Anything that’s peaceful
Libertarians spend a non-trivial amount of time arguing for the obvious. At best, such arguments are redundant because there is no widespread believe that violence or threats of violence are a good thing. At worst, these debates hurt the prospects for a society with less violence because theories about the existence of “natural rights” are [...]
Neo-liberalism’s dead end street blues
The legal scholar Frank van Dun has written an insightful essay in Libertarian Papers about the unfortunate identification of liberalism with utilitarian-pragmatic policy making. His analysis is helpful for explaining why some liberal ideas became popular and others remained ignored. Van Dun touches upon the heart of the matter when he writes that politicians like [...]
Anthony de Jasay on the financial crisis
In his recent columns on the 2008 financial crisis, the economist and political philosopher Anthony de Jasay discusses a number of topics including the uninformed, sensational and self-fulfilling reporting of the mainstream media about the current economic climate, the non-trivial contribution of government regulation to the financial crisis, and the consequentialist thinking about the economy [...]