Market Correction

20 November 2006

Editor, The Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071

Dear Editor:

How ironic that Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) renews his call for a draft just days after the death of Milton Friedman ("Amid Uproar Over War, Rangel Renews Call for Draft," Nov. 20). I recommend that Rep. Rangel read Christopher Hitchens's book Letters to a Young Contrarian, in which Hitchens explains how Friedman, along with Alan Greenspan, persuaded the Nixon administration that conscription is (as Friedman accurately described it) "slavery."

Friedman and Greenspan understood, as Hitchens understands, a fact that seems lost on Rep. Rangel: conscription reflects the totalitarian idea that the citizen is the property of the state.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

19 November 2006

Editor, The Washington Post Book World
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071

Dear Editor:

Michael D'Antonio rightly criticizes George W. Bush as being "most comfortable with belief as a substitute for reason" (Letters, Nov. 19). But Mr. D'Antonio mistakenly accuses only conservatives as governing with belief rather than with reason. Alas, nearly all politicians abandon reason for their own peculiar and baseless faiths. Democrats, for example, believe that trade with foreigners is harmful - that poor people's lives can be fundamentally improved by giving them more taxpayer money - that the cost of goods and services can be reduced by price caps - and that people magically become experts in corporate governance simply by winning a political election.

Bizarre beliefs indeed.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

18 November 2006

The Editor, New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036

To the Editor:

It's a tad ironic that Christopher Wanjek sings the praises of "small, local farms" and then lists himself as "an international lecturer" (Letters, Nov. 18).

If buying only locally produced food is beneficial, isn't it also beneficial to buy only locally produced ideas and lectures?

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University