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Tibor Machan Festschrift

Anti-Statism, Libertarian Theory, Statism

By Stephan Kinsella / November 22, 2011 / 2 Comments / 3 minutes of reading

Douglas B. Rasmussen, Aeon J. Skoble, and Douglas J. Den Uyl have produced a festschrift in honor of my longtime friend, the libertarian philosopher Tibor Machan. Entitled Reality, Reason, and Rights: Essays in Honor of Tibor R. Machan, it is published by Lexington Books and should be available next month from Amazon.

Skoble was editor for years of Reason Papers, the journal started by Machan (I’m now on its editorial board; and it inspired the name of my own journal, Libertarian Papers). In fact my first scholarly article, was published in Reason Papers in 1992 when Machan was editor. I remember that I wrote the initial draft of that article by hand, in cursive, when I was in the LL.M. program at King’s College London (no computers!), and submitted it to Machan after it was rejected by the King’s College London’s law journal. I remember speaking with Machan on a pay phone from King’s, about revisions to my article. We’ve been friends and kept in contact ever since, at Mises Institute conferences and, now, by Skype.

Tibor has long been a prolific and tireless advocate of the philosophy of liberty. Two of his books were big influences on me, Human Rights and Human Liberties: A Radical Reconsideration of the American Political Tradition (1975) and the even better Individuals and Their Rights (1989) (as was Rasmussen and Den Uyl’s Liberty and Nature: An Aristotelian Defense of Liberal Order).

Assembling a collection of essays like this is not easy (I was editor of a festschrift as well, so I know this from personal experience), so the editors are to be commended. This is a well-deserved honor for Professor Machan.

The description and table of contents from the publisher are appended below. …

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Why Isn’t There an All-Smoking Airline?

Anti-Statism, Drug Policy, Libertarian Theory, Nanny Statism, Statism, Uncategorized

By Wilton Alston / November 20, 2011 / 3 minutes of reading

I am not a smoker. Never have been. Frankly, I admit to thinking it’s a vile habit. Those caveats aside, the treatment of smokers in the U.S. is something of a quandary to me. Here is a group composed of a cross-section of Americana that might be unrivaled in its breadth. Rich people smoke. Poor people smoke. People of color smoke. White people smoke. Men smoke. Women smoke. Young folks smoke. Old fogies smoke. Lawmakers smoke. Hell, even the POTUS has been known to light up a time or two. Truly, everybody is represented on the smoking band wagon. With all that representation, again I ask: Why isn’t there an all-smoking airline? The answer is obvious: because the government says so. The obligatory airline safety briefing contains words to this effect: “Federal regulations prohibit smoking on airplanes.” Why in the hell…?

…

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A great new libertarian resource: Libertarianism.org

Anti-Statism, Education, Libertarian Theory, The Basics

By Stephan Kinsella / November 18, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

The new Libertarianism.org, a project of the Cato Institute, is a gorgeous website containing a well-organized set of information about libertarian ideas, history, and people. I am just exploring it but am amazed at how smooth and elegant the site design and organization of material is. It contains introductory material for newcomers and current and more advanced material as well, and it highlights the work of a host of people influential on libertarian ideas. Check it out.

For a good overview of the site’s aims and contents, see the welcoming post from Nov. 3, 2011, by Aaron Ross Powell. (My fellow TLS blogger Wirkman Virkkala blogged about it previously at New Libertarian Website Launched.)

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Mises Seminar — Australia

(Austrian) Economics, Anti-Statism, Education, Libertarian Theory, Statism, The Basics

By Stephan Kinsella / November 17, 2011 / 2 minutes of reading

Austrian and libertarian ideas are spreading around the globe, thanks in large part to the work done by the Mises Institute to promote and spread these ideas. A case in point is the Mises Seminar being held November 25 and 26 in Sydney, Australia, and being put on by Aussienomics, an Austrian-Australian group, Liberty Australia, and the Macquare University Libertarian League. As the Aussienomics site notes,

On the 25-26th of November, a watershed moment in the history of Australian liberty will be occurring in Sydney: the Australian Mises Seminar. Over the past year we have collaborated with the best and brightest representatives of Austrian economics and libertarianism in Australia to bring you this incredible weekend.

The lead speaker at the event Hans-Hermann Hoppe. The event looks like it will be fantastic and soundly rooted in principled Rothbardian libertarian and Misesian-Rothbardian Austrian economics.

What really impressed me was the beautiful 108 page programme they produced (yes, 108 pages). It’s full of nice pictures and illustrations of Mises, Rothbard, and others, inspiring quotes, and an overview of the seminar. The main reason for its length, however is that it contains “Pre-Seminar Reading”. I’ve never seen this in a programme before but it’s a great idea (and possibly only because the material they drew from was from sources that do not lock down the content using state copyright law). As the programme explains:

The readings help provide a basic foundation and understanding of the core principles used to analyse the more complex issues that will be under discussion at the seminar. They will help you follow the overall themes and make informed contributions should you choose to do so. As a result, everyone gets more from attending the seminar.

The overview section first contains an article entitled A Primer on Austrian Economics by Jonathan M. Finegold Catalan which gives a brief summary of the school of thought, its history and contributions. The fundamental difference between advocates of the Austrian school and the rest of the economics profession is methodology. The second chapter of Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s book Economic Science and the Austrian Method, is On Praxeology and the Praxeological Foundation of Epistemology. This enthralling exposition highlights Mises insights and makes the case for praxeology as the ultimate foundation of all knowledge. Anatomy of the State by Murray N. Rothbard exemplifies the case as to what the state is, what it is not and why its existence should be lamented. What Libertarianism Is by Stephan Kinsella clarifies what separates libertarianism from other political philosophies.

The programme may be downloaded here. A podcast by some of the organizers discussing the Seminar may be found here.

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TLS Podcast Picks: Government Food Subsidies, Unbecoming British, American Privateers, and more

Anti-Statism, Podcast Picks

By Stephan Kinsella / November 16, 2011 / 2 minutes of reading

Recommended podcasts:

Government Subsidies and Our Food Bills, KERA Think, November 15, 2011 (“Do we really know the how and why behind government subsidies? Who do they benefit and why were they created in the first place? We’ll talk this hour with writer Thomas M. Kostigen, author of the new book The Big Handout: How Government Subsidies and Corporate Welfare Corrupt the World We Live In and Wreak Havoc on Our Food Bills);
Unbecoming British, KERA Think, November 10, 2011 (“Along with its revolutionary political independence, how did the United States of America gain cultural and social differentiation from its former colonial master Great Britain? We’ll talk this hour with Yale University Historian Kariann Akemi Yokota, author of the new book Unbecoming British: How Revolutionary America Became a Postcolonial Nation“);
Shipwrecks, Treasure and Cannon Fire: The True Story of an American Privateer, Reason.tv (“Compared with better-known stories of the Founding Fathers who, author and regular Reason contributor Jackson Kuhl note, “don’t do much,” the story of privateer Samuel Smedley is brimming with action. His new book, “Samuel Smedley, Connecticut Privateer,” delves into this true-life tale of revolution, shipwrecks, treasure and cannon fire. … Reason.tv’s Nick Gillespie sat down with the author to talk about Smedley, America’s fascination with Revolutionary War biographies and Kuhl’s desire for a film franchise.”)
Van Gogh: The Life, KERA Think, November 14, 2011 (“He’s famous for both his incredible art and his notorious instability, but what was life really like for one of the greatest artists in history? We’ll spend this hour with Pulitzer prize-winning author Steven Naifeh. His new book, co-written with Gregory White Smith is Van Gogh: The Life“);
Evolutionary Psychologist Gad Saad on Consumerism, Sex, Advertising, and Human Nature, Reason.tv, Nov. 15, 2011 (“The Ferrari is exactly the same in the human context,” says evolutionary psychologist Gad Saad, “as the peacock’s tail is on the peacock.” Saad is an evolutionary behavioral scientist at Concordia University and author of the book The Consuming Instinct: What Juicy Burgers, Ferraris, Pornography, and Gift Giving Reveal about Human Nature, in which he argues that most consumer behavior can be explained by evolutionary psychology. … Reason.tv’s Zach Weissmueller sat down with Saad to discuss why most Ferrari owners are men, whether or not advertising executives manipulate our minds, the strong political opposition to the evolutionary sciences from across the spectrum, and the evolutionary significance of Sir Mix-a-lot’s “Baby Got Back.””);
Interview with Eric Ries, Triangulation #30 (author of The Lean Startup).

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