Previously, I defended Prof. Hoppe against R’s scurrilous charge that Hoppe’s views were “repulsive,” and that one of the greatest contributors to our movement, ever, should not even be considered a libertarian: https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/defense-prof-hoppe/

I copied this interchange to my friend Hans, and this was his partial response:

“and please note the very first words of the quote: ‘in a covenant … you would also expel people from a nudist beach if they insist on wearing bathing suits.’”

This is exceedingly important. Yes, Hans is happy to stand by, even to support, normal straight traditional people removing from their midst “the advocates (I would add what Hoppe would surely consider a friendly amendment: “and practitioners”) of alternative, non-family and kin-centered lifestyles such as, for instance, individual hedonism, parasitism, nature-environment worship, homosexuality, or communism will have to be physically removed from society.”

However, for him, turnabout is fair play. On their own property, in their condominium associations, based on their own restrictive covenants, the pinko, commie, hippie weirdos, may also do exactly the same thing to those who are out of step with them. Not only may the straights prevent nudists from undressing on their property, but the nudists may demand that the straights disrobe while on their terrain. No libertarian could have said it any better.

I regard Hans’s mistake as very minor. It is akin to a typographical error, an oversight, a poor word choice. He should not have said that these miscreants, and enemies of liberty should be removed from SOCIETY. In my humble opinion he should written, instead, that the pinko, commies, politically correct snowflakes, etc., should be removed from the premises of the vast majority of traditional (“deplorable”) people. Or, maybe, he should have said something along the lines that they should be removed from TRADITIONAL society.

By the way, in his recent memo to me, he also committed a typo. He wrote “and please not (sic) the very first words.” I changed “not” to “note” without ever thinking about it, of course knowing what he meant: “and please note the very first words of the quote: ‘in a covenant … you would also expel people from a nudist beach if they insist on wearing bathing suits.’” I regard his inaccuracy regarding removed from SOCIETY in much the same manner as I do this recent oversight of his.

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The Best of Walter E. Block