Orwell’s Despair: Nineteen Eighty-four and the Critique of the Teleocratic State
This paper, I examine aspects of Orwell’s political thought as expressed in Nineteen Eighty-four. I focus on the novel as an exploration of the logic of the conception of the modern state as a teleocracy or managerial enterprise, a concept
Mark Twain’s Little Societies of Exchange
Samuel Clemens was an old-style liberal of the 19th century sort who believed in economic liberty and warned about the depredations of state power. The failure of many critics to understand the old liberal perspective may be part of the
How U.S. Government Paper Currency Began, and How Private Banknotes Ended
A couple months ago, in arguing that "The Fed should give everyone a bank account," journalist Matt Yglesias cited what he took to be an instructive precedent: "Once upon a time, governments didn't issue paper currency, and instead banknotes were
Family Economics: Specialization versus the Division of Labor
The family provides enormous economic advantages to daily life and civilization as a whole. But the extended and even nuclear family have been eroding thanks to changes in government policy, economic trends, and culture. In this article, I highlight how
A Review Essay of Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement by Brian Doherty
The outstanding merit of Brian Doherty’s book is that it contains a treasure trove of valuable information regarding the events, personalities, periodicals and organizations whose complex interplay influenced the intellectual and institutional development of the modern American libertarian movement. But
Governmental Inevitability: Reply to Holcombe
Holcombe (2004) has written an interesting and challenging but ultimately fallacious essay on government. In his view, this institution is “unnecessary, but inevitable.” I heartily agree with the former contention, but adamantly reject the latter. Worse is the implication for
Kropotkin’s Ethics and the Publc Good
In Kropotkin's pamphlet on Anarchist Morality, he applauded the empiricist philosophers of the 18th-century Enlightenment for rejecting religious interpretations of human action and adopting an account that made the quest of pleasure and avoidance of pain the source of human
Four Myths about Money That Ought to Die Forever
With the possible exception of international trade, no topic in economics contains more myths than monetary theory. In the present article I address four popular opinions concerning money that suffer from either ambiguity or outright falsehood. One: "Money represents a claim
Ayn Rand
Tibor Machan's Ayn Rand aims to provide an introduction to Ayn Rand's thought for "a broader readership who may have heard of Rand but not examined her ideas in detail." He portrays himself as an admirer, but not as a
From the Editors
On March 2, 1966, Murray N. Rothbard, the founder and twenty-year editor of the Journal of Libertarian Studies, would have celebrated his seventieth birthday. This issue of the JLS, as well as a simultaneously appearing special issue of its sister