I Chose Liberty - Ludwig von Mises Institute

304 I Chose Liberty: Autobiographies of Contemporary Libertarians
Doherty: What about plans for the future?
Rockwell: These days, we have more than enough work to do in publishing, funding,
and supporting Austrian and libertarian scholarship, both of which are in a boom phase.
People on the left thought that the collapse of socialism would mean that antisocialist
intellectual forces would decline as well. The opposite has happened. At last, it is clear to
anyone who cares about liberty that the real enemy is the ruling regime in government and
academia, and that this ruling regime resides within our own borders.
The Internet has been a tremendous boost to the Austrian School and the classical
liberal perspective. Since the second world war, the biggest hurdle our side has had is in
getting the message out. At last, the net evens the score. Not a day goes by without hosts
of people around the world discovering the world of Misesian-Rothbardian theory for the
first time, just because they run across our website at Mises.org.
We’re also building a Center for Libertarian Studies site at LibertarianStudies.org that
will feature the back issues of the Journal of Libertarian Studies and the RRR, as well as
Murray’s classic Libertarian Forum and Left and Right journals. [Note: the founding of
LewRockwell.com changed this; JLS (now published by the Mises Institute) and Left and
Right are archived at Mises.org; we still hope to scan and upload the Libertarian Forum on
LRC.] Our goal always is to provide the resources that keep people’s attention on the conceptual
fundamentals: liberty and property versus the state and its power.
Right now, we are faced with a historic opportunity. In academia, the old guard no
longer has the same credibility among students. The left has surrendered the mantle of
idealism and radicalism. The Austrian School is perfectly suited to be the new and fresh
alternative. And in public affairs, we need to take advantage of the declining status and
moral legitimacy of the central state to make a major push for libertarian ideas. The revolution
that struck Eastern Europe a decade ago has come home in surprising ways, and we
need to work to encourage these trends and direct them toward a consistent stand for liberty
and property.
Many years ago, Hazlitt gave a speech in which he said it is our moral obligation to
continue the battle no matter what the odds. What he said then is still true today: we are
not threatened with bankruptcy or jail for holding the opinions we do. All we risk is being
called nasty names. Surely that is not too high a price to pay for defending the very foundations
of civilization.
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. is founder and chairman of the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn,
Alabama, and editor of LewRockwell.com.