Book Reviews

Give up? He's America's heir to the H. L. Mencken legacy of the art of spiking gov ernment pomposity and inherent interven-. tionist ineptitude. In fact, P. J. O'Rourke is the Washington-based Cato Institute's Mencken Research Fellow as well as a contributing editor to Rolling Stone (where some of these pages first appeared) and the author of such bestselling works as The Bachelor Home Companion, Parliament of Whores, and Give War a Chance-works tickling the funnybones of otherwise grouchy, government-socked Americans and their peers overseas. O'Rourke's skill in renouncing the arm chair and. on-line computer for global on the-spot surveys of political pomposity is on display here as he sails forth into Somalia, the Amazon, Rio, ex-Yugoslavia, the Czech Republic, Bangladesh, Haiti, Vietnam, and the campus of Miami University in Ohio. Watch out, overweening National Geo graphic and supercilious Smithsonian Mag azine, you're no match for the sharper eye and pen of O'Rourke.

Take his venture into Bangladesh, a na tion of some 120 million hardy souls living on the cusp of poverty and still much de pendent on jute, the country's largest hard currency earner. The jute industry, "beneficiary" of subsidies from one of the least rich governments in the world, falls prey to versatile plastics across a highly competi tive world. Mahbubur Rahman of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce handed his business card to 0 'Rourke boasting it was made of jute paper. O'Rourke found it discolored, wrinkled, and lumpy. Mr. Rahman also boasted of the jute rug on his office floor. O'Rourke found it unsightly and coming apart. But better days apparently lie ahead as Bangladesh goes in for privatization. State owned plants that the Bangladesh govern ment has wisely put up for sale, notes O'Rourke, include: Osmania Glass Sheet Factory Dhaka Match Factory Bangladesh Diesel Plant Dhaka Vegetable Oil Industries Kohinoor Battery Manufacturing Co.

Bangladesh Insulator and Sanitary Ware Factory These factories are hardly of Japanese quality, and O'Rourke says he'd like to shake the hand-well, meet, anyway-the brave investor who buys the rickety works of the Bangladesh Insulator and Sanitary Ware Factory. Our intrepid traveler finds Vietnam, scene of battle from French forces in the 1940s 1950s to U.S. forces in the 1960s-1970s climaxed by massive American air strikes on Hanoi in 1973, now a scene of battle between Coca Cola and Pepsi-Cola. But it wasn't until 1990 when the Communists finallythrew in the towel vis-a.-vissocialism. O'Rourke: "They took price controls off everything, put privacy back into private property, and told everybody to go make a living. Faced with a choice between leading and following, the Vietnamese government got out of the way." O'Rourke's visit to Miami University, his politically correct alma mater, is covered in his chapter, "Multiculturalism: Going from Bad to Diverse." He found the school now blessed with a Department of Diversity Affairs offering 21 courses and a degree in Black Studies, yet the percentage of African Americans among undergraduates is but 2.6 percent.

As luck would have it O'Rourke arrived on the campus during "Hunger and Home lessness Week." He watched a group of Miami students celebrate the event by squatting around the campus in pouring rain and trying to hand out fliers so as to "make Miami students aware of the growing home less situation in America." Said one wet coed: "It's weird how people just walk by and ignore us. You really get a look at the world through a completely different per spective. " The perspective of an idle per son engaged in moronic activity, says O'Rourke. Another cultural beef of protesters at a student rally attended by our peripatetic author lies in the use of "Red skins" by Miami varsity sport teams, clearly a high handed putdown of Native Americans. One coed dressed like the lady on the Land 0' Lakes butter package condemned such in justices against Native Americans as "de portation, exploitation, enslavement, disen franchisement, genocide-and, pausing for emphasis, added what she seemed to feel was the crowning outrage, 'assimilation'."

Sexual harassment turns out to be another hot issue. O'Rourke finds lack of logical consistency in a campus calendar called "The Women of Miami." It carried photos of a dozen bathing suit-clad coeds trying to look, to the best of their puppyish abilities, sexy. Controversy raged among students, some of whom said the photos demeaned women and others who were pretty sure the First Amendment protected medium-sized bikinis. What especially caught O'Rourke's attention was the "Public Service Message" surrounded by semi-spicy photos at the end of the calendar. It read: Guys: When a woman says NO, she means NO! It takes a "Real Man" to respect the wishes of those around him. Be Safe, Be Smart, and Be Understood! P. J. 0 'Rourke ends his book on the note that he doesn't have any answers. But maybe he does, as he mentions things like property rights and the rule of law. Aside 399 from cancer and the like, he observes most of our troubles are not from another planet but are human (i.e., man-made) troubles.

Hence his suggestions: Be nice. Use com mon sense. Exercise self-responsibility. N~b~. D Dr. Peterson is Distinguished Lundy Professor of Business Philosophy Emeritus at Campbell University, North Carolina. On Looking Into the Abyss: Untimely Thoughts on Culture and Society by Gertrude Himmelfarb Knopf. 1994 • 192 pages. $23.00 Reviewed by Peter J. Boettke G ertrude Himmelfarb is Professor Emer itus of History at the Graduate School of the City University of New York and the author of numerous studies in intellectual history (such as her studies on Acton and Mill) and the history of Victorian England. She is a wonderful writer who takes her vocation seriously-both in terms of turning a phrase and in doing the dirty work of historical scholarship. On Looking Into the Abyss is her reflections on the state of our intellectual culture. It is not optimistic. Literary criticism has disregarded the books it is supposed to comment on, and instead concerns itself with "theory" as if that were more important. Philosophy has embraced nihilism and history has abandoned the footnote. Himmelfarb's message-one that should resonate with readers of The Free man-is that ideas have consequences. Bad consequences in the political world, such as witnessed in the former Soviet Union or in Nazi Germany, are the result of bad ideas, not historical accident. Ideas matter and therefore we should all be serious in our dealings with ideas.

Sometimes Himmelfarb misses her target, other times she hits the nail right on the head. In reflecting on post-modernism, for example, she finds it too easy to discredit philosophical ideas because of the political association of the author, say, Martin 400 THE FREEMAN • JUNE 1995 Heidegger or Paul de Man. Criticisms of their philosophical position are, of course, fair game, but to dismiss their work because of poor moral character on their behalf is another question. Himmelfarb and other critics would have to show how Heidegger's and de Man's scholarly work relates to their fascist affiliation. Maybe that can be dem onstrated, but to my mind none of the critics have yet done so. Himmelfarb is also weak, I think, in her examination of Mill's On Liberty. Certainly there is a tension in Mill, but to see in him a confusion between liberty and libertinism is perhaps stretching it. Readers of a con servative bent will find in Himmelfarb a great champion in their fight against the moral decline of our age and the intellectual bankruptcy of libertarianism. The good Mill, to her, is the one who reminds her of Tocqueville and Acton, the bad Mill sanc tions the heroin-addict prostitute on the streets of New York. But, those who, like me, are much more comfortable with the libertarian position, and the liberal idea of tolerance for "experiments in living," will find that in her discussions of Mill, Himmel farb is missing something fundamental about liberal virtues. Libertarianism does not mean libertinism (definedas the absence of responsibility), but libertarianism does mean absolute individual autonomy within those bounds of responsibility. We may not like how some choose to live their lives, but as long as responsibility for their choices lies with them and they do not invade my life, then they must be free . . . and this is a precondition for me to live the life I choose.

As Albert Jay Nock emphasized in his "On Doing the Right Thing," the libertarian position must permit people to make mis takes in their choices of living not because it sanctions "immoral" behavior, but be cause it is only by permitting people to make their own choices and bear the consequence of those choices that "moral" living even has an opportunity to emerge as a norm. On the other hand, with regard to the disappearance of the footnote in historical scholarship or in her critique of post-modern history, Himmelfarb is brilliant. She is a practitioner of the "old" school of historical scholarship, and shuns the kind of social history often championed in scholarly cir cles today. The historian should be able to locate heroes and villains in the past and record their deeds. A constant theme in this volume is how the Holocaust, for example, becomes trivial under the influence of some of these trends in our current intellectual culture.

Certainly developments in philosophy and literature have questioned. modernity and presented us with an interesting abyss to stare into. But Himmelfarb argues that we need not jump in. Our current generation, however, has already done so. At this point, Himmelfarb can no longer help. She has nothing to say once someone has fallen into the abyss; she offers no way out. Her strong suit is warning us not to jump in. Once in the abyss, what can get you out except some blind faith concerning moral reasoning? Scholarship, and the intellectual culture in general, necessitate "good reasons," not moral posturing. We are already in the post-modern moment. Appeals to moder nity or even pre-modernity (likeAlan Bloom gave us) are not going to get us anywhere. Classical liberal intellectuals at this time must engage the post-modernists. They must challenge the value of abandoning standards of historical and philosophical argument, champion the idea of liberal vir tues and cosmopolitanism, and demonstrate the consequentialist grounds for these posi tions.

On Looking Into the Abyss is a very good book written by a serious thinker reflecting on the state of her culture. Himmelfarb offers the reader many insights. Her empha sis on the role of ideas in society is delight ful, and her championing of the standards of scholarship is admirable. This is a book that readers of The Freeman will find of great benefit. Despite my reservations about the social-conservative political implications of Himmelfarb's reflections on our intellectual culture, I highly recommend her book. D Dr. Boettke teaches economics at New York University.

Inflation is Theft The Foundation for Economic Education 1994 • 197 pages. $14.95 paperback Reviewed by Steven Horwitz T his collection brings together a number of different papers previously published in The Freeman over the last 25 years or so, with a new introduction by Hans Sennholz. Overall this is a strong collection of essays, particularly suitable for students or the eco nomically-inclined general reader. What is most remarkable about the essays is both how many common themes they touch upon and how the controversial issues they dis cuss continue to be at the heart of debates among classical liberal monetary theorists today. A clear message of the book is that one cannot separate inflationary monetary poli cies from profligate fiscal policy. As with counterfeiting, the lure of inflationis that the inflator can acquire real resources at virtu ally zero cost. It does this not only directly, but also by reducing the value of the gov ernment's massive debt. For political actors seeking votes, or governments seeking power, inflation is a far more palatable way than taxation to pay for new programs or military adventures. A running theme in several essays is that inflation's effects are far more subtle than, but just as injurious as taxation's.

Another clear theme that emerges from this volume is the need to reform not just monetary institutions but fiscal ones as well i to combat inflation. Any policies that limit government expenditures and/or govern ment debt will reduce the temptation to inflate. Throughout the book one comes across critiques of popular definitions of inflation. Clarence Carson's essay "Built-In Pres sures to Inflation" begins by nicely clari fying these issues. Many people define in flation as "an increase in the general level of prices." This view errs in treating one of inflation's likely effects as its defining BOOKS 401 characteristic, and thus ignores other fac tors that might cause the level of prices to rise (or fall) that are not rightly seen as inflation. As numerous contributors (espe cially Robert Higgs and Bettina Bien Greaves) point out, inflation is, as Milton Friedman phrased it, "always and every where a monetary phenomenon." Any def inition of inflation must make reference to the money supply.

Several authors also point out that in creases in the money supply need not al ways lead to increases in the price level. For example, an increase in productivity or in the demand for money, exerts downward pressure on prices. The definition of inflation remains contro versial among free market economists. The late Murray Rothbard long defined inflation as any increase in the monetary commodity, apparently irrespective of any change in demand. Others, such as George Selgin most recently, have defined inflation as an excess supply of money, allowing for in creases in the quantity of money that are necessary to keep pace with demand. Mises, incidentally, held to the latter view in The Theory ofMoney and Credit as is made clear in the second endnote to J. H. Peters' essay that begins the book. The ambiguities that prompted this ongoing debate are clearly evident in the various Freeman articles collected here.

Another important insight consistently present in this book is that the true costs of inflation are much more than any obvious rise in the price level. Several authors em phasize how an excess supply of money affects some sectors of the economy before others, and in so doing causes not only economically unjustified redistributions of wealth, but also changes in the relative prices of various consumer and producer goods. These changes in relative prices alter the structure of production as capital and labor are shuffledinto new combinations in different lines of production. These shifts are ultimately unjustified because, as the inflation ebbs, the new demand for those goods will fall off, leaving the owners of retooled capital and retrained labor stuck 402 THE FREEMAN • JUNE 1995 with the now less useful assets. This waste is the major cost of inflation. More generally, the havoc that inflation plays with the signaling function of prices leads to increased entrepreneurial error, increased uncertainty about the future, and the temptation to use the political process as a means of increasing one's wealth. Any reader of this book will come away with a real appreciation for these costs and the corresponding dangers of inflation.

Only a few of the authors offer any spe cific recommendations for policy changes that would reduce inflation. What virtually all seem to agree on is that we must some how end the government's discretionary power over the production of money. For some this means a return to the gold stan dard, for others it means ending fractional reserve banking, for still others it seems to mean opening up the production of money (including paper) to private entrepreneurs/ banks. All of these options sounded truly utopian when written in the '60s and '70s. However, with the exception of ending fractional reserve banking, these proposals are now seen as legitimate options among a growing number of professional econo mists. That these free market ideas are now taken seriously is the ultimate intellectual vindication for the authors represented in this collection. One other interesting aspect of this book is how accurate many of the authors were with respect to the direction the U.S. econ omy would take in the '70s and '80s. Al though no one foresaw the growth of the '80s, nor the apparent resurgence of free market thought at the policy level in the '90s, several authors saw the inflation of the '70s and the problems that would arise from trying to eliminate it in the early '80s.

Ignored at the time, these arguments take on a fresh relevance when viewed with hind sight. Inflation is Theft is a nice place to start to get a handle on the basics of why inflation occurs and what problems it causes. As budget deficits persist, as politicians of all stripes continue to try to please voters by promising them the moon, and as the current administration appears to want to make the U.S. the world's policeman, the temptation to resort to inflationary finance is ever present. To avoid falling for its siren-like charm, we need to understand the nature of the beast. D Dr. Horwitz is Eggleston Assistant Professor of Economics at St. Lawrence University in Can ton, New York. In Defense of Advertising: Arguments from Reason, Ethical Egoism, and Laissez-Faire Capitalism by Jerry Kirkpatrick Quorum Books, Westport, Conn .• 1994 • 192 pages • $45.00 Reviewed by Mark Thornton A s an economist, I was hesitant to review a book about marketing written from a philosophical perspective. However, adver tising is fundamental to economic activity and I agree fully with the author that adver tising must be understood as a "rational, moral, productive, and above all benevolent institution of laissez-faire capitalism."

Jerry Kirkpatrick defends advertising by employing the philosophical contributions of Ayn Rand and the economic theories of Ludwig von Mises. Facts, figures, case studies, and quotations spice up what is otherwise a theoretical attack against the critics and opponents of advertising. I found myself chuckling at the book's beginning description of various criticisms of advertising in which virtually all the evils in society are directly traceable to adyertis ing. While amusing, these views are all too pervasive. The very latest antagonist to emerge is Earl Shorris, a former advertis ing executive-turned-fiction writer and muckraker. In his latest book, A Nation OJ Salesmen: The Tyranny of the Market anC4 the Subversion of Culture, Mr. Shorrh blames advertising for the destruction oj such things as our world, our humanity, ou] nobility, our reason, and our minds. Mr. Kirkpatrick's philosophical defens~ of advertising is explicitly objectivist or Randian. While I am no expert in this area, his presentation is clear and seems correct in allfundamental aspects. I only question how far into objectivism one needs or wants to go in order to make a defense of advertising?

For example, while I might agree with both the author and Ludwig von Mises on the underlying relationship between early Christianity and capitalism, I question the wisdom of raising this issue where it can neither help make his point nor provide an opportunity for full and fair exploration of the issue. The author provides a convincing discus sion on the charge of subliminal advertising in the marketplace. He also addresses the charge that persuasive advertising "cre ates" needs. The natural controls on decep tive advertising are also presented as an effective counterargument to the critics of advertising. He concludes that honesty sells and that fraud is the only thing that should be against the law. The author combines his knowledge of marketing with Randian philosophy and Misesian·economics to create a truly pow erful and compelling case for advertising. The general reader will benefit from the author's ability to distill the criticisms of advertising and his responses to them to their most fundamental form while the spe cialist in marketing, economics, and philos ophy will gain a working.knowledge of the other disciplines as they relate to advertis ing.

There is at least one downside of mixing Austrian economics and Randian philoso phy-the possible confusion of the terms objective and subjective. Objectivism is a subjective field in which all relevant values are held to be objective while economics is supposed to be an objective study in which all relevant values are considered subjec tive. I am almost certain that the next generation of libertarians would appreciate a less muddled assembly of terminology. The author has a clearer notion of the economics of advertising than many econ omists. His accurate presentation of eco nomics and the methods and views of BOOKS 403 schools of economic thought is more than adequate. If one is interested in a more in depth examination of the economics of ad vertising, Advertising and the Market Pro cess by Robert Ekelund and David Saurman should be consulted. However, for those who seek to engage the accusers of capital ism, In Defense ofAdvertising is worthwhile re~~. 0 Dr. Thornton is the D.P. Alford III Assistant Professor of Economics and Coordinator of Academic Affairs of the Ludwig von Mises In stitute at Auburn University.

Liberty Against Power: Essays by Roy A. Childs, Jr. edited by Joan Kennedy Taylor San Francisco: Fox & Wilkes. 1994 • 290 pages. $24.95 cloth; $14.95 paperback Reviewed by Doug Bandow L ittle in life is more tragic than the shooting stars, the brilliant lights who illuminate the truth and brighten people's lives, only to flame out before the history books take note. Roy A. Childs, Jr., was one such phenomenon. A leading libertarian writer, editor, and activist, Roy was also a good friend and tough intellectual sparring partner to the famous, like Milton Fried man, and a generous mentor to the obscure, like any number of college students. Alas, Roy's heart gave out in May 1992, saddening his many friends and admirers. It also seemed likely to deny him credit for helping to revive classical liberalism in the age of the welfare state. Although his words had boomed forth at a multitude of confer ences, seminars, and speeches, and leaped offthe pages ofLibertarian Review, inquiry, movement newsletters, and mainstream newspapers, he never wrote a book. Thus, we lacked this most important kind of per manent record of his prodigious thinking.

. But no longer. Joan Kennedy Taylor, Roy's close friend and a former editor of Libertarian Review, has collected some of his best writings and speeches in a new volume, Liberty Against Power. The book 404 THE FREEMAN • JUNE 1995 makes for a wonderful read. It also rein forces the sense of loss that so many of us felt at Roy's passing. If only his unbounded passion for freedom were still burning. If only he had been alive to spotlight the hypocrisy and mendacity of the Clinton ad ministrationover the last two years. Ifonly he were here to direct his penetrating wit and relentlessly logical analysis against today's newly ascendant Republicans. If only ... At least we now have Liberty Against Power. It ranges across the philosophical and policy waterfront, demonstrating Roy's extraordinary learning, despite his never having finished college. The lead article is the book's title essay, setting the philosoph ical tone for not only this volume, but Roy's life. Over the last century, he observes, "we have seen a massive growth in state power at the expense of what Albert Jay Nock called 'social power'." To what result?

"Honesty calls upon us to proclaim that power is everywhere impotent in the face" of today's problems. And that he does eloquently and often. In another prescient essay, written two decades ago, Roy complains about the lack of debate over basic principle, at least re garding any "issues or policies beyond those which fit cozily into power's frame work. " His alternative? Liberty. Freedom to life, conscience, and property. Freedom to think and speak. To worship God and live in peace. Particularly noteworthy is Roy's unabashed willingness to make moral argu ments. This argument on principle runs throughout Liberty Against Power. In a prizewinning essay presented at the Mont Pelerin Society, Roy emphasizes the impor tance of defending the morality of capital ism. Market economies long ago won the "bathtub" test by providing better bath tubs, but, in Roy's view, that doesn't pro vide a sufficiently solid ground for the mar ket's defense. Warns Roy: "If wider philosophical issues are ignored, then we run the risk of seeing not only liberty dis integrate before our eyes, but the very foundations of civilization itself. And from that, recovery may not even be possible."

Other essays criticize Ayn Rand's and Robert Nozick's defenses of limited govern ment. Interestingly, Roy moved away from anarchism near the end of his life, but he never finished his attack on "anarchist illu sions," included in Liberty Against Power. Other insightful chapters include a critique of the New Right, which has at times es chewed not only social tolerance but also market economics; the role of business in promoting regulation, rather than laissez faife; and the relationship between property rights and civil liberties. His speech on the latter topic, printed for the first time in Liberty Against Power, is particularly illuminating. Ultimately, Roy argues, many contentious civil liberties is sues-crying "fire" in a crowded theater, for instance-should be resolved on the basis of property rights. Roy resolutely defends people's right to discriminate "be cause they have a right to their property and their self-ownership." And Roy, who was grossly overweight, did not let personal interest get in the way of principle: before his death he appeared on the program 20120 arguing against proposals to penalize dis crimination on the basis of weight.

However, Roy was not a starry-eyed, ivory-tower philosopher. Among the best essays in Liberty Against Power are his writings on current policy. Even before the Reagan and Bush administrations escalated the war on drugs, Roy wrote "Crime in the Cities: The Drug Connection." Although now 14 years old, the article remains a path-breaker, demonstrating, through rigor ous analysis and research, how it is dru~ prohibition, not drug use, that fuels the crimt wave enveloping cities across America. Similarly impressive are his analyses oj foreign policy-EI Salvador and Iran, fOJ instance, as well as America's expansivt alliance network around the globe. Ht wants the United States to "abandon th< foreign policy which has brought us to the state where Americans are vilified an( damned and held hostage" abroad, an, instead return to a noninterventionis stance, when we "once again become : beacon of hope and liberty for all the peopll of the world."

Liberty Against Power contains much more. Roy assesses Ayn Rand's role in the libertarian movement. He reviews books on welfare and pays tribute to novelist Kay Nolte Smith. He reviews his much-loved classical music. Through all of these he reveals himself to be consistently interest ing, knowledgeable, and opinionated; read ing each additional essay reinforces the sense of sadness at his passing. Roy Childs was a treasure to all who knew him. But his life has benefited, and contin ues to benefit, many more people than just those who had the pleasure of meeting him. The publication of Liberty Against Power will create a permanent record of his ideas and work, thereby helping to provide him, in death, the recognition that he richly de served when he was alive. In this way, Liberty Against Power is a fitting tribute to someone who gave so much for so long to so many. D Mr. Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and the author o/The Politics of Envy: Statism as Theology (Transaction).

Liberalism, Conservatism, and Catholicism: An Evaluation of Contemporary American Political Ideologies in Light of Catholic Social Teaching by Stephen M. Krason Central Bureau, Catholic Central Verein of America, 3835 Westminster Place, St. Louis, MO 63108 • 1994. 347 pages. $15.00 paperback Reviewed by John Attarian W ith politics increasingly polarized and penetrating more and more facets of life, it becomes important for American Catholics to know which doctrines and par ties they can support while remaining faith ful to Church teaching. Professor Stephen Krason of Franciscan University of Steubenville has produced an excellent guide for the perplexed. BOOKS 405 After defining liberalism and conserva tism and distinguishing between the New Deal, anti-Communist, "old liberalism" of 1945-1960 and the more radical, activist post-1960 "new liberalism," Krason gives a detailed, useful presentation of papal teach ings, with special attention to economics.

He makes clear the popes' endorsement of private property and enterprise; their view that both employers and workers have rights and obligations; their emphatic rejection of Communism, socialism, and egalitarianism; and their insistence that the state can neither leave society, especially the needy, to lais sez-faire competition, nor tax its citizens excessively. Most of the book is a thorough and scrupulously fair sifting of the ideolo gies. Krason assesses their philosophies by presenting their views on five core issues the purposes of government; God, religion, and the natural law as the basis of the political order; freedom; equality; and Com munism-and comparing them to Church teaching. He does likewise for specific pol icy proposals in economics; social welfare; agriculture; the environment; civil liberties and civil rights; education; foreign policy; defense; and disarmament.

Since conservatism has diverse perspec tives, he assesses the positions of cultural conservatives (e.g., Russell Kirk), fusion ists (e.g., Frank Meyer), economic libertar ians (e.g., Milton Friedman, Mises, Hayek, and Wilhelm Roepke), neoconservatives (e.g., Irving Kristol), the new right, and active political conservatives such as Barry Goldwater. Overall, conservatism has "substantial correspondence" with Church teachings, especially on Communism, free dom, and the role of God, religion, and natural law. The greatest divergence is over government's role: "conservatism does not seem to see the state's full role in shaping the common good, it does not· accept the full range of the state's domestic social welfare role, it does not concede to the state a sufficiently large prerogative in the eco nomic realm, and it is not aware enough of the international obligations of states grow ing out of the virtue of charity. "

This indictment neglects conservatism's 406 THE FREEMAN • JUNE 1995 rightful suspicion of government power and opposition to tyranny, especially in eco nomics, where political decisions have proven poor substitutes for market ones. And what if the state is captured by a mistaken or even evil ideology? Better a minimal state respecting freedom, dignity, and Christian values than an activist state seeking to "shape the common good" by a vision hostile to them. Overall, Krason finds conservatism closest to the Church, with old liberalism a close second and new liberalism far behind. "In the final analysis, the crucial reason why conservatism is closest to the Church is because it best upholds the natural law and is most supportive of religion." New liber alism is farthest from the Church "because it has become so secularized and has gone far in the direction of rejecting the natural law, especially in the area of sexual moral ity. "

Since conservatism shares some of liber alism's core beliefs, such as "excessive" individualism and the value and possibility of progress, it shares in its deviations from Church teaching. But the main reason why both ideologies deviate, he rightly argues, is "their common origin in early modern po litical philosophy, and more generally in the thought which has characterized Western culture since the dawn of modernity. " This new thought was "a secular one-in ways, rampantLy secular-and one which changed radically the notion of natural law" (his italics) from something moral to something like a law of physics. In light of Centesimus Annus, the Pope's 1991 economic encyclical, covered in an appendix, the ideologies retain their rank ings. One might argue that given the encyc lical's strong endorsement of a morally con scious free economy, conservatism's standing vis-a-vis Church teaching is much improved. Capitalism recognizes certain re alities inherent in Creation better than any other system: scarcity, the need for produc tive work to sustain human life, and the self-interested aspect of human nature.

Meticulous, thorough, and impeccably scholarly, Liberalism, Conservatism and Catholicism is a superb reference work for Catholics seeking to navigate among politi cal viewpoints, and for others interested in papal teachings and in how well (or poorly) those viewpoints measure up. D Dr. Attarian is afree-lance writer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Civil Wrongs: What Went Wrong With Affirmative Action by Steven Yates ICS Press: San Francisco. 1994 • 256 pages. $22.95 Reviewed by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. "Sensitive" is the word people use to describe political rows over civil rights, an issue that mixes economics, social policy, and race. We know what we're supposed to think: the "civil-rights strug gle" was the most heroic political move ment in American history. We are not, however, supposed to notice its cata strophic results: race relations are worse than ever, businesses are less free, labor markets are locked up, the academy is sinking into mediocrity, crime is rampant, and the central government is even more brutal in thwarting liberty and community autonomy.

Having dispensed with traditional stan dards of merit, civil-rights laws have created a separate class of people, whose' 'prosper ity" is government induced, whose "merit" is a fabrication of bureaucrats, and whose "rights" always seem to come at the ex pense of everyone else's. Thank goodness that none of these issues is too sensitive for Steven Yates, a coura geous young philosopher influenced by Lud wig von Mises. Lucidly and forcefully, he writes of a confused and statist America, where being born into a victim group is worth more politically and economically than a good education, a strong will, and sheer talent. Appropriately, Mr. Yates concentrates on a serious injustice of modern life: the central government's policy of mandatory discrimination against white males. There are only two options an employer, for ex ample, faces when considering two appli cants of different races. Hire the white and face the prospect of lawsuits, fines, and public humiliation. Hire the black and face none of that. Which will be the norm?

The macroeconomic result of this policy, defended as remedial of the sins of the past, is an inefficient use of labor and intellectual resources. It's also immoral and socially destructive, and not only in the business world. In the university, it has reached poisonous bloom. Free speech and free inquiry are today barred on campus in a whole range of areas, and even dorm assignments are politicized. Incompetents are hired for prestigious pro fessorships, while bright young scholars are forced into one temporary position after another. Perhaps the most serious casualties are the good scholars with real credentials, who drop out of the academy because they can no longer tolerate the injustice. Mr. Yates gives us a useful legal and political history of affirmative action and quotas. Especially valuable is his material on campus race hatred. Whites typically view black achievement as tainted even when it isn't (for who's to know?), and white achievement calls down official discrimina tion. When major universities employ edi tors to rewrite the Ph.D. dissertations of the :acially privileged, an inevitable result is ncreased envy against the productive.

Because of affirmative action, the acad ~my exalts what Mr. Yates calls "antischol trship," a substructure of campus life in vhich affirmative-action professors teach tffirmative-action students about the glories )f affirmative action. For students and fac Llty outside the substructure, intimidation is he norm. A graduate teaching assistant at a major lniversity was told by his superiors in the conomics department to "give every mi ~ority a B." Otherwise, even bad students ould appeal and cause him endless trouble. l professor at a midwestern college discovBOOKS 407 ered that some of his students had copied their term papers straight out of the ency clopedia. The academic dean told him it would be "racist" to flunk them. Most professors-being risk averse-don't have to be told. They know, and accept it without protest. But the entire process is in no one's interests, except those who would destroy all standards, the academy, and even civi lization itself.

Affirmative action and quotas do not stand alone. They stem necessarily from the concept of civil rights. By forbidding actions based on certain categories of racial and sexual motivation, civil-rights legislation pretends to peer into the hearts of men. Yet even our government-the biggest, richest, most powerful in history-can't read minds. The result is that bureaucrats ferret out what Richard Epstein has called the "forbidden grounds" by counting numbers, which is where quotas come from. Despite his heroic attack on affirmative action, Mr. Yates has yet to come around entirely to this understanding. Like the right to housing or medical care, civil rights must trample on the freedoms of association, contract, and even speech. As Michael Oakeshott has pointed out, these are what distinguish the free man from the slave. Civil rights laws even enshrine involuntary ser vitude, as when restaurant owners are forced to wait on people they don't want to serve.

We must seek to end not only state mandated affirmative action but also anti discrimination and public accommodation laws. There is no valid theoretical distinc tion between private property arid commer cial property, despite the attempt of Belt way intellectuals to manufacture one. It is all private, and private individuals ought to be able to own and control it. Steven Yates's thrilling defense of liberty can lead nowhere else. D Mr. Rockwell is President of the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.

408 THE FREEMAN • JUNE 1995 Princess Navina V~sits Mandaat by Count Nef (pseudonym for James L. Payne) Sandpoint, Idaho: Lytton Publishing. 1994 • 55 pages. $8.95 paperback Reviewed by Robert Batemarco W e Americans have grown accustomed to a large measure of government control over our persons and property. Such serious intrusions on our liberties as zoning laws, public schooling, and government reg ulation of food and drugs are so taken for granted that to question their beneficence is to risk being read out of the public debate. In such circumstances, camouflaging such doubts through fiction may be the only effective way of getting people to drop their unquestioned assumptions and get them to think the unthinkable. James Payne's satirical Princess Navina series is an attempt to do this. Princess Navina Visits Mandaat, the second book in this series, describes a country in which progress is measured by the weight of leg islation passed. Some of this excess tonnage calls for mandatory attendance at religious services, inspection of every piece of meat served in restaurants, and special permits to walk on the street. So pervasive is the need for permits in Mandaat that the title char acter is heard to lament, "All these permits.

Permits to turn on the water, permits to turn off the water, permits to open the door, permits to close the door. Why there's even a permit to pick up coins offthe floor if they should happen to fall!" This is a work of imagination but not, unfortunately, of fantasy. The difference between Mandaat and the United States in the 1990s is of degree, not of kind. In Mandaat, an anonymous functionary justi fies his regime's policies on the grounds of "how stupid and selfish human beings can be when left free to act on their own. " In the United States, FDA chief David Kessler echoes, "If members of our society were empowered to make their own decisions. . . then the whole rationale for the [FDA] would cease to exist," in defending his regulatory turf. The leaders of both coun tries are all too eager to enact laws which, while counterproductive, make them and their subjects feel better. As Mandaat' s chief apologist so bluntly puts it: "The passage of laws has almost nothing to do with making things better. The real purpose of legislation is reassurance."

In Mandaat, reassuring legislation has been passed to the point of driving virtually all activity underground. Princess Navina discovers this to be the case quite literally, as she comes into contact with Mandaat' s resistance movement. Called "nibblelar ies," they seek to subvert Mandaat' s regu latory strait-jacket not through a futile fron tal assault, but by "nibbling" at the laws until they become unenforceable. Payne's allegorical treatment of the perils of overregulation and the mindset behind it can be read in about a half hour. That admirable brevity, along with Diana Schu'i pell Reid's charming illustrations, makes il suitable for children. Those lucky enough tc read it or have it read to them will bt instructed as well as amused. [, Dr. Batemarco, The Freeman's book reviel'! editor, teaches economics at Marymount Col lege, Tarrytown, New York.