My piece on how to reach the left is now up on Mises.org.
Tim Cavanaugh also has a comment on my piece, though he seems to interpret my point as being solely about evangelisation – whereas I was arguing that we need to abandon not just our unhelpful rhetoric but our mistaken views.
The Hayek/Keynes rap video now has a sequel:
(Notice Ed Stringham as the first person congratulating Keynes after the debate. By the way, in real life Hayek actually did use the phrase “high explosive” as a guide to pronouncing his name.)
Charles Davis on Paul vs. Obama.
Though I announce it belatedly, Gary Chartier’s second and third posts at “Bleeding Heart Libertarians” have been up for a while: Bleeding Heart Libertarians for Redistribution and Poverty and the State.
Here’s my letter (needless to say, not published) to Dear Abby from a few weeks ago.
Dear Abby:
I couldn’t disagree more with “Proud Mom in Overland Park,” and with your reply to her.
The idea that we owe “gratitude” to members of the armed forces is baffling. The U.S. military travels all over the world, acting in our name, shooting and bombing innocent people who have never posed any threat to us.
How is this of any benefit to the American people? If anything, it makes us less safe, by fueling violent resentment around the world.
No, I don’t think members of the armed forces should be “cursed and reviled” either. They’re mostly victims, who’ve been tragically deceived by government propaganda.
I used to be a strong supporter of U.S. troops and U.S. military action myself. Then I gradually started to learn more and more about what the military actually does and how little it adheres to its supposed mission of defending American liberty.
I urge you to educate yourself and your readers on the actual causes and effects of U.S. foreign policy; two good places to start are Jonathan Kwitny’s Endless Enemies and Chalmers Johnson’s Blowback.
UNGRATEFUL IN ALABAMA
Roderick T. Long
Keith Preston has a critique of my Mises Circle paper. (CHT Ralph Raico.) Needless to say, I have some comments to make about it, but no time right now (I just got back from San Diego), so I’m simply linking to it for the moment. (But three smiley faces to the first reader to identify the glaring non sequitur in his first paragraph ….)
In related news, Martin a.k.a. Mr. Civil Libertarian has a piece on left-libertarianism here.