Sheldon Richman | The Libertarian Institute

Stephen F. Cohen: A Rare Voice of Sanity Gone

by Sheldon Richman | Sep 21, 2020 | Blog, Foreign Policy

One of the saddest pieces of news is the death of Stephen F. Cohen at age 81. Cohen, who taught at Princeton and NYU, was an eminent scholar of the history and politics of Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. He spent his last years warning against the years-long bipartisan effort to prosecute a new cold war against Russia, with special attention to what has unfortunately come to be known as Russiagate, the groundless allegation, debunked by only a few heroic thinkers, that Trump is an agent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who--fiction has it--is Stalin-reincarnate intent on reconstituting...

Back with Tom Woods

by Sheldon Richman | Sep 16, 2020 | Blog, Libertarianism

Tom Woods and I did another round of talking about What Social Animals Owe to Each Other.

Trump and Netanyahu’s Plan B

by Sheldon Richman | Sep 14, 2020 | Blog, Justice

Trump and Netanyahu first tried to bribe the Palestinians into capitulating to the Israeli imposition. But the two men failed. So now they are executing Plan B: bribing the Arab states' rulers to give up even the pretense of championing the Palestinians in their struggle against Israel. In that, the two are succeeding.

Richman Talks about New Book with Tom Woods

by Sheldon Richman | Sep 9, 2020 | Blog, Libertarianism

Tom Woods and I discuss libertarian fundamentals as presented in What Social Animals Owe to Each Other on his internet program. Listen here.

Complying with Mandates

by Sheldon Richman | Sep 6, 2020 | Blog, Libertarianism

It's utterly conceivable that the government might mandate that we do (or not do) what we already ought (or ought not) to do, seeing as how social animals owe things to each other. In such cases, refusing to engage (or abstaining from engaging) in the mandated (or forbidden) behavior because the government has mandated (or forbidden) it is just wrong, edgy individualist rationalizations notwithstanding. Needless to say, I should have started this post with "Needless to say...."

The Choice We Don’t Face

by Sheldon Richman | Sep 1, 2020 | Blog, Libertarianism

Despite what some people suggest, our choice today is not between black lives and private property. Quite the contrary: respect for black lives logically entails respect for all persons, their possessions, and their peaceful projects. The first property right is self-ownership: one's property in oneself. (The abolitionists called slave traders and owners man-stealers. Get it?) Do the rioters not know that black people also own shops and other businesses? Or are those owners considered acceptable casualties in the struggle? And have those owners been asked to consent to that demeaning status?...

Unpleasant Times

by Sheldon Richman | Aug 31, 2020 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman

If Ludwig von Mises were alive today he would be viewing our current predicament with alarm but not surprise. He lived through something similar about a century ago. In response to inexcusable police brutality, some outraged people who've taken to the streets have crossed the sacred line between peaceful protest and violence. Recent months have brought vandalism, arson, and injury in Kenosha, WI, and Portland, OR, and now intimidation of innocent bystanders in Portland and Washington, D.C. Now comes the ominous response. This escalation by people who pose as friends of social justice (I...

A Question of Motives

by Sheldon Richman | Aug 27, 2020 | Featured Articles, Politics

People who regard themselves as members of the ideological environmental movement may or may not have good science on their side in any particular matter, but they do themselves no service when they speculate wildly about the motives of their opponents. I frequently hear such environmentalists characterize their opponents as people who want to make the planet uninhabitable for human beings and other living things. I suspect I'm not alone in finding that motivation highly implausible, and I'm surprised that those who traffic in such accusations don't realize that they undermine their own...