The Libertarian Gorbachev

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Thomas DiLorenzo
LRC Blog
June 9, 2008

So Ed Crane thinks CATO’s minor tinkering around the margins of government policy, and offering advice to politicians that is never taken or implemented, is "respectable and important work"; whereas opposing state institutions (like the Fed and the income tax, for starters) as a matter of principle, and educating the masses about it, is not respectable.

Well, he’s right. What CATO does IS "respected" — by the Washington establishment — because the establishment knows that it poses no threat to its existence. If that’s the kind of "respect" you want, then send Crane your resume.

The Crane/Kochtopus failed philosophy reminds me of a scene in the great new video of the Estonian Revolution that was shown by a friend of ours from Estonia one evening at the annual meeting of the Property and Freedom Society a couple of weeks ago. The scene was the Soviet dictator Gorbachev meeting with Estonian political leaders shortly before the collapse of communism in that country. Gorbachev is instructing them (paraphrasing): "I’m open to all suggestions for reform, but they must be in the context of socialism" (emphasis in original).

This is essentially the Crane/Cato/Kochtopus philosophy: Never openly challenge any part of the American socialist/fascist regime in Washington. Only suggest minor and rather trivial "reforms" that will enable the regime’s rulers to talk about what great "reformers" they are, while never making any progress at all in the direction of freedom. That is how you gain the "respect" of the ruling elite in the nation’s capital. Crane is the libertarian Gorbachev.

Murray Rothbard was right when he said that government is just another criminal gang. What does this say about people who devote their careers to gaining the respect of these gangsters?

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4 Responses to “The Libertarian Gorbachev”

geerish Says:
June 9th, 2008 at 11:56 am
I reiterate my deeply held conviction that to neutralise- TO RENDER THEM POLITICALLY IMPOTENT- any people all you have to do is to make it very easy for them to get into huge burdensome debts and they will have very little time for thinking about THEIR SLOWLY SHRINKING FREEDOMS and if you dont think about it YOU WILL TAKE NO STEPS TO DEFEND IT.
And there are few effective alarm clocks to wake them up from this slumber.
foggy jones Says:
June 9th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Agreed. The USA seems to be very similar to the USSR at the point in time that you mention. The deception and misinformaton from government has gone to far and gone on far too long. No trust, just a very annoyed and suspicious majority. Maybe some states should be let free like Eastonia etc.
Kevin Says:
June 9th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
This is the key point here: “Murray Rothbard was right when he said that government is just another criminal gang. What does this say about people who devote their careers to gaining the respect of these gangsters?”

Let’s stop obsessing about this criminal gang we call government, and learn to live and think for ourselves.
Rakkur Says:
June 9th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
I would love it if I could do things on my own without their mandates telling me what I can and can’t do. As it now stands, they are using legislation to control every one of our actions. They are the ones who are stonewalling us; it is not the other way around. The only way to get them to stop is to stand up and demand that they leave us alone so that we may have true freedom.

These criminals are stealing from us, forcing us to bend to their wills, and otherwise making slaves out of us. I will not stop obsessing about them until they leave me and all Americans and our rightful property alone. We DO think for ourselves, and we will therefore not support their illegal wars and criminal activities.

You should also note that the author was referring to their minions and those that strive to be the criminal’s pets in the hopes of getting some scraps from the table. That is not what we are doing; I could care less about gaining their respect. We are standing up to them; we demand their respect.