Ryan McMaken | The Libertarian Institute

How the Warfare-Welfare State (Unfortunately) Unites Americans

by Ryan McMaken | Aug 12, 2021 | Featured Articles, Politics

In case you haven’t noticed, America is “deeply divided.” At least, that’s what a seemingly nonstop stream of headlines from major media sources would have us believe. “Trump Leaves America at Its Most Divided since the Civil War,” reads one CNN headline from earlier this year. Meanwhile, in his speeches from the first few months of his presidency, President Biden frequently claimed to be trying to restore national “unity.” More recently, the debate over vaccine mandates has prompted countless op-eds on how there are now “two Americas” or that differences in vaccination rates from state to...

Celebrating Independence Day with Illegal Fireworks

by Ryan McMaken | Jul 2, 2021 | Featured Articles

It’s almost Independence Day, and for many Coloradans, that means a trip to Wyoming to buy illegal fireworks. That is, it’s time to buy fireworks that are illegal in Colorado, but legal in Wyoming. In fact, this fact so well known to everyone that Wyoming officials don’t even try to hide the fact. This can be seen in the fact that fireworks stores selling these illegal fireworks are a mere two-minute drive from the border and among the first structures one will encounter driving north on I-25 from northern Colorado. There, in the middle of the prairie, between Cheyenne and the Colorado...

The Case of Colonialism: Secession for Thee, But Not for Me

by Ryan McMaken | Jun 11, 2021 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

The twentieth century was a century of secession. Since the end of the Second World War, the number of independent states in the world has nearly tripled as new states, through acts of secession, came into existence. This was driven largely by the wave of decolonization that occurred following the Second World War. From the late 1940s through the 1970s, across Africa and Asia—and even in Europe, as in the case of Malta—dozens of colonial...

The Immortality of Lobbyists

by Ryan McMaken | Jun 7, 2021 | Featured Articles, Politics

Throughout much of human history, a political ruler was often considered to be only as good as his ability to distribute gifts, booty, and other material rewards to his most valuable and loyal servants. In the “barbarian” days of northern Europe, military men expected their kings to lead them to booty, and to distribute gifts to the best fighters after the battle was won. In later ages, the more powerful kings could dole out titles of nobility, lands to faithful servants, and bureaucratic offices with hefty salaries to trusted advisors. In exchange for all this largesse, subjects could offer...

No, Vaccine Passports Are Not ‘Libertarian’

by Ryan McMaken | May 5, 2021 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism

Earlier this month, the conservative magazine known as The Spectator published an article with the absurd title “The Libertarian Case for Vaccine Passports.” The online version now bears the title “Vaccine Passports Are a Ticket to Freedom,” but the physical print version is perhaps more descriptive of what the author is trying to do. The author, a former Conservative politician named Matthew Parris, apparently believes that the forever lockdowns are an inescapable feature of reality, and that the only way around them is for the regime to enact a vaccine passport scheme. For Parris, covid...

The Lockdowns Were One Big Fat Mistake

by Ryan McMaken | Mar 24, 2021 | Featured Articles

Like nearly all U.S. states, Georgia imposed a stay-at-home order in March 2020 in response to demands from public health officials claiming a stay-at-home order would lessen total deaths from COVID-19. But unlike most states, Georgia ended its stay-at-home order after only five weeks, and proceeded to lower other restrictions quickly. The legacy media responded with furious opposition. For example, an article in The Atlantic declared the end of Georgia’s lockdown to be an “experiment in human sacrifice.” The Guardian approvingly quoted one Georgian who insisted the end of the stay-at-home...

The Many Flaws of U.S. Nuclear Policy

by Ryan McMaken | Feb 26, 2021 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

The threat of “nuclear proliferation” remains one of the great catch-all reasons—the other being “humanitarian” intervention—given for why the U.S. regime and its allies ought to be given unlimited power to invade foreign states and impose sanctions at any given time. We saw this at work during the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It was said that nuclear weapons were among the “weapons of mass destruction” being developed or harbored by Saddam Hussein’s regime. Thus, it was “necessary” that the United States invade Iraq and enact regime change. It is now very clear, of course, that the...

‘Incitement’ Is A Fake Crime

by Ryan McMaken | Feb 5, 2021 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism

Former president Donald Trump has been impeached for “incitement to insurrection.” The House Democrats’ claim is that Trump made an inflammatory speech which—a week later—led to the Capitol riot of January 6. The Senate is now considering whether or not to convict Trump of this “crime.” I put “crime” in scare quotes for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that the impeachment proceedings aren’t a criminal trial, so even conviction wouldn’t establish guilt the way an actual criminal court might. Contrary to what much of the public thinks, and what the media is happy to imply, impeachment...