Comments (8)

• Curt Howland

• Fascinating. I read National Review when I was young, found it exceptionally well written, but strangely irrelevant.

  But it was a nice counterpoint to Time Magazine.

• Published: February 28, 2008 1:43 PM

• Michael G.R.

• Good interview. Scott Horton, the interviewer, is also quite good.

• Published: February 28, 2008 8:33 PM

• Vedran

• That was amazing! I love that Mr. Rockwell touched on how Southerners have a fighting mentality. It's not just in war. I remember growing up in Mississippi and somebody always wanted to get in a fight at a party or there was wrestling, boxing, etc at any gathering with a little alcohol.

  I think it's truly one of the biggest hindrances to the South becoming libertarian. The other anti-government values are there but they are accompanied with this fighting mentality which falls into the hands of the neocons perfectly

• Published: February 29, 2008 12:23 AM

• Alex Peak

• Where can I find a copy of Buckley's Rothbard obituary in full?

  Since the idea of culturally-conservative libertarianism came up, let me briefly state my view on the matter. I would not say that one "has to be 'liberal' in one's personal affairs" to be a libertarian, even though I personally am "culturally liberal" (what a strange term). If you want to be conservative in your personal affairs, want to go to Church every week, whatever else--fine with me--none of this prevents you from being a libertarian (assuming you abide by the non-aggression axiom).

  However, this doesn't place you on another section of the political spectrum. If you're a libertarian--even if you are conservative in your personal affairs--you fall on the far left of the spectrum. I don't find any academic value (perhaps a little bit of outreach value, but no academic value) in placing limited- and anti-statism in the middle, with totalitarianism on the two ends, like some sort of bell-curve. The very notion is simply silly, and the idea of placing libertarianism on the right (or anywhere near it) is historically inaccurate.

  In short, we're all leftists, and we should re-claim the left as ours, showing the Marxists for what they are: moderates at best, rightists at worst.

  I have to wonder whether or not Ron Paul actually had the sort of impact Mr. Rockwell thinks. I know that I, for one, was already a libertarian before this race began, and in fact was supporting a Ron run for the presidency before he himself was. I do suspect that it's not so much Ron Paul as it is A) the Libertarian Party, B) the Mises Institute, and C) the many advocates of freedom within the movement (including Paul). I suspect these people were for the most part already turned on to Liberty by these, but just not active in politics because of the general absense of libertarians in the two establishment parties. (Paul himself has noted that a lot of the people he's run into--people my age--had learned about libertarianism through this very site.) I feel I personally owe the most to Harry Browne and Murray Rothbard. The movement has been growing since the tragic (and right-wing) New Deal, and Ron Paul was, it seems, just in the right place at the right time.

  This isn't to say, of course, that Dr. Paul has had no impact. Those without an Internet connection or much concern about politics (outside of voting) surely heard libertarian ideas for the first time thanks to Paul, and many people--including many libertarians--probably heard of Austrian economics for the first time, thanks to comments he made in the various debates. (I don't doubt he was the only person on those stages who could explain the difference between the labour and subjective theories of value.) Rather, my point is that even Paul admits this wasn't about him, it was about something much deeper. Paul would not have made the splash he did if not for the work done by all the various advocates of Liberty that came before him, such as Browne, Hess, Rothbard, the Tannehills, LeFevre, Rand, Read, Lane, Mises, Nock, Spooner, Jefferson, Locke, &c. It's important to stress this intellectual tradition, while including Paul in it.

• Published: February 29, 2008 1:27 AM

• Keith

• Great interview, but I think some of Mr. Rockwell's opinions on foreign policy are a little naive.

  If we're nice to the North Koreans, then everything would be fine? Don't you think that China has designs on the penisula? Should the South Koreans be simply left to fend for themselves? I agree that South Korea and Japan have gotten a very long free ride from the entire burden of defending themselves, but I don't think walking away and saying it isn't our problem is the best solution.

  At some point I think you have to recognize that a rat is a rat and being nice, or even just leaving it a lone, will not change it from being a rat. If the all the people of all the other countries of the world should be treated like Americans want to be treated, then how does allowing them fall under the oppression of a rat accomplish that? I would agree that US foreign policy has been sometimes stupid in the past and the present, but I don't see how walking away is any smarter.
  

• Published: February 29, 2008 8:21 AM

• Vedran

• Keith,

  It seems to me that the only plans China has is to grow economically by further opening their economy. They make lots of money trading with us. Why would they want to ruin that? Any thought of China still trying to take over south Korea is not naivety but paranoia.

• Published: February 29, 2008 1:09 PM

• T Eric Heuerman

• Listening to theinterview, I was reminded of lyrics by the very literate singer-songwriter, James McMurtry. When Lew mentioned the midday siren going off, it was nearly quoting his 1997 song, "12 O'Clock Whistle":
  
  "The air raid siren
  at the high school blew
  every weekday, twelve o'clock noon
  "dinner time, people"
  as if we didn't know
  I guess the city fathers
  liked to hear that thing blow "
  
  He is also an outspoken critic of the U.S. wars and in fact, had no less than three anti-war songs on his last CD, "Childish Things." On the song, "We Can't Make It Here" he shares Lew's sentiment (if not his economic astuteness) about none of the elites doing any of the actual fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan:
  
  "I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
  All lily white and squeaky clean
  They’ve never known want, they’ll never know need
  Their sh_t don’t stink and their kids won’t bleed
  Their kids won’t bleed in their damn little war
  And we can’t make it here anymore."
  

• Published: March 2, 2008 8:35 PM

• Johnny Kramer

• Here's Buckley's obit on Murray Rothbard:

  http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n2_v47/ai_16448375

• Published: March 3, 2008 3:37 AM