Doug recently posted a “Libertarian Hard Cases” thread about how to deal with issues related to children. Libertarianism is one of the few political systems that treats adults like adults and holds them responsible for their actions; it assumes that people are rational actors who are capable of making decisions in their own life and [...]

It’s been awhile since we’ve done an open thread here and, even though it’s not Monday, in the course of reading Brian Doherty’s Radicals For Capitalism,, I’ve been running a few issues through my head. They all deal with what I’ll call the “hard-cases” for libertarians, and they’re areas where libertarian ideas have not really [...]

I did this once before, but this open thread is meant to follow up directly on the post I wrote yesterday about non-interventionism and Ron Paul’s foreign policy ideas, which I follow-up on in another post today. So, here goes: 1. What is the appropriate way for the United States to respond in the wake [...]

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) Federal authorities have begun deportation proceedings against an 85-year-old suburban Atlanta man who they say served as a Nazi guard and trained and handled attack dogs at the Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps. The Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security allege Paul Henss, a German citizen who lives in Lawrenceville, [...]

We’re appearing to see a definitive change in American presidential elections, with a rush for states to move their primaries forward as early as possible. This throws out the “traditional order” where states like Iowa and New Hampshire play key roles. At stake is the potential chance for dark-horse candidates like Ron Paul to win [...]

So, time to bring up a touchy subject. I find myself straddling the two camps between “we broke it, and thus we must fix it” and “let’s get the hell out of there”. Basically it boils down to a hope that the surge works as expected and gives us the ability to make a pretty [...]

The posts about Ron Paul’s campaign have brought numerous visitors and comments to The Liberty Papers over the past several months. Some have accused some of is, me in particular, of being overly negative about Paul’s campaign. The truth is, I’m overly negative about the state of the GOP to the point where I doubt [...]

Well, for those of you who follow the financial world, the market was all over the place last week. We saw the fed come in and try to inject $7B in liquidity, only to see the Dow drop 2% afterwards. We then saw a rate cut and a rally to close the week. Today has [...]

So this will be the big thing in the news, and all the talking heads will be offering their analysis. I’ll open the floor on this one. What will this mean for the future of the Bush presidency? Will this turn him into a complete lame duck, or offer the chance to bring in someone [...]

Last week, we had several posts related to healthcare. First, this post by guest poster UCrawford, then Ronald Reagan’s take on the issue, and finally yesterday I posted on efforts by private employers to cut costs. Often, though, we’re on the defensive. We’re asked to defend the current flawed system (something I don’t want to [...]

Hey guys… I always manage to stir it up whenever I talk about Venezuela and the fact that Chavez is slowly destroying the underpinnings of a free society in his bid for dictatorial control. But with work, and a baby on the way, and dreams of opening a brewery dancing through my head, I don’t [...]

Alright… So yesterday I alluded to one of my older, more optimistic posts, where I suggest that the internet will fundamentally change the world and be an enormous force for liberty. But on other days, I get very pessimistic, and worry that America has gone too far down, and that the trappings of “society” will [...]

Global Warming is occurring. We have two choices: restrict freedom and capitalism in the hope that we might curb emissions, or open the doors for capitalism in the hopes that increased wealth and technology will solve the problem. I vote #2. Go.

As someone who recently moved cross-country, I know that there are definite advantages and disadvantages to living in certain places. Government regulation in a state rarely defines life in that state, but can definitely impact quite a lot of aspects. Now that I live in California, I know that the advantages of perfect weather and [...]

Alright folks, I’ve got about a billion things going on, so my reading list hasn’t moved much in the last month… But I’ve got a couple things on tap to read, once I get a chance: Long Way Round – McGregor/Boorman 1776 – McCulloch Anarchy, State, and Utopia – Nozick A Leap In The Dark [...]

As always, with an open thread, any topic is open… But I’ll start it off with a theme: One subject that is near and dear to my heart is beer. I brew it, I drink it, I hang out on the beeradvocate.com forums to discuss it. Since Prohibition, few other topics have generated as many [...]

I’ve noticed that typically Monday mornings tend to be pretty slow around here. Which isn’t surprising, as none of us are quite able to make a career out of blogging (yet), and need to go to our real jobs. So here’s the first of (hopefully) many Monday Open Threads… I’ll give you the first theme. [...]