I had a reminder this week that those who oppose fashionable postmodernist-style attacks on reason and objectivity, such as "critical" race and gender theories, are not necessarily consistent friends of liberty and the free society. That reminder came in a recent...
Libertarianism

TGIF: Utopianism May Be Hazardous to Your Health
by Sheldon Richman | Jan 14, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Beware those who claim to have a detailed blueprint for the ideal society. If such a person thinks you stand in the way, you may get run over. That's how it is with utopians. They want everything just so, and woe betide those who disagree. The repeated attempts at...

TGIF: National or Enlightenment Liberal Identity?
by Sheldon Richman | Jan 7, 2022 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
I find much to admire about Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born Dutch-American scholar, author, and one-time politician who has drawn international attention to the violence against women and girls not only in Muslim-majority countries but also in the West at the hands...

Drop Your Left vs Right Blinders
by Gary Galles | Jan 3, 2022 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism
As a libertarian, I have long objected to being characterized on a left-right political spectrum (as with studies of political affiliations that group libertarians with republicans or conservatives on the right). In response to inquiries about where I fit in that...
TGIF: Pursue Your Happiness and Forget the Rest
by Sheldon Richman | Dec 31, 2021 | Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
How about we do something novel in the new year? Let's stop worrying about the stuff most politicians, pundits, and activists want us to worry about and instead think about ourselves, our families, our friends, and whatever communities we choose to be part of. Let's...
Vaccines, Autonomy, and Mandates: A Libertarian Analysis
by David D'Amato | Dec 30, 2021 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism
Prefatory Note Given the subject matter discussed below, I believe it prudent to state at the outset that I am not at all opposed to vaccinations themselves: indeed, I have received a COVID-19 vaccine, as well as all other normal-course vaccinations recommended for...
TGIF: Double-Rigging of the Auto Market
by Sheldon Richman | Dec 17, 2021 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
U.S. government interference with our lives often resembles a Russian matryoshka doll: regulation is nested in more regulation. Take the provision of Biden's pending Build Back Better bill that would create a big tax credit for people who buy U.S.-built electric...
A Libertarian Stance on Irredentism
by Starte Butone | Dec 15, 2021 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism
Irredentism is the belief that a group of people has the right to claim land or property which it was in possession of at some point in time, either according to historical fact or myth and legend. A few examples of irredentism are Zionism, the Greater Armenia, and...