Robert Stacy McCain

April 02, 2009

In a stunning development, I have been described as a “public intellectual.” As much as I cherish this honor—and hey, neither Ross Douthat nor David Kuo made Greg Ransom’s Hayekian list—I’m troubled that a mere blogger/journalist can be significant enough to rank in the Top 20. If anything, this illustrates how rare the free-market perspective has become in our public discourse.

Nevertheless, amid the gloom, I remain hopeful. The implementation of the Obamanomics agenda—about which I keep repeating, “It Won’t Work”—offers what they call a “teachable moment,” the object lesson being that Keynesianism is crap. And it is comforting to see that Professor Thomas Woods’ new book about the financial crisis, MELTDOWN, has become a national bestseller. Hard-money guys like Peter Schiff and Ron Paul are starting to be recognized for their prescient criticisms of the U.S. monetary and fiscal policies.

So as Obama adds economic wreckage to Bush’s ruin, there is at least hope that some are starting to heed the free-market voices crying in the wilderness, and that we will turn off this Road to Serfdom before we’re all enslaved.