A quick-hit double-link in the form of two recent essays I recommend as timely and relevant reading for thoughtful lovers of liberty: "The Welfare State and the Meaning of Life" by Greg Forster, whose work I have come to know through his excellent research and analysis of school choice issues, but in this case makes a strong moral case against socialism "Ron Paul's Secession Lies on Video" by libertarian lawyer and thinker Tim Sandefur, a college classmate of mine who delivers a remedial lesson in United States history and the Constitution to the Congressman and former presidential candidate ... It's one thing to speak up loudly against federal overreaches and for a renewed respect of the 10th Amendment, it's quite another to call for … [Read more...]
1861 Was Not 1776: An Essay
Update: An astute observer has corrected a factual mistake. James Madison wrote "much of" - not "most of" - the Federalist. Alexander Hamilton wrote more, though Madison wrote many of the key essays that frame the meaning of Union. My faux pas. The following is adapted and expanded from an email listserv essay I wrote recently, inspired initially in response to the following phrase someone had written: "The American Republic created by the founding fathers was destroyed by the civil war...." Here is my argument why libertarians should think long and hard before embracing a defense of the Confederate cause: Quite simply, the noble libertarian impulse to champion resistance to government encroachment on people's freedoms has led many … [Read more...]
Rebutting Confederate Libertarianism
Thanks, Mr. Snaggle-Tooth, for your lengthy treatise in response to my prior arguments. In it you write:Ole Ben links a Liberty article by libertarian attorney Timothy Sandefur, ‘n I mus' say it’s jus’ ‘bout as good as the pro-Unionist argumint kin git. Quite Jaffian it wuz, with the acrid odor of Claremont about it. But that article got picked to pieces in-iss un', written by anothah libertarian attorney, Stephan Kinsella. (See this here response by Kinsella too.) Well, in the interest of time, here's an even better version of Sandefur's argument (link leads to abstract, from which you can download a PDF). It's a very well-documented and well-argued essay, and there isn't much I can add to it in this forum. Some of its salient … [Read more...]