fagin%ji.Berkeley.EDU@UCBVAX.BERKELEY.EDU (08/22/86)
Just for the record, I'm an objectivist, a libertarian, and a Jew. I've stopped taking Rothbard seriously a while ago, preferring instead the company of Robert Nozick and David Friedman, who might more properly be considered the intellectual leaders of the libertarian movement (and who are both Jewish). So I'm puzzled by objectivists ragging on libertarians. It's counterproductive, and probably not very interesting to the great unconvinced majority out there anyway. Objectivist, libertarian, who cares what the term is? The important issue is whether or not a movement based on individual liberty across the spectrum of social issues has relevant and interesting ideas for the problems of our time. I think the answer is a resounding yes; that's why I'm involved with the libertarian movement. Jeez, guys, there are libertarians in the GOP who are trying to pull the Republican party away from its fundamentalist/conservative leanings into a more tolerant position on social issues and a noninterventionist foreign policy. The Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank in LA and publisher of Reason Magazine, is the nation's leading authority on the privatization of local government services (indeed, they invented the term 'privatization'). The Cato Institute, another libertarian think tank, is headquartered in Washington D.C. and has been very succesful in getting their ideas across to the press and Congress. Their newly appointed director, William Niskanen, was a former member of Reagan's Council of Economic Advisors. The point is that the term 'libertarian', as it is now finally finding its way into conventional political jargon, refers to a person who values individual liberty, the free market, and social tolerance: "Free minds, free bodies, and free markets" might be their creed. I resent people's constant attempts to peg us into narrowly defined categories and then write us off as total bozos. In fact, libertarians are a remarkably diverse lot, like the rest of humanity. They are also the only group around that's doing anything even remotely interesting politically; the major parties are so intellectually bankrupt and so incapable of adressing the problems of the nation it's downright embarassing. If you're interested in making the world a freer, more prosperous place to live, if your leanings are toward less governmental intervention in both personal and economic affairs, if you value economic liberties as much as civil liberties, then you're best described as a libertarian; you're certainly poorly described as liberal or conservative. Thus the label 'libertarian' fits baby-boomers quite well. If you're curious about what libertarians are doing in the real world and/or how you can help, send me e-mail (fagin@ji.berkeley.edu) and I'll point you in the right direction. In any case, people out there should recognize that the word 'libertarian' describes a movement far better than it describes a person. 'Nuff said? --Barry -------