It has long been open season on Herbert Spencer (1820–1903). Perhaps because he was the 19th century’s most prominent defender of individual liberty and critic of the violence of the state, Spencer has always been the object of hatred and distortion; indeed, it sometimes seems that no accusation is too bizarre to be leveled against him. (George H. Smith has cited…

Probably no intellectual has suffered more distortion and abuse than Spencer. He is continually condemned for things he never said — indeed, he is taken to task for things he explicitly denied. The target of academic criticism is usually the mythical Spencer rather than the real Spencer; and although some critics may derive immense satisfaction…

(*Actually, the first “dialectical” libertarian!) In his short review of The Political Philosophy of Herbert Spencer, Timothy Virkkala (May 1999) praises Tim S. Gray’s discussion of the great classical liberal’s methodology as a synthesis of “individualist” and “holist” approaches to social theory. But Virkkala remarks This method–I’m tempted to call it “dialectical,” but Spencer’s prose…

From the Markets Not Capitalism audiobook read by C4SS fellow Stephanie Murphy.

Industrial Utility In the vast arid lands of the Arckaringa Basin in Australia a major shale oil discovery has been made. Linc Energy has discovered across 16 million acres of land an estimated 133 – 233 billion barrels of shale oil that lies beneath the region’s lithology. No matter how much of this oil is…

In the back of each issue of Liberty magazine is a section titled “Terra Incognita,” which consists of news clippings inane or horrific or both. So I must assume that someone at Liberty found the following item inane or horrific, since it’s the third featured item in the latest (January 2006) issue’s “Terra Incognita”: Port Townsend, Wash. A glimpse into…

Everywhere you look in the right-wing commentariat, you see the recurring theme of the “underclass” as parasites. Its most recent appearance was the meme of the productive, tax-paying 53% vs. the tax-consuming 47%. And of course there’s the perennial favorite mythical quote attributed to Alexander Tytler, trotted out by many who should know better, about…

If there’s one thing the libertarian establishment — that is, mainstream libertarian organizations whose main activity is lobbying the state for “free market reform” — loves, it’s so-called “privatization.” An article by Paul Buchheit at Truth-out.com (“Eight Ways Privatization has Failed America,” Aug. 5) treats the failure of privatization as a reflection on the limits…

C4SS Fellows Jason Lee Byas and Trevor Hultner discuss war, the anti-war movement, the civil war and left libertarianism with Smash Walls Radio.

One of the quickest and simplest ways to gloss what “Left-Libertarian,” or the “Libertarian Left” part of ALL, means, is just to say that we are for left-wing social ends through libertarian means. This inevitably involves a certain amount of oversimplification — does “through libertarian means” just mean “by getting rid of government controls and letting social outcomes emerge spontaneously,” or does it mean something…

Two quotations, juxtaposed, summarize the errors into which modern American defenses of ‘free markets’ and capitalism have entered. In the process these errors led to abandoning any real meaning for liberty or human well-being.  Right wing libertarians in particular sincerely believe they are seeking to preserve these values, but they are sincerely wrong. But before…

Ever since George Zimmerman’s fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin hit the national headlines last year, calls for an “honest conversation about race” have been heard throughout America. (Up until then, apparently, we’ve had only conversations about having a conversation about race.) However, one need not believe that the Zimmerman shooting and verdict were about race…

Across Quebec this past Saturday, Canadians and neighbors held vigils for those killed in last week’s oil tank train explosion.  This tragedy raises new discussion on environmental health and public safety in regards to the transportation of fossil fuels. For the United States, it has yet again energized the national debate over the Keystone XL Pipeline (KXL)….

Os anarquistas tendem a mostrar-se embaraçados diante do tema economia. Ou então resmungamos algo a respeito de Proudhon e em seguida encabuladamente tomamos de empréstimo ideias de Karl Marx. Sempre me pareceu irônico que o anarquismo tenha começado em grande parte como teoria econômica, pensemos apenas em Josiah Warren, Proudhon e Tucker, mas em seguida…

Libertarians often insist Independence Day is really our holiday, which statists have no right to celebrate with a straight face. But perhaps this whole approach is misguided. Maybe the lovers of freedom should be the ones loath to bring out the fireworks. Surely, conservatives who cherish the Fourth of July while cheering today’s wars have…

Were anyone to call me dishonest or untruthful he would touch me to the quick. Were he to say that I am unpatriotic, he would leave me unmoved. “What, then, have you no love of country?” That is a question not to be answered in a breath. The early abolition of serfdom in England, the…

“The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.” – Lord Acton Jeff Olson, a 40 year old Californian Occupy activist was just acquitted after facing 13 years in prison for scrawling anti-bank chalk messages outside of three San Diego branches…

Today I had the great pleasure of appearing on my friend Jake Shannon’s radio show. Mostly we discussed WikiLeaks whistleblower Pfc. Manning, and the work I’m doing with Freedom Torch in Salt Lake to stand in solidarity with Manning and other whistleblowers. C4SS was one of the first sponsors of the Freedom Torch Parade. While whistleblowers were the…

Brazil is in a state of revolt. Demonstrations have been taking place all across South America’s largest country in over 350 Brazilian cities. Demonstrations against political corruption, poor education, poor healthcare, police violence, public transit costs and more are taking place on the streets. The public demonstrations are so large in scale that the nations political ruling…

Parler de libertarianisme de gauche, c’est parler d’une position qui est à la fois libertarienne et de gauche. Elle est de gauche en ce qu’elle s’engage pour : l’analyse de la lutte des classes l’opposition aux privilèges corporatistes la lutte contre la pauvreté structurelle le partage de la responsabilité pour les vulnérabilités économiques la redistribution de la richesse l’empowerment du peuple…