The following was forwarded to me; evidently it's being sent to the adjunct fellows of the Mises Institute. Although it is definitely right, I'm sorry that it does not delve into subjects I consider of more lasting importance to the libertarian community as a whole: Paul's pseudo-federalism, his Doughface attachment to secession, and so forth. In any case, here it is:
Open Letter to Mises Institute Adjunct Faculty
Published at http://misesadjunct.blogspot.com/
I was disappointed to see that you are an adjunct faculty member at Lew Rockwell's Mises Institute.
No one can gainsay Ludwig von Mises' contributions to social science. He was, perhaps, the most important economist of the 20th century, a man whose contributions have been undervalued and even neglected by the mainstream profession. It is important that his work and insights into human behavior are not lost to history.
Indeed, it's fitting that an institution exists to honor Mises and educate new generations of economists about his work.
Unfortunately, that institution is presided over by Lew Rockwell, which brings me to the reason for my email:
You may have been following news that in the 1980s and 90s Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul put his name to a series of newsletters. Those newsletters were unearthed last week by The New Republic in a detailed article available here. Whatever The New Republic's deficiencies as a publication, in this instance it appears to have given an accurate depiction of the newsletters' contents. In fact, copies of some of the newsletter have been reproduced here. I've reproduced some of the excerpts at the end of this email.
Ron Paul insists that the newsletters were written by others whom he refuses to name. Reports suggest that an aide who remains close to Paul is responsible for at least some of the comments about blacks and gays in the newsletters. Rumors on the internet suggest that that man is Lew Rockwell. Indeed, Ron Paul's former congressional chief of staff has called upon Rockwell to admit responsibility for the bigoted comments.
I make no claim to know whether Rockwell, a former chief of staff to and close associate of Ron Paul, is responsible for the content. And were this the first time Rockwell's name was linked to vile material, I would not take the time to write you.
But Rockwell has a trafficked in code words and racialist rhetoric in the past. In 1991, at the same time Ron Paul's newsletters were in print, Rockwell, in his capacity as president of the Mises Institute, wrote a letter to the L.A. Times defending the beating of Rodney King suggesting that "Liberals talk about banning guns. As a libertarian, I can't agree. I am, however, beginning to wonder about video cameras."
Anyone who had the chance to read The Rockwell Rothbard Report of the late 80s and early 90s would've read similar wink-wink rhetoric about blacks and other groups.
Others who have written for Lew Rockwell's website or spoken at Lew Rockwell's Mises Institute have dispensed with the winking. There's the white nationalist Sam Francis -- who spent years as editor of the Informer, the publication of the Council of Concerned Citizens, the middle class' answer to the KKK.
There's Joseph Sobran, another writer who has appeared on lewrockwell.com and spoken at the Mises Institute, who has written: "Most gentiles respect Jews for their intelligence and ability, but they have also come to take certain kinds of Jewish misbehavior for granted. Israeli racial supremacism is assumed as inseparable from "Israel's right to exist"; loose Jewish charges of anti-Semitism, especially against Christians, are likewise so predictable as to cause little surprise or outrage. In public life, at least, the Tribe has embraced this baneful form of "minority" status and the implicit contempt that goes with giving up hope of normal civility. As with other "minorities," the Christian habit with the Tribe is simply to pretend not to notice obvious and distressing things. This, we assume, is just their nature; they aren't going to change; maybe they can't help being this way. "
There's Jared Taylor, another writer who has sometimes made an appearance on lewrockwell.com, who is publisher/editor of the white nationalist periodical American Renaissance:
I could go on – the snide remarks on Rockwell's website lewrockwell.com about Rosa Parks upon her passing, for instance, or the reports of shameful and vile public and private comments at various Mises Institute conference – but I think you get the point.
I understand that no individual fully subscribes to the views expressed by any organization. That's the nature of institutions. I understand that you may fully agree with everything written above, or none of it. I understand that you may have, in fact, spoken just once at the Mises Institute and thereby earned the designation "adjunct faculty".
Indeed, you may have been unaware until now of who else has been associated with the Mises Institute and Lew Rockwell and what else they have been writing. Having been informed, you may not mind much what has been written or who has written it.
I do hope you will reflect upon the kind of people with whom Lew Rockwell and the Mises Institute have brought you in connection. I've posted this open letter at http://misesadjunct.blogspot.com in the hopes of shining some sunlight on the people who have been associated with Lew Rockwell and/or the Mises Institute.
Sunlight is, after all, a pretty good disinfectant.
I know this at least. Ludwig von Mises was a champion of individual liberty, and a man who deserved a lot better than having Lew Rockwell sully his good name these past 25 years.
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Excerpts from Ron Paul's various newsletters:
"A Special Issue on Racial Terrorism" analyzed the Los Angeles riots of 1992: "Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks three days after rioting began. ... What if the checks had never arrived? No doubt the blacks would have fully privatized the welfare state through continued looting. But they were paid off and the violence subsided."
"The Duke's Victory" in 1990 hailed former Klansman David Duke's near victory in the Louisiana senatorial race for "scaring the blazes out of the Establishment."
An October 1990 edition of the Political Report ridiculed black activists, led by Al Sharpton, for demonstrating at the Statue of Liberty in favor of renaming New York City after Martin Luther King. The newsletter suggests that "Welfaria," "Zooville," "Rapetown," "Dirtburg," and "Lazyopolis" would be better alternatives--and says, "Next time, hold that demonstration at a food stamp bureau or a crack house."
In the course of defending homophobic comments by Andy Rooney of CBS, a 1990 newsletter noted that a reporter for a gay magazine "certainly had an axe to grind, and that's not easy with a limp wrist."
The June 1990 issue of the Political Report said: "I miss the closet. Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities."
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