U.S. History

The myth of antitrust, the myth of the New Deal and labor union myths are three economic fallacies. All three declare that government must save capitalism from itself.

This second myth about market failure is again a call for interventionism and support for bigger government. Natural monopolies don’t exist. The theory was made up after the fact. The only monopolies existing are those propped up by government privilege.

In 1913, economics and liberty collided when the Federal Reserve Bank was created, the 15th Amendment created the income tax, and the 17th Amendment instituted direct election of Senators.

Special lecture presented at the Mises Institute on 6 June 2006.

States’ Rights have been ignored or misrepresented. Thomas Jefferson was an originator of States’ Rights. Citizens of a state ought to have sovereignty – dual sovereignty. Government was merely to protect the lives, liberty and property of citizens.

Alexander Hamilton wanted the colonies to be just like Britain, but without a king. He pushed mercantilism in America by arguing that public debt was positive and central banking was necessary.

There is no provision in the US Constitution allowing for a dictator. Yet, Lincoln was one. He suspended habeas corpus. Any disagreement with Lincoln was treated as treason. Political prisoners were everywhere, including the mayor of Baltimore.

There exists a vitriolic Lincoln Cult who cannot countenance that Lincoln might have been motivated by money and power in engaging in the Tariff dispute which began in 1824.

Rod Dreher's new book is long on sage advice for how we should all live, writes Jeffrey Tucker, but Dreher has put no thought into the economic implications of his vision.

The libertarian creed, writes Murray Rothbard, emerged from the "classical liberal" movements of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the Western world.