• Reisman on Free Speech; Not Quite There 
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Personal life  | [George Reisman] writes as if [the Berkeley] campus of the University of California, like Zuccotti park, was private property. But even a fraction of a moment’s reflection will reveal this to be a total falsehood. Rather, this institution is state — not private property, and any analysis of private property that does not take into account this primordial libertarian fact must go off the rails. This is precisely the error committed by Reisman’s mentor, Ayn Rand, as exposed in this article [PDF] of mine.      View blog reactions

• • Advice for Ron Paul 
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Ron Paul is doing just fine in his campaign. He is promoting liberty at a magnificent clip. He is converting people to libertarianism en masse, perhaps more so than any other person in the entire history of the planet (with the possible exception of Ayn Rand; however, she abjured the libertarian philosophy, while Dr. Paul embraces it enthusiastically).      View blog reactions

• • May a libertarian take money from the government? 
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Atlas Shrugged  | All libertarian theories of private property rights, of punishment, would agree that of all people in the world, Z is the absolutely least deserving of this foodstuff. Now, it might be nice, it might be virtuous, for X to return the apple to Y. Indeed, this was precisely the relationship between Ragnar Danneskjold (X) and Hank Reardon (Y) in Ayn Rand’s magnificent and monumental novel, Atlas Shrugged. The government (Z) stole from Reardon (and of course others) and Ragnar was just returning these stolen goods to Hank, the victim.      View blog reactions

• • Public sector unions in Wisconsin 
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Atlas Shrugged  | As a matter of deontology (rights) it seems clear that taking down the government a peg or two is compatible with libertarianism, even if taxes increase as a result. Ragnar Danneskjold breaks into Fort Knox and liberates some gold (assuming there’s some of this precious metal in there; work with me on this). As a result, the government raises taxes. Does that definitively demonstrate that this hero of Atlas Shrugged was violating libertarian law? Not a bit of it.      View blog reactions

• • • It’s Ayn Rand bashing time, once again 
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Atlas Shrugged  | [Ayn Rand] favored the gold standard. Yet, when she went to the store, she never offered anyone gold coins. Instead, like everyone else, she paid in fiat coin of the realm, even though she properly detested this system. She also favored the privatization of the post office, but she mailed letters care of the hated government monopoly post office. Shall we indict her, too, for hypocrisy on these grounds? But wait, the charges against her mount up even more. Ayn also opposed subsidies to farmers, and yet, ate food produced under this system. Isn’t she really despicable? I hope and trust everyone realizes where I am going with this. I am not at all joining her critics and “piling up” on Ayn Rand. Very much to the contrary, I am demonstrating, via the reductio ad absurdum method, that the argument of these real socialists has not a logical leg to stand upon.      View blog reactions

• How should Ron Paul handle himself on television with hostile interviewers? 
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Ayn Rand Institute  | A week ago, Ron Paul was interviewed by Chris Matthews on television. This broadcaster would hardly allow Congressman Paul to get in a word in edgewise, and continually interrupted him. I wrote this column, in an attempt to explore techniques [Paul] could have employed [...]. I received numerous e-mail responses to this essay of mine. [....] I offer these letters on an anonymous basis; several of the authors have requested this, and I have decided to treat all of them the same in this regard. [....] I once saw an interview on O'Reilly with a spokesman from the Ayn Rand Institute. It was an extreme display of this sort of behavior but what can one expect from a jackass like Bill O'Reilly.      View blog reactions

• Chris Matthews vs Ron Paul 
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[Ron Paul] has probably brought more ordinary people to libertarianism than any other person in the entire history of the known universe, with the possible exception of Ayn Rand. (Mises and Rothbard have undoubtedly brought more intellectuals to libertarianism than anyone else.)      View blog reactions

• • My top ten list of books that have influenced me 
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Atlas Shrugged  | Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged is my fifth most influential book, but she is by far my favorite novelist (my second favorite is Chaim Potok). This book was first published in 1957, and more than 50 years later is still selling like hot cakes. Atlas is to be credited with converting more people to libertarianism than any other book. [....] Some people, libertarians, even, criticize Atlas as simplistic, one-dimensional, poorly written. As far as I’m concerned, the words she wrote fairly leap off the page at the reader, grab him by the throat, and never ever let go. This is a magnificent novel.      View blog reactions

• • Say ‘yes’ to capitalism 
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Capitalism  | Every word we use to describe ourselves is precious. We must keep them all, jettison none of them. And this includes (classical) liberals, free enterprisers, libertarians, Austro-libertarians, anarchists, anarcho-capitalists, laissez faire capitalists, and, yes, plain old unadorned "capitalists." Ayn Rand, bless her heart, never failed to rally to the banner of capitalism. I do not of course agree with everything she ever wrote, but on this matter I am very grateful to her. There were few wordsmiths in our movement better acquainted with the importance of language.      View blog reactions

• Larry Moss, RIP 
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[Larry Moss] kept saying that he wanted to introduce me to this fellow, Murray Rothbard. I would have been willing to do so, but Larry said that Murray was an anarchist, among his other descriptions. Well, that did it for me. I was in my Randian stage at that time, and I knew, I just knew, that all anarchists were nuts and fruitcakes.      View blog reactions

• The battle over political correctness continues 
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My favorite novelists are Ayn Rand and Chaim Potok.      View blog reactions

• Block replies to readers, Part II 
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Atlas Shrugged  | I think government loans and grants are beside the point. They are ALWAYS justified, in that the government is a robber gang, and the less money they have, and the more money others have, the better for liberty. (See Ayn Rand's Ragnar Dannesjkold on this.)      View blog reactions

• • Religion and Libertarianism 
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Atheism  | To some, those still enthralled by the Randian vision of religion and liberty, it is bad enough for a libertarian to take a positive view of religion. For most, it will appear as nothing less than a logical contradiction for an atheist such as myself to be an actual supporter and even admirer of religion. Let me explain.      View blog reactions

•Austrians in academia: a battle plan 
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Advice for advocates of Austrian economics in academia.
What about “movement” journals for Austro libertarians such as Journal of Libertarian Studies, Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Review of Austrian Economics, Independent Review, Cato Journal, the American Journal of Economics and Sociology, The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Advances in Austrian Economics, etc? (I call them movement journals because none of them is biased against Austrian or libertarian themes; indeed, the very opposite is the case).      View blog reactions