The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom

The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom

David Boaz

Language: English

Pages: 432

ISBN: 1476752842

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


A revised, updated, and retitled edition of David Boaz’s classic book Libertarianism: A Primer, which was praised as uniting “history, philosophy, economics and law—spiced with just the right anecdotes—to bring alive a vital tradition of American political thought that deserves to be honored today” (Richard A. Epstein, University of Chicago).

Libertarianism—the philosophy of personal and economic freedom—has deep roots in Western civilization and in American history, and it’s growing stronger. Two long wars, chronic deficits, the financial crisis, the costly drug war, the campaigns of Ron Paul and Rand Paul, the growth of executive power under Presidents Bush and Obama, and the revelations about NSA abuses have pushed millions more Americans in a libertarian direction. Libertarianism: A Primer, by David Boaz, the longtime executive vice president of the Cato Institute, continues to be the best available guide to the history, ideas, and growth of this increasingly important political movement—and now it has been updated throughout and with a new title: The Libertarian Mind.

Boaz has updated the book with new information on the threat of government surveillance; the policies that led up to and stemmed from the 2008 financial crisis; corruption in Washington; and the unsustainable welfare state. The Libertarian Mind is the ultimate resource for the current, burgeoning libertarian movement.

The American South and the Vietnam War: Belligerence, Protest, and Agony in Dixie (Studies in Conflict, Diplomacy, and Peace)

None Dare Call It Conspiracy

The British Constitution: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

Strike for America: Chicago Teachers Against Austerity

Exploring Civil Society: Political and Cultural Contexts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People fear that children wouldn’t get educated if schooling weren’t free and compulsory. Historical evidence shows that in England and the United States the vast majority of children were educated before the government took over schooling. Even Senator Edward M. Kennedy, no fan of civil society and the market process, proclaimed that literacy was higher before the advent of public education than it is today—which makes one wonder why he worked so hard to pour more and more money into a.

Without either politicizing the environment or imposing unnecessary costs on our economy. PRESERVING PEACE The classical liberals always regarded war as the greatest scourge that government could visit upon society. They abhorred the killing that war entailed, and they understood something else as well: War destroyed families, businesses, and civil society. Preventing kings from putting their subjects at risk in unnecessary wars was one of their major goals. Adam Smith argued that little else.

$4 trillion government—to say nothing of a $17 trillion economy? TOWARD A FRAMEWORK FOR UTOPIA Lots of political movements promise utopia: Just implement our program, and we’ll usher in an ideal world. Libertarians offer something less, and more: a framework for utopia, as Robert Nozick put it. My ideal community would probably not be your utopia. The attempt to create heaven on earth is more likely to produce hell, because we have different ideas of what heaven would be like. As our society.

Among other essays, both Coase on lighthouses and Cheung on beekeepers. Allen Wallis’s analysis can be found in Welfare Programs: An Economic Appraisal (Washington: American Enterprise Institute, 1968). On education, see Sheldon Richman, Separating School and State (Fairfax, Va.: Future of Freedom Foundation, 1994); Andrew J. Coulson, Market Education: The Unknown History (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction, 1999); and Myron Lieberman, Public Education: An Autopsy (Cambridge: Harvard University.

Bailouts and out-of-control spending after the financial crisis. As one journalist noted in 2009, “The Obama administration brought with it ambitions of a resurgence of FDR and LBJ’s active-state liberalism. And with it, Obama has revived the enduring American challenge to the state.” That libertarian revival manifested itself in several ways. Sales of books like Atlas Shrugged and The Road to Serfdom soared. Rallies against taxes, debt, bailouts, and ObamaCare drew a million or more people to.

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