FROM FRIEND AND CO-AUTHOR TO MAD CRITIC

Abstract

DiLorenzo (2024A) is not a “more in sorrow than in hate” criticism of the present author. It is if anything the very opposite: “more in hate than in sorrow.” He charges that I am no longer a libertarian in good standing due to the fact that I champion Israel not in spite of its genocide, war crimes, apartheid, etc., but because of these very rights violations. This author is very strong on making such accusations. He is very weak on backing them up with empirical evidence, with direct quotes from my writing or public speaking. Instead, he contents himself with misinterpreting the actual record insofar as I am concerned. He is guilty of concocting straw men arguments and then deriding them. The present paper is an attempt to refute these unwarranted charges on the part of this old friend of mine. He makes such preposterous claims, and more than just a few others of a similar ilk. He does so in order to buttress his charge that I am no longer a libertarian, at least not with regard to important, or “macro-libertarian” issues.