Nick Weber | The Libertarian Institute

Mali and the Confiscation of Moral Sentiment

by Nick Weber | Feb 8, 2021 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Uncategorized

For fiscal year 2021, the total United States military budget has come in at a staggaring $934 billion dollars, which includes a base budget of $636 billion dollars plus ancillary Department Of Defense spending and Veterans Affairs related expenses. This easily dwarfs the military budgets of the next nineteen biggest spending nations combined and makes any claims of the existence of an underfunded military in the United States seem preposterous, but beyond the excessive military spending, the most damning aspect of the U.S. foreign policy apparatus is its confiscation of moral sentiment from...

The War State: Summary, Analysis, and Commentary

by Nick Weber | Aug 21, 2020 | Book Reviews, Featured Articles

The War State: The Cold War Origins Of The Military-Industrial Complex And The Power Elite, 1945-1963, by Michael Swanson Not too long ago, a deluge of hysteria surrounded President Trump amid his threat to declare a national emergency in order to secure funding for a border wall. Alas, those simpler times of alleged fascism have come and gone and a new hyper hysteria has reared its head via the global outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. All bets are off now with executive orders and emergency declarations being handed out almost daily, the most egregious of these being...

Bags, Germs and Stealing

by Nick Weber | Dec 30, 2019 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism

Denver is jumping on the plastic bag tax train, joining ranks with New York, California and several other Colorado jurisdictions, but will the bag tax be effective at changing habits or improving environmental conditions? Admittedly, there are far worse tyrannies to suffer than a plastic bag tax, but the subtleties underlying never-ending government expansion and continual attempts at modifying human behavior through legislation are always worth dissecting. Last week, the Denver City Council voted unanimously to approve Council Bill No. 19-1176 which outlines the parameters surrounding a ten...

A Beer City Drowning in Regulations

by Nick Weber | Nov 1, 2019 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism

On a recent outing to Odell Brewing’s new brewhouse and taproom in Denver’s RiNo neighborhood, a burgeoning part of town filled with breweries, coffee shops and twenty-somethings, I’m reminded of just how pervasive government is when it comes to influencing what can be built and where. This place seemingly has it all: plenty of seating and bars on two levels, a rooftop patio and a grade level patio. It’s kid friendly, dog friendly and there are plenty of unique beers only available at this particular location. One beer of note is The Real Dill Pils, a surprisingly delicious and refreshing...

Nekoma, The War State and the Giant Concrete Pyramid

by Nick Weber | Oct 14, 2019 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Libertarianism

Looming over the North Dakota plains lies a massive and ominous concrete pyramid, each face displaying four large discs leering out over the surrounding terrain, as if keeping watch. The mammoth structure rises seventy-nine feet above the surface and extends fifty-three feet below grade with the total building encompassing 127,000 SF, but these are not the building’s most defining characteristics. The construction of this gargantuan building and surrounding military complex exceeded six billion dollars, but the facility was only active and in operation for three days. Say what? An eerie...

Book Review of Scott Horton’s Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan

by Nick Weber | Oct 1, 2019 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Libertarianism

I must confess, the absurdity of me writing a review of Scott Horton’s book is akin to the absurdity of the war in Afghanistan, albeit without the hundreds of thousands of dead bodies and billions of government no-bid military contracts and after eighteen years, nothing to show for it. Sticking with absurdity, I’ll start with a passage from a different book, Scoop, by Evelyn Waugh, a fictional account of a fledgling reporter sent to cover a “promising war” in a faraway land. Bear with me. The passage involves the reporter receiving: …a radiogram which had arrived that morning and was causing...

The Volga German Expulsion, or Why I am Anti-War

by Nick Weber | Oct 8, 2018 | Featured Articles, Op Eds

As I write this in the aftermath of the seventeenth anniversary of 9/11, I count my blessings that I am here to write this article. To be sure, this is no patriotic orgy of thanking the military and bowing to the U.S. government security apparatus that is, in theory, hard at work keeping me safe while I sleep at night. No, this is a cautionary tale of the dangers of placing your trust in government, the disruptive impacts of unbridled imperialistic warmongering and the perils of nationalistic fervor as told through the history and experiences of the Volga Germans in the mid 1800’s. Imagine...