Letters

From the November 1996 issue

(Page 3 of 3)

One of the distressing characteristics shared by many of the most negative letters is an unwillingness or inability to read carefully or with any appreciation for context. For instance, Howard Scott Lichtman charges that I lump Browne in with such political sideshow geeks as Pat Paulsen and the Rev. Billy Joe Clegg. Even a casual perusal of my story would reveal that I cited TheNew York Times Magazine's classification of serious alternative candidates with foolish ones to illustrate how difficult it is for the former to get respectful media attention. (In their widely circulated responses to the article, Harry Browne and L.P. founder David Nolan make numerous similar basic reading mistakes. Incidentally, Messrs. Browne and Nolan both declined numerous requests to write letters to the editor.)

Similarly, I find it unconvincing to assert that REASON--because it is a libertarian magazine--is the wrong forum in which to discuss the fortunes, strategies, and failings of the Libertarian Party. In his evenhanded letter, Philip Blumel reminds REASON not to treat its "core readers like fools in order to curry favor with those who will never become enthusiastic subscribers." Patrick L. McHargue writes that he reads REASON specifically "not to hear how badly the L.P. and its candidates are doing, but rather to hear how 'free minds and free markets' are winning the day."

One of the sub-themes of the story was that the "libertarian movement is engaged with the mainstream--at long last!" But more important, it seems to me that REASON--as by far the largest libertarian publication in print--would be treating its readers precisely like fools if it failed to engage in critical commentary regarding the libertarian movement, which is in no way limited to the Libertarian Party or its 14,000 members. My article was hardly intended to "curry favor" with vaguely defined non-subscribers; it was an attempt to assess the Browne campaign, a topic of scant interest to non-libertarians. That anything other than bland, empty praise of the L.P. and its candidates should be seen as unconscionable dissent--or the result of being "seduced by the mainstream political parties"--speaks to the party's immaturity. I find it ironic that libertarians of all people would insist on such intellectual orthodoxy.

Henry R. Newmark's letter underscores the conundrum of libertarian politics (as opposed to philosophy) that I comment on in my story. He notes (as I did), that "mainstream political parties will never voluntarily give up power," but then carves out an exception for the L.P. What I suggested was that libertarian ideas will be adopted and implemented on a piecemeal basis. It is ridiculous and historically insupportable to think that overnight, in one fell swoop, any group can completely change the political direction of the country through electoral means.

This is not because, as Patrick L. McHargue insinuates, REASON endorses the Republican Party's "vision of government [as] something that must grow, albeit more slowly than the Democratic ideal of 5 percent"--I challenge Mr. McHargue to turn up anything in REASON (including Virginia Postrel's editorial on Steve Forbes) that comes close to such a suggestion. Rather, drawing on the observations of F.A. Hayek regarding the rise of central planning in England and the United States, I put forth the notion that less- than-comprehensive changes in social institutions can eventually, if slowly, lead to a more- libertarian society.

Mr. Crawford, by the way, misreads my reference to Hayek's "fatal conceit." I didn't say that Browne's agenda was the same as the French Revolution in its particulars. During his interview with REASON, Browne himself admitted that he could think of no point in history when a government voluntarily (i.e., following an election) rolled itself back in the way he's proposing. The logical inference from this is that we need something akin to the French Revolution, something that essentially wipes the slate clean and starts over (in fact, Browne often talks about getting back to the Edenic paradise he supposes late 18th-century America to have been). My point was to highlight another tension inherent in libertarian political programs: On the one hand, we call for a huge scaling back, if not an outright dissolution, of government functions; on the other, we understand that governments and social institutions are not easily changed, redesigned, or dismantled. Hayek, in The Road to Serfdom and elsewhere, stressed the need for top-down change in political institutions as the means to change people's attitudes about government and state authority. It is worth pausing over the irony that a libertarian order characterized by decentralized political and economic power may well require a strong-arm leader to come into being. As for Browne's "ludicrous scenario," it does strike me as absurd that Browne could openly acknowledge that there are systemic reasons for the status quo and then assert that he alone can turn Leviathan into a playful dolphin.

Still, far from writing a "hit piece" (as Dan Litwin and Dick Crawford allege), I hardly glossed over Browne's positives, even going so far as to call him "quite possibly the strongest candidate the L.P. has yet to consider" and announcing my (continuing) intention to vote for him in the fall. By the same token, it seems ridiculous to me to entertain the fantasy that Browne can or will win. This is not necessarily a bad thing: As Bill Howell notes, the Socialist Party accomplished a great deal with virtually no luck at the polls. Howard Scott Lichtman pegs Browne's radio audience at over 10 million (Dan Litwin puts it over 15 million); these numbers are perhaps less impressive than they seem at first blush and should not be taken as a sign of support for Browne's agenda. Consider that in May (the latest month for which I have the figures), the total circulation of press mentions of REASON or the Reason Foundation topped 18.2 million; in the same month, REASON people made over a dozen radio and television appearances, reaching a potential audience of who knows how many millions. While such a presence is all to the good--and Browne is, as I noted, a "seasoned, articulate pundit" and "persuasive polemicist"--it is hardly sufficient to win substantial numbers of votes. Dick Crawford's invocation of Browne's showing in Internet polls is similarly misguided. None of the Internet polls represents random samples; most of them allow respondents to vote as often as they want. Dan Litwin's fundraising calculations add up on paper--although they make wildly unrealistic assumptions about reader response--and I sincerely hope that Harry Browne reaches his goal. All I reported was the fact--as verified by his campaign--that at press time, Browne had raised about 1.5 percent of that sum.

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