Archive for Mises Institute
Ron Paul’s Liberty Defined Book Review
Posted by: |Liberty Defined, by Ron Paul. Grand Central Publishing: 2011.
The word liberty connotes various meanings. Many consider it an exciting idea that represents a force for good in the world, while others fear the ramifications of a proposed “free society.” Even libertarians debate the meaning and the source of freedom. But perhaps the most frustrating element in advocating freedom is the plethora of myths about the free market, thanks to state indoctrination in public government schools. While some individuals are innocently ignorant, others simply haven’t spent the time thinking through the issues. Read More→
Tags: Austrian Economics, Glenn Beck, Liberty Defined, Mises Institute, Revolution: A Manifesto, Ron Paul
Of all posts on LibertarianChristians.com, the holiday book lists are some of the most perennially popular. 2010 has seen some great books enter the market, and it’s time to highlight what some of those are (plus some classic texts). Check out some of these great gift ideas for your libertarian (and non-libertarian!) friends and family. Some of these are explicitly Christian, and some are just to enhance your education in economics and liberty. Also, remember that by shopping at Amazon.com through an LCC link you’re supporting the work we do here with your purchase. Thanks for your continued support! So in no particular order…
Libertarianism Today, by Jacob Huebert. This is one of my favorite new books, and is arguably the best explanation of libertarianism set in the context of the 21st century that we have to date. My review of this book is forthcoming…
Nullification, by Thomas Woods. The idea of nullifying Federal law at the state level has really taken hold in the past year, and Tom has done a great job of explaining its use in American history with this excellent book. Go forth and nullify!
Foundations of Economics: A Christian View, by Shawn Ritenour. Hey homeschoolers, are you looking for an basic economics text that you can go through with your high-school age kids? Shawn’s book is what you want. Easier than Human Action or Man, Economy, and State, and far better than that garbage you’ll get from Bob Jones University Press. (No offense intended, but they really don’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to political economy.) That being said, it’s not just for high-school students. This is Austrian economics at its best.
Faith and Liberty, by Alejandro A. Chafuen. A classic that every Christian libertarian should read.
Human Action (the Pocket Edition), by Ludwig von Mises. Make sure that Austrian in your life is never without some Mises. At $10, this version is hard to beat for affordable access to one of the greatest books on economics of all time. You can also get this directly from the Mises Institute Store. Coincidently, this is now the best-selling book at the Mises Institute of all time!
Disciple of Liberty, by Jason Rink. Many of our Christian friends are beginning to realize the corrupt nature of Government, and Jason’s short book really helps people to understand that being “conservative” doesn’t cut it. Plus, you can now get the ebook version for FREE until the end of 2010. How about that? (Note: You won’t find this on Amazon.) Check out my review of Jason’s book and see what you think.
The Road to Serfdom, by F.A. Hayek. Hayek’s works have surged in popularity over the last year, and this seminal work should be on every libertarian’s bookshelf.
How an Economy Grows, and Why it Crashes, by Peter Schiff. This book is great to give your friends who don’t understand what’s going on with the economy these days. Schiff explains how the market works in a way that everyone can enjoy, using humorous examples and solid principles to teach and entertain.
The Kingdom of God is Within You, by Leo Tolstoy. This marvelous work by Tolstoy is gripping. To see why, read my review.
Anarchy and Christianity, by Jacques Ellul. French philosopher Jacques Ellul had a way with words, and in this book he explains how he came to understand that Christianity and statism don’t mix. It’s challenging, interesting, and actually quite short. Read my review here.
Bonus: All us tech-lovers have been curiously watching the ebook reader and tablet computer wars emerging on the market over the last year. So if you are so inclined, don’t forget that an Amazon Kindle or iPad filled with the Mises Institute library and Christian Classics is clearly the coolest gift ever (hint hint anybody who loves me). You know, almost every book the Mises Institute publishes (and much more) is available to download for free as a PDF on their website. You could easily fill a flash drive with liberty PDF’s from the Mises Library and tons of classic theological texts from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library and Project Gutenberg.
Merry Christmas to all!
Tags: Book Reviews, christian libertarian, economics, Hayek, libertarianism, liberty, Mises Institute, recommended books, technology
News of the Week: November 21 to 27, 2010
Posted by: |Recapping interesting things in the news and on the net in the past week.
IMPORTANT: Today is the last day to contribute to Vijay Boyapati’s Marathon for Mises fundraising event. Please consider contributing even a small amount to help the greatest free-market-promoting organization on the planet, the Ludwig von Mises Institute!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you had a wonderful time remembering how blessed we are. We can especially be thankful that God created a world that sustains itself with cooperation and industry, as Mary Theroux at the Independent Institute reminds us.
LRC reminds us that the war of our dear “Christian” president George W. Bush has resulted in the martyring of thousands of Christians in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thanks, U.S. Federal Government! /sarcasm
GraphJam has a great post outlining the insanity of the TSA.
Lies continue to be spread that campus carry cannot work.
I’ve thought for quite a while that Star Trek: Insurrection was a very libertarian-leaning film.
Universities are now suing high schools using similar logos for “trademark violations.” Did we just enter the twilight zone or something?
Time for a few classic Mises Institute articles… First, Ralph Raico writes about Harry Truman and the Atomic Bombs. Murray Rothbard warns us to never give in to the warfare state.
My favorite comic of the week.
Bonus quote of the week courtesy of LRC:
New TSA Motto: “We Handle More Packages Than the U.S. Postal Service.”
(From an emailer to the Ron Smith Radio Show on WBAL in Baltimore).
Add your own favorite news or fun item of the week in the comments, share the love!
Tags: fun, history, intellectual property, Mises Institute, trademark, TSA, war, war on terror
Austrian Scholars Conference – Day 3
Posted by: |It has taken me a few days to finish this post. Unfortunately, I spent Sunday driving back home and Monday working like crazy… Oh well, I hope you enjoy this final installment of covering the Austrian Scholars Conference 2010. If day 1 and day 2 were proper indicators, it would not disappoint – and it sure didn’t!
The first session on “Money and Contracts” was absolutely stunning. Stephen Fairfax of Mtechnology presented on “Returning Gold to the Consumer Marketplace.” Personally, this was my favorite talk of the conference. Mr. Fairfax talked about the main problems surrounding a return to the gold standard: portability and consumer expectations. Transporting gold coins for small transactions is extremely difficult. A one ounce coin, relative to what it can purchase these days, is worth quite a lot. Moreover, people still want to use cash – they expect to be able to carry money in their pockets that doesn’t weigh ridiculous amounts.
Tags: economics, events, Mises Institute
Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 – Day 2
Posted by: |The second day of the Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 was quite exciting. From lunch at the Mellow Mushroom munching on the “magical mystery tour pizza” to meeting more heroic media moguls – it was a day to remember. And yes, all that alliteration was intentional.
My good friend Daniel from the University of Texas Libertarian Longhorns presented his paper on “Praxeology of the Knowledge Problem of Socialism.” The gist of the paper is actually pretty simple: Some Austrians call the “knowledge problem” (that Hayek frequently discussed) insignificant, because the problem is also applicable to a free market organization. Daniel says, “No, on the free market there is never a knowledge problem so long as there is always an opportunity for trade somewhere.” Only under a legally sanctioned monopoly – which is just socialism on another scale – or under a purely socialist economy will the knowledge problem become evident.
But the biggest event of the day was the special presentation by John Papola, the creator of the famous Keynes-Hayek rap earlier this year. Seriously, it’s got to be the single best pedagogical tool we have seen in the past few years for teaching Austrian econ. John talked about the process of making the movie and his vision for doing further work at his newly built website EconStories.tv. If you haven’t seen the video, well, you should! Here it is…
I have a picture of John and I together after the talk, but I haven’t taken it off the camera yet. Hopefully I’ll put it up in the next few days.
UPDATE: All of the lectures are being published on Mises.org very quickly, you can download them here.
If you missed it, read the post on Day 1 of the ASC 2010.
Tags: economics, events, Mises Institute
Norman Horn is the creator and primary writer for LCC. Learn a little bit about him in the 