In a new interview with Kyle Platt at Liberty.me, RPI Academic Board Member Walter Block — jovial as usual — tells the lively tale of his discovery of libertarian ideas as a young man.
It all started in the early 1960s when Block, then — in Block’s words — a “pinko liberal,” attended an Ayn Rand speech where he “booed and hissed” the architect of the Objectivism. Afterward, Block challenged Rand and her associate Nathaniel Branden to a debate on socialism versus capitalism. This led to a conversation with Branden that drew Block into the social circle of Rand, Branden, and other leading Objectivist thinkers.
From there, Block tells more of his intriguing intellectual journey, including stories about playing Risk with eminent libertarian communicator Murray Rothbard and working in the Peace and Freedom Party with Trotskyites and Maoists to end the Vietnam War.
Watch the very engaging half-hour interview here:
