Exploring and celebrating the history, theory, and practice of free, prosperous, and tolerant societies.
Recently Published
Jordan Ballor outlines Abraham Kuyper’s anti-revolutionary commitments, which appeal to a higher law in defense of liberty.
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Videos and Podcasts
In an exclusive interview with Libertarianism.org, Jeffrey A. Singer, MD, explains how bodily autonomy and informed consent should be at the center of any healthcare policy. Autonomy, he argues, means the right to choose your own health provider, ending the government’s monopoly on medications, and being able to seek harm reduction options.
Singer is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and works in the Department of Health Policy Studies. He is president emeritus and founder of Valley Surgical Clinics Ltd., the largest and oldest group private surgical practice in Arizona, and has been in private practice as a general surgeon for more than thirty-five years.
Singer writes and speaks extensively on regional and national public policy, with a specific focus on the areas of health care policy and the harmful effects of drug prohibition. He received his BA from Brooklyn College (City University of New York) and his MD from New York Medical College. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
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Featured Collection: Freedom of Speech
Free speech is tested most in times of crisis. The assassination of Charlie Kirk reminds us that silencing voices breeds only fear and division. We, the people, must unwaveringly protect each other’s rights. When we stop, we enable the government to chip away at the Constitutional protections our society is built upon. Government attempts to censor and control the responses to this tragedy are misguided. From Milton to Mill to the digital age, the libertarian case is clear: defend speech for all, trust liberty over fear.
Bad speech should be addressed with better speech.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
In many parts of the West, people can mostly develop and hold their own beliefs and express them freely. These liberties, known as Freedom of Conscience and Freedom of Speech, were part of the foundation that helped develop modern societies as we know them. Nonetheless, these interconnected ideas of freedom have historically been under threat, and the struggle to establish and protect these rights stretches over the past two thousand years.
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Featured Collection: Just Sentiments
The phrase “just sentiments” highlights the willful and cognitive aspect of sentiment, which is emphasized in Smith’s ethics. The sentiment that someone experiences is influenced by actions he took prior to the experience. And, during the experience, or immediately after it, the person can reflect on his having felt the sentiment. He asks himself: Should I affirm the sentiment? Should I revise it? Should I reject it? The experiencing of a sentiment can be seen as a matter of the will and thus of acting justly. “Just sentiments” suggests one’s responsibility for one’s sentiments.
