Biden’s War against Fossil Fuels Is a War against Ordinary People
A few months ago, I wrote about President Biden’s anti–fossil fuel policies. Among other steps designed to restrict domestic production of oil and natural gas, the president canceled completion of the Keystone XL pipeline, banned drilling for oil in the Arctic
The Real Reason Politicians Want Legal Cannabis Is Tax Money
The latest two states to legalize recreational cannabis are New York and New Jersey. However, if one believes governors and legislators in those states have finally adopted a more libertarian view of the topic, one will be severely disappointed. Legalization
The Ethics of Bribery
As in the case of blackmail, bribery has received a uniformly bad press, and it is generally assumed that bribery should be outlawed. But is this necessarily true? Let us examine a typical bribe contract. Suppose that Black wants to sell
Rousseau, Guevara, Marx and More: The Moral and Intellectual Bankruptcy of the Left
A brief look at the lives of Rousseau, Marx, Guevara, Brecht, and Sartre suggests that many of the Left's most celebrated heroes built their philosophies on a foundation of the most repugnant narcissism, violence, and inhumanity. Introduction In editing David Hume’s 1766
A Strategy to Promote Sound Money: Decentralize the State
For more than a century, an inflationary monetary policy has plagued the United States. Most recently, price inflation has become the most obvious consequence of the Federal Reserve’s actions to the public. Other effects, while less visible, have been no
Christmas and the Desacralization of the State
In about the year 9 BC, a group of Greco-Romans in Asia Minor issued a proclamation—now known from the Priene Calendar Inscription—commemorating the birth of the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus. The text of the inscription declared the coming of the "savior" Caesar
The Merchant of Death: Basil Zaharoff
If the Lord God Jehovah had not created Basil Zaharoff, some novelist sooner or later would certainly have got around to the job. Indeed, it is by no means certain that Zaharoff, as we have him, is not the joint
Nationalism: Good and Bad
The historian Allen C. Guelzo in the epilogue to his rather hostile Robert E. Lee: A Life (Knopf, 2021) raises important questions about the value of nationalism that I’d like to discuss in this week’s column. Guelzo has favorable things
Western Economies Are Self-Destructing with Inflation, Debt, and Taxes
Although reluctantly, current central bank governors and respected economists have ramped up their warnings that inflation is here to stay. However, while it took officials a considerable period of time to admit the inflationary threat, despite the signs and warnings, they are failing
The State versus Liberty
The Nature of the State So far in this book, we have developed a theory of liberty and property rights, and have outlined the legal code that would be necessary to defend those rights. What of government, the State? What is