I commend Lew Rockwell for his piece on his website, entitled Moderates vs. Radicals. He paints quite the picture. But, then, there is another way to look at it.

He writes:

"Concerning the dispute between moderates and radicals, the glaringly obvious is seldom pointed out: it is a heck of lot easier to be a moderate than a radical. To be a moderate means to side, at least partially and often largely or completely, with conventional wisdom. It means that you can be friendly with powerful people because you are no threat to them. It means you accept the legitimacy of the established mechanisms for change, and thereby implicitly approve them."

Of course, another way to look at it is that there is a continuum, of sorts, of positions one can take. A moderate might call for a bit more liberty now, in the short term, which could well be attainable. The moderate plays politics as they lay. A radical might call for a LOT more liberty now, knowing, in his heart, that that is NOT attainable. He does so for the long haul, hoping to influence a titanic change in the zeitgeist of an era. Then, of course, there are what I call "soapbox lunatics," who, while we might love 'em for their motives, are very far outside the mainstream, calling for wholesale social change, and, curiously, expecting that this is actually attainable in the not-too-distant future.

When moderates start to lose focus, they become part of the problem, i.e., they no longer agitate for more freedom and begin to accept more social coercion policies, generally for reasons of expediency.

When radicals start to lose focus, they become soapbox lunatics, hopelessly out of touch with society, and therefore, they marginalize themselves and become completely ineffective.

Lew is quite right: There ARE times when radicals can stir major social change. These times are rare. Often, radical change, however, is limited largely to one or two issues...abolition, free trade, etc.

We have to ask ourselves, is this tactically the appropriate time to adopt a "radical" pose?

-Robert Capozzi