Walter Block On His Support for Rand Paul

The following email exchange took place between Dr. Walter Block and a correspondent.

Dear Dr. Block,
>
> I have read several of your pro Rand Paul articles on TargetLiberty and I
> just listened to your debate with Scott Horton. I must say I am kind of
> confused about what you even mean when you say Libertarians should
> "support" Rand.
> I am in full agreement with you that Rand is by far the least bad active
> politician who has even a small chance of becoming president.
> If a fairy apears in front of me one day and lets me pick the Republican
> nominee I would pick Rand. But there is no fairy. There are costs
> associated with a presidential campaign.
> In my view, it would be nice if could define what you mean by "supporting"
> Rand.
>
> Does wishing him good luck count as "support" or do you mean doing
> something actively to increase his chances of becoming president or at
> least helping him to stay in the race longer?
>
> I assume, that most people think of donating money, volunteering their
> time and energy to Senator Paul or at least voting for him when they hear
> you say they should support Rand.
> Of course Rand becoming President would be a net positive over Hillary or
> Jeb or anyone else who´s got a chance, but to conclude because of that fact
> that it is a strategically wise decision for Libertarians to (actively)
> support Rand is erroneous. One would have to ignore opportunity costs.
>
> At the beginning of your debate you told that joke of the economist who
> was asked how his wife was doing and he replied "compared to what".
> That is a great point.
> However, you do NOT have the choice between Rand Paul or Hillary. There is
> no fairy who will let you make that decision.
> The choice you do have is between sending money to the Rand Paul campaign
> compared to sending money to the independent Institute, the Mises Institut,
> Antiwar.com or the tenth amendment center .... . Volunteering your time to
> Rand Paul or to one of the just mentioned Institutes. Resources and time or
> scarce.
> If I send $50 to Rand Paul he might buy a few Rand Paul bumper stickers
> with it to give away.
> If I buy 3 copies of Henry Hazlitt´s "economics in one lesson" or
> Bastiat´s "the law"and give them to friends there is a non-tivial chance
> that it will change this persons political ideology forever (it worked with
> me), I doubt Rand will find a better way to spent $50.
> If I dontate 1h of my time to Rand there will be little benefit. If I work
> for 1h and donate the money to the mises institute Jeff Deist and Lew
> Rockwell will use every penny wisely.
>
> I hope that you will adress opportunity costs in your next Rand article
> (if there will be one) and be more clear on what you mean by "supporting
> Rand" .
>
> Yours sincerely,
>
>
> PS: I learned English by watching "south park" so if you did not

> understand what i meant I blame the public school system and Eric Cartman.

-----

Dr Block responds

 Dear :
>
> By support I meant anything from keeping a good thought for, or rooting
> for, up to and including volunteering, giving $ to, etc.
>
> You make an excellent point about alternative costs. But I wasn't really
> addressing that issue in that debate against Scott Horton. Rather, I was
> intending to refute libertarians who say anything from we should ignore
> Rand to we should oppose him. Personally, I do all those sorts of things
> you mention, and, also, give a little money to Rand.
>
> Your English is excellent. Cartman is my favorite cartoon character.
>
> I'm gonna blog this, but, I'll keep your name anonymous.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Walter
>
> Walter E. Block, Ph.D.
> Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair and Professor of Economics
> Joseph A. Butt, S.J. College of Business
> Loyola University New Orleans
 wblock@loyno.edu