libertarian – Gus diZerega

Foster Gamble Again

Posted on December 14, 2015December 14, 2015 by Gus

A couple of days ago I received an email from a Pagan list connecting to a “New Paradigm” conference where prominent speakers would be libertarians mixing a dose of conspiracy theory, libertarian boilerplate, and New Age rhetoric into a supposed … Read more

Turning the Tables: The pathologies and unrealized promise of libertarianism

Posted on June 30, 2015February 19, 2016 by Gus

As a scholar and former libertarian, I have been disappointed at libertarians’ general failure to engage in serious debate with their critics, but I have also been disappointed with most critics’ relatively simplistic attacks on libertarian ideology. I wrote this … Read more

Paradoxes of Freedom: Civil Society and the Market Order

Posted on November 9, 2014September 21, 2019 by Gus

Published in Cosmos and Taxis, Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2014.

Abstract

Civil society maximizes individual freedom. Spontaneous orders emerge from principles expressed more completely within civil society and enable cooperation to take more complex forms than in their absence. … Read more

Libertarian critique II: Property rights

Posted on July 27, 2014 by Gus

If anything sets libertarianism as an ideology off from other more reasonable points of view, along with the ‘nonaggression principle’ it is their doctrine of property rights. As with nonaggression, they take a principle nearly all agree on, and then … Read more

Libertarian Critique I: The ‘nonaggression principle’

Posted on July 27, 2014July 27, 2014 by Gus

This is the first of what will be a series of posts criticizing libertarian ideology as not up to the claims its advocates claim for it. Perhaps some will even seek to enter into dialogue on this or other issues … Read more

The “War of Ideas” and the crippling of classical liberal thought

Posted on July 19, 2014July 19, 2014 by Gus

When I first got interested in the social sciences and philosophy it was in large part because I had been repeatedly told as a high school conservative that we were engaged in a “war of ideas.” Further, in the long … Read more

Antibiotics and the Market: One more example of the bankruptcy of libertarian ideology

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Gus

Libertarians and ‘free market’ advocates in general claim that markets reflect people’s decisions and values better than any other social institution, and so ‘freedom’ is maximized when markets are ‘unfettered.’ The New Scientist for May 24 has an important example … Read more

Confusions about contract and freedom in libertarian and free market thinking

Posted on October 21, 2013October 21, 2013 by Gus

Libertarians argue a free society is a contractual society, one based on agreement between equals rather than force by the strong against the weak. In my view they are correct. But I have long since ceased to call myself a … Read more

Liberalism, Conservatism and spirituality, Part III: the crisis of nihilism and the decline of liberty

Posted on September 13, 2013September 13, 2013 by Gus

Witches and Pagans now has Part III of my essay on liberalism, conservatism, their intellectual and moral collapse and what spiritualities of immanence might be able to do to revitalize them. If you wonder why liberals are so weak and … Read more

Understanding Conservatism and Liberalism

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Gus

One of the most frustrating dimensions of political discussion today is how many people using terms such as liberalism and conservatism, and identifying with one of them, have no clear understanding of how they relate to one another, or even … Read more