Behind the Jeffersonian Veneer.

• Author: Woods, Thomas E., Jr.
• Position: Letters - Letter to the Editor

In describing my writing as exhibiting only a "Jeffersonian veneer" ("Behind the Jeffersonian Veneer,"June), Cathy Young reveals herself to be either ignorant of Jefferson's thought--a possibility I cannot reject out of hand--or a liar. Jefferson believed in local control, nullification, and secession, and would have resolutely opposed the "incorporation doctrine" associated with modern interpretations of the 14th Amendment. Perhaps Cathy Young doesn't care for these Jeffersonian positions, but a book, like my Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, that advances and defends these ideas is Jeffersonian, pure and simple.

Anyone examining my record of publication, which includes articles for many well-known libertarian publications, can see how anti-statist it is. I am also the author of The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy, whose hard Misesian/Rothbardian line makes it the most libertarian book on Catholic social teaching ever written. But Young, a person who in the wake of 9/11--a time when a principled libertarian voice was needed more than ever told us we needed to shut up and accept government surveillance, is actually going to question my ideological credentials. Physician, heal thyself.

Young thinks it's unlibertarian of me to oppose radical individualism but doesn't bother to explain why. Just because I wish to keep the state out of my affairs does not mean I cannot also have deep and abiding affection for my family, my church, or any of the other associations that Burke called the "little platoons" of society. Benjamin Constant was not alone among classical liberals in warning that "the interests and memories which spring from local customs contain a germ of resistance which is so distasteful to authority that it hastens to uproot it. Authority finds private individuals easier game; its enormous weight can flatten them out effortlessly as if they were so much sand."

As for the League of the South--a group that has been repeatedly denounced by white supremacist organizations--I simply refer fair-minded readers to Tom DiLorenzo's article "Why They Hate Tom Woods," archived at LewRockwell.com, as well as to my February 19 LewRockwell.com blog entry "In Case You Were Wondering." I am inclined to think that a reasonable person, as opposed to a P.C. automaton, will understand the non-crazy motivations that brought a 21-year-old Tom Woods to that organization's initial meeting.

In her conclusion,Young...