Do you want something to cheer about? Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom is the number one best-seller at Amazon.com right now:
It gets better. The Federalist Papers is at number fourteen.
I think a lot of people are annoyed that the free country they still remember clearly has somehow vanished right from under their noses. It’s very inspiring to see them searching for it so assiduously. My read is that this is very different from 1994…
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Jim Klein says:
Not to dampen anything optimistic these days, but it may be a silver lining in a cloud. Glenn Beck has been heavily pushing Hayek’s book lately, and I’m guessin’ that’s a big factor in the current sales.
I keep trying to tell folks…as much as they’ve liked communism, they’re simply gonna love fascism. I mean, talk about history repeating itself; just ask Kitty Werthmann.
Don’t get me wrong…Beck’s a remarkable fountain of savory truth, but he’s awfully interested in cooking it in a kettle of faith and there’s no way to stop the poison from seeping in. Knowing the facts doesn’t help much if one doesn’t acknowledge the existence of facts. There’s no way to tell yet, but the enemy of an enemy might also just be another enemy!
Of course, that’s the sin of our time…those who would otherwise be a friend, are convinced that they ought to be an enemy. The part you understand is that by being driven by fear, what they believe to be self-protection is anything but.
June 13, 2010 — 10:21 pm
Greg Swann says:
The story of the Nazarene is the story of Socrates with a superfluous third act tacked on. But it is the story of Socrates itself that is the story of the West: Doing the right thing, regardless of the cost, is what it means to be a fully-human being. That’s the summary of every story we remember because it is the story that defines our ideas of a story — and our notions of the proper structure and functioning of the universe. If we entertain the idea that we might have to endure Future #3, SHTF, I think I might get more rhetorical traction with Christians than with other kinds of agenda-driven tyrants. But: Although I don’t love The Road to Serfdom as an intro to libertarian lit, I can’t see anything bad in a lot of new people being exposed to the underlying philosophy driving the world around them.
I know what you’re saying, Jim, and I agree with you. But, at the same time, this is all truly unprecedented. None of this would be happening if individual people were not themselves concerned enough to act — to take up intellectual armaments that had been idled for years, for many of them. I’m eager to see what comes of this.
I will concede that mass conversions don’t have a happy history. But to get to where you and I want to be, there has to be a complete reversal of philosophical direction in the minds of individuals. Doesn’t have to be all of them, but the tide of history will not be turned by rhetoric alone. We are doomed, at some point if not immediately, for the simple reason that that is the course set by the prevailing philosophy of our culture.
That has to change. I hope my brothermen are not the kind to become brownshirts, but I like the idea of a ragtag militia of the mind. That’s where we have to end up, if not now then eventually. Beck, Palin and the Tea Partiers may not be all I could hope for, and they may be a Nazified dead-end. But we’re headed for the deathcamps in due course, anyway, unless we change our trajectory. At a minimum, a rear guard buys time in the short run, and I can hope for the best in the long run.
The world runs by itself, but this is what anyone reading this can do to shape the future: Meme liberty. If Glenn Beck matters at all to us, he’s the Carrie Nation of Djinn bottles: He’s letting a lot of decent people know they’ve been hoodwinked. If they’re reading Hayek, they’re ready for more, and there is plenty more and better out there — including much better Hayek. If we befriend the ones who want to know more, we will increase our numbers tenfold or more. That’s beyond unprecedented.
I’m not a Pollyanna, and Jim knows this better than anyone. But, for once in our lifetimes, adults are taking the time to take our ideas seriously. Diluted, yes. Dysformed, yes. But the more you think about lies, the less power contradictions can have over you. When grown-ups think, worlds change. If I’m wrong, I expect I’ll pay for it. But for now, I’m happy to bet on the Tea Party — not just the only game in town, the only game where I’ve ever even been three rows back from having a seat at the table.
June 13, 2010 — 11:56 pm
Mike says:
I’m not too excited over this since, I suspect, most of the people buying this book are Glenn Beck fans. They aren’t against big government, they are only against democratic big government like health care reform. When it comes to republican big government like regime change in Iraq, they have no problem with it.
I will get excited if and when libertarians get elected to office, or when there begins to be talk of repealing the 17th amendment. IMO, the 17th amendment is the single biggest reason why the federal government has grown so big. You can’t expect our current senate (which works for the federal government) to reduce the size and influence of the federal government.
June 14, 2010 — 8:12 am
Jim Klein says:
“I can’t see anything bad in a lot of new people being exposed to the underlying philosophy driving the world around them.”
Oh yeah, that lining is all silver, I agree. You have to have thoughts before you can have actions. I’m a big supporter of good thoughts!
You know my problem—I treat all factual thoughts as better than false ones. It turns out, as you also know, that the state of the world is not the causative factor in our own happiness or well-being. Epicurus had a ton to say about that, and these days there are people like Claire Wolfe and the whole “get-away” crowd. They’re all right (true) about these matters, and these are the folks who will attain the goal…at least the ones who understand the actual causative force, your “ego-adoration.”
I like to say, “I see nothing but individuals out there,” and I’m very firmly of the opinion that each and every single individual who opts for
identification over fantasy (which is to say, the reality of the glory of human life over living as an ant) is a /very/ powerful force for the good.
I can do what I will to create a great life for myself, and I can understand how this is all up to me…the existence of nutcases or Gestapo down the road doesn’t preclude this, as long as I can keep them away from me. Hell, as a guy who knows he has nothing but his wits, I can even enjoy the challenge in a morbid sort of way.
Maybe I’ll just leave it at that without bothering to point out the elephant in the room. I honestly don’t think most people see it, or quite how ugly it is, but I reckon my words can’t open their eyes. It’s just that sometimes I get overwhelmed with the knowledge that in situations like this, the eyes usually open about one second before the last breath.
I guess all I’m saying is that I despise waste, and I can’t think of a greater waste than a single human life gone, before it existed. But you know all that, and this isn’t the place for that anyway. This place is about creation and I’m nearly tearing my hair out seeing the amount of creation the people here have to add, knowing that about 1% of it will be allowed to manifest.
OTOH 1% of what we’re talking about, might be enough!
June 14, 2010 — 9:49 am