It struck me recently just how frequently we use the word “law” in our conversations. I read or hear, “That’s against the law” when someone wants someone else not to do something, and “There ought to be a law” when someone wants to further restrict others. I read arguments about what it really means to say that the Constitution is the highest law
In Abraham Lincoln’s June 16, 1858, speech upon being chosen as Illinois’ Republican nominee for U.S. Senate against Stephen Douglas, he cited Jesus’ words in the Bible that “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” Today, that principle is once again an ominous portent for America. We have piles of politicians who claim they will unify us,
It is hard not to notice the Biden administration’s clear demonstration of their disregard for Americans’ property rights and the Constitution. All one needs to do is read the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause while considering Biden’s extension of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) eviction moratorium. Why? It did so despite
Sociologist Mike Savage’s new book, The Return of Inequalilty , is the latest in a long line of unsuccessful attempts to demonize and eliminate inequality. James R. Rogers provides an interesting and useful discussion of it in his review, “ Is Inequality a Problem? ” on the Law and Liberty website. But what I was most struck by was the picture
Leonard Read knew the problems of socialism and saw what a threat its growth was to Americans’ well-being as well as their liberties. He also saw that the attempt to improve things that cannot work well, as is true of socialistic efforts, could even tempt lovers of liberty into undermining what they believe in. Read made his case in “I Don’t
The labor theory of value has long undermined people’s understanding of the miracles created by markets and rationalized various incarnations of socialism which mangle those miracles. Leonard Read understood why undoing that misunderstanding by all who hold to it, as well as those who just use it as an excuse for what they want government to
I have taught economics long enough that I have made use of a variety of “trick” questions in introductory courses. I have found them, used well, to be pedagogically helpful. But not everyone agrees. Whether a question is considered a trick depends on one’s viewpoint. From a professor’s point of view, such questions are often a way of revealing
Thanksgiving plays an important role in Americans’ views of ourselves and our heritage. The mere fact that it is time off from work and school cannot by itself explain how many travel to be with those they care about to celebrate. But our understanding does not extend very deep, because the Pilgrims started from a communal or communist system, and
It is commonplace to hear about how much more we know than our ancestors. And many have long taken that to imply that we are more advanced than they were, or that the accumulation of knowledge will continue to improve (progress, if you claim to be a progressive) over time. However, while that is undeniable in some areas, the opposite might be
I just came across and article which reminded me that this November 16 was the 15 th anniversary of the death of Milton Friedman, one of the past century’s greatest advocates of freedom. As someone who has followed his writing for most of my adult life, I can barely believe he has been gone that long. On the other hand, the abyss between the
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.