The Free Market 15, no. 4 (April 1997)

It is the widespread view in academia that John Maynard Keynes was a model classical liberal in the tradition of Locke, Jefferson, and Tocqueville.

Like these men, it is commonly held, Keynes was a sincere, indeed, exemplary, believer in the free society. If he differed from the classical liberals in some obvious and important ways, it was simply because he tried to update the essential liberal idea to suit the economic conditions of a new age.

The Free Market 15, no. 4 (April 1997)

The personal, political, and scholarly papers of Ludwig von Mises have been discovered in a formerly secret archive in Moscow. So have the papers of many of Mises’s colleagues and associates during his years in Vienna, including friends and foes in academia, politics, and business.

The Free Market 15, no. 4 (April 1997)

President Clinton, standing tall among Miami schoolchildren and pushing the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, calls on America’s youth to stand for values. So does the U.S. Department of Education in its master plan, Goals 2000. As do Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott, the Rainbow Curriculum in New York City, and the Dade County School District in Florida.

The Free Market 15, no. 4 (April 1997)

The Washington Times asked the new UN head why he thinks the agency has a PR problem in the United States. “It is a leftover from the late seventies and eighties,” he said, “when there was a lot of talking about getting government off the back of people.” 

The Free Market 15, no. 4 (April 1997)

Washington’s sudden fixation on campaign finance won’t bring about honesty in government, and it won’t increase anyone’s liberty. But it does give the public a real-world civics lesson. For it shows that government is no neutral arbiter of justice, but a corrupt scheme by which the politically powerful enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else.

The Free Market 15, no. 5 (May/June 1997)

On the presidential campaign trail, Bob Dole spoke often about his own private charity, the Dole Foundation. He used it to showcase his personal compassion for those in need, particularly people with disabilities. 

In televised debates, he conjured up images of himself and his wife digging into their personal savings to make it all possible. “Don’t talk about it much,” he would demure. Dole may appear to be a skinflint, but here is proof that he cares after all. 

The Free Market 15, no. 5 (May/June 1997)

My Latin professor once taught me the golden rule of Roman emperors, Vulgus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur. It means the masses want to be cheated, so let’s cheat them. Machiavelli built his theory of government partially on this credo.

The Free Market 15, no. 5 (May/June 1997)

Some scientists boycotted a recent conference that examined the EPA’s draconian proposal to regulate ultra-small soot particles. The sponsoring organization, the Annapolis Center, gets corporate money. According to Harvard epidemiologist Joel Schwartz, that makes the event look “like a set-up job.”

The Free Market 15, no. 5 (May/June 1997)

The most encouraging trend of our time is the widespread loss of faith in government. No longer do people look to the government as the great problem solver, economic planner, social unifier, or cultural czar. The government is more likely to be seen for what it is, a haven for grafters, liars, and would-be tyrants. Americans, like the Russians, no longer believe anything until it is officially denied.

The Free Market 15, no. 7 (July 1997)

Jack Kemp, former HUD secretary and failed vice presidential candidate, recently proved that academic leftists aren’t the only ones intolerant of politically incorrect ideas. He interrupted a luncheon speech I was giving at an academic conference by squirreling around in his seat, ostentatiously rolling his shoulders and eyes, and loudly and repeatedly moaning, “Jeez!” and “Oh Gawd!”