Friday Philosophy

For all of his freedom-loving rhetoric, it is clear that Woodrow Wilson was one of the most antifreedom presidents in U.S. history.

In his latest book, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative, Glenn Loury engages in what David Gordon calls an argument by fiat. While Loury makes a good faith effort to explain his points, his logic is nonetheless lacking.

A common complaint is that the 1964 Civil Rights Act started in the “right direction,” valuing so-called equality of opportunity, but then went off the rails with “equality of result.” In truth, the act cannot be reconciled with a libertarian society.

Is charity a right held by everyone or should charity be confined to private, voluntary action within a free market? David Gordon argues for the latter.

In his 2006 book The Wages of Destruction, Columbia University historian Adam Tooze explains Hitler’s policy of seeking lebensraum (living room). However, Ludwig von Mises (whom Tooze ignores) already explained that policy in his 1944 Omnipotent Government.

In the aftermath of Donald Trump's conviction in Manhattan—a political show trial, to be sure—David Gordon reviews Danilo Zolo’s, Victor’s Justice, which examined the Nuremberg Trials following World War II.

David Gordon reviews How to Run Wars, by Christopher J. Coyne and Abigail R. Hall. Their tone is satirical, aimed at showing the folly and corruption that marks the policies of the foreign policy elites.

Nobel-winning economist Joe Stiglitz believes that the path to freedom is . . . less freedom. Of course, he doesn’t package his advocacy of socialism as the diminishing of freedom but rather as expanding freedom by restraining economic freedom.

While Mises was a utilitarian, he believed people acted to improve their lot because of a felt uneasiness that could be rectified through free markets.

In a recent symposium on Murray Rothbard's For a New Liberty, philosopher Matt Zwolinski takes issue with Rothbard on Murray’s views of freedom and property rights.