Book Reviews

708 BOOKS Liberty for the 21st Century, Contemporary Libertarian Thought Edited by Tibor Machan and Douglas Rasmussen Rowman & Littlefield. 1995 • 386 pages. $26.95 paperback Reviewed by Matthew Carolan T his is a substantive book, written almost entirely by professional academics, and full of abstract language about things like deontol ogy, "meta-normative" principles, and prisoner's dilemmas. Not easy reading at times. But working through Liberty for the 21st Century is worthwhile. It is thought-provoking, challenging, and will last in value as a classic short exposition of multiple libertarian themes. After a fine introduction on the meaning of "libertarianism" by John Hospers, the early es says address what might be called the "founda tions" of liberty, which at first seems a curious issue. Isn't it self-evident that political freedom is necessary? The authors examine the deeper anthropological, metaphysical premises on which political liberty is based. Each author comes at the idea of political freedom from a different political tradition. Is freedom rooted in some prior notion of social contract (Jan Narve son), a deduction from the deontological notion of persons as ends in themselves (Eric Mack), or is it a precondition for the kind of human flour ishing that the ancients envisioned (Douglas Den Uyl and Douglas Rasmussen)? Here alone one can learn much.

Then follows an interesting survey, by Aeon Skoble, of the fascinating debate between limit edgovernment and anarchist libertarians. Can there be a natural obligation to turn over certain personal property to fund even a restrained government? Following a naturally logical progression, the middle part of the book introduces essays which apply libertarian principles to longstanding po litical issues: warfare (Eric Mack), civil rights and affirmative action (Steven Yates), business ethics (Machan), environmentalism Gournalist Mike Gemmell, the only non-academic in the bunch), education (J.E. Chesher), and drug pro hibition (Mark Thornton). This is a fine section as well, with the authors not giving so much atten tion to current names and places as to risk dating the book. The essays offer concise analyses for the long haul. If I had one minor objection to this section, it was that it did not address a traditional public-relations millstone for libertarians: the subject of prostitution.

The final section responds to objections from critics of different stripes, most proposing posi tive rights to the property of others, or the lack of nuance in the classicalliberalllibertarian view and the need for more "community" -minded (statist, bureaucratic) ~'solutions." The most en joyable section of the book, as the authors do a clinical job-with absolute, truly admirable hon esty and solicitude for ideas-of analyzing and dissecting critics of libertarian thought. Of par ticular note were the demolitions of rights to welfare by Machan and Den Uyl, and the argu ment against "moral minimalism" (claiming too much common ground with critics of libertarian ism) by Gregory Johnson. Once again I must stress that despite the challenging abstractions in the book, the sheer respect for ideas and the "ethical" use of argu ment here is apparent and worth experie.ncing. It was this very quality which so attracted me to libertarian thought i.n the first place. D Mr. Carolan is the executive editor of National Review.

Environmentalism at the Crossroads: Green Activism in America by Jonathan Adler The Capital Research Center. 1995 • 299 pages • $30 paperback Reviewed by Roy Cordato J onathan Adler, director of environmental studies for the Competitive Enterprise Insti tute, is one of the brightest young writers and researchers in the burgeoning field of "free market environmentalism." His essays in the Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other publications have provided a sober presen tation of the facts surrounding environmental issues. In Environmentalism at the Crossroads, Adler sets out to dissect the modern environmentalist movement and its leading organizations. He traces environmentalism from its origins in the nineteenth century, to its transformation with the first Earth Day in 1971, to the massive lobbying and propaganda machine that it has now become. Adler points out that the modem movement has roots in two different nineteenth-century per spectives on the natural environment-conser vationism and preservationism. He argues: HWhile conservation is typically defined as sav ing resources for human use, preservation seeks to save resources from human use." Until the 1960s and '70s, it was the conservationist ethic that guided most of the thinking among those concerned about the environment.

Like other movements, environmentalism be came radicalized in the 1960s. This transformed its ethic from Hhumanistic" conservationism to Hputting-nature-first" preservationism. After the first Earth Day, most environmental groups, including those like the traditionally conserva tionist Audubon Society, were taken over and radicalized. In the years since, the environmen talist movement, through the strategic use of propaganda and special interest politics, has been able to bring together literally hundreds of mil lions of dollars in corporate, private, and gov ernment funding to affect public policy. The ensuing regulation and legislation have dramati cally changed the way all of us consume, do business, and live our lives. Adler's book leads the reader to a striking conclusion: in spite of its radical nature, the environmentalist movement has been able to capture most of the "power elite" in this country and-through the United Nations-the world.

This includes both political parties (the most intrusive environmental regulations were passed and signed during the Reagan and Bush admin istrations); large corporations and foundations (ARCO, Chevron, Apple Computer, IBM, East man Kodak, the Ford Foundation, and others jointly contribute millions annually); and the educational establishment (environmental advo cacy is part of the official curriculum in most public schools). Afurther conclusion that can be reached is that all this power is being amassed and exercised to subvert both sound science and capitalism. The M.O. has been for environmental groups to publish and promote pseudo-science, concluding that the earth is in some imminent danger (global warming, ozone depletion, health risks) caused by some byproduct or input of capitalist produc tion (carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, alar). Both the media and Congress unquestioningly buy into the hysteria. Such support generates large contributions to the crusading environmen tal groups and, ultimately, socialistic legislation 709 meant to curb capitalist excesses. This is what makes the movement so dangerous. It has be come a significant threat to both scientific integ rity and individual liberty.

It is also worth noting that Adler's book is an important resource. The last third of the book consists of 22 appendices that detail the revenues and expenditures of the world's leading environ mental groups. Organizations with annual reve nues of 20 to 40 million dollars are common. The research in these appendices alone makes the book a worthwhile addition to anyone's policy library. D Dr. Cordato is the Lundy Professor at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina. The Just Society Edited by Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred D. Miller, Jr., and Jeffrey Paul Cambridge University Press. 1995 • 329 pages • $21.95 paperback Reviewed by Ronald H. Nash W henever one comes upon a university press book containing multiple essays by differ ent authors, all of them academics, it's a pretty safe bet that the book will never appear on any bestseller list. In the case of this book, most ofthe authors are professors of philosophy and their stated purpose is to throw some light upon social justice.

Another safe bet is that the essays will typi cally defend some liberal/statist/collectivist po sition: call it trickle-down Marxism. While the notion of justice is vitally important, its vague ness and the emotions it generates make it a convenient tool for liberals to use in their unend ing effort to enhance the power and size of coercive government. A number of chapters in this book do just that, occasionally in new and clever ways. Most readers of The Freeman, however, will be interested in the chapters that refuse to follow the prevailing statist orthodoxy of the day. Perhaps the most interesting chapter in the book is titled "Designing Democratic Institutions and the Problem of Evil: A Liberal Chinese Perspective," authored by Baogang He, a Chi nese scholar now lecturing in political science at an Australian university. The word Hliberal" in his title refers to the classical Western tradition of personal freedom and limited government 710 THE FREEMAN • OCTOBER 1996 (with special reference to John Locke and James Madison), not the monstrosity known as con temporary American liberalism. Professor He shows how the classical liberal tradition of the West with its emphasis upon property rights and limited government is influencing some scholars in the People's Republic of China. The author identifies some of these scholars and lists their publications. He also makes special reference to an ongoing dispute within the PRC over the question of whether Chinese political thought should assume the perfectibility of human nature and the goodness of China's political leaders (a basic assumption underlying Mao's position) or whether all citizens, especially those holding political power, are evil. Such American found ing fathers as Madison and John Adams, of course, held the latter view which entailed for them the conviction that political power ought to be widely diffused to make it difficult for evil men to attain total power. I especially commend this chapter to my Freeman audience.

On the statist side of the ledger, Larry Temkin, a philosopher at Rice University, finds the typical egalitarianism of the recent past too tepid for his taste. American political and social thought is replete with egalitarians committed to reducing inequalities between A and B when these two people were members of the same society. But egalitarians like Temkin are also anxious about inequalities between A and B when they belong to different nations or to different generations. As egalitarianism expands in scope, it is obvious that the size and power of the state must also expand, even perhaps to the point where it encompasses a one-world government. It is interesting to see how few of the essays in this book about justice take the time to define ~~justice." It is difficult to find much attention given to Aristotle's intuition that justice means treating equals equally and treating unequals unequally. It is also difficultto find authors in this book who understand the essential difference between voluntary human societies and states that must by their very nature claim a monopoly on the use of coercive power.

Readers of The Freeman interested in knowing what philosophers are up to these days may want to take a look at this collection, even though many of them will end up objecting to a great deal that they encounter. 0 Dr. Nash is professor ofphilosophy at Reformed Theological Seminary and the author ofWhy the Left is Not Right: The Religious Left in America (Zondervan Publishing House). Principle & Interest: Thomas Jefferson and the Problem of Debt by Herbert E. Sloan Oxford University Press. 1995 • viii + 377 pages. $45.00 Reviewed by Douglas E. French I n his History of Economics classes, Murray Rothbard told us that it was important not just to study what policies and theories held sway during the past, but to examine why certain economists or politicians advocated the policies they did. Principle & Interest: Thomas Jefferson and the Problem of Debt by Herbert E. Sloan is a book that does just that. As today's politicians talk about balancing the budget and reducing the debt, Jefferson's name is often invoked as the standard bearer for a frugal government and sound money. But why?

Professor Sloan's story begins in 1788 while Jefferson was the American minister to France. Although one of the wealthiest men in Virginia (on paper), Jefferson had accumulated enormous debts, including a significant debt stemming from his late wife Martha's inheritance. Martha's father, John Wayles, died in 1773 with a consid erable estate that was encumbered by consider able debt. The Wayles heirs decided to divide up the estate's land and slaves among themselves, and sell offsome property to reduce the debt. "'[T]heir decision," Sloan writes, "'which seemed appro priate given the circumstances in 1773 and 1774, was to have significant consequences for Jeffer son.... " Had the Wayles estate been kept together, only the estate's assets could be looked to for repayment. But since the estate was divided between Jefferson and his two brothers in-law, the estate's liability extended to their own estates. With the Virginia economy depressed, the cash flow from tobacco sales fell far short of that needed to retire the Wayles debt.

Compounding the problem, the Wayles exec utors accepted bonds from the purchasers of the land they sold. They attempted to use these bonds as payment for the estate's debts. The estate's creditor, Evans, Farell, and Jones, wisely refused, requiring payment in British Sterling. The purchasers of the properties then took advantage of Virginia's legal tender act to repay the bonds in heavily depreciated paper money. The Virginia Gentry, as Sloan refers to them, hated paper money as much as the heavy burden of debt. Prominent Virginia creditor Richard Henry Lee echoed George Washington's view: "The vast sums of paper money that have been issued and the consequent depreciation, has well nigh effected an entire transfer of my estate to my tenants. This year Sir, the rents of 4000 acres of fine Land will not buy me 20 barrels of Corn!" The oppression that Jefferson felt by his in herited debt no doubt shaped his view that the earth belonged to the living. He didn't believe that a previous generation should burden the next with either the slavery of debt or its laws and regulations. Jefferson formulated the idea that a generation lasted 19 years. Thus , Jefferson wrote that, "every constitution . . . and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19 years."

Statists have used these writings to bolster the argument for a living constitution. But Sloan makes it clear that Jefferson's concern was not that future politicians be given the latitude to bind the populace with more and more laws and regulations, but rather that Jefferson feared fu ture generations would be saddled with debt, whether public or private, and the taxes that go along with it. And further, as Sloan writes, "public debts are closely associated with the evils of war: Remove the ability to contract debts that run for generations, Jefferson says, and 'it would bridle the spirit of war. ' " Sloan spends few pages addressing Jefferson's years as president, perhaps because this ground has been thoroughly covered by others. It's important to note that by the end of his first term in 1804,Jefferson had reduced the federal debt by $12 million. And, with the end of the country's debt in sight, Jefferson began to talk about spending surplus money on "the improvements of roads, canals, rivers, education, and other great foundations of prosperity and union."

The national debt stood at $57 million in 1809, and Jefferson predicted that his successor, James Madison, would extinguish the debt during his term. Unfortunately the War of 1812 got in the way, and the debt ballooned over $127 million by the war's end. Jefferson never lived to see his dream of no government debt fulfilled. Andrew Jackson ac complished the feat in 1836. But the respite was brief. Martin Van Buren, Jackson's successor, resorted to loans the very next year because of deficits caused by the Panic of 1837. The U.S. government has not been out of debt since. D Mr. French is a vice president in commercial real estate lending for a bank in Las Vegas, Nevada. BOOKS 711 Taking Responsibility: Self-Reliance and the Accountable Life by Nathaniel Branden Simon & Schuster. 1996 • 233 pages. $22.00 Reviewed by Russell Madden "Responsibility" is a favorite buzzword on the current political scene. Yet even many conservatives have a faulty notion of what the concept actually entails. In his latest book, psychologist Nathaniel Branden sets forth a sound approach to this critical issue. While much of what Branden says will be familiar to readers of his previous books, this volume may bring these ideas to the attention of a wider audience and, perhaps, focus debate on the implications of fully accepting self-responsibility.

For Freeman regulars, chapters 2 through 4 and 7 and 8 may be of most interest. In those sections, Branden deals more directly with po litical and economic issues. Chapter 2, "Freedom and Responsibility," shows what does and does not fall within one's realm of personal responsibility and what can occur when that boundary is breached. Branden also touches on Marxist determinism, demon strating its self-contradictory nature and what happens when politics and law fail to reject this erroneous principle. In Chapter 3, "Self-Reliance and Social Meta physics," Branden explores the ways in which people come to rely on the judgments of other people rather than their own independent thoughts. While many of these individuals are distressingly obedient to authority, some seek power over others in vain attempts to substitute control over others for the self-control they lack. The most egregious examples of such "social metaphysicians" have been the dictators who have plagued us throughout this century.

Chapter 4, "A Self-Responsible Life," advo cates the idea that "we are not entitled to treat other human beings as means to our ends, just as we are not means to their ends." Branden notes that "ours was the first government ever to recognize and affirm the inalienable rights of the individual. It upholds . . . the idea that the individual belongs not to the state or the nation or the society, but to him-or herself." Avoiding the initiation of force and respecting individual rights provide "the moral foundation of mutual respect, goodwill, and benevolence" that are the hallmarks of a free and decent society.

712 THE FREEMAN • OCTOBER 1996 The recent emphasis on downsizing and cor porate restructuring makes Chapter 7, "Account ability in Organizations," timely. Here Branden explains that fostering self-responsibility in a company must begin at the top of the organiza tionalladder. But employees should also work to better the company, not simply do the minimum to get by. When a difficulty occurs, workers should take it upon themselves to solve the problem and not just ensure no one blames them. Finally, Chapter 8, "A Culture of Account ability," recognizes the fact that we must teach consequences, i.e., causes and effects, ifwe hope to raise a generation able to accept and handle the challenges freedom presents. Capitalism willsur vive only in a culture of self-responsibility. 0 Mr. Madden is an instructor in communication at Mt. Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The State of Humanity Edited by Julian L. Simon Blackwell Publishers. 1995 • 608 pages.

$54.95 cloth; $22.95 paperback Reviewed by Walter Block I f you are one of those persons whose intellec tual style can be summarized by the motto "Don't confuse me with the facts," then you won't like this book one bit. On the other hand, if you think that facts, evidence, and history can contribute to our understanding of where man kind has been and where it is likely to go, then The State of Humanity is the book for you. The thesis of this book· is that the lot of humanity has been improving in the last few centuries, decades, and years, and that the most likely prospect is for more of the same. This idea should occasion no surprise given the book was edited by Julian Simon. Professor Simon is per haps the most careful, sophisticated, and pro ductive critic of modem-day Malthusians. Even overshadowing his scholarly output is the bet for $10,000 he won from Paul (The Population Bomb) Ehrlich, over whether resources are be coming more plentiful (yes!) or scarce (no!) relative to our population. The point is that if anything like economic freedom prevails, and the Ultimate Resource-man' s mind-is thus al lowed free rein, this planet can support far more people than presently living.

In order to make this point, Simon marshals the work of no fewer than 58 separate authors. These chapters address six different aspects of the issue: life, death, and health; standard of living, productivity, and poverty; natural re sources; agriculture, food, land, and water; pol lution and the environment; and the contribu tion of public and media opinion to the environ mental crisis. To summarize: the infant mortality rate is declining, length of life is increasing, the number of people required to grow food is falling, food and natural resources are becoming more available, at a lower price, the standard of living is improving, pollution is decreasing. But Simon is no simplistic Pollyanna. Instead, his analysis (and that of his colleagues) is backed up by a veritable gold mine of information. On practically every page there is a chart, or a dia gram, either an increasing curve (for good things, e.g., life expectancy), or a decreasing curve (for bad things, e.g., pollution). The overall impres sion is one of complete, total, and even exhaus tive coverage. This book is an encyclopedia of the case against the chicken littles of the world.

Let me give but a few examples, first, to attest to the authors' consummate mastery of this material, and second, to bring aid and comfort to those taken in by the alarmists. In 1490, corn yield was ten bushels per acre;. in 1980 it had reached 120. In 1895,some 20 millionacre-feet of water was stored in all U.S. reservoirs; in 1985 this number was in excess of 400 million acre feet. In the year 8000 B.C., life expectancy at birth was about 21 years; this rose to the mid-30s in the sixteenth century, to the 60s in the nine teenth century, and now exceeds 70 years. Free time rose by six hours per week between 1965and 1985. As might be expected in such a large work, there are one or two jarring notes to which the hypersensitive reader may object. One author, Robert Nelson, takes pride in the fact that acreage in public parks has been increasing; in my own view, enlarged governmental participa tion in the economy in any regard is cause for alarm not gratification. But to be fair, Nelson was concerned with access to outdoor recreation, not its ownership.

If you are concerned with improving the liv ability of the planet, buy this book! Mass pur chases, true, will mean the death of many trees. But this will just raise the price of pulp, calling forth yet additional supplies. With The State of Humanity at hand, you will have the facts of the environmental debate at your command-just about all of them. 0 Dr. Block is a professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross.