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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
Uncategorized
The Next “Panama Papers” Scandal May Involve You
It won’t be the bottom 99 percent complaining that the top 1 percent has too much financial privacy. It’ll be everyone — complaining that we don’t have enough of it. And financial “privacy” will come to mean financial security… and freedom itself.
The Fed & Monetary Policy
Are Low Interest Rates Good for the Economy?
The Federal Reserve has been in the news a lot lately because of its attempts at conducting monetary policy in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. In December of 2015 the Fed’s policy-making body, the Federal Open Market Committee, voted for the first time in 7 years to raise the interest rate on bank […]
Environmentalism
Featured On Demand Program of the Week: Protecting the Environment
Saving a species from extinction is a daunting and important task. On many occasions, legislation designed to protect endangered species can be both inefficient and ineffective. Protecting the environment has the same problems – no matter how well-intentioned environmental protection laws are, unintended consequences often make bad situations worse, exacerbating pollution and environmental waste. Can […]
Poverty & Inequality
How White Privilege Could Explain Everything About Donald Trump's Success
There was an amazing, squirmingly funny Saturday Night Live skit (Season 10, 1984), with Eddie Murphy, called “White Like Me.” In it, the Eddy Murphy character dresses in “white face,” and travels around New York City. He finds that the disparity in racial treatment is even larger than he expected—and it takes the form not […]
History
How the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion Can Help Us Understand the 2015 Paris Terror Attacks
Today is the 55th anniversary of the disastrous 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, which consisted of a “secret” U.S.-sponsored military operation intended to overthrow the government of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. The invasion failed miserably and was defeated in just three days. What it succeeded in doing was strengthening Cuba’s leadership and its ties with […]
Free Markets and Capitalism
3 Persistent Myths About Capitalism That Need to Be Addressed
“If we look at the history of the world, a huge fraction of the improvements in standard of living has come because private businesses have created new products, have given people jobs, have generated profits that raise people out of poverty and allow them to live fruitful and productive lives with reasonable standards of living.” […]
Lobbying & Special Interests
Ethanol: Why is there corn in your car?
In 2012, we released a video answering the question, “Why is there corn in your Coke?” Now, Jared Meyer sat down with Robert Bryce, an energy policy expert at the Manhattan Institute, to answer the question, “Why is there corn in your car?” The corn in your car—or rather, the corn you put into your […]
Criminal Justice
What Causes Police Brutality?
Last month, we noted that a police officer in San Antonio was fired after he body slammed a 12-year-old girl. In addition to his excessive use of force, the officer in question failed to properly report the incident. This case is a win for police accountability, but it’s also just one of the latest examples […]
Free Speech
Freedom of Speech on Campus: "All Lives Matter" vs. "Black Lives Matter"
A recent incident at American University’s School of Law highlights just how divisive the issue of campus speech has become. As the Washington Post reported, it began with a note: Earlier this month, someone left a hand-written flier on the door of a faculty member’s office at American University’s Washington College of Law that read, […]
Basic Economics
Economist and Poet Debate Vocabulary
Why don’t economists get invited to the good parties? Professor Sarah Skwire (Poet) thinks it has to do with economists’ choice of words. According to her, it seems, the optimal amount of economists to invite to an evening social would be close to zero. Economists probably aren’t known for the liveliness of their dinner conversations, but […]
Role of Government
Why freedom matters
What if I told you that some people were better than others? I don’t mean better at tennis or better at singing or better at math. I mean a better breed of person, entitled by nature to exercise authority over you. I’m guessing you would reject that claim, possibly even find it insulting. I would join […]
Role of Government
Featured On Demand Program of the Week: What is "Libertarian?"
You’ve heard the phrase but what exactly does it mean to be “libertarian” or “classical liberal”? Ah, the question of the sages, like Locke and Smith. (Not to mention newer sages like Hayek, Friedman, Rothbard and Nozick!) Now hear it best from one of Learn Liberty’s own classical liberal sages – Dr. Nigel Ashford. Join him in […]
Role of Government
When the Government Tries to Protect Your Freedom and Ruins Everything
“That, gentlemen, is freedom.”So spoke an esteemed friend and mentor to me, decades ago, on listening to clarinetist Edmund Hall play an effortlessly glorious solo on the Louis Armstrong record Ambassador Satch. “What could he mean?” I wondered. “What has making music to do with freedom?” He did not explain.I now believe what my friend […]
Uncategorized
How Amazon Turns Trash Into Treasure
I use a lot of books in my line of work. I can get a lot of them from the library. I use Amazon’s Kindle app to download a lot of books and organize my notes on them. Some books—like F.A. Hayek’s Individualism and Economic Order—are available for $0 download or on a website like […]
Role of Government
Why We Don’t Live in a Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones returns for its sixth season this month and fans are eagerly awaiting a resolution to the numerous unfinished story lines. And while the specific storylines are no doubt interesting, many fans also appreciate the deeper philosophical themes of series. One of these recurring themes is the tension between individualism and collectivism. Many […]
Free Speech
New Gallup Survey: 73% of College Students Don’t Think Free Speech Is Being Threatened
A new Gallup survey, sponsored by the John S. and James Knight Foundation and the Newseum Institute, compiled 3,072 phone interviews with college students and 2,031 interviews with adults to study how Americans feel about free speech. The findings? Apparently, 73 percent of college students thought that their ability to freely express themselves was secure. […]
Voting
Election 2016 Is Here; Get Your Popcorn Ready
The 2016 presidential election season is in full swing: get your popcorn ready! As public choice economist, I absolutely LOVE this particular election season! Why, you might ask? I love this election because my training in public choice—a field of economics which applies the basic principles of economics to politics—leads me to look at our […]
Uncategorized
The Logic of Mr. Krugman’s Mercantilism
In this previous post I wrote that “[t]here is yet a deeper economic fallacy that infects Mr. Krugman’s recent defense of mercantilism – a problem that I hope to blog on soon.” What follows is that promised blog post. Mr. Krugman’s most-recent defense of mercantilism boils down to the assertion that the case for free trade […]
Lobbying & Special Interests
Panama Papers Raise Crony Questions
The recent document leak known as the Panama Papers suggests that numerous world leaders and their cronies as well as other powerful individuals avoid paying taxes by setting up shell companies in Panama, a country known for its banking secrecy. But it’s important to remember that just because people opened a bank account or created […]
Uncategorized
California’s Massive Minimum Wage Hike to Benefit Rich Coastal Cities at Expense of Inland Regions
Yesterday, California Governor Jerry Brown and the state legislature agreed to a plan to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour across the state by 2022 in order to gradually increase the earnings of 6.5 million Californians. Regarding the proposal, Brown said: This plan raises the minimum wage in a careful and responsible […]
Uncategorized
Quote of the Day: Hayek on Knowledge
For more Hayekian insight into the extent and constraints of human knowledge be sure to read Hayek’s seminal work, “The Use of Knowledge in Society” (pdf).
Uncategorized
Considering a Career in Ideas? We have a Fantastic Summer Opportunity for You!
Are you… …considering a career in ideas in order to make an impact on society? …looking to grow intellectually and wrestle with new perspectives as you move toward a full-time career? ….wanting to network with like-minded individuals who are equally excited about the big questions as you are? If so, you might want to consider […]