From the WSJ Opinion Archives
The
Ugly Side of Libertarianism
Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, whose anti-Israel screed has chagrined Harvard's
Kennedy School of Government, have another supporter: one Edward Peck, a former
ambassador who now serves as "an Advisory Board Member for the Center on
Peace and Liberty at the Independent Institute." In an op-ed for the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette, Peck attacks critics of Walt and Mearsheimer by setting up a straw
Semite:
The expected tsunami of rabid responses condemned the report, vilified its authors, and denied there is such a lobby--validating both the lobby's existence and aggressive, pervasive presence and obliging Harvard to remove its name.
All democracies have lobbies. Shrill insistence that no groups promote Israel is ludicrous.
We don't know of anyone who has "denied that there is such a lobby." Anyone who pays the slightest attention to American politics knows, for example, of the existence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Critics of Walt and Mearsheimer argue that their strategic analysis is wrongheaded and their moral analysis--in which Israel is always sinning and never sinned against--is invidious.
Peck does not address any of the substantive criticisms of Walt and Mearsheimer's work, instead listing various additional grievances against Israel and then blaming Jerusalem for prejudice against Jews: "Israeli actions also generate anti-Semitism, the very label the lobby uses to bludgeon into silence anyone in America who questions relations with Israel and its expansionist policies." The publication of Peck's piece is certainly not the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's finest hour.
The Peck piece prompts a curious observation from David Bernstein, a law professor who blogs for the Volokh conspiracy:
It's more than a bit odd for a libertarian outfit like the Independent Institute to promote articles claiming that just because a certain perspective has found only a small popular audience, that the holders of that perspective, who have been subject to no state or private force, have been prevented from promoting their views. And it's especially odd when those views are expressed all the time.
It seems to us Bernstein has an incomplete picture of libertarians. He probably thinks of them as cute little nerds who have basically sound (if somewhat extreme) ideas about economics along with various eccentric enthusiasms: private toll roads, pornography, drugs, head-freezing. This is the libertarian world of Reason magazine. (Disclosure: This columnist was an intern for Reason nearly two decades ago.)
But libertarianism is an ideology. Ideology can lead to fanaticism, and fanaticism to hatred. Check out the Independent Institute's Web site (please note: not to be confused with the Independence Institute) or, even worse, Antiwar.com (sorry, we're not linking), and you'll find far libertarianism to be pretty much indistinguishable from the far left and the far right.
A
River in Cambridge
"One day after a flyer decrying 'the Jewish-Zionist hold on US political
life' appeared outside some undergraduate dorms, a California-based activist
and Holocaust revisionist confirmed that he wrote the flyer but said that he
had no role in distributing it at Harvard," reports the Harvard Crimson:
The flyer--posted around Eliot House and outside several Yard dorms--was entitled "Iraq: A War for Israel," and reproduced an excerpt of an essay that Mark Weber wrote for the Institute for Historical Review. It claims that "the crucial factor in President Bush's decision to attack was to help Israel."
It appeared alongside a second flyer that encouraged readers to join the organization National Vanguard, which the flyer described as "an intelligent and responsible organization that stands up for the interests of White people."
That second leaflet went on to say, "many churches today play a dangerous role in favor of racial integration, and, especially in certain U.S. sects, in promoting Zionism," and warned that "interracial sex is unsafe."
In a phone interview from Newport Beach, Calif., Weber said of the first flyer: "The leaflet makes some of the same points as are made in the 81 page paper by [Kennedy School Academic Dean M. Stephen] Walt and [University of Chicago professor John J.] Mearsheimer." . . .
Walt was unavailable for comment.
Well, if Walt won't defend himself, let us do it for him: As we noted yesterday, the paper said absolutely nothing about interracial sex.
Demo
Sclerosis
"Why does 'takin' it to the streets' work everywhere but here?" asks
"pepperbear," a poster on the Angry Left playground DemocraticUnderground.com.
Prompting the question is the French government's surrender to protests by adolescents
upset about a new law that would have cut back on some of their privileges.
An amusing and occasionally interesting debate ensues among the DUdes. "Probably we have lots of people here that are lazy, stupid and content with their lot in life," says "movonne." Or, to put it without the smug contempt, Americans have little to be unhappy about.
"TOJ" offers this delightfully delusional observation: "We're the only country with state-run media. We're alot [sic] like Stalin's Russia. That, and the fact that most people won't consider us to be 'oppressed' until American Idol goes off the air."
Of course mass demonstrations have been important in recent U.S. history--in the civil rights movement and also during the anti-Vietnam movement. One reason they no longer are is that the novelty has worn off. Protest culture is so established on the left (though not on the right, except among abortion opponents) that it isn't news when some rent-a-mob takes to the streets to oppose a war or "globalization" or whatever.
Another problem is that protesters tend to be rather unattractive. As DU's MindPilot observes:
The only thing that protests here are good for is giving the CorpMedia some footage and sound bites to use to say "look at all the silly old America-hating pacifist socialist hippies with their signs" while turning the cameras to the other side of the street [to say] "look at these half-dozen REAL MEN who wave flags and support the WAR!"
Similarly, we've seen big demonstrations around the country the past couple of weeks in support of President Bush's pro-immigrant policies. But when the protesters carry Mexican flags and the like, it plays right into the hands of nativists.
Protests are the most effective in places where the freedom to assemble is threatened, nonexistent or new: Poland in 1980-81, Tiananmen Square in 1989, Ukraine and Lebanon in 2005. In America, where our freedoms are secure, a bunch of people carrying signs just isn't that interesting. If the left were smart, it would ditch protests and come up with new ways of getting its message out.
Once
the Violence Died Down, It Was Peaceful
"PORTLAND, Maine --Dozens of people pressing for rights for illegal immigrants
gathered for a peaceful demonstration on Monday just minutes after a counter-protestor
was bloodied by a teenager who hid his face with a bandanna."--Associated
Press, April 10
Homer
Nods
John Kerry* was the second man ever to serve as Michael
Dukakis's lieutenant governor, not the first as we said in an item yesterday
(since corrected). The first was Thomas
P. O'Neill III.
* The second man ever to serve as Michael Dukakis's lieutenant governor.
Miraculously,
No Likely Voters Were Injured
" The Swedish video game entrepreneur involved in the 162-mph crash of
a rare Ferrari has been arrested on suspicion of grand theft, officials said.
. . . Officials have questioned [Stefan] Eriksson's story, noting
that only the driver's side air bag had blood on it and Eriksson had a cut lip.
The front of the red Ferrari crumpled when it slammed into a poll on
the Pacific Coast Highway on Feb. 21."--Associated Press, April 10
Ping-Pyong
Diplomacy
"US Envoy Says Ball in Pyongyang's Court"--headline, Reuters, April 11
What
Would Maggots Do Without Experts?
"Experts Fly In for Maggot Summit"--headline, Manchester (England)
Evening News, April 11
Thanks
for the Tip!--LXIII
"Health Tip: Pay Attention to Your Child's Teeth"--headline, HealthDayNews,
April 11
Bottom Stories of the Day
"Experts Predict Average Dogwood Display"--headline, Kansas City InfoZine, April 10
"No Change to Japan Monetary Policy"--headline, Associated Press, April 11
"1 Death Not Tied to Abortion Pill"--headline, Dallas Morning News, April 11
Are
Men Necessary?
"The [Saudi] government's decision to replace salesmen with Saudi saleswomen
at lingerie shops will be implemented in two phases, according to Abdul Wahid
Al-Humaid, deputy labor minister for planning and development," the Arab
News reports from Jeddah:
Speaking to reporters in Riyadh, he said the sales jobs at lingerie shops along the streets, central markets and major shopping centers would be restricted to Saudi women starting on June 18.
In the second phase set to begin next year, sales jobs at shops of abayas and women's readymade dresses will be restricted to Saudi women, the Saudi Press Agency quoted Al-Humaid as saying. . . .
Al-Humaid was bullish [the sexist!] about Saudi women's abilities and said they are productive and are as good as Saudi men and expatriate workers. "We want to make sure that women job-seekers get opportunities," he said.
Looks like the reverberations are continuing from Maureen Dowd's 2002 visit.
(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Leonora LaMantia, Michael Segal, Thomas Dillon, Gerry McCracken, Mark Schulze, Bill Chisholm, David Jackson, Charley Manning, Michael Morrow, Mark Finkelstein, Phil Hord, Lee Walus, Gary Petersen and Stuart Sibley. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Mitt Romney: Health care for everyone? We've found a way.
- Robert McLean: The Iraqi economy shows signs of strength (from The American Spectator).
- Matthew Kaminski: Practicing a tolerant strain of Islam, the Ottomans clashed with fundamentalists.
