Doug Bandow -- Libertarian

Doug Bandow's hard-hitting and consistently libertarian column is syndicated nationally by Copley News Service.

In addition, he has written for Harper's, The New Republic, Washington Post, New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the American Spectator, USA Today, and many, many other magazines and newspapers.

He is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute.

He served as special assistant to President Ronald Reagan in the early 1980's, left disillusioned, and later wrote how that administration had betrayed its promise of less government and lower taxes.

His books include:

The Politics of Plunder: Misgovernment in Washington (1990): a collection of nearly 200 of his articles and columns, covering almost every political issue imaginable, always from a consistently libertarian position.

The Politics of Envy: Statism as Theology (1994): Bandow is a Christian as well as a libertarian. Here he argues that statism threatens traditional religious values as well as secular liberty. He urges Christians to work to create a libertarian society, to counter the threat of run-amok government. Great reading for both Christians and non-Christians.
Unquestioned Allegiance (1986)
Beyond Good Intentions: A Biblical View of Politics (1988)
Human Resources and Defense Manpower (1989)

Quotable:

"Put bluntly, lawmakers are stealing from the public... Theft may seem like a strong word for what now routinely comes out of the legislative process. But that's only because we have abandoned any rigorous conception of individual rights and government responsibilities... [m]ost government transfers today are made to enrich one or another narrow interests. Uncle Sam has become an enforcer for greedy private groups that can't legally take other people's money directly." -- "What Happened to the Concept of Theft?" 1988.

"Even Christians who are not libertarians and libertarians who are not Christians have many opportunities to cooperate on protecting religious freedom, restricting state expansion, encouraging private education, keep the government out of child care, opposing welfare systems that destroy families, and so on. And given both group' need to find addition allies, it is increasingly important that Christians and libertarians not only talk with each other, but work together." -- from The Politics of Envy: Statism as Theology.

Last Modified, Mon Nov 17, 1997