People who refer to themselves as “libertarians” spend a lot of time arguing over exactly what they mean by “libertarian.”
Personally, I try to be fairly “big tent,” figuring that people who self-identify as libertarian tend to get more libertarian after doing so, if a) accepted and b) encouraged to explore libertarian ideas.
So, when I disagree [...]

On Thursday, the U.S. Congress gave final approval to one of the most massive overhauls of country’s financial regulation ever. The legislative action ended more than a year of political disagreements over the scope of the new regulations.
The new law establishes an independent consumer bureau within the Federal Reserve to monitor against abuses in mortgage, [...]

Trace: Welcome back to the RunToGold Podcast, I have a special guest with us today, Thomas Woods. He is a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, a bastion for Austrian economics, he holds a degree from Harvard in history and a Ph.D. from Columbia, and he has a new book out called [...]

I’m not sure Leonard Pitts is correct about Bobby Jindal rethinking his belief in less government. What if your next-door-neighbor contracted with a wind energy company to erect a wind generator, and it fell on your property? You’d be angry at the company, but you’d hold your neighbor responsible.
Now, the US Government claims [...]

The Henry tax review into Australia’s future tax system recommends:
‘Subject to transitional arrangements, the new rent-based tax should apply to existing projects, replacing existing charging arrangements. The allocation of revenue and risks from the new tax should be negotiated between the Australian and State governments’.
The federal government seems to be attempting to ignore this advice [...]

Shekhar Gupta’s column in the Indian Express today is about the incipient threats faced by freedom of speech in India.
Authoritarianism vs. the Internet by Daniel Calingaert goes into the ways in which the Net increases freedom, and the way [...]

The `Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009′ (RTE Act) came into effect today, with much fanfare and an address by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In understanding the debates about this Act, a little background knowledge is required. Hence, in this self-contained 1500-word blog post, I start with a historical narrative, outline [...]

Well, they’ve gone and screwed it up — 14 state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against ObamaCare.
If the states really want to beat ObamaCare, litigation isn’t the way to go about it. Nullification/interposition is.
In litigation, the parties accept that the courts have jurisdiction over this or that issue, and walk away with whatever the courts [...]

‘Where have you been? Have you been hiding from me?’ I saw it was Jim speaking when I looked up from reading the paper. I hadn’t exactly been avoiding him, but then I hadn’t really missed not seeing him for a few months.
Jim asked me if I could give him a lift home. He gave [...]

From today’s edition of Economist (link):