Tag Archives: libertarianism

I was catching up on the back issues of New Yorker accumulating on the coffee table, and read an article about the rise and decline of libertarianism in the GOP. The idea that anything resembling libertarianism was actually popular in the Republican Party is a joke. Ostensibly, libertarian wants to shrink big government. OK, lets talk about that. The US military is (1) one of the largest government programs, and (2) the most transparently socialist...

I was catching up on the back issues of New Yorker accumulating on the coffee table, and read an article about the rise and decline of libertarianism in the GOP. The idea that anything resembling libertarianism was actually popular in the Republican Party is a joke. Ostensibly, libertarian wants to shrink big government. OK, lets talk about that. The US military is (1) one of the largest government programs, and (2) the most transparently socialist...

Backgrounder in the history of the development of liberalism. While it written from a Libertarian point of view, it is useful in understanding the historical background. For a more thorough treatment although still a summary backgrounder, see the entry on liberalism at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Where it falls short is assuming the John Locke somehow discovered the foundations of genuine liberalism, when the fundamentals emerged in ancient Greece and where treated...

The title signals the strong liberal bias of the authors. The dialectic is actually about traditionalism, which appears negatively as authoritarianism to liberals, versus liberalism, which appears as libertinism to traditionalists. The tell is the admission that the wave of traditionalism is being led by "populism," as in what people actually want. But what the people actually want is supposed to be the hallmark of liberalism. The way liberals counter is this is that the majority...

The book is not an easy read but it is compelling. The last 80 pages are notes and bibliographies and the text is densely referenced. It is academic in its nature but determinedly so – as if MacLean knew that the neoliberals would come after her (as indeed they have) when it was published, attempting to undermine her thesis and destroy her reputation; and that providing links to all the background material and quotes was a vital defence against such future attempts to trash her work. A...

Interesting article that argues for an alliance based on the similarity of right libertarianism aka Libertarianism and anarcho-capitalism with traditionalism. This quote is central to the argument: Libertarian societies, then, must be hierarchised. Not around democratic or autocratic criteria of course, but on a strictly voluntary basis—i.e., the ungifted, unintelligent, and weak will tend to accept the authority of the gifted, intelligent, and strong because it will often (if not...

Some interesting history. The Levellers were one of the inspirations for classical liberalism and laissez-faire. Libertarianism is a contemporary manifestation of classical liberalism, in contrast to neoliberalism, which incorporates a role for the state in promoting commerce and capital formation.Mises Institute — Mises WireThe Levellers: The First LibertariansRoberta A. Modugno

Cato Institute vs Niskanen Center Libertarianism.John Quiggin's BlogWhat’s left of libertarianism?John Quiggin | Professor and an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow at the University of Queensland, and a member of the Board of the Climate Change Authority of the Australian Government

The relationship is a favourite of Marxists and even other leftists, and the usual line is: capitalism is inherently imperialistic.But is it? There are different forms of capitalism, and, above all, laissez faire ideology is not monolithic, and it comes in different forms.And it’s rather obvious that some of the most vehement capitalist ideologues are also the most vehemently anti-imperialist. Just think of Murray Rothbard or Ron Paul.For instance, just take Ron Paul’s comments in the videos...