Freedom Daily Archive

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 ...

The Boast in the Machine

by Joseph R. Stromberg June 1, 2014

Average Is Over: Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation by Tyler Cowen (Dutton 2013), 304 pages. In Average Is Over, George Mason University economist Tyler Cowen delivers good news and bad news with nearly equal enthusiasm. Basically, artificial “intelligence” (AI) is aggregating the “knowledge of the entire world” and intruding everywhere, ready to overturn our lives, ...

The U.S. Embrace of Monetary Tyranny, Part 1

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2014

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The rise of Bitcoin as an alternative currency raises some important questions about America’s monetary system. Why does the United States have a fiat-money system — that is, a system of irredeemable paper currency? Why aren’t Americans free to use any money they want? What is the role ...

Libertarianism: The Moral and the Practical

by Sheldon Richman May 1, 2014

If I say that a government activity — “public” schooling, perhaps, or the war on selected drug merchants and users — helps turn the inner cities into hellholes and otherwise makes people’s lives miserable, is that a moral objection or a practical (utilitarian or generally consequentialist) objection? Some libertarians are inclined to say it’s a utilitarian objection, but I’ve long ...

FDR Farm-Folly Lessons for Obamacare

by James Bovard May 1, 2014

As the Obama administration wreaks further havoc on health care, many people expect the politicians to recognize their follies and relent. However, history indicates that rulers will continue seizing new power regardless of how much wreckage results. The farm policy of Franklin Roosevelt exemplifies how politicians “double down” on their most brazen follies. Roosevelt’s Brain Trust agricultural planners had unlimited ...