Libertarianism

Why does such a strong love of freedom appear both among towering intellects and among those of far more modest cognitive means?

While libertarians like to think of political libertarianism as a peculiarly western concept, it turns out that classical Daoist thinkers wrote about state power in a way that would seem to channel none other than Murray Rothbard.

Every lover of liberty should have a good reading list that promotes freedom. At the same time, one should develop the discerning eye to recognize statist language and to reject it.

In this week’s Friday Philosophy, Dr. David Gordon assesses the “libertarian” foreign policy prescriptions of Murray Rothbard and David Freidman. Naturally, Rothbard’s view—built upon principles of natural law—stands above Freidman’s less-principled “pragmatism.”

This issue of The Misesian discusses that, without private property, there is no way to plan for the future, and one’s goods are always subject to confiscation from the more powerful. In other words, a world without private property is a lawless world.

In this issue of The Misesian, we explore the choice we face between the civilizing and liberating effects of private property and the impoverishment of interventionism and socialism. Our Supporters Summit spoke to how economic freedom undergirds civilization itself.

The 1940 version of The Mask of Zorro is more than a swashbuckling film featuring Zorro and his skills with the sword. It is also a reminder that the state is oppressive and seeks to take away the natural rights and liberties of the people.

The idea is now widespread that communities or groups exercise a form of collective thought, which can be duly expressed by the leader of the group as the thoughts of the group mind.

National Review’s purging of the John Birch Society was done because the Birchers began to turn against the Vietnam War.

While the jury still is out regarding Javier Milei’s economic “reforms” in Argentina, one must remember that economic intervention in that country is thoroughly entrenched in political and economic life there.