2026: The Year of Rothbard

We clearly live in a time when the idea of freedom is not exactly popular in Washington. The US government has gotten itself into another costly war, and federal spending is at historic highs. Federal deficits are running at levels that rival the worst year of the covid panic. The president has raised taxes on millions of Americans, and now the White House is even talking about drafting people into the military. Although price inflation is well above the Fed’s arbitrary 2% target, Trump and other federal politicians are demanding more easy money.

I have been dismayed by libertarians arguing for immigration as a human right. The saying, “No human is illegal” has a warm feeling to it. But the rights claim conflicts with the property rights of others. Here’s my hypothetical. Suppose one of America’s large, privately-owned ranches became an independent country. As part of the United States, the owner clearly possesses the right to exclude others; persons entering without permission would be trespassing. How can gaining sovereignty take this property right away from the owner?

In their book Who Killed the Constitution, Thomas E. Woods and Kevin C.R. Gutzman argue that the demise of constitutionalism—the principle of limited government—is by no means a recent development. It can be traced back several decades, “close to a century.” It is not the work of just one political party or another, but an assault from multiple sources:

In entrepreneurship theory (and practice), uncertainty is usually treated as a backdrop—something founders must act within. But entrepreneurs rarely operate alone. They must enroll others, especially financial backers, into their projects. This simple observation shifts the analytical focus from decision-making under uncertainty to agreement under uncertainty.

The country that is losing generally does not reject ceasefire proposals. Meanwhile, Iran demands an end to the Israeli war on civilians in Lebanon, etc.

The yearly growth rate of the consumer price index (CPI) closed at 2.4 percent in February against a similar figure in January. In February 2025, the yearly growth rate stood at 2.8 percent. Note that, in June 2022, the yearly growth rate was 9.1 percent.