Liberalism, from the Latin liber, meaning free, referred originally to the philosophy of freedom. “Liberal” was once an honorable word used to describe those who put liberty first. To the everyday American, a liberal is a person who votes Democrat, wants more government regulation, supports the redistribution of wealth from rich to poor, favors … Continue reading Have You Been Using the Term Liberal Incorrectly?
Category: Liberty
A recent article pointed out that Spiders could theoretically eat every human on Earth in one year. Shocking. It’s also shocking that governments can theoretically destroy all wealth in one year. Governments are quite literally all around us, even governments within governments. There is one in your town, one in your home, one in your … Continue reading Governments Can Theoretically Destroy All Wealth in the World in One Year
Switzerland has the fourth-freest economy in the entire world and is only surpassed by Hong Kong, Singapore, and New Zealand. Considering that Switzerland has one of the most free-market economies on the planet, it’s no wonder the country has the ninth-highest per capita income in the world. Indeed, research suggests that the freer a market … Continue reading 9 Reasons Libertarians Should Love Switzerland
Relationships should be built upon voluntary choice, promoting mutual respect and mutually beneficial outcomes. In these unions, both parties are better off with each other than they are alone. Voluntary relationships can create tremendous value to this world; however, these only exist when parties are free to associate, finding cooperation at the right time, place, … Continue reading The Shotgun Marriages Forced on Breweries
Americans who are concerned about unsustainable and reckless government spending have faced a fundamental problem: It’s hard to track what their representatives are doing to either curb, or increase, spending. But thanks to a new tracking tool, those days may be coming to a close. The Coalition to Reduce Spending has just released a tool … Continue reading A New, Easy Way to Track Your Representative on Spending
Two inmates arrive at a Wisconsin jail. One asks the other, “What are you in for?” “Possession with intent to sell heroin. You?” The first replies, “That’s it? I’m here for possession with intent to sell butter.” True enough, this conversation didn’t happen. But it might as well have. Today in Wisconsin, a crony regulatory … Continue reading Why Wisconsin’s Irrational Ban on Outside Butter Needs to Go
What is the role of human freedom in morality? It’s a question I’ve been pondering and researching since graduate school. C.S. Lewis once explained the different aspects of morality by using the metaphor of a flotilla. Every ship must be well run on its own, but each must also coordinate with all the others so … Continue reading Freedom Is Essential For True Morality
As Joseph Schumpeter noted, free markets had a good first century (the 1750s to 1850s). A market economy produced massive improvements in the quality of life, and that gained it general legitimacy. But, as he also warned, as wealth increased, increasingly markets and the prerequisite institutions for markets to exist (specifically property rights) came under … Continue reading The State Can’t Protect the Environment – Markets Can
A metropolitan economy, if it is working well, is constantly transforming many poor people into middle-class people, many illiterates into skilled people, many greenhorns into competent citizens. … Cities don’t lure the middle class. They create it. – Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities If you follow urban issues in the press, … Continue reading How Spontaneous Order Keeps Houston Affordable
For the past decade, John Fund, J. Christian Adams, and I have been writing about the misbehavior, unethical conduct, and lack of professionalism exhibited by lawyers inside the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department, including the Voting Section. The situation apparently has not improved, given the serious accusations of unprofessional conduct made by … Continue reading The Justice Department’s Latest Misbehavior
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