I attended the FreedomFest in Las Vegas last week, a gathering of about 2500, with a variety of speakers. I traveled with my good friend, Greg George, an economics professor at Middle Georgia State University.

There was a debate between Paul Krugman and Stephen Moore on the comparative advantages of free market vs centrally controlled economic planning.  I have to give Paul Krugman credit for even coming given that this was a hotbed of libertarian Republicans.  But he did come and I assume it was not without some compensation.  He sounded more moderate than many would think, saying (paraphrasing) “I don’t think the government is always the answer, but I do see a function where market forces fail.”  It was a pure Keynesian response, and it seemed to be more reasonable one than I would have expected.

Paul Krugman and Stephen Moore after the debate signing books.

I was fortunate to meet George Gilder, author of Wealth and Poverty, one of the best books on the philosophy of capitalism.  Even though I have a copy of his recent updated revision (the original was published in the 1980’s), I bought another for him to sign.

 

George Gilder after signing my copy of Wealth and Poverty

There was a CNN book review interview with several notable authors.  I was standing by the area when they were interviewing Deneen Borelli, author of Blacklash, a book about the effect of progressive policies on Black Americans.

Deneen Borelli after her CNN interview on her book Blacklash

There were few black participants (Alan West made it) in the event and probably fewer Jews, so I could not resist a photo.

 

There were several other forum and presentations, including Donald Trump, which I have addressed in a previous post and Marco Rubio which I missed since we had tickets for Stephen Wright at Orleans.  Dan Mitchell with Cato, blogs at International Liberty was there.

 

Dan Mitchell with Greg George

Kennedy moderated a mock trial on the Federal Reserve featuring Steve Forbes and John Ellison, former CEO of BB&T and director of CATO.  She added a brush of humor, and it was entertaining and educational.

 

Greg George gets a selfie with Kennedy

One of my favorite writers in the world of politics is Kevin Williamson at National Review, and meeting him was the high point for me.  I have been warned about meeting authors you enjoy, less they turn out to be assholes and costing you the enjoyment of their future output.  Kevin was delightful and a pleasure to meet.  He spoke on his book, The End Is Near and It Is Going to be Awesome, which I had read months ago.  Kevin is a modern breed of young writers who bring great wit to political writing without confusing it for cynicism.

 

I get to meet Kevin Williamson from National Review

He was joined by Charles Cook, also from National Review, who spoke on his book, The Conservatarian Manifesto (I haven’t read it but soon will).  Kevin and Charles introduced each other.  Both were very bright, authoritative, clear and witty.  Along with their other National Review colleague, Jonah Goldberg, they are a school of young new voices on the political scene I would call Rational Libertarians.

They are well informed on the political thoughts and ideas of liberty and offer unique insights into the political discourse, but they are grounded enough to encourage reasonable steps forward.  And they avoid the distractions of extreme libertarian views which rarely progresses the cause and that often plague such conferences.  I enjoy the way they write and their perspective.

There are many posts excerpting works from Charles Cook and Kevin Williamson in Rebel Yid you can find in the search bar in the upper right hand of the blog’s home page.

The crowd reminded me somewhat of the crowd I used to see at libertarian party meetings.  There is a part of them I used to call Libertarian Eggheads who loved to debate the fine points of libertarian philosophy.  How many times did I hear a questioner at the microphone start with “have you read ______(fill in the blank with the name of an esoteric libertarian author that few outside of the liberty geek squad have ever read.)  If I had a book for every time a question started with this I would have needed another suitcase to return home.

This part of the movement thinks that one clarifying book will change every one’s mind and start the march toward their libertarian utopia.  They have read hundreds of them.  Their questions start with dissertations, trying to show how they have the truth if only you would listen.

But most voters do not read.  Damn few of them even think.  To actually win elected office one has to communicate these ideas verbally and emotionally.  Then there is the problem that one has to build a coalition of interests that can actually win an election.  This requires something called compromise and the hard core seem to discount that reality.

“Man suffers more from answered prayers than unanswered prayers” and a real victory would wreak havoc on the libertarian true believers.  Their utopian orthodoxy includes a return to the gold standard, a balanced budget amendment, the dismantling of the welfare state, and elimination of the Federal Reserve.  These may be worthy goals but this will not get anyone elected.

These libertarians often hide behind their orthodoxy, and contend that there is no difference between the parties. It becomes a form of political cowardice allowing them to escape any responsibility for an election,  the Democrats greatest strength is not that they have the best positions, but that they are much more unified than their opposition.

The rational libertarians understand that games are won ten yards at a time. Abandoning the field is not a winning strategy.

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