James M. Patterson and Thomas D. Howes’s Why Postliberalism Failed argues that postliberalism’s rejection of individual agency, liberal democracy, economic freedom, and subsidiarity in favor of ...

Michael Chapman argues that reports of libertarianism’s death have been greatly exaggerated and that its ideas remain highly relevant today. Editor’s Note This piece was originally published on the ...

Libertarianism.org is the Cato Institute’s treasury of resources about the theory and history of liberty. We offer a wealth of original essays and classic reprints by great classical liberals and ...

While Karl Marx hated Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and his philosophy of mutualism, a libertarian can find in it much to appreciate. Proudhon’s conception of federalism permits us a fuller understanding of ...

Libertarians frequently disagree about the status of intellectual property. D’Amato explores the views of four major libertarian thinkers. The issue of intellectual property rights represents a ...

A libertarian world won’t eliminate all poverty, but it offers powerful tools for greatly reducing it, and improving the lives of the poorest and least privileged. The stereotypes of libertarian ...

How a group of veterans restored democracy to a small town. “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty” is a quote commonly, and incorrectly, attributed to Thomas Jefferson. It was, in fact, never ...

Zwolinksi argues that libertarians are right to support private property, but also that private property is more complicated than we sometimes think. An especially vivid and significant example of ...

The origin of the idea that liberty could be preserved through the separation of powers endures through the arguments of Polybius. Any American high schooler can tell you that the separation of powers ...

Was Harry Truman one of the worst terrorists of all time? If words mean anything anymore—then absolutely, yes. Franklin D. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945—and so began the damnable presidency of ...

Adam Smith authorized the pursuit of honest income. But what should we do with that income? Max Laraia explores whether Peter Singer’s moral imperative to reduce suffering is consistent with Smith’s ...

Did Adam Smith—celebrated hero of free trade—make a big exception for reasons of national defense? Would he support the Jones Act of today? Caleb Petitt argues that a careful reading of Smith on the ...