Ideas Matter

How Did You Become a Libertarian? (or Classical Liberal, or ...)

...left libertarian, or free-market conservative?

My story starts so predictably I'm almost embarrassed to admit it: my creative writing teacher in high school gave me Atlas Shrugged. And while I don't consider myself a Randian or an Objectivist, I would not be here were it not for Ayn Rand.

So what is your story? Did you read Ayn Rand? Milton Friedman? Friedrich Hayek? Robert Heinlein? Who? Leave a quick response in the comments below! 

Equality of Outcome or Opportunity?

The starting line/finish line metaphor is not perfect, but no metaphor is. It does show Friedman's gift for synthesizing big concepts. Precious few people in the liberty movement know how to use the kinds of crystallizing metaphors Milton Friedman did. So the next time you hear someone talk about income inequality, remember the finish line analogy. It helps us unpack the idea that, instead of fretting about who has what, we can ask ourselves how we can better help any given person find the opportunity to be upwardly mobile and to find happiness.

But is it "equality of opportunity" what we're looking for (if we're not looking for equality of outcome)?

Why Some People are Libertarians

This is refreshing. When someone off camera asks John Tomasi why he's a libertarian, he says: "I value those bourgeois American virtues." Most political philosophers would say something about reason demanding it. One ought to be libertarian because the political form embodies some sort of objective truth about human nature and the good -- right? Not exactly.

Judge Napolitano: What Happened to America?

This video may strike our international readers as being rather U.S.-centric. But it's for everyone, let me assure you. In Andrew Napolitano's goodbye address, he is speaking unashamedly in favor of the principles that helped found the United States. But he is also speaking in universals. You see, what Napolitano is saying above used to be our American secular religion.

The enemies of limited government have succeeded in suggesting people like Napolitano are on the fringe, that his ideas are quaint, and those who still espouse those ideas are crude troublemakers.

Objective Rules for Subjective Values

Here's a great video for the libertarian philosophers among you. The question is: if value is subjective, how can we have a system of objective rights and rules? Aeon Skoble lays it out nicely in this video. And I think for an introduction to the question, this is a tidy talk. I do, however, have some concerns.

Milton Friedman Friday: Don't Forget it's Friedman's Century

A condition of freedom is rare, says Milton Friedman. And he's right. In order to preserve it -- and especially to restore it -- we've got to celebrate it. We have to celebrate its meaning for us and its implications for the rest of humanity (especially that portion of humanity that still lives under tyranny). That's what Milton Friedman did in his life. Because of his work, people are still rising out of poverty and servitude today.

So how can you celebrate? There are a number of ways...

FAIL: Government as Externality

You mean vote-seeking politicians rarely "internalize externalities"? This is a shocking claim. I mean, I would have thought politicians were all paladins marching on white horseback to save us from greedy polluters and profiteers.

I guess we have to ask: what does it mean if the world is composed of greedy polluters and profiteers?

When Would You Use Violence?

Hillel the Elder -- an ancient Rabbi -- said: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn." It doesn't get any simpler than that. I don't want to wax too idealistic. But what if everyone practiced Rabbi Hillel's version of the golden rule? Really, this is the essence of libertarianism. We also call it the non-harm principle. What if everyone practiced it?

The Tale of the Slave

As a fan of Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State and Utopia (1974), I was delighted to come across this "Tale of the Slave" video presentation. Here's the original text, so you can follow along. It's a terrific thought experiment.

The Problem with Chomsky: Ron Paul Edition

Noam Chomsky embodies the problem with progressivism: He confuses the symptoms of state power with the disease. Government power is the problem, after all, because there is no such thing as corporate power without state power. Without the state's favor, you have to be responsible to an army of customers. With a large, powerful state, it's always possible to buy favors. That's a tough thing to swallow if you're worldview is pegged to loathing corporations. But Chomsky has built his own intellectual empire on a notion that gets the causal story precisely backwards.