should culminate in Al Gore’s beerhall putsch.rnEmploying the temiinology of the Austrian School of economicsrn(elaborated by Ludwig von Mises, his teacher and mentor),rnRothbard put it this va-:rnThe “conspiracy theorist,” at his best, is simply a personrnwho possesses basic praxeological insight: that men act,rnthat they choose means in order to obtain certain preferredrnends. The opponents of the “conspiracy theory ofrnhistory” explicitly assume that all events in history are random,rnthat they are never the results of human purposernand choice.rnOf course, it is necessary to establish some relationship betweenrnthe beneficiaries of a government action and those who originatedrnand lobbied for its passage. This is a step—the carefulrngathering and correlation of empirical evidence —that toornmany conspiracy theorists skip, giving the rest of us a bad name.rnThey merely identify the beneficiaries of a particular governmentalrnpolicy and assume —or invent—the facts to fit their theory.rnRothbard never fell into this error, hi his historical and economicrnwritings that touch on this subject—for example.rnThe Case Against the Fed, the four-volume Conceived in Liberty,rnthe two-volume Austrian Perspective on the History of EconomicrnThought, and Wall Street, Banks, and American ForeignrnPolicy—he: practiced what he preached. The bold revisionismrnthat so suited his temperament was backed by solid research,rnbuttressed by his encyclopedic knowledge of diverse fields, andrnanchored in references to an astonishing range of works. Rothbard’srnbooks and articles were densely packed with pure fact:rnHis footnotes alone are a veritable treasure trove for the inquisitivernstudent. Yet, with all this information at his fingertips, hernnever became mired in the details of his subject but always sawrnthe larger patterns, the overview that few had the originalit}-, therndaring, or the skill to uncover.rnRothbard’s perspective on history and current events wasrnsummed up in his paean to historian and polymath HarryrnElmer Barnes. Barnes, in his dav, was the dean of the reisionistrnschool that throws doubt on the “official” histories of twornworld wars. In his tribute, Rothbard explained that the rise ofrnthe garrison state and the threat of annihilation on an unprecedentedrnscale was made possible by the power elites of the variousrnstates:rnThese consist of the full-time members and rulers of thernState apparati, as well as those groups in societ}’ (e.g. armsrncontractors, labor union leaders) who benefit from thernmilitary and warfare systems, hi particular, this reversionrn[to barbarism] has been made possible by the reappearancernon a large scale of the “Court Intellectuar’—the intellectualrnwho spins the apologia for the new dispensationrnin return for wealth, power, and prestige at the hands ofrnthe State and its allied “Establishment.”rnOf his old friend. Professor Barnes, Rothbard wrote that,rn”when the records are in and the accounts are drawn, it willrnnever be said of him that he was a Court Intellectual. Absoluternfearlessness, absolute honesty, absolute independence havernbeen his guiding stars.” In writing those words, he might alsornhave written his own epitaph. ‘•’rnThe Difference A Day Makesrnby Charles Edward EatonrnThe day lily bloomed and diedrnAs if on a single dayrnIt said all it had to s a y -rnHow many ways, words, of any living thingrnabide?rnIt opens in the morning, takes a breath.rnSpeaks forthrightiy of its yellow glamor.rnThere is no fuss or undue clamorrnAbout brevity in time, life-in-death.rnSo is the lily more astute? —rnWe speak on and on until late eveningrnAbout joy, anger, anger, joy, and grieving:rnNext day, the flower is simply shriveled, mute.rnYou cannot stop your full, loquacious mouth —rnIn just one ordinar)’ week.rnYou could fill a book with what you speakrnAs if you feel that language may be facing drouth.rnI know it takes such trouble, and much more, to copernv’itli time —rnStill, you look, and give a final lookrnAs if you wished to press the flover in a bookrnJust before it dies, unconcerned about the solitaryrnand sublime.rnBut on toward night I thought I saw the lily quiverrnAs it released its last fine careless rapture —rnAnd you and I are left to talk on and on, and capturernThe secrets in the flower’s corpse, the closed and cabalisticrnsegments of forever.rn22/CHRONICLESrnrnrn