Exploring and celebrating the history, theory, and practice of free, prosperous, and tolerant societies.
Recently Published
For the anniversary of the Boston Massacre, Paul Meany examines how ancient and Enlightenment thinkers ultimately influenced the future of the rule of law in the United States during the trials for the infamous confrontation.
David McGarry reflects on Cicero’s hierarchy of values and insights about human nature with a view to understanding virtuous action and happiness.
Cicero insisted that doing good is doing well—that moral rectitude is always what is personally expedient, even if something else seems to be expedient. Dan Klein exposits and explores Cicero’s famous proposition.
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Videos and Podcasts
From music to movies, individualism has had a cultural impact both pervasive and profound. You Don’t Own Me by Timothy Sandefur examines how people in America and Europe have addressed the unique experience of personal freedom in movies, songs, literature, and other forms of pop culture. “Individual self-sovereignty has not only unleashed unprecedented economic and political progress. It has also given rise to a new kind of culture, one that celebrates autonomy and the freedom to make one’s own choices.”
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Featured Collections
Free Trade
Free trade is often discussed as a matter of economics, but at its core it is a story about human cooperation. Open exchange allows millions of people—across borders, cultures, and industries—to coordinate their efforts without central direction or coercion. Through spontaneous order and dispersed knowledge, free trade transforms individual decisions into shared prosperity, proving that complex social cooperation does not require control to succeed.
This collection from Libertarianism.org explores free trade as a moral and civilizing force. It traces how voluntary exchange fosters peace, innovation, and mutual benefit, while trade barriers entrench privilege and limit opportunity. In a time of renewed skepticism toward globalization, these works remind us that trusting people to trade freely remains one of the most powerful engines of human flourishing.
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Freedom of Speech
Free speech is tested most in times of crisis. The assassination of Charlie Kirk reminds us that silencing voices breeds only fear and division. We, the people, must unwaveringly protect each other’s rights. When we stop, we enable the government to chip away at the Constitutional protections our society is built upon. Government attempts to censor and control the responses to this tragedy are misguided. From Milton to Mill to the digital age, the libertarian case is clear: defend speech for all, trust liberty over fear.
Bad speech should be addressed with better speech.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
In many parts of the West, people can mostly develop and hold their own beliefs and express them freely. These liberties, known as Freedom of Conscience and Freedom of Speech, were part of the foundation that helped develop modern societies as we know them. Nonetheless, these interconnected ideas of freedom have historically been under threat, and the struggle to establish and protect these rights stretches over the past two thousand years.
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Just Sentiments
The phrase “just sentiments” highlights the willful and cognitive aspect of sentiment, which is emphasized in Smith’s ethics. The sentiment that someone experiences is influenced by actions he took prior to the experience. And, during the experience, or immediately after it, the person can reflect on his having felt the sentiment. He asks himself: Should I affirm the sentiment? Should I revise it? Should I reject it? The experiencing of a sentiment can be seen as a matter of the will and thus of acting justly. “Just sentiments” suggests one’s responsibility for one’s sentiments.
