Several letters have come to me in response to this essay on LRC:
Block, Walter E. 2020. “The Libertarian Case for Bernie.” April 16;
Here are a few of them, along with my responses.
Letter 1
—–Original Message—–
From: John McClain
Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2020 9:19 AM
To: wblock <[email protected]>
Subject: The case for Bernie
Dear Mr. Block,
I’ve advocated against Bernie for years, solely because I am anti-communist, to the core, have been since arriving “stateside”, a “navy brat” having been four years between Barcelona, and Naples.
I chose metallurgy for my life’s work, it prevented me from ever being fooled by “monopoly money”, I’ve fought government over paper money, since my arrival back in America, and fought almost every presidential candidate in my life.
I served in the Marines, two decades, totally against the wars we entered into, staying in, solely to be “the voice of reason, among so many shrill voices of war”, having been sent to wars I wasn’t even allowed to know where I was, having been lied about why we entered Beirut, what Jimmy Carter did, and the complete lie about Iran, in every way.
It is pleasing to hear from one who knows Bernie, personally, I can easily relate, having run a few hundred thousand miles in my life, never the fastest, always ready to run further, always choosing a faster running partner, to train with.
You are absolutely right, in every facet of your essay, I wouldn’t have voted to allow HRC go to minimum security prison, much less further elective office, she has been criminal, since she still was in college, and as a “Libertarian”, I voted against HRC, not for anyone.
I have far greater respect for Bernie, than ever before, because you filled him out as a person, you showed his personal side, along with his actual, professional consistency, something I can hate, but admire the principle of the man choosing such. I can’t help but believe, if he had been elected, we would’ve experienced much the same, except he would have fought “deep state” differently than Mr. Trump, and whether more or less effectively, is only a matter of opinion.
Many Trump supporters suggest “he’s fought all the way”, and while he has fought many things, he’s not been consistent, but I don’t know all the facts. I am enjoying his coming forth and nailing Fauci and his side-kick, for their deliberate lies, and supporting the fact, many doctors have used common sense, and changed the paradigm, while the media has blasted them, as if they came straight from hell, to kill us, while the truth is more the reverse.
We, The People, need to move to get Fauci and company indicted for conspiracy, deliberate lying on professional issues, completely violating any Hippocratic oath, and “His oath of Office, to support, defend, the Constitution of the U.S., against all enemies, foreign and domestic”, he being a primary “domestic enemy”, and should be charged as such.
Semper Fidelis,
God Bless you and yours,
John McClain
GySgt, USMC, ret.
Vanceboro, NC
more
Response 1
Dear John:
Thanks for your lovely letter. I’m glad you liked my essay on my old high school chum, Bernie. Yes, he’s a commie. But he’s MY commie!
Best regards,
Walter
Letter 2
From: Richard Gaylord
Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2020 2:13 AM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: The Libertarian Case for Bernie – LewRockwell
a bit too late for this to appear.
note: and if you support Bernie for his isolationist foreign policy view, how do you feel about Trump who agrees with Bernie’s advocacy of advocacy of government (federal or state) intervention in domestic economic activity asc well as foreign affairs?
note: of course, Trump supports government control of everything as long as he is head of government.
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/04/walter-e-block/1293-63-the-libertarian-case-for-bernie/
Response 2:
Dear Richard:
If Donald and Bernie were running for office, I’d vote for the former. Yes, Bernie is more Ron Paulian than is Donald, but Bernie is HORRID on econ, and Donald isn’t all that bad on it (except for tariffs).
I don’t think it appeared too late. First, there are always ideas to explore. This is beneficial, per se. Second, Joe Biden might still not be the Democratic candidate. He’s getting senile, and his relationships with women might yet undo him. If so, Bernie again becomes viable.
Best regards,
Walter
Letter 3
From: Tim McGraw
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2020 11:30 PM
Subject: RE: The Libertarian Case for Bernie: Courage
Hi Walter,
I just read your article about Bernie on the Lew Rockwell site. IMO the most courageous thing Bernie ever did was to take his wife to Yaroslav which is 160 miles northeast of Moscow, for their honeymoon. Of course it was in the summer of 1988. If Bernie was really courageous he would have visited the Chernobyl site which blew up in April of 1986. Communism at its best, no doubt. Or perhaps visited Yaroslav in midwinter. No doubt the Vermont winters would have seemed tropical by comparison.
I took my wife on our honeymoon to western Ireland. It was great. If I’d taken her to Russia, she would have divorced me.
Bernie is indeed a courageous man.
Tim McGraw
Healdsburg, CA
Response 3
Dear Tim:
Yes, I agree. If he were MORE courageous than he is, he would have done that. But, still, he’s pretty courageous as far as politicians go. Who else are we comparing him to?
Best regards,
Walter
Letter 4
From: Melvin Burmaster
Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2020 9:22 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Bernie sanders & non interventionism
The more realistic among us might rue the outcome of bringing home well-trained military as same will merely add to the state security forces policing the domestic scene. After all, Professor Block, to paraphrase a quip from someone, there’s the desire of statists to control someone, anyone, somewhere, at any time, all the time. Kamerad Sanders and friends certainly will not disagree.
Melvin J. Burmaster
Response 4
Dear Melvin:
Well, hopefully, most of the returning military will be de mobilized, so that they can get jobs producing something of actual value.
Best regards,
Walter
Letter 5
From: paul dawson
Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2020 1:12 AM
Subject: unfortunately, the courage of one’s conviction is often misplace
Hitler had the courage of his conviction. The UN a morph of Wilson’s League of Nations. It is now a communist organization, managed by Xi .
BEST,
Paul
Response 5
Dear Paul:
You’re right. Courage of one’s convictions are all well and good if the convictions are sensible, ethical. If they are not, better not to have such courage. But, still it is admirable, even in a negative sort of way. We can admire sharks for their killing ability, on aesthetic grounds. Ditto for Hitler, who was remarkable, albeit, evil.
On the other hand, Bernie did have some good instincts, e.g., in foreign policy. I don’t think it too much of a stretch to call Bernie’s foreign policy Ron Paulianish, and I mean that as a compliment.
Best regards,
Walter
Letter 6
From: Hart, Derek
Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2020 10:50 AM
To: Dr. Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: the case for Bernie – thoughts
Hi Dr. Block,
I read your LRC article today re: rooting for Bernie vs. Biden. I agree he would potentially be better, primarily due to your reason #3, his relatively sane foreign policy positions. And also potentially worse, due to his deep-seated Marxism, your reason #4. You posit that #3 out-weighs #4.
But Bernie doesn’t really care about foreign policy, unless he is forced to. My feeling is that we would see only a minor amount of actual change in position, mission, deployment, etc. under a Sanders administration. His priority is domestic leftism, wealth inequality, free education and health care. Give him 5 minutes to talk, and this is what he talks about.
Contrast this with Tulsi Gabbard, who is almost indistinguishable from Sanders in written policies. Given 5 minutes to talk, she talks about wasteful, counterproductive militarism. Only when forced to talk about domestic leftism, does she talk about all the things we could “afford” to do if we weren’t blowing all our cash (and our creditors’ cash) on blowing up the middle east.
This difference in emphasis is important, I think. Remember candidate Trump also said the right things about ending wars when pressed. But all he ever cared about was immigration and protectionist trade policies. Look where that got us. He turned out terrible on war after all, because he never really cared about it beyond campaign rhetoric.
I suspect Bernie will be similar, if elected. He’ll be too busy eating the rich to risk putting all those poor soldiers out of work.
IMO,
-Derek
Response 6
Dear Derek:
You make an excellent point. Tulsi is REALLY GOOD on foreign policy, and, as you say, doesn’t have to be pushed to talk about it. She was my favorite democratic candidate, Bernie was second.
Best regards,
Walter
3:05 am on April 17, 2020
