Many policies are supposedly justified because they would “take from the rich and give to the poor.” While that fits with the view that theft “for a good purpose” makes one a philanthropist, from the perspective of self-ownership, it is an assertion that the majority’s might makes their coercion right. However, advocates of redistribution often
When prepping for a recent presentation about my book, Faulty Premises, Faulty Policies , it struck me that it can help explain why those committed to liberty often have a hard time winning others over to our understanding of the potential of free people. Regardless of the details of a particular policy, faulty underlying premises about the nature
Hillary Clinton’s latest campaign salvo attacked “ quarterly capitalism ,” the supposedly irresponsible corporate focus on short-term results at the expense of long-term growth. She promised government fixes. Short-Termism, Share Prices, and Incentives Is there too much short-termism in business firms? To answer this, let’s look at participants’
There have been almost uncountable times politicians have promoted “comprehensive” political reforms in areas ranging from immigration to health care to taxation and entitlements. However, there are good reasons to be apprehensive whenever politicians talk about comprehensive reforms. Comprehensive politics. Consider how “comprehensive” rhetoric
One of the trickiest needles for libertarians to thread in public policy discussions is what I call the rudeness rebuttal . And today’s explosion in microaggression accusations just makes it trickier. The rudeness rebuttal arises from logic . The logical structure of an argument is from premises to conclusions—A implies B implies Cimplies Z.
A decade ago, no one had ever been told to “check your privilege.” Now it commands an appreciable “market share” in academia and social justice rhetoric. But it does so despite sharply opposed interpretations of its meaning. In fact, its expanded footprint is partly because of its ambiguity. It Could Be an Invitation to Debate In a sense, “check
When people want to add extra “oomph” to negative depictions of self-owners acting without coercion — that is, market competition under capitalism — they turn to name-calling. One of the most effective forms is describing such competition as dog-eat-dog. When that characterization is accepted, the mountain of evidence in favor of voluntary social
May 21 marks the 1983 death of Eric Hoffer, the “longshoreman philosopher.” He was best known for his 1951 book The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements , which brilliantly analyzed movements that played prominent roles in world events during his lifetime. He identified the allure of a larger, and therefore seemingly ennobling,
Altruism has commonly been held up as the standard for moral behavior, with those claiming to see deviations from altruism commonly condemning the deviants as selfish or greedy. For example, Martin Luther King claimed that “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
May 29 marks the 99th birthday of Arthur Seldon, a prolific defender of freedom against government control. His biography’s subtitle, A Life for Liberty , reveals his animating commitment. Seldon was the editorial director of the London-based Institute of Economic Affairs for over three decades. He penned 28 books and monographs and over 200
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.