The following is the first installment in a five-part debate between Georgetown Professor Jason Brennan and Princeton Professor Philip Pettit on the merits of democracy as a system of social order.
At 6:58pm Eastern time last night, Facebook acquaintance and sophomore sociology major Sean Stevens reported that if you don’t vote in the upcoming presidential election then you have no right to complain about the trajectory of the nation. Stevens, who bravely displays the Human Rights Campaign logo as his profile picture, went on to provide […]
Politics isn’t just bad; It’s the worst. It brings out the literal worst in people.
Another day, another hilariously awful straw man argument against libertarianism.
The Democrats and Republicans have largely been the only two choices in presidential and congressional elections since the Civil War. It’s for that to change.
Why not vote? Some experts sound off.
One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.
Why did the United States invade Iraq? The pretense was that Iraq was harboring weapons of mass destruction. Another popular reason, however, was to make the country safe for democracy. The campaign – like so many foreign interventions – was “an abysmal failure,” says Professor Chris Coyne in the new Learn Liberty video below. Over […]
Nearly 25 years ago, two scholars—Geoffrey Brennan and Loren Lomasky—published a book that was proved prescient by the recent “Brexit” vote. The book was called Democracy and Decision, and one of its central theses was that “democracy” (if you mean majority rule decisions) is simply not up to the task of making good choices for […]
Earlier this week, Americans celebrated one of their most meaningful holidays, their country’s Independence Day. It’s a day every American knows, a day spent with food, family, and fireworks. See Also: Why the American Revolution Was Really an Economic Revolution But, many Americans don’t know the real story that led to July 4, 1776. What […]
Many public intellectuals and political pundits were surprised by Donald Trump’s ascendancy to the Republican nomination. In my opinion, this is because they succumbed to what has (unfairly) become known as the “Pauline Kael syndrome.” Pauline Kael is the New Yorker critic who was reputed to have remarked after the 1972 Presidential election that “Nixon […]
What’s the difference between a plurality and a majority in a democratic system? Professor Donald Boudreaux explains the huge difference in a recent post at Cafe Hayek by comparing the different voter preferences if Donald Trump wins 40 versus 60 percent of the votes in the Republican primaries. As Boudreaux writes: It’s a common (and […]
A perennial complaint about democracy in America is that too large a portion of the electorate is poorly informed about important political issues. This is the problem of the ignorant voter. This problem was exacerbated in the current presidential election cycle by the large number of candidates vying for the Republican nomination that made keeping […]
What if I told you that some people were better than others? I don’t mean better at tennis or better at singing or better at math. I mean a better breed of person, entitled by nature to exercise authority over you. I’m guessing you would reject that claim, possibly even find it insulting. I would join […]
Ever wonder why presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump sound so similar despite being from different political parties? Both rail against free trade, the establishment, and harken back to a mythical time in the country when there was a chicken in every pot and an American manufacturing every product we use. In the video […]
It’s election season and you’re ready to vote. You’ve carefully researched the candidates and their platforms, so you’re pretty certain your vote will be an informed one. But before you cast your vote at the polls, take some time to reflect on these four cognitive biases, or traps, and how they impact your voting decisions. […]
As the election cycle starts to heat up you may begin to realize that most politicians sound the same, except for a few rhetorical differences. Why is that? Professor Diana Thomas investigates.
How much do you really know about the electoral process? In this program, we take a fresh look at elections and voting and address some of the common misconceptions. Did the Citizens United case really make corporations people? Should we ban money in politics? How can Super PACs and political ads improve democracy, while a […]
What should you read between now and Election Day? If you’re only going to read one political book, you should make it Jason Brennan’s The Ethics of Voting. If you’re going to read a second, I nominate Bryan Caplan’s The Myth of the Rational Voter. If you’re going to read a third, you should read […]
Some decisions, such as the selection of a government representative, are made by democratic means. However, decisions like which religion to follow are left to each person to choose for herself. Which decisions should be made by a democracy, and which decisions should be made by the individual. When should society make the distinction between […]
Yesterday was Election Day and many exit polls reported historically low voter turnout. This follows a trend of low-voter turnout in recent elections. In 2014, for instance, voter turnout was the lowest since World War Two. In the video below, Georgetown economist Jason Brennan explores whether citizens should be forced to vote in order to […]
Last night’s Republican debate was two hours of 10 candidates doing their best to distinguish themselves from the many people hoping to win the 2016 presidential election. While there were some generally agreed-upon winners (Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz) and losers (Jeb Bush, and for some the CNBC moderators), the debate itself was underwhelming. Was […]
I have been making a mistake for most of my life. See, I’m an economist, and one of the things that attracted me to economics is the notion of the “ideal economy.” Of course, there are valid objections to the use of markets. There are people who cheat and commit fraud, and there are problems […]