August 29, 2011
Libertarianism and the Civil War
A number of commentators to my previous post (to my surprise) agree with Rothbard’s view that the American Civil War was unjust. They support this claim with a variety of…
Author: Fernando Teson
August 27, 2011
Libertarian Wars
Libertarians are opposed to war. They see war as a terrifying and self-serving exercise of state power. As Murray Rothbard put it in 1994: war is “an instrument for the…
August 13, 2011
The Green Button Test
This is a brief reaction to Andrew’s post and comments. 1) Toleration is a funny concept. We tolerate an idea or practice we disapprove of. One possibility is to say…
June 16, 2011
Summer Reading
I’m reading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. I had never read anything by her. The references I had were mixed: praise by some libertarians; condemnation by others; Nozick’s piece “On the…
June 07, 2011
A Puzzle
Like many others, I am alarmed at the rate of incarceration in the United States (Reason magazine has devoted a whole issue to the problem). I also agree that the…
June 01, 2011
Vessels that Collide in the Night
This post continues the conversation started by the suggestive, subtle posts written by John Tomasi in his inimitable prose. I find a lot of what John says appealing; my differences…