A common counter-argument to many libertarian principles goes something along the lines of, “Without the government, who will build to roads?" Almost everyone who has tried to debate libertarian ideology will encounter this argument at some point. In the minds of many statists, economic services that are almost ubiquitously provided by the government in the United States and elsewhere could not possibly be provided by the private sector, lest they be riddled with market failures and corruption. More often than not, they only make these arguments because they simply have never lived in a...
property rights
2/18/22 Anne Williamson on How the US Sabotaged Russia’s Economy after the Fall of the Soviet Union
Scott interviews former reporter Anne Williamson about the flawed privatization of Russia after the fall of the USSR. While privatization had mixed success across the former Soviet Bloc, Russia ran into problems immediately with a poor definition of property rights. Williamson explains how this was not a mistake but was designed by American economists and businessmen who wanted to hold Russia down while enriching themselves. Williamson connects the dots to show how those policies led, in part, to the rise of Putin and the tension between the West and Russia today. Discussed on the show:...
In Defense Of Libertarianism
They’re usually very similar. There may be hills in one place, or flat terrain in others. It could be seventy-degrees in January, or minus-twenty. With all of their aesthetic differences, these locales usually have one thing in common: the spirit of libertarianism permeates the culture. A gentleman who resides in Alaska was asked: “why did you move to Alaska from Washington State?” The interviewer pointed out that some of the weather was similar but it was so much colder in the 49th state which makes life a bit harder. The interviewee pointed out that Washington State, for the most part,...
TGIF: Who’s the Aggressor? Who’s the Victim?
When a libertarian says that the most basic individual right is the right not to be aggressed against, a clever interlocutor may accuse the libertarian of begging the question, of stuffing the rabbit into the hat. The trick, the critic will say, is in the word aggress: libertarians allegedly rig the game by restricting the category of aggression to only the actions they disapprove of, thereby institutionalizing many corrupt activities. For example, If Jones tells Smith to get off land to which Jones has legal title, is it really clear that Smith is in the wrong and Jones is in the right?...
Debunking “Anarcho”-Communism. Patrick Smith and Keith Knight
https://youtu.be/UFV9soiabpo Böhm-Bawerk’s devastating refutation of the ... Marxian system remains defi nitive. It swept the boards in professional economics, and has remained dominant ever since, successfully inoculating economists, at least, against the Marxian virus, and certainly against the labor theory of value. ... Böhm-Bawerk, in sum, posed the grave inner contradiction of Marxian theory plainly and starkly: Marx claimed that goods exchanged on the market in proportion to the quantities of labor embodied in them (i.e., that their values are determined by the quantity of...
Marxism Exploitation and Positive Rights Refuted
https://youtu.be/AiEMJJGxLCc Every man can enjoy the right of self-ownership, without special coercion upon anyone. But in the case of a “right” to schooling, this can only be provided if other people are coerced into fulfilling it. The “right” to schooling, to a job, three meals, etc., is then not embedded in the nature of man, but requires for its fulfillment the existence of a group of exploited people who are coerced into providing such a “right.” Murray Rothbard For a New Liberty, pp. 164–65 A simple analogy makes all “liberal” political theory collapse. If a hundred people...
The ‘Thorny Question’ of Public Property
In a recent Mises Wire article, Jeff Deist commented on the squatting of Capitol Hill in Seattle. Contrasting Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s and Walter Block’s respective libertarian approaches to public property, Deist asked if the residents of the ‘CHAZ’ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone) are illegal squatters or homesteaders, and concluded that it is a “thorny question.” Walter Block then responded in a rejoinder on the Power & Market blog elaborating on his view that public property is open for homesteading because, while stolen, it is, in effect, unowned. The problem here is that both...
New Lawsuit Asks Whether State Agents Can Trespass and Place Cameras on Private Land in Tennessee
Camden, Tenn.—Terry Rainwaters lives, farms and hunts on the 136 acres he owns along the Big Sandy River in rural Tennessee. It’s clear that the farm is private property, with a “no trespassing” sign on the gate. Yet agents of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) ignored that warning, entering his property to set up and retrieve cameras that they used to watch for hunting violations. Now, Terry and another property owner, Hunter Hollingsworth, are teaming up with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to sue the TWRA, asking the court to protect their right—and the rights of all...
Capitalism Makes No Sense
Few things are so confusing as the term capitalism. The definition itself appears clear enough, with the Oxford Dictionaries saying it is “an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.” Both proponents and opponents of capitalism would likely agree that the core of capitalism is the private ownership of the means of production. But that’s the full extent of agreement. The problem here is that the formal definition provides no guidance regarding the functioning of the system. This means...
Institute for Justice Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Hold Government Officials Accountable For Destroying Idaho Home with Grenades
If you tell police they can go into your home, does that mean they can also legally stand outside and pepper it with shotgun-fired tear gas grenades—destroying everything inside? That is the question asked by a petition to the Supreme Court of the United States filed today by the Institute for Justice (IJ) on behalf of Idaho resident Shaniz West. Shaniz’s nightmare started when she stopped home with her children in tow one afternoon in 2014 to find her house surrounded by five local police officers. They told her they were looking for her ex-boyfriend, who was wanted on firearms charges....
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