Political Theory

John Locke's great Second Treatise of Government was the decisive influence on the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Here are crucial excerpts.

Jack Kemp writes in favor of the gold standard. But will his plan bring sound money? Steve Piraino says no.

Professor Jaffa has set himself a difficult task. He presents Abraham Lincoln as a champion of freedom for all. Not for Honest Abe the virulent racist sentiments of his contemporaries about blacks.

In 1957, a businessman and radio personality named Robert LeFevre (1911-1986) founded a very special institution in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In his private studies, he had discovered the libertarian intellectual tradition. He noted the dire need for an institution that would educate people from all walks of life in the philosophy of freedom. He took it upon himself and named it the Freedom School, later changing the name to Rampart College before it shut down in 1968. Afterward, he carried on his work in South Carolina under the patronage of business giant Roger Milliken.

This remarkable new book, published by the Mises Institute and edited by John Denson, is the first full-scale revisionist treatment of the American presidency. This is the history that civics class hid from you.

Now, the greens are denouncing SUVs for their expense. But Karen De Coster unearths their real concern: not economy but control.

How a great advance in political theory became a justification for the all-controlling state. Review by Joseph Stromberg. 

In a visit to Washington, D.C., William Anderson discovers vast waste, imperial architecture, a welfare mentality, and little to celebrate but the trip home.

Tucker was the voice for individualist anarchism in the late 19th century, and J. William Lloyd was his follower. This essay is from the Lloyd papers, now part of the Mises Institute archives.

In ancient times, moderation meant eschewing vice and embracing virtue. Now it means doing whatever seems expedient. Tibor R. Machan explains.