Tag: government
The king is dead, long live chaos! Why Hobbes was wrong and Burke was right.
May 30, 2017 | Post
Early liberal theorists gave French revolutionaries the tools to overthrow oppressive kings, but also to unleash chaos and violence.
Markets work with altruism, too
April 4, 2017 | Post
The market can route self-interest toward the common good. But the market channels altruism better than the state too.
Fashion design and copyright
March 30, 2017 | Post
Should fashion designs be eligible for copyrights? When I listen to people talk about this issue, many of the same interesting arguments come up. These people know about designer knockoffs and feel that something is not quite fair about them. Yet they also view copyists as moving innovation along in the fashion world. Copying releases […]
How regulations block economic progress
March 27, 2017 | Post
To discover the Next Big Thing, you need to think outside the box.
Famine is about freedom, not just food
March 26, 2017 | Post
How can people still starve in a world overflowing with food and a vast international aid apparatus?
Promises and the right to resist injustice
March 26, 2017 | Post
The fact that government agents have promised to obey the government does not excuse them when they obey unjust orders, nor does it relieve them of moral culpability for following those orders.
History, progress, and the fate of gay marriage
March 23, 2017 | Post
The future belongs to everyone, and the arc of the universe bends nowhere in particular.
Liberty and "social" justice for all is impossible
March 19, 2017 | Post
To provide benefits under the umbrella of social justice, the government will have to violate individuals’ rights to themselves and their property.
Remembering the forgotten women, victims of government
March 17, 2017 | Post
in honor of Women’s History Month, I want to highlight three stories of women you probably have never heard of — victims of government.
How urban planners broke Brooklyn
March 17, 2017 | Post
Zoning and landmark laws have frozen much of New York into a life-size historical diorama: neighborhoods frozen in time, where the only thing that goes up is the rent.
Why don’t humans kill each other like we used to?
March 16, 2017 | Post
Pinker claims — but fails to prove — that early states significantly increased human welfare by reducing the rate of war death.
Andrew Jackson is a bad role model for the president
March 15, 2017 | Post
Donald Trump added a portrait of Andrew Jackson to the White House Oval Office shortly after his inauguration. Why Jackson?
Patents are out of control, and they’re hurting innovation
March 14, 2017 | Post
The government issues thousands of new patents every week — each one a new regulation — with little to no oversight or review.
Vivien Kellems: "Please Indict Me!"
March 13, 2017 | Post
“All our liberties are due to [wo]men who, when their conscience has compelled them, have broken the laws of the land.”
Why we’re being watched: Top 6 Learn Liberty resources for understanding the new CIA leaks
March 10, 2017 | Post
Here are the top six Learn Liberty resources for interpreting Wikileaks’ “Vault 7” documents on the CIA.
Here are 10 classic films that will make you question government
March 5, 2017 | Post
Whether you’re a casual moviegoer or a diehard cinephile, you will learn a lot about government from watching these ten great movies, all of which are rated as being some of the best of all time by IMDb and the American Film Institute.
How a telephone company used the government to monopolize an industry for decades
March 3, 2017 | Post
“Oh for the days of Ma Bell!” is not a lament we’re likely to hear. And for good reason. Before the breakup of AT&T, America’s telephone system was a government-sanctioned monopoly characterized by stagnant service offerings, high costs, and a glacial pace of consumer-facing innovation. So it was distressing when a federal appeals court engaged […]
What federalism does for individual liberty
March 1, 2017 | Post
The state’s comprise the federal government; not the other way around.
Is taxation theft?
February 27, 2017 | Post
I have my doubts about the “taxation is theft” meme making the rounds on my Facebook feed.
Individual liberty for a diverse society: Public reason liberalism
February 27, 2017 | Post
Even well informed people of good will have very different religious, moral, and philosophic views.
What you should know about the Non-Aggression Principle
February 24, 2017 | Post
Libertarians talk about the non-aggression principle a lot, but what does it mean?
Weird election rules: The baseball hall of fame
February 18, 2017 | Post
Any variation in election rules — for president, for student body treasurer, or for anything else — allows us to examine the rules’ impact on voting outcomes.
War, diplomacy, and global uncertainty in the Trump era
February 14, 2017 | Post
Are Trump’s cabinet full of generals, his openness to torture, and the “peace through strength” message from the White House all signs that he plans to rely on military power.
A paradox in the theory of democracy
February 9, 2017 | Post
It is not easy being a committed democrat when your side loses an election.