I Chose Liberty - Ludwig von Mises Institute

ix
FOREWORD
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF MY
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL BOOK PROJECT
Some years ago, at the suggestion of Lew Rockwell, I wrote my own short autobiography,
and began asking others in our Austro-libertarian movement to contribute their own stories
to my collection.
Autobiographies are important. Our movement consists of more than merely the ideas
of Austrianism and libertarianism, no matter how important those undoubtedly are. What
more? It is comprised of people, real flesh and blood creatures who extend beyond, far
beyond, the thoughts they hold at any given time. The proportion of words written by us,
about our ideals and about ourselves, is, overwhelmingly in favor of the former. The present
compilation of autobiographies will, in some small way, tend to right this imbalance.
Very few of us will write an entire book-length autobiography about ourselves, nor
have complete biographies written about us. One benefit of the present initiative is that it
serves as a short substitute for that type of publication. This is a relatively costless way for
us to tell the stories of what it was like before we came to our present Austro-libertarian
beliefs, what the process of discovery was, who were the people, and which were the books
that influenced us in this direction, and how have our lives changed as a result of this
political economic odyssey.
As I reach closer and closer to my retirement age, I am more and more concerned that
I and others of my generation pass on the precious baton that has been handed to us by
those who came before. These chapters can serve as an inspiration to the younger people
who only now are beginning to become interested in promoting liberty and economic
rationality. Given that we are all already as busy as we can be adding to the Austro-libertarian
edifice, how better can we do this than by telling the younger generation of the process
through which we arrived at our present states?
This autobiography, all on its lonesome, might be the means of converting some people
to the freedom philosophy. That is, all of our arguments, all of our evidence, might fail,
and yet, our personal stories succeed, in this regard. Why? One possibility is that, like it
or not, Austro-libertarianism comes across to some as “cold.” We are heartless. We are
capitalists pigs. We have cash registers for hearts, and dollar signs on our eyeballs. Another
dozen Atlas Shruggeds, Man, Economy, and States, or Human Actions, for such people, will
avail us nothing. They will only further engender the message that we do not care for the
poor, or downtrodden, or some such idiocy. However, our own personal stories are, well,
personal. When we are not seen as cold-blooded and cold-hearted, there is a chance that
our substantive message will be given a greater, more sympathetic hearing on the part of
such people.