tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2555123713188257297.post3386662064110221974..comments2023-12-14T21:55:11.213-05:00Comments on Mitchell Langbert's Blog: David Boaz in CamelotMitchell Langberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00722335216553899790noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2555123713188257297.post-60379198382551660152010-01-01T15:36:38.652-05:002010-01-01T15:36:38.652-05:00I am not a follower of the inside libertarian move...I am not a follower of the inside libertarian movement. I respected the late Murray N. Rothbard's intellect considerably (I met him twice and edited a book review he wrote when I was book review editor of the Columbia Journal of World Business)but he was not a man of the world. His insight in founding the Libertarian Party and the Cato Institute were tremendous, but his practical execution was not perfect. There was a pitched battle in the NY Free Libertarian Party a year or two before I joined. My friend Howard S. Katz had accused Rothbard of something and Rothbard and others got mad at him and then there was a break up. <br /><br />I looked up LRC on Google because I had always thought LRC refers to "lighting research center" (just kidding). I have heard of Lew Rockwell.com and have, like you, met Boaz and Ed Crane once (they let me visit them in their offices) but I do not know the distinction between them and Lew Rockwell.<br /><br />Listening to Boaz I suspect that he might be more socially "liberal" than Rockwell, but I have absolutely no knowledge of either one's views in any detail.<br /><br />I would say that the Libertarian (capital "L") movement suffers the same malady as the extreme left of the twentieth century. There are few of them; they are excessively fastidious about their views; and they are fanatical in their devotion to pie in the sky ideological positions. <br /><br />That said, without knowing the details of the dispute that you describe, I would say that a failure of what I would term interpersonal virtue (I teach something called managerial skills at Brooklyn College and sometimes at NYU) exists in the libertarian movement, which is why it is small.<br /><br />To become large, political movements have to exercise consumer-based marketing. They need to pander to voters. Libertarian (capital "L") activists do not do this, and so have limited effect on policy. Better they would enter the fray and nudge things in a better direction. The current approach seems to me a total failure.<br /><br />Perhaps that is part of what was wrong with David Boaz's optimism (I think he's a very intelligent and capable guy and very much worth listening to even though I disagree a bit).Mitchell Langberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00722335216553899790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2555123713188257297.post-15964031280272782352009-12-31T13:05:35.327-05:002009-12-31T13:05:35.327-05:00I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Boaz sever...I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Boaz several times while interning at the Cato Institute this fall. I was wondering what you opinion is on the Mises-LRC/Cato split in the libertarian movement? Personally, I wish we could all just get along.vakerajhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02479791534703115315noreply@blogger.com