by Benjamin Kepple
On Friday, October 24, David Boaz, spoke at the University of Michigan on "Libertarianism: A Challenge to the Politics of the Past." The event was sponspored by the University of Michigan College Libertarians. Boaz, Executive Vice President of the Cato Institute, a major libertarian thinktank in Washington, D.C. , is the author of the recently released Libertarianism: A Primer. In addition to his work at the Cato Institute, Boaz has been published in many top publications nationwide, and is the author of numerous books. He was gracious enough to meet for an interview after his speech on the evening of the 24th. The Review's Benjamin Kepple had the opportunity to speak with Boaz.
REVIEW: First off, what compelled you to write Libertarianism: A Primer? What made you decide to have that as your focus, as opposed to other issues regarding libertarianism?
BOAZ: I thought for a long time there was no introductory book on libertarianism. But it was really the Publisher's idea to make it a primer rather than a policy manifesto. I thought it would be easier to write a primer than a policy manifesto, but I was wrong. I had to learn a lot about libertarianism that I thought I already knew in order to write about libertarianism from the ground up.
REVIEW: People seem to evolve into libertarianism - it doesn't appear to be an ideology one just starts out with. What are some personal experiences that helped make you a libertarian?
BOAZ: My father was involved in politics and was a conservative, and I startedout that way, and then I read The Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater, which was a very libertarian book, and then I read Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt which taught me everything I needed to know about economics, and then I read Ayn Rand, who appealed to my sense of justice, and at that point I realized I was a libertarian.
REVIEW: Do you think the American people will accept such a radical change? Our Congress is unable to make major changes they promised in government for fear of looking "too extremist," - yet libertarians favor abolishing the IRS and many federal agencies.
BOAZ: I think the American people are ready to abolish the IRS. I don't know whether they are ready to abolish the things taxes pay for. Political change happens gradually, but as William Lloyd Garrison argued about slavery, change will perhaps only happen gradually, but we should argue for immediate change, because that is what is right and just. Nobody has offered the American people a program of radical change and showed them how it would improve their lives. When they rejected Bob Dole, you can hardly say they were rejecting radical change.
REVIEW: Can libertarians and conservatives, especially social conservatives, work together, or are they simply too opposed to each other on certain issues?
BOAZ: Libertarians ought to emphasize the importance of individual rights and moral values, both for achieving a good life and for sustaining a free society. As long as social conservatives believe in moral values but don't insist on trying to impose them by force, there's no necessary opposition. On the other hand, liberals, who believe in peace and civil liberties and freedom of speech and a constitutional society, may very well be more likely allies for libertarians, but I think a Republican who emphasized economics issues and personal responsibility could appeal to both libertarians and social conservatives.
REVIEW: What do you consider to be the greatest threat to the American citizens today?
BOAZ: Well, the Federal Government. Am I supposed to narrow it down?
REVIEW (grinning): Please.
BOAZ: I suppose the greatest threat is believing the Federal Government is Santa Claus and that it can give you everything ... as that great Michigander Gerald Ford said, although I think he got the line from Barry Goldwater, "A government big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take all you have."
REVIEW: Recently, the Congress has demanded a major overhaul of the tax code and the Internal Revenue Service. As a libertarian, what would you like to see done? What do you think will happen given the current makeup of the Congress?
BOAZ: Ideally, I would like to see taxes made as low as possible, and I don't put any more limit on that ... There won't be any major tax relief in this Congress, but I think that in 1999, there will be a real opportunity to move to a flat rate income tax or consumption tax.
REVIEW: Most students on campus are unfamiliar with libertarianism with libertarianism as an idea: many may see it as a branch of conservatism. What makes a libertarian different from a conservative, and what are some tenets of libertarianism as an idea?
BOAZ: Well, the basic idea of libertarianism is that every adult individual has the rightto make the important decisions about his life as long as he doesn't violate every other individual's equal rights, and currently the American Government at every level usurps our right to make our own decisions. In my book, I make the point that libertarianism first emerged in the struggle for religious tolerance, not in economics issues, as people might assume.
REVIEW: What obstacles does the libertarian movement face in the future?
BOAZ: The biggest obstacle to the libertarian movement is that we've achieved 80 percent of what libertarians have always struggled for. We got rid of slavery and the established church, and mercantilism, and monarchy, and we now live in a democratic system based on free enterprise, the rule of law, and constitutional government. In a sense, we're arguing over the details now, and its harder to engender the public with outrage over the excesses of a government that is largely still democratic and capitalist.
REVIEW: Many Americans see the State as being too involved in the lives of Americans -- how can they work to diminish the role of the State?
BOAZ: Most people are busy with their own lives and their own families, and that's especially true of people inclined to libertarian values, but people who want to change the world should become well informed about issues, write Letters to the Editor, get involved in political campaigns and single issue efforts, like school choice and term limits, and should set a good example by taking responsibility in their own lives and not taking favors from government.
REVIEW: Libertarianism is the dominant ideology of choice among users of the Internet. Will the large Libertarian community on the Internet be able to successfully challenge the attempts by government to censor the Internet and tax its commerce?
BOAZ: Eternal Vigilance is the price of liberty, but the Internet community is pretty well organized, and the beauty of the Internet is because of its international nature and the rise of encryption technology, it's going to be very different to tax and regulate the Internet. Software will treat taxtes and regulations as damage, and route around it.
REVIEW: University Students are surrounded by federal and state money, in everything from financial aid to federal subsidies of the University. How would Libertarianism, if implemented in government, change the University system? How would students be affected?
BOAZ: If Libertarianism were fully implemented, education would become the last industry to be turned upside down and restructured. Every business that faces a bottom line has already been revamped. Its the subsidized government monopoly state of education that has protected it from the need to satisfy customers in a free market. I can't predict what education would look like in a free market, but I'm sure it would be very different.
REVIEW: The curriculum offered among many collegiate courses in history and economics may sometimes be, shall we say, selective, in favor of the Left. What are some ways students can self-educate themselves about libertarianism? What would make up a Libertarian Canon?
BOAZ: Well, the best way for students to
educate themselves about libertarianism, (he said modestly) is to
read my two books (Libertarianism: A Primer, and The
Libertarian Reader) I hasten to point out that the majority
of the words in these two books were written by much greater
scholars than myself. The Libertarian Reader contains
selections from John Locke, Adam Smith, Thomas Paine, Thomas
Jefferson, Mary Wollstonecraft, F. A. Hayek, Milton Friedman, Ayn
Rand, and many more. That's a pretty good start on a libertarian
canon. If I were going to list books that would make up a
libertarian canon, I would certainly include:
· The Second Treatise on Government, by John Locke
· The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith
· The Declaration of Independence, by Thomas Jefferson
· The Construction of Liberty, by F. A. Hayek
· Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
· Capitalism and Freedom, by Milton Friedman
· Anarchy, State, and Utopia by Robert Nozick.