiff, but the first, second, and
campus conservative group to take advantage of the warm May
third place chapters went above and beyond the call of duty in
weather with a dunk tank and take a stand against government-run
their celebration of our founding document:
health care.
First Place: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Renting a bright blue and yellow tank, they set up shop in the
YAL UW-Madison had great success on Constitution Day
middle of campus. Members of the two groups got into costume
2010, passing out over 100 Constitutions and collected nearly 500
as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Congressman Bart Stu-
signatures of students who wanted to see Ron Paul come to Madi-
pak, two key players in the passage of Obamacare. They then
son. They tabled at a campus hot spot and engaged in friendly
offered passing students the chance to dunk the “politicians” and
conversation with passersby. The group collected information
their unfortunate support of government health care, not to men-
from about 40 potential recruits who expressed serious interest
tion a fun break from exams.
in joining YAL. Local news outlets ignored press releases and
The representation of Reid as Darth Vader in a tie played well
pictures which were sent out after the event, but a law professor at
with the crowd, and participating students received information
UW-Madison who runs a widely-read blog saw the event and very
about YAL and the problems with socialized medicine.
favorably covered it -- which elicited 130 comments from readers.
YAL’s activism antics brought out the local CBS station and
It appears freedom is popular at UW-Madison.
resulted in coverage in the student-run daily newspaper, the West-
Second Place: University of Texas-San Antonio
ern Herald.
Young Americans for Liberty at UTSA created a 17-ft Con-
stitution and displayed it in a populated area on campus. The
Some sort of headline here chapter handed out over 200 Constitutions -- all they had -- and
received six feet of signatures on the display, totaling more than
As anti-TSA sentiment swelled across the nation in response to 325 signatures. An additional 80 students signed up to learn more
the agency’s increasingly invasive and unconstitutional screening about YAL. The attention didn’t go unnoticed! KSAT 12, a San
techniques, YAL sprung into action. With many students about to Antonio ABC-affiliate, picked up the story and hung around for
leave college for Thanksgiving break -- and perhaps fly home for
over an hour at the event. The event was also covered by a local
the holiday -- the YAL national staff compiled an activism guide
blog and Students for Liberty.
for students to protest the TSA, both on and off campus.
Third Place: Washington State University
The YAL chapter at Vanderbilt University, however, already
After an evening of chalking and covering campus with flyers,
had the right idea, tabling on their campus to raise awareness
about the TSA’s concerning (and 100% ineffective) practices. YAL-WSU tabled all day for Constitution Day using the Opera-
After the activism guide was posted, other chapters began tion Politically Homeless kit. Enticed by the colorful posters say-
to stage their own protests. At UC-San Diego, for instance, the ing “student survey” and the full table display, nearly one hundred
YAL chapter covered their campus with anti-TSA flyers and chalk students came up to take the World’s Smallest Political Quiz. All
messages. The Indiana University chapter created a video appeal- participants received pocket Constitutions and a flyer. Any stu-
ing to fellow citizens to stand up to the TSA’s abusive practices. dents who landed in “libertarian,” “conservative,” or “centrist” on
Meanwhile, the Auburn University chapter created a clever dis- the quiz were asked to sign the signup sheet and received a copy
play which enticed passing students to take information about the of YAR. Group membership increased ten-fold!
TSA. To read about other chapters’ events on Constitution Day
However, perhaps the most exciting TSA protest story comes 2010, visit www.YALiberty.org/constitutionday2010.
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March 2011
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Young American Revolution
Summer of Liberty
Get a degree in fighting the state—by interning with YAL
Wesley Messamore
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Young American Revolution
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March 2011
Where Statists Are Made
Meet your foe: the big-government campus Left
Ben Wetmore
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Young American Revolution
those involving the feminists and women’s issues. The last decade university budgets and healthcare premiums that mask the cost
has seen the development of “women’s centers” that provide a of compliance. The abortion battle, as it plays out on campus,
permanent presence for statist feminism on campus. The 800 usually centers around the display of graphic images of aborted
women’s centers around the country represent a very left-wing and children rather than the fundamental policy questions relating to
anti-male. Men in 2007-08 made up, on average, only 43 percent the university.
of college enrollments—they are statistically underrepresented. The sheer scale of the campus Left’s power does much to dis-
All evidence suggests that future growth in college enrollments courage campus conservatives and libertarians. This discourage-
will be among women as well. Experts claim they’re baffled as to ment does not mean that non-leftists do not take action, but all
why this trend has emerged, but the answer is obvious: official or- too often it means that they act only in ineffective ways, preferring
thodoxy of feminism disincentivizes men from enrolling, staying, to focus on national policies or theoretical questions that are not
or surviving in higher education. This has not, however, stopped “natural student issues.” Yet anti-statists have a program that best
feminist groups from continuing to demand still more power. serves students’ natural interests—a program that offers more
The pro-abortion/pro-choice movement has a covert pitch jobs upon graduation, better long-term prospects (for families as
for organizing on college campuses—they usually prefer pretty well as businesses), and lower costs and greater freedom on cam-
generic “women’s issues” instead of being too open about their puses right now.
real goals. Even when overt, they set up groups to advance the People want change, as they apparently do every four years, but
ideas behind “choice” rather than working to increase abortions. only the Right and especially the libertarian Right, understands
There’s definitely an aspect of hardened social promotion, as evi- what real change can look like. On all the issues that the Left or-
denced by the poorly considered “I had an abortion” T-shirt mar- ganizes upon, the center-right has real answers that would make
keted primarily to college women for the past five years, combined positive change in the local area. The challenge is getting through
with the “I’m not sorry” day on campuses. These groups typi- people’s general boredom with economics and applying its princi-
cally call themselves “Vox” or “Students for Choice” on campus. ples to these largely emotional problems. Well-focused libertarian
There are, so far as Planned Parenthood claims, 192 such youth activists advancing freedom on campus can accomplish amazing
and college groups. This is thankfully less than half of the 492 results and change the world, if they give the campus Left the
groups claimed by Students for Life of America as pro-life cam- resolute and definitive answer they deserve. Campus statists na-
pus organizations around the country. But most university health tionwide depend on our silence.
plans cover abortion: the political battle here is mostly won by the
pro-choicers, and the costs of their policies are well hidden within Ben Wetmore is a graduate of American University.
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March 2011
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Young American Revolution
Concealed Carry—on Campus
The Second Amendment goes to college
Andrew W. Smith
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March 2011
in the swamp of state politics.
When the bill came out, Jess Fields and the Young Americans
for Liberty in Texas A&M chose to do their part to educate about
it. Fields was elected to the Student Senate and presented a refer-
endum to the Texas A&M body. The result was clear. Aggies, who
turned out in droves, wanted the right to keep and bear arms on
campus. At a time when around a hundred students protested the
bill on the steps of the state Capitol, an overwhelming number of
Fighting Texas Aggies voted in accordance with the Constitution
and expressed their support for extending Second Amendment
rights to campus.
Times are changing. I believe that Texas A&M, and the rest
of the country are at a turning point. College students, working
adults, and American citizens all across the country have a choice
to make. That choice is freedom or the illusion of security. As Ben
Franklin said, “Those who would give up essential liberty to pur-
chase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” I
for one, have hope. I believe that the freedom-loving atmosphere
exhibited on the Texas A&M campus and across the Lone Star
State will encourage Americans to not surrender this quintessen-
tial right fought for so hard by our Founding Fathers. Indeed, just
as our Founders fought for this right, it is our duty to fight the
educational battle for our liberties by spreading the message of
freedom and the Constitution on campuses across the country.
No Revolution can survive without a tireless group of people
continually struggling and fighting against the statist status quo.
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Young American Revolution
The Original Tea Partier
Paul Revere finally gets his due
Jeremy Lott
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March 2011
Mind Your Language
How to talk about liberty—to any audience
Vladimir Rudenko
Jeff Fulcher
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Young American Revolution
Get Realist
How liberty activists can change foreign policy
Roy Antoun
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Young American Revolution
Profiles in Liberty
Lawrence Reed—Ambassador of Freedom
Trent Hill
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March 2011
were important and he has never re- supportive of freedom for Poland.
gretted it, he discovered that politics We then went to the window and for
really is not for him. Yet he recognizes hours, all of Warsaw was blinking!’
a need for others to be involved, and Lawrence Reed was indefatigable,
he follows politics very closely. He and indeed he still is, in his pursuits
references an Ayn Rand quote for to help spread the message of liberty.
good measure: “I am interested in This included putting his life in dan-
politics so that one day I won’t have ger to get pro-liberty literature behind
to be interested in politics.” the Iron Curtain.
When asked about whether there This optimism is laced through in
are any politicians he admires, he of- everything Reed suggests to his stu-
fers quite a few caveats. Like any good dents and colleagues. When asked
libertarian, he is naturally distrustful about what he would want readers to
of politicians in general and quips, know, he urged liberty advocates to
“most of the politicians I admire are FEE was founded in 1946 by Leonard Read stay hopeful, follow the golden rule,
dead.” He eventually names a few liv- and never make enemies out of allies.
ing ones: “I deeply appreciate such “Smile. Stick to your principles. Don’t
members of Congress as Ron Paul, Jeff Flake, Mike Pence, Paul ever give up.”
Ryan, and Michele Bachmann, and Senators Tom Coburn and Jim Reed’s history in the movement reads like a Who’s Who of
DeMint.” freedom: Hans Sennholz, Leonard Read, Henry Hazzlit—he
Despite all of Reed’s personal encounters with tyranny all over knew them all personally. First and foremost, though, he credits
the globe, he remains unfailingly op- his father for imparting to him a life-
timistic. What did he learn from his time’s worth of knowledge about vir-
many travels? “I’ve learned that indi- tue, honesty, and hard work. In 2003
viduals are often phenomenally enter- Rep. Ron Paul made a speech on the
prising in the face of enormous, ar- floor of the House of Representa-
tificial roadblocks.” Reed tells a story tives commending Lawrence Reed for
to audiences all over the world about his lifetime of service to advancing
the Polish underground, a story that freedom worldwide. He said of Dr.
he says still moves him to tears: Reed, “few have so vigorously thrust
I remember visiting with a couple themselves into the intellectual and
in Poland in 1986 during martial law, policy battle on the side of freedom,”
Zbigniew and Sofia Romaszewski, high praise indeed. Despite Reed’s
who had just been released from remarkable accomplishments, singu-
prison for running an underground lar life stories, and deep understand-
radio. They were active once again on ing of ideas, he still comes across as
behalf of freedom because it meant The Foundation is located in Irvington, New York on a genial, patient, and most importantly,
everything to them. I asked them seven-acre 19th-century estate pro-liberty. Reed is the liberty move-
many questions including, ‘When you ment’s ambassador to the rest of the
were broadcasting, how did you know if people were listening?’ world, and we couldn’t ask for a better one.
She said, ‘We could only broadcast a few minutes at a time and
then had to go off the air to avoid detection, but one night we Trent Hill [thill19@lsu.edu] is a history major at Louisiana State
asked people to blink their lights if they were listening and were University and the editor of IndependentPoliticalReport.com.
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Young American Revolution
Secession Brings People Together
Radical Kirkpatrick Sale explains why smaller is more beautiful
John Payne
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March 2011
his glasses and neatly trimmed beard, he looks like the Beat poet system and holds out hope that “the ones who follow their anger
Gary Snyder. out to its logical conclusion will be led to secession as the only
Sale begins by considering that Aristotle might be wrong; his possible means of getting back to the kinds of democracy and
world was very different from ours, after all. But Sale is confident freedom these people think they are fighting for.”
that the modern state, particularly the United States, has grown Sale seems more excited about the plethora of secessionist
too large, declaring, “We have abundant evidence that a nation groups across the country. The Second Vermont Republic is the
of 305 million people can’t work. It is ungovernable!” Then, in best chance in the near future—especially with Naylor announc-
his halting manner of speech that serves to emphasize the words ing a slate of secessionist candidates in Montpelier a few weeks
before each pause, Sale unfurls an impressive array of statistical before the conference—but Sale points to a number of other
evidence to show that not only are small polities viable, they are in areas as well. Along with Vermont, Texas “come[s] immediately
fact the best polities: over half of the world’s states have popula- to mind.” Alaska and Hawaii should have better movements, but
tions of fewer than 5 million people; outside of the United States, they lack organization, particularly in Hawaii where the groups
keep splintering. (When I point out that this is just secession from
the average population size of the top 27 world economies is 5.1
secessionist organizations, Sale tells me, “That’s alright. Once they
million; 85 countries are under 10,000 square miles in size (rough-
got an independent Hawaii, they can divide up the islands. That
ly as large as Vermont), and 77 percent of prosperous countries
wouldn’t bother me a bit.”) Returning to where we stood, Sale
are under that size. The average population size of states listed as
mentioned that although the Southern National Congress had not
“free” (again, excluding the U.S.) by various studies is 5 million. yet made secession a plank of its platform, it had only met twice,
And so forth. Iceland, Sale points out, is a beacon of democracy and it took the Continental Congress three times before demand-
with the oldest parliament in the world, a very high standard of ing a split with Britain.
living—and only 319,000 people. “Small is not only beautiful,” Yet even with the idea of secession alive and seemingly grow-
Sale concludes, “but bountiful.” ing, Sale’s basic outlook remains dyspeptic. At the final roundtable
Sale contends that large size can be a hindrance to any institu- discussion with all the conference’s speakers, one person asked
tion as communication, transportation, and administration costs what the chances were of people returning to institutions of hu-
all scale up alongside population and landmass. Consolidated man scale, to which Sale replied with very little hesitation, “ap-
states, moreover, require vast amounts of money and eventually proximately nil.” Let us hope he is wrong.
resort either to inflation, war, or both to expropriate it from the
people. Striking a very libertarian chord, he sums up his politi- John Payne is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis. He thanks
cal thought with what he calls Sale’s Law: “Economic and social the Abbeville Institute for allowing him to attend free of charge and supplying
misery increases in direct proportion to the size and power of the him with lodging.
central government of a nation.”
Although pretty much everyone at the conference is at least
sympathetic to the idea of secession, most seem to believe that
things need not come to that. If only the states could reassert
their prerogatives through processes like nullification—in which
a state refuses to enforce a federal law and declares it void—the
central government could be restrained. But Sale will have none
of this milquetoast talk. When 70 percent of Americans agree
that the country is broken and cannot be fixed, “The only hope is
secession,” he announces with grim determination at the end of
his speech. During a short question and answer session afterward,
Sale is asked about the resolutions currently being advanced by
Tea Party activists claiming that states have the right under the
Tenth Amendment to ignore unconstitutional federal laws; Sale
tells the questioner that such movements must either crumple un-
der pressure, possibly even violence, from Washington or lead to
secession.
I ask Sale directly about the Tea Party movement, and he
admits it “reflects a deep-seated feeling that Washington is off
track, not just spending too much money but faced with a whole
range of problems they don’t know how to solve.” However, Sale
faults the movement for never raising objections to such massive
and obscene exercises of national power as the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, the Patriot Act, and the detention camp at Guanta-
namo Bay. He argues that their silence on these matters indicates
that they “don’t understand that this is not because Democrats,
Republicans, or whoever the individuals are there but because the
system is broken.” But Sale is glad that they are at least mad at the
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Young American Revolution
Colleges Need a Revolution
The Marketplace of Ideas: Reform and Resistance in the American University
Louis Menand, W.W. Norton and Co., 176 pages
Matt Cockerill
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March 2011
classes they want, rather than trusting universities to mandate spe- ostensibly inclusive, non-conformist mentality, such as women’s,
cific courses. studies don’t represent a deviation from the traditional model,
Perhaps “social justice” is a legitimate field of study and per- but a challenge to it. They are highlighting factors old paradigms
haps not. But we’ll never know if universities continue to stymie overlooked because of their internal biases and homogeneity. In-
competition by imposing such courses on students through gen- deed, Menand argues that the humanities’ crisis of “illegitimacy”
eral education curriculums. These and all other courses ought to is “performing a service to the universe,” insofar as it represents a
succeed or fail on their own merits through totally open competi- perpetual challenge. If scholars always need to justify themselves,
tion. In addition to opposing government intervention in higher they’re more likely to produce good scholarship.
education, libertarians should advocate that private universities But Menand’s claim that uncertainty is a good in and of itself is
voluntarily abolish general education requirements. We shouldn’t faulty. Isn’t the whole point of academic inquiry to discern truth?
expect this move to make people more receptive to our ideas The new fields that Menand praises, like women’s and black stud-
overnight. Still if we believe in our ideas, we should think they ies, are themselves rooted in accepted moral truths, such as the
would stand a better chance through more open competition. idea that it is immoral to discriminate based on race and gender.
Another key problem of academia Menand addresses is the While rejecting Menand’s solution, however, liberty-minded
perceived unseriousness of some of its subjects. Specifically, youth shouldn’t disregard his reasoning. Objective truth is diffi-
some of the humanities are undergoing a “crisis of legitimacy.” cult to discern in the humanities, and it’s very dangerous to accept
Regardless of whether we attribute this problem to an ignorant uncritically whatever you are told. While we must reject academic
public or a deficient professoriate, it is clearly a relevant one. nihilism in favor of the pursuit of truth, even our most deeply
To address this problem, Menand again turns to his knowledge held views must be questioned from time to time. Failing to do so
of academia’s history. At first glance, the university’s “Golden will only perpetuate the crisis of the humanities.
Age” of 1945-1975 seems to be aptly named. Americans of this Next, Menand describes how “interdisciplinarity,” became a
generation were 500 percent more likely than the previous genera- buzzword of modern academia, and what that means. There are
tion to attend school. Past religious sentimentality gave way to a certainly good reasons for it. Among other things, interdisciplin-
“dispassionate” spirit of sober truth-seeking in higher education. arity exposes academics to alternative viewpoitns and helps them
A spirit of discipline shaped a dedicated, efficient student body. come up with original ideas.
The humanities shared this strict devotion to truth-seeking. Even Still, interdisciplinarity is sometimes criticized as pseudoscien-
seemingly subjective, abstract studies like creative literature “relied tific, subversive, and a distraction from sound research. The strict
on the notion that texts can be interpreted non-contextually, and disciplinary boundaries of the “Golden Age” were broken down
that these interpretations have hard-and-fast degrees of validity.” into a pseudoscientific “anti-disciplinary” university by the infil-
However, Menand notes that this era had at least as much tration of 1960s countercultural radicals, so the story goes.
superficiality as solid accomplishments. Many uninterested stu- Menand rightly dispels these false impressions, noting that
dents attended college only for a military draft-avoiding educa- interdisciplinarity is not “transgressive, transformational, or even
tion deferment. Budgets for supposedly “dispassionate” research new.” The Golden Age was the anomaly, with the government
ballooned largely because of government subsidies. Indeed, the heavily intervening in academia to maximize students’ utility to
“value-free” research of the era was largely based off of a desire the state. Prior to 1945, interdisciplinarity was quite common.
for scholars “not to offend their granting agencies.” But maybe nostalgia for disciplinary segregation is justified?
The failure of the war in Vietnam led to skepticism about the Confining professionals to studying their own fields is clearly de-
neutrality and credibility of academia, both in its political and sirable to an extent. A doctor cannot effectively practice medicine
moral judgments. By 1975, conventional wisdom was that the if he is distracted with ecology. A lawyer cannot effectively prac-
war was immoral and unnecessary. But decades earlier, much of tice law if she is preoccupied with finance. Opportunity costs and
the political and academic establishments had supported it. Why tradeoffs apply to academics as they do to everyone else.
should these voices, asked a cynical populace, continue to be re- This objection brings us to the history of professionalism,
vered after being proven so terribly wrong? which Menand describes quite well. He demonstrates that the
Menand describes how the war led to a growing antiestablish- present crisis of legitimacy is hardly unique to the humanities. All
ment movement, especially in the humanities. The idea caught on disciplines have withstood the same challenge at some point. In
that there was no objective truth to be found in the humanities. the 19th to early 20th centuries, their answer was professionaliza-
The prejudices and self-interest of an individual played a role in tion, or the imposing of standardized requirements.
even the most sober humanist’s reasoning. Rather than uncritically taking the mainstream line about stan-
Menand seems to believe that contradictory aspects of the hu- dardization’s greatness, Menand paints a more nuanced picture.
manities aren’t necessarily right or wrong. They’re just different. Professionalism is conducive to freedom and prosperity. It func-
However, he believes humanism’s “eclecticism” need not have tions as an “extension of the division of labor,” by acting as “a
reduced it to irrelevancy. New fields arising from the humanities’ mechanism for producing the specialized experts who are needed
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to perform those tasks.” On the other hand, state-mandated pro- a professor shorter and easier? It is discouraging enough for a
fessionalism is “monopolistic,” and monopolies are self-interest- conservative, libertarian, or radical professor to try to work for
ed. They can be expected to work to maintain their advantage, people who almost all disagree with him. But if the process were
even at the expense of sober inquiry. streamlined, he may be more likely to give it a shot. Menand’s sug-
The libertarian response to the problem is to open competi- gestion is interesting and worth looking into.
tion by abolishing government certification of professionals. But In any case, internal biases currently play a role in the ideology
this would hardly be a sufficient check on professionals’ social of professors. These biases, argues Menand, need to be repudi-
power. To be sure, Menand is right that there are methods of self- ated. “Fostering a greater diversity of views within the profes-
regulation by private professional groups. And there is something soriate is a worthy goal,” he argues, but the current university
to be said for his point that the character and intelligence of pro- “implicitly demands and constructs conformity.” On this point,
libertarians must emphatically agree and redouble their efforts to
fessionals makes them naturally devoted to dispassionate research.
change things.
But there still must be another method of checking professional-
By describing the problem of general education, the legitimacy
ism’s social power.
question of the humanities, the controversy of interdisciplinarity,
That method, Menand believes, is interdisciplinarity. By mak-
and the issues resulting from all professors agreeing with each
ing academics codependent on each other, we ensure that no de-
other, Louis Menand has written a worthy book on the problems
partment will become too powerful. If one department produces of the American university. The growing libertarian youth move-
low-quality research, it undermines the whole university. Interdis- ment is in a particularly good position to change things. We are,
ciplinarity promotes accountable departments and proactive uni- after all, simultaneously blessed with radical political principle and
versity administration. For these reasons, it is conducive to change a heartfelt commitment to free inquiry. But only by educating our-
and libertarians ought to promote it. selves on the machinations and history of the university will we be
By far the shortest and most interesting section of the book able to reach a day where universities are a bit more conservative
is the fourth, about the political views of academics. There are about upholding the Constitution, and a bit more tolerant about
many surprising discoveries in this section. Professors are heavily deviations from their own traditions.
ideological, but in a more homogeneous way than Americans tend
to think. Matt Cockerill is a student of philosophy and economics at Creighton
Citing studies from Harvard and George Mason University, University.
Menand debunks the myth of the radical professoriate. Only 9.4
percent of professors identify as very liberal and just 3 percent
consider themselves “Marxists.” In fact, professors are “over-
whelmingly” mainstream liberals, “not Ralph Naderites or social-
ists.” But while the radical Left is on the decline, conservatism of
any stripe is even less popular. Case in point: in the 2004 presiden-
tial election, 0 percent of humanities professors voted for George
W Bush. That’s right: statistically, 0 percent.
Clearly, the common moniker of “radicalism” attached to uni-
versities by people like David Horowitz is a myth. Instead, we
have a startling center-left homogeneity of political views among
professors. And those academics with radical views, most of
whom came of age during Vietnam, are dying and retiring. They
are being replaced by newcomers less cynical about the state.
This is a disturbing trend. Though libertarians may oppose
the counterculture movement’s libertinism and socialist leanings,
the country undoubtedly became a freer place because of them,
through the abolition of forced segregation, conscription, and the
end of the Vietnam War. We need more radical professors of all
ideologies at universities, because radicalism encourages dissent-
ing viewpoints. America is in recession, perpetually at war, and
bankrupt. The academic status quo has failed at leading us, and we
can’t afford to let it go unchallenged.
Acknowledging the problems surrounding the fact that all
professors tend to think the same way, Menand offers an inter-
esting proposal: why not make the process necessary to become
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Emperor Romney
No Apology: The Case for American Greatness
Mitt Romney, St. Martin’s Press, 336 pages
Jack Hunter
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March 2011
American boots on the ground in that country in 2008. During dictatorships than the world had seen for many days.’ He was cer-
that border battle between Georgia and Russia, a campaigning tain that another war would destroy American democracy, creating
John McCain immediately injected that we Americans were “all ‘an absolute arbitrary dictatorship in Washington.”
Georgians now.” No doubt Romney shared McCain’s sentiment, History notes that World War II and the administration of
though what concrete interests the U.S. might have in that conflict Franklin Roosevelt—a president Taft firmly opposed—coincided
are speculative at best. with one of the largest expansions of government power in Amer-
“American greatness” is more accurately described by Romney ican history. While “Mr. Republican” Taft feared big government
as “American exceptionalism,” some- abroad might lead to big government
thing the author defines as maintain- at home, would-be “Mr. Republican”
ing U.S. global dominance through Romney believes big government
military might. Criticizing President abroad is not only America’s primary
Obama for not subscribing to this mission, but somehow protects lim-
notion with sufficient passion, Rom- ited government at home. For Rom-
ney writes “in response to a question ney, constitutional government is an
about whether [Obama] believed in afterthought in the wake of the end-
‘American exceptionalism’—a phrase less pursuit of more war; for Taft, war
that indicates America has a special would inevitably render constitutional
place and role in the world—he re- government an afterthought.
plied ‘I believe in American excep- Romney writes of President
tionalism, just as I suspect the Brits Obama, “His effort to expand the
believe in British exceptionalism and size, reach and role of government is
the Greeks in Greek exceptionalism.’ without precedent in our history,” yet
Which is another way of saying he the former Massachusetts governor—
doesn’t believe it at all.” Not so coin- who still defends TARP but complains
cidentally, Romney firmly rejects those it’s just being handled wrong—actively
who “believe that we should simply promotes a foreign policy whose size,
accept the notion that our power is reach and role is also without prec-
limited.” Limiting government power? edent in our history, of precisely the
This conservative impulse is anathema type that Taft feared. Writes The Amer-
to Romney. ican Conservative’s Daniel Larison: “A
Romney sees military domination huge standing army, military outposts
scattered around the globe, perpetual
as the very definition of American
war and the arbitrary use of force by
greatness. Taft also believed in the
executive order—are these really com-
exceptionalism of Americans—but
patible with the national character[?]...
considered war a threat to it. Writes
Official Massachusetts State House portrait of The security and warfare state is … far
Moser: “Foremost among the prin- Governor Mitt Romney. Artist Richard Whitney.
more alien to these shores than any
ciples that guided Taft’s foreign policy entitlement program. It is far more
was a strong faith in the exceptionalism of America and its people. dangerous to the constitutional government that truly was one
Although he was educated at Yale and Harvard, Taft’s belief in of the most admirable achievements of our ancestors, and it goes
basic American values was one that he shared with most Mid- against the grain of most of our national history.”
westerners of his time, particularly those of his native Cincinnati. In 2000, Bush campaigned on a foreign policy closer to that of
Like them, he was convinced that the United States was based on America’s first president, but went on to drive his administration
certain noble ideas that placed the nation far above the rest of in the opposite direction. With this book, Romney has kicked off
the world.” So far, Taft’s belief in American exceptionalism seems an early 2012 presidential campaign by abandoning the limited
little different from Romney’s. But Moser continues: “Of these government vision of the Founders from the start, while making
ideas, individual liberty was for him the most important; indeed, the case that imperial hubris is the very definition of “American
he proclaimed early and often that the ‘principal purpose of the Greatness.”
foreign policy of the United States is to maintain the liberty of If the big government case for perpetual war and protracted
our people.’ He held that there were three fundamental require- empire Romney makes in his book counts as “conservatism” in
ments for the maintenance of such liberty—an economic system 2010, then limited-government advocates will need to find a new
based on free enterprise, a political system based on democracy, term. And if Mitt Romney becomes the Republican presidential
and national independence and sovereignty. All three, he feared, nominee in 2012, conservatives will need to find a new party.
might be destroyed in a war, or even by extensive preparations for
war... . The First World War had, he claimed, ‘set up more extreme Jack Hunter is the “Southern Avenger” columnist for The American
Conservative.
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Young American Revolution
Know Thine Enemy
Leviathan
Thomas Hobbes, introduction by Peter Berkowitz, Regnery, 619 pages
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March 2011
quote this passage.) order. The fatal objection to his system is no less true for being
Faced with such a dire situation, how can the people in blindingly apparent. Hobbes is certainly right that disorder is un-
it escape? Each person, in the state of nature, has the right desirable; but the dangers of an unchecked sovereign far exceed
to do whatever he deems necessary to preserve his own life; the discomforts of the state of nature. Hitler, Stalin, Mao—the
but he can cede his right to someone else. Is this not a fool- historical record teaches an unmistakable lesson. Hobbes had
ish thing to do? Not, Hobbes thinks, if everyone in society constantly in mind the need to avoid the passions of civil war;
cedes his right of nature to the same person, who then be- but the English Civil War, after all, was not an example of his
comes the sovereign. Under these circumstances, there will state of nature. Rather, two competing sides struggled to obtain
no longer be general fear and constant enmity, since every- sovereignty. It is the existence of a powerful state, not its absence,
one has agreed to accept the decisions of the sovereign as that leads to war and massacre. And Hobbes vastly underestimates
binding. the ability of people to reach voluntary agreements to protect
One might object that Hobbes has themselves. Hobbes should have read Murray
not solved his problem. What if people Rothbard as well as Ayn Rand.
go back on their agreement? Hobbes an- Peter Berkowitz has written, on the whole,
swers that they will have no choice in the a useful introduction to Regnery’s edition of
matter. They have surrendered their arms Leviathan. He is, I regret to say, a neoconser-
to the sovereign, and he is now in a posi- vative, and in one instance this disfigures his
tion to compel them to fulfill their promise remarks. He constructs a wholly imaginary
to obey him. “Covenants without the sword, Hobbesian right of foreign intervention on
are but words.” humanitarian grounds. “Where the threat to
Of course, there is an obvious problem the international order is sufficiently grave
with Hobbes’s solution to the problem of dis-
and sovereignty has been forfeited by inac-
order. Everyone is now at the mercy of the
tion or incompetence or nullified by a gov-
sovereign. The situation is made worse be-
ernment’s violently turning on its own people,
cause the sovereign has made no promises to
states may reasonably perceive a national in-
his subjects: rather, they have mutually prom-
ised to obey him. Hobbes does recognize one terest in intervening abroad to head off hu-
limit to this total surrender. Because the pur- manitarian disaster or thwart crimes against
pose of the agreement is to increase the abil- humanity.” Berkowitz does not pretend to
ity of each person to preserve his own life, no find this supposed “right” in the text of Le-
one can give up his right to life. Should the viathan, and he should have written about his
sovereign command someone to give up his argument somewhere else—or better still, not
life, the subject need not obey. Furthermore, written about it at all.
the sovereign will know that he acts in a sufficiently oppressive Hobbes unacceptably puts liberty in jeop-
manner, people will cease to obey him. Hobbes’s moral theory ardy; does Rousseau do better? He certainly professes concern
requires that they do obey—they have made a binding promise to with freedom. He asks, “Is a method of associating discoverable
do so—but most people will not always do what justice requires. which will defend and protect, with all the collective right, the per-
This knowledge will serve to check the sovereign. son and property of each associate, and in virtue of which each
Readers who have read the 19th-century American anarchist associate, though he becomes a member of the group, neverthe-
Lysander Spooner will raise an obvious point: people have never less obeys only himself, and remains as free as before?” (The Social
actually made an agreement of the sort Hobbes has conjured Contract, Chapter VI.) It is clear that his answer is yes; but readers
up. What relevance, then, does Hobbes’s discussion have for real
of a libertarian bent will not be impressed.
states? Hobbes knew full well that most states had not arisen
Rousseau’s conception of freedom is most peculiar. Everyone
through mutual agreement, but he thought that this did not mat-
surrenders all his rights to a collective body, consisting of the
ter. Even if someone becomes sovereign by conquest, threaten-
whole population. Because each person has made an equal sur-
ing to kill people if they do not accept his rule, subjects are still
required to obey. By thinking about the dire outcome that would render to this collective body, he is somehow equally free! “Each
ensue were society to lapse into chaos, subjects will realize that gives himself to everybody, so that … he gives himself to nobody
they are fortunate indeed to find themselves under the command and since every associate acquires over every associate the same
of a sovereign. How they got there is irrelevant. power he grants to every associate over himself, each gains an
One further clarification is essential. When Hobbes speaks of equivalent for all that he loses, together with greater power to pro-
a sovereign, he does not mean that only a state ruled by a king is tect what he possesses.”
legitimate. Although he himself thinks monarchy the best form of If everyone has surrendered everything in this way, it becomes
government, he recognizes that aristocracies and democracies are of crucial significance to find out how this collective body makes
also acceptable. Whatever the form of the sovereign, though, the its decisions. Unfortunately, Rousseau leaves us largely in the dark.
obligation to obey remains constant. He tells us that society is properly ruled by the “general will,”
Libertarians will rightly recoil from Hobbes’s remedy for dis- which is not to be equated with the “will of all.” The general will
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Young American Revolution
can, if properly informed, never, err; but Rousseau does not tell the history of political philosophy. To be free, according to this
us how we can know that a collective decision really expresses the idea, is to be able to do what your real self wants, not what you,
general will. in your present consciousness, think that you want. What your
What happens if someone does not agree with the decision of real self wants is what you would want, if you were fully rational,
the general will? Suppose, e.g., that the general will decides that well informed, and sought to attain what is good for you. Thus,
inequality of incomes should be placed under strict limits. You are you really want to surrender your money for redistribution, even
among the wealthy and do not wish to surrender what you take to though you have to be pried loose from your cashbox kicking and
be your legitimate property. Have you any right to resist? screaming.
The answer will come as no surprise. You have surrendered Rousseau has here fallen victim to what Scruton aptly calls “an
everything to the collective body; so, no more than the Hobbesian intoxicating metaphysical picture.” Of course, you are not free if
subject, have you any right to resist. How, then, does, Rousseau you have to be coerced into giving up your money, even if on so-
differ from Hobbes? ber thought you should not have resisted. In practice, Rousseau’s
He does so in this way. Hobbes does not disguise the fact that idea will lead to some people deciding what they think is good for
that if the sovereign commands you to do something you do not others, forcing them to do it, and calling the outcome “freedom.”
want, your freedom has been restricted. Rousseau, in Orwellian Therein lies the path to dictatorship.
fashion, says that in this case, you are free because what the gen- Unfortunately, we are not rid of this malign idea. An influ-
ential group of contemporary economists claim that we can be
eral will has decided is what you “really” want to do, your present
“nudged” out of our irrational preferences while remaining free.
opinion to the contrary notwithstanding. In a passage to which
Such irrational choices do not express what we really want. (See,
the distinguished British philosopher Roger Scruton calls atten-
e.g., Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, Nudge.) Rousseau could
tion in his excellent introduction, Rousseau says: “In order then
not have said it better.
that the social compact may not be an empty formula, it tacitly
If Hobbes and Rousseau serve more as warning signs than
includes the undertaking, which alone can give force to the rest, guides to a true account of freedom and order, studying them
that whoever refuses to obey the general will shall be compelled nevertheless puts one in contact with two powerful and immense-
to do so by the whole body. This means nothing less than that he ly influential thinkers. By trying to see where they went wrong, we
will be forced to be free; for this is the condition which, by giving sharpen our own ideas.
each citizen to his country, secures him against all personal depen-
dence.” (The Social Contract, Chapter VII) David Gordon is a senior fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and editor
Rousseau here adumbrates one of the most dangerous ideas in of The Mises Review.
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