[ExI] libertarians

[David Lubkin]

Spike wrote:

>Rand had a resurgence of popularity in my circle of friends when I was in
>high school in the late 70s.  I probably would have spent more time in her
>written work had I not been swamped with other urgent responsibilities.
>
>What is WFB's story about her?

 From his 2008 book, Flying High: Remembering Barry Goldwater:

         Mises was the dean of the Austrian school of economics. 
Hitler, whom he fled in
         1934, must have been the only human being who ever 
intimidated Ludwig von Mises.
         He was a mountain of certitudes having to do with the proper 
organization of
         economic life. Ayn Rand, born in St. Petersburg on the eve 
of the Soviet
         Revolution, was herself a center of social discipline, with 
whom one differed
         only at the risk of lifelong excommunication from her 
kingdom of free creatures,
         who lived by her (their) word, in the creation and 
re-creation of life, as it
         emerged in *Atlas Shrugged*.

         The story went that at this little dinner, Rand contradicted 
Mises on some
         doctrinal point, causing the eminent professor to stop 
eating and mobilize his
         scorn and fury on her. Ayn Rand thereupon burst into tears 
and exclaimed,
         "You are treating me like an ignorant little Jewish girl!"

         Mises jumped up from his chair with joy. "That is exactly 
what you are!
         An ignorant little Jewish girl!"

I'm not anti-Rand. But I love Mises to pises.


-- David.