nessmen, or cigarette smokers. And the more it does suehrnthings, the more it pits itself against those it rules. Eventually itrnreaches a point of essential alienation, where it can no longerrnpretend to represent the governed.rnThe American government is now the most powerful humanrnorganization that has ever existed. It has made a stupidrnhabit of exercising power arbitrarily, uninhibited by moral orrnconstitutional principle. It is not a conspiracy mastermindedrnby some cunning genius at the center; it is a system of powerrnwhich large numbers of greedy and ambitious people havernlearned to use. It has ceased to be a problem for Americans only;rnit has become a problem for a large part of the human race.rnLast summer the neoconservative Weekly Standard ran arncover story attacking Bill Clinton’s foreign policy under therntitle “Is This Any Way to Run a Planet?” Running a planet!rnClinton’s foreign policy, you see, was insufficiently interventionistrnfor the Standard. And in February it ran a whole issue on thernmenace posed by China (just before the death of Deng Xiaoping,rnas it happened). I was amused to see that its lead editorialrnnoted with alarm that China is increasing its “defense” spending.rnWell, one might ask, why shouldn’t China defend itself?rnBut obviously the writer meant to imply that China has aggressiverndesigns, and out of long habit he used the word “defense”rnin the American style, in which all military spending is calledrn”defensive.”rnThe same editorial went on to accuse China of wanting to replacernthe United States as “the dominant power in East Asiarn. . . and the world.” I wondered if the Standard assumes stupidityrnin its readers, or merely reflexive agreement. Why shouldrnthe United States dominate either East Asia or the world? Andrnat what cost and risk? Such questions are not to be asked. Norrnis the question whether American hegemony over the wholernworld is morally right or desirable.rnLately the Standard and other neoconservative tracts havernalso sounded an alarm against “anti-Americanism”—amongrnAmerican conservatives who have finally recognized their ownrngovernment as their enemy. Apparendy the American governmentrnis entiried to our unconditional love. Soon, no doubt, thernneoconservatives will be accusing the conservatives of givingrntheir loyalty to a foreign power.rnBut the Founders of this country would not recognize thernpresent government as their creation. We need not idealizernthem in order to recognize that the regime we live under nowrnhas severed any real connection with the original Republic,rnwith its principles, its political culture, its love of peace andrngood relations abroad free of “entangling alliances.”rnAt home and abroad, this government has wildly outrun anyrnpossible rationale for its power. It is something every Americanrnshould be both afraid of and ashamed of. A patriotic Americanrntoday ought to be “anti-American.” <$-•rnl^odern Scholarly Editions of Classic Worksrnfor Today’s Readersrn^ir^^jfes?^”- ^>>•?’i^’^•^;J^«?^rnByUtAMavbn’ifigKB-” ‘ “•.’ “”” ‘ : • – . ‘ • . • ••rnintroduG&m fagr Lionel HQ|>bitnrnFbreword by Murrajy n. RoUibanirnWhen lAidwiy von Mises wrote this landmark book In 1912, no monetaiy theory cnuld b erndescribed as buth securely foundud on ecnnomlc reality and incorpurated proper]) Intornan aiial>’si& of Ihc entire economic aiyslcm. Thextfare. The Theory of ffonea and Oeditrnopened new vistas uf economic understanding and finssibUlly. mr u^mmple. Mises k>irnthe Urst time intcflr»te.s monetary theory into the main body of eronomic anul>-si5, thusrnprciviilinji fresh new inHi{)hLs Intu Bic nature «t money and its rote in the economy. Asrnv-role tin; Idle Nuiiay n. Kotlihdrd. the “Austrian School”- economist, “Thij. htiokrn|it;rformed the iHi<(hly (cit of iiite(v’>itinfi iuonft with micni th*’OT>. ol tiuildinnrninonet.ir> thiuvv inm the individualistic (oundatimis of mi( cindl>sis.”rn?i44 |>cic)is. f’Diewoiil. introduction, pii-f.KVs to tcirlii-r editions, iip|>«:n(Iii vs. lndo.rnIl.ircl<«i-70-‘irnl’ciporl>.uK $10.iM) () MI.VX’>»>-7l-7rnCall 800-955-8335rn1^x317-579-6060rnor write:rnLiberty Fund We).iayrnUPS shippinc] onrnprepaid orders.rn8335 Allison Fointe TVail, Suite 300, Dept. MICH, Indianapolis, in 46250rnExplore Liberty rUnd’s catalogue on the World Wide Web atrnwww.Libertyfund.orgrnJUNE 1997/21rnrnrn