Brad Pearce | The Libertarian Institute

Is There an Opportunity for Libertarians in Europe?

by Brad Pearce | Dec 4, 2023 | Featured Articles, Politics

Europe’s parliaments are facing chronic instability. Indecisive elections and weak governments are now the norm. The challenges of mass migration are empowering anti-immigrant parties that many other parties won’t work with, making it hard to form governing coalitions. At the same time, the growth of the internet and collapse of legacy media have harmed “traditional” parties, leading to an array of smaller parties to getting more votes. The personalization of social media has created a situation where small parties with eccentric, niche political views can reach voters who share their...

Annoying Protests Are a Price of Freedom

by Brad Pearce | Nov 21, 2023 | Featured Articles, Politics

Over the past couple of years there has been a trend where climate activists deface valuable art in order to “raise awareness” about the perceived catastrophic threat of global warming. It’s a crime against culture and private property which has discredited their cause and doesn’t seem to have won anyone at all to their side. However, there is a bigger problem. Several other events seem to have discredited the premise of protest itself. Much of the public has developed a narrow view that protest needs to be “right” on an issue to be legitimate, as well as being done in their own “approved”...

Conservatives Irrationally Fear the Rest of the World

by Brad Pearce | Nov 15, 2023 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

In a throwback to its former glory, the satire website The Onion recently published an article titled, “Conservative Relative’s Description Of Chicago Clearly Came Directly From Dante’s ‘Inferno.’” Though sadly one could never expect them to be this erudite, this type of grandiose narrative about danger is what one hears from many on the American right. Certainly, liberals also have an irrational fear problem, they just fear different things. But regarding crime—and especially the border—conservatives have reached a level of ignorant fear that is some combination of comical and pathetic....

U.S. Out of Africa Now!

by Brad Pearce | Nov 7, 2023 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

On October 26, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) forced a debate and vote on the U.S. military presence in Niger. The Senate overwhelmingly voted to keep our troops in that troubled country. There has been an increased focus on Africa due to widespread instability and a contest between superpowers for the continent. The presence of U.S. troops puts Americans in danger while failing to solve any of Africa’s problems. During the Cold War era, the United States mostly relied on “soft power” in Africa, but U.S. military presence has continued to increase over the past 30 years. It is time to acknowledge...

War in the Disinformation Age

by Brad Pearce | Nov 1, 2023 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

Public ignorance, disinformation, and propaganda have impacted society for all of history. People once thought the problem was lack of access to information—something now disproven in the internet age. Though government and media controlled narratives (often deliberate lies) have always made knowing the truth difficult, we have reached a new era in the rapid spread of propaganda. Since Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, things have gone into overdrive, I suppose for the nth time. Even those with a strong eye for misinformation are struggling to parse truth out of this conflict. However, each...

Peace with China Is the Only Way to Protect Taiwan

by Brad Pearce | Oct 4, 2023 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

It has been observed by many that the main foreign policy difference between the American political parties is a disagreement over which other super power to hate more. For the Democrats, it has been a deranged obsession with Russia for several years now. For the Republicans, of course, it is the Chinese whom we must hate and fear. To the extent that some Republican candidates are better on Russia-Ukraine than the Biden Administration, it is almost entirely driven by their stated desire to instead use those military resources against China. I will concede that as long as one insists on...

Africa is a Continent, Not a Chess Piece

by Brad Pearce | Sep 18, 2023 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

Now that we are in a second Cold War era, there is a full fledged “Tournament of Shadows” for what was once called “The Dark Continent.” This was brought to light by the recent coup in the West African country of Niger, which saw the Palace Guards overthrow the elected President Mohamed Bazoum. Now, at what is believed to be the encouragement of the French and Americans, the regional bloc the Economic Community of West African States is threatening to invade this remote and impoverished country. Though there have been many coups across the region since 2020 (including another one in Gabon on...

Shooting People at the Border Isn’t a Solution

by Brad Pearce | Aug 24, 2023 | Featured Articles

Republican presidential candidates have coalesced around one idea with little dissent: brutally militarizing our border policy. The Joe Biden Administration's failure to protect the border and its lax policies towards migrants who make it into the country are breeding a terrifying political extremism on the right, and candidates are stoking it for cheap political points. Former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are open about their desire to make our border enforcement more deadly. Applying failed War on Terror policies, including lethal drone strikes on the cartels...