You meet the most interesting people at FreedomFest

After my presentation this afternoon about the Middle East, I had a conversation, of sorts, with the kind of hardcore libertarian who helps to keep me from fully signing up.

His position, so far as I could understand it, is that Israel and the United States are the greatest threats to human welfare on the planet.

Because I didn’t agree with him, he described me as whitewashing American and Israeli crimes against humanity.

I asked him about China, and he responded that China doesn’t maintain military bases in Europe and the Middle East — as if that, in and of itself, were the sole criterion.

I asked him whether Israel was the most oppressive country on earth, and he said that it ranked high among them.  I finally got him to admit, though, that North Korea is probably more oppressive.

But, he pressed me, if China were occupying parts of America, wouldn’t I celebrate young people who decapitated Chinese civilians and drowned them and burned them alive in cages?  “No,” I said, “I wouldn’t.”  “Anything to fight back,” he said.  “No, I replied.  “Not ‘anything.'”

He next demanded to know whether I didn’t think that dropping bombs in ISIS positions in Syria was worse than beheading individual people.  When I said “Absolutely not!” he looked at me as if I were some sort of moral freak.

I find such positions depressing.

But he was, in his way, a nice guy, and we parted amicably.

And FreedomFest remains fun and stimulating.  In part, precisely, because there is such a wide range of interesting people here — including him.

Tonight, my wife and I attended a filming of John Stossel’s program for Fox.  His guests included Steve Wynn, the developer of such hotel/casino complexes as The Mirage, Treasure Island, Bellagio, and Wynn Las Vegas; Andrew Puzder, the CEO of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s; Star Parker, of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education; John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, with whom I had dinner last night; two leaders of the Cato Institute; and Grover Norquist.

Afterwards, my wife and I exchanged pleasantries in the elevator with George Gilder.

Incidentally, last night, after sitting next to Ken Elzinga, the Robert C. Taylor Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia, I learned that he’s also written three novels under the pen name of Marshall Jevons — in which his protagonist solves crimes by means (believe it or not) of economic analysis.

This is a fun gathering.

Next year, by the way, FreedomFest 2016 will be held 13-16 July, also at Planet Hollywood here.

Posted from Las Vegas, Nevada