It took awhile to warm up to Ludwig von Mises’ sense of humor. I mean, he said things in the opening pages of Human Action that made me chuckle, but I was too embarrassed to admit it. I was, in fact, guilty of that crime of demanding conservative spokespeople to refrain from sarcasm. For one thing, it hurts feelings. For another, it isn’t exactly true. But taking my advice to glean what I could, I soon was reading with careless abandon and finding the cheap shots at the enemy (i.e., fallacy) somewhat liberating. Here are a couple quotes from within a few pages of my whining post.
The very fact that there are intolerant governments and political parties intent upon outlawing and exterminating dissenters, is a proof of the excellence of reason. It is not a proof of a doctrine’s correctness that its adversaries use the police, the hangman, and violent mobs to fight it. But it is a proof of the fact that those taking recourse to violent oppression are in their subconsciousness convinced of the untenability of their own doctrines.
The essence of Marxian philosophy is this: We are right because we are the spokesmen of the rising proletarian class. Discursive reasoning cannot invalidate our teachings, for they are inspired by the supreme power that determines the destiny of mankind. Our adversaries are wrong because they lack the intuition that guides our minds. It is, of course, not their fault that on account of their class affiliation they are not equipped with the genuine proletarian logic and are blinded by ideologies. The unfathomable decrees of history that have elected us have doomed them. The future is ours.
