CONTACTS 
0201 - The Independent Institute          510 632 1366 fax 568 6040
020101 - Mr. David Theroux; President

SUBJECTS
Murray, Charles on Bell Curve, 970128
Independent Institute
Book (uses manual language)
Libertarian

1006 -    ..
1007 - Summary/Objective
1008 -
100801 - Followed up work at ref SDS 17 line 51, ref SDS 13 line 45, 
100802 - line 47 and call from David at ref SDS 10 line 47.
100803 -
100804 - Independent Institute presented
100805 -
100806 -                    Charles Murray
100807 -
100808 -        Author of Loosing Ground, The Bell Curve, In Pursuit, and What
100809 -        it Means to Be a Libertarian
100810 -
100811 - I arrived about 10 minutes before noon and got through the admissions
100812 - line just as Charles Murray, the speaker for the event, was arriving.
100813 - After getting checked in, I introduced myself to Charles, who was
100814 - chatting with David Theroux, the president of the Institute.  I said
100815 - hellow to David, with whom I have spoken by phone and corresponded,
100816 - but had not previously met.  I briefly congratulated Charles on his
100817 - public personna offering measured, calm voice of reason in the face of
100818 - rhetorical bombast from his critics.
100819 -
100820 - There was a good turn out.  Seems like every table was full and so
100821 - maybe there were 200+ in attendance.  It was a relatively small room.
100822 - I sat at a table and visited with about 8 others.  I was asked by
100823 - someone at the table why I am attending, and whether I support the
100824 - libertarian party?  I explained my interest in asking Charles a
100825 - question, which I have written out and asked for volunteers since I
100826 - may be too nervous to present the question clearly.  We considered
100827 - briefly a variety of "libertarian" issues.  The person next to me
100828 - eventually asked "What office are you running for?"  I think this was
100829 - a compliment, but may have reflected that I was talking too much.
100830 - Several at the table continued to ask me questions though, so it was
100831 - fun to try and field them.
100832 -
100833 - I then went and again visited briefly with Charles Murray at his table
100834 - just before the start of lunch and explained my interest in finding an
100835 - associate to write a book, that in some respects extends some of the
100836 - ideas in Charles' writing.  I asked if he has an agent or other
100837 - business address where I might submit an inquiry.  Charles said that
100838 - he makes his own decisions on what to write about.  I asked about
100839 - submitting an idea for a book on the nexus between religion and
100840 - technology.  He gave me his address at the American Enterprise
100841 - Institute.
100842 -
100843 -                       American Enterprise Institute
100844 -                       1150 17th Street NW
100845 -                       Washington, D.C.  20036
100846 -
100847 -
100848 -
100849 - Charles began his formal remarks by noting that he is on a book tour,
100850 - and seemed to indicate that today's event is part of that effort.
100851 -
100852 - Charles offered a "sensible" application of libertarian thought.  He
100853 - began by describing himself as a liberal from the obvious and
100854 - historical associated meaing of "liberty" and "freedom."  He set out
100855 - the notion of "freedom" balanced by responsibility, which seems to
100856 - reflect the legal tradition that rights are balanced duties.  Possibly
100857 - this idea is linked to the essence of nature where life is a privelege
100858 - derived by meeting the burden of material acquisition.
100859 -
100860 - Charles noted that modern usage of "liberal" to mean the "government"
100861 - should liberate people from the burden of material acquisition and
100862 - responsibility for conduct, caused him to search further for a
100863 - political identity and this led him to the Libertarian position.  He
100864 - described two tenants of the Libertarians (1) not to initiate force,
100865 - and (2) I think relates to a reduced role for government.
100866 -
100867 - Charles did not seem to disclose whether he votes Libertarian, and no
100868 - one asked during Q&A.
100869 -
100870 - He explained his approach to two Libertarian positions on the role of
100871 - government that cause many who favor smaller government to pause about
100872 - joining the party: (1) legalizing drugs; and (2) private ownership of
100873 - roads and bridges.  I did not fully absorb his position on these two
100874 - issues, but he seemed to recognize the basic tension between having
100875 - freedom to choose and bearing the pain from choosing to take drugs.
100876 - The basic issue is whether people are free to cause themselves harm.
100877 - This seems related to the suicide issue, which has long been taboo in
100878 - the Judeo Christian tradition.
100879 -
100880 - Charles did not seem to address the concept of "community pain."  In
100881 - the same way that people watching others being killed on the evening
100882 - television news emotionally recoil and eventually collectively reject
100883 - a government position to pursue a foreign war, e.g., Vietnam,
100884 - similarly seek to avoid exposure to pain and suffering of others by
100885 - minimizing the occurance through the banning of "harmful" drugs.  If
100886 - people did not have to deal with the consequences of drug use by
100887 - others, there might be less agitation for community solutions that
100888 - intrude on personal choices.
100889 -
100890 - Charles delt in some depth with the Libertarian position on using
100891 - vouchers to permit parents to choose where there children attend
100892 - school.  He explained his reasoning was supported by writing of Milton
100893 - Freedman, but that he has received a letter from Freedman saying that
100894 - Freedman was properly cited but has since changed his position.
100895 -
100896 - My sense is that Charles' position intends to reduce the role of
100897 - government to give individuals and local communities greater control,
100898 - rather than impose a strict ideology that there is no place for a
100899 - public school system.  Actually, Stan Watson, who sat with me, asked
100900 - about why bother with vouchers and not simply let parents educate
100901 - their children as they wish.  Charles seemed to respond by citing the
100902 - generic community benefit of a base educational process justifies
100903 - community action.  He seemed to reserve judgement on whether it can
100904 - the benefit would actually increase with no community involvement in
100905 - education.
100906 -
100907 - There were a number of questions about the 9th and 10th amendments
100908 - which are relied upon by those who favor limited governement.  The
100909 - questioners recited the understanding that powers not expressly given
100910 - to the Federal government are reserved to the states.  This reflects
100911 - the Ross Perot effort of having given this formulation prominence in
100912 - the past two presidential elections.  I did not grasp the questions
100913 - concerning this position with any particular issue, so much as there
100914 - seemed to be concern about the failure to follow the constitution.
100915 -
100916 - There were no questions about the Constitutional amendment that
100917 - permits/guarentees freedom of association.  This would make for an
100918 - intersting consideration of the Libertarian position on matters
100919 - involving race, gender, hiring, renting property, the homosexual
100920 - matter, and so on.
100921 -
100922 - Charles seemed to cite the general rule in the New World Order paper
100923 - that all these questions relate to the tendancy for communities to
100924 - drift off course when decisions are not linked back to original
100925 - sources. Actually, someone at the table where I sat advised during our
100926 - discussion before the lucheon began that a bill has been introduced in
100927 - Congress to require new legislation to cite Constitutional provisions
100928 - being implemented by the bill.  This is a key aspect of Communication
100929 - Metrics, ref OF 1 line 699, which causes a lot people who read SDS
100930 - records to decry the methodology, but which is critical to the goal of
100931 - maintaining alignment with original intent.  I was thinking of asking
100932 - Charles how he integrates traditional conservative foundations in
100933 - religion with Libertarian thought and practice.  However, by the time
100934 - I formulated the question, David Theroux was calling for the last
100935 - question.
100936 -
100937 - There were no questions on the need for a Libertarian movement in
100938 - relation to the two party system.  Would it be more effective by
100939 - working within to shape the Republican agenda, so it does not hand
100940 - elections to the Democrats?  Why do we need another party, when there
100941 - are two basic genders that foster two basic views of the world?
100942 -
100943 - Since there were a lot of interesting questions, I did not seek
100944 - recognition to ask my question on the New World Order of the
100945 - Information Highway, ref SDS 17 line 97.  Charles touched on this
100946 - somewhat in remarks on education.  He cited how his two youngest
100947 - children like to play a particular computer game that seems effective
100948 - in teaching them the history of the Oregon Trail in settling the West.
100949 - He seemed to suggest this experience supports wider use of computers
100950 - as a path for better teaching methods.  I will take up in a separate
100951 - letter the flaw in this reasoning based on current uses of computers,
100952 - and hope for a new kind of use that could accomplish the dream of a
100953 - better future under POIMS technology and Communication Metrics theory.
100954 -
100955 -
100956 -
100957 -
100958 -
1010 -

SUBJECTS
Winter Symposium
Asilomar Conference

1205 -
120501 - Stan Watson Marketing Support for PMI's Events
120502 -
120503 - Ran into Stan Watson, who works at PG&E.  He has taken on the role of
120504 - assistant marketing manager for PMI's Winter Symposium and the
120505 - Asilomar Conference.  Stan described duties that seem limited to
120506 - soliciting attendance by PG&E people.  Stan asked about Ahmet's
120507 - approach to managing these events.  I explained that Ahmet has some
120508 - good ideas and that Bill DeHart worked closer with Ahmet than I did.
120509 - Stan asked if I know the agenda or theme for the Winter event.  I
120510 - mentioned discussions with Bill at the PMI dinner meeting a few weeks
120511 - ago where he was coordinating with Ahmet on it, ref SDS 16 line 123.
120512 - Stan plans to contact Bill for information on speakers and topic.  He
120513 - described an intent to solicit support of PG&E VPs to pay for
120514 - attendance at these events, which would likely boost the turn out.
120515 -
120516 -
120517 -
1206 -