Reminder: Our online Zoom conference “The Case for Open Borders,” which is certain to be a fun intellectual experience on one of the burning issues of our time, kicks off this Monday, September 30, at 7 p.m.-8 p.m. Eastern Time. Register here.
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As president of The Future of Freedom Foundation, people send me books or book recommendations to read and review. It usually doesn’t take me long to see whether these books are consistent with the principled message of liberty that we have advanced here at FFF for 34 years.
For example, an author recently sent me a description of his new book that analyzes the tangled web of tax policies at all levels of government. It appeared to be an excellent analysis but I quickly found his recommended solution — tax reform. I wrote him back, thanked him for reaching out to us, but explained that here at FFF we don’t support tax reform. (We support tax abolition.)
Since most of the books that people send me are along the lines of welfare-warfare state reform, I wasn’t terribly optimistic when I began perusing a little book —122 pages — that an author named Bill Anderson recently sent me. The title of the book is My Libertarian Education. Self-published, it is an intellectual autobiography but in the context of real experiences in the life of the author.
As I began reading this little book, I was totally drawn in. I could not put it down. Reading chapter after chapter was nothing but true enjoyment. This is a magnificent little libertarian book.
Maybe one of the reasons I enjoyed reading it so much is that Anderson’s journey to libertarianism was very similar to my own. Like me, he grew up on farm in the 1960s, during the Vietnam War. As you begin reading his personal experiences and thoughts about the draft, the war, the war protests (including the Kent State killings), and the civil-rights movement you start to get a sense that this is going to be a very interesting book.
And then he writes about Henry David Thoreau and his essay “Civil Disobedience,” which had a profound impact on me when I first discovered libertarianism. That was followed by a mention of Herbert Spencer who authored the great essay “The Right to Ignore the State,” which also had a big impact on me in my early years as a libertarian. Anderson follows that with a description of Lysander Spooner, another favorite writer of mine in my early exploration of libertarianism.
Can you see why I was so drawn into this book?
Anderson then has two chapters about his libertarian mentors, whose names longtime libertarians will easily recognize: Ludwig von Mises, Frederich Hayek, Murray Rothbard, Frederic Bastiat, Auberon Herbert, John T. Flynn, Frank Chodorov, Albert J. Nock, Adam Smith, David Friedman, and others. He also mentions mentors whose names some newer libertarians might not recognize but who are giants in libertarian history, people like Garret Garrett, Karl Hess, Ben Rogge, Ralph Raico, Leonard Liggio, and others.
In 1974, Anderson began attending Libertarian Party meetings in Santa Cruz, California, which would be attended by about 6-8 people. He writes:
I met some really bizarre people during this time, but I won’t go into that. Hey, it was Santa Cruz…. It was the 70s…. It was the Libertarian Party…. As long as Dave Merrick, a man of integrity and intelligence who was, well, normal, was involved, I would stay involved too. Things brightened up even more when Richard Ebeling began coming to our meetings….
Anderson ended up going into the auto-parts business. This is where his book really shines. Anderson has written one of the finest, easy to read, and easily understandable expositions of free-market economic principles and Austrian capital theory that I have ever read. What makes this part of the book so good is that it’s not simply some turgid piece written by an academician. Instead, it is a deeply insightful piece written by a businessman who has steeped himself in Austrian economics — someone who understands from real-life business experience matters relating to such things as wage rates, price theory, monetary issues, consumer satisfaction, savings, capital, and productivity.
But the book isn’t all about economics. Anderson also has some interesting chapters providing libertarian perspectives on things like education, social issues, and jury nullification.
In 2013, after having retired from the business world, Anderson got a job teaching at the college level, where he taught such classes as “Classical Liberalism in the Twentieth Century” and “Mises’ Human Action.” His second-most popular class was “Austrian Business Cycle Theory.” His most popular class was “An Introduction to Anarchism.”
If you would like to read a fascinating primer on libertarianism and economics, buy this book. If you like it, which I think you will, consider sending copies to friends who show an interest in learning more about libertarianism and Austrian economics. Bill Anderson’s My Libertarian Education serves as an excellent introduction for educating one’s self on libertarianism.
You can purchase My Libertarian Education at Amazon here. Price: $12.99 print. $9.99 Kindle.
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Reminder: Our online Zoom conference “The Case for Open Borders,” which is certain to be a fun intellectual experience on one of the burning issues of our time, kicks off this Monday, September 30, at 7 p.m.-8 p.m. Eastern Time. Register here.