SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN
FreedomFest attendance proves that the masses don’t want much to think about
BY DOUG FRENCH

Doug French, associate editor of Liberty Watch: The Magazine, is an executive vice president of a Nevada bank. He is the 2005 recipient of the Murray N. Rothbard Award from the Center for Libertarian Studies. Other stories by Doug French

Reportedly, a thousand people attended FreedomFest at the Bally’s/Paris resort held just after July 4th this year. But it didn’t feel like 1,000 freedom lovers were roaming the halls of the aging resort. Producer Mark Skousen continues to keep the Fest alive, but attendance hasn’t grown since the first one was held in 2002. Back in 2003, there were supposedly 900 attendees and 60 exhibitors, compared to 50 exhibitors this year, including Liberty Watch: The Magazine. 

Skousen has stretched the liberty tent to its limits over the years, propping up attendance with investment newsletter readers, natural resource investors and conservatives. The Fest used to follow on the heels of the popular Money Show, with investors receiving a free ticket to FreedomFest if they stuck around a couple extra days. For a couple of years, the conservative Young America’s Foundation sponsored the event. Keynote speakers have included the likes of Ben Stein and Ted Nugent. 

This years Fest looked to exploit the 7-7-07 quirk in the calendar and stood on its own, with considerable help from the buzz created by Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul. But, the strange goulash of speakers continued, and the tension between pro-war conservatives and peace-loving Libertarians was palpable. The conference by no means focused on the Iraq war issue, but even during the “Is Las Vegas Libertarian?” panel on the events first day, yours truly and Wayne Allyn Root sparred on the subject. And the Fest grand finale featured a debate about foreign policy with Ron Paul and Doug Casey, taking the Libertarian-peace position while Danish D’Souza and Larry Abraham brought conservatives in the crowd to their feet with rousing speeches endorsing American imperialism. Even speakers pitching investment ideas during the conference would throw in their two cents worth on the war issue. 

LewRockwell.com and AntiWar.com webmiester Eric A. Garris called Saturday 7-7-07 “Ron Paul Day at FreedomFest in Las Vegas,” on the LRC blog. “Ron Paul has been the hottest topic among the close to 1,000 attendees,” Garris wrote. “The one thing in common among them is their enthusiasm for Ron’s campaign.” But, after hearing D’Souza and Abraham garner as much applause as Paul on the war issue, I think there were plenty of McCain and Giuliani voters in the crowd. 

Providing seven different hour-long presentations from eight in the morning to six at night for three full days is a next-to-impossible scheduling task. Unfortunately, while a number of different points of view were provided, the quality of presentations filled every rung on the food chain. Resource investment guru Rick Rule mentioned the 80/20 Rule in one of his presentations: 80 percent of output comes from 20 percent of the people, etc. FreedomFest was unable to escape the 80/20 Rule.

For instance, while Ron Paul spoke to 600 people on “How To Win Without Compromising,” I was among just a few folks hoping to learn something from the legendary investor and author James Dale Davidson, who wrote The Sovereign Individual, The Great Reckoning, and Blood in the Streets. 

Davidson’s speech title was the most intriguing of the entire conference: “How to Become a Billionaire by Marrying Miss Brazil!” Unfortunately, I wasted 30 minutes as Davidson babbled on about getting divorced and at age 58 meeting the 27 year-old Miss Brazil, and marrying her. The only penetrating insight he imparted was that if you are an old single guy and have a chance to marry a young Brazilian beauty queen — go for it!

But there were some upside surprises at the event as well. Mathematician Nassim Nicolas Taleb, author of this year’s hottest investment book, The Black Swan, was brilliant. Steven Hayward’s movie, “Global Warming: An Inconvenient Truth or a Convenient Fiction” refuted Al Gore’s point by point, and Rick Rule (see Money Matters this month), Doug Casey, John Mackey and John Pugsley were excellent and thought provoking as always. 

Of course, with seven presentations in progress simultaneously, a person can attend less than 15 percent of the conference. But, Mr. Skousen and family recorded all the sessions and looked to be doing a brisk business at the CD order window. 

But the rest of the world isn’t buying or listening to these tapes. John Pugsley pointed out that despite all the promotion, only 700 people (his estimate) were attending FreedomFest, while 100,000 used to show up to hear minister Billy Graham. 

The masses want to something to believe in, while a scant few of us want something think about.