Monday, November 7, 2016

Does My Mencken Speech Mean I Am Turning in Favor of Trump?

Dr. Walter Block emails in reference to the speech I delivered at the Mencken Club Conference:
Dear Bob: Your very excellent speech to the Mencken club sounds like you support Trump over Clinton. Have you changed your mind on this? Or, did I misread your speech? 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
My response:
How do you make that connection?
Dr Block's response:
Dear Bob: You were rightish, not leftish. Hillary is lefty, Donald is righty. 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.

My response:
Hi Walter,

I am not left nor right, I am an anti-interventionist. On some issues, Trump is more interventionist, Hillary on others. Come to think of it, there are no issues where Trump isn't interventionist. He might be a little better on healthcare, she might be a little better on trade. But neither recognizes the problem with government power and either one of them could turn into a monster. From a strategic position, I thnk it will be easier to rally the liberty friendly faction of the masses against Hillary than Trump. Thus, from a strategic perspective, not because she is generally better on issues, it will be easier to rally a Freedom Front against her and it makes her a better opponent for us.
RW

4 comments:

  1. I would bet, that there is something I would agree with Stalin on. Perhaps, we both preferred red delicious apples to Granny Smiths.
    Would this make me a proponent of Stalin?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I see your logic, but have these issues:

    (1) I've always hated the "wait till next time" or "if Hillary is elected, people will rally stronger in the next election for a better non-interventionist. The problem is that I don't think the masses will ever like a non-interventionist and further, they don't even exist in politics, except for Ron Paul. So it is better to just pick the interventionist that will do the least damage. I see that as Trump. But I could be wrong, hence I can't strongly say you are wrong.

    (2) Demographics give us no luxury of waiting four years. If Hillary is elected, we get amnesty for all the illegal immigrants and that is the end of any hope for angry white people winning the next election.

    (3) If Hillary is elected, we could have war with Russia and several Supreme Court appointments that destroy the Second Amendment forever.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Hillary is better on trade". No she isn't. She favors managed trade, not free trade, and it just so happens her version of managed trade constitutes support for bad trade deals that provide a *regulatory competitive advantage* to trading partners, while Trump is promising to eliminate that.

    Only by strawmanning Trump's policies could you reach such a conclusion. I imagine that your page views have suffered because of this.

    ReplyDelete