In the realm of American public affairs, Americans’ opinions are often shaped more by current events than their particular beliefs about the past. This can readily be seen in the development of American opinion towards the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals. Just after the end of World War II, Americans strongly supported the International Military Tribunal and the judgments they rendered. They looked to guarantee the appropriate punishment of the Nazis as well as to deter future aggressors. However, following the delivery of the verdicts, a small segment of Americans began to criticize both the ideas behind the trials and their judgments. The emergence of the USSR as the Cold War enemy led some in Congress and in the print media to question the efficacy of the trials as either an instrument of justice or a deterrent to future aggressors. The verdicts marked the end of bipartisan support for the trials; while some, mostly Democrats, were pleased with the establishment of moral and legal precedents for dealing with aggressors, some Republicans, particularly strict constructionists, expressed great concern over the apparent violations of the Constitution implied by the Tribunal and its rulings. While most sought punishment of Nazi criminals, the very legitimacy of the trials was questioned by those concerned with their legality and their effect on the future.

In The Road to Serfdom, F.A. Hayek codifies classical liberalism, later termed libertarianism. The principle of Hayek’s philosophy is freedom; economic freedom is inextricably linked with political freedom. Although Hayek does not explicitly discuss immigration in The Road to Serfdom, he alludes to an idea called freedom of movement, which are basic freedoms of mobility which are protected under the Rule of Law. Similarly, Milton Friedman contends that freedom, liberty and individualism are not to be usurped by government intervention. In Capitalism and Freedom, Friedman argues that freedom is most efficiently achieved through the capitalist economy. Efficiency and competition in capitalist structures are supported through the freedom of contract, Rule of Law and nondiscriminatory market participation. The Rule of Law is a fundamental value of conservative philosophy, surmised by both Hayek and Friedman as essential in attaining personal freedoms. Because conservative values are rooted in the values of freedom, individuality and liberty, the Rule of Law has been adopted by conservatives to secure these freedoms to the individual.

The Bush Administration, however, has adopted policies which betray this basic principle of conservative ideology. The relationship between political and economic freedom is essential in establishing a free individual. According to Hayek, “economic freedom was the outcome of a free growth of economic activity which had been the undersigned and unforeseen by-product of political freedom.”1