Bradley Thomas | The Libertarian Institute

What Murray Rothbard Could Teach Bernie Sanders about Rights

by Bradley Thomas | Jun 28, 2019 | Featured Articles, Politics

The idea that there exists some sort of moral authority for the state to provide for the poor is nothing new. FDR declared nearly 90 years ago that True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. In 2019, progressives and democratic socialists have upped the ante, now declaring everything from a job to housing and health care a “right.” Case in point is the recent headline-grabbing speech by presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders in which he proclaimed that “Economic rights are human rights,” and called for a “21st Century economic Bill of Rights.”...

Why State Propaganda is Far Worse Than Corporate Advertising

by Bradley Thomas | Jun 6, 2019 | Featured Articles, Politics

One of the key criticisms leveled at a free enterprise capitalist system is that the desire for material goods is an unnatural by-product of corporate power. Indeed, as argued by post-Keynesian economist and social critic John Kenneth Galbraith, in his popular 1958 book “The Affluent Society,” it is business advertising that induces a Pavlovian response in consumers to purchase increasingly frivolous goods and services. As a result, Galbraith argued, America’s affluence in the private sector of goods and services came at the expense of public goods, such as education and welfare programs to...

The Myth of Consumer Spending

by Bradley Thomas | May 7, 2019 | Featured Articles, Politics

The recently-reported 3.2 percent growth of the nation’s economy for the first quarter of 2019 was met by a wide variety of interpretations by business analysts. Some said it soothes fears of a coming downturn, while others looked below the headline figure for symptoms of weakness. One aspect of the economy, however, that continues to be near universally accepted as an article of faith is that consumer spending makes up the overwhelming bulk of economic activity. “Growth in consumer spending — which accounts for nearly 70 percent of the US economy — stood at 1.2 percent,” declared the New...

How Progressive Policies Enable Discrimination

by Bradley Thomas | Apr 23, 2019 | Featured Articles, Op Eds

While progressives claim to want to eliminate discrimination, some of their favored policies make discrimination more likely to occur. Take the case of rent control. Earlier this year Oregon became the first state to pass statewide rent-control legislation. The goal is to presumably make housing more affordable for more low-income residents, particularly minorities. Placing price ceilings on rent, however, is well known to have many negative effects. Among them are a decrease in the availability of housing as suppliers are less willing to supply housing at lower fixed rental rates, and...

The Racist Roots Behind the Minimum Wage

by Bradley Thomas | Apr 2, 2019 | Featured Articles, Op Eds

Economist Walter Williams has called the minimum wage “one of the most effective tools in the arsenal of racists everywhere in the world.” Yet today’s “Fight for $15” has placed a federal minimum wage increase at center stage. "The federal minimum wage of $7.25 is a starvation wage," Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeted. "If you work 40 hours a week, you should not live in poverty." Legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour also gained the support of 2020 Democratic Presidential nominees including Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker. Today’s progressives deny that...

What the State Is, and Is Not

by Bradley Thomas | Mar 22, 2019 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism

Arguably the biggest threat to freedom is the widely accepted belief among citizens that the State is a neutral force for good, a social service organization established to solve society’s ills. But what is the State, and what is it not? In his book “Anatomy of the State,” Murray Rothbard described the State as an organization “which attempts to maintain a monopoly of the use of force and violence in a given territorial area.” He further characterizes the State as “the only organization in society that obtains its revenue not by voluntary contribution or payment for services rendered but by...

Why Limited-Government Conservatives Invite the Label of Heartless

by Bradley Thomas | Mar 4, 2019 | Featured Articles, Politics

Conservatives who argue to “limit” the welfare state are routinely painted as cold-hearted by welfare state supporters. With good reason. “I support government programs to assist those truly in need, but we must keep welfare programs from growing too big,” is the standard conservative refrain. With that admission, however, “limited government conservatives” give up the game. Once they’ve stated their support for the principle that the State is justified in forcibly taking money from some in order to give it to others, the debate shifts from the moral justifications of the welfare state...