Abstract
Frank Chodorov (1887–1966) was Nock’s protege, and also a magazine writer. While Chodorov’s libertarian political philosophy resembled Nock’s in most areas, Chodorov was optimistic about the superiority of private enterprise in education. This, I argue, owes to the influence of the libertarian economist Ludwig von Mises, who stressed the importance of consumer sovereignty and suggested that economists should celebrate markets ability to satisfy consumer preferences rather than opine one what consumers should prefer. Chodorov ideally preferred no role for government in education, but compromised to support the minimal government function of giving individuals tax deductions/credits for money spent purchasing private education.
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- 1.
Brian Doherty, Radicals for Capitalism : A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement, 1st ed. (New York: PublicAffairs, 2007), 102; Frank Chodorov, Out of Step (Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2007), 60.
- 2.
Chodorov, Out of Step, chap. 4; Albert Jay Nock, Henry George : An Essay (New York: W. Morrow, 1939).
- 3.
Chodorov, Out of Step, 79.
- 4.
Aaron Steeman, “Frank Chodorov: Champion of Liberty,” The Freeman, 1996, www.thefreemanonline.org/features/frank-chodorov-champion-of-liberty.
- 5.
Chodorov, Out of Step, 62–63.
- 6.
Frank Chodorov, The Rise and Fall of Society (Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2007), 24.
- 7.
Chodorov, The Rise and Fall of Society, 96.
- 8.
Rose Wilder Lane, The Discovery of Freedom (New York: The John Day Company, 1943); John T. Flynn, The Decline of the American Republic (Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2007).
- 9.
Chodorov, Out of Step, 3.
- 10.
Chodorov, Out of Step, chap. 2.
- 11.
Like Nock, also, Chodorov did not voice this belief in a way that demeaned those who might not be capable of academic education. “They may be quick-witted, far more so than are the educable, and capable of mastering the practical affairs of life, but find the disciplines incomprehensible or boring,” 31. Possibly, because Chodorov had worked in the business world (where Nock did not), Chodorov was quick to point out that “in respect to functional ability the noneducable are usually better endowed than the educable, and their contribution to material progress is certainly greater.” Frank Chodorov, “Education and Freedom: My Friend’s Education,” in Fugitive Essays: Selected Writings of Frank Chodorov, ed. Charles H. Hamilton (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1980), 119.
- 12.
Chodorov, Out of Step, 29–30.
- 13.
Chodorov’s thought bore so much resemblance toward Nock’s that historian Christopher Eow somewhat uncharitably concluded that “much of Chodorov’s oeuvre reads like Nock-light.” Gregory T. Eow, “Fighting a New Deal: Intellectual Origins of the Reagan Revolution, 1932–1952,” PhD diss., Rice University, 2007, 217.
- 14.
Frank Chodorov, “Why Free Schools Are Not Free,” in Fugitive Essays: Selected Writings of Frank Chodorov, ed. Charles H. Hamilton (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1980), 125–26.
- 15.
Chodorov, “Why Free Schools Are Not Free,” 125.
- 16.
Chodorov, “Why Free Schools Are Not Free,” 132.
- 17.
Frank Chodorov, “A Really Free School System,” The Freeman, July 1954, 24.
- 18.
Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925); David B. Tyack, “The Perils of Pluralism: The Background of the Pierce Case,” The American Historical Review 74, no. 1 (October 1, 1968): 74–98.
- 19.
Zellers v. Huff , 236 P. 2d 949 (NM Supreme Court 1951); Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1 (1947).
- 20.
Chodorov, “Why Free Schools Are Not Free,” 123.
- 21.
Chodorov, “Why Free Schools Are Not Free,” 125.
- 22.
Chodorov, “Why Free Schools Are Not Free,” 125.
- 23.
Chodorov, “A Really Free School System,” 23.
- 24.
Ibid.; Frank Chodorov, “Private Schools: The Solution to America’s Educational Problems,” in Fugitive Essays: Selected Writings of Frank Chodorov, ed. Charles H. Hamilton (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1980), 130.
- 25.
While Chodorov doesn’t specify this, his suggestion assumes that those who do not have children in school will still be compelled to pay taxes toward schools. Since this is so, at least some of the public schools’ revenue would be from those who are forced to pay. Additionally, this would likely mean that public school “tuition” (the taxes an individual pays per child they have in public school) will be “subsidized” by those compelled to pay toward the public school while not using the school’s services.
- 26.
“Partially,” because those who have no children in school would still be compelled to pay into the public school system.
- 27.
Chodorov, “A Really Free School System,” 23.
- 28.
Chodorov, “Private Schools: The Solution to America’s Educational Problems,” 131. Chodorov didn’t seem to entertain the possibility—maybe the probability—that his scheme would lead to government regulation of private schools. If families may make tax deductions if they can show evidence that they are paying private school tuition, surely governments will regulate what counts as a valid private school, if only to avoid fraudulent deductions.
- 29.
Frank Chodorov, “How to Curb the Commies,” in Fugitive Essays: Selected Writings of Frank Chodorov, ed. Charles H. Hamilton (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1980), 95.
- 30.
Joseph Persky, “Retrospectives: Consumer Sovereignty,” The Journal of Economic Perspectives 7, no. 1 (1993): 183–91.
- 31.
W. H. Hutt, “The Concept of Consumers’ Sovereignty,” The Economic Journal 50, no. 197 (March 1940): 66–67, note 2.
- 32.
W. H. Hutt, Economists and the Public: A Study of Competition and Opinion (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1990), chap. 26.
- 33.
Chodorov had at one point attended (at least) one lecture that Ludwig von Mises had given, likely at New York University. Frank Chodorov, “Why Teach Freedom?,” in Fugitive Essays: Selected Writings of Frank Chodorov, ed. Charles H. Hamilton (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1980), 115. Additionally, Mises contributed an article to The Freeman while Chodorov was editor, and was also affiliated with the Intercollegiate Society of Individualists, an educational organization headed by Frank Chodorov. Jörg Guido Hülsmann, Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism (Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2007), 913, 1029.
- 34.
Ludwig von Mises, Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1951); Ludwig von Mises, Human Action: A Treatise on Economics (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2010), chaps. 11–13.
- 35.
Ludwig von Mises, Bureaucracy (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2007), 2, ebook pdf edition.
- 36.
Frank Chodorov, “What Individualism Is Not,” in Fugitive Essays: Selected Writings of Frank Chodorov, ed. Charles H. Hamilton (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1980), 110.
- 37.
Mises, Bureaucracy, 31.
- 38.
Hutt, Economists and the Public, 292.
- 39.
It is worth noting, though, that both Mises and Hutt (and certainly Chodorov) did actively advocate for pro-market economic policies. To do this, they had to go beyond the goal of making pronouncements on what means would best achieve particular ends (without opining on what ends were worth pursuing). See W. H. Hutt, Politically Impossible …? (London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 1971); Ludwig Von Mises, Liberalism: The Classical Tradition (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2008).
- 40.
Mises, Bureaucracy, 31.
- 41.
Hutt, Economists and the Public, 288.
- 42.
Chodorov, “Why Free Schools Are Not Free,” 125.
- 43.
Chodorov, “A Really Free School System,” 23.
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Currie-Knight, K. (2019). Frank Chodorov: Consumer Sovereignty, Markets in Education, and “A School on Every Corner”. In: Education in the Marketplace. Palgrave Studies in Classical Liberalism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11778-8_3
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