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Civil Liberties
Who’s Running for President in 2024?
The Lesser-known Presidential Candidates and Parties November 2024 will see the American electorate picking a new head of state. Despite low levels of approval, it seems as though the two major party candidates will again be Donald Trump and incumbent Joe Biden. I’ll cover them below, but let’s face it: You’re probably sick of hearing about them by now. Besides, they are not the only candidates for president this year; each party still has a few token candidates and there will also emerge third-party and independent candidates. Who are these people and parties with little to no chance
Civil Liberties
My Experience with Campus Climate at a Liberal Arts College
William F. Buckley famously authored God and Man at Yale in 1951. In it, he decried his alma mater’s overt efforts to undermine what he called good,
History
Debunking Putin’s Alternative “History”
On February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin commenced a brutal, full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Two years on from this calamity, let’s examine
All Learn Liberty Blog Posts
Free Speech
Desperate Students to College Administrators: Stop Being Paternalistic Babysitters
If you’ve been part of any conversation about American higher education recently, you might have heard someone complain that colleges and universities are morphing from educators to babysitters. Now, students at Dartmouth College are fighting back against the perceived shift. Leaders of the school’s student government delivered a scathing petition, signed by 1,200 students, demanding […]
Democracy and Voting
How My Annual Halloween Parade Explains Donald Trump’s Success
Many public intellectuals and political pundits were surprised by Donald Trump’s ascendancy to the Republican nomination. In my opinion, this is because they succumbed to what has (unfairly) become known as the “Pauline Kael syndrome.” Pauline Kael is the New Yorker critic who was reputed to have remarked after the 1972 Presidential election that “Nixon […]
Democracy and Voting
No, Your Friends are Probably Not Moving to Canada
Each presidential election year—perhaps this year more than most—we hear from friends, family, and celebrities the familiar refrain of, “If he/she wins, I’m moving to Canada!” Actress Lena Dunham is just the most recent example of this, claiming that if Republican Donald Trump is elected she “really will” move to Canada. The prevalence of this […]
Criminal Justice
Officer Nero Is Acquitted in Freddie Gray Case, Americans Left with Unresolved Questions
Last April, the entire nation watched in shock and horror as the city of Baltimore descended into flames and police militarized against protesters who were demonstrating against the arrest and death of Freddie Gray. It started with a foot chase through a Baltimore neighborhood on April 12, 2015. Police claimed that they had first confronted Gray […]
Free Markets and Capitalism
The Hidden Costs of Mandatory Maternity Leave
A new bill has been proposed recently in the District of Columbia which would entitle employees to 12 weeks of paid leave when they have a child. Diana Furchgott-Roth, a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, responded with a thoughtful commentary urging people to remember who would pay the costs of this policy: DC businesses […]
Environmentalism
Greener than Thou?
I have a confession to make. I don’t recycle as many people understand the term. I try to reduce and reuse-I “recycle” shirts, towels, dishes, and the like in that I don’t discard them after one use, but several years ago I stopped recycling in the sense that I don’t put bottles, cans, and newspaper […]
Immigration
Trump’s Plan to Deport 11 Million Immigrants Is Absolutely Terrifying, and This Is Why
In 1954, Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized Operation Wetback, a project that rounded up hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants and deported them. Now policy leader Donald Trump is proposing that we do something similar—on a much larger scale. Think 11 million immigrants deported in two years. Now, many argue that if immigrants are coming to the […]
Poverty & Inequality
There's One Really Obvious Problem with Universal Basic Income
Social Security is incredibly difficult for politicians to cut or reform—any changes in the program would deprive a large portion of their voting base of benefits, which could cause politicians to lose the next election. The problem would only be worse with a universal basic income,
History
The Tax Code Is Designed to Penalize Working Women
Editor’s Note: This is part two in a two part series from Sarah Skwire on women and liberty. You can read part one here. The Tax Code Is Designed to Penalize Working Women Shortly after writing a check to the IRS, I got an $800 bill from my accountant for her work preparing my taxes, […]
Immigration
3 Myths About Immigrants You Probably Grew up Believing
There is perhaps no public policy issue that has more misinformation around it than immigration. Because immigrants (except for naturalized citizens) can’t vote, they make for a favorite political scapegoat for a stagnant economy, meager job creation, and slow wage growth. Immigrants and Economic Growth In the new Learn Liberty video below, Texas Tech Professor […]
Uncategorized
The Single Best Way to Honor Our Armed Forces Is to Stop Sending Them Into Harm's Way
Saturday is Armed Forces Day, which honors Americans serving in the five military branches – the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard. Their contributions to defending American freedom deserve honor every day of the year. But part of honoring the Armed Forces also means recognizing that they should only be put in […]
Uncategorized
Debate Over Whether FISA Lets The Government Spy on Americans Set to Escalate
The tension between government surveillance, citizens’ privacy, and national security has been an ongoing issue for years. From concerns over the Patriot Act, Edward Snowden’s leaks and the controversy over NSA surveillance, and more recently the FBI’s case against Apple over encryption, evolving technology is constantly raising new questions about surveillance and privacy.
Basic Economics
Open Letter, Part 2: Minimum Wage Laws Are Immoral
Editor’s Note: This is part 2 of an open letter from Prof. Howard Baetjer to a friend who commented on one of his Facebook posts about minimum wage laws. You can view part 1 here.Baetjer and his friend, Adam, look at the minimum wage issue from very different perspectives, so Baetjer wrote an open letter. […]
Uncategorized
WhatsApp, Encryption, and Your Right to Privacy
The messaging service WhatsApp has run into problems with the Brazilian government for failing to turn over data relating to a criminal investigation. With over one billion users, the wildly popular app features a major benefit that many governments disapprove of: it encrypts all messages sent through the app. This is only the most recent […]
Lobbying & Special Interests
How the State Became the American Woman’s Real Enemy
Editor’s Note: This is part one in a two part series from Sarah Skwire on women and liberty. You can read part two here. I’ve been a feminist for as long as I can remember. One of our oldest family stories is of Young Sarah asking Mom why Puppy Chow had a commercial that said “Don’t […]
Free Markets and Capitalism
People Hate the Top One Percent. Here’s What’s Wrong With That
As I was walking around the waterfront in Vancouver, I noticed some beautiful yachts. I took a picture with the largest, dreaming about how nice it would be to have one of my own. After my walk, I returned to my hotel room, scrolled through the television channels, and stumbled across the show Secret Lives […]
Voting
IDK, Not Trump Tho: Donald Trump and Democracy
What’s the difference between a plurality and a majority in a democratic system? Professor Donald Boudreaux explains the huge difference in a recent post at Cafe Hayek by comparing the different voter preferences if Donald Trump wins 40 versus 60 percent of the votes in the Republican primaries. As Boudreaux writes: It’s a common (and […]
Poverty & Inequality
Shouldn’t Big Businesses Just Be Nicer?
A small group of workers walked out at Walmart on Black Friday 2012, and the company has been for a few decades now a leading emblem of what is supposedly wrong with the modern global economy. Shouldn’t Walmart just be more generous? Not necessarily. First, the managers of corporations are answerable to their shareholders. This […]
Immigration
Economics of the Syrian Refugee Crisis
Editor’s Note: This post was first published on the Cato at Liberty blog. The Syrian Civil War has produced about 5.8 million Syrians seeking refuge or asylum elsewhere–a scale of population displacement unseen since World War II. Although the flow into Europe dominates the news, most of the registered Syrian refugees remain in the Middle […]
Free Markets and Capitalism
Why You Can’t Just “Reject” Capitalism
The Washington Post recently blared the headline: “Majority of Millennials Now Reject Capitalism, Poll Shows.” I suspect, perhaps unfairly, that this is a matter of some pleasure for the Post’s editorial board. But if you actually read the article, a different picture emerges. In fact, 42 percent of the millennials polled say they support capitalism. […]
Free Markets and Capitalism
Government Launched the First Rocket, but Private Companies Made It Affordable
Fans of increased government intervention in the economy often like to justify their position by pointing to the success of the moon landing. “If we can put a man on the moon,” the refrain goes, “we can surely rebuild our crumbling infrastructure (or provide everyone with healthcare, etc.).” There’s no question the moon landing was […]
Free Markets and Capitalism
Everyone Is Ignoring How Free Trade Really Impacts Income Inequality
As the election season heats up, candidates from both sides of the political spectrum seem to agree on one thing: Free trade hurts Americans. There is also a fierce debate about whether—or to what degree—free trade increases income inequality in the country. As commentators continue to disparage free trade (often on products like smartphones, computers, […]
Free Markets and Capitalism
When I Look at My Donald Trump Tie Made in China, I Think About This Huge Economic Fallacy
The presidential campaign has brought up several economic issues, and international trade has been front and center of the debate. So, as I look at my Donald Trump tie that was made in China and my Donald Trump shirts that were made in Bangladesh and Indonesia, I want to clarify some basic economic concepts dealing […]
Role of Government
Legal and Cultural Approaches to Pluralism and Diversity
The term “pluralism” connotes both a description of our deep differences and a political response to those differences. Let’s start with pluralism as a description of our cultural reality. Our society is incredibly diverse when it comes to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, and sexuality. We have different life experiences, we live in different communities, […]