Robert Higgs | The Libertarian Institute

A Kind Word on Behalf of the Mexicans

by Robert Higgs | Jun 25, 2017 | Featured Articles, Justice

“The immigration problem” or “the border problem” has been a heated topic of debate and politicking in recent years. (This recent spurt is only the most recent in a series that goes back for centuries in U.S. history.) In large part this debate pertains to the entry of Mexicans, especially undocumented Mexicans, into the USA. For those who support a strong “closed borders” or “secure the border” position, the debate often involves claims about Mexicans—what sort of people they are, what one may reasonably expect them to do if they become residents of the USA, what crimes they have committed...

If Men Were Angels

by Robert Higgs | May 5, 2017 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism

The Basic Analytics of the State versus Self-government In The Federalist No. 51, arguably the most important one of all, James Madison wrote in defense of a proposed national constitution that would establish a structure of “checks and balances between the different departments” of the government and, as a result, constrain the government’s oppression of the public. In making his argument, Madison penned the following paragraph, which comes close to being a short course in political science: [T]he great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department,...

State Governments Are Becoming the Biggest Drug Lords of All

by Robert Higgs | Apr 24, 2017 | Featured Articles, Justice

The so-called war on drugs—actually a war on certain people associated in various ways with certain drugs—has served since the Nixon administration as a major profit center for governments at every level. Owing to the ostensible efforts to suppress the possession, use, and commerce in these drugs, governments have been able to justify great increases in their staffs, budgets, and power. Of all the interest groups that have devoted themselves to propping up this social, economic, and political catastrophe, the government itself stands prominently above the others, especially the police, the...

I Won’t Let the State Choose My Friends or Enemies for Me

by Robert Higgs | Apr 9, 2017 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Libertarianism

“I reject the right of the government to choose my friends and enemies for me.” – Bill Kelsey Indeed, Bill, it makes no sense to allow the government to do so. But the situation is much worse than such nonsensical allowance by the people at large. From time immemorial, the reigning myth of rule has been that the rulers provide a quid pro quo: in exchange for the people’s submission and payment of tribute, the rulers protect the people from the enemies who lurk “out there.” The promise was often unfulfilled, however. The lord of the manor might well flee into his castle, leaving the peasants...

The Tangled Web of Anti-immigration Argumentation

by Robert Higgs | Mar 30, 2017 | Featured Articles, Justice

Probably the most often voiced objection to open immigration of all peaceful people is that “you can’t have open immigration and a welfare state.” (Even people as smart as Milton Friedman have made this objection.) But why can’t you? Well, people claim, if you have a welfare state, the masses of the world will flood into the USA just to collect the welfare state’s “free stuff.” But why let them? Even under currently existing rules, undocumented immigrants are ineligible for nearly all welfare-state benefits. If a flood of immigrants will break the welfare-state bank, why not simply make...

Is a National Government Necessary for National Defense?

by Robert Higgs | Mar 26, 2017 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

Gordon Tullock used to taunt anarchists by asserting that if the USA abolished its government, people would not have to worry about the Russians taking over the country because “the Mexicans would get here first.” This little story actually incorporates a common objection to anarchy—namely, the idea that because, if a country abolished its government, other countries would not necessarily follow suit, the governments of those other countries would be free to, and would, simply take over the country that, lacking a government, also lacked an effective means of defending itself against...

Negative Balance of Trade? So What?

by Robert Higgs | Mar 18, 2017 | Economics, Featured Articles

The tendency of the USA to have a negative balance of trade (more accurately known as a negative balance on current account) played a prominent role in the recent U.S. presidential campaign. Donald Trump criticized this tendency repeatedly and promised that if elected he would take various actions to reduce or eliminate it. Like most members of the public, Trump views this negative balance as a highly undesirable, economically damaging condition. Despite the prominence of discussions of the negative balance of trade in recent times, however, it is likely that few people really understand...

The USA—Best Not to Go There Unless You Have an Urgent Reason to Do So

by Robert Higgs | Feb 27, 2017 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism

I am a consistent defender of allowing free passage of peaceful people across national borders. I understand full well why someone from an impoverished Mexican village or a violent hellhole such as Tegucigalpa might wish to migrate to the USA, where wage rates are 5-10 times greater for unskilled labor and, for Hondurans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and many people from the Middle East, physical security is better. However, if you are not in such desperate straits, I would strongly suggest that you avoid attempting to enter the USA, however legally you might try to do so. Those entering the...

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