How to Counter Arguments That Taxation Is Legitimate
Dr. David Gordon | Mises Institute Senior Fellow
Sponsored by Jane Shaffer, in Memory of Butler Shaffer
Dr. David Gordon explained why the leading philosophical defenses of taxation—from Rawls’s difference principle to Nagel and Murphy’s “myth of ownership”—collapse, and why natural rights still say taxation is theft.
Land of the Free? Government Mismanagement of America’s Open Spaces
Dr. Timothy Terrell | Mises Institute Senior Fellow, Wofford College
Sponsored by Brian and Shanna Tvenstrup
Dr. Timothy Terrell explained how the federal government’s vast landholdings breed crowding, decay, and wildfire risk—and why returning land to private owners, guided by prices and responsibility, yields healthier parks and forests.
How to End the Fed
Dr. Jonathan Newman | Mises Institute Henry Hazlitt Research Fellow
Sponsored by Andy Hord
Dr. Jonathan Newman explained why we don’t need a central bank and laid out a concrete Rothbard-inspired plan for actually ending the Fed.
US Trade Deficits: Blame Nixon, Not China
Dr. Bob Murphy | Mises Institute Senior Fellow
Sponsored by Dan Johnson and Randee Laskewitz
Dr. Bob Murphy presented an Austrian analysis of the US trade deficit, a topic that has dominated recent economic discourse. Dr. Murphy highlighted the impact of changes to monetary policy, in particular the end of the gold standard, in contrast to the mainstream’s emphasis on the rise of the Chinese economy.
Crusoe: The Man, the Myth, the Legend
Dr. Jeff Herbener | Mises Institute Senior Fellow Grove City College
Sponsored by Steve Berger
Dr. Jeff Herbener examined the importance of Austrian methodology, its emphasis on economic individualism, and how that sets it apart from mainstream economics.
The Tyranny of Phony Civil Rights
Dr. Wanjiru Njoya | Mises Institute Walter E. Williams Research Fellow
Sponsored by Don Wills
Dr. Wanjiru Njoya brought piercing logic to bear on the question of “civil rights,” which has come to dominate Western social democracies.
How Destructive Are Regulations?
Dr. Per Bylund | Mises Institute Fellow Oklahoma State University
Sponsored by Yousif Almoayyed
We know the regulatory state increases costs to businesses in America, but Dr. Per Bylund explained how regulations cause damage far beyond their impact on a firm’s bottom line and leave society poorer.
Murray Rothbard’s Strategy for Achieving Liberty
Dr. Patrick Newman | Mises Institute Senior Fellow, University of Tampa
Sponsored by Scott and Cathy Ullery
It is important to understand the virtues of a free economy, but just as vital is considering how to actually bring it into existence. Dr. Patrick Newman outlined the work of Murray Rothbard on this important question of strategy.
Liberating the American University
Dr. Peter Klein | Mises Institute Carl Menger Research Fellow, Baylor University
Sponsored by Stan Eden
American universities have become one of the most acrimonious battlefields in American politics. Dr. Peter Klein analyzed how the Left captured higher education and how markets can set it free.
Taxes and the Rise of the Modern State
Ryan McMaken | Mises Institute Editor in Chief
Sponsored by Murray and Florence Sabrin
Ryan McMaken explained how the modern tax state emerged—centralized, unilateral taxation replacing older, contract-based revenues—and why understanding its origins is the first step to rolling it back.
Financial Markets in a Free Society
Dr. Guido Hülsmann | Mises Institute Senior Fellow, Université d’Angers
Sponsored by Ben and Joan Koether
Dr. Guido Hülsmann considered how financial markets would operate in a true free market economy, free of the consequences of fiat money and the inflationary pressures created by the modern state.
Nothing Good Starts at the Top
Dr. Mark Thornton | Mises Institute Senior Fellow
Sponsored by Mark and Mirella Monoscalco
Dr. Thornton draws from Hayek’s “worst get to the top” insight, contrasting elite-driven prohibition with the citizen-led wave of decriminalization and legalization of drugs across states and abroad. Markets and civil society integrate; top-down policy divides.
Private Property: The Sacred Guardian of Individual Liberty
James Bovard | Keynote Speaker
Sponsored by Jeff Leskovar
In our keynote speech, celebrated journalist James Bovard surveyed attacks on property rights—from open-fields doctrine and no-knock raids to eminent domain and civil asset forfeiture—showing how each erodes privacy and freedom.
