Learn Liberty Blog
We tackle big questions about what makes society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in.
Blog Posts in Focus
Five myths about healthcare
April 1, 2022 | Nazlican Kanmaz
Healthcare in the United States is Pandora’s Box: even the mere thought of it releases physical and emotional curses upon policymakers.
Five myths about inflation
April 12, 2022 | Russell Coates
In order to be able to address the root problems of inflation, we need to dispel some common myths. Here are our top five picks:
Legends of Liberty: Lysander Spooner
November 18, 2021 | Learn Liberty Team
As we witnessed during the 2020 election season, and as we are sure to witness during the upcoming holiday season, the United States Postal Service doesn’t exactly instill confidence.
Blog Posts
Five myths about inflation
April 12, 2022 | Russell Coates
In order to be able to address the root problems of inflation, we need to dispel some common myths. Here are our top five picks:
Five myths about healthcare
April 1, 2022 | Nazlican Kanmaz
Healthcare in the United States is Pandora’s Box: even the mere thought of it releases physical and emotional curses upon policymakers.
What makes Ayn Rand so significant
February 28, 2022 | Russell Coates
When we think of terms such as capitalism, individualism, or selfishness, one name comes to mind: Ayn Rand. But what makes Rand so significant?
Freedom Convoy: Justin Trudeau chooses repression over removing mandates
February 19, 2022 | Russell Coates
In response to the Freedom Convoy, Justin Tudeau’s government has invoked new powers with extremely serious implications.
Modernity is unthinkable without capitalism
February 2, 2022 | Nicola Iannello
Modernity is unthinkable without capitalism, yet Ayn Rand defined capitalism as an unknown ideal, one whose benefits people did not understand
Legends of Liberty: Edward Jenner
January 9, 2022 | Learn Liberty Team
One thing everyone seemingly can agree on is that Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and other pharmaceutical companies developed their Covid-19 vaccines in world-record time. Less than a year passed from the outbreak of the virus in January 2020 until a British woman received the first dose in December 2020. (And they could have been […]
Legends of Liberty: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
December 27, 2021 | Learn Liberty Team
In recent history, too many Latin American politicians have fallen victim to a Marxist view of the world — and they have dragged their countries into poverty. Of course, Latin America has also been home to some of the world’s most powerful pro-liberty voices — including Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a Mexican nun […]
Legends of Liberty: Carl Menger
December 20, 2021 | Learn Liberty Team
Here’s a brainbuster for you: The product on the left will help keep you alive for 6-8 weeks. It costs $4.49. The other is nothing more than pretty to look at. It costs $161. Why? This paradox — the water-diamond paradox — troubled some of the world’s greatest minds. Plato wondered about it; Copernicus and […]
Build Back Better is more about handouts than human infrastructure
December 11, 2021 | Russell Coates
The Build Back Better Act is an attempt by the Biden administration to distribute handouts for specific sets of voters ahead of the 2022 midterms
Legends of Liberty: Ed O’Bannon
December 9, 2021 | Learn Liberty Team
Ask any Millennial who liked sports growing up: EA Sports video games were a big part of our fandom. On PlayStation 2s, for hours on end, we could manage our own virtual teams, simulating seasons deep into the 2030s and beyond. Even now, hearing the games’ soundtracks and seeing the games’ covers is a hit […]
Legends of Liberty: Lenny Bruce
December 3, 2021 | Learn Liberty Team
E.M. Forster once said, “How do I know what I think until I see what I say?” He was observing that, in our brains, thoughts often bounce and jump around frenetically; for many of us, we have to verbalize — or write down — our thoughts before they gain clarity. So, in a sense, the […]
Legends of Liberty: Arlo Guthrie
November 24, 2021 | Learn Liberty Team
Over the past 4 Thursdays, we’ve highlighted some of the most original and prolific writers in the history of economic and political thought. Ayn Rand, Frederic Bastiat, Thomas Sowell, and Lysander Spooner inspired us all and helped lay the foundation for the modern liberty movement. But today is not an ordinary Thursday. In the United […]
Legends of Liberty: Lysander Spooner
November 18, 2021 | Learn Liberty Team
As we witnessed during the 2020 election season, and as we are sure to witness during the upcoming holiday season, the United States Postal Service doesn’t exactly instill confidence.
Legends of Liberty: Thomas Sowell
November 11, 2021 | Learn Liberty Team
Last week, we wrote about Frederic Bastiat, the king of communicating economic and philosophical ideas in simple, direct (and often funny) ways. Of course, in the 19th century, Bastiat’s medium was the printed word. But if you had to find an heir to his throne in the social media era, Thomas Sowell would be a […]
A tax on unrealized capital gains would have unprecedented destructive potential
November 6, 2021 | Russell Coates
If levied, the “billionaire tax” targeting unrealized capital gains would penalize entrepreneurship and have unprecedented destructive potential
Legends of Liberty: Frederic Bastiat
November 4, 2021 | Learn Liberty Team
This is the second of Learn Liberty’s “Legends” series. Read our first, on Ayn Rand, HERE. He never won a Nobel Prize. He never wrote a New York Times bestseller. In the history books, he doesn’t sit alongside Adam Smith, Ludwig von Mises, and Friedrich Hayek as all-time great economists. He doesn’t even have an […]
Legends of Liberty: Ayn Rand
October 28, 2021 | Learn Liberty Team
This is the first of Learn Liberty’s “Legends” series. See our second, on Frederic Bastiat, HERE. Few names elicit a stronger emotional response than Ayn (eye-n) Rand. Look no further than the replies to this tweet: Much of the hatred comes from people (usually on the political left) who, as you can see in that […]
Objectivism: a philosophical defense of liberty
October 22, 2021 | Russell Coates
To make a coherent defense of liberty, it is important not to neglect the philosophical and moral considerations that underpin our individual rights.
We cannot continue to ignore the root causes of America’s debt crisis
October 16, 2021 | Russell Coates
Addressing the debt ceiling may have been pushed further down the road, but the root causes of America’s debt crisis need urgent attention.
Atlas Shrugged: a masterpiece with a lasting impact
October 10, 2021 | Russell Coates
Since its publication in 1957, Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged continues to have a lasting impact and remains a cornerstone of pro-liberty literature
A global minimum tax rate will stifle competition and hurt consumers
September 4, 2021 | Russell Coates
The G7’s recent plan for a global minimum tax rate of 15% is a terrible idea that will hurt consumers and restrict competition.
What’s with the self-identified “libertarians” on the far-right?
July 15, 2021 | Joseph Simnett
Self-identified libertarians have a variety of core principles, and different stressors can push some towards more nefarious ideologies, like the far-right
Congestion tax in Manhattan: Readers speak!
March 9, 2018 | Michael Munger
Last month, I wrote a post that asked whether Manhattan should tax ride-shares, tax all vehicles, do something else, or do nothing at all. And you had some ideas about that. Below, I have tried to combine your answers (I got nearly 30) into a manageable set of categories. Responses were about evenly split among […]
Learn Liberty Turns 7
February 11, 2018 | Learn Liberty Team
Since our inaugural videos in 2011, Learn Liberty has sought to advance the ideas of classical liberalism with the help of the scholars and professors who champion them. We’re proud to say that seven years running, the legacy of our early videos lives on in the work we do today. At the core of the […]