Opponents of private-property rights and the market mechanisms they give rise to routinely appeal to emotional reflexes in their condemnation of capitalism. As Murray Rothbard described one of their favorite lines of attack, The free-market economy, they charge, is “the rule of the jungle,” where “survival of the fittest” is the law. Libertarians
We get a lot of abuse, those of us who publicly defend private property rights and voluntary arrangements against the varied depredations of government. Having to constantly face such attacks is a substantial part of the cost of speaking out, and probably explains why more people don’t take the risk. For those who might be considering publicly
Libertarian Paternalism. It would appear to be a contradiction in terms. But Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein argue for just such a thing in Nudge (Yale University Press, 2008). They try to combine the two by arguing that a nudge — “any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any
The Supreme Court’s Heller ruling upholding the Second Amendment’s individual right to bear arms has created uproar among liberals. But rather than addressing Justice Scalia’s powerful logical and historical analysis of the amendment, they have attacked it as judicial activism. However, the central issue is not judicial activism. It is not whether
September 17 is Constitution Day, marking the anniversary of its 1787 signing. Schools will teach about the Constitution, but not for the obvious reason. Their reason will be that it is now required of every educational institution receiving federal aid. However, they won’t teach about the irony of that requirement, which came from the man
One would not think someone legal historian M.J.C. Vile called “in some ways the most impressive political theorist that America has produced” would remain virtually unknown here. But that is true of John Taylor of Caroline. John Taylor served in the Continental Army, the Virginia Legislature and the U.S. Senate. But he is best characterized for
Two weeks ago marked the 60th anniversary of a prescient essay ( pdf ) promoting gold as redeemable money. It was written by Howard Buffett, father of the famed investor, Warren. Several years ago Joseph Stromberg wrote an interesting biography about Howard, a four-term congressman of the Old Right. While many libertarians laud him for his defense
Years ago, H.L. Mencken noted that ‘every election is a sort of advance auction of stolen goods.’ Since then, the tendency for electoral politics to undermine property rights has grown exponentially. For example, current presidential candidates treat it as a bragging point to claim that the shower of benefits they promise is ‘paid for,’ even
Politicians have lately turned to bragging that some plan of theirs to give someone a new benefit is “fully paid for,” in contrast to a rival’s plan. Then they act as if that gives them some moral superiority as a result. However, revealing who and how much someone intends to take from some to benefit others does not establish that a plan is
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.