Monday 18 April 2005

Rothbard and the 7.5 million

In 1975 Saigon fell to the Vietcong. Murder ensued. In fact, as a recent article notes, "April 30th, 2005 marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. Three decades in which the Vietnamese communist government and proxies killed 7.5 million people."

At the time of the collapse of the South Vietnamese government anti-government anarcho-capitalist Murray Rothbard celebrated, just as today comtemporary Rothbardians such as the antiwar.com crowd celebrate American deaths in Iraq, and dissemble over Rothbard's calumny.

Tom Palmer explains and I argue here and here that anti-government is not pro-liberty, and that in the end neither was Rothbard. 7.5 million deaths underscores that peace without freedom is injustice to the innocent.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, and what about Mises Org... Lew Rockwell and co have twisted nearly eveything he ever said to suit their own ends. I believe the ARI started up a new Mises site under the Cap Mag banner. I agree with you about Rothbard.

Peter Cresswell said...

Mises legacy certainly needs to be reclaimed from the Rockwellian confederate South. The daily Mises news still occasionlay have good insights, but the days are getting fewer.

Your comment on an ARI Mises project would be a worthwhile one, and www.capmag.com always has good content, but it's not explicitly Misesian in the way you describe is it? Have I missed something?

BTW, have you tried George Reisman's book Capitalism yet, Ruth? I believe he answers some of the objections to Austrian economics you posted some months ago by integrating neoclassical, Austrian and Objectivist insights. It's a monmumental piece of work, and it's linked down there on my sidebar. His introduction explains the integration.

(In fact if you or anyone else here is interested in joining in Reisman's course of self-study, we're planning on starting a course soon here in Auckland, and possibly another in Wellington. Email me if you're interested at organon at ihug dot co dot nz.)

Anonymous said...

No I haven't read Reisman's book Peter - only the odd abstract. It just seems so long, and I dont like dry economic texts.That's why I like Sowell. But if you mention Austrian Economics in the broker circle the guys are amazed - they have basically never heard of it. Acadaemia again. If given the chance to absorb it many are sympathetic to it. If we get rid of the obsession with gold that is.

Jason Pappas said...

I must say the Reisman book is quite impressive. I've read about one third. It is verbose - sometimes too verbose. He hammers some points to death. But I know people who need the full treatment. Still, I don't regret any of the time spent reading this magnum opus.

PS. Congrats Peter on a interesting blog - even from outside NZ.