A Tribute to Linda Ronstadt
Reminder: I’ll be speaking at the JFK Lancer conference and also at the CAPA conference. The Lancer conference is being held on November 22-24 in Dallas. The CAPA conference is now being held online. There is also another excellent JFK conference on the same weekend sponsored by the JFK Historical Group. All three of them are fantastic JFK-assassination-related conferences. I highly recommend registering for all three and then picking and choosing which sessions you would like to attend at all three conferences. The registration prices are moderate and it’s a great way to support three great conferences. I will have some of my JFK books at my presentations at the Lancer conference to autograph and sell at a discounted price. I hope to see you all there!
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I’m currently driving to Texas and have two goals before I return to Virginia: one, to finish listening to the audio version of Jim Bovard’s excellent book Last Rights (which I can already highly recommend even without yet finishing the book) and, two, listen to Linda Ronstadt’s 24 albums.
Ronstadt is my favorite rock and roll singer of all time, even more so than Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez, all of whom are close behind. But it’s not just because of Ronstadt’s phenomenal voice and musical versatility that I have come to deeply admire her over the years. It’s also because of certain courageous political stands she has taken.
Back in 2004 Ronstadt appeared at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas for a performance. During the performance, she praised Hollywood producer Michael Moore for making the anti-Iraq War film Fahrenheit 9/11.
Those who are old enough will recall the extreme pro-government, pro-military, pro-interventionist fervor that followed the 9/11 attacks. It was unbelievable. In fact, even most of the libertarian movement was rallying to the federal government and jumping on board the much-vaunted “war on terrorism” and supporting the invasion of Afghanistan. People were willing, even eager, to surrender their liberties for “security” — anything to be kept safe from “the terrorists” and the Muslims who were supposedly coming to get us and establish Sharia law in every city and community across America. That’s what the USA PATRIOT Act was all about; it was one of the greatest destructions of the liberty of the American people in U.S. history, and if you didn’t support it, you weren’t a “patriot.”
Here at FFF, we experienced this “rally-to-the-government” phenomenon in a very big and negative way. We were holding lonely ground in the libertarian movement (along with longtime libertarian Lew Rockwell, who was also ardently opposing all this). We were pointing out that the 9/11 attacks were generated by the anger and hatred arising from the U.S. government’s deadly and destructive interventionist foreign policy in the Middle East. In other words, we were saying that the U.S. government’s explanation for the attacks — that they were supposedly motivated by hatred among Muslims for America’s “freedom and values” — was entirely bogus.
We also ardently opposed the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, pointing out that most of the people who would be killed, maimed, and injured in these wars of aggression would be entirely innocent of the 9/11 attacks and that such invasions would end up generating more anti-American terrorism and more destruction of our rights and liberties at the hands of our own government.
We also opposed the so-called PATRIOT Act, the TSA takeover of the airports, the illegal telecom surveillance schemes, and all the other attacks on our civil liberties.
We were inundated with hate mail and cancelations of support. We even lost a board member who resigned because of our foreign-policy position. I was severely condemned by another libertarian speaker when I gave a talk at a libertarian conference in Phoenix criticizing the U.S. government’s interventionist foreign policy and the “war on terrorism.”
But we never wavered, and I’m glad we didn’t. And to my everlasting gratitude, the donors who stuck with us carried us through.
When Ronstadt made clear her opposition to the Iraq War at her appearance at the Aladdin hotel, she knew exactly what the reaction was likely to be. Half of the audience of 4,500 booed her and walked out. About 100 people demanded their money back. The manager of the Aladdin, in one of the most shameful acts in the history of the U.S. hotel business, evicted her from the premises.
A few years ago, I wrote
Article from The Future of Freedom Foundation
The Future of Freedom Foundation (FFF) is a leading voice in libertarian thought, tirelessly advocating for individual liberty, free markets, and limited government. Established in 1989, the FFF is more than just a think tank; it’s a hub for intellectual exploration and policy advocacy that draws on the classical liberal tradition and Austrian economics. Through insightful articles, videos, and events featuring top libertarian minds, the organization provides a robust critique of mainstream politics and policies, championing instead the principles that underlie a truly free society. For anyone seeking a principled stand for freedom and limited government, the Future of Freedom Foundation serves as an invaluable resource and an inspiring beacon.
