While the libertarian electorate is not as popular a topic as it once was, it could actually be a very important demographic this year.
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Audio recordings of Mises Wire articles, offering contemporary news and opinion through the lens of Austrian economics and libertarian political economy.
A very close or contested election would remind us that elections do not demonstrate "the will of the people" and that national unity is founded on some very fragile myths.
Kenneth Arrow showed in 1951 that the entire project of social choice theory rested on quicksand.
We asked several Mises Institute scholars and writers to come together to discuss the themes running through the 2020 election race and the most important policy issues for the American presidency. Here’s what they had to say.
Projections have the 2020 election seeing record-high turnout. Conventional wisdom views this as a win for Joe Biden, but could conventional wisdom be wrong?
With new legalization measures coming to the ballot box, voters have the opportunity to take steps that would reduce the drive to make drugs stronger and more potent, and more deadly.
Wisdom from James Bovard on the train wreck that is American democracy.
Is it still possible to "rouse the masses of people against the elites that are looting them" in effective numbers? As late as 1992, Rothbard thought so. And he had historical examples on his side.
The fact that some Americans supported slavery in the eighteenth century is not at all remarkable. Most of the world agreed with them. What is remarkable is that many of them sought to abolish slavery in the new republic.
The Left recognizes the importance of education in forming Americans’ ideology. The Left takes a long-term view. The Left accepts partial victories.
Doing what we can to help narrow Section 230 immunities back to a free speech interpretation could solve this while actually reducing government involvement in speech.
Contrary to popular assertions, the Nazis weren't only trying to expropriate Jewish wealth. They wanted the German people to come together as a collective entity, and this entailed socialism.
Why don't corporations just get bigger and bigger until they take over the whole economy? Unlike states, firms aren't necessarily better off as they get bigger.
The Democrats, Liz Cheney, and the Never Trumpers still want endless wars, and they hate Trump's apparent lack of enthusiasm for embracing their dreams of empire.
If Biden is elected, we will hear the same “redemption” storyline that was trumpeted when Obama replaced (temporarily) disgraced George W. Bush. The media will insist that Biden's inauguration purifies Uncle Sam.
Twenty years ago, it looked like Chile was well on its way to joining the world's small club of developed countries. But this path looks less and less likely as Chile abandons its commitment to freedom and markets.
Social media has lied about user privacy and has misled the public about the platforms' status as open forums. But none of this makes these companies monopolies.
Silicon Valley and the media are moving even further left. This is what is to be expected when a single ideological group controls educational institutions and major media outlets over a period of several decades.
Although the Fed insists otherwise, the central bank really has no tools left except money creation, and the Fed will keep printing money in a panicky attempt to prevent a financial collapse.
Global health bureaucrats would have a much easier time if they could force "renegade" countries like Sweden into line with the power to force a uniform health policy on everyone.
