Category Archives: Libertarianism

Tonight on The Independents: The GOP #39;s Welfare Conflict, Locker-Room Libertarianism, Deporting...
Tonight on The Independents: The GOP #39;s Welfare Conflict, Locker-Room Libertarianism, Deporting Bieber, Documenting Detroit, Duck Selfies, Bad Beards, and Eve...

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The most interesting criticisms of Pope Francis's apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, have come from libertarians who are closest to the economic views the pope denounced.

In this document, Francis did not mince words. He condemned "trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and nave trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system." He warned against laissez-faire adherents who "reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. A new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules." The pope chastised "the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose."

"Speaking for libertarians, my objection to what the pope wrote derives from two things," the Cato Institute's Marian Tupy said in an interview with NCR. "First, there is the factual statement. The pope says the world is becoming worse, but that can be measured. In almost 200 pages, he never cites a single study, a single number, to support his claim." Tupy, who wrote an article encapsulating his objections in The Atlantic, cites a host of statistics to support his claim that "capitalism, compared to other systems, does very well at bringing people out of poverty."

Tupy's second objection has to do with the lens through which he and the pope view the prevailing economic situation. "The pope compares the world to a future utopia," Tupy said. "I look to the past and find data to support my views." Francis would, no doubt, plead guilty to the charge, but he would be unlikely to use the word "utopia." In the language of the Catholic church, that future to which Catholics are called is "the kingdom of God."

"My factual disagreement with the pope has no bearing on my respect for the man nor on my belief that everyone has a moral duty to help the poor," Tupy said. But, he sticks by his conclusion in his Atlantic article: "Pope Francis has a big heart, but his credibility as a voice of justice and morality would be immeasurably improved if he based his statements on facts."

A similar critique of Evangelii Gaudium came from the pro-market Acton Institute, which is run by a Catholic priest, Fr. Robert Sirico. In a video discussing Evangelii Gaudium, Sirico posed a series of questions: "Where are these unhampered markets?" he asked. "Where is the market absolutely autonomous?" Sirico seems to be suggesting that the pope was creating straw men and attacking them, and expresses the hope that future exhortations will confront the economic questions Sirico poses.

Francis has not been lacking in defenders. "The Catholic apologists for libertarianism -- and, sadly, there are a few who try to do this -- always begin with condescension," said Stephen Schneck, director of The Catholic University of America's Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies. "The pope's pity for the poor is understandable, they say, but he's naive about the miracle of the market. Baloney. Not only are such remarks patronizing, they're proof that the apologists don't understand the papal teachings. Pope Francis is not telling Christians to stoop to pity the poor. He's saying private charity, however wonderful and holy it is, can never be enough. He's saying that the poor also need justice. They need social justice, distributive justice, redistributive justice. He's saying that private charity by itself can never provide that justice given the moral deficiency of economic and social systems governed only by heartless invisible hands."

Lew Daly, a fellow at the secular think tank Demos in New York, thinks Francis hit the nail on the head in Evangelii Gaudium. "Pope Francis is not an innovator of church teaching in any way," Daly told NCR. "The innovation, compared to other voices in the Catholic church, is in his correct and properly urgent analysis of what is wrong in the church's eyes. Capitalism is not just 'broken'; it is inherently out of control, in a late phase of development, because a libertarian creed with mistaken precepts about human nature has infected political institutions, economic elites and even the church."

It is true that while Francis' speaking and writing style is more accessible than that of his predecessors, the content of what he says exhibits deep continuity with previous doctrinal statements. In 1891, Pope Leo XIII issued the first major papal statement on socioeconomic issues and he warned against the excesses of both capitalism and socialism. In 1931, Pope Pius XI wrote, "Just as the unity of human society cannot be founded on an opposition of classes, so also the right ordering of economic life cannot be left to a free competition of forces. For from this source, as from a poisoned spring, have originated and spread all the errors of individualist economic teaching." And, just one year ago, in his World Day of Peace message, Pope Benedict XVI stated, "It is alarming to see hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor, by the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism."

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Libertarians become vocal critics of exhortation

Will Rand Paul Mainstream Libertarianism on the Way to White House?
Will Rand Paul Mainstream Libertarianism on the Way to White House?

By: Chirag Three

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Will Rand Paul Mainstream Libertarianism on the Way to White House? - Video

Half of all Millennials ages 25-32 believe that the American dream the ability to lead a middle class lifestyle is disappearing for their generation, according to new research.

MassMutual discloses this finding in its State of the American Family Study, a biennial survey conducted in 2009, 2011 and 2013 for MassMutual by the Forbes Consulting Group, LLC. Conducted last February, the 2013 study comprised 1,337 interviews with American households with children under age 18 for whom they are financially responsible.

The survey reveals that Millennials pessimism about the future is shared by older Baby Boomers: 45 percent of those ages 54-64, also share their belief, an increase of 15 percent over the past two years.

Though Americans both young and old generally hold bearish views on the economy, the definition of the American Dream is in flux. While older respondents hold close to its traditional definitions 78 percent of older Boomers consider home ownership a key component and 80 percent consider financial independence an equally important element younger respondents show notably less engagement with these historic benchmarks for financial achievement, instead focusing on developing a monthly budget, suggesting views around financial satisfaction are undergoing fundamental shifts, according to the study.

"We've found that American families hold similar core values when it comes to their finances, but one of the study's key takeaways is that the emphasis placed on these financial views vary [among] demographic groups," says Mike Fanning, executive vice president, U.S. Insurance Group, MassMutual. "Between generations, ethnicities, and family types, the goals families hold, the confidence they feel, and the financial products and services they use differ in clear and diverse ways."

Additional findings from the survey include:

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First Read Minute: Obama's Last Best Chance?

The New York Times, whistling past the financial graveyard, paused over the weekend to smear the Mises Institute, Ron Paul, our other scholars, hardcore libertarianism, and me. Why? Because our ideas and our youth movement are gaining real traction. It is in effect a compliment. They have never faced opposition like ours before, and Ron Pauls tremendous resonance with young people has only made things worse from the Timess point of view.

The Times wants opponents who play the game, who accept the presuppositions of the regime, and who are willing to confine themselves to the narrow range of debate to which the Times would prefer to confine the American people.

The purpose of articles like the one over the weekend, it should be unnecessary to point out, is not to shed light. It is to demonize and destroy a school of thought that the regime considers threatening.

The article, for instance, notes that Ron spoke on the topic Do We Live in a Police State? earlier this month at a Mises Institute event, and that another speaker (me) spoke on American Fascism. The lecture titles are evidently supposed to be self-refuting, although you can listen to Rons remarks and read mine and decide for yourself. Its little wonder that the Times would want to ridicule the idea that American society could resemble a police state, given that papers cover-ups of the regimes surveillance of American citizens.

The rest of the article is an attempt to distort the philosophy of libertarianism and to demonize Ron and other prominent exponents of that philosophy.

The whole exercise reminds me of the time, not long ago, in which a state-endorsed hate group took a swipe at Murray Rothbard (1926-1995), known in his day as Mr. Libertarian. The writer summarized Murrays career in a single sentence about of all things lesbians during the Progressive Era.

Now consider: Rothbards 1,000-page treatise Man, Economy, and State was an extraordinary contribution to the field of economics; his two-volume history of economic thought has been praised by scholars across the board; his study of the Panic of 1819, published by Columbia University Press, received rave reviews in the scholarly journals and is still considered definitive; his Ethics of Liberty is a philosophical defense of self-ownership and the nonaggression principle, and so on.

And so on hardly does Rothbard justice: we havent mentioned his textbook on money and banking, his classic What Has Government Done to Our Money?, his four-volume history of colonial America, the scholarly journals he edited, the voluminous correspondence he kept up with the major thinkers of his day, and well, and so on.

And a critic tried to reduce this man this man! to one unfavorable sentence.

It used to be easy to do this: how, apart from driving to the library, was someone to discover Rothbard for himself? But today, discovering Rothbard is just a click away. And once you discover him his scholarship, his knowledge, the encouragement he gave to students, and his refusal to compromise his principles even when doing so would have meant career advancement you understand why the state wants to minimize or demonize him. No wonder the most popular piece of libertarian apparel is our Rothbard Enemy of the State T-shirt.

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We Win the NY Times Prize

CoD Skill, Min Wage, Libertarianism #LagCompPodcast 20
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REP. LORETTA SANCHEZ:

Oh, I don't think so at all. I think the president has every single day of his presidency to look forward to. I remember when I was the national chair for the Democratic Party under Clinton and the Gore political season going on, and President Clinton was working so hard. And I know because we were out there and we were with the people, and I said to him, "Don't you ever get tired?" Because he'd work till 4:00, 5:00 in the morning campaigning and doing other things. And he said, "Loretta, I'm going to sleep the day after I leave the presidency."

DAVID GREGPRY:

Yeah, I don't know if that's--

REP. LORETTA SANCHEZ:

And he was just bubbly--

DAVID GREGORY:

--President Obama though, right?

REP. LORETTA SANCHEZ:

--energized. There was work to be done. And I still think-- when I look at immigration reform, which I believe we will see something happen this year, at least an effort to try to move it forward on the floor, we've got the small things, the debt ceiling that we've got to get passed right now. We've got tax reform. I know that my Michigan colleague, the chair of the Ways and Means, David Camp, is anxious to do this. Baucus is anxious to do this.

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January 26: Rand Paul, Dick Durbin, Michael Chertoff, Jesselyn Radack, Carolyn Ryan, Michael Powell, Mike Murphy ...

WV Water Poisoning Explains the Problem w/Libertarianism...
WV Water Poisoning Explains the Problem w/Libertarianism...

By: The Big Picture RT

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Its rare that you can look at your television screen and see not only what is happening but also what might have been. Chris Christies inaugural address Tuesday was at once a masterful summary of the best thinking among Republicans about where their party needs to move and a compendium of proclamations that now carry unfortunate double meanings.

The New Jersey governor gave the speech he would have given had there been no George Washington Bridge scandal and no allegations about the use of Hurricane Sandy relief money to pressure a local official on a development project.

You cant blame him for sticking to the old script. He now has to live his public life on two levels. And Christies speech made an important contribution: The tough former prosecutor denounced our dysfunctional, counterproductive approach to the drug problem.

We will end the failed war on drugs that believes that incarceration is the cure of every ill caused by drug abuse, Christie declared. We will make drug treatment available to as many of our nonviolent offenders as we can, and we will partner with our citizens to create a society that understands this simple truth every life has value and no life is disposable.

Forget the scandals for a moment: Christie here is speaking for an expanding consensus that (forgive me) bridges left and right, liberals and libertarians, about the foolishness of filling our prisons with those who are the victims of their own crimes. Pushing this cause along could be Christies good deed.

But like everything else in the speech, this passage also had a political purpose. Offering a dash of libertarianism, which appeals to a key subset of the Republican primary electorate, with a soupcon of compassion is just what the consultant gods would order up. And thats the sort of balance Christie struck throughout.

For the tea party ideologues, Christie dutifully mocked the power of almighty government to fix any problem, real or imagined. He fired a shot across the Hudson River, aimed perhaps at Bill de Blasio, New York Citys populist mayor. Lets be different than our neighbors, he said. Lets put more money in the pockets of our middle class by not taking it out of their pockets in the first place.

And even Rand Paul couldnt do better than this: I do not believe that New Jerseyans want a bigger, more expensive government that penalizes success and then gives the pittance left to a few in the name of income equity. What New Jerseyans want is an unfettered opportunity to succeed in the way that they define success.

But the ideology came draped in the finery of anti-partisan, anti-gridlock fashion, finished off with a flourish to a resurgent, caring brand of conservatism.

We have to be willing to play outside the red and blue boxes that the media pundits put us in, said the man who also has other reasons for disliking the media. We have to be willing to reach out to others who look or speak differently than us; we have to be willing to personally reach out a helping hand to a neighbor or a friend suffering from drug addiction, depression or the dignity-stripping loss of a job.

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Dionne: Chris Christie on two levels at inauguration

Death Metal Chronicles 0002 Libertarianism
WELCOME TO DEATH METAL CHRONICLES : 01110111 01100101 01101100 01100011 01101111 01101101 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01000100 01100101 0110...

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