Political Theory

1798 was an important year. The Principles of ’98 influenced all of American history. The Alien and Sedition Acts and the Kentucky Resolutions revealed these principles.

What these self-styled "anticommunist liberals" are fighting against is not communism as such, but a communist system in which they themselves are not at the helm. What they are aiming at is a socialist, i.e., communist, system in which they themselves or their most intimate friends hold the reins of government.

As of 1790, all original thirteen colonies had ratified the Constitution. Four clauses have caused great trouble ever since: The War Powers Clause; The Commerce Clause; The Necessary and Proper Clause; and, The General Welfare Clause.

Some American History is not covered at all in history books. Four of these ignored stories are: 1) in 1798 a law passed making it a crime to say unkind words about anyone in the US government, other than the vice president, who at the time was Jefferson.

Ronald Hamowy combines extraordinary critical powers with painstaking historical research. His skills are much in evidence in this collection of his essays, but I have an additional reason to call this book to my readers' attention.

Jeff McMahan's subtle article is an outstanding account of the morality of preventive war, and not incidentally a sharp condemnation of the Iraq war.

This remarkable book is a sustained attempt to solve what its authors term "liberalism's problem." In a liberal society, people are free to live as they wish, so long as they do not violate the rights of others.

In many ways, the group has been misnamed. Federalism refers to the system of decentralized government. This group defended states rights — the very essence of federalism — against the Federalists, who would have been more accurately described as Nationalists. Nonetheless, what the so-called Antifederalists predicted would be the results of the Constitution turned out to be true in most every respect.

Rent seeking is a search for privilege and personal gain through the political process. Rent seeking is distinguished from corruption in that rent seeking is legal and corruption is not.

We are glad that public choice economists started studying this topic three decades ago, and we hope to see a resurgence in explorations in the theory of anarchy.