I Chose Liberty - Ludwig von Mises Institute

Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard 179
wrote a largely Rothbardian platform, Otto designed the organization, and the result was
Libertas, still a vibrant debate forum, with several hundred members and a journal.
Meanwhile, I had entered university as a student of political science. University life
was initially a disappointment. When I arrived for my first classes, I had read all the Austrian
economics I could get my hands on, a lot of classical-liberal stuff and a little public-choice
theory. This was my life, but obviously not a life shared by the university. The political
science department at the University of Copenhagen at the time was extremely left-wing.
It still is, and—in all fairness—it was not as left-wing as it had been in the 1970s, but it is
not unfair to say that most students and many professors alike were slightly to the left of
Pol Pot. However, what was unbearable was not that my fellow students or teachers were
offended by my views (which I actually, for once, did not parade too much). It was much
worse: they just had no idea about what I was saying. No clue. I could tell them the difference
between praxeology and thymology, and they would go on about the differences
between Poluantzas, Offe, and Balibar. I could argue the differences between the conception
of rights in the works of Rand, Rothbard, and Nozick, and they would answer by
discussing the characteristics of late-capitalism and the relative autonomy of the state. What
planet were they living on?!?!?
Rothbard’s writings and ideas had made a big impact on a small group in far-away
Denmark. Alas, the man himself we had never met.
We heard from friends that he now rarely traveled abroad, and we did not have the
guts to contact him directly. At some point some of us in Libertas discussed how we should
use $10,000 that we had accumulated from various sources, and Otto and I fantasized
about spending all the money on a round-trip ticket and a honorarium for Rothbard, and
the rest on renting a seaside cottage and buying food and then just have him there for a few
weeks, quizzing him from one day to the next. Is natural law the best foundation of selfownership?
How do states arise? What would a libertarian do given the choice between two
alternatives which both go in the right direction on some issues, but in the wrong direction
on others? Does Austrian economics presume that actors maximize utility or not? Does
Austrian economic analysis not presuppose that actors are presumed to exercise self-ownership?
etc., etc., etc. Unfortunately—for us at least—nothing ever came of the plan.
My first (almost) personal encounter with Rothbard came in a hotel jacuzzi in Stockholm
in 1986. Well, no, not quite Murray himself, but Walter Block, who was there as a speaker at
the Libertarian International Convention. Over the bubbles, Walter spent hours trying to
answer all of Otto’s and my questions as to, “What does Rothbard think about abortion?”
“Are there two and only two axioms in the libertarian political philosophy?” “If so, how can
Rothbard . . . ?” While Otto was an advanced economics student, I was a freshman, barely
out of high school, but Walter was exceedingly helpful and encouraging—and entertaining.
My interests were now gradually shifting away from the mostly political side of libertarianism
to the more philosophical. Having also met Leonard P. Liggio in Stockholm in 1986,
I went to the U.S. to attend the 1987 Institute for Humane Studies “Liberty and Society
Summer Seminar” at Marymount. In addition to Leonard, I also met there some truly great
people like Walter Grinder, Ralph Raico, Sheldon Richman, Randy Barnett, George H.
Smith, Tom Palmer, and Lawrence H. White. And while Rothbard was not on the program—in