Rothbard: the joyful curmudgeon

To fall back on a very old cliché, I’m like a kid in a candy shop. I’ve been paging through old issues of The Libertarian Forum off and on for the past 24 hours. (See yesterday’s post.) Even for someone like me, who was part of the Movement during those Forum years (1969-1984), the experience of skimming through these newsletters (in some cases, for the first time) is staggering. This archive from the Mises Institute is pure gold.

What’s particularly wonderful is that most of these issues feature so prominently the irrepressible humor of Murray Rothbard. When Murray was writing political commentary, or his “Old Curmudgeon” or “Mr. First-Nighter” columns, he was a hoot. Here’s a brief bit from a later issue of Libertarian Forum, dated February 1983:

Four Ways to Insure a Very Short Phone Conversation

I

“Dr. Rothbard?”

“Yes.”

“Dr. Murray Rothbard?”

“Yes.”

“I’m a libertarian from -------. Do you have time for some constructive criticism?”

II

“Dr. Rothbard?”

“Yes.”

“There’s an inner contradiction on page 856 of your Man, Economy, and State, and I quote...”

III

“Dr. Rothbard?”

“Yes.”

“Dr. Murray Rothbard?”

“Yes.”

“We’re calling from this bar in -------. We saw your name on this neat poster. Are you really the ‘greatest living enemy of coercive government’? Hey, that’s great, hey, where do you stand on rent control?”

“I’m against it.”

“You’re against rent control? You must be some kind of nut...”

IV

“Murray Rothbard?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you write that pack of lies about me in your last issue?”