EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDITORrnTheodore PappasrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, ]r.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnScott P. RichertrnART DIRECTORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnHarold O.]. Brown, KatherinernDalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rn].0. Tate, Michael Washburn,rnClyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, William Mills,rnJacob Neusner, Momcilo SelicrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford InstituternPUBLICATION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnA publication of The Rockford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn928 North Main Street, Rockford, IL 61103.rnEditorial Phone: (815) 964-5054.rnAderti5ing Phone: (815)964-5813.rnSubscription Deparirrierrt: P.O. Box 800,rnMount Morris, IL 61054. Call 1-800-877-5459.rnU.S.A. Newsstand Distribution by Eastern NewsrnDishibutors. Inc., One Media Wav, 12406 Rt. 250rnMilan. Ohio 4484S-9″05rnCopyright © 1998 by The Rockford InsHtute.rnAll rights reserved.rnChromcles (ISSN 0887-5751 j is publishedrnmonthly for S39.00 (foreign subscriptions add $12rnfor surface delivery, $48 for Air Mail) per year byrnThe Rockford Instihite, 928 North Mam Street,rnRockford, IL 61105-7061. Prefeued periodicalrnpostage paid at Rockford. IL and additifjnal mailingrnoffices. POSTVvSI’ER; Send address changesrnto Chronicles, P.O. BO.K 800, Mount Morris,rnIL 61054.rnThe views expressed in Chronicles are tirernauthors’ alone and do not necessarily reflectrnthe lews of The Rockford Instihite or of itsrndirectors. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot bernreturned unless accompanied by a self-addressedrn.stamped envelope.rnChroniclesrnVol. 22, No. 2 Februar>’ 1998rnPrinted in the United State;, of AmericarnPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESrnOn the Free MarketrnLlewellyn Rockwell’s article “How thernMarket Stamps Out Evil” in the Decemberrnissue was challenging. But whereasrnhis superb philippic on the presidency inrnthe October issue (“Down With thernPresidency”) left me baying at the moon,rnthis time I was unconvinced. Can capitalismrnreally be set against a tyrannicalrngovernment as a force for good? Obviouslyrnin some ways it can, but as we approachrnthe new century it seems morernlikely that government and capital willrnwork together to advance evil.rnPerhaps some of Mr. Rockwell’srnpoints can be turned against him. Cityrnand state government censorship bureausrnin the 1920’s led to the creation ofrnthe Hays Office, under whose aegisrnAmerica produced her finest movies.rnWhen our rulers, the judiciary, deconstructedrnthe First Amendment, and governmentsrngave up legislating morality,rnthe free market rushed in to fill thernabyss —and the filth that Mr. Rockwellrndeprecates is the result.rnhi England, plays were censored by arngovernment official, the Lord Chamberlain,rnuntil the late 1960’s. With hisrndemise came Oh! Calcutta! and the Englishrntheater fell into an org)’ of nudity,rnfoul language, blasphemy, and violence.rnSo did the press —unregulated Englishrnnewspapers are so loatlisome that the entirerncountry has become a vast sink ofrncockney whoredom and “lad-ism.” Butrnof course that is what the public wants.rnAs for rap music, the biggest sellingrnsingles right now are called “You MakernMe Wanna . . . ” and “Butt Love.” Wal-rnMart’s CD bins may be profitable forrnWal-A-iart, and useful as a salve for thernconsciences of American parents, butrntheir overindulged children will stillrnsearch for the “hard” stuff—and find it,rntoo.rnI disagree with Mr. Rockwell that thernmarket has saved us “from a series of maliciousrnconspiracies,” mainly because ofrnthe examples he gives. Dadaism, whichrnbecame surrealism, is the dominantrnform in advertising, and has been forrnvears: obviously it sells. As for serialism,rnJoe Public cannot tell the difference betweenrna Berg tone row and a Bach toccatarn—he listens to Whitney Houston, tonalrnand awful. And we may not like “wack}’rnlooking buildings,” but we are stuck withrnthem because in the free (but not necessarilyrndemocratic) market, only two kindsrnof architect prevail, the wacky and therncheap. The free market hasn’t saved usrnfrom anything. Buildings are still ugly,rnthere is far too much music (of whateverrnkind), and art and advertising have coalesced.rnThere are other evils inherent in thernfree market. Mr. Rockwell praises credit,rnbut Dante called it by its right name:rnUsura. The credit market punishes thernweak and the foolish far more than itrnpunishes the wicked.rnI agree that liberal welfare policiesrnhave helped WTeck American civilizationrn—the free market would at least havernleft well enough alone—but I see littlerncapitalistic encouragement for physiciansrnto stick to their Hippocratic oathsrnor for CEO’s to stop firing workers. Andrnit is the free market allied with corruptrncity government that has led to the di,sgracefulrnhousing situation in cities likernNew York and San Erancisco. Somewherernin Dante’s hell there is a specialrntorment reserved for thieving rentalrnagents who hoard apartments and thenrn”find” them for a hefty fee.rnIn a free market, it is the worst whornthrive. Today the most profitable industriesrnare all satanic: munitions, pornography,rncomputers, drugs, high finance.rnThe moment a new technology is invented,rnit is sold to the lowest-mindedrnbidder. The hiternet is already a vastrnbagnio of perversity-filtering programsrnare merely a way of making a little morernmoney on top of the main profit. Eerfilit)’rndrugs (where is the Catholic Church?)rngave us the McCaughey litter, whichrnfeeds the entertainment complex for arnfew days. And cloning? God help us allrnwhen the free market gets hold of that.rnThe free market has seduced and entangledrnwhat Mr. Rockwell calls the “imperiousrnstate” in a softer tyranny, a subtierrnwickedness. If the free market is toornsuccessful, many of us may become toorncomfortable to fight evil. Radix malorumrnest cupiditas.rn—MarkRachornBrooklyn, NYrn4/CHRONICLESrnrnrn