All Articles
- The Freedom Scale
Panarchy: A Libertarian Alternative to One-Size-Fits-All Government
What if choosing a government worked more like choosing any other service? Panarchy challenges the assumption that everyone in the same place must live under the same political system.
by Christopher Cook • Sep 2
10 mins Read
- Culture
You Don’t Expect People to Attack You on the Bus
Every day, we place remarkable trust in people we don’t know. That simple expectation of peaceful behavior is one of the hidden foundations of a functioning society.
by Jimmy Alfonso Licon • Sep 2
6 mins Read
- Artificial Intelligence
Don’t Tax AI for Jobs It Hasn’t Taken
AI may replace some human labor, complement other workers, and create entirely new opportunities. Taxing its computing power now bets on one uncertain future before we know how the labor market will actually adapt.
by Max Gulker • Sep 2
7 mins Read
- Exit
Why I Had to Leave: I Was Done Asking Permission
David Jäkle wanted out of Germany, but every conventional path seemed to require someone else’s approval. Eventually, he realized that building a freer life meant finding his own way out.
by David Jäkle • Aug 31
6 mins Read
- Underthrow Series
Argentina Tried Democratic Socialism. Then Came the Chainsaw.
After years of inflation, deficits, and economic stagnation, Argentina chose a radically different course. Javier Milei’s chainsaw reforms are putting free-market ideas to a real-world test.
by Max Borders • Aug 31
8 mins Read
- Innovation
America Can’t Revive Manufacturing by Shunning Robots
Bringing manufacturing back to America won’t mean recreating the factories of the past. A competitive industrial future will depend on robots, automation, and workers becoming more productive alongside them.
by Iain Murray • Aug 31
8 mins Read
- The Tao of Liberty
Is Today’s Four-Year Degree a Racket?
For generations, college was treated as the surest path to a good life. But as costs rise and alternatives multiply, the four-year degree is beginning to look less like a necessity and more like one choice among many.
by Diamond-Michael Scott • Aug 26
9 mins Read
- Socialism
10 DSA Arguments for Socialism and Why They Fail
The DSA promises affordable housing, universal health care, higher wages, and greater economic security. But good intentions cannot eliminate scarcity, incentives, or unintended consequences.
by Alex Nowrasteh • Aug 26
16 mins Read
- Free Markets
I Bought Beans at the Government Store
Atlanta spent millions helping a private grocer open downtown. New York is proposing something very different: taxpayer-funded government-owned grocery stores.
by Ryan Devine • Aug 26
6 mins Read
- Privacy
Your Phone Data Can Become Part of a Kill Chain
Your location, contacts, habits, and digital activity can reveal a detailed pattern of your life. Intelligence agencies have learned to turn those patterns into targeting information, and the same surveillance logic is increasingly finding its way home.
by Sterlin Lujan • Aug 24
11 mins Read
- Economic Liberty
Who Gets to Decide Who Can Work?
When Missouri required two experienced hair braiders to complete 1,500 hours of largely irrelevant cosmetology training, it raised a larger question: Why should peaceful work require government permission?
by Marc Friedman • Aug 24
5 mins Read
- Corruption
The Olympics Are Even More Corrupt Than You Think
Rio spent $13.1 billion hosting the 2016 Olympics. A decade later, corruption, costly white elephants, and displaced families reveal the darker economics behind the Games.
by Jeffery L. Degner • Aug 24
6 mins Read
- The Freedom Scale
Why Do We Assume Everyone Has to Live Under One System?
We are often told that people can coexist only under one shared system. But religion, education, currencies, legal systems, and even languages show that pluralism can work without uniformity.
by Christopher Cook • Aug 20
14 mins Read
- Self-Government
AI Should Answer to You, Not the State
AI can put extraordinary capabilities in the hands of ordinary people. But as governments and corporations determine what these systems may say and do, the struggle over AI is increasingly becoming a struggle over individual control.
by Diamond-Michael Scott • Aug 20
4 mins Read
- Free Markets
Donald Trump Threatens Gasoline Retailers over Prices
President Trump wants gasoline retailers to bring prices down. But threatening private businesses over the prices they charge substitutes political pressure for the choices of buyers and sellers.
by Ninos P. Malek • Aug 20
6 mins Read
- Digital Sovereignty
Who Funds the People Who Decide What Is True?
Fact-checkers became the internet's referees, with the power to influence what millions of people see. But who funds the referees? Following the money reveals relationships that deserve scrutiny of their own.
by Demi Pietchell • Aug 17
12 mins Read
- Underthrow Series
Activism Is Empty, Virtue Is Practice
It’s easy to proclaim what others should do. Harder is becoming the kind of person whose actions make a difference. Virtue begins when we stop outsourcing change and start practicing it ourselves.
by Max Borders • Aug 17
5 mins Read
- Economics
Does Disparity Prove Discrimination?
Economic disparities are often treated as evidence of discrimination. But identifying a gap is not the same as identifying its cause. Wanjiru Njoya examines Thomas Sowell’s challenge to assumptions about race, discrimination, and economic outcomes.
by Wanjiru Njoya • Aug 17
8 mins Read
- The Tao of Liberty
Liberal Arts and the Quest to Think for Myself
A liberal arts education was never meant to train workers. It was meant to cultivate free minds. Drawing on Adam Smith, Thoreau, Mill, and Taoist philosophy, this essay argues that genuine self-government begins with learning to think for yourself rather than inheriting someone else's conclusions.
by Diamond-Michael Scott • Aug 12
11 mins Read
- Education
The Seduction of Homeschooling Families
As homeschooling grew into a thriving educational alternative, government agencies began offering "free" curriculum, funding, teachers, and extracurricular activities. Chris Cardiff argues these incentives aren't merely generous—they risk drawing families back into the very system they sought to leave.
by Chris Cardiff • Aug 12
15 mins Read