Swan Song of the Old Right
In addition to being staunch opponents of war and militarism, writes Murray Rothbard, the Old Right of the postwar period had a rugged and near-libertarian honesty in domestic affairs as well. When a nationwide railroad strike loomed, it was the liberal Harry Truman who proposed to draft the strikers into the army and force them to keep working, and it was Senator Taft who led the opposition to the move as slavery.
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), in those days before Big Business corporate liberalism had conquered it in the name of a "partnership of government and industry," took a firm laissez-faire line. Its staff economist, Noel Sargent, was a believer in the free market, and the dean of laissez-faire economics, Ludwig von Mises, was one of the NAM's consultants. In those days, the NAM was largely small-business oriented, and indeed, various small businessmen's organizations formed the business base for the organized Right. FULL ARTICLE
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Bruce Koerber
"The Betrayal of the American Right' is political history at its best. Without knowing the 'how' and the 'who' in the last half century there is inevitably a large and definite naivety among the voting population. Such ignorance leads to the handing of power over to the ego-driven interventionists.
Published: November 14, 2007 6:08 PM