Wow, just looked at his book, "In the Shadow of the Rising Sun: The Political Roots of American Economic Decline" (published in 1991, at the time when Japan was today's China...), and this guy is about as far away from my libertarian worldview as you can imagine. He believed that America's problem at the time was that it didn't have enough bureaucracy (which is especially ironic given how bureaucratic gerontocracy today is believed to be stifling Japan's growth). Hope his donation will do some good though.
> And this guy is about as far away from my libertarian worldview as you can imagine.
There is something really funny about a guy with a 'not so libertarian' worldview donating 265 million to a university and a guy with a libertarian worldview that probably will never be in a position to do so commenting on that.
People have a horrible misunderstanding of libertarianism. Libertarians believe people should be absolutely free to do what they want with their money. Libertarianism is not a fancy word for narcissistic hedonism. From a philosophical standpoint, libertarians should welcome charity/philanthropy as it is a free market solution to dealing with society's problems. They are merely against forced charity (i.e. welfare, medicaid, etc.). Mr. Dietrich's donation fits perfectly within a libertarian framework. Sorry to ruin the joke, but there's no hidden juxtaposition there.
They spend a lot of time advocating public good solutions I consider unworkable due to free rider problems. I'm cynical enough to be pleasantly surprised when a libertarian demonstrates they aren't hoping to become a free rider.
That's not libertarianism. Libertarianism strongly supports private charity; it's government charity it's opposed to. Private charity is how it's supposed to work.
Well played, sir. A fine and timely rebuttal! Less courageous souls might choose to pick on older material - say from the 60s or 70s - so as not to be accused of carefully picking out material that can be dealt with through the magic of hindsight, but not you.
I will keep a keen eye out for further highly relevant dispatches from your "libertarian worldview" on other recent events, such as Operation Desert Storm, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the release of not one but two Use Your Illusion albums from Guns 'n' Roses, and the release of the SNES gaming system.
