Films on Liberty and the State Election (1999) This bleak, black (and very funny) comedy has many targets but, as the title suggests, democratic politics is a chief one. Our great electoral exercises are here lampooned by focussing on elections for that most meaningless of positions: high school student president. The earnest seriousness of the
Films on Liberty and the State Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) If only there were more films like this! This top quality film highlights an evil of the State that actually occurred but at its center the film is about a courageous quest for liberty worthy of Tolkien. In 1931 Australia, it is the official policy of the government that all “half-caste”
Even though I entirely disagree with The Upcoming Robot Revolution , I really like it. It is a sort of unintended Bastiat satire for our time. Here we see the Luddite fear of technological innovation pushed to a reductio ad absurdum. I think it just makes it all the funnier that the author is entirely earnest and sincere in painting his dystopia
Those who continue to tout the positive role of the state in technological innovation (”the gov’t made the Internet !”) should read this chilling tale of what happened to the inventor of FM radio, Edwin Armstrong. In short, the FCC and established big businessmen (naming names: David Sarnoff of RCA) kept FM buried for decades and devastated its
Scott Adams, author of the Dilbert comic strip, had some interesting observations regarding subsidies and taxes that different bodied people avoid and pay. The gist of it can be seen in his all-you-can-eat buffet example: those with smaller appetites essentially subsidize those with larger appetites. The same concept could be therefore applied to
The absurdity of intellectual property is starkly illustrated by a new campaign of the Music Publishers’ Association (MPA). Having gone after lyric sites on the Internet they are now shutting down sites that publish, get ready for this, guitar tablature (sheet music for guitars of popular songs). Cui Bono? “The MPA represents businesses that make
Tomorrow Digg.com releases version 3.0 . Why is this significant? Take a look at this comparison to the New York Times website. Digg.com has about 800,000 unique visitors every day and is doubling in traffic every two months. Digg is a social news site. There are no editors at this site. Instead the users of Digg submit stories and vote on the
I have come up with a list of some films I’ve happened upon that I think are of particular interest to Austrians and libertarians. In addition to having some libertarian angle, (and I, by no means, am vouching for ideological purity in any of these films), I also selected for films that are generally high quality (critically acclaimed). Where
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.