A friend from Hawaii who is well schooled in free-market economics recently sent me an example of Lincoln idolatry that manages to distort and pervert both economic theory and natural rights philosophy. It is an essay entitled “Locke, Lincoln, and American Capitalism” by Lucas E. Morel, a political science professor at Washington and Lee University who holds a doctorate in “government” from Claremont Graduate School, is a “fellow” of the Claremont Institute, and is also associated with the neocon Ashbrook Center for Public Policy at Ashland University. He’s a card-carrying Claremontista, in other words.
The essay is published as part of Hillsdale College’s “Champions of Freedom” monograph series (the new president of Hillsdale, Larry Arnn, was president of the Claremont Institute for fifteen years prior to taking the job). In one of the most extreme examples of circular reasoning that I have ever seen, Morel claims that Lincoln was a protectionist because of his alleged devotion to natural rights. This, of course, would draw huge belly laughs from such natural rights theorists as Frdric Bastiat, Murray Rothbard, and even Adam Smith, who defended free trade — the opposite of Lincoln’s protectionism — on natural rights grounds.
Read Full Article: https://thewashingtonstandard.com/champions-of-nonsense/
