The Conflationof LaissezFairewithRegulation-ImposedEugenics 31Yet the notionthatthe Stateshouldcontrolhumanbreeding,purportedlyto improve
biologicallydriventraitsin humanbeings,predatesGalton.InThe Republic, Platoapprov-
inglyattributesthe ideato Socrates.Platorecommendsthat for “our rulers” to be “skillful
physiciansof the State,” theymust“bringaboutdesirableunions”—legislativelyimposed
sexualcouplings—“betweentheirsubjects.” Healthypeoplemustbe pairedwithother
healthypeople,and likewisethe unhealthypairedwiththe unhealthy,“and the offspring
of the onemustbe reared,andof the otherdestroyed;in thiswaythe flockwillbe
preservedin prime.” The childrenof the healthyare not to be raisedby theirownparents,
incidentally,but an entireteamof women.Thatis consistentwiththe ideaofallomothering
discussedby evolutionarypsychologistSarahBlafferHrdy.Platoaddsthatwhena child
is raisedby this teamof women,the childmaycomeintocontactwithhis or her own
mother,but thatthe informationof whois whoseparentor childis to be kepta secret
fromeveryone.“The motherswill be broughtto the foldand will sucklethe children;care
howevermustbe takenthatnoneof themrecognisetheirownoffspring.. .”^43 The Nazis
wouldcarryout sucha program.Underthe Lebensbornprogramled by HeinrichHimm-
ler (1900–1945),the Statepairedoff the Aryanmenand womenit judgedto be of highest
quality,andthe childrenwhoresultedfromthisendeavorwerenevernotifiedof the
identifiesof theiractualparents.^44 Suchis the logicalconclusionof the notionthat a child
shouldbe raisedby the communityas a whole,not merelyhis or her parents.
LesterThurow(b. 1938)—deanof MIT’s managementschool,economicadviserto 1981
DemocraticpresidentialnomineeGeorgeMcGovern,^45 anda onetimeeditorialboard
memberof theNewYorkTimes—exhibitshis ownobliviousnessto the historyof eugenics
as he posesas someoneknowledgeableaboutit. In 1997,Thurowblithelyasserted,“A
nineteenthcenturyeconomist,HerbertSpencer,formulateda concepthe calledsurvival-
of-the-fittestcapitalism... Spencerbelievedit wasthe dutyof the economicallystrongto
drivethe economicallyweakintoextinction... .Spencercreatedthe eugenicsmovementto
stopthe unfitfromreproducing,sincethis wassimplythe mosthumanewayto do what
the economywoulddo in a morebrutalway(starvation)if left to itself” (emphasis
added).Predictably,Thurowthenraisedthe specterof Spencerin orderto spookhis own
contemporarypoliticalopponents.As Thurowwrotethesewords,the Republican-con-
trolledCongressproposedaContractWithAmericathatwouldostensiblyreducefederal
welfarespending.Thurowhowled,“TheContractwithAmericais verySpencerianin
toneandoffersa returnto survival-of-the-fittestcapitalism.”^46 In caseanyonemissedit,
“Spencerianin tone” is a euphemismforevil. Occasionallythe actualwordis employed.
Onepiecein the LondonGuardianblaresthatSpencerwas“a down-rightevil man...
whosepassionfor eugenicsand eliminationmadehim the daydreamerof [Nazi]thingsto
come.”^47
Throughandthrough,the veryrationalebehindAmericanThoughtis Hofstadter’s
attemptto takethe dirtiedpostwarreputationof governisteugenicsandsmearit onto
free-marketeconomics.Thurow’s ignorantremarksare a testamentto this influence.Hof-
stadter’s formerstudent,Eric Foner,confessesthat Hofstadterwasan ardentanti-capital-
ist throughoutthe 1930s.Thoughpublishedin 1944,SDATwasa revisedversionof the
Ph.D.dissertationthatHofstadtercompletedin 1932.In this decadeHofstadterwasso
stridentin his leftismthathe joinedthe CommunistPartyin 1938.Hofstadterwasclear
abouthis impetus—“My fundamentalreasonfor joiningis that I don’t like capitalismand
wantto get rid of it.” Hofstadterleft the partyin disillusionmentthe followingyear,^48 but
he statedthatone aspectof his ideologyremainedunchanged—“I hatecapitalismand
everythingthatgoeswithit.”^49 Throughouthis twenties,Hofstadterincreasinglydis-
tancedhimselffromthe communistlabelas he remainedcommittedto propagatinga
Progressivereformistagenda.In 1955HofstadteradmittedthatSDAT’s bias“wasnatu-
rallyinfluencedby the politicaland moralcontroversyof the NewDealera.”^50