Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

Kevin Roberts is most definitely a conservative, not a libertarian. But he is the kind of conservative a libertarian can — and should — respect. Here, a speech he gave at the recent Moms for Liberty national summit. This speech is important because it puts our modern struggles into a historical perspective, going back from Philadelphia to London to Rome to Athens and to Jerusalem. Roberts is a historian by training, and an educator. I got to know him a bit when he was president of Wyoming Catholic College, Wyoming’s other four year institution. It’s the only school I know of where the students are allowed guns but not mobile phones.

In this issue, L. Neil Smith discusses, among other films, the 1939 film version of Gone With the Wind. He fesses up to never having read the Margaret Mitchell novel from which the movie was made. I read it recently. Neil writes of the movie, “We never see northerners descend on the south like the Nazi hordes they presaged.” Let me tell you that the book goes into the destruction of Atlanta in far more detail than the movie could possibly, both the wartime destruction (compounded by the stupidity of the Southern army) and the Shelob-esque sucking dry of the post-bellum occupation.

I found a lot of the modern criticisms of the book to be tedious, wrong, or ignorant. Meanwhile among its virtues it shows an almost stereotypical southern belle plantation owner’s daughter blossom from an utter useless wimp to an effective wartime and post-war entrepreneur, almost a southern post-bellum Dagney Taggart. Like Dagney, she has her John Galt, whom she alternately loves and hates. It shows slaves who are good at what they do, and proud of it. It shatters quite a few icons in which the modern left would have us believe. Suffice to say that the book, while it has its flaws, is far better than what the modern deprecations would have you believe.

Speaking of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and stupidity, Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the “Stupidity” That Led to Hitler’s Third Reich, from the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE).

In This Issue

L. Neil Smith on the 1939 film Gone With the Wind.

L. Reichard White brings his series on how democracy is destroying the world to a conclusion with a discussion of how democracies rob not only their current populations, but future generations as well.

If you think that there’s anything new about the U.S. government colluding with the media of the day (twitter, facebook, the New York Times, et al., think again. John Kennedy explodes that notion.

Events

On August 16 – 19, 2023 Liberty International will host the 37th edition of the annual Liberty International World Conference in Madrid, Spain. This year’s main theme is “Prosperity and Longevity Through Liberty” and will encompass discussions on the past, present, and future challenges faced by the freedom movement and its evolution over time.

This year’s conference will reunite 200+ attendees and 10+ pro-liberty organizations from all around the world in the heart of Madrid at Ateneo de Madrid. The conference´s agenda will include keynote sessions, panel discussions, debates, film screenings and other entertaining activities. In addition, we will have two days of cultural tours around Madrid!

Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity: Which Way America…? September 2, 2023, Hilton Washington Dulles Airport 13869 Park Center Road Herndon, VA 20171.

The World Science Fiction Society will meet at its annual shindig, Worldcon, October 18-22, in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. And apparently the Prometheus Society isn’t going.

Your event here? Let your editor know!

Links! Have we got Links!

We need more of this: Major benefactor pulls $400,000 annual donation from ASU, cites ‘left-wing hostility and activism’.

Here’s another possibility: The Nuclear Option: States Could Take Over College Admissions However, governments aren’t all that good as protectors of liberties, either.

Are Authorities Using the Internet to Sap Our Instinct for Freedom?

50 Tips From The Great Depression- The Great Depression Was One Of The Most Traumatic Events In American History

With Parent and Teacher Groups at Odds, School Choice May Be the Winner Good news on the education front from the irrepressible J. D. Tuccille.

“These days, that invisible hand seems to be giving a middle finger to corporate censorship and social agendas.” “Try That in a Small Town”: CMT’s Tone Deaf Censorship of Jason Aldean Cannot Stand, says Jonathan Turley.

A Directory to Censored Content “This website collects and catalogs online voices, with links to their platforms, that have been deplatformed, demonetized, shadowbanned, or otherwise suppressed. We may or may not share their opinions, but we firmly support their right to be heard. Use the form on our Contact Us page to send suggestions, comments, additions and corrections.”

It’s Time To Acknowledge America’s Education Crisis It’s past time to do so.

America’s pop-culture armageddon I sure hope so! It couldn’t happen to a nice bunch of idiots.