I resisted writing about the election for a long time, but I couldn’t hold out any longer. Below are three sections, each covering a different candidate: Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, and Hillary Clinton. Though the essays can be taken as separate pieces, they are related both in content and theme. I urge you to read…

No one should need National Review‘s advice to steer clear of Donald Trump. For one thing, the messenger is a curious one indeed. Although Trump doesn’t talk like a neoconservative Wilsonian, he has not cleanly separated himself from that faction either. Yes, he courageously recommended against invading Iraq — a year after the invasion took…

If you believed the talking heads, you might think concern with inequality in our society was just a product of envy and economic ignorance. That’s another reason not to believe the talking heads. The fact that someone has more wealth than I do doesn’t injure me or make me worse off. And the economy isn’t…

What a bad week for the war party. Darn you, Iran! The country that the armchair warriors most love to hate refuses to play the villain’s role assigned by the neoconservatives, “humanitarian” interventionists, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the establishment media. First Iran quickly released 10 U.S. sailors whose armed boats had violated Iran’s territorial waters near…

Seemingly John Stossel never sits down to write without the goal of further lowering the bar for qualifying as a libertarian. This time (“My Trump Problem,” Reason, Nov. 11), he’s managed to push the criterion to the all-time low of being somewhat less statist than Donald Trump. Stossel’s first problem with Trump allegedly centers on…

Su Progressive Review (“Two Types of Terrorism,” 7 dicembre), Sam Smith distingue due tipi di terrorismo: “Quello che usa armi e bombe e quello che usa le parole per terrorizzare la gente e convincerla ad accettare la volontà di chi sta al potere.” Ma tra i due tipi c’è una relazione, come dimostrano le relative…

Cos’hanno in comune Barack Obama e Donald Trump? Fra l’altro, il fatto che non sanno, o fingono di sapere, perché i musulmani ci odiano. Trump dice (stavo per scrivere “crede”, ma non so se esiste qualcuno, compreso Trump, che sappia in cosa crede) che i musulmani dovrebbero essere tenuti alla larga dagli Stati Uniti finché…

It’s about time someone challenged the phrase radical Islamic terrorism. The most objectionable part is the word radical since it is now popularly associated with aggression — violence against innocents — as an acceptable means to politico-religious ends. But nothing about the word radical implies approval of aggression or terrorism. Rather, the word signifies an approach that goes to the…

At Progressive Review (“Two Types of Terrorism,” Dec. 7), Sam Smith breaks terrorism down into two types: “That which uses guns and bombs and that which uses words to terrify the public into going along with whatever those in power want.” But the two aren’t unrelated, as the respective domestic reactions to the Paris bombings…

What do Barack Obama and Donald Trump have in common? Among other things, they have — or pretend to have — no clue why some Muslims hate us. Trump says (I almost typed believes, but I’m not sure anyone, including Trump, knows what he believes) Muslims should be barred from the United States until “until…

From the start, opponents of the American empire warned that the government could not violate the rights of foreigners without eventually violating the rights of Americans. An excellent example is William Graham Sumner’s post-Spanish-American War classic The Conquest of the United States by Spain. The anti-imperialists were spot-on, and the evidence for their case keeps…

Jerry Taylor, del Niskanen Center, ha sganciato una bomba della verità sulla politica di Washington con un suo recente pezzo, scritto per Fox News, a proposito del declino di Rand Paul. Taylor nota come la presunta crescita del movimento libertario sulla scia della campagna elettorale di Ron Paul fosse in gran parte illusoria. I populisti…

Sheldon Richman discusses whether Bernie Sanders is a radical or not. Jacob G. Hornberger discusses veterans and the Iraq War. ‘ Laurence M. Vance reviews a book that questions World War 2. Joseph R. Stromgberg discusses whether empire provides global public goods. Dan Sanchez discusses who should thank whom on Veteran’s Day. Sheldon Richman discusses…

The good news about the presidential election season is that so many voters seem disgusted with career politicians. The bad news is that these voters are naively opting for “outsiders” who in reality are just politicians in another form. They are anti-politician politicians. This, I submit, is not progress. It is certainly a hopeful sign…

Jerry Taylor of the Niskanen Center dropped a truth bomb on the beltway in his recent piece for Fox News about the decline of Rand Paul. Taylor notes that the alleged growth of the libertarian movement in the wake of the Ron Paul campaign was largely illusory. The alienated populists and conspiracy theorists that filled…

On August 26th, C4SS’s Sheldon Richman appeared on The Scott Horton Show to discuss libertarian class analysis, its roots, and the contemporary class divide. The interview is about 28 minutes.  

Ira Stoll discusses how Trump and Sanders are similar. A. Barton Hinkle discusses libertarian approaches to dealing with income inequality. Tom Engelhardt discusses the U.S. antiwar movement. Richard Ebeling discusses the views of John Stuart Mill. Justin Raimondo discusses Hilary Clinton, Chelsea Manning, and double standards. Jacob G. Hornberger discusses Jeb Bush’s confused mindset on…

Donald Trump may think the media stenographers are out to get him, but if they were really doing their job, his head would be spinning. He doesn’t know how good he has it. Or maybe he does. One need only think about the questions Trump is not asked to see what I mean. Take Trump’s…

A certain headline-grabbing Republican presidential candidate offered up his latest soundbite at a campaign event in Iowa on July 18 when he declared he “like[s] people who weren’t captured.” The reference was to Sen. John McCain, an ex-POW who spent five and a half years in a Vietnam prison camp. In America’s troop-worshipping society, there’s no greater offense than to disparage…