Alan Mosley | The Libertarian Institute

John Locke and the Libertarian Tradition

by Alan Mosley | Aug 28, 2025 | Featured Articles, History, Libertarianism

The Enlightenment produced many innovators, but few have left a legacy as contentious and influential as John Locke. Born in Wrington, Somerset on August 29, 1632, Locke wrote the political treatises that shaped England’s Glorious Revolution and later guided the American Revolution. Libertarians still appeal to Locke when debating self‑ownership, property rights, consent, and the scope of government. To celebrate his birthday tomorrow, let’s trace how Locke’s writings help to lay the groundwork for American libertarianism. Locke’s outlook was forged by experience rather than aristocratic...

My Fabric, My Choice: On Trump’s EO Banning Flag Burning

by Alan Mosley | Aug 25, 2025 | Blog, Criminal Justice

On August 25, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at people who burn or desecrate the American flag. The order instructs the U.S. attorney general to “vigorously prosecute” offenders, imposes a mandatory one‑year jail sentence for anyone who sets fire to the flag, and commands federal officials to refer cases to state authorities and to cancel visas and naturalization proceedings for foreigners who take part. Trump justified the directive by describing the flag as a sacred national symbol and by claiming that flag burning is “uniquely offensive” conduct likely to...

Ron Paul: Defender of the Powerless, Critic of the Powerful

by Alan Mosley | Aug 20, 2025 | Featured Articles, Politics

In a political age that prizes charisma over conviction, Ron Paul's career stands out as a long series of principled noes. The Texas physician–turned–congressman won his first seat in 1976, lost it a few months later, then returned repeatedly to the House, always as an outsider and always carrying the same simple message: the federal government must be bound by the Constitution, money must be sound, markets must be free, and peace is a moral imperative. As he turns ninety today, it is worth revisiting how a soft‑spoken obstetrician came to inspire a movement that outlived his political...

The Constitution, Foreign Wars, and the Tenth Amendment

by Alan Mosley | Aug 4, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

When a sitting U.S. president decides to commit tens of billions of dollars’ worth of weapons to foreign conflicts, ordinary citizens seldom ask whether such largesse has a constitutional basis. Yet America was founded on the principle that the federal government is one of limited and enumerated powers. Those powers were carefully listed in Article I of the Constitution, and the Tenth Amendment reserves all powers not delegated to the United States to the states or to the people. The Constitution demands that any action taken by the federal government—including funding and arming foreign...

Why I Won’t Vote For Donald Trump in 2024

by Alan Mosley | Aug 8, 2022 | Featured Articles, Politics

Will he or won't he? That was the question on people's minds as news broke last month of former president Donald Trump suggesting he has made up his mind on running for president again. Grover Cleveland first won the presidency in 1884, and won the popular vote in the 1888 presidential race against Benjamin Harrison, but fell short in the electoral college. But thanks to the Populist Party’s 8% draw in the 1892 rematch, Cleveland went on to win re-election and remains the only president to serve non-consecutive terms. For Donald Trump to accomplish the same feat, he will need to do more than...

In Defense of Voter Abstinence

by Alan Mosley | Nov 5, 2018 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism

Caught between opening days for several professional sports leagues (NFL, NBA, and NHL to name a few) and the year-end holiday season is the midterm election cycle. There are few states in the union in which one can reside to escape the endless yard signs. Every television channel is flooded with commercials that comically paint some political adversary in black and white while accompanied by a smooth baritone voice slinging ominous barbs. The various House, Senate, and governorship races serve the dual role of setting the legislative tone between now and the next presidential election...

Trump, the Fed, and a Trillion Dollar Game of Hot Potato

by Alan Mosley | Oct 19, 2018 | Economics, Featured Articles

This Tuesday, President Donald Trump further fanned the flames of his already contentious relationship with the Federal Reserve, referring to the central bank as his “biggest threat.” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, a Trump appointee, caught the ire of the president. Of the appointment, Trump recently told Fox News, “Maybe it’s right, maybe it’s wrong…There are a lot of other people there I’m not so happy with.” This is only the latest slight by President Trump. Just last week he referred to the Fed’s recent decision making as having “gone crazy,” though he backpedaled on that statement by...

“Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior,” or the Great Social Media Purge of 2018

by Alan Mosley | Oct 15, 2018 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism, Politics

Back in the ancient news cycle of August 6, 2018, Alex Jones, host of The Alex Jones Show and curator of Infowars.com, was deplatformed in a coordinated effort by multiple social media and content streaming services. The list of companies, whose simultaneity was surely a coincidence, is quite impressive: Facebook, Apple, YouTube, Spotify, Vimeo, Pinterest, MailChimp, and LinkedIn. The debate on free speech versus hate speech raged on for the customary week or two as the news cycle dictated, with many libertarians and conservatives willing to leave Jones to the proverbial wolves. Perhaps Alex...