Proudly delegitimizing the state since 2005 "Aye, free! Free as a tethered ass!" —W.S. Gilbert "All the affairs of men should be managed by individuals or voluntary associations, and . . . the State should be abolished." —Benjamin Tucker "You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." —James Madison "Fat chance." —Sheldon Richman| sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com
If the continuing incompetence of Congress over passing a budget and reopening the U.S. government doesn't show the absurdity of unlimited representative republicanism, what could do so? Whether or not to extend COVID-era special subsidies for medical insurance appears to be the main issue, but other issues are undoubtedly involved. If it isn't one thing, it's another. That's politics.| Free Association
Since the government partial shutdown began, we've been seeing panicked headlines about states being denied federal money for promised or al...| sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com
In a recent interview with Nathan Goodman of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Professor Michael Clemens, a GMU specialist in migration economics, put forth "a strange and striking fact about the world economy." A lower-skilled person's location in the world can make a significant difference in how much wealth he creates, not just for himself but for society in general.| Free Association
From about 1800 to the present the world's economy did something good, which looks to be permanent and looks to be justified. If contrary to the evidence we cling to our prejudices about economic history—our view that the Industrial Revolution was improverishng, or that the Grteat Enrichment was an irremediable environmental disaster, or that Europe is rich only because of poverty in the Third World, or that the new rich are always getting relatively richer, or that after all any enrichment...| Free Association
Trump fibbed when he signed his first executive order in January, the one that promised never to repeat the Biden-era barriers to free spee...| sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com
Proudly delegitimizing the state since 2005 "Aye, free! Free as a tethered ass!" —W.S. Gilbert "All the affairs of men should be managed by individuals or voluntary associations, and . . . the State should be abolished." —Benjamin Tucker "You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." —James Madison "Fat chance." —Sheldon Richman| sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com
For at least 200 years, classical liberals (aka libertarians) have warned that the more power the government wields, the greater the lengths people will go to get their hands on it before their ideological opponents do.| Free Association
[R]elative shares in national income have remained substantially constant over the last hundred years. This, however, is true only if we measure them in money. Measured in real terms, relative shares have substantially changed in favor of the lower income groups. This follows from the fact that the capitalist engine is first and last an engine of mass production which unavoidably means also production for the masses....| Free Association
Why would anyone think that condemning a murder must imply any particular judgment about the victim?| Free Association
Unbelievably, in 2025, walking among us are people, many of them young and college-educated, who believe the Industrial Revolution (spawned by the liberal Enlightenment) was a disaster for most of mankind. They yearn for what they imagine was the tranquil, plentiful, and happy communalism of the Middle Ages. I'm not referring only to people on the fringes. Glenn Greenwald, the cosmopolitan journalist who has done important reporting on civil liberties and foreign policy, recently lamented the...| Free Association
More than a decade ago, I ventured into the subject of English agricultural land enclosure as the Industrial Revolution was coming on. I regret that I did so before doing adequate research. It's a complicated subject. To somewhat rectify my offense, I refer readers to Donald Boudreaux's recent Cafe Hayek post on the subject.| Free Association
The U.S. Court of Appeals' rejection last week of the Trump administration's global "emergency" tariff program was a welcome affirmation o...| sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com
"Participation in capitalist markets and bourgeois virtues has civilized the world. It has 'civilized' the world in more than one of the word's root senses, that is, making it 'citified,' from the mere increase in a rich population. It has too, I claim, as many eighteenth-century European writers also claimed, made it courteous, that is, 'civil.' 'The terrestrial paradise,' said Voltaire, 'is Paris.'"| Free Association
If self-described progressives decry anything more fiercely than poverty, it is income and wealth inequality. Some have even suggested that they would prefer low-income equality to inequality, regardless of how affluent the lowest level was. What counts is the gap.| Free Association
"Poverty has no causes; prosperity has many. As history attests, poverty is humanity’s default condition.... But prosperity is not natural; ...| sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com
Proudly delegitimizing the state since 2005 "Aye, free! Free as a tethered ass!" —W.S. Gilbert "All the affairs of men should be managed by individuals or voluntary associations, and . . . the State should be abolished." —Benjamin Tucker "You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." —James Madison "Fat chance." —Sheldon Richman| sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com
Immigration control strikes at the heart of the rule of law. That fact is badly unappreciated, even by some libertarians. If for no other reason, people who cherish individual liberty ought to be appalled by what the Trump administration is up to. Trump did not invent this unequivocal assault on a key protector of freedom—blame Congress for that—but never has the assault been so flagrant in America.| Free Association
If you think that immigration control does not strike at the heart of the rule of law, you need to listen to this:| Free Association
Even if the Palestinians are not a People, they nevertheless are and always have been people—that is, individual human beings with natural rights, namely, the rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. Like everyone else.| Free Association
Recent polls indicate that many people under 30 view socialism and communism favorably. (For Marx, those words were synonyms.) It seems that...| sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com
"Trump administration approves sale of CBS parent company Paramount after concessions" —NPR| Free Association
So, what is capitalism? The answer will depend on who's being asked. Language, like markets, basic law, and customs, is a spontaneous order. No one plans it. Words drift in their meaning in ways that probably can’t be fully explained. Language is a tool that people use to think and communicate, so it’s adapted according to needs, changing circumstances, and even confusion.| Free Association
Immigration. Despite other headline-grabbing news, this issue persists. How could it not? Trump's masked goon squad, ICE (Immigration and Cu...| sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com
I sat down recently for a chat with my old friend Bryan Caplan.| Free Association
Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky (1880-1940) was a key figure in the development of the Zionist movement, which led to the founding of Israel in ...| sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com
The government is always a threat. This we must never forget. In that light, I want to examine the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Trump...| sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com
The likely temporary Israel-Iran ceasefire notwithstanding, if you need proof of how despicable Donald Trump is, consider this: When asked l...| sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com
Proudly delegitimizing the state since 2005 "Aye, free! Free as a tethered ass!" —W.S. Gilbert "All the affairs of men should be managed by individuals or voluntary associations, and . . . the State should be abolished." —Benjamin Tucker "You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." —James Madison "Fat chance." —Sheldon Richman| sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com
Israel identifies itself as the Jewish state and claims to represent "the Jewish people" everywhere, not only Jewish Israelis. Thus Israel's...| sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com
Proudly delegitimizing the state since 2005 "Aye, free! Free as a tethered ass!" —W.S. Gilbert "All the affairs of men should be managed by individuals or voluntary associations, and . . . the State should be abolished." —Benjamin Tucker "You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." —James Madison "Fat chance." —Sheldon Richman| sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com
Proudly delegitimizing the state since 2005 "Aye, free! Free as a tethered ass!" —W.S. Gilbert "All the affairs of men should be managed by individuals or voluntary associations, and . . . the State should be abolished." —Benjamin Tucker "You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." —James Madison "Fat chance." —Sheldon Richman| sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com