I Was A Libertarian

political memoir

 

I Was a Libertarian

 

Long ago, I was drawn to libertarian thinking because I needed more personal liberty, and I needed more skills for getting and maintaining my personal liberty, and more clout to exercise my freedom of choice.  Then, after a while I drifted away, into other things, and then, when I took a fresh look, I sharply rejected some pieces of libertarian thinking, in particular, right-wing interpretations that were commonplace in the libertarian movement.    

When I was in high school, I read two of Ayn Rand’s heftiest novels and was impressed by her main characters’ strength under pressure, their ability to stand up straight in a stressful situation, and not buckle or crumple or fold, in comparison to how I seemed, in several instances within my family, who meant well, but....  I needed a stronger spine, metaphorically, and I saw that in Ayn Rand’s sturdy characters.  However, in high school, I did not do a deep dive in.    

In high school, (Class of 1966), I liked Ayn Rand, but for my sophomore oral presentation, I picked a book by James Baldwin, and for my senior paper, George Orwell was my choice of topic.  I’m saying I had other competing literary and philosophical interests.  But in college, first in New York state, I travelled several times into the city to hear a lecture by Ayn Rand herself, or one of her colleagues.  Then, when I ended up in California, at a big university, I joined an Ayn Rand study group, and the active California Libertarian Alliance.  I became immersed in the subject of libertarianism, both socially and politically involved. 

There were occasional cracks in my thinking, but I was involved, and enjoyed the experience.  I liked the lively discussions we had in the study group, and I liked venturing out into the larger libertarian movement through the California Libertarian Alliance. In particular, I joined in several programs sponsored by Rampart College, in Santa Ana.  This was not a college in the usual sense.  

The physical base of Rampart College was just a few rooms -- a library, a classroom, some offices.  They offered classes and literature, all with an educational demeanor, but they were actually a propaganda fountain, albeit a sincere one.  There was not the broad curriculum or job preparation generally associated with a college.  The entirety of the curriculum revolved around libertarian philosophy and politics, in a quirky version which was mainly the work of Robert, or Bob LeFevre, who was the central figure there.     

Bob LeFevre was white-haired, a seasoned speaker, and the author of several books.  In the sessions I attended, he lectured on his philosophy which combined free-market economics, advocacy of personal freedom, and personal non-intervention, all with an idiosyncratic spin. 

Bob LeFevre and the handful of other people who ran Rampart College were middle aged or getting old.  They were like an older generation of libertarians, while the classes I took were full of young people.  Other classes, readers of their journal, and donors were older people, in a separate realm.   

At the first class I took, Bob LeFevre told us that they were not against any particular racial or religious group, but rather against certain economic and political behaviors.  I wondered why he was saying this, and not until a decade later did I fully understand what this meant.   

At the first class I took, Bob LeFevre referred to some of his predecessors’ writings, and the libertarian thinkers of the previous generation.  It just so happens that I have or had an unusual memory, and I can tell you exactly who he mentioned by name: Harry Elmer Barnes, Rose Wilder Lane, and Albert Jay Nock.  He spoke of each of them in a complimentary way and interpreted their contributions to libertarian thought. 

Not until a full decade later, after I had already rejected the politics of the libertarians, did I have occasion to examine the writing of these three complimented predecessors.   To my horror, I saw they were all anti-Semites, with Harry Elmer Barnes being a major anti-Semite and a menace.  Barnes had already done damage in the past and was still potentially dangerous.   Harry Elmer Barnes was an early Holocaust Denier, and before that, he was an advocate of mass extermination through lethal gassing.  Barnes had complicity in the concentration camps and gas chambers, and then in the attempted cover-up that became known as Holocaust Denial.  

What seems to be the earliest American Holocaust Denial was written at Dearborn, Michigan, (1944-45), written by Barnes and financed by Henry Ford.  I am the original researcher of this hidden treachery.  It devolved to me, because in my youth I was in proximity to an admirer of Barnes, and I did not know what cans of worms I was witnessing.  Apologies to worms.