Revised: 26 April 2026
This is a list of the blogs I have written since July, 2014.
| No. | Title | Date | Excerpt | Categories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Declaration of Independence after 250 Years: Success or Failure? | 24 Apr. 2026 | What are we “commemorating” or remembering this year? It is the 250th anniversary of a political act of rebellion/independence/secession of the North American colonies from the Empire of Great Britain; the publication of some important books in which CL ideas were expressed: Paine, Condillac, Smith: the symbolic first stage of putting these CL ideas into practice (in particular the Declaration of Independence on the 4th July); and the beginning of a day of civic ritual – “July 4th” – on which people still perform certain acts of celebration and memorialisation. | Art, CL Tradition,, Talks and Papers | |
| Strategies for Creating a Free Society | 2 Apr. 2026 | At the most fundamental level the liberal reformer needs to know what the connection is between the ideas that people hold, the interests which they have, the relationship which exists between ideas and interests, the actions people take to pursue those interests and ideas, and the outcomes of those actions (whether they are a success or a failure). I have attempted to trace how ideas are created, transmitted, and implemented in a paper … | Strategy | |
| Rebuilding the Website | March 24, 2026 | The Digital Library of Liberty & Power has been redesigned. What you are now reading is the new “front end” to the website which has been in existence since June 2010. We have kept the old website (davidmhart.com/liberty) as the Repository of the texts in their various formats (HTML, facsimile PDF, and ePub) and my essays and papers, but we are also making use of WordPress for its content management tools and its blogging feature which have ben modified to suit the needs of an academic and educational website … | Miscellaneous | |
| Visits to the Website 2022-2025 | December 9, 2025 | Since 14 Feb. 2022 the site has had 96,318 users (i.e. visitors) and 132,180 page views (most visitors view more than 1 page per visit), and 3,510 files have been downloaded (probably PDFs). | Miscellaneous | |
| A Declaration of Independence from the State | December 8, 2025 | 2026 is the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence from the British Monarchy and Empire. After a successful war of independence it was followed by the creation of the American Constitution which was a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to limit the power of the state and to keep it limited for an … Read more | Libertarianism | |
| The Great Books of Liberty – the “Guillaumin Collection” | September 25, 2023 | Interview with Ross Cameron on TNT Radio 24 Sept. 2023 My collection of texts about liberty is in the tradition of earlier publishers who helped promote the spread of classical liberal ideas, such as Thomas Hollis (1720-1774) and Gilbert Guillaumin (1801–1864). Thomas Hollis (1720-1774) was active in pre-revolutionary North America and published beautifully bound copies … Read more | CL Tradition, Guillaumin Library | |
| From Bayeux to Guernica: The Depiction of Power, Destruction, and Suffering in War Art | August 19, 2023 | See the PDF of the slides used in my talk Introduction In this talk I want to compare and contrast two important works of art about war, the “Bayeux Tapestry” (or the “Canterbury Embroidery”) (henceforth BT) which is perhaps the “creation” of Odo Bishop of Kent and Bayeux, which was done in the 1070s, and … Read more | Art, War and Peace | |
| The intellectual antecedents of the idea of “anarcho-capitalism” | July 31, 2023 | Introduction: 50 Years and counting 50 years ago I first came across the theory of anarcho-capitalism when I was in my last two years of high school (1973-74). I read everything I could get my hands on and I still have most of those books still in my possession, although they are a bit worse … Read more | CL Tradition, Libertarianism | |
| The Class Structure of the Modern Welfare/Administrative State | July 6, 2023 | Date: 6 July, 2023 A Summary View The Sovereign Power The Ruling Elite The Political Class The Bureaucratic or Functionary Class Force Wielding Institutions The Welfare State The Regulatory State The Plutocratic or “Crony Capitalist” Class State Privileged or Dependent Firms & their Employees State Owned Firms State Privileged Firms State Dependent Firms The Dependent … Read more | CL Tradition, Class Analysis | |
| The Key Ideas behind Classical Liberal Class Analysis | July 5, 2023 | [Frontispiece to John Wade’s “Black Book” (1835) showing John Bull (i.e. the British people) who has been captured and tied down (like Gulliver in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726) by the Lilliputians, who in this case are figures representing the army, the church, members of parliament, and the judiciary. The Lilliputians taunt him and rifle … Read more | CL Tradition, Class Analysis | |
| The eBook Collection of the “Digital Library of Liberty and Power” | December 24, 2022 | The texts in this collection are classic works about liberty which I believe deserve more careful formatting. They are either first editions or later, revised, definitive editions of the work. The image I have chosen for the “logo” of the collection is of a “Phrygian cap”, the cap worn by freed slaves in the ancient … Read more | CL Tradition, Publications | |
| Œuvres complètes de Gustave de Molinari | December 23, 2022 | The Institut Coppet has recently published volume 9 of the Œuvres complètes (Complete Works) of Gustave de Molinari, thus completing the first 10 years of his long and very productive life. Only 60 more years to go! See a comprehensive (though probably still not complete) bibliography of his works which consists of 73 Books, Printed … Read more | Libertarianism, Molinari | |
| Molinari on War and Peace | December 21, 2022 | Introduction Towards the end of his very long life, the French economist Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912) said that he had spent his entire life fighting in one form or another, protectionism, socialism, slavery, statism, and militarism. He went to Paris as a young man and would-be journalist in 1841 from his native Belgium and began … Read more | Molinari, War and Peace | |
| A Workers Party Reunion: What’s in a Name? | October 7, 2022 | A group of founders and early supporters of Australia’s first “libertarian party” – provocatively and toungue-in-cheek perhaps called the “Workers Party” – are getting together later this month for a “Reunion”. To encourge discussion and reflection on those tumultuous years nearly half a century ago I have listed below some of my recent blog posts … Read more | CL Tradition, Libertarianism | |
| My Research on the Paris School | September 3, 2022 | Part I: The Rise of “The Economists” and the Heyday of the Paris School in the First Half of the 19th Century Part II: The Late 19th Century and the Decline of “The School of Liberty” Part III: Texts and Editions Some blog posts in which I which summarise my thoughts: “ An Introduction to … Read more | Bastiat | |
| An Introduction to the Paris School of Political Economy | August 7, 2022 | (E)n général on gouverne trop … (mais) comment s’y prendre pour simplifier une machine administrative compliquée où les intérêts privés ont gagné du terrain sur l’intérêt public, comme une gangrène qui s’avance dans un corps humain lorsqu’elle n’est pas repoussée par le principe de vie qui tend à le conserver ?. Pour guérir cette maladie … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| The Guillaumin Network and the Paris School of Political Economy | August 7, 2022 | [The Molière Fountain on the rue de Richelieu (down the left). The Guillaumin firm was located at no. 14 rue de Richelieu.] Note: See also the following: my blog post on “A Publishing History of the Guillaumin Firm (1837-1910)” (5 Aug. 2022) here my summary webpage on The Paris School a brief description of the … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| A Publishing History of the Guillaumin Firm (1837-1910) | August 5, 2022 | Source of Data Benoît Malbranque, “Liste complète des titres publiés par Guillaumin (1837-1910)”, Institut Coppet (janvier 2, 2017) here. David M. Hart, “Gilbert-Urbain Guillaumin (1801-64) and the Guillaumin Publishing Firm (1837-1910)” with my list of their titles. It also contains many links to individual Guillaumin book catalogs which were often appended to the books they … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| Some Thoughts on Editing, Translating, and Displaying online the Work of the French “Économistes” | August 4, 2022 | The Trials and Tribulations of an Editor and Translator [Note: See this page for a list of my writings on the Paris School of Political Economy.] Inevitably there are a number of editorial and translation issues which arise when one attempts to translate, in the case of Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850), 1 million words of a … Read more | Bastiat | |
| Frédéric Bastiat’s Philosophy of Markets | July 17, 2022 | Introduction The French political economist, politician, and journalist Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) placed “markets” and mutually beneficial “exchange” at the very heart of of his theory of economics which he elaborated in a two volume collection of essays Sophismes économiques (Economic Sophisms) (1846, 1848), a long essay on “La Loi” (The Law) (1850), and his unfinished … Read more | Bastiat, CL Tradition | |
| The Negative Political Party | July 11, 2022 | Introduction There was a sizable swing in the 2022 Federal election to the DNV (did not vote) camp as well as the “informal” vote, though this is less marked with the revised updated results than with the early and incomplete result I used in my earlier post. I now calculate that the total number of … Read more | CL Tradition, Libertarianism | |
| On Making the Argument/s for Liberty | July 10, 2022 | [Honoré Daumier’s “Le Défenseur (Council for the Defense),” c. 1862-1865.] Note: This is part of a collection of posts on “The Current State of Liberty and the Threats it faces”. In this post I want to discuss the following issues: the multi-dimensional nature of Liberty requires a multi-dimensional approach to arguing for it the main … Read more | CL Tradition, Libertarianism | |
| The Threats to Liberty Part 2: The Size and Power of the State | July 7, 2022 | [James Gillray, ”More PIGS than TEATS, or the new Litter of hungry Grunters sucking John Bull’s old Sow to death” (1806)] Note: This is part of a collection of posts on “The Current State of Liberty and the Threats it faces”. In Part 1 I discussed state expenditure now and historically in “The Threats to … Read more | CL Tradition, Libertarianism | |
| The “Big Picture”: Part 2 | July 7, 2022 | [The British Atlas holding up the Political Establishment.] Note: This is part of a collection of posts on “The Current State of Liberty and the Threats it faces”. This is part 2 of a two-part post on “The Big Picture”. See part 1 7.) We need to show the public in a more convincing way … Read more | CL Tradition, Libertarianism | |
| The “Big Picture”: Part 1 | July 7, 2022 | [Australia peeping through the clouds.] Note: This is part of a collection of posts on “The Current State of Liberty and the Threats it faces”. This is part 1 of a two-part post on “The Big Picture”. See part 2 Below is a sketch of what I consider to be the “Big Picture” of where … Read more | CL Tradition, Libertarianism | |
| A List of Posts on the Current State of Liberty and the Threats it faces | July 5, 2022 | [Titian, “Sisyphus” (1548-49) – Sisyphus is pushing a boulder up to the summit in punishment for bringing enlightenment to the people. It might also represent classical liberals and libertarians pushing the boulder of liberty up the mountain of statism, only to see it roll back down again before they ever reach the summit.] Updated: 11 … Read more | CL Tradition, Libertarianism | |
| Liberty in Australia and the Asia-Pacific Region | July 5, 2022 | [Building the “beacon of liberty” (1876)] Where now is “the beacon of liberty”? The problem for a small, remote, and relatively insignificant country like Australia is to figure out what it can do to contribute to the broader, international liberty movement and where it fits in. One possibility is for it to become a “beacon … Read more | CL Tradition, Libertarianism | |
| The Threats to Liberty Part 1: Government Expenditure | June 29, 2022 | See an earlier related post on “The Prospects for Liberty: The Threats it faces and how to counter them” (23 Mar. 2022). Introduction: How Big is the State? Before I discuss what are the biggest threats to liberty which we face at the moment we need to get some perspective on the size of the … Read more | The State | |
| Some Thoughts on the May 2022 Federal Election in Australia | May 26, 2022 | This recent election was the first election I have observed close up since my return to Australia in 2020. My wife and I haven’t voted for 47 years. The last time was in 1975 when we voted for the Workers Party, which, if you don’t know, was very libertarian in spite of their provocative name … Read more | Miscellaneous | |
| Lectures and Talks I have given at the Centre for Independent Studies | May 9, 2022 | Below is a list of lectures and talks I have given at the CIS over the years: L&S Conference: “The Classical Liberal Tradition: A Four Hundred Year History of Ideas and Movements”, Liberty and Society Conference (6-8 May 2022): lecture slides PDF and supporting blog posts “Unfortunately, Hardly anyone listens to the Economists”: The Battle … Read more | Bastiat | |
| 600 Quotations about Liberty and Power | April 28, 2022 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] In another post I focus on the “Twelve Key Ideas” which I believe defines what it means to be a “classical” liberal, rather than a modern or “new” liberal who holds views which are inconsistent (even incoherent) and is … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| Liberty as the Sum of All Freedoms | April 26, 2022 | [Note: This is an updated version of “The Key Ideas of Classical Liberalism: Foundations, Processes, Liberties” (23 June 2015) here.] [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] In a recent post I discussed the “ends” that CLs sought and “the means” which they believed would help … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| The Classical Liberal Tradition – A 400 Year History Of Ideas And Movements: Lecture/Seminar Outline | April 22, 2022 | Date: 22 Apr. 2022 [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] This is an outline/overview of my Lecture/Seminar and extended paper on the history of the Classical Liberal tradition. It consists of the following sections: Introduction: What is Liberalism? CL and the State Liberal Ideas Key … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| A Balance Sheet of the Success and Failures of Classical Liberalism | April 21, 2022 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] Introduction Following the rise to power of Louis Napoleon, who declared himself Emperor Napoléon III in 1852, the radical French CL and political economist Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912) gave a lecture at the Musée royale de l’industrie belge in … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| On the (im)Possibility of finding a “Third Way” between Liberalism and Socialism | April 19, 2022 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] Some people can see the logic in applying political, moral, and economic principles consistently and avoiding contradictions which make being consistent impossible. Thus for example, if you really do believe that profit, interest, and rent are immoral (as many … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| The Multi-Dimensionality of Classical Liberalism | April 19, 2022 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] [See also another post on “Plotting Liberty: The Multi-Dimensionality of Classical Liberalism and the Need for a New ‘Left-Right’ Political Spectrum” (17 April, 2022) here.] Another aspect to consider is the multi-dimensional nature of liberalism. The one dimensional political … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| Plotting Liberty: The Multi-Dimensionality of Classical Liberalism and the Need for a New ‘Left-Right’ Political Spectrum | April 17, 2022 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] The Multi-Dimensional Nature of Liberty The full richness and complexity of the nature of Liberty is not well appreciated by most observers, especially mainstream media journalists and political scientists. In other posts I have explored the relationship between the … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| The Prospects for Liberty: The Threats it faces and how to counter them | March 23, 2022 | Table of Contents (1.) The threats which confront the liberty movement (2.) The task ahead (3.) Looking for the “Golden Thread” to unravel justifications for state intervention (4.) Choosing the right kind of arguments to use (5.) Where we are now and what we need to do next (6.) Conclusion (1.) The Threats which Confront … Read more | CL Tradition, Libertarianism | |
| Mao waves “hello” in his Bathrobe | March 9, 2022 | My wife bought me a wonderful statue of Mao in a flee market in Shanghai, which has become one of my prize possessions and has a plum spot in my study. It was of Mao in his bathrobe after he had swum the width of the Yang-tse River. Here is a photo of my statue: … Read more | Art, Propaganda | |
| The Fading of Pierre Goodrich’s Dream to Spread the Word about Liberty | January 27, 2022 | “Fade to White” The party politicization (pro-Trump republican) of Liberty Fund and its rapid turning away from the Founder’s “original intent” of promoting long-term educational and academic goals is the subject of an article in this month’s Indianapolis Monthly magazine. As the victim of the first round of purges of those who defended that vision … Read more | CL Tradition, Miscellaneous | |
| Film and the Teaching of History | January 16, 2022 | [Michael Curtiz, “The Adventures of Robin Hood” (1938) – a man who “speaks treason fluently” to tyrants] [Warren Beatty, “Reds” (1981) – a brilliant political film but about the wrong side] See also “The Politics and History of/in Film”. I have used films in my teaching and lecturing ever since I began teaching at the … Read more | Film, War and Peace | |
| The History of the “Great Liberal Emancipation” 1750-1914 | January 5, 2022 | Francisco Goya, “The Sleep of Reason produces Monsters” Abolitionist Medallion – “Am I not a Man and Brother?” I have put online some old teaching material (both lecture notes and Seminar Reading Guides) I wrote decades ago when I was working in the Department of History at the University of Adelaide. I wanted to show … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| DAVID HART’S “ABC OF ANZAC HISTORY” | January 3, 2022 | The Advertiser of Monday, 31 March, 1997 had a front page article on an “ANZAC Day School Pack” which has been devloped by the Federal government and the Australian Army for use in schools on the eve of ANZAC Day 1997. A key part of the pack is an “ABC” of key words designed to … Read more | Miscellaneous | |
| Some Thoughts on Liberal History | December 29, 2021 | [Hyacinth Rigaud, “Louis XIV” (1701)] [Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, “Liberty” (1793) slaying the hydra monster of tyranny] I interpret “liberal history” in several ways. It might mean (1.) The history of the classical liberal tradition, which has at least two components: a history of how and when liberal ideas first emerged and then evolved over time – … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| J.B. Say and the Transformation of Restoration French Liberalism | November 20, 2021 | Note: This post is a continuation of an earlier one on the scandalous neglect of classical liberal sociology (especially classical liberal class analysis). See “The Scandalous Neglect of Classical Liberal Sociology” (30 May, 2021). Note 2: A longer version of this was written for my website (with lengthy quotes). The writings of the economist Jean-Baptiste … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| The Classical Liberal Tradition: A Four Hundred Year History of Ideas and Movements | October 24, 2021 | Created: 24 Oct. 2021 (with 25 posts) Updated: 28 Apr. 2022 (31 posts) [Eugène Delacroix, “Liberty leading the People on the Barricade” (1830)] A Brief Overview “The History of Classical Liberalism in 1,730 words (and one picture)” (11 Aug. 2021) here. [Revised 12 Apr. 2022.] “The Classical Liberal Tradition – A 400 Year History Of … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| The Incoherence and Contradictions inherent in Modern Liberal Parties (and one in particular) | October 21, 2021 | Revised: 28 Apr. 2022 [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] In his survey of the history of liberalism, The Making of Modern Liberalism (Princeton University Press, 2012), the Oxford political philosopher and scholar of the thought of J.S. Mill, Alan Ryan, observed that everything that … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| What CLs were For – Part 2: Ends and Means | October 19, 2021 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] Liberal Ends require Liberal Means to build Liberal Institutions Introduction Here are some further thoughts to add to my earlier post on “What Classical Liberals were For” (13 Aug. 2021). They have been stimulated and enriched by my reading … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| Classical Liberalism as the Philosophy of Emancipation II: The “True Radical Liberalism” of Peter Boettke March 13, 2026 | October 17, 2021 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] This year Peter Boettke from George Mason University and the Mercatus Center has published a collection of his talks and papers on The Struggle For A Better World (Arlington, Virginia: Mercatus Center, 2021). See the table of contents here … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| Classical Liberalism as a Revolutionary Ideology of Emancipation | October 13, 2021 | [Liberty has overturned the Hydra (monster) of Tyranny and smashed the yoke of Despotism (1793)] [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] Several CL/L thinkers have regarded the efforts of groups of people over the past 400 or so years to create a freer society as … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| Hyphenated Liberalism Part II: Utopian, Democratic, Revolutionary, and State Liberalism | October 12, 2021 | [Eugène Delacroix, “Liberty leading the People on the Barricade” (1830)] [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] I thought it might be interesting when discussing the different kinds of “liberalism” to borrow from the common practice of distinguishing between the different types of socialism which have … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| Classical Liberal Visions of the Future III: Liberal Experiments, Frameworks, and Archipelagos | October 11, 2021 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] Introduction Having a single utopian vision is the hallmark of the statist or the socialist and it is a vision which they want to impose on others by force if necessary. Only in this way can all the errors … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| Hayek on Law, Legislation and Liberty (1973-79) | October 8, 2021 | Some Questions and Discussion Topics to Consider Hayek’s Terminology FAH used a special set of terms in his theory which can get confusing for the reader. Here is a list of some of them (see the detailed table of contents of the three volume Law , Legislation and Liberty for an overview): Law: “nomos (the … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| Hayek and Spontaneous Order | September 13, 2021 | In the coming academic year I will be leading an online discussion on Hayek and Spontaneous Order which is part of a series of Discussion Colloquia for graduate students organised by the Institute for Humane Studies. In this discussion we will focus on the work of a leading classical liberal whose work has become “canonical” … Read more | CL Tradition, Economics | |
| Hayek on a Liberal Utopia | September 11, 2021 | [Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992)] [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] Since so many contemporary CL/Ls quote Hayek’s 1949 appeal for the rediscovery of a liberal utopia to guide and motivate liberals in their intellectual struggle against fascism, socialism, and other forms of government interventionism I thought … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| The Success of Liberal Ideas has led to the Decline of Radical Liberal Parties | September 6, 2021 | [The Chimera on a red-figure Apulian plate, c. 350–340 BC (Musée du Louvre)] [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] In a rather unfair and perhaps perverse result of its success over the past 250 years, the impressive success of CL ideas and organised movements (Richard … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| Classical Liberal Visions of the Future II: The Contribution of Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912) | August 29, 2021 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] One of the most radical visions of the future written by a radical liberal was that by the Belgian-French political economist Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912)). His conception of “the political and economic organisation of the society of the future” … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| Classical Liberal Visions of the Future I | August 27, 2021 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] Part 1: Introduction We have noted elsewhere Hayek’s nearly despairing plea in 1949 for CLs to rediscover their “utopian vision” of what a free society might look like in order to inspire a new generation of young CLs to … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| How Modern Day CL/Libertarians Differ From “Classical” Classical Liberals | August 24, 2021 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] There are numerous similarities as well as considerable differences which separate modern day CL/L (classical liberals and libertarians) similarities from their intellectual forebears – the radical and moderate liberals of the 19th century. The Similarities Like the CLs of … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| Classical Liberal Movements: A Four Hundred Year History | August 17, 2021 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] The Intellectual and Political History of the Liberal Tradition There is a complex relationship between the emergence and development of political and economic ideas about liberty and the actions taken by people to put these ideas into practice. Elsewhere … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| What Classical Liberals were For | August 13, 2021 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] Introduction When it comes to identifying what Classical Liberals were FOR, as opposed to what they were AGAINST (see the previous post), I have divided them into three main categories: foundations (or grounds for belief), processes (or actions which … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| What Classical Liberals were Against | August 12, 2021 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] It is often the case that you do not articulate clearly what you are “FOR” until you are forced to, by being challenged by something you know you are “AGAINST”. I think this can be said about the CLT … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| The Conservative and Revolutionary Faces of Classical Liberalism | August 11, 2021 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] The “Two Faced” Nature of CL [The revolutionary Marianne with a sword in her hand vs. the conservative Marianne with a torch and constitution in her hands.] There are two different “faces” or “aspects” to CL which it has … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| The History of Classical Liberalism in 1730 words (and one picture) | August 11, 2021 | Eugène Delacroix, “Liberty leading the People on the Barricade” (1830) [Revised: 12 Apr. 2022] [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] In a nutshell (1730 w) this is my view of how the Classical Liberal (CL) movement and ideas have evolved over the past 400 years: … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| Classical Liberals on the Size and Functions of the State | August 10, 2021 | Updated: 25 Apr. 2022 [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] [See a larger version of this image.] A key factor in distinguishing the differences between the various strains of liberalism is their attitude towards the state (not just between liberalism and other political philosophies like … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| The Spectrum of State Power: or a New Way of Looking at the Political Spectrum | August 10, 2021 | [Revised: 25 Apr. 2022] [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] The degree to which classical liberals have upheld the principle that the state should not use (or at least minimise its use of) violence or coercion (the “non-aggression principle” (NAP)) is reflected in their attitudes … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| “Hyphenated” Liberalism and the Problem of Definition | August 9, 2021 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] Introduction and the Problem of Definition “Liberal” and “Liberalism” as concepts have been contested since their first appearance, most probably sometime in the late 18th century, when the adjective “liberal” began to be used to describe an individual’s behaviour … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| An Allegory of War and Peace | July 19, 2021 | The Dutch legal theorist Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) published the first edition of his important book on the Laws of War and Peace in 1625 while he was in exile in Paris. His second edition of 1670 was published in Amsterdam and came with two etchings, one of himself and another which was an allegorical etching … Read more | Art, War and Peace | |
| Nicolás Maloberti In Memoriam (1975-2021) | July 2, 2021 | Nico Maloberti and I were part of a small group of Fellows within Liberty Fund who understood and agreed with the original strategic vision of its Founder Pierre F. Goodrich (PFG), which was to promote the ideal of a fully free society which would be comprised of “free and responsible individuals” interacting with each other … Read more | Miscellaneous | |
| The Myth of a liberal “Australian Way of Life” | June 20, 2021 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] Some conservative/liberal groups in Australia have adopted a slogan first used in the US, namely the “Australian Way of Life” modeled on the notion of the “American Way of Life”. It implies that such an “Australian” way of life … Read more | Art, Libertarianism | |
| “God save us from the King”: or the Problem of Regal Vice | June 16, 2021 | [Also see my post on “James Gillray on Debt and Taxes during the War against Napoleon (23 February, 2021).] Last Monday (14 June) was “celebrated” here in Australia with a public holiday in most of the country. For some reason the eponymously named state of “Queensland” missed out. Perhaps they wanted to avoid the charade … Read more | Art | |
| The Incarceration of Foreign Students at Parafield Airport, S.A. | June 1, 2021 | This morning I received an email from “Cathy” who describes herself as a LinkedIn News Editor , asking for my response to a recent story published in the ABC news website on “International student arrivals to quarantine at Parafield Airport facility under new SA plan”. Why she asked me I do not know (perhaps because … Read more | Miscellaneous | |
| The Scandalous Neglect of Classical Liberal Sociology | May 30, 2021 | Histories of the discipline of sociology usually give short shrift to the classical liberal tradition. ((See for example the massive and comprehensive (weighing in at 5 vols. and over 5,000 pages) The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. Edited by George Ritzer (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007), The Handbook of Economic Sociology. Second Edition. Neil J. Smelser and Richard … Read more | ||
| Making and Breaking the Image of King Charles I | May 27, 2021 | Here we have an official a portrait of Charles Stuart (1600-1649) done in the studio of Anthony van Dyck c. 1636. He is of course at the height of his powers and in his full regal regalia. He ruled from 1625 to 1649 when he was executed by Parliament. When he was in prison awaiting … Read more | Art, Propaganda | |
| Joel Barlow “God save the Guillotine” | May 25, 2021 | This is another post of my collection of National Anthems which began with the Australian: Australia Day: Girted, Skirted, and Alerted (27 Jan. 2021) and Rewriting and Resinging Australia Day (30 Jan. 2021). God save the Guillotine Till England’s King and Queen Her power shall prove: Till each appointed knob Affords a clipping job Let … Read more | Propaganda | |
| The Classical Liberal Tradition: A 400 Year History of Ideas and Movements. An Introductory Reading List | May 20, 2021 | [Delacroix’s “Liberty leading the People on the Barricade” (1830)] Date: 20 May, 2021 Revised: 22 Apr. 2022 [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] An Essential Reference Work An accessible and very comprehensive introduction to CL /Libertarianism can be found in the Cato Institute’s The Encyclopedia … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| From Rosé to a Sick Rose | May 19, 2021 | During my first bladder operation I was struck by the conversations among the nursing staff and doctors in which my urine was judged according to the colour of wine. My twisted mind of course turned to Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22 and his account of the predicament of “The Soldier in White”. I thought my situation … Read more | Miscellaneous | |
| Bastiat’s Anti-socialist Pamphlets, or “Mister Bastiat’s Little Pamphlets” | May 13, 2021 | One of the most prolific and persuasive critics of socialism in the late 1840s was the economists and free trade campaigner Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850). Between May 1848 and July 1850 he wrote a series of over a dozen anti-socialist pamphlets, or what the Guillaumin publishing firm marketed in their Catalog as the “Petits pamphlets de … Read more | Bastiat, CL Tradition | |
| The Socialist Critique of Private Property and Free Markets and the French Political Economists’ Response | May 12, 2021 | [The cartoonist “Cham” ridicules the plans of the French socialists like Ledru-Rollin who dreams of a new socialist Terror. See, Amédée de Noé, dit Cham, “Ce qu’on appelle des idées nouvelles en 1848” (Paris?: Imp. Aubert & Cie, 1848).] Before turning to the criticism of socialism by the French political economists it is important to … Read more | CL Tradition, Socialism | |
| The State of the Libertarian Movement after 50 Years (1970-2020): Some Observations | March 25, 2021 | See my earlier posts: The Presumption of Government Failure | Reflections on Liberty and Power (1 Jan. 2021) What is to be Done? The Rise of Hygiene Socialism and the Prospects for Liberty (2 December, 2020) The Work of Sisyphus: the Urgent Need for Intellectual Change (25 April, 2020)] [Collapsed Building, Bangladesh (Apr. 20213)] 1.) … Read more | Bastiat | |
| The Great Books of Liberty | March 25, 2021 | For over twenty years I have been working on making “the great books of liberty” (or “GBL”) accessible and more widely known . These GBL are a subset of the larger “great books” program pioneered by the University of Chicago under the direction of Mortimer Adler (1902-2001) back in the 1950s. Like many people growing … Read more | Libertarianism, Musings | |
| James Gillray on Debt and Taxes during the War against Napoleon | February 23, 2021 | James Gillray (1756-1815) trained as an engraver but became best known for making hundreds of caricatures of British social and political life in the 1790s and 1800s. He satirized in particular King George III, William Pitt, the French Jacobins, Napoleon, and many others in the British political and military establishment. A recurring theme in his … Read more | Art, Class Analysis | |
| Turning Rosé into Chardonnay via a Middleman | February 14, 2021 | Youtube clip I recently had to go into hospital for bladder surgery and had to stay an extra night as I had bleeding and blood clots. I was hooked up to a diabolical hydraulic machine which pumped 66 liters of saline in and out of my bladder for a day and a half to “irrigate” … Read more | Film, Musings | |
| The Socialist Critique of Private Property and Free Markets. Part I: The French | February 8, 2021 | Louis Blanc (1811-1882) When I was researching Frédéric Bastiat’s series of anti-socialist pamphlets which he wrote between 1848 and 1850 I looked at the works of the main socialist theorists who were the subject of his ire (Louis Blanc, Victor Considerant, Ledru-Rollin, and Joseph Proudhon). Out of this I drew up a list of their … Read more | Socialism | |
| Rewriting and Resinging Australia Day | January 30, 2021 | Further research into the origins and meaning of the national anthem, “Advance Australia Fair” (henceforth AAF), is revealing some interesting facts. The Author: Peter Dodds McCormick (c. 1834-1916) The author Peter Dodds McCormick (c. 1834-1916) (his nom de plume was “Amicus” – so shouldn’t this be “nom de tune”?) was a Scottish immigrant who came … Read more | Libertarianism, Musings | |
| Australia Day: Girted, Skirted, and Alerted | January 27, 2021 | After a long absence from Australia (20 years) it is interesting and instructive to be here on “Australia Day”. The day itself was hot and humid (37.5C) as was the perennial arguments about what “the 26th of January” is or should be all about, when “the 26th of January” should be held, or even whether … Read more | Miscellaneous, Propaganda | |
| Socialism is Zombie Economics | January 24, 2021 | Zombie Economics A couple of years ago (July 2018) I gave a talk at a Students for Liberty conference on “Zombie Economics” with particular reference to the Marxist “manifestation” of this intellectual beast which refuses to die, no matter how many times it has been “killed” (intellectually speaking of course). It has been the revolutionary … Read more | CL Tradition, Economics | |
| Lord Acton and The Prince (1891) | January 19, 2021 | “Lord Acton” (John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton) (1834-1902) believed that historians should make moral judgements about the actions of the people they studied, in particular political and religious leaders. His best known statement of this view can be found in a series of letters he wrote to Bishop Creighton in 1887. They contain some of his … Read more | Libertarianism | |
| One Volume Surveys of Classical Liberal Thought | January 11, 2021 | [Katsushika Hokusai, “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” (c. 1829–1833)] [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] When did classical liberals become self-conscious that they were advocating an entire worldview (Weltanschauung) of politics, economics, and social relationships in general which was a) consistent internally, b) was different from … Read more | Art, CL Tradition | |
| The Presumption of Government Failure | January 1, 2021 | I would add a few more conditions to the very useful list Don drew up yesterday. These are the principle of proportionality the principle of consistency the principle of the “unseen” and unintended consequences of this intervention the principle of the impossibility (or great unlikelihood) of rational economic calculation by government planners the “precautionary principle” … Read more | Libertarianism | |
| Thomas Hobbes’ Iconography of the Leviathan State | December 18, 2020 | See my longer “illustrated essay” on this topic. In a recent post on the cover art of the French thinker Étienne de la Boétie I remarked about one cover that: This edition by Payot (2016) shows the classic illustration from Thomas Hobbes’ book *Leviathan* (1652). The “leviathan” monarch’s body is composed of thousands of small … Read more | Art | |
| The Institut Coppet’s Collected Works of Molinari | December 9, 2020 | Institut Coppet, Oeuvres complètes The Institut Coppet is a fabulous resource for material on the very rich and fascinating French classical liberal tradition. It was founded in 2010 by Damien Theillier, a philosophy teacher in Paris, its current president is Mathieu Laine, and its very active publishing program is headed by the indefatigable Benoît Malbranque. … Read more | CL Tradition, Molinari | |
| The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism (2008) | December 6, 2020 | An outstanding resource for students and teachers of the classical liberal / libertarian tradition is the Cato Institute’s Encyclopedia of Libertarianism (2008) which, in its 600 pages of double-columned type, has articles on the key ideas, important figures, and historical movements of this tradition. After a very long wait it is available online. The Encyclopedia … Read more | Libertarianism | |
| What is to be Done? The Rise of Hygiene Socialism and the Prospects for Liberty | December 2, 2020 | When I think about the great free trade movement in England in the 1840s, what drove its supporters to oppose protectionism was not a deep knowledge of the intricacies of comparative advantage or the geographical specialisation of production, but a moral sense which we lack today. This moral sense cuts in two different directions. On … Read more | Libertarianism | |
| The Cover Art of Voluntary Servitude | November 29, 2020 | The Cover Art of Boétie’s Discourse I was drawn back to Étienne de la Boétie’s wonderful essay on “Voluntary Servitude” (written c. 1550, published 1576) because of recent events. Boétie asked perhaps the most fundamental question of political theory, namely, why does the majority allow itself, even asks for it , to be ruled by … Read more | Art, Libertarianism | |
| Plutology II: Disney Plutology vs. WB Bugsology | November 19, 2020 | Being a mischievous sort of chap, when I first came across the name Hearn gave his book I immediately thought it must have been a scientific study of Walt Disney’s cartoon character “Pluto the Pup”. The connection between Pluto and wealth or money was rather tenuous until I came across this image of Disney play … Read more | Art, Economics | |
| Plutology I: William Edward Hearn (1826-1888) | November 19, 2020 | I first came across the name William Hearn in Rothbard’s history of economic thought where he discusses some early precursors of Austrian economics. ((Volume II: Classical Economics (2006), “14.8 Plutology: Hearn and Donisthorpe,” pp. 463-65. See Hearn’s bio page for an extract from this here.)) That he lived and worked in Australia at the University … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| Rothbard on Strategy | November 12, 2020 | While I was researching Murray Rothbard’s theory of class for a monograph I am writing on The Libertarian Theory of Class Draft I came across some of his other writings on the strategy/ies needed to bring about a free society, which I thought would be useful to gather together for further analysis and discussion. Some … Read more | Libertarianism | |
| Coding and Decoding Rothbard | November 6, 2020 | The Mises Institute has made available an electronic version of Rothbard’s important “newsletter”, called The Libertarian for the first few issues, and then afterwards The Libertarian Forum, which played an important role in the early years of the modern libertarian movement. It can be found at its website in ePub and facsimile PDF versions here. … Read more | Libertarianism | |
| Bruce Smith (1851–1937) | October 28, 2020 | The important although little known Australian classical liberal Bruce Smith (1851–1937) was one of the very few voices in Australia arguing for a radical and consistent liberalism in opposition to the statist (i.e. interventionist) version of liberalism which was home-grown in the colonies and the equally interventionist “New Liberalism” which was being imported from Britain. … Read more | Economics | |
| Reflections on the Workers Party | October 28, 2020 | Date: 28 Oct. 2020 Revised: 6 Oct. 2022 Nine years ago I was on a panel organised by the Mises Seminar in Sydney, 26 November, 2011 on Australian Libertarian Politics – “On the Workers Party” You Tube. I found the notes of my presentation recently and reproduce them here with some revisions. I have also … Read more | Talks and Papers | |
| The Art of the Levellers | October 27, 2020 | In the course of putting together a multi-volume collection of over 300 Leveller Tracts I came across some very interesting title pages which used typography and occasionally woodcuts to add graphical force to the political and economic arguments being made by the authors. The pamphlets were published in their thousands during the 1640s and 1650s … Read more | Levellers | |
| Richard Overton on Tyrants | October 17, 2020 | About Richard Overton Richard Overton (c. 1599–1664) is one of the intellectual and political leaders of the Levellers during the English Revolution. Little is known about his early life although he probably graduated from Queens College, Cambridge and worked as an actor before becoming involved in political pamphleteering at which he excelled. He wrote dozens … Read more | Levellers | |
| James Mill on Politics and Class | October 15, 2020 | James Mill (1773-1836), the father of John Stuart, has not been served well by editors of his writings, so I made my own anthology of 28 essays and articles written in the 1820s and 1830s. ((See this anthology of The Political Writings of James Mill: Essays and Reviews on Politics and Society, 1815-1836.)) They include … Read more | Class Analysis | |
| An Introduction to Classical Liberal Class Analysis | October 14, 2020 | An Introduction to Classical Liberal/Libertarian Class Analysis In my long monograph on Libertarian Class analysis (Blog post and main paper) I have sections which deal with some of the themes which were common to most if not all CLs who wrote on class, as well as a chronological analysis of some of the key thinkers … Read more | Class Analysis | |
| Molinari’s articles in the Dictionnaire de l’économie politique (1852-53) | October 14, 2020 | A Selection of his Articles from the DEP (1852-53) While he was writing his book Les Soirées de la rue Saint-Lazare over the summer of 1849 Molinari was also working on 30 articles which would appear in the most important publication the Guillaumin publishing firm had undertaken up to that time, namely the Dictionnaire de … Read more | Molinari | |
| A History of Libertarian Class Analysis | September 30, 2020 | Libertarian Class Analysis: An Historical Survey (M)en placed in society … are divided into two classes, Ceux qui pillent,—et Ceux qui sont pillés (those who pillage and those who are pillaged) and we must consider with some care what this division, the correctness of which has not been disputed, implies. The first class, Ceux qui … Read more | ||
| Mises on Economic Calculation under Socialism | September 30, 2020 | “ A Parallel Edition of Ludwig von Mises on Economic Calculation under Socialism (1920) “ with versions of the article in German (facs. PDF and HTML), the Adler English translation, his expansion of his argument into the book Die Gemeinwirtschaft (Socialism) (1922) also in German and English. 2020 is the 100th anniversary of the publication … Read more | Economics | |
| Gustave de Molinari and the Story of the Monopolist Grocer | June 3, 2020 | Let us follow our hypothesis to the end. To the extent that the progress of competitive industries makes the lack of improvement of monopolized commerce more noticeable and more damaging, consumers will complain more about this monopoly. However, if it is protected by some ancient superstition, if everybody is convinced that it is the nature … Read more | Molinari | |
| Bastiat on the Seen and the Unseen | May 29, 2020 | Bastiat is justly famous for the idea of “the seen” (ce qu’on voit) and “the unseen” (ce qu’on ne voit pas) which was the title of the last book he wrote before his untimely death on Christmas Eve 1850. It was an original contribution to the idea of opportunity cost (which Tony de Jasay believed … Read more | Bastiat | |
| The Work of Sisyphus: the Urgent Need for Intellectual Change | April 25, 2020 | A shorter version of this essay appeared on the American Institute for Economic Research website. Titian, “Sisyphus” (1548-49). Introduction There are several deep intellectual and cultural issues which underly the bad policies being introduced by governments all around the world in response to the present crisis. This is only the most recent crisis in a … Read more | Musings | |
| Experts who advise Governments | April 23, 2020 | “Unfortunately, no one listens to economists” (1852) I have written some short essays on the following topics. The idea is to dip into the past to see what I can find which is relevant to things which are going on today. Jeremy Bentham on rule by “disinterested experts” or “the fallacy of authority” (1824) here … Read more | Musings | |
| Sailing by Lamp Light | April 5, 2020 | Something to cheer us up on a bright and sunny day. Observation Post I am back at my post observing the traffic on Pittwater. Yes there is traffic in spite of the lock-down and $1,000 on the spot fines. I am taking note of the boats’ ID numbers to make a full report to the … Read more | Musings | |
| My “Farewell to America” tour (January 2020) | March 11, 2020 | As part of my “Farewell to America” tour in January 2020 I gave the following talks and papers on my way back to Australia: On Bastiat at the Political Economy Project at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire On Bastiat at the American Institute for Economic Research, Great Barrington, Massachusetts On classical liberal class analysis at the … Read more | Bastiat, CL Tradition, Class Analysis | |
| Papers given at the Libertarian Scholars Conference, NYC, 21 Sept. 2019. | March 11, 2020 | Was Molinari a true Anarcho-Capitalist? (1.) “Was Molinari a true Anarcho-Capitalist?: An Intellectual History of the Private and Competitive Production of Security”. A paper given at the Libertarian Scholars Conference, NYC, 21 Sept. 2019 [Full paper HTML and PDF – Slides – Handout ]. See the abstract of the paper below. Some Thoughts on an … Read more | Bastiat, Film, Molinari | |
| Some Key Terms used by Bastiat in his Economic Theory | December 22, 2019 | Here are the “concept maps” or what I call “vocabulary clusters” of some of Bastiat’s key ideas which I have drawn up to assist me in my editing and translating work. I have done ones for Class, Disturbing Factors, Harmony and Disharmony, Human Action, and Plunder (images below). What the digitization of the collected works … Read more | Bastiat | |
| Was Molinari a true Anarcho-Capitalist? | December 21, 2019 | As part of the bicentennial celebrations of the birth of Gustave de Molinari, the world’s first true anarcho-capitalist, I wrote the following paper: “Was Molinari a true Anarcho-Capitalist?: An Intellectual History of the Private and Competitive Production of Security” a paper given at the Libertarian Scholars Conference, New York City, 28 Sept. 2019. http://davidmhart.com/liberty/Papers/Molinari/ProductionSecurity/index.html>] The … Read more | Molinari | |
| The Books on Harmony and Disharmony Bastiat never wrote | December 21, 2019 | It is not well known that Bastiat planned to write a multi-volume treatise on “the harmonies” and “the disharmonies” which he observed at work both in the economy and in the broader society which surrounded it. This treatise would have a volume or volumes on the “social harmonies,” the “economic harmonies”, and the various “disharmonies” … Read more | Bastiat | |
| 40th Anniversary of the 1978 Cato Summer Seminar in Political Economy | December 2, 2018 | I was going through some old papers and came across the program and my lecture notes for the second ever Cato Summer Seminar in Political Economy which took place at Stanford University in 5-12 August 1978 (the first one took place a month earlier at Wake Forrest). Among the alumni are Ross Levatter, David Lips, … Read more | Miscellaneous | |
| Celebrating the Bicentennial of the birth of Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912) | December 2, 2018 | 3 March 2019 will be the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Gustave de Molinari, the “founding father” of anarcho-capitalism. To celebrate this event I have put together an anthology of his key writings on the state which will be published by Institut Coppet (Paris) next year. A draft of the book is online … Read more | CL Tradition, Molinari | |
| Frédéric Bastiat (1810-1850): A Life in Images | December 2, 2018 | Paris from Above: the Three Barriers around the city in the 1840s The Inner Circle: the octroi tax wall and barriers The Octroi gate and wall at Belleville Pulling down the Octroi Gates and walls in 1859 The Militatry Wall built by Adolphe Thers 1841-44 A photograph of the Military Wall at the Versailles Entry … Read more | Bastiat | |
| “Broken Windows”: A Screenplay about the Life and Work of Bastiat | August 6, 2016 | Films about Ideas and Revolutions This screenplay is designed to be the classical liberal or libertarian equivalent of Warren Beatty’s brilliant but very left-wing movie Reds (1981) about the life of the American communist journalist John Reed (1887-1920) before and during the Russian Revolution of 1917. See his famous account Ten Days That Shook the … Read more | Bastiat, Film | |
| Bastiat’s Theory of Class | May 22, 2016 | Bastiat’s Theory of Class: The Plunderers vs. the Plundered.” This is the Introductory Essay for a bi-lingual edition of Frédéric Bastiat’s writings on class and plunder which is in preparation. It is an attempt to reconstruct from his scattered writings on class the History of Plunder he planned to write but never did. The anthology … Read more | Bastiat | |
| The Leveller Tracts Collection: Chronology of Events for 1647 | April 24, 2016 | The year 1647 was a very important one for the Levellers as it brought their demands for political reforms to a head. In March William Walwyn wrote the “Petition of March” (The Large Petition) (T.92) which presented the main demands of the Levellers within the Army. This was followed in October by a more radical … Read more | Levellers | |
| The Economic Thought of Gustave de Molinari, 1845-1855 | March 29, 2016 | [Paris being encircled by the State: “The Fortifications of Paris and its Environs as adopted by the Chambers” (1841) . The pink area is the old part of the city which is surrounded by a customs wall with entry gates which was build in the 1780s to help the Farmers General collect taxes. The orange area … Read more | Bastiat | |
| Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Scribblers: An Austrian Analysis of the Structure of Production and Distribution of Ideas | October 21, 2015 | A Paper given at the Southern Economics Association 2015 Annual Meeting New Orleans, November 21-23, 2015 An online version of this paper is available here: HTML and PDF. Abstract: Austrian capital theory is applied to the study of how ideas (in this case classical liberal or libertarian ideas) have been produced, distributed, and consumed. It … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| Reassessing Frédéric Bastiat as an Economic and Social Theorist | September 23, 2015 | Most economists and social theorists, if they have ever heard of him, dismiss Frédéric Bastiat as a light-weight theorist. Joseph Schumpeter summed up the consensus view in 1954 describing him as “no theorist at all” with the very witty but false put down, that he was a clever journalist who got out of his depth … Read more | Bastiat | |
| Picasso and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement 1969 | July 12, 2015 | I recently came across an interesting poster (thanks to a thoughtful reader) which was used in the 250,000 person “March against death : march on Washington” anti-Vietnam War protest march which took place on Nov. 13-15, 1969. You can read the front page story about the march on the NYT’s “On This Day” website and … Read more | Art, War and Peace | |
| Slavery and the Hypocrisy of July 4 | July 7, 2015 | A useful corrective to the unthinking patriotism usually on display on July 4th is to read Frederick Douglass’s great “July 5th Oration” which he gave in 1852. He asks his listeners the following important question and then gives a devastating answer to it: “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer … Read more | ||
| The Golden Age of French Liberalism in the 19th Century: An Anthology in French | June 30, 2015 | CL Tradition, Publications | ||
| French Liberalism in the 19th Century: An anthology | June 30, 2015 | CL Tradition, Publications | ||
| Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) and Rethinking Classical Economics in the mid-19th Century | June 29, 2015 | Talk given to a Conference on “A Brief History of Economic Thought,” Institute for Liberal Studies, The University of Toronto, Bahen Centre Friday 29 September, 2012 Online here Abstract: The decade or so 1845-1856 saw a major re-thinking taking place in the nature of classical economic thought in France. The first generation of 19th century … Read more | Bastiat, CL Tradition, Molinari, Talks and Papers | |
| Cato Institute Book Forum: The Collected Works of Frédéric Bastiat, vol. 1 | June 28, 2015 | Online here Abstract: This was a talk I gave at the Cato Institute Book Forum on the occasion of the publication of vol. 1 of Liberty Fund’s 6 volume Collected Works of Frédéric Bastiat in October 2011. The volume contains his correspondence and many political essays. In the correspondence we see him moving from being … Read more | Bastiat | |
| Gustave de Molinari and the Future of Liberty in 1901: ‘Fin de Siècle, Fin de la Liberté’? | June 28, 2015 | Online here Abstract: This paper examines Molinari’s assessment in two articles he wrote at the turn of the 20th century of the achievements of liberty in the 19th century and his prognosis for liberty in the coming 20th century. Concerning the latter, he successfully predicted two related things: firstly, that anti-liberal policies being introduced in … Read more | CL Tradition, Molinari, Talks and Papers | |
| How Austrian were the French? Or, How French are the Austrians? An Austro-Australian Perspective. | June 28, 2015 | |||
| Is Biography History? The Relationship between Ideas and Human Action in the Life of Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) | June 28, 2015 | A paper given at the Historical Society’s 2012 Conference, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, 1 June, 2012 June 1. Online here Abstract: “Is Biography History?” My conclusion is that the life of FB is a good example of how the “biography of ideas” developed by Ashcraft for Locke and Scott for Sidney, and Mises’ … Read more | Bastiat, CL Tradition, Talks and Papers | |
| Frédéric Bastiat’s Distinction between Legal and Illegal Plunder | June 28, 2015 | A Paper given at the Molinari Society Session “Explorations in Philosophical Anarchy” at the Pacific Meeting of the American Philosophical Society, Seattle WA, 7 April, 2012. http://davidmhart.com/liberty/Papers/Bastiat/Bastiat_LegalPlunder.html Abstract: This paper comes out of a larger research and publishing project on the life and work of the French advocate for free trade, economic journalist, arch-critic of … Read more | Bastiat, CL Tradition, Talks and Papers | |
| Opposing Economic Fallacies, Legal Plunder, and the State: Frédéric Bastiat’s Rhetoric of Liberty in the Economic Sophisms (1846-1850) | June 28, 2015 | Bastiat, CL Tradition, Talks and Papers | ||
| On Ricochets, Hidden Channels, and Negative Multipliers: Bastiat on Calculating the Economic Costs of ‘The Unseen’. | June 28, 2015 | Bastiat, CL Tradition, Talks and Papers | ||
| Leveller Tracts vol. 7 (1650-1660) | June 27, 2015 | CL Tradition, Levellers | ||
| Gustave de Molinari and the Seven Musketeers of French Political Economy | June 26, 2015 | Bastiat, CL Tradition, Molinari, Talks and Papers | ||
| Older Posts to be transferred | June 25, 2015 | Miscellaneous | ||
| Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” (1937) | June 25, 2015 | Art, War and Peace | ||
| Waving the Flagg (again) | June 24, 2015 | Propaganda | ||
| The Bastiat Monument in Mugron, 1878 | June 24, 2015 | Bastiat | ||
| Twelve Key Concepts of Liberty | June 23, 2015 | CL Tradition | ||
| The Key Ideas of Classical Liberalism: Foundations, Processes, Liberties | June 23, 2015 | [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] This idea map is designed to give you an overview of what I think are the essential features of the classical liberal tradition as it has evolved over the past 400 years. See my Study Guides on the Classical … Read more | CL Tradition | |
| About this Blog March 12, 2026 | June 23, 2015 | This blog contains the thoughts and musings of David Hart concerning the classical liberal tradition, war and the state, and film and art. His main website contains his research and a growing library of books in the classical liberal tradition. See the most recent additions. [David contemplating the move back to Sydney.] For more information … Read more | Miscellaneous | |
| One Volume Surveys of the CL Tradition | June 23, 2015 | CL Tradition | ||
| The Leveller Tracts Project | June 23, 2015 | Levellers | ||
| Thomas Hodgskin and the Philosophic Radicals | June 22, 2015 | Guillaumin Library | ||
| The Classical Liberal Tradition – A History of Ideas and Movements over 400 Years | June 22, 2015 | CL Tradition, Talks and Papers | ||
| Images of Liberty and Power: State Propaganda and its Subversion | June 22, 2015 | Talks and Papers | ||
| Competing Visions of the Future: Socialist and Classical Liberal | June 22, 2015 | Talks and Papers | ||
| Who put the ‘Bastiat’ in the Bastiat Society? | June 22, 2015 | Bastiat, Talks and Papers | ||
| Bastiat’s use of Literature in Defense of Free Markets | June 22, 2015 | Bastiat, Talks and Papers | ||
| The Economics of Robinson Crusoe from Defoe to Rothbard | June 22, 2015 | Bastiat, Talks and Papers | ||
| Molinari’s “Eleventh Soirée” on the private provision of security | June 21, 2015 | Guillaumin Library, Molinari, Publications | ||
| The Liberal Roots of American Conservatism | June 20, 2015 | Date: 28 March, 2015 “The Liberal Roots of American Conservatism: Bastiat and the French Connection.” A paper given to the Philadelphia Society meeting March 27-29, 2015 on “The Roots of American Conservatism – and its Future”. HTML and PDF Abstract: The paper discusses the contribution to American conservative thought of the economist Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) … Read more | Bastiat, Talks and Papers | |
| On the Spread of Classical Liberal Ideas | June 20, 2015 | Date: 1 March, 2015 David M. Hart, “On the Spread of (Classical) Liberal Ideas” (March 2015) Liberty Matters Online Discussion Forum. I wrote the Lead Essay for this discussion as well as extensive appendices on “Historical Examples of Radical Change in Ideas and Political Structures”, “The Spread of Pro-Liberty Ideas in the Post-WW2 Period”, A … Read more | CL Tradition, Talks and Papers | |
| The changing Optics of Bastiat Studies | June 20, 2015 | Bastiat, Talks and Papers | ||
| The French Connection: Say to Jasay | June 20, 2015 | Bastiat, Publications, Talks and Papers | ||
| Interview about the Bastiat translation project | June 20, 2015 | Date: 30 August, 2014 This is an interview I gave in Nov. 2013 about my work on the Bastiat Translation Project. I have only just now edited it to go online. It lasts for 12 mins. Page with video embedded. Summary: This is an interview conducted by Liberty Fund staff of Dr. David M. Hart … Read more | Bastiat, Talks and Papers | |
| Ernst Friedrich’s “War against War” (1924) | July 23, 2014 | War and Peace | ||
| Resources on “The Great War” | July 20, 2014 | War and Peace | ||
| The Death of James Garner: “Don’t Mention the War!” | July 20, 2014 | Film, War and Peace | ||
| So-called New Socialist Ideas in the 1848 Revolution | July 16, 2014 | While working on my talk on the French Economists’ battle against Socialism I came across this marvelous contemporary cartoon by the political caricaturist Amédée de Noé (known as Cham) (1818-1879) entitled “Ce qu’on appelle des idées nouvelles en 1848” (What are called “New Ideas” in 1848). In the cartoon he mocked the leading socialist figures … Read more | Art | |
| The French Economists’ Battle against Socialism in the 1840s | July 16, 2014 | [A contemporary cartoon by Amédée de Noé showing the anarchist-socialist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, carrying a pick with which he destroys the foundations of the free market, is confronted by the Greek playwright Aristophanes, a Greek legislator, and a Roman soldier, who accuse him of having plagiarised their ideas.] I recently gave a talk at the Centre … Read more | Talks and Papers |