A Conservative Dissents from the Corporate Status Quo by Anthony Gregory August 1, 2014 The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America by David A. Stockman, (Public Affairs 2013), 768 pages. Most leftist critiques of libertarianism focus on an alleged blind defense of corporate power. Indeed, left-libertarian Kevin Carson has helpfully criticized the very real problem of “vulgar libertarianism,” the working assumption that current economic realities are a product of free-market dynamics ...
The U.S. Embrace of Monetary Tyranny, Part 3 by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 2014 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In 1933, in one of the most shocking events in the history of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt issued a series of executive orders, backed by Congress, that required the American people, on pain of fine and imprisonment, to surrender their gold coins to the federal government, for ...
What Social Animals Owe Each Other by Sheldon Richman July 1, 2014 If I were compelled to summarize the libertarian philosophy’s distinguishing feature while standing on one foot, I’d say the following: Every person owes it to all other persons not to aggress against them. This is known as the nonaggression principle, or NAP. What is the nature of this obligation? The first thing to notice is that it is unchosen. I never ...
How Early U.S. Trade Policy Spurred Wars and Injustice, Part 2 by James Bovard July 1, 2014 Part 1 | Part 2 In 1845 the Democrats took over the White House and began working for tariff reduction. Secretary of the Treasury Robert Walker issued a report in 1845 on the nature and effects of the tariff, observing, “At least two-thirds of the taxes imposed by the present tariff are paid, not into the treasury ...
Class Theory, Part 3: Libertarian Class Analysis Revisited by Anthony Gregory July 1, 2014 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The Left has long dominated the basic idea of two classes in society — the common people and the power elite — each with its own, usually conflicting, interests. When the Left speaks that way, the Right tends to accuse it of “class warfare,” even though conservatives have ...
The Bundy Ranch Standoff: the Bad and the Ugly by Kevin Carson July 1, 2014 The Bundy ranch saga has been the subject of heated good guy/bad guy framing by both mainstream liberals and mainstream conservatives, who differ only on which roles to assign to Bundy and the feds, respectively. But I can’t really see any good guys in this. The respective echo chambers for the two sides differ on whether the land in question ...
The Economics of Foreign Policy by John Glaser July 1, 2014 Doing Bad by Doing Good: Why Humanitarian Action Fails by Christopher Coyne (Stanford Economics and Finance 2013), 272 pages. In the aftermath of the carnage wrought by World War II, Harry Truman committed America to humanitarian action. In his 1949 inaugural address, he pledged to “continue our programs for world economic recovery” and “embark on a bold new ...
The U.S. Embrace of Monetary Tyranny, Part 2 by Jacob G. Hornberger June 1, 2014 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In the midst of the Civil War in 1862, Abraham Lincoln secured passage of the first legal-tender law in the history of the United States. It was a law that planted the seeds of monetary debauchery that would culminate more than 70 years later during the presidential regime ...
Fighting Discrimination without the Government by Sheldon Richman June 1, 2014 Should the government coercively sanction business owners who refuse to serve customers because of their race or ethnicity? While such behavior is troubling — judging persons by their involuntary membership in a group eats at the foundation of libertarianism, respect for human dignity — the refusal to serve someone on such a basis is nevertheless an exercise of self-ownership, property ...
How Trade Wars Shaped Early America, Part 1 by James Bovard June 1, 2014 Part 1 | Part 2 Fair trade is once again a rallying cry for many Americans. Many contemporary leftists believe that the U.S. government should impose restrictions or tariffs on imported goods that are alleged to have been produced by underpaid or oppressed Third World workers. Few contemporary protectionists are aware of the sordid history of trade ...
Class Theory, Part 2: Modern Progressive Class Analysis by Anthony Gregory June 1, 2014 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 On September 17, 2011, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement staged its first protests in Zuccotti Park, a location in New York’s financial district. This “direct action” movement has been defined in terms of its opposition to economic inequality, institutional corruption, and the revolving door between corporate America ...
The Defining Challenge of our Time by George Leef June 1, 2014 Why Liberty — Your Life, Your Choices, Your Future edited by Tom G. Palmer (Jameson Books 2013) 116 pages. With this short, easily read, yet intellectually powerful book, Tom Palmer continues his work of making libertarianism the philosophy that will appeal to and animate young people around the globe. While the arguments for vastly downsizing our enormous, meddlesome, and ...