Remembering Murray
Burton S. Blumert
Contrary to wide misconception, Murray Rothbard never hated trees or mountains -- he simply believed in keeping such natural intrusions in their place.
They were okay as long as they didn't threaten his safety or comfort. I recall once, when a pal of ours was off climbing a mountain, Murray commented: "Sam could save time and energy by walking around it."
Animals, particularly people's pets, presented a bit more of a problem for Murray. As a guest in somebody's home, his good manners wouldn't allow any expression of displeasure even when the house mongrel thrust its snoot at Murray's crotch.
I think he disliked cats even more, but since so many of his acquaintances fed and housed these germ carriers, he may have mumbled a complaint, but, to my knowledge, Murray never recorded his displeasure on paper.
Which leads to Murray's views on children. Like many who are childless, he had little patience for unruly, noisy, smelly little savages that disrupted civilized adult activity. He was often puzzled that parents with obvious intelligence could allow the "little monsters" to run amuck.
Murray greatly admired how the English upper classes dealt with their children. (As recorded in novels and bad English movies, the nanny would bring them in at an appointed time to visit their father. They always addressing him as "Sir," and after reporting on their activities for the day, were summarily dismissed.)
I think about Murray all the time and my midnight excursions to the fresh LRC page remind me that Lew is Rothbardian #1.
Read something Murray wrote a decade ago. Shake your head in wonderment. Whatever the subject, Murray comes armed with a rapier, while the rest of us blunder along with butter knives.
Except in the realm of machines and technology. In that struggle the best Murray could achieve was stalemate.
I can just see him reacting to the BLOG. He would smile, totally oblivious to the technology and then proceed to crank up his 60-year-old typewriter and, in a first draft, produce the most dazzling material imaginable.
