I Chose Liberty - Ludwig von Mises Institute

James T. Bennett 35
Tullock. I was in awe, and El Gordo quickly sensed this. I was convinced that he liked me
because he immediately insulted me “and still never misses an opportunity.” Digression:
My wife is one of Gordon’s greatest admirers. Before the Public Choice Center came to
George Mason, Gordon came up several times from VPI for seminars and stayed in our
home which my wife lovingly furnished with beautiful antiques—many family heirlooms.
As soon as Gordon came in, met my wife, and looked around, he told Sally, Why don’t you
get your husband to buy you some decent furniture? Sally has been his fan ever since.
The end of the 1970s was a rather interesting period in my professional development.
Not only did I eschew mathematical pyrotechnics and hemorrhoidal least squares, but my
move in new directions also got financial support. In 1979 the John M. Olin Foundation
provided a generous grant to initiate the Journal of Labor Research which I have edited ever
since. Olin has also supported much of my research over the years, and in 1992 provided
substantial funding for me to establish the John M. Olin Institute for Employment Practice
and Policy at GMU. The Olin Institute publishes books, conducts symposia, and sponsors
research related to employment issues. If even a few more foundations were as supportive
and committed to free market ideas and institutions as Olin has been over the years, so
much more could be accomplished.
My success at fund raising can be partly attributed to my association with the Heritage
Foundation. I became an Adjunct Scholar in about 1977 or so when Heritage was operating
out of a small building (I heard that it was formerly a veterinarian’s office) on C Street.
Through Heritage, I met other scholars and public policy types, and through these connections,
I became a member of the Philadelphia Society in 1981 and the Mont Pelerin
Society in 1982. Many fascinating people were then and still are members of these two
organizations. Of course, the usual suspects are also active members: Tullock, Buchanan,
Friedman, to name three. My thinking was strongly influenced by a British member of
MPS, Dame Barbara Shenfield, who understood all too well what happens when socialism
takes root and flourishes in a nation.
Another major epiphany occurred when I met Tom DiLorenzo at the Public Choice
Center’s cocktail hour at the annual meeting of the Southern Economic Association in
1981. Tom saw my name tag and told me how much he had enjoyed reading my (then)
recent book, The Political Economy of Federal Government Growth. No convincing was
necessary: DiLorenzo was obviously both astute and brilliant. Trained at the Public Choice
Center then at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Tom and I were in complete
accord in our thinking. We shared a simple, basic premise: Government is rarely the solution
to the nation’s political, social, and economic difficulties; rather, government is far
more likely to be the problem. Intellectually, Tom and I were soul mates from the outset.
Eight books and numerous journal articles followed.
We set what I think must be a record worthy of Guinness (or at least Bass Ale): I never
recall an argument or even a serious disagreement with Tom about our research. I vividly
recall many times that we laughed and the many trips down the hall between our offices
to share yet another Can you believe this idiocy! anecdote. I was always surprised at how
attuned we were to each other’s thinking and writing styles. For each book, we divided the
work up by chapter, and I defy anyone to determine which of us wrote which chapters.