Letters

From the November 1996 issue

Uncompromised Reactions

I found Nick Gillespie's article on Harry Browne and the Libertarian Party most disheartening (" Uncompromising Positions ," July). I was especially offended by the author's association of Browne's campaign with the likes of Pat Paulsen and Billy Joe Clegg. I find dismissing Browne's candidacy odd since both REASON and the Libertarian Party seem to be in the same business: spreading our mutual message of limited constitutional government, individual liberty, laissez-faire economics, and peace. The difference between REASON and the Browne campaign/Libertarian Party seems to be one of accomplishment. Harry Browne and the other candidates of the Libertarian Party have already reached over 10 million people via radio, television, and print and will reach tens of millions more by the election. I believe REASON has a circulation of around 60,000. Perhaps if REASON and Nick Gillespie were half as successful as Harry Browne and the Libertarian Party in communicating our message to the masses, we would already be at our common goal.

Howard Scott Lichtman
Campaign Manager
Jo Jorgensen, Libertarian for
Vice President
Newark, DE

I believe externalities in third-party votes make it mandatory that direct comparison of presidential votes from one election to the next (a centerpiece of "Uncompromising Position") be replaced by a more meaningful analysis. For instance, we might examine Libertarian presidential votes as a percent of only those candidates excluded from that great statist infomercial, the national TV debates. With this we find very positive results. In 1972, John Hospers got one fourth of one percent of the TV excluded vote. This rose to 11 percent with Roger McBride in 1976 and 13 percent with Ed Clark in 1980. By 1984, David Bergland garnered 37 percent of the excluded vote and Ron Paul achieved 48 percent in 1988! Andre Marrou's share fell only slightly to 44 percent four years ago. By measuring the L.P.'s share of those who won't vote for the lesser of evils on TV, we find an achievement about which the L.P. can be proud.

Bernard Baltic
Lakewood, OH

I have been a reader of REASON for over 10 years. I have also purchased several gift subscriptions for my friends. I enjoy REASON and will continue to be a booster for your magazine.

In this spirit, I would like to remind you that the prime market for your publication is the libertarian movement. Of course, you would like to appeal far beyond this group, but you should never forget that REASON would not exist as it is without the support of libertarians. I would urge, for your sake, that you do not treat your core readers like fools in order to curry favor with those who will never become enthusiastic subscribers. Politicians (like Bob Dole) are patronizing to their core supporters while slavishly courting the respect of the center. For politicians in American elections, this makes sense-- there is nowhere else for conservative activists to go. But you are not in this position. There are many excellent alternatives to REASON magazine. The positioning that is so vital for successful politicians only makes political magazines unimportant and replaceable. I hope you are not so swamped with e-mail from your subscribers and potential subscribers about your Harry Browne article that you dismiss this comment. But all the other mail you are receiving only underscores my point. These are the people who care what you say.

Philip Blumel

I subscribed to REASON many years ago not to hear how badly the L.P. and its candidates are doing but rather to hear how "free markets and free minds" are winning the day, how libertarian principles can have a positive impact on society. However, your article on the L.P. and Harry Browne, when looked at alongside your article on Steve Forbes, sounds suspiciously like an endorsement of the Republican Party and its vision of government: something that must grow, albeit more slowly than the Democratic ideal of 5 percent. Not good enough, folks.

Patrick L. McHargue
L.P. Candidate
U.S. 4th House District
Sonora, CA

I am disgusted after having read your article about the Libertarian Party. I've always thought of REASON as "small l" libertarians, so I did not expect flattery--but you could have been, at the very least, accurate. Take the opening sentence: "Over the Fourth of July weekend, the Libertarian Party will invade enemy territory--Washington, D.C. --and hold its national convention." News flash: The L.P. headquarters is housed within the Watergate Complex, which is in Washington, D.C. How can one invade "enemy territory" while on one's own turf?

Also, you wrote "Browne has received next to no media attention�." Granted, the print and TV media have not been overly attentive; but Browne is currently a talk-radio phenomenon. He has reached at least 15 million people on over 150 radio shows as of mid- May. Many of these shows have been 60 minutes or more. Compare that with 15-second sound bites for Dole and Clinton. Browne must be hours ahead in radio air time. But the omission possibly of greatest note came when you talked of his having raised only $750,000--"hugely short" of his goal. You made no mention of the fact that, after waiting to be sure that Republicans would be stuck with Bob Dole, Browne has just begun fundraising efforts targeted at subscribers of his friends in the investment newsletter industry. In fact, Browne has been endorsed by five prominent investment newsletter writers, who have about 500,000 subscribers. Why didn't you mention these endorsements?

Just for fun let's say he can come up with an average donation of $100 from each of these half million investors. He would then have the $50 million he needs. Or do you think that America's rank and file investors are putting their hopes on Dole? Wake up! You did not need to write a hit piece. You could have simply printed the Harry Browne interview. No one could have complained about that. Time will tell if Browne can raise the $50 million. In the meantime, I am not supporting you any longer. It is foolish to support those who would bring our movement down. Please send me a refund for the rest of my subscription so that I may send that money to the Browne for President campaign.

Dan Litwin
San Diego, CA

Nick Gillespie's hit piece about the supposed contradiction between libertarianism and party politics looks like a deliberate attempt to discredit both the Libertarian Party and Harry Browne. In an effort to make his points, Gillespie suggests that Browne's agenda would be like the French Revolution. REASON should be ashamed for printing such nonsense. The "fatal conceit" Hayek disparaged and to which you compared Browne's program was that there is "some grand, wise, and judicious plan" by which men could "create the world anew," which is what socialism is all about. Libertarianism stresses that there is no such plan, that the best plan is no plan but freedom, that people left to their own devices make the best decisions about their own welfare, and that the creative forces unleashed by a free market will inevitably produce wealth for everyone in society. The Libertarian Party and Harry Browne believe that. Doesn't REASON?

I also think you were unnecessarily negative about Harry Browne's chances in November. Browne is popular in one very large constituency outside the Libertarian Party, the Internet. He actually leads in several totally independent Internet straw polls, and is a close second in several more. And this is without the deep pockets of a Forbes or Perot, or the incessant free media exposure Clinton and Dole enjoy.

Browne is popular on the Internet because netizens already appreciate liberty. They've watched the Internet double every year for the past seven years without any government aid or direction. They've experienced freedom and they like it.

How big is this constituency? At the end of March there were an estimated 12 million computers hooked up to the Web, and there should be 20 million by November at the current rate of growth. Figuring 1.5 voter per computer (to balance two- and three-voter families against non-U.S. and underage segments), and 50 percent of them for Browne, and 50 percent of those actually voting, that's more than 7 million votes right there. As for Browne's "ludicrous scenario," what's ludicrous about getting back to basic constitutional law, especially the 10th Amendment? What's ludicrous about vetoing bills that increase big government and then daring Congress to overturn the veto while millions of its constituents watch? What's ludicrous about carrying out the will of the people who voted him into office? Unusual, yes, but ludicrous? Yes, Harry Browne is a long shot right now, but there are still almost five months to November and anything could happen, especially after the debates.

Dick Crawford
Napa, CA

Regarding Mr. Gillespie's piece on Harry Browne and the Libertarian Party, his contention that the U.S. government will "piecemeal" itself to a libertarian society is surprisingly naive and based on flawed logic. By his contention that since government beefed up on a piecemeal basis it can just as naturally beef down, he must think big government is like the man who gradually ate his way to obesity and acknowledges his excesses and the fact that he must lose weight. A more correct analogy to big government is to compare it to the AIDS virus: a parasite that gains strength as it saps more and more of the vitality of its host.

The mainstream political parties will never voluntarily give up any material portions of government power no matter how fervently Mr. Gillespie "hopes" the process "works in reverse." They continue to push collectivist economic initiatives like family leave, and increasing the minimum wage, and seize on opportunities to consolidate more power through agendas like the anti-terrorism bill.

I find it disheartening that a magazine purporting to support "free minds and free markets" would cast the only political movement dedicated to those same principles in such a negative light. I regret that you've been seduced by the mainstream political parties and thereby have abrogated your own ideals.

Henry R. Newmark

I just received an e-mail press release from David Nolan and Harry Browne berating REASON for having the temerity to point out the obvious, i.e., that once again the L.P. hasn't a snowball's chance in hell of winning major political office in 1996. I was particularly offended to have Browne, who explained 25 years ago why playing election politics was a waste of time and effort, present himself as offended when his own reasoning is used against him.

I have subscribed to REASON for about 15 years. Have I always agreed with your positions? Of course not! Could you be a better magazine? Sure! However, I learned a long time ago not to criticize someone's work unless I was willing to step into their shoes. I find REASON enjoyable and informative; if Harry Browne and Co. feel it isn't serving the interests of libertarians, why don't they start another magazine and run REASON out of business? To me, that's the free market solution, not wasting my time sending me polemics about how REASON has done them wrong.

Ideological movements in American history do not usually triumph by overt victories. The Socialist Party never won an election, but we have nearly everything they wished for in place today. We libertarians (note the small l) will win eventually because we have reality on our side, but this doesn't mean that a Libertarian candidate will occupy the White House anymore than that the fall of Communism required U.S. troops to capture Moscow. You can lose all the battles and still win the war. I plan to vote for the L.P. candidate, but that doesn't mean I expect him or her to actually win office. As for REASON, please keep fighting the good fight. There's room for everyone on this battlefield.

Bill Howell
Belmont, MA

Nick Gillespie replies: Judging from the volume of mail it generated--well over 100 responses, including personal letters to me--"Uncompromising Position" struck a nerve with readers. The response was mixed, but there is no question that the story "disheartened," "appalled," and "disgusted" a fair number of readers (and a fair number of people who admitted they had not and would not read the piece out of principle!). I, in turn, have been somewhat disheartened by responses that misinterpret, misconstrue, or simply miss the gist of my story.

Essentially, I made the following observations: 1) Harry Browne is not going to become president of the United States. 2) His insistence that he can win the election hurts his ability to communicate libertarian ideas because voters are more likely to write him off as out of touch with reality. 3) The Libertarian Party has not developed into a broad-based popular party, and there are reasons for that. 4) Because libertarians tend to think in terms of systematic consistency, and politics (as opposed to philosophy) is characterized by compromise and half-measures, there is inherent tension in libertarian proposals for political reform. 5) Libertarians will have to convince people on an issue-by-issue basis that their ideas are valid and worth adopting.

Some of these points are arguable, and some are perhaps disagreeable, but they are hardly "slanderous," as Tomas R. Estrada-Palma asserts without support. And, contrary to Dan Litwin, the story is factually accurate. Commenting on my story's opening image of the L.P. "invading" Washington, D.C., for the party's convention, Litwin writes, "The L.P. headquarters is�in Washington, D.C. How can one invade 'enemy territory' while on one's own turf?" I am relieved to know that the use of metaphorical language is the extent of my empirical blunders. Mr. Litwin might have also noted that Harry Browne has never been known to struggle between Scylla and Charybdis (indeed, the candidate may well have never even been to the Mediterranean).

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.