I’ve read almost every major work of libertarian political philosophy ever published. In my view, Michael Huemer’s new The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey is the best book in the genre. What’s so great about...
Many people formerly of the left, who have bid good riddance to their former political home, believe they can retain the mantle of authentic liberalism while ignoring its free-market component. They don't want socialism, and they appropriately dislike the right-wing....
https://youtu.be/_-6CyEYetxM How is something to be owned by “the community as a whole?” Ownership means that you get to decide what is done with something. If you and I disagree on who gets to eat your apple, then whatever you decide will take precedence, because it...
https://youtu.be/CUWH-87Sdqo Without moral argument at his disposal, a liberal is left only with the tool of cost-benefit analysis, but any such analysis must involve an interpersonal comparison of utility, and such a comparison is impossible (scientifically...
Of course, that is too honest to be a real Karl Marx quote. It is a popular meme that is used to mock the allegedly misguided view of many who oppose socialism. It has been famously paraphrased by prominent socialist, Richard Wolff. “Socialism is when the government...
The relevance of F. A. Hayek's essay "Why I Am Not a Conservative," the postscript to his important 1960 book, The Constitution of Liberty, is demonstrated at once by the opening quote from Lord Acton: At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its...
The socialist left says the evidence capitalism oppresses the poor is that free markets relocate factories to the poorest nations in order to pay the lowest wages. And when wage rates rise in poor nations like South Korea and Japan, they move their factories over to...
LB of the Been Awake podcast joined me to discuss the terms left and right. LB is a great thinker and podcaster and we wanted to dig into the essence of what the terms left and right mean politically. As Orwell noted, politics neuters language and weaponizes words, so...
