THE CLASSICAL LIBERAL

Today the President of the United States openly threatened NBC, one of the oldest broadcasters in the United States with a revocation of its license because they published a story he deemed to be “fake-news”. Regardless of the merits of the story or the overall treatment of the President by the media, the idea that our President, a man who swore to uphold the constitution of the united states, would so brazenly threaten the first amendment rights of our fellow citizens is a sad testament to how far we have sunk as a country. The sorts of statements put out by the President are unequivocally the stuff of third world strongmen and dictators, same as the threats that have come out of the mouths of people like Nicholas Maduro. This is something that should go beyond politics for all patriotic Americans, we cannot accept the creation of a status quo where political representatives, especially the President, can simply threaten people openly because they publish things not to th...

Leah Libresco at the Washington  Post shows us what a real dialogue on guns can be in America, she is not a fan of guns but yet she took the time to actually research the effects of gun control and instead of the usual push to "act" she points out things are not as clear cut as they might seem. If more people on both sides can look at this issue with an open mind and with an eye to the truth, not hyperbole, then maybe we can come together and find solutions to violence and gun crime that both promote public safety and respect the fundamental rights of citizens to defend themselves with the best available tools.  "By the time we published our project, I didn't believe in many of the interventions I'd heard politicians tout. I was still anti-gun, at least from the point of view of most gun owners, and I don't want a gun in my home, as I think the risk outweighs the benefits. But I can't endorse policies whose only selling point is that gun owners hate the...

Another horrible tragedy perpetrated by a madman for reasons as yet unknown. Whatever his motivation, the President’s characterization of the Las Vegas massacre as an act of “pure evil” is probably the most truthful thing he has said in months. Yet before the victims had even been given a proper burial activists, celebrities and politicians were already taking aim at the 2 nd  amendment and calling for more gun control. It is a sad testament to the state of our country that we cannot refrain from trying to score political points and insult one another for even one day after something like this occurs.  Some people even went so far as to imply that those who attended the country music festival were complicit in their own murders because they might have supported gun rights and voted for Republican candidates. Because of course everyone knows that listening to country music makes you a gun toting ignorant Republican. What is sadder still though, is that there are things we ...

President Trump pardoned former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Friday, a move many are calling an attack on the rule of law and another example of the President’s alleged cozy relationship with racism. Sherriff Joe Arpaio has always been a controversial and polarizing figure. Despite being reelected numerous times and serving as Sheriff of Maracopia County from 1996 to 2016, he has earned the scorn of many groups around the country and been the subject of Department of Justice investigations over allegations of racial profiling while enforcing immigration law on behalf of the federal government. A federal court eventually found him to be unlawfully stopping and arresting people based on assumptions about where people were from and their potential status as undocumented immigrants. A federal judge ordered him to stop these practices and after ignoring the injunction for several months he was found in contempt. This is what the President pardoned him for. Making his name as “...

In a nation still so obsessed with race such as ours, where “white nationalism” and neo-Nazi buffoons still roam around making trouble, it is hard to imagine a time when the very concept meant something almost entirely different. Yet history shows us that before slavery grew in economic importance in the Americas, the clearest separation between groups of human beings was religion and nationhood. Europeans in particular, killing each other over the centuries as was their custom, saw themselves as vastly different peoples with completely divergent origins and destinies. It was only Christianity that united them, and even that was torn asunder in the barbarity of the 30 Years War. The very idea of a “white” race is an invention of the late 17 th century, created out of a need to prevent converted slaves from using their new-found Christianity to escape bondage. Soon after the founding of our nation and again as a means to protect slavery the Naturalization Act of 1790 made beco...

No one wants to work a job where the hours are long and the pay is low and clearly if all workers in an economy had higher wages. People with larger wages have more disposable income that they can either save for large expenditures or spend, either of these scenarios can help grow the economy and lead to more wealth creation all around. Beyond the cold economic downsides of low wages, when people are living paycheck to paycheck or right on the edge of poverty it should create a strong moral concern for all of society. For those on that edge, one difficult life event can send them spiraling down and losing everything. Living with the stress and anxiety that creates is not easy and while we know how bad it can be in terms of physical and mental health, history shows us that it can also push people towards supporting extreme political movements that will only tend to make things worse. This is why regardless of our political affiliations or beliefs, we simply can’t ignore the issue...

The classical liberal values that we espouse on this site can be thought of as the greatest political and economic innovation of the last 500 years, the adoption of which has led to the greatest human flourishing in the history of mankind in diverse cultures all over the world. Whatever its other faults, this is the gift that western civilization has given our species and it should not be denigrated or forgotten, even by those who wish to highlight the many groups who have often been left behind or intentionally harmed by its spread. The fact is, that countries who adopt democracy, limited government, and general economic liberty create the conditions whereby people can reach as high and as far as their own ability and desire allow them to. No other system that we know of can simultaneously allow for a poor person to become rich and successful while at the same time allowing those who are already successful to remain so. The tragic history of tribes of human beings fight...

After yet another tragic shooting, proponents of gun control have once again rolled out the usual talking points and policy proposals. From banning so called “assault rifles” to “high capacity magazines”, progressives and their allies think that the solution to radicalized killers and murderous sociopaths is to further restrict firearms for law abiding citizens. Those who favor greater gun control tend to parse the argument in terms of what citizens really “need” and say that their intention is only to get rid of those arms which are of a military nature and not to “take away people’s guns” in general. They then argue that most Americans do in fact support measures such as expanded background checks and restricting purchases of firearms for those that are on terrorist watch lists. The polls show this to be true, but despite dramatic sit-ins and filibusters by Democrats, neither the Senate nor the House seems to actually be willing or able to pass any gun regulation legislation...

On Thursday June 24 th , the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. The choice to stay or leave, often dubbed “Brexit” in the popular media, was often painted as a battle between the forces of progress and openness vs the forces of xenophobia and fear.  In the reactions since the vote, we have seen the “remain” side bash those who voted to leave as retrograde bigots who at heart simply do not like immigrants and want to return Britain to some idealized past. While it is certainly true that the leave position enjoyed wide support among nationalist and even racist elements, to paint anyone who voted to leave the EU as closeted racists is a sign of just how full of venom and spite politics in the 21 st century has become. There is a legitimate case for the UK to leave the EU and indeed for a breakup or strong reform of the EU as it currently exists, and that case has nothing to do with racism or fear. The European Union started out in the post war era as a mea...

If you choose to vote for Trump today you are choosing to vote against the constitution of the United States of America, you are voting against the principles of our founders. Those great men fundamentally believed in the idea that the vices and desires of petty individuals would need to be contained and channeled through a constitutional framework, through a system of checks and balances. This was done to ensure the continual liberty and prosperity of the people and to prevent the tyranny of powerful men from dominating the destiny of millions. They did not believe men to be angels, nor saviors, they knew them to be as all humans are, especially the “great” men in history; flawed, prone to mistake and hubris, and often more concerned with keeping themselves in power than serving the interests of people. They were not blinded by the promise and hope before them, but rather saw clearly the dark and tragic history of mankind and all the dangers of an unrestrained populist rev...

  An Ipsos/Reuters poll released on Monday gave a 9% approval rating among Americans for launching a strike on Syria. Even taking into consideration definitive proof that the Assad regime was behind the recent chemical weapons attack on civilians, approval for strikes only rises to 25%. We have only a small minority of Americans who are supportive of the US striking Syria, yet today more news is coming out that cruise missiles may be launched as early as Thursday August 29 th .   On top of this, only a handful of members of Congress, such as Rep. Justin Amash from Texas, are even arguing that any use of force needs to be specifically authorized by the legislature. Most are going along with the whole plan and they feel that a couple phone calls from the white house are enough “consultation” to be in line with the War Powers Act and the Constitution. Ignoring for a moment arguments about the constitutionality of strikes on Syria, we are faced with the disheartening sit...

Limited government is based on the idea that there are areas in our lives which do not concern the state, which are our own personal and private business and which only we can reveal at our discretion. If you sign up for Gmail, or Facebook, or any other free online service, and that service requires you to give up some of your private data as a condition of use, then it is up to you to do so. You are free to use paid alternatives, or learn how to use free tools in order to communicate without having all your data stored and sold to third parties or used to create targeted advertising. But what happens when the government demands that same information in order to carry out one of its functions? Unlike transactions with a private entity, you cannot simply opt out of government intrusions because by default you are a member of the body politic of the state. As long as you are a citizen of the country, you will be subject to the governing powers of the state. This is why it is a bigge...

The United States has been bitterly divided for quite some time now, with conservatives and progressives fighting it out all across the political domain. The prize is nothing less than the future of the country and the very values which underpin it. While we as citizens might prefer a more pragmatic approach to politics, where workable solutions trump ideological commitments, considering the banter between pundits on 24 hour news shows, sometimes it seems the two sides don't even speak the same language. In fact, their most basic premises about the fundamental role of government seem to be wholly incompatible. This may seem like little more than stubborn partisanship, but the reality goes much deeper and it has more to do with philosophy than politics. The difference between conservatives and progressives is sometimes simply a matter of negative and positive rights. What are negative and positive rights?   While the two terms are relatively new in terms ...