As I mentioned recently, whether the courts protect or violate liberty in any given case is something of a coin toss. The matter could hinge on a single word. We just had a good example of that fact. On April 18 U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a Trump...
Libertarianism
Privacy as a Property Right
by Sheldon Richman | May 5, 2022 | Blog, Justice, Libertarianism
In 1993 I wrote an article at the Cato Institute that may be relevant to the current controversy over abortion and the Supreme Court: "Dissolving the Inkblot: Privacy as a Property Right."
TGIF: What Really Protects Liberty?
by Sheldon Richman | Apr 29, 2022 | Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated, as if we needed another demonstration, that little stands between the government and our liberty. Champions of individual freedom have been properly disturbed by how much power governments at all levels have seized since the...
TGIF: NATO and Collective Insecurity
by Sheldon Richman | Apr 22, 2022 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman
Collective security, the official goal of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, seems plausible on its face. A group of nations ostensibly concerned about a common threat agree to defend one another in the event of an attack. "All for one and one for all," as...
TGIF: In Defense of Ideology
by Sheldon Richman | Apr 8, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, TGIF
The seemingly unprecedented mean-spiritedness of politics these days drives some people to think that ideology is the problem. To distinguish themselves from those whom they blame for the toxic atmosphere, some pundits declare themselves "above ideology," even...
10 Reasons that Freedom is Good
by Danny Duchamp | Mar 30, 2022 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism
Advocates of freedom are often called upon to explain why people should be given specific freedoms. Why should people be free to work for less than $7 an hour? Why should people be free to leave their homes during a pandemic? Why should people be free to take drugs?...
Medusian Liberty
by Kym Robinson | Mar 24, 2022 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism
“A home might be a pretty little house Filled with people and things Comfort and ease A home might be a lean to on the beach Nothing but waves rolling in The sun on my skin A home might a tent filled with friends And wherever I go I’m home with them A home might be...
Law of the Jungle vs. Law of the Market
by Sheldon Richman | Mar 21, 2022 | Blog, Economics, Libertarianism
In the jungle, consumers compete, tooth and claw, with each other for scarce food. In the market, producers compete, peacefully, with each other, producing abundance for consumers. In the jungle, the rule is: eat or be eaten. In the market, it is: serve so that you...