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Sheldon Richman Articles

TGIF: On Fairness

by Sheldon Richman | Nov 29, 2024

Fairness and its synonyms are among the most abused words in English. By that I mean they are commonly manipulated for ideological ends. Wokeness has aggravated a situation that has existed for some time. What better way to score points for a political position than...

TGIF: “You Didn’t Build That”

by Sheldon Richman | Nov 22, 2024

Remember Barack Obama's profound 2012 campaign speech about success? Here's part of what he said: There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t -- look, if you’ve been successful,...

TGIF: Police-State Progressives

by Sheldon Richman | Nov 15, 2024

Progressives see themselves as, well, progressive. But they aren't. Even at their best, in opposing the national security state, they support massive government power in other realms of life. At heart they are social engineers. They seek a "moral equivalent of war,"...

TGIF: That Was the Election that Was

by Sheldon Richman | Nov 8, 2024

One can be overjoyed by the repudiation of a candidate without being pleased with the opposing candidate's victory. This election is an occasion for that reaction. An American (or anyone actually) is perfectly justified in taking pleasure in Kamala Harris's...

TGIF: Election Reflections

by Sheldon Richman | Nov 1, 2024

The history of the human race is one long story of attempts by certain persons and classes to obtain control of the power of the State, so as to win earthly gratifications at the expense of others. --William Graham Sumner, 1883 For advocates of individual liberty,...

TGIF: Happy Halloween, Traders!

by Sheldon Richman | Oct 25, 2024

It's the Halloween season, the perfect occasion to introduce your young children and grandchildren to the wonders of the market economy. After all, the market is a process in which individuals strive to improve their situations through trade—that is, lucrative...

TGIF: Socialism Is War by Other Means

by Sheldon Richman | Oct 18, 2024

Readers may have wondered about a quote I used from Ludwig von Mises recently. In his book Liberalism Mises distinguished the (classical) liberal case against war from what he called the "humanitarian" case against war. To understand Mises, let's examine a...

TGIF: Full versus Shrunken Liberalism

by Sheldon Richman | Oct 11, 2024

Language, like the old common law and other customs, is a decentralized, undesigned, spontaneous institution. It serves humanity well. Nothing is perfect, of course, but no alternative—if one were conceivable—could hold a candle to it. One of the downsides is that...

TGIF: Tariffying Trade-Warmonger Trump

by Sheldon Richman | Oct 4, 2024

"The word tariff, properly used, is a beautiful word. One of the most beautiful words I’ve ever heard. It’s music to my ears." —Donald Trump The once and possibly future president threatens to wage economic warfare against countries and companies everywhere if they...

TGIF: Who Cares about Inequality?

by Sheldon Richman | Sep 27, 2024

What accounts for the preoccupation with income and wealth inequality? We hear about it every day. Isn't our absolute living standard what matters and whether it is improving or deteriorating? I'll bet that's what regular people care about. However, the professional...

TGIF: “We Are All Social Engineers Now”

by Sheldon Richman | Sep 20, 2024

I don't know if anyone has actually said, "We are all social engineers now," but someone might as well have. (The variation "We are all Keynesians now" was declared a long time ago, even by Milton Friedman, although see this.) When I say "all," of course, I don't mean...

TGIF: The Russians Are Coming? The Russians Are Coming?

by Sheldon Richman | Sep 13, 2024

Civilization, in fact, grows more and more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an...

TGIF: What Government Has Wrought

by Sheldon Richman | Sep 6, 2024

Imagine two candidates for president, and ask yourself who is more likely to win. Candidate A observes that people are facing generally rising prices. Their total at the supermarket checkout is higher than last year. Filling up the car at the gas station takes a...

TGIF: Doing Good at a Profit

by Sheldon Richman | Aug 30, 2024

[P]eople started to believe that the bourgeoisie and its economic activities of trade and innovation were virtuous, or at least tolerable. In every successful lurch into modern riches from Holland in 1650 to the United States in 1900 to China in 2000, one sees a...

TGIF: Back to Barbarism

by Sheldon Richman | Aug 23, 2024

Has Kamala Harris inadvertently done free-market advocates a favor? Let's not get too hopeful, but maybe. How so? By pandering to voters and marketing herself as a consumer watchdog who will stamp out (undefined) supermarket "price gouging." This could create teaching...

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Sheldon Richman

Sheldon Richman is the executive editor of The Libertarian Institute and a contributing editor at Antiwar.com. He is the former senior editor at the Cato Institute and Institute for Humane Studies; former editor of The Freeman, published by the Foundation for Economic Education; and former vice president at the Future of Freedom Foundation. His latest books are Coming to Palestine and What Social Animals Owe to Each Other.

What Social Animal's Owe to Each Other

by Sheldon Richman

Book Animalssm

These essays, written over the past 20 years, have a single underlying theme: namely, that we human beings, as social animals, need individual freedom to fully flourish.

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Coming to Palestine