--- begin forwarded text Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 10:46:19 -0700 From: thomasu@mail.auburn.edu To: misesmail@colossus.net Subject: The Executive State Sender: owner-misesmail@colossus.net Precedence: Bulk The Executive State: The U.S. Presidency vs. American Liberty When President Clinton asked golfer Tiger Woods to join him at an official propaganda event, and even offered to send Air Force One, Tiger answered as every freedom-loving American should: he had something better to do. He was going on a vacation with some college chums. Tiger has his priorities straight, but his turndown is another indication that the presidency is shrinking as an institution. It still commands, but no longer compels, our undying (or dying) obedience, no matter how many monuments are erected to despots on the Washington Mall. This trend is all to the good. The legacy of presidential autocracy from the earliest days of the republic to the present survives in the form of the executive state. But where can you go in the library to find the truth about the havoc U.S. presidents have wrecked on the American promise of freedom? Virtually nowhere. The official history of the presidency reads like the Lives of the Saints. The Mises Institute intends to do something about this. In the Fall of 1998, we're holding a major academic conference on the American presidency. Our purpose is to debunk the conventional view that the more power he's usurped, the better off the American people are. All the presidents qualify for study, but we are especially interested in the checkered careers and dictates of Polk, Lincoln, McKinley, Roosevelt I, Wilson, Roosevelt II, Truman, Johnson, Nixon, and Reagan. If you're a scholar and would like to participate with a paper on some aspect of a presidential power grab (or one of those few occasions when a president did some good) let us know. An abstract is all that's necessary to be considered now. The Ludwig von Mises Institute Auburn, Alabama 36849-5301 334-844-2500; fax: 334-844-2583 --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA Lesley Stahl: "You mean *anyone* can set up a web site and compete with the New York Times?" Andrew Kantor: "Yes." Stahl: "Isn't that dangerous?" The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/