The death last month of the philosopher Robert Paul Wolff is a fitting occasion to call to the attention of libertarians, and particularly libertarian anarchists, his short book In Defense of Anarchism, originally published in 1970 and issued in a revised edition in 1976. In the book, Wolff argues that the state is illegitimate.
I write here to offer a teaser for a video on populism and classical liberalism, a lecture which I gave for the Bruno Leoni Institute in Milan. I redid the lecture on my own, and the recording has been graciously posted by Glenn Diesen:
This is not a joke. This is not hyperbole. This is not clever framing and not a fringe conspiracy. This is a verifiable reality that many Americans do not know, but ought to know, especially as they cheer on US foreign policy actions that morally undermine everything America stands for.
Donald Trump’s coming trade war with China could ultimately topple the current US economic regime of monetary inflation which enables America’s bubble-monopolist capitalism. The road, though, is unlikely to be direct or smooth.
In democracies, parties are supposed to rise and fall at the ballot box. However, in Germany a provision of the postwar constitution allows for political parties to be banned if they are deemed a “threat to democracy.” This unique constitutional mechanism has been used only twice, first against the Socialist Reich Party (SRP) in 1952 and later against the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in 1956. Today, this legal tool is once again at the center of political debate, with growing calls to ban the “right-wing” Alternative for Germany (AfD).
President Donald Trump has the opportunity to do de-fund one of the most useless and most propagandistic institutions that is kept alive by the sweat of taxpayers: The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The Kennedy center is nothing but a playground for the wealthy and their friends in various entertainment industries.
Unfortunately, Trump has apparently decided that while he tries to slash budgets from other areas, he’s going to keep throwing taxpayer money at what is essentially the federal government’s Department of Court Jesters.
