Thursday, November 15, 2007
Spare me...
****
How sad that when the general public looks to find out what “libertarian” means, so many of them will be directed to such ignorant and histrionic nonsense as the writings of Thomas DiLorenzo. - Timothy Sandefur, Positive Liberty
Even more sad are the deluded Lost Causers who quote DiLorenzo's nonsense as gospel. Nothing is quite as irritating as wannabe Rebs who pine for the once and future Great Secession and are armed with the voluminous nonsense penned following the American Civil War, and lately by hacks like DiLorenzo, that glorifies the late, unlamented Southron aristocracy.
In general, I find the folks at the Mises Institute to be astute champions of liberty. With such minor contact as I've made with some of them through events like the Acton University and reading their various blogs and papers, I've been more than impressed with the level of scholarship I've encountered. I'd love to discuss the ACW with Jeffrey Tucker over a beer - maybe at the next Acton University. Who knows?
Then there's DiLorenzo -
From the time of Jefferson Davis's The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government and Alexander Stephens's A Constitutional View of the Late War Between the States, the anti-Lincoln columns have marched over and over the same tired ground. Edgar Lee Masters's Lincoln the Man, which DiLorenzo quotes approvingly, was a breathless compilation of every slander ever made against Lincoln. But if DiLorenzo's message is old hat, the incompetence of the messenger is surely unprecedented. The book is a compendium of misquotations, out-of-context quotations, and wrongly attributed quotations — one howler after another, yet none of it funny. - Thomas Kranawitter, Claremont Institute
I frequently encounter Lost Causers on the net - proof that I need to get out more often, I suppose. As you might have already gathered, I've encountered several over the past few days and my patience is wearing thin. At the risk of being uncharitable, and while I certainly don't intend to tar all unreconstructed Rebs with the same brush, I get the impression that there is a strong undercurrent of racism in many of the arguments for a return to the Glory Days of a Confederacy that never existed, except in the romantic delusions of disaffected good ol' boys.
I sympathize with the desire for a rebirth of true liberty in the United States, but with the secessionist fantasies of neo-Confederates, not so much. On the other hand, it's a break from the even more prevalent anti-Catholic silliness that seems to permeate the net. No wonder people have a hard time taking libertarians seriously. I am one, and even I get exasperated with 'em.
Labels: Civil War
then he boffed a student. gooood times.
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