Chapter 63 of 125 · The Freeman 1987 by Foundation for Economic Education
July
275 Third World Development: Foreign Aid or Free Trade? John Majewski The path from poverty to prosperity. 279 Book Review "A Conflict of Visions" by Thomas Sowell. CONTENTS JULY 1987 VOL. 37 NO.7 THEFREEMAN IDEASON LIBERTY Published by The Foundation for Economic Education Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 10533 President of the Board: Robert D. Love Vice-President of Operations: Robert G. Anderson Senior Editors: Beth A. Hoffman Brian Summers Editorial Adviser: Paul L. Poirot Book Review Editor: Edmund A. Opitz Contributing Editors: Howard Baetjer Jr. Bettina Bien Greaves Gregory F. Rehmke Production: Laurel A. Mascola The Freeman is the monthly publication of The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 10533 (914) 591-7230. FEE, founded in 1946 by Leonard E. Read, is a nonpolitical educational champion of private property, the free market, and limited govern ment. FEE is classified as a 26 USC 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt organization. Other officers of FEE's Board of Trustees are: Bruce M. Evans, chairman; Thomas C. Stevens, vice-chairman; Joseph E. Coberly, Jr., vice-president; Don L.
Foote, secretary; Lovett C. Peters, treasurer. The costs of Foundation projects and services are met through donations. Donations are invited in any amount. Subscriptions to The Freeman are available to any interested person in the United States for the asking. Single copies $1.00; 10 or more, 50 cents each. For foreign delivery, a do nation of $10.00 a year is required to cover direct mailing costs·. Copyright © 1987 by The Foundation for Eco nomic Education, Inc. Printed in U.S.A. Permis sion is granted to reprint any article in this issue, provided appropriate credit is given and two copies of the reprinted material are sent to The Foundation. Bound volumes of The Freeman are available from the Foundation for calendar years 1969 to date. Earlier volumes as well as current issues are available on microfilm from University Micro films, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. The Freeman considers unsolicited editorial sub missions, but they must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. OUf author's guide is available on request.
PERSPECTIVE Thomas Jefferson A Fourth of July Pledge ,'. . . [T]he mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them le gitimately, by the grace of God." Thomas Jef ferson, who wrote those words on June 24, 1826, was the author of our Declaration of In dependence. He had been invited to attend the festivities in Washington on the occasion of the 50th anni versary of the signing of the Declaration. Jef ferson, then 83 years old, regretted that ill health prevented his accepting. "I should, in deed, with peculiar delight, have met and ex changed there congratulations personally with the small band, the remnant of that host of worthies, who joined with us on that day, in the bold and doubtful election we were to make for our country, between submission or the sword." Jefferson rejoiced "that our fellow citizens, after half a century of experience and pros perity, continue to approve the choice we made. May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. . . . These are grounds of hope for others. ' , This was the last letter Thomas Jefferson wrote. He died on that Fourth of July.
Since that 50th anniversary of the Declara tion's signing in 1826, the rights of countless millions to life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap piness have been tragically snuffed out and vio lated. Yet today, as in Jefferson's time, many "eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man." Progress is being made in some re spects. As Jefferson wrote, "These are grounds of hope for others. ' , It is fitting and proper to join Jefferson, especially on the Fourth of July of each year, in reaffirming our dedication to individual freedom under limited government. In Jef ferson's words, "For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollec tions of these rights, and an undiminished de votion to them." -BBG Chinese Revolution "Nobody gives up power willingly. The Communist Party isn't going to give up power. I don't know what shape another revolution might take. The Cultural Revolution [launched by Mao in the mid-1960s to regain power within the party] was a revolution from above.
We need one from below. " (from an interview with a Peking University student, ·reported in The Wall Street Journal, January 8, 1987.) For more on the subject, see Donald J. Senese's "China's 'Free Enterprise' Experi ment" on page 265. PERSPECTIVE Freedom Is the Antidote A recent study of deaths due to man's inhu manity to men tells just how elusive the goal of "Peace on earth, goodwill to men" has been. R. J. Rummel of the University of Hawaii calculates 35 million people have been killed by wars so far this century. Over three times that number, however, 119 million, have been killed by their own governments. Of that total, 95 million were killed by communist govern ments. Only 800,000 were killed by democra cies, and a major part of that was refugees re patriated to Russia at the end of WorId War II by the democracies. Nikolai Tolstoy's book, Stalin's Secret War, confirms in vivid detail how Stalin killed mil lions in his lust for power, and the killing con tinues . Up to two million Cambodians were killed when the communists took over. Mil lions are being starved in Ethiopia today, just as Stalin starved ten million in the Ukraine to eliminate dissident factions.
Rummel's conclusion from his study is that "Absolutism, not war, is mankind's deadliest scourge. " He also concludes that "Absolutist governments ... are themselves the major factor causing war . . ." Absolutism is defined as "The political doc,trine or practice of unlimited power . . . vested in a monarch, dictator, or oligarchy," and tyr anny is a synonym. That definition certainly fits communism as practiced by the Soviet Union today. The opposite of tyranny (absolutism) is, of course, freedom. If tyranny is mankind's greatest scourge, then freedom is the antidote to promote "Peace on earth, goodwill toward men. " -Elmer Fike President, Fike Chemicals, Inc. Nitro, West Virginia 244 Property Rights and the First Amendment by Lance Lamberton T he First Amendment to the u.s. Consti tution has long been regarded by practi cally every hue of the political spectrum as the most sacred and revered of all political rights and guarantees provided the American people; as indeed the cornerstone upon which all other rights are based. Yet despite this broad consensus, application of the First Amendment has been uneven, to the point where there is now a plethora of views within American juris prudence as to what constitutes an appropriate constitutional exercise of freedom of speech.
The Freeman 1987
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