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Introducing Myself
For my first post, I thought I would introduce myself. I have lived in blue states my whole life – growing up in NYC, living in Washington DC after law school, and then moving to California to teach....
View ArticleWill Wilkinson: Nonlibertarian or Liberal Libertarian
Recently, Will Wilkinson announced on the Bleeding Heart Libertarians Blog that he was no longer willing to call himself a libertarian: I’m not interested in identifying myself [as] a libertarian....
View ArticleStatism I
In analyzing what is wrong with current thinking about our political order, one of the basic concepts that I employ is statism. Yet few people, including libertarians and conservatives, talk very much...
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A Response to Tim Sandefur’s Views on Substantive Due Process
In a previous post, I reviewed Tim Sandefur’s Cato Unbound essay on substantive due process. I wrote: Tim’s piece is interesting, but his interpretation of the Constitution is too abstract for my...
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Breitbart on Libertarians and Conservatives
Over at Reason, they have a review of Andrew Breitbart’s speech to CPAC: Breitbart, who admits to having libertarian leanings, thinks libertarians should not be discouraged by the media’s portrayal of...
View ArticleCapitalism and Freedom versus Free to Choose
Over at the Bleeding Hearts Libertarian blog, Peter Boettke has an interesting post comparing these two defenses of freedom by Milton Friedman. I had always thought of Capitalism and Freedom as the...
View ArticleThe Constitution of Liberty and Law, Legislation, and Liberty
Yesterday, I posted on people’s preferences for Capitalism and Freedom versus Free to Choose. I also noted that one’s preference may turn on which book one read first. The same issues of preference...
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Conservatism True and False in America: Evaluating Leo Strauss from the Right
In today’s America, there are two conventional ways of understanding Leo Strauss’s ideas. These two perspectives, predictably, reflect the opposite poles of the established political spectrum. On the...
View ArticleBleeding Heart Libertarianism III: Friedman versus Zwolinksi and Tomasi
Over at Cato Unbound, David Friedman commented on Matt Zwolinski and John Tomasi’s essay arguing that concerns of social justice informed the classical liberals. Friedman, who is sympathetic to...
View ArticleFreedom and the Political Good: Some Preliminary Considerations
Recent disputes over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act go to the most basic of political issues, the proper goal of government. The nature of the political good may seem a question for the...
View ArticleJames Bruce’s Critique of My Consequentialist Libertarianism: Part I
Last week, James Bruce wrote a critique of several of my posts that argue for a consequentialist approach to Bleeding Heart Libertarianism. In my view, welfare consequentialism – a more refined...
View ArticleJames Bruce’s Critique of My Consequentialist Libertarianism: Part II
In my last post, I offered some responses to James Bruce’s critique of my consequentialist libertarianism. Now, I complete my response. 4. Consequentialism and Constitutional Rules: Next consider...
View Article“The Greatest Blog Post Ever Written”
Deidre McCloskey has a post entitled Factual Free Market Fairness, which has received a great deal of attention and praise, including the claim by more than one person that it is the greatest blog post...
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Four Heads and One Heart
James W. Ceaser, a professor of politics at the University of Virginia, has an excellent essay called “Four Heads and One Heart: The Modern Conservative Movement,” in his recently published Designing a...
View ArticleWhat Libertarians Think About the U.S. Constitution Part I: Some Reflections
Over at the Bleeding Heart Libertarian Blog, Jason Brennan has a post on “What Libertarians Think about the U.S. Constitution” based on his new book Libertarianism: What Everyone Needs to Know. Of...
View ArticleWhat Libertarians Think About the U.S. Constitution Part II: Strengthening...
In my last post, I discussed Jason Brennan’s views of constitutionalism. Here, I want to address Jason’s claim that the U.S. Constitution was not intended to protect liberty but national power. I am...
View ArticleWhat Libertarians Think About the U.S. Constitution Part III: Shay’s...
This will be my third and final post on Jason’s Brennan post entitled What Do Libertarians Think about the U.S. Constitution (based on his new book). In my previous post, I argued that Jason ignored...
View ArticleCan Realism Be a Comprehensive Theory of American Foreign Policy?
The controversy over the nomination of Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense has reminded us how diverse opinion called “conservative” really is. Certainly “traditional conservatives” and...
View ArticleThe Non-Aggression Principle
Over at Libertarianism.org, Matt Zwolinski gives six reasons why he does not believe that the non aggression principle can function as the sole principle of libertarian theory. His six reasons are...
View ArticleWhy Not Gay Marriage?
The foremost political theory lecture series in not just Washington, D.C. but in the country presents a civil, thought-provoking, and above all honest debate over gay marriage—between two openly gay...
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