Culture & the Libertarian Heritage

Boycott the Boycotters

by Sheldon Richman April 30, 2003

I’m not much for consumer boycotts, but if I were to boycott anyone, it would be those who are calling on Americans to boycott the French. Chief among them is the Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly. Since I already don’t watch his program, I guess I can’t boycott him. ...

Étienne de La Boétie, Part 1

by Wendy McElroy April 1, 2003

Part 1 | Part 2 A 16th-century essay entitled Discourse of Voluntary Servitude by the French jurist Étienne de La Boétie (1530–1563) discusses a question that haunts those who love liberty: Why do people obey unjust laws? The Discourse offers insight. It examines the psychology of those who obey, those who command, and those who resist. La Boétie ...

A New Year: A Time for Hope and Determination

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2003

Happy New Year from FFF! As we enter this New Year, it is easy to surrender to thoughts of despair and despondency, given the prospect of perpetual war, perpetual terrorism against Americans, and perpetual governmental infringements on the civil liberties of the people. We need to resist that temptation. Regardless of what happens in the near future, the course on which our ...

Morality Requires Choice

by Scott McPherson January 1, 2003

Welfare-state advocates like to pass moral judgments on those of us who oppose their leftist ideals of socialism, redistribution, and “economic justice.” Allegedly, we lack “compassion” and “sensitivity” and are “selfish” and “mean-spirited.” Therefore we are promoting a society without reference to basic moral principles — ...

A Message from Jacob Hornberger and Richard Ebeling

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 12, 2002

No one can find a safe way out for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interests, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle. None can stand aside with unconcern; the interests of everyone hang on the result. Whether he chooses or not, every man is drawn into the great historical struggle, the ...

The Problem Is the Schools

by Sheldon Richman August 20, 2002

I’ll bet Michael Newdow doesn’t care if private schools have kids say “under God.” Newdow is the father who sued the government school district near Sacramento, California, because his daughter’s school begins the day with the Pledge of Allegiance, which contains those words. An atheist, Newdow objects to the school’s ...

Why Is the Self a Lesser Cause?

by Sheldon Richman August 20, 2002

War increases the burdens of government. If you seek evidence, look around. Government does not grow only in obvious ways, for example by gaining the power to hold individuals without charge or to monitor their lawful activities. It also grows through the promotion of a culture of sacrifice. In war, more ...

The Fall of Libertarianism or the Failure of Interventionism? A Reply to Francis Fukuyama

by Richard M. Ebeling July 1, 2002

FRANCIS FUKUYAMA gained international recognition in 1989 when he published an article in The National Interest entitled “The End of Man.” He offered a “Hegelian” conception of the evolution and direction of human history. In short, he argued that human society was following a dialectical trajectory of development that would end with the triumph of liberal democracy around the ...

Going Postal: A Libertarian Tradition

by Wendy McElroy June 1, 2002

BENJAMIN TUCKER, editor of Liberty (1881–1908) and the prototypical 19th-century radical libertarian, constantly experimented with strategies to educate people away from government. He particularly delighted in anti-government stickers, which he declared to be “highly useful” because of their cheapness and versatility. The stickers were “invented” by Steven T. Byington, who also translated Max Stirner’s Ego and His Own, and ...

Classical Liberalism in the 21st Century: Freedom of Trade, Part 2

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 2002

Part 1 | Part 2 A FUNDAMENTAL REVOLUTION IN IDEAS began to emerge in the 18th century against the premises and policies of mercantilism. These ideas undermined the rationales for government regulation and control of the economic affairs of the people of European society. In its place there arose a conception and vision of a free society based on ...

The New England Labor Reform League

by Wendy McElroy March 1, 2002

IN GRAPPLING with the same strategic questions that confront modern libertarianism, the 19th-century movement evolved a remarkable organization that engaged in both education and grassroots activism. The New England Labor Reform League (NELRL) sprang from an 1869 gathering of labor radicals in Boston. The leading force in its founding was ...

A Libertarian Visits Guatemala

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2002

LAST SUMMER, I had one of the most uplifting experiences I have had in the many years that I have been advancing libertarianism. My week at Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala will always rank near the top in terms of events that have charged up my batteries big-time. I had heard of FMU as far back as 1987, when I ...