Sheldon Richman | The Libertarian Institute

Abolish Draft Registration, Mr. Trump

by Sheldon Richman | Mar 6, 2025 | Blog, Foreign Policy, Justice

During Friday's famous White House meeting, VP Vance criticized Ukrainian President Zelensky for his government's abduction of men from the streets to fight against Russia. Good for Vance. Conscription is one of the worst things a government can do, especially during a war. As a form of slavery, it goes against every libertarian, or classical liberal, principle. It's indecent. Presumably, President Trump shares Vance's horror. So this is a good time to abolish draft registration here. The penalty for not registering is a maximum five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. President...

Let’s Not “Run after a Share in the Trouble”

by Sheldon Richman | Mar 3, 2025 | Blog, Economics, Foreign Policy

Of course “principles,” phrases, and catch-words are always invented to bolster up any policy which anybody wants to recommend. So in this case. The people who have led us on to shut ourselves in, and who now want us to break out, warn us against the terrors of “isolation.” Our ancestors all came here to isolate themselves from the social burdens and inherited errors of the old world. When the others are all over ears in trouble, who would not be isolated in freedom from care? When the others are crushed under the burden of militarism, who would not be isolated in peace and industry? When...

TGIF: The Aim of Classical Liberalism

by Sheldon Richman | Feb 28, 2025 | Economics, Featured Articles, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF

These are dark days for liberalism. I mean full, across-the-board, laissez-faire free-market, classical liberalism, otherwise known as libertarianism. While some budget-cutting and bureaucracy slimming will probably go through, those steps, though necessary to advance toward liberalism, are not sufficient. What's conspicuously missing from the regime's activities is a ringing and unmistakable endorsement of full individual liberty, which requires a free-market economy. The imagined dichotomy between economic liberty and personal liberty is a snare and a delusion. What's more personal than...

TGIF: Free the Housing Market!

by Sheldon Richman | Feb 21, 2025 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF

Economist Bryan Caplan has done it again. His latest graphic nonfiction book is Build, Baby, Build: The Science and Ethics of Housing Regulation, illustrated by Ady Branzei and published by the Cato Institute. (His first was Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration.) Caplan's target is a worthy one: zoning and other (anti-)housing regulations, which damage many people in various ways, some that will surprise you. While he could have written a conventional book, it almost certainly would have been dreadfully dull and accessible to only a few academics and policy wonks. That is no...

National Greatness

by Sheldon Richman | Feb 17, 2025 | Blog

“A nation which makes greatness its polestar can never be free; beneath national greatness sink individual greatness, honor, wealth and freedom. But though history, experience and reasoning confirm these ideas; yet all- powerful delusion has been able to make the people of every nation lend a helping hand in putting on their own fetters and rivetting their own chains, and in this service delusion always employs men too great to speak the truth, and yet too powerful to be doubted. Their statements are believed—their projects adopted—their ends answered and the deluded subjects of all this...

TGIF: Emergency! Emergency?

by Sheldon Richman | Feb 14, 2025 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF

Look, as a libertarian I think the list of federal entities to be abolished soon should include the: Consumer Financial Protection Board, Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Reserve System, Department of Education, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Agriculture, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Agency for International Development, Central Intelligence Agency and the rest of the "community," Consumer Product Safety Commission, Food and Drug Administration, Drug...

Abolish Antitrust!

by Sheldon Richman | Feb 8, 2025 | Blog, Economics, Justice

"That there is inequality of ability or monetary income on the free market should surprise no one. As we have seen above, men are not 'equal' in their tastes, interests, abilities, or locations. Resources are not distributed “equally” over the earth.16 This inequality or diversity in abilities and distribution of resources insures inequality of income on the free market. And, since a man’s monetary assets are derived from his and his ancestors’ abilities in serving consumers on the market, it is not surprising that there is inequality of monetary wealth as well. "The term 'free competition,'...

TGIF: Free Speech Restored?

by Sheldon Richman | Feb 7, 2025 | Featured Articles, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF

Don't get accustomed to me praising Donald Trump, but exceptions will occur now and then. Trump is no principled friend of liberty, not by a long shot. Judging by most of his actions and words, he recognizes no impenetrable boundary between the government and the private sector, the market economy. We may infer that he sees the central government and the country itself as a company that he runs with few restraints. He seems to imagine himself as the chairman and CEO of the United States, with only a toothlessly subservient board of directors. I need only point to his trade and immigration...