Philosophy

For whatever reasons, conservatives are apparently launching a preemptive war on libertarians. Last week we looked at ...

An unfortunate byproduct of democracy is conflation of the State with society. Attendant to this problem is the ...

Hitler's crown jurist, Carl Schmitt, argued the executive was free of any constitutional, legislative, and moral ...

The infamous Rule 5 Sunday Monday!

"All highly-developed forms of religion forbid the coveting of someone else's property. This prohibition is the foundation of peaceful cooperation. In a democracy, on the other hand, anyone can covet anybody else's property and act according to his desire — the only precondition being that he can gain access to the corridors of power … And during mass elections what tends to happen is that the members of society who attempt to access the corridors of power and rise to the highest positions are those who have no moral inhibitions about misappropriating other people's property … "

Rule 5 Saturday!

"[D]efenders of public reason do not in fact show respect for everyone's comprehensive doctrine. It is only those deemed 'reasonable' who have to be taken into account. If you hold a comprehensive doctrine that is not 'reasonable,' then you are excluded: it is not necessary, in public argument, to offer you a reason that you would find acceptable."

It's Rule 5 Sunday!

"It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a 'dismal science.' But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance. ~ Murray Rothbard"

It's Rule 5 Saturday!

"The excessive use of the passive voice … damns us to mealymouthed platitudes. We still speak about poverty and violence, but we huddle around the victims of oppression without looking straight at their oppressors."

The Voice of Tyranny

It's Rule 5 Saturday!

"All the freedoms that modern Americans enjoy (or used to enjoy) – private property, freedom of movement, freedom of speech, independent courts, limited powers of the rulers – were established by the Founding Fathers after the American revolution (in part building on British classical-liberal traditions). This was before the advent of democracy as we know it today. And this is the same in other western countries. First came individual freedom, only later came the national democratic state."
The False Promise of Democracy

The following is a response to this comment here, which reads in part:
OK, well, first, God ...

It's Rule 5 Sunday!

"Not only do the 99% put up with the ruling 1%; they put ...

It's Rule 5 Sunday!

"What guarantee do we have that the people who run the state will ...

The Journal of Medical ...

It's Rule 5 Sunday!

"We serve students poorly when we teach them that if only they try, ...

It's Rule 5 Sunday!

"To attain genuine enforceable rights, people need to reject the moral legitimacy of government interference in their lives."
Worship of the Mob
Several months ago, I was visiting some friends in Sydney and was invited to the house of a friend-of-a-friend for some late night drinks and a chat. My host and his friends were left-wing bohemian types and had been informed by my friend that I am a "free-market anarchist," or something like that. They found this notion intriguing, and so they quizzed me on what that means, and this naturally led into a discussion of the merits of a free market versus a democracy.

It's Rule 5 Saturday!
Libertarian Political Realism...

It's Rule 5 Sunday!
Doing Your Own Thing...

It's Rule 5 Saturday!
Gloom, Doom, and Optimism...

It's Rule 5 Saturday Tuesday!
No, Melissa, There Isn't a Santa Clau...

Since The Classic Liberal is a political blog, the following two articles offer a couple of ...

It's Rule 5 Saturday!
Divided, We Stand...