UPDATED: Who’s telling the truth?
Who’s telling the truth — Lew Rockwell or Eric Dondero? Although I have my differences of opinion, emphasis, style and ideological particulars with Rockwell, my wager would be on him every time.
Libertine warmonger, Bushevik and faux-libertarian Eric Dondero has publicly alleged here and here that Lew Rockwell was the author of some racially-charged material in an old Ron Paul newsletter from back in the early 90’s. I have in my possession a personal email from Lew Rockwell in which he says:
“Brad, another lie from the hate-filled Dondero.”
The Paul campaign has already deflected the larger controversy over this material (as an attempted smear) with the explanation that it was written by a staff member without Paul’s approval. Pending evidence otherwise, I find that explanation from the Paul campaign credible, if only because the remarks seemed very unlike anything I recall ever hearing from him. He has notably denounced racism in the past as a “collectivist mindset”.
However, as a self-identified left libertarian, I would like to point out that political alliances with the right that blur the lines between conservatism and libertarianism are a strategic blunder precisely because they bring with them all of the poisonous, anti-libertarian baggage of the right — such as racism.
Exhibit A: the unspecified staff member who wrote the arguably racist material in question and Dondero himself both managed to find work on Ron Paul’s staff — if we assume they weren’t one and the same person. Dondero was fired. I can only hope that was also the case with the author of the newsletter material, pending better information.
UPDATE: Carol Moore also had some things to say recently about Ron Paul and Eric Dondero.
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[...] Who’s telling the truth? [...]
It is ridiculous to suggest that racism is baggage of the political right.
And if it were, then it would be in bounds to suggest that gulags, nationalization of all private property, radical environmentalism, and class war are baggage of the political left, with which you ally yourself.
We don’t need the right-wingers to furnish extreme-right hatemongers, we already have our own. Hoppe, anyone?
(note: I really like what Hoppe has to say on other topics, I just think he’s ALSO a hatemonger)