Download or read book Burning Down the House written by Andrew Koppelman and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2022-10-04 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lively history of American libertarianism and its decay into dangerous fantasy. In 2010 in South Fulton, Tennessee, each household paid the local fire department a yearly fee of $75.00. That year, Gene Cranick's house accidentally caught fire. But the fire department refused to come because Cranick had forgotten to pay his yearly fee, leaving his home in ashes. Observers across the political spectrum agreed—some with horror and some with enthusiasm—that this revealed the true face of libertarianism. But libertarianism did not always require callous indifference to the misfortunes of others. Modern libertarianism began with Friedrich Hayek’s admirable corrective to the Depression-era vogue for central economic planning. It resisted oppressive state power. It showed how capitalism could improve life for everyone. Yet today, it's a toxic blend of anarchism, disdain for the weak, and rationalization for environmental catastrophe. Libertarians today accept new, radical arguments—which crumble under scrutiny—that justify dishonest business practices and Covid deniers who refuse to wear masks in the name of “freedom.” Andrew Koppelman’s book traces libertarianism's evolution from Hayek’s moderate pro-market ideas to the romantic fabulism of Murray Rothbard, Robert Nozick, and Ayn Rand, and Charles Koch’s promotion of climate change denial. Burning Down the House is the definitive history of an ideological movement that has reshaped American politics.

Download or read book A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear written by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A tiny American town's plans for radical self-government overlooked one hairy detail: no one told the bears. Once upon a time, a group of libertarians got together and hatched the Free Town Project, a plan to take over an American town and completely eliminate its government. In 2004, they set their sights on Grafton, NH, a barely populated settlement with one paved road. When they descended on Grafton, public funding for pretty much everything shrank: the fire department, the library, the schoolhouse. State and federal laws became meek suggestions, scarcely heard in the town's thick wilderness. The anything-goes atmosphere soon caught the attention of Grafton's neighbors: the bears. Freedom-loving citizens ignored hunting laws and regulations on food disposal. They built a tent city in an effort to get off the grid. The bears smelled food and opportunity. A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear is the sometimes funny, sometimes terrifying tale of what happens when a government disappears into the woods. Complete with gunplay, adventure, and backstabbing politicians, this is the ultimate story of a quintessential American experiment -- to live free or die, perhaps from a bear.

Download or read book The Libertarian Mind written by David Boaz and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-02-10 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Details libertarianism's roots, central tenets, solutions to contemporary policy dilemmas, and its views on the future of personal and economic freedom in American society.

Download or read book Libertarianism written by Jason Brennan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents an introduction to libertarianism, describing how libertarians view such topics as human nature, government, democracy, civil rights, economics, social justice, and contemporary problems, including immigration, health care, and education.

Download or read book For a New Liberty The Libertarian Manifesto written by Murray Newton Rothbard and published by Ludwig von Mises Institute. This book was released on 1978 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Libertarianism Today written by Jacob H. Huebert and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-07-01 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This engagingly written introduction examines modern libertarianism and its answers to today's most pressing issues—the economy, war, health care, and more. As government grows by leaps and bounds, libertarianism is receiving more attention than ever. Written from a contemporary perspective by an attorney and law professor who is also an award-winning journalist, Libertarianism Today provides an engaging introduction to the movement's ideas and people, serving as a jumping-off point for readers who want to know more. Beginning with the general libertarian principle that one person cannot initiate force against another, even if that person is part of the government, the book examines the implications of this principle for a wide range of contemporary issues: war, health care, personal liberties, economic policy, monetary policy, and intellectual property rights. It introduces the people behind the libertarian movement and explores the strategies—including education, activism, and litigation—libertarians are pursuing to advance their ideas. By laying out the current state of the movement, author J. H. Huebert shows how, even as it gets more mainstream-media exposure than ever, today's libertarian movement has only become more radically opposed to the Washington DC status quo.

Download or read book The Declaration of Independents written by Nick Gillespie and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2012-06-26 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everywhere in America, the forces of digitization, innovation, and personalization are expanding our options and bettering the way we live. Everywhere, that is, except in our politics. There we are held hostage to an eighteenth century system, dominated by two political parties whose ever-more-polarized rhetorical positions mask a mutual interest in maintaining a stranglehold on power. The Declaration of Independents is a compelling and extremely entertaining manifesto on behalf of a system better suited to the future--one structured by the essential libertarian principles of free minds and free markets. Gillespie and Welch profile libertarian innovators, identify the villains propping up the ancien regime, and take aim at do-something government policies that hurt most of those they claim to protect. Their vision will resonate with a wide swath of frustrated citizens and young voters, born after the Cold War's end, to whom old tribal allegiances, prejudices, and hang-ups about everything from hearing a foreign language on the street to gay marriage to drug use simply do not make sense.

Download or read book Freedom and Virtue written by George W. Carey and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2003-07 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Arguments about the nature of liberty and its relationship to a normative moral tradition lie at the heart of many contemporary political controversies. This is especially true of the spirited exchange between conservatives and libertarians. In Freedom and virtue, George W. Carey has compiled a group of essays that explore what unites and what divides the adherents of these two important American intellectual traditions. The arguments in these essays touch on the most fundamental questions of political philosophy: what is the nature of man? What should be the relative role of reason, tradition, and religion in ordering society and the state? When does individual liberty begin to undermine the moral norms necessary for the maintenance of civil society? Is there an objective moral order to which liberty ought to be subordinated? In examining these and other questions in a provocative and lively manner, Freedom and virtue invites us to speculate on the future of democracy in the United States" -- Publisher's description.

Download or read book The Libertarian Idea written by Jan Narveson and published by Broadview Press. This book was released on 2001-03-05 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Libertarianism is both a philosophy and a political view. The key concepts defining Libertarianism are: Individual Rights as inherent to human beings, not granted by government; a Spontaneous Order through which people conduct their daily interactions and through which society is organized independent of central (government) direction; the Rule of Law which dictates that everyone is free to do as they please so long as they do not infringe upon the rights of others; a Divided and Limited Government, checked by written constitution; Free Markets in which price and exchange is agreed upon mutually by individuals; Virtue of Production whereby the productive labour of the individual and any translation of that labour into earnings belongs, by right, to the individual who should not have to sacrifice those earnings to taxes; and Peace which has, throughout history, most commonly been disrupted by the interests of the ruling class or centralized government.

Download or read book Radicals for Capitalism written by Brian Doherty and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2009-04-28 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On Wall Street, in the culture of high tech, in American government: Libertarianism—the simple but radical idea that the only purpose of government is to protect its citizens and their property against direct violence and threat— has become an extremely influential strain of thought. But while many books talk about libertarian ideas, none until now has explored the history of this uniquely American movement—where and who it came from, how it evolved, and what impact it has had on our country. In this revelatory book, based on original research and interviews with more than 100 key sources, Brian Doherty traces the evolution of the movement through the unconventional life stories of its most influential leaders— Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Ayn Rand, Murray Rothbard, and Milton Friedman—and through the personal battles, character flaws, love affairs, and historical events that altered its course. And by doing so, he provides a fascinating new perspective on American history—from the New Deal through the culture wars of the 1960s to today's most divisive political issues. Neither an exposé nor a political polemic, this entertaining historical narrative will enlighten anyone interested in American politics.

Download or read book The Libertarian Alternative written by Chris Berg and published by Melbourne Univ. Publishing. This book was released on 2016-05-02 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Libertarianism—the philosophy of government that pairs free market economics with social liberalism—presents a vigorous and viable political alternative to the old Left-Right partisan shouting match. Libertarianism offers surprising new solutions to stagnant policy debates over issues such as immigration and civil rights, and provides a framework for tackling contemporary problems like privacy, the environment and technological change. In The Libertarian Alternative, Chris Berg offers a new agenda for restoring individual liberty in Australia, revitalising politics and strengthening our sagging economy.

Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Libertarianism written by Jason Brennan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-08-18 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Libertarians often bill their theory as an alternative to both the traditional Left and Right. The Routledge Handbook of Libertarianism helps readers fully examine this alternative without preaching it to them, exploring the contours of libertarian (sometimes also called classical liberal) thinking on justice, institutions, interpersonal ethics, government, and political economy. The 31 chapters--all written specifically for this volume--are organized into five parts. Part I asks, what should libertarianism learn from other theories of justice, and what should defenders of other theories of justice learn from libertarianism? Part II asks, what are some of the deepest problems facing libertarian theories? Part III asks, what is the right way to think about property rights and the market? Part IV asks, how should we think about the state? Finally, part V asks, how well (or badly) can libertarianism deal with some of the major policy challenges of our day, such as immigration, trade, religion in politics, and paternalism in a free market. Among the Handbook's chapters are those from critics who write about what they believe libertarians get right as well as others from leading libertarian theorists who identify what they think libertarians get wrong. As a whole, the Handbook provides a comprehensive, clear-eyed look at what libertarianism has been and could be, and why it matters.

Download or read book Don t Hurt People and Don t Take Their Stuff written by Matt Kibbe and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you believe in the freedom of individuals to determine their own future and solve problems cooperatively? Don't hurt people, and don't take their stuff. Simple and straightforward, that's liberty in a nutshell—no assembly required. And yet it seems like, more and more, the decisions Washington makes about what to do for us, or to us, or even against us, are having an increasingly adverse impact on our lives. Young people can't find jobs, millions of Americans are losing the health care plans they were promised they could keep, and every one of us is somehow being targeted, monitored, snooped on, conscripted, induced, taxed, subsidized, regulated, or otherwise manipulated by someone else's agenda, based on someone else's decisions made in some secret meeting or closed-door legislative deal. What gives? Our government is out of control. But setting things right again requires that you step up and take your freedom back. From Matt Kibbe, the influential leader of FreedomWorks, Don't Hurt People and Don't Take Their Stuff is the first true manifesto of a new libertarian grassroots movement. As political powermongers and crony corporatists in Washington continue to consolidate their control and infringe on our most fundamental liberties, Kibbe makes the libertarian case for freer people, more voluntary cooperation, and solving problems from the bottom up. He calls out the tyranny of faceless bureaucrats with too much power and discretion, laying out a clear road map for restoring liberty. A witty yet piercing critique of government's expanding control over you and your future, Don't Hurt People and Don't Take Their Stuff is a vital read for all those who cherish personal liberty and the unalienable right to choose your own path in life.

Download or read book The World According to China written by Elizabeth C. Economy and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2021-10-25 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An economic and military superpower with 20 percent of the world’s population, China has the wherewithal to transform the international system. Xi Jinping’s bold calls for China to “lead in the reform of the global governance system” suggest that he has just such an ambition. But how does he plan to realize it? And what does it mean for the rest of the world? In this compelling book, Elizabeth Economy reveals China’s ambitious new strategy to reclaim the country’s past glory and reshape the geostrategic landscape in dramatic new ways. Xi’s vision is one of Chinese centrality on the global stage, in which the mainland has realized its sovereignty claims over Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the South China Sea, deepened its global political, economic, and security reach through its grand-scale Belt and Road Initiative, and used its leadership in the United Nations and other institutions to align international norms and values, particularly around human rights, with those of China. It is a world radically different from that of today. The international community needs to understand and respond to the great risks, as well as the potential opportunities, of a world rebuilt by China.

Download or read book Libertarianism from A to Z written by Jeffrey A. Miron and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2011-11-22 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Libertarianism seems fairly straightforward on the surface: “Keep your government out of my bedroom and my wallet.” But how that principle applies to real-world political and economic issues is complicated. In Libertarianism, from A to Z, acclaimed Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron sets the record straight with a no-frills dictionary that walks us through the movement's controversial stances on prostitution and drug use to explore issues ranging from abortion to the war on terror. He shows us how to follow those principles to their logical—and sometimes controversial—ends and how to think like a libertarian.

Download or read book The Great Libertarian Offer written by Harry Browne and published by Liamworks. This book was released on 2000 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Libertarian presidential candidate Harry Browne shows how we can get from today's oversized, $2 trillion federal government to a libertarian America in which you can live as a free person - free to live your life as you think best, not as the politicians want - free to raise your children by your values, not as the bureaucrats demand."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Download or read book Transforming Free Speech written by Mark A. Graber and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-11-10 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemporary civil libertarians claim that their works preserve a worthy American tradition of defending free-speech rights dating back to the framing of the First Amendment. Transforming Free Speech challenges the worthiness, and indeed the very existence of one uninterrupted libertarian tradition. Mark A. Graber asserts that in the past, broader political visions inspired libertarian interpretations of the First Amendment. In reexamining the philosophical and jurisprudential foundations of the defense of expression rights from the Civil War to the present, he exposes the monolithic free-speech tradition as a myth. Instead of one conception of the system of free expression, two emerge: the conservative libertarian tradition that dominated discourse from the Civil War until World War I, and the civil libertarian tradition that dominates later twentieth-century argument. The essence of the current perception of the American free-speech tradition derives from the writings of Zechariah Chafee, Jr. (1885-1957), the progressive jurist most responsible for the modern interpretation of the First Amendment. His interpretation, however, deliberately obscured earlier libertarian arguments linking liberty of speech with liberty of property. Moreover, Chafee stunted the development of a more radical interpretation of expression rights that would give citizens the resources and independence necessary for the effective exercise of free speech. Instead, Chafee maintained that the right to political and social commentary could be protected independent of material inequalities that might restrict access to the marketplace of ideas. His influence enfeebled expression rights in a world where their exercise depends increasingly on economic power. Untangling the libertarian legacy, Graber points out the disjunction in the libertarian tradition to show that free-speech rights, having once been transformed, can be transformed again. Well-conceived and original in perspective, Transforming Free Speech will interest political theorists, students of government, and anyone interested in the origins of the free-speech tradition in the United States.