Liberty Fund

 And speaking of conferences...

I participated in one of these Liberty Fund events once, in Indianapolis, at the invitation of the professor who moderated our discussions over several days. I didn't realize we "young" scholars -- I'm pretty sure I was over 40 at the time-- were being vetted for recruitment into the libertarian cause. Don't know if Buchanan was in attendance, I wouldn't have recognized him then, but I was never invited back. Must've been a "weak" prospect, possibly even a "misfit" and "bad apple"... I hope. 😉  

Anyway, I was pleased to drink their wine. (Actually I recall being more excited by the craft breweries in the vicinity.)

"Buchanan was hired by yet another Koch-backed organization, the Liberty Fund, to run what became annual summer conferences for the recruitment and training of young talent (defined as under age thirty-five, later upped to forty) in the social sciences. In essence, he was being asked to identify and begin preparing the intellectual cadre that Koch now believed was so critical to the cause’s success. Buchanan relished the role of gatekeeper. The evaluations he submitted for who had promise and who did not were highly detailed. One participant was “a highly articulate speaker, with basic instincts you and I share,” he reported, although “a bit ‘slick’” for “the country boys.” Another, despite a “poor expository style” and annoying “soft-left” reflexes, was still “interesting” and worth watching. The rankings were blunt: the judge divided the prospects into “Very Strong, Medium, [and] Weak.” At the best sessions, he could boast new “camaraderie” and “no misfits.” Like Koch, Buchanan was not squeamish about throwing flotsam overboard. Anyone unsound in doctrine or lacking in promise was unlikely to be invited back. He tried to “insure that no bad apples get into the barrel, for such can spoil the whole thing.” He required “explicit recommendation by those we trust for potential participants.” And he rewarded himself and his recruits in high style. The man who still called himself a country boy and railed against liberal “elitists” did not stint on frills, personally preselecting wines such as a 1966 Château Lafite-Rothschild that today would retail between $300 and $1,000 per bottle." 145-6

"Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America" by Nancy MacLean: https://a.co/iOUZFmb

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Postscript. "I have run Liberty Fund programs and to the best of my knowledge nothing like this ever took place in them. It doesn’t surprise me that the Koch people want results for their money but if there are some talented “Left leaning” people in the group there should be some good conversations." John Lachs