Lawrence Ludlow's Columns

Notes on Democracy: Mencken Vents His Spleen for His Era and Ours

Recommended  "Read onward as Mencken’s delightful microscope tears into the presidencies of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin Roosevelt with relish—exposing them and their adoring constituencies for what they are. If Machiavelli took off our blinders and exposed the rancid underbelly of tyrants in The Prince, Mencken did the same for democracy in this gem of a book."  Column by Lawrence Ludlow.

San Diego Plays 'Sophie's Choice' for Fascists

Column by Lawrence Ludlow.  

Postmortem on the Marketing of Ron Paul (Part 2)

"Ron Paul’s campaign was borne aloft in a powerful back-draft of statist debacles—the twin wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and a totalitarian crackdown at home. The 72-year-old congressman from Texas was like the little boy in 'The Emperor’s New Clothes'..., pointing out the obvious."  Column by Lawrence Ludlow. 

Postmortem on the Marketing of Ron Paul (Part 1)

"Early last summer (2007), I began to have concerns about the Ron Paul campaign. I already knew Ron Paul was not a consistent advocate of liberty, but I also knew he was the best thing the duopoly parties were going to offer up to the American booboisie. What triggered my concern was the nearly messianic tone of some libertarian websites."  Column by Lawrence Ludlow. 

Johann Gutenberg: Genuine Inventor and Benefactor of Mankind

"In contrast to the sensitivity of these early printers to the preferences of their customers, the 'products' and 'services' of government agencies are usually provided in abysmal fashion or are forced upon the public under threat of a penalty. Next time you are compelled to 'contribute' to any state bureaucracy, remember the early printers and ruminate on what has been lost."  Column by Lawrence Ludlow.

NASA, the Aerospace Welfare Queen

"Instead of perpetuating its gold-plated make-work projects and revering its state-sponsored 'official heroes,' we should recognize NASA for what it is—a resuscitated Roman coliseum that stages useless spectacles that hypnotize taxpayers while bleeding them dry."  Column by Lawrence Ludlow.

Scapegoating and the Anti-Immigrant Hysteria

MUST READ  "...Americans, like most people, would rather not look too closely at their unattractive traits. We like to pretend that we are self-sufficient, honest people. But our desire to rely upon and preserve the welfare state reveals the truth about who we really are. Instead of facing up to the theft and self-deception that surround our support of the welfare state in its various manifestations, we simply project our traits onto people who seem different because they are poor and desperate and have nowhere else to go to make a better life. Furthermore, when we accuse these immigrants of 'breaking our laws' to come here, perhaps we should remember that the kind of laws they are breaking are the kind that were firmly in place in the Soviet Union before it fell – laws against making a profit, earning a good living, and creating one’s own destiny. In other words: laws against freedom."  Column by new Root Striker Lawrence Ludlow.