By now Randolph Bourne's observation that "war is the health of the state" ought to be such a cliche that it would hardly need to be said. And yet, it must be said -- often -- because many still haven't gotten the word. If the state is the adversary of liberty, as it...
Justice
This Constitutional Crisis May Collapse the Criminal Justice System Ep. 233
by Patrick Macfarlane | Sep 27, 2022 | Criminal Justice, Justice, Libertarianism, Vital Dissent
https://youtu.be/s1HycZUtZUI Patrick talks about a pending Wisconsin class action complaint regarding the lack of sufficient access to public defenders that is emblematic of a larger problem all across the United States. Episode 233 of the Liberty Weekly Podcast is...
TGIF: Sam Harris on Saving Democracy from Voters
by Sheldon Richman | Sep 23, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Neuroscientist/philosopher Sam Harris caused quite a stir recently by defending the social networks' conspiracy (his word) to suppress news coverage of Joe Biden's son Hunter's smoking-gun laptop shortly before Election Day 2020. Harris said the suppression was...
TGIF: Question Intuition!
by Sheldon Richman | Sep 16, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
In the 1960s a popular button that New Left activists wore implored everyone to "Question Authority!" It was good advice, even though many kinds of authority exist. Some authority is chosen (for example, one's doctor) and others are compulsory (the government). But in...
TGIF: Reject Both Identity and Egalitarian Politics
by Sheldon Richman | Sep 9, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
The push-back against identity politics by disillusioned leftists is welcome, but the striving to replace identity with economic equality as the guiding political principle? Not so much. I won't spend time on the problems with identity politics, a zero-sum game if...
TGIF: Jefferson on Not Trusting the State
by Sheldon Richman | Aug 26, 2022 | Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Regardless of written constitutions and the laws on the books, individual liberty is always at risk. And as liberty goes, so goes our capacity to live well, to achieve the good life as rational, virtuous social beings. The danger comes from left and right, both of...
TGIF: The Coming New and Improved IRS
by Sheldon Richman | Aug 19, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
The brilliant people in the Biden administration and the U.S. Congress have decided that one thing America really needs is an Internal Revenue Service (!) fortified by 87,000 more employees and 80 billion more dollars so it can help reduce the inflation that currently...
TGIF: About Those January 6 Committee Extravaganzas
by Sheldon Richman | Aug 5, 2022 | Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
I admit it: I watched nearly every moment of the House committee extravaganzas on the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. I did more than that. I was transfixed. I couldn't even multitask. Were the mislabeled "hearings" beyond all criticism? Of course not. They were...