Brad Birzer reviews a new book about major figures in the libertarian tradition. Needless to say, I now want to buy it, but I'm holding back.
I had a drink with one of Birzer's friends a few weeks ago. I think he's probably less libertarian-leaning than Birzer, but definitely a libertarian sympathizer.
I told him that libertarians frustrate me. A summary of my mini-monologue/rant: "They're like the Latin Mass folk. I want to say, 'Look, I agree with most of what you say, but why do you have to be such dicks about it?'"
I then told him I think libertarians (and Latin Mass folk) are left-hemispheric. They're confident in their opinions; don't leave much room for ambiguity, much less paradox; and, at least at the surface, act like they have all the answers and seem ignorant that they (like everyone else) are largely ignorant.
Birzer's friend replied that I seemed to be painting the difference between von Mises and Friedrich Hayek. I nodded, having long ago concluded that there was something fundamentally different between von Mises and Hayek, just as there's something fundamentally different between Ayn Rand and non-Satanists. I was already pretty convinced von Mises was a left hemispheric guy, but I hadn't considered the possibility that Hayek was von Mises with right hemispheric leavening.
Maybe this new book about libertarians will shed some light, but in the meantime, I'm going to dive back into Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty.
