Little Brother is watching
Scott posted this extraordinary video of a Seattle police officer punching a seventeen year old girl in the face and it really is quite shocking to see. What struck me about the incident, though,...
Tagged: Libertarianism
The Tea Party’s Skin Deep Libertarianism
Jim Geraghty has a great article on the foibles of a movement candidate from Nevada, including one statement that sounds awfully close to an endorsement of prohibition:
Why Rand Paul is wrong about the Civil Rights Act
Given that the Civil Rights Act is in no danger of repeal and the libertarian-ish wing of the Republican Party offers some interesting opportunities for coalition building on civil liberties and foreign policy, I’m...
The libertarians strike back
Mike Gibson takes a few shots at Patrick Deneen’s introductory essay on Red Toryism (hat tip: Will Wilkinson).
The conservative disposition
Jason has just given you the liberal-libertarian disposition, so I thought I’d try my hand at explaining why I’m sometimes drawn to the conservative alternative. My knowledge of political philosophy is almost nil, so...
Why Fact-Checking Is Important
UPDATED …Even for a blogger. This morning I linked to a story suggesting that the EPA is running a contest to celebrate the wonders of the regulatory state. The EPA is in fact running...
Liberaltarianism is dead
“I don’t want to say that liberaltarianism is dead. But is it endangered? Sure. It deserves to be.” ~ Jason Kuznicki I think the hopes placed in the Obama administration by libertarians have been...
An unsettled dogma
Jonah Goldberg has a very smart response to Jim Manzi’s reflections on “liberty-as-means” libertarians vs. “liberty-as-goal” libertarians. I want to focus on Jonah’s post here, but you should read Manzi as well. Jonah writes:...
We Hate Big Government, Except When We Don’t
Memo to the conservatives who suddenly discovered that they were in favor of limited government when George Bush left office: if you want people to believe that your conversion is real, it would probably help...
From Tea to Shining Tea: An Interview with Stephen Gordon
It is impossible to understand politics in the United States over the last 12 months without some in-depth discussion of the impact of the Tea Party movement. Over the course of the last several...
Race and homeownership, continued
A few months ago, I recommended Jason Kuznicki’s excellent article on America’s history of state-sanctioned racial discrimination. In it, Kuznicki discusses the relationship between government regulations and social prejudice (emphasis mine): In a mobile...
Whole Foods Libertarianism
Despite the occasional lapse into liberal condescension, The New Yorker‘s profile of Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, the new age-y libertarian whose Wall Street Journal health care op-ed sparked massive protests last summer, is...
In Praise of Jane Hamsher, et al: Redefining the Art of the Possible
Jane Hamsher has been taking a lot of flak in recent days for coming out against the Senate health care reform bill as well as for suggesting that “both the [progressive opponents] and the...
Robert Nozick, my new favorite libertarian.
Sometime last summer I announced that I was reading Robert Nozick’s Anarchy, State, and Utopia, and that I’d try to post evaluations as I went. Well, due to a string of events I won’t...
Bad Matt Taibbi impersonators make for bad book reviews
I’m not a huge Ayn Rand fan, but GQ really should hire someone a bit more coherent to write their obligatory libertarian smack-down. I mean, it just isn’t very fun if the author is...
Libertarians and Diversity (or lack thereof)
The forthcoming issue* of Reason features an exceedingly thoughtful essay by Kerry Howley, in which she argues that libertarianism would be well-served by widening its scope and paying far more attention to infringements on...
Float On
After reading several accounts of the Ephemerisle Festival (for those interested, a more in-depth explanation of the event – and seasteading – can be found here), I’m more convinced than ever that I really...
You can go your own way
Many readers are undoubtedly suspicious of self-indulgent exercises in libertarian wankery, but this excellent dialogue from Reason raises some interesting questions about the nature of governance, freedom and culture. As someone who grew up...
But What Are You For? The Death of Modern Movement Conservatism
I had the good fortune yesterday afternoon to attend a panel discussion on the future of conservatism featuring Ross Douthat, David Frum, Daniel Larison, and Virginia Postrel. It was a rather enlightening discussion, but...
