What's New

Part of the "Critiques of Libertarianism" site.
http://world.std.com/~mhuben/libindex.html

Last updated 05/03/09.

Most recent few books added to the FAQ bibliography (sorted by author):

Sidney Fine "Laissez-Faire and the General Welfare State": UMP, 1956. History of the triumph of progressivism over laissez-faire.
Richard Hofstadter "Social Darwinism in American Thought": Beacon Press, 1992. Rebukes Spencerian Social Darwinist arguments for laissez-faire.
Karl Polanyi, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Fred Block "The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time": Explains the socially constructed nature of "free markets", as opposed to "spontaneous order".

New Additions

New links and major revisions to existing pages will be noted here when they are added. Minor changes, such as new quotations will not be specifically recorded.

04/9/20

Added a few more links.

Why and How to Conquer the Savages: Ron Pisaturo, an unabashed Objectivist, writes that we should nuke "foreign savages" (ie. non-objectivists.) From ARI's Capitalism Magazine.
End States That Sponsor Terrorism: Leonard Peikoff, the big cheese himself, says 10/2001: "The choice today is mass death in the United States or mass death in the terrorist nations." Never heard of police work, I guess. From ARI's Capitalism Magazine.
The pomposity of George O. Smith. Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.: A typical evasive discussion with a libertarian/objectivist, with the author of "Why Atheism?"
What Is Conservatism and What Is Wrong with It?: Phil Agre reminds us of the basics of conservatism. [Libertarianism is conservative because it would create a market-based aristocracy that conflicts with democracy.] A must read!

04/4/27

Finally broke down and added a new index for philosophy. Added a few more links.

Libertarian to Liberal: Mike Bast presents a skeptic's repudiation of libertarianism.
The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible: A Free Market Odyssey: Indoctrinate your children! If they're not readers yet, you can use the crude animation to hammer home the ideology!
A Utilitarian FAQ: Ian Montgomerie's FAQ deals with most libertarian objections to utilitarianism.
The Future of Government: Mixed Economy or Minimal State?: John Quiggin points out that historical experience shows when states perform better than private industry, and thus economies should be mixed.
Free market reform in New Zealand: an Australian perspective (PDF): The foremost market liberalization experiment has failed badly. John Quiggin surveys the excuses and possible reasons.
Globalization and economic sovereignty: John Quiggan rejects neoliberal claims of "inevitability", and presents historical and policy arguments limiting globalization.
Privatisation and nationalisation in the 21st century (PDF): John Quiggan's published article on slowing and reversal of the trend to privatization.
Human Capital Theory And Education Policy In Australia: John Quiggan's academic paper that explains why high public spending on education is economically sensible. Technical.
Bookmarks for Common Libertarian Arguments: An excellent collection of links to resources that can help you compose your own rebuttals to topical libertarian arguments against the FDA, revisionist history, etc.
Myth: Taxes are theft.: Part of Steve Kangas' excellent Liberalism Resurgent: A Response to the Right. Taxes are payments for the public goods and services you consume.
Libertarianism and some points in its favour: A response to 'The Non-Libertarian FAQ': Marc Geddes has problems with the social construction of property rights and the nature of social contract.
Response to Marc Geddes: Mike Huben answers the criticisms.
Left Libertarianism: A Review Essay (PDF): Barbara Fried brilliantly dissects the notion of self-ownership by left and right libertarians, and finds that the idea doesn't really work to establish the ideas of either.
Voucher Veneer: The Deeper Agenda to Privatize Public Education: People For The American Way details how vouchers are a program for the elimination of public schooling, and who would be affected.
No Libertarians in the Seventeenth-Century Highlands: Brad DeLong ridicules a debate held at the Reason magazine 35th anniversary banquet.
The Ethics Of The Free Market: Why Market Liberalism Is Wrong.: Moral, political and social objections to market liberalism and the market itself.
Standing Without a Platform: Tim Walker points out how useless the Libertarian Party Platform is for building an effective party.
Friedman Or Free Men?: George Walford describes how libertarian schemes still restrict freedom, and how important it is for government to restrict market freedoms such as slavery.

03/12/28

Added a few more links.

Why Christmas Should Be More Commercial: An unconscious objectivist self-parody by the big cheese himself, Leonard Peikoff. "It is time to take the Christ out of Christmas, and turn the holiday into a guiltlessly egoistic, pro-reason, this-worldly, commercial celebration."
Libertarianism is radical -- deal with it.: Anthony Gregory is proud of radical libertarian beliefs that moderate libertarians attempt to conceal and make palatable to the public.
A Review of The Myth of Ownership: Taxes and Justice by Liam Murphy and Thomas Nagel: A terse summary of the argument that property rights are a government creation, and taxation is a part of property rights.
Critics of Austrian Economics: An outstanding page of criticisms, including luminaries such as David Friedman, Gordon Tullock, and Robert Nozick.
George Lakoff tells how conservatives use language to dominate politics.: Lakoff describes how conservatives have poured billions of dollars into the linguistic framing of issues. Orwellian.
The 'free market' doesn't exist.: Lakoff describes how the 'free market' is an example of linguistic framing.
Blood Count: Cultivating the ethic that everyone should give blood: Robert Kuttner describes why markets for blood don't work as well as volunteerism, and that volunteerism needs to be encouraged by government.
Ayn Shrugged: A Look At The Work Of Ayn Rand: A harsh review of "Atlas Shrugged" that points out the "weird, pathological agendas and bad writing."
Cato Institute: "Libertarian" in a Corporate Way: Norman Solomon of the Institute for Public Accuracy details how the CATO Institute represents its anti-regulation corporate funders, not libertarian individuals. The goal is to give corporate propaganda an air of objectivity by concealing its source.
Liberty, License or Anarchy? The Seductive Lie of Libertarianism: Stephen Abbott argues that liberty is not license.
The Tom Hartmann Show, Friday, August 22nd, 2003, featuring Mike Huben.: The last hour of this 30Mb, 3 hour mp3 file has Tom interviewing Mike Huben about libertarians on his liberal talk radio show. Available for a short time only. Mostly FAQ issues are covered.
An Industry Trapped by a Theory: Robert Kuttner describes why power industry deregulation doesn't work well.
Power outage traced to dim bulb in White House: Greg Palast, a specialist in corporate corruption turned columnist, details the history of power industry corruption. From WorkingForChange.
Are Markets Wise?: Markets are wise the way gravity is wise. There are times when they do and don't serve public interests.
Why I am not a Libertarian: Professor Steven Dutch says: "In short, they combine the personal irresponsibility of liberals with the social, economic and environmental irresponsibility of conservatives." Nicely supported with quotes from the LPUSA platform.
Libertarianism and Poverty: Dennis Loo makes the case that libertarians claims about poverty fail on moral, econometric, and historical grounds. From The Ethical Spectacle .

03/2/9

Added a few more links.

Reason and Rationality: An overview of the modern understanding of these terms, written for the "Handbook of Epistemology". They're not what objectivists think.
Zogby Polling For Cato Institute, Other Clients, Manipulates Findings To Misrepresent Public Opinion About Social Security: A poll based on spin, rather than real alternatives, yields more spin. From Campaign For America's Future.
Libertarians' Toy-Gun Joke Is a Flop in East Harlem: A NY times article about a Libertarian Party protest of a regulation against toy guns.
Economic Utopia and its Handmaidens: Evan Jones details the harmful invasion of libertarian ideas into Australia, and gets in good shots against Hayek and Oakeshott.
Objectivism: Who Needs It -- A Warning To Young Readers: Tom Devine emphasizes that "we should never trust a person whose system of thought has a name." A very good rule of thumb.
"Ayn Rand, More Popular than God!" Objectivists Allege!: Jessica Amanda Salmonson presents the facts about this "objective" urban myth. It takes a fantasy novelist to know one....
Critique of the Doctrine of Inalienable, Natural Rights: Jeremy Bentham, founder of utilitarianism, explains why natural rights are "nonsense on stilts", and points out that every right destroys some liberty.
Libertarianism Is Defunct: Joseph S. Bommarito shows that for libertarians, plagiarism (of the Critiques web site) is the sincerest form of flattery.
Libertarian Party Financial Collapse: Kevin O'Connell describes the 2002 LP financial mismanagement that threatens dissolution of the national party.

02/12/3

Added a few more links.

Skepticism of Rationality: Many Objectivists (libertarians too) think that their ideas are more "rational" than those of other people. Let's look at the term.
Atlas Shrugged 2: One Hour Later: A Bob the Angry Flower Classic Literature sequel.
Internet Bunk: The Junk Science Page: The CATO Institute is a corporate front that employs Steven Milloy to tarbrush opponents scientific arguments as "Junk Science". Robert Todd Carroll's excellent The Skeptic's Dictionary details Milloy's unscientific part in this PR campaign.
Pro-Family Activist Tells Why Libertarianism and Pro-Family Outlooks Are Different: The president of the Sutherland Institute, a Utah pro-family think tank (read: Mormon front) points out that even libertarians want to limit markets, and that libertarians should ask why and when.
Discover Freoland: Welcome To The Land Of Laissez-Faire: Libertarian propaganda targeted at 9 to 12 year olds. No kidding. Funny how much it all sounds like fairy tales.
The 25 Most Inappropriate Things An Objectivist Can Say During Sex: Perhaps this is why there are so few children of Objectivists. From Save The Humans.
Essences, Orcs and Civilization: The Case for a Cheerful Libertarianism: David Brin speaks to the 2002 Libertarian Party National Convention, and tells them to quit being such stupid ideologues and become pragmatic liberals.
For Richer: Paul Krugman's New York Times article describes the growing problems of income inequality and plutocracy, problems libertarians do not recognize. From The Unofficial Paul Krugman Archive.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Libertarianism: A well-balanced, non-propaganda overview of right and left libertarianism, presenting some of the major issues.
Libertarians wish to reopen the door closed on slavery: Kevin O'Connell points out how the Libertarian Party Platform would permit reinstitution of a form of slavery.

02/10/4

Added a few more links. Added a new "Drugs" index. Link count has now passed 410! Without having to resort to junk.

True-blue bids for Senate: Libertarian candidate Stan Jones turned himself blue. Permanently. Gives new meaning to "local color". "They'll have to pry my colloidial silver from my warm blue fingers."
"What's Wrong With Libertarianism" [PDF] "The Libertarian Straddle: Rejoinder to Palmer and Sciabarra" [PDF]: Jeffrey Friedman, editor of Critical Review magazine, details how libertarian philosophy and economics rely on each other, and neither can bear the weight.
Jonathan Andreas' Response to David Friedman's Response: Jonathan continues his rebuttal.
Question 1: Eliminate the State Income Tax? The Real Facts.: Carla Howell and Michael Cloud hav gotten a proposition onto the 2002 ballot in Massachussetts. This refutes their outrageous claims.
Rethinking the Think Tanks: Sierra Magazine's article detailing the corporate financing of anti-environmental propaganda from thinktanks like Cato.
Greed Is Bad: Paul Krugman's New York Times article details how the current accounting problems of corporations are a product of attempting to motivate executives by their greed. Another illustration of why laissez-faire doesn't work. From The Unofficial Paul Krugman Archive.
Libertarians & Corporations: Libertarian ideology is so radical that it would sweep away corporations. They very seldom mention this, lest they offend their right-wing and corporate donors.
The faulty reasoning of Ayn Rand types.: Starts off with a very clever "Rape: The Unknown Ideal" example to demonstrate the "logic" in Ayn Rand's work.
Sixteen Myths About Population: Part 2 - The Belief That Population Growth Poses No Threat: Refutes two common libertarian claims: "population growth stimulates economic growth" and "technology will solve all problems".

02/3/1

Added a few more links. Thanks to Marcus Epstein for suggesting several conservative critiques of libetarianism!

Objections to Objectivism: John Ku's excellent critique of Rand's theory of ethics.
Objectivist Mockery Page: How can I top that self-description? Links to 20 or so mockeries.
Millionaires One and All: (PDF) Details the fallacies underlying the CATO Social Security Calculator. Under realistic assumptions, you'd accumulate 1/10th to 1/30th of what CATO estimates. Part of The Social Security Network.
The State Religion: Ernest Partridge explains how surprisingly accurate the "market fundamentalist" metaphor really is.
Charlie Reese: Why I am not a libertarian: "Not only is no man an island, but no man is self-made... capitalism, unless moderated by Christian virtue or government, is just as brutal and cruel as communism."
Does libertarianism lead to statism?: A repugnant anti-immigration tract by Patrick Buchanon, blaming libertarian-approved immigration for growth of government.
Abuse your Illusions: Thomas Fleming scathingly dissects libertarian ideology taken to extremes by Block, Hoppe, Mises, and Hayek. Undermined by his assumption of extreme conservatism as a norm.
Anarcho-Capitalism: Opposing_Views: The DMOZ Open Directory catalog. Heavy on criticisms by other libertarians, quite incomplete, but otherwise good.
Libertarian: Opposing_Views: The DMOZ Open Directory catalog. Sparse coverage of a large subject.
Objectivism: Opposing_Views: The DMOZ Open Directory catalog. A fairly good list of criticisms.

02/2/18

Added a few more links.

Jonathan R. Armstrong's ex-libertarian introduction.: "Suddenly, I realized that perhaps there might be a little more to it all than a cartoonish, one-dimensional view of a repressive 'government' that spawns evils that are divorced from any other sort of empirical reality."
Funding Liberty: George Phillies book-length recounting of unprincipled behavior at the "party off principle". Part of a reforms movement within the LPUSA. Lots of dirty laundry.
Myth: The gold standard is a better monetary system.: Part of Steve Kangas' excellent Liberalism Resurgent: A Response to the Right. Gold standards return to bigger problems than they might prevent.
Who likes unwritten Constitutional rights? You'd be surprised!: A vast number of unenumerated, implied Constitutional rights which we all rely upon in daily life have been found by the courts. Those who cry for constitutional literalism can easily have their own ox gored. From The Liberal Constitutionalist via The Internet Archive.
Tom The Dancing Bug: Ricky And Debbie Visit Enron: "The Invisible Hand" explains Enron.
Opposing Mike Huben's "A Non-Libertarian FAQ": Sampo Syreeni's demonstration that making a response doesn't mean it's a good response. A reasonable tone dresses up really poor arguments.
Libertarians: The Enemy Within: A college conservative takes libertarians to task for ignoring real-world experience and tradition in favor of ideology.

01/12/14

Added a few more links.

Freedom Kills: John Walker, Andrew Sullivan, and the libertarian threat.: Jonah Goldberg attacks "cultural libertarianism" in this National Review article.
Debunking The Conservative Attack On Social Security: Despite vast sums spent on thinktank propaganda, the facts about why Social Security works are plain, and the errors in conservative arguments against it are blatant.
Laissez Not Fair: Paul Krugman's New York Times article uses Enron's fall and Argentina's collapsing economy as examples of why government activist policies are important for tasks such as preventing financial abuses and fighting recession. From The Unofficial Paul Krugman Archive.
Lies, Damned Lies and the Litany: Jim Norton's large collection of hostile reviews of Bjorn Lomborg's The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World. Lomborg's book is a classic example of accusing opponents (environmentalists) of one's own sins. It's a piece of brownlash propaganda that takes a severe and well-deserved drubbing.
The Political Economy Of Monarchy And Democracy, And The Idea Of A Natural Order: "First, the idea of democracy and majority rule must be delegitimized." A Ludwig Von Mises Institute article by Hans-Herman Hoppe that calls for a return to aristocracy. This guy is a MAJOR Austrian crank.
Deregulation Fails All Over Again: Molly Ivins points out the poor historical track record of deregulation.

01/8/30

The counter has recorded over 100,000 visits in 4.5 years! That doesn't count visits to earlier incarnations of the site. Added a few more links.

How free is the free market?: Noam Chomsky identifies free market policy as markets for the poor, socialism for the rich.
The Libertarian Lobe: Libertarianism tells kids everything they want to be told.: A National Review article describing a conservative viewpoint of why libertarianism is wrong.
Another experience with Objectivism and Libertarian ideas.: Michael Swierczek relates his discovery and escape from Objectivism.
Responses to hate mail from cloudmichael@hotmail.com.: Does the Libertarian Party's Michael Cloud waste time trolling by email? This guy is arrogant and obnoxious enough to be the real one.
Bailing Out Private Jails: Judith Greene's The American Prospect article describes the failures of jail privatization compared to government jails and how they are becoming yet one more corrupt industry feeding at the government trough.
A Response to a Rebuttal of a Critique of an faq: David's response to Jonathan.
Libertarianism: An Objective Evaluation: Logan Feys is evidently the one true objectivist, who has the goods on how both the ARI and TOC objectivist factions are irrational. As if we didn't know. Libertarians need his philosophical guidance too.
Tinker Bell, Pinochet and The Fairy Tale Miracle of Chile: Greg Palast points out that Chile's success was due to Keynesian policy and socialist measures such as the nationalized copper industry and agrarian reform, not neoliberalism.
The New Nationalism: Teddy Roosevelt's 1910 speech, remarkable for expressions such as "property shall be the servant and not the master of the commonwealth".
The Late, Great Libertarian Macho Flash: Michael Cloud, a Libertarian Party political strategist, points out that people will be turned off if told directly what libertarians really believe. Which is why anti-libertarian activists direct people to the party platform.
The Second Amendment In The Twentieth Century: Have You Seen Your Militia Lately?: Keith Ehrman and Dennis Henigan's University of Dayton Law Review detailing the origins, history, and judicial interpretation of the Second Amendment.
Shot Full of Holes: Deconstructing John Ashcroft's Second Amendment: A Violence Policy Center legal and historical analysis of the systematic errors in AG John Ashcroft's policy statement.
The God That Fails: George Scialabba's The American Prospect review of Charles E. Lindblom's "The Market System: What It Is, How It Works, and What To Make of It". He finds it a very even-handed presentation, that does not minimize the benefits or harms that the market system creates.
The Scorecard on Globalization 1980-2000: Twenty Years of Diminished Progress: The Center For Economic And Policy Research found that globalization seems to reduce progress in growth, life expectancy, child mortality, and education in defiance of neoliberal propaganda.
Ask a Silly Question: David Gordon, of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, judges that Virginia Postrel doesn't have a hairy enough chest to be a true libertarian in this scathing review of her book "The Future And Its Enemies".
Social Security Magic Tricks: Michael Kinsley's Slate article points out the clear economic fallacies in the promise of higher returns if Social Security is privatized.
Jonathan Andreas' Response to David Friedman's FAQ Critique: An unsolicited (but welcome!) rebuttal of some of David's arguments.

01/6/25

Added a new index, "Society Versus Individuals Versus Markets." Added a few more links. Added print references to the newest two directories.

The Second Amendment In The Twentieth Century: Have You Seen Your Militia Lately?: Keith Ehrman and Dennis Henigan's University of Dayton Law Review detailing the origins, history, and judicial interpretation of the Second Amendment.
Market Myths: The Failings of Conservative Economics: James K. Galbraith reviews Selling the Free Market by J. Aune; One Market Under God by Thomas Frank; and After Progress by Norman Birnbaum. Three books critical of the propaganda that markets solve all.
The Tradable Permits Approach to Protecting the Commons: What Have We Learned?: Tom Tietenberg provides an overview which shows how despite their market gloss, tradable permits are a sophisticated government program, and privatization in a very limited sense.
Varieties Of Institutional Failure: James Acheson describes failures of resource management by markets, private property, government, and communal management. Libertarian emphasis on the first two only is inappropriate.
Efficiency, Sustainability, and Access Under Alternative Property-Rights Regimes: Elinor Ostrom provides a broad introduction to and overview of the factors that make some managed commons successful and more practical than private property. Essential reading.
Lessons Of Chile's Voucher Reform Movement: Professor Martin Camoy of Stanford points out that real voucher reforms have failed to improve test scores, and have widened the gap between privileged and underprivileged. From Rethinking Schools.
The Market Is Not The Answer: Jonathan Kozol, author of "Savage Inequalities" explains that "monopoly" is not the problem: it is a scapegoat for the inequalities between public school systems. From Rethinking Schools.
Air Piracy: Merrill Goozner's The American Prospect article explains why airline deregulation has been a failure: the promised competition has not materialized over 20 years.
Should Public Policy Support Open-Source Software?: Nathan Newman's response at the end of a debate savages Eric Raymond for his historical errors about development of the internet and open source.
Spheres of Affluence: Michael Lind's The American Prospect article points out ahistorical libertarian ideas on the benefits of free trade.
Marriage and Morals: William Tucker's American Spectator article points out one of the practical reasons to prohibit polygamy.

01/5/31

Added a few more links.

Anarcho-Hucksters: An anarchist explains why anarcho-capitalism is not truly anarchist, and is generally undesirable to most people.
Welfare: The Cheapest Country: This review of The Real Worlds Of Welfare Capitalism by Nobel economist Robert Solow gives the lie to libertarian claims of economic harms by welfare.
Do Windmills Eat Birds?: David Case, executive editor of TomPaine.com, exposes a quotation out of context by CATO in a case of pretend environmental concern.
Where the Public Good Prevailed: Stephen Isaacs' American Prospect article detailing public health successes in lead, fluoride, and auto safety.
Twentieth Century Alchemy: by Ernest Partridge. How neoconservatism is founded on overemphasis of severely limited models such as "economic man".
Nozick Reconsidered: Liz Wang analyzes Susan Moller Okin's demonstration that Nozick's origin of rights and rule of acquisition results in children being non-persons owned by their mother.
Become an Objectivist in Ten Easy Steps (with illustrations): This one is relatively subtle.
Libertarian Think Tanks: Tom Tomorrow's "This Modern World" gives credit where it is due.
A Basic Income For All: Phillipe Van Parijs' proposal for "real freedom", followed by essays by 15 very varied commentators and critics. From Boston Review and republished as "What's Wrong With a Free Lunch?"
William Graham Sumner -- Social Darwinism and neo-liberalism in defense of laissez-faire capitalism: Libertarians recycle these hundred year old arguments that were refuted in the Progressive Era.

01/4/30

Added a few more links. Fixed many spelling errors. Time now also to remind folks that many new quotes have been added in the past year or so: they're at the end.

A Geolibertarian FAQ: Todd Altman's rebuts common libertarian arguments against land value taxes, including some really pathetic ones by Murray Rothbard.
An Austrian (Mis)Reads Adam Smith: A Critique of Rothbard as Intellectual Historian: Peter Hans Matthews and Andreas Ortmann say "Rothbard's book [Economic Thought Before Adam Smith] suffers from logical flaws, selective and incomplete textual evidence, a misunderstanding of Das Adam Smith Problem and the relevant literature..." etc.
Objectivism: Barry Stoller presents a plain-speaking analysis of Objectivism as a supremacy doctrine for people too busy, lazy, or stupid to actually be intellectuals.
Mozart was a Red: Murray Rothbard's thinly veiled satirical play about Ayn Rand and her Objectivist merrymakers. It takes one to know one.
Robert Nozick And The Immaculate Conception Of The State: Murray Rothbard criticizes "Anarchy, State, And Utopia" from a natural rights perspective. He swallowed the cow to catch the goat... he's dead, of course.
Environmentalism Refuted: Modern Austrianism at it's finest: sainthood for von Mises, socialism versus reason, conspiracy of "intellectuals", and strawman "essential claims of the environmentalists".
Hayek's Road To Serfdom (a criticism by Walter Block) Hayek On The Role Of The State: A Radical Libertarian Critique (Radnitzky) F. A. Hayek On Government And Social Evolution: A Critique (Hoppe) Socialism: A Property Or Knowledge Problem? (Hoppe) Hayek: Some Missing Pieces (de Jasay): While Hayek is widely claimed as a libertarian and an Austrian economist, he's not pure enough for these libertarians (who find him a coercive socialist.) Oh, and of course von Mises is the one, true, infallible Austrian economist too.

01/4/19

Added "Libertarian Revisionist History" index. Added a few more links.

Takings: Rhetoric, Not Substance: Professor F. Patrick Hubbard presents the big picture of takings, showing that the issues are not as presented by the takings ideologues.
Who knew? The Swedish model is working.: Paul Krugman points out that CATO and other conservatives were dead wrong in their predictions for Sweden, and that big welfare states do sometimes work well. From The Unofficial Paul Krugman Archive.
The "Sovereignty" Of The Individual Was Jefferson A Libertarian?: Eyler Robert Coates, Sr. tersely describes some important differences between Jefferson's views and those of libertarians.
The Truth About Winners and Losers: A concise summary of who would benefit from Social Security privatization: no group alive today. Because of transition costs. Based on Mueller's NCPSSM study.
Can Financial Assets Beat Social Security? Not in the Real World.: Arguments that the stock market has a better rate of return than Social Security ignore the tradeoff between risk aversity and returns. From the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.
The Takings Project: Using Federal Courts to Attack Community and Environmental Protections: A history of the conspiracy to overturn government regulatory powers by appeal to bogus constitutional interpretation. See especially "Epstein Critiqued" in Chapter 2.
Labor Markets, Rationality, and Workers with Disabilities: Professor Michael Ashley Stein identifies major errors in law and economics arguments (exemplified by Richard Epstein's) criticizing Title I of the Americans With Disabilities Act. From the Berkeley Journal Of Employment And Labor Law.
An Analysis Of The Cato Institute's "The Case Against a Tennessee Income Tax" Senate finance panel examines Cato report, recognizes propaganda: Citizens For Tax Justice lay open the shoddy errors behind this typical example of the claims Cato makes. The Tennessee Senate finance panel also identified a large number of other errors.
Why Privatizing Social Security Would Hurt Women: An Institute For Women's Policy Research rebuttal to Cato Institute proposals and claims about Social Security privatization.
Efficiency at What?: An overview of "economic efficiency" and why it is only a component of the real social goal, welfare.
How to Run a Successful "Operation Politically Homeless" Booth: A detailed statement of manipulative strategy used at libertarian propaganda booths.
Internet Resources for Human Rights Issues: Andrew Heard's resource list for his Pol 417 course on human rights theories.
Self-Evident Truths: Chapter 6 of "Forgotten Founders: How the American Indian Helped Shape Democracy" by Bruce E. Johansen. Extensive discussion of the origin of Franklin and Jefferson's non-libertarian ideas about property, and their reflection in the Declaration Of Independence.
Government's Greatest Achievements of the Past Half Century: A Brookings Institution report based on survey responses from 450 history and political science professors.

01/2/20

Added a few more links.

Trust Us, We're Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future: Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber of the Center for Media and Democracy detail how what many of us consider "facts" are actually the result of large-scale corporate public relations and disinformation.
A Critical Assessment of "Lies, Damned Lies, & 400,000 Smoking-Related Deaths".: The Cato Institute, heavily funded by tobacco companies, hired Levy and Marimont to denounce statistics about smoking related deaths. This article refutes their key arguments, finding them unscientific and inflammatory.
Libertarian Belle: The Village Voice's critique of Interior Secretary Gale Norton, with predictions of how she will abuse her power for libertarian purposes.
Cyber-Netizen's Song: Marcus Bales' filk version of "A Modern Major General" is deadly accurate for libertarians, though it is somewhat more general.
Are You A Libertarian?: Ryan Brooke's parody of "The World's Smallest Political Quiz".
3 Problems of Libertarianism: Ryan Brooke illustrates some reasons why government should be involved in markets.
Liberals and Libertarians #1: How libertarians misrepresent themselves as classical liberals by focusing on means, not ends. Part of a new site about Classical Liberals. (Archived version here.)

01/1/30

Added a few more links.

The Divine Right of Capital: An excerpt from Marjorie Kelly's booklet and forthcoming book question the mandate to maximize returns to shareholders.
Bishop, Beware Part II: The Divine Right Of Capital: Fr. Miller and Mike Greaney's "Social Justice Review" attacks neo-conservatism from a Catholic viewpoint.
No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority: A famous rant by 19th century lawyer Lysander Spooner, highly regarded by many anarchist libertarians. He calls government a collection of thieves and murderers at least 75 times. No wonder they like him!
Electricity Deregulation: The Costs: An Institute For Public Accuracy summary with links from experts independent of the energy industry. Written in 8/00, it correctly presaged the enormous problems in 2001 in California.

00/12/27

Added a few more links.

A Short History Of Neo-Liberalism: Susan George provides a terse overview of the rise and effects of neoliberalism.
Scrooge Defended.: An Austrian Economics perspective on Dickens, so Panglossian and full of stacked assumptions that it is howlingly funny.
The New Jargon: Phil Agre discusses the rhetorical technology of association and projection used to subvert rationality in political argument.
Libertarian Follies: Amitai Etzioni makes a communitarian critique of Tibor Machan and the failings of economic models of human behavior.
Sen's Sensibility: James North clearly summarizes Amartya Sen's "Development As Freedom", and shows why it is more relevant than other notions of liberty or freedom.
Why is libertarianism wrong?: Paul Treanor's very European-style analysis.
Libertarian Failure From A to Z: Dean Chambers, a former Libertarian Party insider, details the ineffectiveness of the Libertarian Party.
Break the Voting Monopoly! If the election were run like a business, we might be satisfied customers.: Michael Kinsley's Time Magazine article satirizes anti-government arguments.
Conservative Rhetoric: Phil Agre discusses the common patterns of conservative propaganda employed in the Florida Recounts. These are very commonly encountered interacting with libertarians, especially projection.
Did Gore invent the Internet?: Scott Rosenberg, of Salon, details the smear on Gore, and shows yet another example of how Gore and government do work, contrary to libertarian ideas that technology develops in a vacuum.

00/09/27

Added a few more links.

The Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs, Chapter 69. Policy issues and recommendations.: A 1972 report detailing pragmatic alternatives to the drug war from a public health point of view, without the ridiculous libertarian demand for total deregulation.
Axioms and Egoisms: John Hospers points out the errors in axioms such as "non-initiation of force", such as intermediates between consent and force.
The Frazier Institute: A parody of the Canadian neoliberal (libertarian) Fraser Institute. Privatize everything!

00/8/30

Added a few more links. Added a new index for the liberal alternative.

If You Took An Airplane Recently, You Know Deregulation's A Loser: Robert Kuttner describes the recent failures of deregulation in airlines, power, and banking.
National Platform of the Libertarian Party: The 2004 platform is still as ridiculously extreme as its predecessors. It calls for legalization of baby selling, polygamy, secession, child prostitution, all drugs, insider trading, etc. It calls for abolition of public schools, medicaid, and Social Security, patents, and copyrights. And even privatization of air. All that and lots more, cloaked in vague statements of "liberty", and now carefully sanitized so that non-libertarians won't realize how truly extreme it is.
The Crisis of Public Reason: Phil Agre provides one of the most compact insights into modern public discourse ever written. And wallops Hayek in the process.
The collected reviews of Cyberselfish.: Paulina's book web site attempts to collect all the reviews, favorable and unfavorable.
New Zealand's Vaunted Privatization Push Devastated The Country, Rather Than Saving It.: New Zealand was the site of a neoliberal/libertarian policy triumph, which Murray Dobbin describes as catastrophic.
2000 Libertarian Party Campaign Song: The parallel to "Pinky and the Brain" was too much to resist. Updated from the 1996 version.
Fuzzy Logic: Lynn Scarlett reviews Richard Epstein's criticisms of "libertarian absolutists" in his Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty with the Common Good.
Charles Atlas Shrugged: Why "Atlas Shrugged" appeals to adolescent males.
Idiot Legal Arguments: A Casebook for Dealing with Extremist Legal Arguments: Bernard Sussman has compiled a huge collection of legal citations concerning the lunatic legal claims of militia-mythology that tax scofflaws, neo-anarchists (and sometimes libertarians) often repeat. You can get an idea of the claims, but this is fairly impenetrable for laymen. From the fabulous Militia Watchog site. While now at the ADL site, Bernard Sussman states that he is independent.
White Man's Ghost Dance: Bob Black's hysterically funny debunking of libertarian "Constitutionalist" notions of common law.

00/7/30

Added a few more links. Added a new indices for Cato and for libertarians criticizing each other.

Libertarians Draft Lawsuit After 'Double Cross': The incompetence that Libertarian Party so frequently projects on the government is actually their own problem. Here's a humorous example where they have been exploited once again.
Archimedes Shrugged: The Great Libertarian Racket: Hugh Akston's critical review of the Libertarian Party, emphasizing the capture of the party for personal profit by a Harry Browne clique. Scathing.
Commentaries by Jacob G. Hornberger: A Libertarian Party activist who's leading the assault on Harry Browne and David Bergland. Excellent political infighting, exposing the basic problem of treating political parties as private property.
The Case Against Secession: Mackubin Thomas Owens (at the Claremont Institute) takes libertarians to task for their support of secessionism, which is largely based on the bad constitutional interpretation of Stephens and Calhoun.
The Libertarian Quartet.: Richard Epstein criticizes the deductive absolutism of Randy E. Barnett's "The Structure of Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law". See especially the part about Coase's lighthouse example.
If Housepets Were Libertarians.: A cute editorial cartoon.
Media Moguls on Board: Murdoch, Malone and the Cato Institute: An Extra! (the magazine of FAIR, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting ) article that describes how media giants use Cato to lobby Congress for corporate welfare and legal monopolization.
The Meaning Of Freedom?: Sean Gonsalves takes on "free-market" propaganda with Adam Smith.

00/6/30

Added a few more links.

How a Libertarian Capitalist Became a Libertarian Socialist.: Observation of real-world corporate behavior helped.
Encyclopedia Of Law And Economics: Contents: Some excellent summations of the research on a variety of subjects. Seems non-ideological. See especially The Coase Theorem (PDF) and Takings (PDF).
Assassination Politics: Convicted tax evader Jim Bell proposes a system of anonymous ecash awards for the murder of "aggressors", such as IRS agents. See also Crypto-Convict Won't Recant. What he misses is that his system, if tolerated, would merely force government to operate secretly rather than openly.
I Am the Very Model of a Modern Libertarian: Kim Plofker's hysterical adaptation of the Major General's song from Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates Of Penzance".
Of the Functions of Government in General: J. S. Mill, a REAL classical liberal, explains at great length why "protection against force and fraud" is too simplistic a standard.
Of the Grounds and Limits of the Laisser-faire or Non-interference Principle: J. S. Mill, a REAL classical liberal, provides a strong defense of laissez-faire, but then starts cataloging exceptions such as education, regulating monopolies, limiting rights of contract for adults and children, regulation of working hours, public charity (welfare), higher education and research.
L. Neil Smith's Ahistorical Comparison Of Lincoln To Lenin: Brian Tubbs rebuts absurd libertarian assertions about the founders, constitutionality, and Lincoln's prosecution of the Civil War.
Objectivism and the Corruption of Rationality: A Critique of Ayn Rand's Epistemology: by Scott Ryan. A technical philosophical criticism of Rand, now a book, based largely on the ideas of Brand Blanshard.
Parodies of Objectivism: by Scott Ryan. Some good parodies of Objectivist language, behavior, and rationalization.
Goofy may be a Libertarian.: Don Feder, a Boston Herald columnist, ridicules the Libertarian Party by exposing its platform.
Of greed, technolibertarianism and geek omnipotence.: An interview with Paulina Borsook about her book "Cyberselfish", where she skewers high-tech libertarianism.
Critique of "The Objectivist Ethics": Michael Huemer finds eight fatal flaws in Rand's derivation of objectivist ethics. (That's all?)

00/4/19

Added a few more links. Many broken links fixed thanks to the heroic volunteer work of Anthony Miller!

Should Public Policy Support Open-Source Software?: In a roundtable discussion, Lawrence Lessig takes Eric Raymond's foolish libertarianism to task.
Anti-Standard Model brief to the US Court of Appeals, Fifth Ciruit, as amicus curiae with 52 amici co-signing, September 3, 1999, in US v. Emerson.: Brooklyn Law School professor David Yassky, mobilized a group of fifty-two scholars, including Bellesiles, Bogus, and Cornell, to sign his anti-Standard Model brief. Thoroughly debunks "standard model" pretensions.
The Heirs Of Ayn Rand: Has Objectivism Gone Subjective?: Scott McLemee provides a charitable overview of the history, major factions, and controversies of Objectivism. Useful background for understanding criticisms, without fawning.
Knee-Jerk Libertarianism: The Libertarian Party has terrible problems with its own ideologues who believe its own propaganda. It has to caution them about saying what they really believe, suggesting instead politically forked tongues.
ex-Libertarian email list.: Brent Allison has created this list for discussions of the ideological dogma that former libertarians have left behind. There are a lot of recovering libertarians out there: now they need to find this lis.
Natural Rights Don't Exist: Jonathan Wallace examines the basic errors of classical liberal notions of natural rights. An article from The Ethical Spectacle.
Twilight of the crypto-geeks.: Ellen Ullman's Salon sees a pattern of lone-wolf digital libertarians beginning to abandon their faith in technology uber alles and espouse suspiciously socialist-sounding ideas.
Why I'm Not a Libertarian: Travis Stansel takes libertarians to task for excessive market orientation. From Conscious Chocie magazine.
The Economics of the Welfare State: By Nicholas Barr. A college text that provides the mainstream economics background for defending the welfare state against libertarians.
Welfare vs. Privatization: the Truth Starts Here: Ian Montgomerie's review of The Economics of the Welfare State by Nicholas Barr. Undercuts libertarian arguments about optimality of markets.

00/3/27

Added a few more links. Improved the book buying guide in Print References sections. Moved criticisms of Nozick and Rand up in the list of indexes (and placed them in the discussion article) because a libertarian thought they were among the best things at the site, because I agree, and because they also are among the most frequently hit pages at the site.

Propaganda: Collin Smith's descriptions of a number of propaganda tricks that are used to manipulate audiences.
Scrutinizing Propaganda: J. E. Hill's Internet Infidels discussion of propaganda devices.
A Third Way For The Third World: Akash Kapur's review of "Development As Freedom", Amartya Sen's most important work, that relates freedom to economic development and political liberty of ALL individuals.
I alone and individually am THE TRUE Libertarian!: Dennis W. Phillips' parody of typical libertarian rants. Or perhaps it is more accurate than parody.
Gun Crazy: Constitutional False Consciousness And Dereliction Of Dialogic Responsibility: Andrew Hertz's much-cited Boston University Law Review article rebutting the NRA and the so-called "Standard Model" proponents. Important academic reading.
The Rhetoric Of Gun Control: Andrew McClurg's American University Law Review Article that evenhandedly identifies informal fallacies on both sides of the gun control debate.
Capitalism, Right Libertarianism and the problem of "externalities?": Gary Elkin's brief explanation of the problems capitalism causes for ecology.
Libertarianism, Conservatism, and Christianity: A lawyer's bizarre analysis of why Christianity is better than libertarianism or conservatism. Ends with "May God help us to shuck Thomas Jefferson for King Jesus."
Perilous Optimism: by Ernest Partridge. Exposure of Julian Simon's Corunucopian follies as invalid due to basic ignorance of ecological principles, atmospheric science, and thermodynamics.
I'm Still Not a Libertarian: Paul Kienitz' revised essay provides a good, big-picture introduction to the basic reasons why libertarianism is unworkable.
Synthetic A Priori: An Argument With M.R.M. Parrott: The chapter "Against Objectivism" details several reasons for considering Objectivism a pseudophilosophy. It points out at length how foolishly naive "existence exists" is. An e-book in PDF by M.R.M. Parrott.
Ethical Egoism: Part of the Britannica.com article on ethics, which points out that Rand was hardly original in ethical egoism, that it must be defended in utilitarian terms, and that the claims of ethical egoism fail for very common prisoner's dilemmas.

99/12/29

Added a few more links.

Old Rules for the New Economy: J. Bradford DeLong's criticisms of the economic naivete of Kevin Kelly's "New Rules for the New Economy".
Destroyed Arguments: Lowell Becraft, Jr., a lawyer and member of the "Freedom Movement", enumerates many tax, jurisdiction, and other legal issues which have been found invalid by the courts.
Wrong for All the Right Reasons: Privatizing The Public Schools: Gordon MacInnes' Wrong for All the Right Reasons presents a big picture of public school privatization and shows how the example of post-secondary trade schools should deter us.
A Critique of Barlow's "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace": Reilly Jones' Extropy article lambasting the otherworldlyness of the rather ludicrous declaration.

99/11/29

Added a few more links. Added another book searching option.

Twelve Reasons Why Privatizing Social Security is a Bad Idea: A large-scale introduction to the issues. See also 11 Myths About Social Security and Chile's Experience With Social Security Privatization.
John Lott's More Guns, Less Crime: An Alternate Q&A: Part of the Handgun Control site. Describes recent statistics that refute Lott's conclusions.
Do more guns cause less crime?: Tim Lambert's thorough critique of John Lott's More Guns, Less Crime. Shows clearly the errors of scholarship, measurement, statistics, and logic.
Regulation of Firearms: David Hemenway's New England Journal Of Medicine editorial presenting the public health rationale for regulation. "Much can be done to decrease the gun problem in the United States without changing the fundamental availability of firearms for most citizens."
NEJM Book Review of "More Guns, Less Crime".: David Hemenway's New England Journal Of Medicine review of John Lott's More Guns, Less Crime. See also the followup correspondence by Lott and Hemenway.
An Open Letter to a Libertarian: Ronald W. Garrison explains libertarianism as a superficial yuppie ideology that overlooks the interests of non-yuppies, and those who are not in the corporate elite.
Liberalism and socialism: a case study of philosophical factions on the Internet.: Richard Davies shows how the "philosophical" principle "Everyone should be free to do as they please, as long as their actions don't harm anyone else" is so ridiculously vague that socialists can accept it also.
Don't Legalize Drugs: Theodore Dalrymple's City Journal article warns of the many unexpected results that are likely from adopting legalization of drugs as a social policy. Very pragmatic.
Debunking Libertarianism: An anti-legalization site cites a retired DEA officer's quotation of Theodore Dalrymple's article about problems of legalizing drugs.
Get Uncle Sam off my back! and other misguided impulses.: Gary Kamiya's review of A Necessary Evil" by Garry Wills. Praises the debunking of many Revolutionary Era myths of the Founders and Constitution exploited by anti-governmentalists.
Cyberlibertarian Myths And The Prospects For Community: Langdon Winner punctures some of the electronic community promises, and describes some forthcoming effects on our physical communities.
Review of "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand.: Rob Slade's Internet Review Project review casts a quizzical eye on the absurdities of Atlas Shrugged. Many amusing comments on this bizarre ideological heroic fantasy.
Robert Nozick, Libertarianism, And Utopia: A distillation of a few of Jonathan Wolff's arguments showing a few invalid criticisms of Nozick, and concluding with how Nozick would reinvent the past.

99/10/18

Added FreeFind Search to the index page. Now you can search all the documents at this site, which is actually very few. In the future, most of the links will be copied onto this site, and a shadow site set up so that if links are out of date, the copy can still be accessed. That project will have to wait until this site has been relocated to another machine, probably with its own new domain.

99/10/18

Added a few more links.

Why People Go Hungry: Kenneth Arrow's review of Amartya Sen's Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation. Agrees with the point that "failure of market power" is precisely what chooses the victims of famine.
In Pursuit of Fairness: Ian Hacking's review of Amartya Sen's Inequality Reexamined. Exposes the hidden premises involved in discussions of equality, and presents the many dimensions along which equality should be considered.
Just Deserts: Amartya Sen's review of Peter Bauer's Equality, the Third World, and Economic Delusion. Sen provides a careful rebuttal of Bauer's conservative arguments about economic equality (which libertarians also use frequently.)
Population: Delusion and Reality: Amartya Sen's sensible consideration of government solutions to overpopulation problems. Refutes notions of "laissez-faire" being the best policy. This is treated at much greater length in his Development As Freedom.
Libertarians for an Open Party: Lloyd Sloan's criticisms of the Libertarian Party Oath as a hypocritical tool for enforcing party purity and dominance by the anarchist faction. A good view to in-party struggles between minarchists and anarchists.
Howard Spews on Anti-Libertarianism: A much milder and more agreeable statement than it sounds.
Environmental Justice and "Shared Fate": by Ernest Partridge. A refutation of libertarian dismissals of fair compensation for environmental injustice.
With Liberty and Justice for Some: by Ernest Partridge. An excellent, short, big-picture criticism of libertarianism. It first criticizes libertarianism in general, and then with respect to environmental problems.
Libertarianism and Libertinism?: by Frank S. Meyer. Libertarianism must come from liberty as a means, not an end, unlike "untrammelled libertarianism".
Big Sister is Watching You: by Whittaker Chambers. The 1957 National Review book review of Atlas Shrugged. Wants to be sympathetic, but just can't: the book was just too awful.
Libertarians & Conservatives: by Ernest van der Haag. A 1979 National Review comparison of libertarianism to conservatism that finds libertarianism to be "anarcho-totalitarianism".
Too Easy and Too Free: A Review of Murray's Libertarianism: by Ronald W. Dworkin. Even with extreme generosity, Murray is found to fail badly, a foolish pollyanna.

99/7/29

Added a few more links.

Is government eeevil? We Have Met the Gummint And He Is Us.: Mark Rosenfelder points out the paradox that only people with really good government could think they didn't need it. Good commonsense.
Why Libertarianism Is Mistaken: by Hugh LaFollette. A published academic examination of the incoherence of founding libertarianism on negative rights and liberty.
How the NRA Rewrote the Constitution: Howard Friel, of Alethia Press, describes how successfully the propaganda of the NRA has out-publicized the real court decisions on the meaning of the Second Amendment.
The Hooey School has its points on the environment, but...: by Molly Ivins. She takes Julian Simon to task.

99/6/15

Changed URLS to Liberalism Resurgent to a shadow site, since the original is nonfunctional. Added a few more links.

LIBERALISM RESURGENT: A Response to the Right.

Steve Kangas' enormous review of liberal responses to right wing (including libertarian) claims.

The Short Faq On Liberalism.: A positive statement of what Liberalism means. It's surprising how many liberals have never seen a straightforward presentation of liberalism, and rely on their intuitive conceptions.
The Long Faq On Liberalism.: Partly inspired by the Non-Libertarian FAQ, but written at much greater length, the Long Faq On Liberalism rebuts many libertarian attacks on liberal positions.
Glossary Of Political And Economic Terms.: Basic, acceptable definitions essential to discussion of modern politics and economics.

The Internet and the Abiding Significance of Territorial Sovereignty

by Jack Goldsmith. Shows why it is both desirable and practical for territorial governments to regulate the internet. See also the other related articles in Indiana Journal of Global Studies Volume 5 Issue 2 Spring 1998.

The Internet as a Threat to Sovereignty? Thoughts on the Internet's Role in Strengthening National and Global Governance

by Henry H. Perritt, Jr. See also the other related articles in Indiana Journal of Global Studies Volume 5 Issue 2 Spring 1998.

Mrs Logic And The Law: A Critique Of Ayn Rand's View Of Government.

Nicholas Dykes' anarcho-libertarian criticism of Rand's denuciation of anarchy.

Ayn Rand (1905-1982)

Kelley L. Ross' Friesian School biography of Rand, which is strongly critical of some of Rand's philosophical errors.

Property Theory, Property Rights, and Market Socialism

Michael Robertson describes market socialism, a so-called third way between capitalism and communism.

Progressive and Regressive Taxes and Taxation Explained.

Doug Bashford explains some of the rudiments of why unequal taxation can be considered just.

99/5/18

Updated several URLs, and added a few new ones. Added links to Amazon.com for book references and the FAQ bibliography. Added image to David Friedman's index.

Robert H. Bork Critiques Libertarianism: A conservative criticism of libertarianism from his book "Slouching Towards Gomorrah."
Libertarianism, Property & Harm.: Chapter 2 of James Boyle's unpublished "Net Total: Law, Politics and Property in Cyberspace". Thoroughly dismantles three libertarian approaches to the problem of harms: [common] law, natural rights, and property.
Original Intent And The Constitution.: The beginning of a page on the problems with ideas of "Original Intent" of the founders, a conservative propaganda ploy much favored by libertarians. The first segment is taken from A Process of Denial: Bork and Post-Modern Conservatism by James Boyle.
Contra Social Contract Theory: Tim Starr has updated Lysander Spooner's rant against government. Mike Huben shows why Starr and Spooner haven't begun to address classical liberal arguments of Locke and Jefferson.
Voices from the Right.: Not much more here than a statement of differences in position. Not your average conservative, either.
Public Choice Theory Criticized - McChesney, Money for Nothing.: Albert Foer's American Antitrust Institute review summarizes Public Choice theory as presented in McChesney's book, and ends with a clear presentation of the conflict of this Public Choice theory with reality.
The American Antitrust Institute: A very new, independent watchdog organization interested in promoting increased competition through antitrust. Many topical articles on current antitrust developments and the justification for antitrust. Also has an excellent list of internet resources, including international sites, and a fine guide to the organizations dealing with antitrust issues on both sides.
How NOT to Talk! Conversational Terrorism.: A large list of easily recognized tactics of argument. Compare these to the posts of the noisiest libertarians.
Necessary E-Mail Netiquette: Charity and a number of other principles.
The Second Amendment Second Amendment Articles: Parts of the Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence site. These sections describe the history and court interpretations of the 2nd Amendment, contradicting NRA propaganda and a recent spate of "academic" law review publications. Essential reading.
The Rights (and Wrongs) of Ayn Rand: Robert Bass concludes that Rand's ambition exceeded her achievement. He effectively shows how all her most important arguments fail. Part of his Objectivism: Assorted Commentary page.
Open Letter to Rand: Roy Childs presents an anarcho-libertarian refutation of Rand's minarchist position.
New Zealand Today - An Alternative View Life In The Economic Test-Tube: New Zealand "experiment" a colossal failure.: Two brief articles based on Jane Kelsey's books "Rolling Back the State: Privatisation of Power in Aotearoa/New Zealand" and "Economic Fundamentalism: The New Zealand Experiment - A World Model for Structural Adjustment?"
Old wine in new bottles: A bitter taste.: Noam Chomsky describes Jane Kelsey's "The New Zealand Experiment" (which was critical of privatizations) in its historical context. He discerns recurrent patterns of "reform" inflicted on the helpless for the private benefit of the "reformers", and classifies Kelsey as a fellow observer. Part of the Symposium on "The New Zealand Experiment" published in the Electronic Journal of Radical Organisation Theory.
TV guide review of "Ayn Rand: A Sense Of Life": by Ken Fox. A dead-accurate and scathing review both of the movie and Rand's "importance". A lot said in few words.

99/2/9

Merged two constitutional indexes, removed all "NEW" banners more than 6 months old, made numerous small corrections, and added bibliographic references to works by Gray, Chomsky, Derber, and Fried.

Neo-Tech ZonPower for Romantic Love, Power, Money.: Ayn Rand meets L. Ron Hubbard for multi-level marketing complete with cosmology, physics, eternal life, abundant sex, tax avoidance, universal civilization, true psychology, "integrated honesty", and more! This is not a parody.
Neo-Tech FAQ: Some of the more obvious dirt on Neo-Tech, which is like a Scientologist's interpretation of Objectivism.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Human rights do not start or end with property.
Antisocial Insecurity.: Doug Henwood's astute analysis of the "Social Security crisis" and various schemes to save it. From his Left Business Observer.
Gilbert & Sullivan Online: Many libertarian ideologues are Newsgroup Personalities, and well described by this version of The Major General's Song.
The Liberty Poll and What it Means.: A Liberty magazine poll measured variation and change in influences and beliefs of libertarians (at least those that they sampled.) Contains very nice capsule descriptions of writers influential to libertarians. Also describes a fundamental moral schism among libertarians.
Light On Liberty: The Anti Libertarian Party webpage.: Kevin O'Connell's site dedicated to exposing the goals and deceptive activities of the Libertarian Party.

98/10/15

Tax Protester FAQ: Dan Evans' outstanding set of responses to the amazingly lengthy and looney claims of tax protesters.
Neo-Tech FAQ: Some of the more obvious dirt on Neo-Tech, which is like a Scientologist's interpretation of Objectivism.
Federal Reserve Conspiracy Myths: A (middle) section of Edward Flaherty's skeptical home page, aimed at debunking many economics-related myths.
The Real Titles of Nobility Amendment FAQ: Jol Silversmith's summary of the foolishness of "The Missing Thirteenth Amendment."
1st American Group -- Scams and Traps Page: Many nonsense legal arguments are parts of scams or promotions of products, and that is one of the major reasons these are propagated in the first place: somebody wants to make a buck by misinforming people. An excellent index.
For Would-Be Travellers On The Noncompliant Federal Income Tax Protester Path: Law Professor James Maule sympathetically warns well-meaning believers in common tax protest arguments that they'll be found wrong in court.
Game Theory: Economist Roger McCain shows how game theory applies to economics in a non-technical manner.

98/10/14

At last, the release of an entirely revised Critiques site in time for its fourth anniversary! The changes are too numerous to list.

Complete Revision Of Site Completed 1998

After years of growth, the Critiques Of Libertarianism site had become lopsided and poorly organized. It was time for a massive reorganization!

During the course of the reorganization, quite a few new links were found or recommended. They've waited while the recoding of the site was completed. Henceforth, they should be available almost immediately through this page, most recent additions first.

Likewise, many splendid new quotations have been added.

Counter image omitted.

Copyright 2007 by Mike Huben ( mhuben@world.std.com ).
This document may be freely distributed for non-commercial purposes if it is reproduced in its textual entirety, with this notice intact.