Betrayal of the American Right - Ludwig von Mises Institute

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Origins of the Old Right II: The Tory Anarchism of Mencken and Nock 15 extortions of government is always ten times as great as the number of government officials condemned for oppressing the taxpayers to their own gain. Government, today, has grown too strong to be safe. There are no longer any citizens in the world; there are only subjects. They work day in and day out for their masters; they are bound to die for their masters at call. . . . On some bright tomorrow, a geological epoch or two hence, they will come to the end of their endurance. 5 In letters to his friends, Mencken reiterated his emphasis on individual liberty. At one time he wrote that he believed in absolute human liberty “up to the limit of the unbearable, and even beyond.” To his old friend Hamilton Owens he declared, I believe in only one thing and that thing is human liberty. If ever a man is to achieve anything like dignity, it can happen only if superior men are given absolute freedom to think what they want to think and say what they want to say . . . [and] the superior man can be sure of freedom only if it is given to all men. 6 And in a privately written “Addendum on Aims,” Mencken declared that I am an extreme libertarian, and believe in absolute free speech. . . . I am against jailing men for their opinions, or, for that matter, for anything else. 7 Part of Mencken’s antipathy to reform stemmed from his oftreiterated belief that “all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.” Mencken stressed this theme in the noble and moving peroration to his Credo, written for a “What I Believe” series in a leading magazine: 5 From the American Mercury, February 1925. Mencken, Chrestomathy, pp. 146–48. 6 Guy Forgue, ed., Letters of H.L. Mencken (New York: Knopf, 1961), pp. xiii, 189. 7 Ibid.
16 The Betrayal of the American Right I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war upon liberty, and that the democratic form is as bad as any of the other forms. . . . I believe in complete freedom of thought and speech— alike for the humblest man and the mightiest, and in the utmost freedom of conduct that is consistent with living in organized society. I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run. I believe in the reality of progress. I— But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than to be ignorant. 8 Insofar as he was interested in economic matters, Mencken, as a corollary to his libertarian views, was a staunch believer in capitalism. He praised Sir Ernest Benn’s paean to a free-market economy, and declared that to capitalism “we owe . . . almost everything that passes under the general name of civilization today.” He agreed with Benn that “nothing government does is ever done as cheaply and efficiently as the same thing might be done by private enterprise.” 9 But, in keeping with his individualism and libertarianism, Mencken’s devotion to capitalism was to the free market, and not to the monopoly statism that he saw ruling America in the 1920s. Hence he was as willing as any socialist to point the finger at the responsibility of Big Business for the growth of statism. Thus, in analyzing the 1924 presidential election, Mencken wrote: 8 H.L. Mencken, “What I Believe,” The Forum 84 (September 1930): 139. 9H.L. Mencken, “Babbitt as Philosopher” (review of Henry Ford, Today and Tomorrow, and Ernest J.P. Benn, The Confessions of a Capitalist), The American Mercury 9 (September 1926): 126–27. Also see Mencken, “Capitalism,” Baltimore Evening Sun, January 14, 1935, reprinted in Chrestomathy, p. 294.
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Page 10 and 11: INTRODUCTION It is a cliché of pub
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Page 20 and 21: Introduction xix of foreign interve
Page 22 and 23: PREFACE TO THE 1991 REVISION The ma
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10 THE POSTWAR RENAISSANCE IV: SWAN
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The Postwar Renaissance IV: Swanson
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11 DECLINE OF THE OLD RIGHT After t
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Decline of the Old Right 129 keepin
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Decline of the Old Right 131 bad na
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Decline of the Old Right 133 our pr
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Decline of the Old Right 135 was on
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Decline of the Old Right 137 traged
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Decline of the Old Right 139 exerci
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Decline of the Old Right 141 It is
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Decline of the Old Right 143 While
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Decline of the Old Right 145 Even L
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12 NATIONAL REVIEW AND THE TRIUMPH
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National Review and the Triumph of
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13 THE EARLY 1960S: FROM RIGHT TO L
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The Early 1960s: From Right to Left
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14 THE LATER 1960S: THE NEW LEFT Fo
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The Later 1960s: The New Left 193 v
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The Later 1960s: The New Left 197 T
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The Later 1960s: The New Left 203 B
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The Later 1960s: The New Left 205 m
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Articles “‘SDS’: The New Turn
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Bibliography 209 Morgenstern, Georg
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Bibliography 211 Goldwater, Barry M
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Bibliography 213 Spooner, Lysander.
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Bibliography 215 ——. Students o
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A Mencken Chrestomathy (Mencken), 1
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Index 219 class warfare, 20 classes
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Index 221 foundations attacked for
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Index 223 Kent School, 80 Kephart,
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Index 225 Nation, 5, 10, 39, 88, 93
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Index 227 Plan or No Plan (Wootton)
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Index 229 Socialist Party Wisconsin
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Index 231 World War II nadir of Old
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Betrayal of the American Right - Ludwig von Mises Institute

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