Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
May 1990 3
That is why Lew and I are not lrom reality. As a result, the aver- or a worshiper of crystal-power
callingfor a new LibertarianParty age rank-and-file member of the or some otheir New Age hokum,
or for an immediate replacement most ineffectual Trotskyite sect and that person will be treated
as a substitute mass institution knows far more about world affairs with great tolerance and respect.
for the movement. The disease than all but a tiny handful of liber- It is only Christians that are sub-
cuts far deeper, and so the solu- tarian leaders. ject to abuse, and clearly the
tion must be far more radical, and The MLdoes not, unfortunately, reason for this difference in treat-
unfortunately must take longer hate the State be- ment has noth-
than another quick fix. The first cause he sees it as ing to do with
step is to separate out, and to the unique social atheism. But it
form our own paleo-libertarian instrument of or- has everything
organs and institutions, begin- a n ize d ag gre s - to do with reject-
ning, of course, with RRR itself. !;ion against person ing and spurning
;md property. In- bourgeois
Portrait of the Modal stead, the ML is an American cul-
Libertarian adolescent re be I ture; any kind of
It is easiest to begin our defi- against everyone kooky cultural
nition of paleo by explaining around him: first, cause will be
what we are not, what we are de- against his parents, encouraged in
termined to get away from. And second against his order to tweak
the easiest way to explain that is family, third against the noses of the
to limn our portrait of the Modal his neighbors, and hated bourgeoi-
Libertarian, his nature and his tinally against soci- sie.
attitudes. ety itself. He is es- In point of
And the Modal Libertarian peciallyopposed to fact, the original
(henceforth ML) is indeed a he, institutionsof social attraction of the
because the movement has al- ;and cultural author- ML to Randian-
ways, of course, been over- ity: in particular ism was part and
whelmingly male. And unfortu- against the bour- parcel of his
nately, the few female libertarian geoisie from whom adolescent re-
activists suffer from much the he stemmed, against bourgeois bellion: what better way to ration-
same syndrome as the males. norms and conventions, and alize and systematize rejection
The ML was in his twenties against such institutions of social of ones parents, family, and
twenty years ago, and is now in iluthority as churches. To the ML, neighborsthan to join acult which
his forties. That is neither as then, the State is not a unique denounces religion and which
banal, nor as benign as it sounds, problem; it is only the most visible trumpets the absolute superior-
because it means that the move- and odious of many hated bour- ity of yourself and your cult lead-
ment has not really grown in geois institutions: hence the zest ers, as contrasted to the robotic
twenty years; the same dreary with which the ML sports the but- second-handers who suppos-
peoplehave merely gottentwenty ton, Question Authority. edly peoplethte bourgeoisworld?
years older. The ML is fairly And hence, too, the fanatical A cult, furthermore, which calls
bright, and fairly well steeped in hostility of the ML toward Christi- upon you to spurn your parents,
libertariantheory. But he knows anity. I used to think that this family, and bourgeoisassociates,
nothing and cares less about his- militant atheism was merely a and to cultivatethe alleged great-
tory, culture, the context of reality function of the Randianism out of ness of your own individual ego
or world affairs. His only reading which most modern libertarians (suitably guided, of course, by
or cultural knowledge is science emerged two decades ago. But Randian leadership).
fiction, on which the ML is an atheism is not the key, for let There is a certain raffishcharm
expert, and which manages to someone in a libertarian gathering to adolescent rebels at twenty; at
keep him very nicely insulated announce that he or she is a witch forty however,thesameattitudes
4 May1990
and outlook become odious. The opportunity and to go on at great Basta! Enough! We have had
charm has gone. Lew Rockwells length about his own particular it up to here and were not taking
critics conveniently leap to the great discovery or about his any more. As I will point out in a
assumption that what he and I mighty manuscriptwhich iscrying future installment, the glorious
have been attacking is noticea- out for publication if only it hadnt events of 1989 have ended the
bly hippie hair, manners, and been suppressed by the Powers Cold War and have made an alli-
clothing. But this is a highly That Be. He is, like all fanatics, ance with paleo-conservatives,
superficial view. The only good totally humorless; his idea of high a reconstitution of the Old Right,
thing about hippiedom is that it wit is someone being on the re- possible and feasible. But our
makes the modal nihilos easy to ceiving end of a hotfoot. accelerating disgust with our lib-
spot. But even those MLs who But above all, the ML is a ertarian movement comrades is
look like real people, who wear moocher, a bunco artist, and of- a separate phenomenon, al-
suits and ties, really arent. The ten an outright crook. His basic though it dovetails neatly with our
important point is the personality, attitude toward other libertarians new movement and has given us
the attitudes. is Your house the word paleo.
In short: the is my house. Years ago, when I was la-
ML, if he has a How many liber- mentingto an old friend about the
real world oc- tarians in the crazies in the libertarian move-
cupation, such rare privileged ment, he counselled: Lets face
as accountant position of living it. In a kooky movement, youre
or lawyer, is in an apartment going to get a lot of kooks. True,
generally a or house have but our ideas are not that kooky.
lawyer without not had the While all movements are im-
a practice, an pleasure of perfect vessels for their pure
accountant hearing their ideas, the marvelous libertarian
without a job. doorbell ring, doctrine by no stretch of the imagi-
The MLs mo- and being con- nation deserves this. Once my
dal occupation fronted with old friend Ralph Raico, comment-
is computer someguyonthe ing on some movement atrocity
programmer; doorstep who or other, took his cue from the
the ML was a says, in effect; wonderful line in the movie The
computer nerd Hey man, Im a Godfather, when Lee Strasberg,
long before the libertarian, and as the Meyer Lansky-type, was
inventionofthe expects to be delivering Old World homilies to
personal com- put up for the Corleone: When Moe was killed
puter. Comput- night, the week, (by the Corleones) did I say any-
ers appeal in- or whatever? thing? Did I ask questions? No,
deed to the How many liber- because I said to myself: This is
MLs scientific tarians have had the business we have chosen.
and theoreticalbent; butthey also to chuck such people out into the Ralph paraphrasedthis into This
appeal to his aggravated cold? Libertarians, in short, is the movement we have cho-
nomadism, to his need not to whether they articulate this phi- sen.
have a regular payroll or regular losophy or not, are libertarian- Okay. That worked as a con-
abode. Furthermore, it is easy to communists: anyone with prop- solation of sorts for years. But we
call yourself a computer consult- erty is automatically expected to paleos have had it. Were opting
ant when what you really are is shareit with the other members out. Were unchoosingthe move-
unemployed. of his extended libertarian Yam- ment Wereforming anew move-
The ML also has the thou- ily. ment of ur own: paleo-libertarian-
sand-milestare of the fanatic. He We paleo libertarians are ism. N.6.:This is the first of multi-
is apt to buttonholeyou at the first people who are finally saying, part article.) -M.N.R.
May 1990 5