October

THEFREE IDEAS ON LIBERTY 364 Educationand the RacistRoadto Barbarism GeorgeReisman Western civilization can continue only insofar as its intellectual substance lives on in the minds of new generations. 371 WhereAre the Sonsof Liberty? NormanS. Ream Who will join in the struggle to restore our heritage of freedom? 374 The Politicsof Compassion WilliamB. Irvine It is a mistake to use a person's political beliefs as the litmus test of his compassion. 376 Manipulatingthe ThaditionalFamily PeterJ. Leithart An analysis of "tax manipulation" from the perspective of Christian political philosophy. 380 ComparableWorth:FeminismTurningto Paternalism Wendy McElroy What is the measure of worth, and who will judge it? 382 CableTV NeedsCompetition John Merline Competition among cable TV companies can bring about lower prices and better service to consumers. 387 On the Rightto Strike Charles~ Baird Examining the strike-threat weapon and the legitimacy of the so-called right to strike.

392 GovernmentIsn'tLivingUp to Its Contract RogerKoopman A look at the ways that government denies the individual his right to determine his contracts with others. 393 Readers'Fomm 395 Book Reviews John Chamberlain reviews Fightingthe War ofIdeas in LatinAmericaby John C. Goodman and Ramona MarotzBaden. Also featured: InsidePerestroika: The Futureofthe SovietEconomy by Abel Aganbegyan; PreferentialPolicies: An InternationalPerspectiveby Thomas Sowell; and SouthAfrica~ War Against Capitalismby Walter Williams. CONTENTS OCTOBER 1990 VOL. 40 NO. 10 THEFREEMAN IDEASON LIBERTY Published by The Foundation for Economic Education Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 10533 President of The Board: Bruce M. Evans Vice-President: Robert G. Anderson Senior Editors: Beth A. Hoffman Brian Summers Contributing Editors: Bettina Bien Greaves Edmund A. Opitz Paul L. Poirot Copy Editor: Deane M. Brasfield 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 champi on of private property, the free market, and limited government. FEE is classified as a 26 USC 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt organization.

Other officers of FEE's Board of Trustees are: Thomas C. Stevens, chairman; Philip M. Spicer, vice-chairman; Paul L. Poirot, secre tary; Don L. Foote, treasurer. The costs of Foundation projects and services are met through donations. Donations are in vited in any amount.· Subscriptions to The Freemanare available to any interested per son in the United States for the asking. Addi tional single copies $1.00; 10 or more, 50 cents each. For foreign delivery, a donation of $15.00 a year is required to cover direct mail ing costs. Copyright © 1990 by The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc. Printed in the U.S.A. Permission is granted to reprint any article in this issue, except "Education and the Racist Road to Barbarism," provided appropriate credit is given and two copies of the reprinted material are sent to The Foundation. Bound volumes of The Freemanare available from The Foundation for calendar years 1971 to date. Earlier volumes as well as current is sues are available on microfilm from Univer sity Microfilms, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106.

The Freemanconsiders unsolicited editorial submissions, but they must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Our author's guide is available on request. FAX: (914) 591-8910 Cover art: detail from "The Triumph of Time" by Peter Bruegel, the Elder. © Dover Publications. PERSPECTIVE The Politicsof Poverty Political competition depends on the skills and abilities of the competitors. How then can the poor, who lack the skills and abilities to compete successfully in the marketplace, compete in the political arena? They can't, and therefore they haven't. After all, if the poor had the skills and at tributes that are necessary for effective political action, they would not be poor. Certainly billions of dollars have flowed through government pro grams supposedly established to redistribute in come from the non-poor to the poor, but the poor did not structure these programs. The middle class bureaucrats who run these programs, the consultants and academics who study them, and the doctors, farmers, and construction contractors whose services are demanded by them-they are the ones who share welfare programs and receive the most benefit from them. For example, in 1984 the federal government spent $344 billion on transfer payments of which only $80 billion went to the poor.

The benefits the poor do receive are provided in such ways as to make them more, rather than less, dependent on public support. As a result, they are made worse off in the long run. Current programs discourage the poor from entering the job market, and encourage poor husbands to abandon their families. The welfare industry is perpetuating itself by undermining the economic incentives and the fam ily structure that are so important if the poor are to develop the skills and attitudes needed to move up the economic ladder. The deluge of government welfare spending has done nothing to redistribute income to the poor. It has, however, reduced economic productivity by requiring greater tax burdens on the private sector of the economy. The poor don't have a bigger share of the pie, and because of welfare expenditures, the pie is smaller than it would have been. -DWIGHT R. LEE AND ROBERT L. SEXTON, writing in the October 29,1989, OrangeCountyRegister.

The BlackHole The government is seizing the thrifts, taking onto its own books the properties that served as collateral for defaulted loans. In theory, it will sell the properties and use proceeds to reduce its de posit-insurance liabilities. In practice, history sug gests government ownership is a black hole from which property never escapes. Office of Manage ment and Budget attempts to sell assets are rou tinely defeated. The one notable success, the sale of Conrail, took years. The government still owns 85 percent of the land in Nevada and 87 percent of Alaska. Think of it this way: The last time the fed eral government ever sold anything was the Okla homa land rush in 1889. -from an editorial in the March 15, 1990, WallStreetJournal Curbingthe Impulseto Hire In any community there are countless numbers of self-employed entrepreneurs who report that business is good-so good, they can't keep up. In the dyn~mics of business development this is the point at which an entrepreneur would normally hire his first employee.

All too often this fails to happen, mostly be cause wouldbe employers are reluctant to assume the mountain of responsibilities that government heaps upon them should they hire someone. What should be a simple, straightforward busi ness transaction of mutual benefit is now on the or der of an adoption-requiring, through a host of laws and regulations, that the employer assume growing responsibility for the life of another hu man being for an unknown period of time and with increasingly unpredictable consequences. What is overlooked in society's zeal to heap its problems onto the shoulders of employers is that economic reality demands that any employee, in any position, must produce enough product or ser vice, which when sold at prevailing prices, willcov er not only his wage (minimum or not), but also the PERSPECTIVE costs associated in hiring him, including insurance, day care, health care, sick leave, vacation, and ma ternity leave-not to mention the additional legal, accounting, and filing-forms-in-triplicate costs in curred by the seemingly innocuous decision to hire.

(This is not to say that such forms of compensa tion shouldn't and wouldn't be voluntarily negoti ated in a free market without government man dates.) But more than covering costs, wouldbe em ployers want to know, "Why should I assume this responsibility and risk?" Rational people will con clude, "I'd rather be fishing." This spells doom, not so much for the prospec tive job creators, who will likely find a niche for themselves, but for potential employees who are not cut out for self-employment or need the expe rience and training of employment, who need the job creators and who willbe left with substantially fewer choices and opportunities. -Evelyn Pyburn, Editor, Big Sky BusinessJournal, Billings, Montana. Stealingfrom Chlldren American economic wealth is the product of the labors, savings, and entrepreneurial efforts of many generations of Americans. Our generation is the beneficiary of the apparatus of production left us by many generations that preceded us. We neither planned nor built it; with minimal efforts on our part we are enjoying the broad stream of goods it is providing. Yet, for most of us this is not enough; we make our political institutions run chronic deficits and leave the bills to our chil dren. We would rather consume their heritage than to forgo our benefits. Unfortunately, we are sowing the seeds of our punishment which, to be just, will be both certain and proportionate to the offense.

-Hans F. Sennholz, "Thou Shalt Not Steal, Coerce or Deceive" (Libertarian Press, Spring Mills, Pennsylvania) 364 THEFREEMAN IDEASON L1BER1Y Education and the Racist Road to Barbarism by George Reisman M ajorchangesaretakingplacein thephi losophy of American education, changeswhich are potentiallycapable of having an enormous impact on all aspects of Americanlife. The changesare inspiredby what TheNew YorkTimesrefersto as the"Eurocentrism critique."Accordingto the Times,"Eurocentrism" is apejorative termsupposedto describe"a provin cialoutlookthat focusesoverwhelminglyon Euro pean and Westernculturewhile givingshortshrift to Asia,Africaand LatinAmerica." A typical manifestation of "Eurocentrism," according to its critics, is the statement that ColumbusdiscoveredAmerica. This statement, whichmostchildrenin Americamayhavelearned as their very first fact of history,is now regarded as controversial.Indeed,it is heldto be positively offensivebecauseit impliesthat "there had been no other people on the continent"beforeColum bus arrived. Traditional American education in general is denouncedfor seeingthe world "only through a Western lens." Only through that "lens,"it is held,can, for example,Africanart be regardedas primitive.