Political Theory

In less than 20 minutes David Gordon surveys Plato, Aristotle, Stoic philosopher Zeno of Citium, Frenchman Frederic Bastiat, Franz Oppenheimer, and Albert Jay Nock.

Mises Daily Weekend by David Gordon: Thinkers Who Challenged the State

This essay is adapted from David Gordon’s talk at the Costa Mesa Mises Circle. Click here to register for January’s Houston Mises Circle.

While we are told today that an anarchist society is unachievable, the ancients believed such a society to be achievable but undesirable. The world would have to wait for later theorists like Bastiat and Oppenheimer, who explained the true costs of the state.

Michael Oliver witnessed the beginning of the modern anarcho-capitalism movement, meeting Rothbard in the early 1970s. His graduate thesis was on Rothbard's description of a libertarian society and attempted to reconcile Rothbardian thought with the work of Ayn Rand.

If you like debating Rothbard vs. Rand — or anarcho-capitalism vs. limited government — you’ll enjoy this interview with Michael Oliver.

The state now claims to be a party to every crime and claims the right to mete out punishments that have nothing to do with obtaining restitution for the victims.  Instead, criminals are "rehabilitated" at taxpayer expense.

Writing in Time magazine this week, Darlena Cunha compares the Ferguson riots of today — as well as the Los Angeles riots of 1992 — to the Boston Tea Party, arguing that such events are similar, well within the American tradition of social change.

In this interview, Jeff Deist discusses taxes, his time working for Ron Paul, members of Congress, and how the Austrian movement is attracting more brilliant people than ever. 

Berlin provides us with an example that comes as close to that of a controlled social experiment as one could probably hope to get, writes Hans Hop

All of videos from the Mises Circle in Costa Mesa — Society Without the State: Law and Order in a Free World — are now available.