Category Archives: Libertarianism

John Glaser and Scott Horton - Libertarianism vs. the Empire
"Libertarianism vs. the Empire" by John Glaser and Scott Horton was a speech sponsored by The Future of Freedom Foundation February 15, 2014 at the 2014 Inte...

By: The Future of Freedom Foundation

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Disagreeing with libertarianism 2
Does libertarianism really look toward results?

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Disagreeing with libertarianism 2 - Video

Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday pitched a socially conservative crowd on his brand of libertarianism, speaking in greater detail than usual about what that philosophy would include.

The Kentucky Republican, a likely 2016 contender, addressed a Four Seasons ballroom in Georgetown where Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas), Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), who is running for Senate, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council were all in attendance, among other leading conservatives. The GOP mega-donor Foster Friess and his wife were named as the legacy sponsors in the event program for the Weyrich Awards Dinner, named for the late conservative leader Paul Weyrich.

We need to extend our message to people who havent been listening to us, Paul told the crowd. To me, thats a message that may have a libertarian twist, which I think is the same as liberty, or Bill of Rights. It means the Fourth Amendment is as important as the Second Amendment, the Fifth Amendments important, the Sixth Amendment, the right to trial by jury.

The senator has long been urging the GOP to expand its tent to make minorities and young people feel comfortable. He singled out, as he has before, racial disparities in drug sentencing.

We need to be the party that says were not compromising on balancing budgets and lowering taxes and less regulations, he said. But why dont we be the party that has some compassion for people that arent being treated fairly by the criminal justice system?

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Paul addresses social conservatives

These days, to even suggest the possibility that a fiscally conservative economic outlook is compatible with faith is a matter of hypocrisy.

"I am afraid that (Rep. Paul) Ryan's budget reflects the values of his favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the gospel of Jesus Christ," the Rev. Thomas Reese of Georgetown University told The Huffington Post not so long ago. "Survival of the fittest may be OK for social Darwinists, but not for followers of the gospel of compassion and love."

Surely, you recall this Bible passage: "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Smite the supply-sider. I will utterly blot out the memory of all who back block grants from under heaven.'"

So it's refreshing, then, to hear would-be fusionist Rand Paul point out the distinction libertarian critics will not. At Robert P. George's American Principles Project recently, Paul argued that a dose of libertarianism not only would help the GOP broaden its base but also would be philosophically compatible with socially conservative values.

"Libertarian and liberty doesn't mean libertine," he explained. Paul might have added that libertarianism isn't synonymous with "being uncharitable" or "selfishness" or "social Darwinism," either. He might have argued that libertarianism would do a lot more than just help orthodox Christians politically. It may even be the most conducive political philosophy for their thriving.

Obviously, for those who measure the nation's virtue by the size of the Department of Health and Human Services budget, Rand's proposition must seem absurd. Take Elizabeth Stoker, who believes that "Rand Paul's audacious new sham" is "a phony religious epiphany." She wrote in Salon:

"If what Paul intends to say here is that Christianity and libertarianism are amenable to one another because Christianity provides the moral compass libertarianism doesn't have ... the question is: Why would someone with such a commitment to Christianity ever commit themselves to a political philosophy without a similar commitment?"

Why? Because these are two distinct and often nonconflicting ideas. Though votes are often informed by a person's faith, for many Americans, a political philosophy isn't a religion. I'm no theological scholar, but I tend to believe that one can do good works without supporting a top marginal tax rate increase. Christians commit themselves to God, which, as far as I can tell, doesn't prohibit them from supporting a political philosophy that emphasizes free will over a state-ordained "morality." No doubt, most Christians appreciate that our collective national political decisions and their personal moral compasses will not always be synchronized. That's where the religious freedom comes into play.

Should social conservatives "commit themselves" to a political philosophy that not only strives for gay equality but also seeks to impel others to participate in these new norms despite religious objections? Should they commit to a philosophy that impels them to fund contraception coverage and abortions through either direct funding or fungible dollars? A philosophy that continues to force them to send their kids to crappy public schools that often undermine their faith-based beliefs? A philosophy that attacks parents who seek alternative means of education, such as home schooling? Or should they be more interested in wedding themselves to a political philosophy that downgrades the importance of politics in everyday life and allows citizens to work together to structure their communities without interference?

The growing state, after all, not the atheist, is religion's biggest rival. And intentionally or not, government is crowding out parts of community life that have traditionally been taken care of by civil society. It's draining resources once used by communities to implement services and take care of their own. And even more destructive, perhaps, is that government is becoming a source of moral authority for so many.

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David Harsanyi Social conservatives would benefit by embracing libertarianism

Mail bag # 2: Talking to friends about libertarianism, Stalkers, Challenges with show, Suggestions
Mail bag # 2: Talking to friends about libertarianism, Stalkers, Challenges with show, Suggestions Twitter: https://twitter.com/TruthRevolt FaceBook: https:/...

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Mail bag # 2: Talking to friends about libertarianism, Stalkers, Challenges with show, Suggestions - Video

Preaching Libertarianism to Politicians Stefan Molyneux for the Brazilian Mises Institute
Stefan Molyneux, host of Freedomain Radio, discusses philosophy, atheism and libertarianism with a variety of Brazilian politicians, academics and intellectu...

By: Silver

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Preaching Libertarianism to Politicians Stefan Molyneux for the Brazilian Mises Institute - Video

Recently, some 1,500 students from all over the world gathered to discuss freedom at the Students for Liberty Conference in Washington, D.C.

Economist Donald Boudreaux showed the students a department store catalog from 1958 to underscore how the free market, while contributing to income inequality, also dramatically improved the lives of the poor: "The typical American worker back then had to work 30 hours to buy this vacuum cleaner. Today, a worker has to work only six hours to buy a much better vacuum cleaner. And that's true for clothing, food, all sorts of things."

That's how free markets work: quietly, gradually improving things. That doesn't always appeal to impatient young people or to radical old people who fancy themselves social engineers who should shape the world.

Such social engineering is revered on campuses. A student from Quebec complained that economists about whom his fellow students learn are "Keynesians, who believe that breaking windows is good for the economy, or neoclassicals, who believe in unrealistic assumptions like perfect competition and perfect information."

If there were a part of America for which the American students at this conference felt a special pride, it was the Constitution. "The Constitution of the United States is a promise about how government power will be used," Timothy Sandefur, author of "The Conscience of the Constitution," told them. "A promise was left to us by a generation who lived under tyrannical government and decided they needed a framework that would preserve the blessings of liberty."

These students appreciated that inheritance, although they said the Constitution is rarely discussed at their schools. They surprised me by knowing the correct answer to my question: How often is the word "democracy" used in the Constitution?

Answer: never. The founders understood that democracy may bring mob rule tyranny of a majority. So the Constitution focuses on restricting government to secure individual liberty.

If anything, these students were stauncher in their defense of liberty than the Founders.

Kelly Kidwell, a sophomore from Tulane University, said, "Regardless of what its intent was, we still have the (big) government that we have now so the Constitution has either provided for that government, or failed to prevent it."

That's an argument that libertarian economist Murray Rothbard used to make. He took the pessimistic view that the Constitution's "limited government" was an experiment that had already failed, since 200 years later, government was barely limited at all. He concluded that libertarians should be not just constitutionalists but anarchists get rid of government completely.

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John Stossel Future of libertarianism bright, thanks to Students for Liberty

libertarianism from a to z review
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Recently, politicians and others have expressed concern over so-called "paranoid libertarians"...

Look out: The libertarians are coming! The libertarians are coming! Never before have so many been so intimidated by so few, with so little political power.

Salon.com offers near-daily warnings about the libertarian threat:

It's corrupting progressivism: Don't ally with libertarians: Ideologues co-opt an anti-NSA rally.

It's even infecting your iPhone apps: The Secret Libertarianism of Uber and Airbnb.

Beware of Libertarians Bearing Gifts, the Center for American Progress admonishes: a bipartisan move against the NSA could kill the New Deal.

Anti-libertarian paranoia plagues our elected officials too: the anarchists have taken over, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., wails. This strain of libertarianism ... is a very dangerous thought," New Jersey Governor Chris Christie warned last summer in the wake of Edward Snowden's exposure of National Security Agency spying: I want [these critics] to come to New Jersey and sit across from the widows and the orphans (Pro tip: don't take the George Washington Bridge).

Im very nervous about the direction this is moving in, the governor added.

Recently, three prestigious academics have argued that you should be especially nervous about Paranoid Libertarians. Distinguished historian Sean Wilentz coined the term last month in a New Republic hit piece on Snowden and journalist Glenn Greenwald. These NSA critics despise the liberal state and want to wound it, he charged.

Picking up Wilentz's term, Harvard law professor and former Obama administration regulatory czar Cass Sunstein offered tips on How to Spot a Paranoid Libertarian. And, writing at Slate, the University of Chicago's Eric Posner warned that libertarian paranoia kills: in fact, the fear of government is far more serious than the fear of flying.

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'Libertarian paranoia' is the newest fad in politics

Does Libertarianism = Greed Selfishness?
I discuss the common objection to libertarianism claiming that it promotes greed and selfishness.

By: Josh Cardosi

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Does Libertarianism = Greed & Selfishness? - Video