Find yourself arguing in favor of liberty, economics and any other political issues popular in current discourse? Well, bad news. You’re doing it wrong. Let’s dig into these “Bad Arguments” and learn how to address common rhetoric and positions effectively. In this series, we will be deconstructing why each of the listed arguments is poor
A common libertarian understanding of the debate between minarchists and anarchists is to view it as a sliding scale. E.g. minarchism is far less State aggression and anarchism is none. There are lots of caveats, such as some minarchists think there can be a State without aggression, or that anarchism will actually have more aggression.
So you’ve got the basics of libertarianism down. Taxation is theft, the market does things better than the state, etc, etc. There’s still much more to be discovered, however, whether it be more sophisticated ethical arguments, or historical examples that bolster your intuitions. This list of books will expand your knowledge and understanding of the rich political
This post is inspired from a conversation I had with a colleague of mine and his brother. The conversation was largely about intellectual property rights and whether they were a benefit or hindrance to market innovation. The principled issue is that intellectual property rights are neither property nor a right. Sounds insane at first, doesn’t
This is excerpted from The Myth of the Social Contract by Andrew Kern As has been discussed in prior chapters, it is unclear where or when citizens supposedly entered into the social contract. But let us suppose they did. Let us assume citizens have agreed to obey the state’s edicts in exchange for protection. No
The retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy gave Donald Trump an early opportunity at his second Supreme Court nomination, and on Monday the president nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh from the D.C. Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. While most from a libertarian perspective agree that Trump absolutely nailed his first opportunity at a Supreme Court
It is generally regarded that justice and security must be produced by the government with funds collected via taxation. During the gold rush in the early years of San Francisco, the inverse was actually more accurate. Not only did the government fail to provide an adequate level of safety, but public officials were commonly involved
This is excerpted from The Myth of the Social Contract by Andrew Kern One of the ways states are said to gain the rightful authority to rule is through implied consent. There are no explicit contracts signed with the government which grant it all of the power it exercises. Thus, it is claimed that in
Some time ago, Attorney General Jeff Sessions seemed to communicate the view that all laws should be enforced because it is moral, as well as biblical to do so. Sessions is wrong. The laws of the state have historically been used to oppress and terrorize peoples. We should not respect and enforce a law based merely on the
This is excerpted from The Myth of the Social Contract by Andrew Kern If you’ve ever questioned why the state has the authority to do something or even wondered aloud whether the status quo is the best that it could be, it’s likely someone has told you some variant of “If you don’t like
