Gabriel Kolko Interview: He Prefers "McDonald's" to American Empire

by Liberty and Power

In an excellent inteview, Scott Horton speaks at length with the author of The Triumph of Conservatism on the Iraq War and American foreign policy.

Perhaps Kolko in his old age is shedding his old Marxist/New Left views. He calls Lenin"a crank" and repeatedly opines that the U.S. will find"Donald Duck and McDonald's" to be far more effective in spreading American ideals than the current reliance on political empire. Listen to it here.

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M.D. Fulwiler - 2/13/2007

I think Kolko is one of the 10 or 20 brightest non-libertarians around. His foreign policy stuff is always great and his analysis of the "Progressive" movement is classic.

Mark Brady - 2/10/2007

I'd express reservations too although I dare say not entirely the same ones as Koklo would specify!

Sheldon Richman - 2/9/2007

I've listened to the interview and was pleased to hear him laud the "Taft Republicans" for their foreign policy. He did express reservations about their economic policy.

Mark Brady - 2/8/2007

I can certainly imagine libertarians writing letters that would annoy him. (That said, I can imagine some libertarians writing letters that would annoy me!) Perhaps they assumed he would be more interested in addressing libertarians than he obviously was. After all, as a graduate student at Harvard, he was a member of the Student League for Industrial Democracy. Clearly, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the transformation of China, he has reconsidered his worldview so it isn't surprising he seems to have mellowed somewhat.

How long ago was he asked to attend a libertarian gathering and where?

David T. Beito - 2/8/2007

True but I remember reading a very angry letter from Kolko in response to an invitation to attend a libertarian gathering. He seemed offended to be asked. His attitude in the interview shows a certain mellowing.

Mark Brady - 2/7/2007

Gabriel Kolko is one of many Marxists and former Marxists who have moved on from their enthusiasm for Lenin et al.

That said, your very statement that "Perhaps Kolko in his old age is shedding his old Marxist/New Left views" exemplifies the complexities that were always present among Kolko and his kin. After all, the New Left represented a repudiation of the Old Left. Otherwise why did they identify as New Left? At best, they repudiated both corporate liberalism and state capitalism (how Trotskyists identified the Soviet Union) and welcomed the pursuit of the Enlighenment goals of individual rights and personal liberty. At worst, they neither understood the impossibility of economic calculation in a centrally planned economy (but then the advocates of the "mixed economy" didn't understand this too) nor had much, if any, appreciation of the role of markets in underpinning and promoting the cause of individual freedom.