A Few Observations on the Passing of Augusto Pinochet
By Stephen Berry:-
Augusto Pinochet
and Salvador Allende
"In the last few months of the year of our Lord 2006, Latin Americans were
asking themselves: Who will go first - Pinochet or Castro? The death of General Augusto
Pinochet on 10th December provided the answer to that question but leaves many more
unanswered."
 Read Online
 pinochet.pdf
My Greatest Fearby J C Lester
Being a five-minute talk on this topic given at one of Christian Michel's twice-monthly
meetings.
Read
Online
Top 50 books of all time : by Old Hickory:-
 "I have limited the selection to the books I have
read. I keep to the norm of not recommending to others books I have yet to read. Clearly,
books I have not read by now suggests a judgement of some sort."
The Sacred Element
by David Ramsay Steele:-
"Listen children, this story is more than just true. It’s true many times
over, for the very same sequence of events has happened thousands of times on different
worlds."
Read Online
tse.pdf
Life, Liberty, and the Treadmill
by David Ramsay Steele:-
" I can remember the day I learned to ride a bike. I must have been
about eight. In those days, at least in that part of England, there were no such
things as training wheels and the smallest bicycles had twenty-four-inch wheels. I
just kept pushing, wobbling, and gliding along, and suddenly, I could do it!"
Read Online
llt.pdf
Baghdad – and Busted!:
by Stephen Berry:-
In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia, defeated the Russian army, arrived in Moscow and
found that he didn't know what to do. Confronted by the Russian Winter and a
hostile population, he packed his bags and went home. In 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq,
defeated the Iraqi army (such as it was), arrived in Baghdad and now don't know
what to do. Confronted by a hostile population and facing a bitter guerrilla war, the US
cannot yet pluck up the courage to leave, but leave they surely will..
Read Online
Baghdad2.pdf
Baghdad or Bust!
by Stephen Berry:-
 "And I believe
we really do have to go back to the Second Boer War before we reach a British government
engaged in a more unjust war than the present imposition of naked force on Iraq.
Despite the clear opposition of world opinion in general, and countries which have been
traditionally supportive of the West in particular, it has been determined that the
present Iraqi regime should be toppled. Why has this happened?"
Read
Online
irag.pdf
Escape from Leviathan: Liberty, Welfare and Anarchy Reconciled: The Groundbreaking New Book from LA Member Dr J. C. Lester
Escape from Leviathan is a notably ambitious reconstruction of radical
libertarian thinking from the ground up. Even those, like myself, who are unpersuaded by
its reformulation of classical liberalism will benefit from reading Lester's book.' - John
Gray, Professor of European Thought, London School of Economics and Political
Science, University of London. ...
Read Online
efl.pdf
Mises Without Embarrassment:
by Bob Layson:-
 When this philosophy student eventually encountered the writings of Ayn
Rand, circa 1977, he was immune to her, how should it be put, banalysis of the central
problems of philosophy and her Mr Toad like dismissal of ‘those gentlemen up at
Oxford'. Indeed, I felt rather embarrassed on her behalf. Rather as one feels when
watching someone in a karaoke bar putting on a great show and never hitting a note in the
middle. With Mises the experience was quite different. Admittedly, his claims for the
‘apodeictic certainty' and empirical content of a priori reasoning in economics
seemed so much to run full tilt into the arguments of Hume that – even with the aid
of Kantian philosophy, neo and otherwise – he seemed certain only to choke on what he
had bitten off. Nevertheless, the house that von Mises built struck me as an imposing one
with or without its so-called foundations. I even had a suspicion that what Mises regarded
as truths synthetic, empiric and a priori would prove more palatable to philosophers and
others if taken to be analytic, tautological and, in all practice, indispensable."
Read Online
Mises.pdf
Hitler: Puppet of Ideology:
by Stephen
Berry:-
 The first half of the 20th century saw in Europe a rise of groups who
espoused some form of racialism or nationalism, the most dramatic example of the trend
being in Germany ...
Read Online
PDF file
Old Hickory's Diary Commercial Art Music:- by Jonathan Le Cocq
"Is a commercial environment good for music? In one sense the answer seems to be
manifestly yes, given the vast quantities of music produced and sold in live and
especially recorded performances. But this refers above all to contemporary popular music,
sometimes explicitly called commercial music because of its marketability. What of jazz
and especially classical or ‘art' music? Here the same terminology implies that there
is something non-commercial about such music, perhaps because it cannot flourish (survive,
even?) in a commercial environment, or perhaps just because it does not bear the imprint
of market processes in its product."
Read Online
music.pdf
The Economics of Education:
A book review by Stephen Berry:- 
Policy makers of the right and left may differ over many things, but of
one thing they are certain. Education – and here more seems to mean better –
will be the key to success in the knowledge-based economies of the future. As a report to
the British Parliament recently put it, “Learning is the key to prosperity.
Investment in human capital will be the foundation of success in the twenty-first
century.” And there is scarce a dissenter to this in the Western World. Whether we
look at Europe, North America, Australasia or Japan, the trend in recent decades is
inexorably in the same direction. Expenditure on education is increasing, the number of
teachers growing relentlessly and in many countries, the percentage of students who enjoy
the benefits of college education exceeds 50 per cent within their particular age group.
Read Online
eoe.pdf
Civil Society and Civil Liberties: Two Statist views reviewed by
J C Lester
"I fill Ernest Gellner with disgust: disgust at my views and disgust at
his inability to say exactly what is wrong with them (or so he once remarked in his social
philosophy seminar). Gellner fills me with frustration. He is always penetrating, witty
and erudite (except when using "egotism" for "egoism"), but I cannot
see how his ideas of social anthropology can be a substitute for real philosophy and
economics. His new book is no exception."
Read Online
What's Wrong with "What's Wrong with Libertarianism": A reply to Jeffrey Friedman
by J C Lester
Jeffrey Friedman's editorship of Critical Review has allowed him,
publishing in that same periodical, to become one of the most prolific critics of
contemporary libertarianism. Many people that take a scholarly interest in libertarianism
undoubtedly read him, and presumably he persuades some of them to his anti-libertarian
views. He is certainly worth answering. Though others have replied to him before, I think
I have a sufficiently different response to make it worth adding my own. I shall reply to
one article that encapsulates his main criticisms.
Reply to Friedman
wwwl.pdf
Old Hickory's Diary -
This time Old Hickory looks at: The Court of Appeal Judgement against Farrakhan. The
BNP and the Local Elections. The Death of Lord Bauer.
Read Online
oldhick7-pdf
oldhick6-pdf
 The Mystery of Fascism
by David Ramsay Steele:-
From 1912 to 1914, Mussolini was the Che Guevara of his day, a living
saint of leftism. Handsome, courageous, charismatic, an erudite Marxist, a riveting
speaker and writer, a dedicated class warrior to the core, he was the peerless duce of the
Italian Left. He looked like the head of any future Italian socialist government, elected
or revolutionary.
Read Online
fascism.pdf
Old Hickory's Diary
Updated 30/9/01:-
This time Old Hickory looks at the destruction in New York, Dorothy Rowe's
latest book and The Tory leadership contest.
Read Online
oldhick5-pdf
The Rise and Fall of the British Welfare State
by Stephen Berry:-
In The Times newspaper (October 18th, 2000) Professor Michael Joy,
consultant cardiologist at St Peter's hospital, Chertsey, wrote to complain that he could
not admit very ill patients from his Accident Department due to the unavailability of beds
in the main hospital. He said, “If nothing is done, I guarantee within the next weeks
there will be a mighty crash. Everybody in the Health Service is totally demoralised. I
have never seen morale at such a low level in my 35 year career.” ...
Read
Online
PDF File
Multiply and be Fruitful: by Ray Percival:-
How could anyone doubt that the world has an overpopulation problem?
...
Read Online
PDF file
PDF file
Alice in Wonderland: by
David Ramsay Steele:-
W e have to imagine something like Ferdinand Lasalle writing Jack London's
novels, but even this does not come near the prodigious strangeness and strange
prodigiousness of Rand's accomplishments ...
Read Online
PDF file |
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Keith Evans on Drugs
By David McDonagh:-
In the 1970s, the UK state ran a series of television
adverts on the theme that "heroin screws you up". The message was that if you
messed around with this dangerous drug, you would be at death's door within a few years,
if not within a few months. I was rather pleased that I had never felt the slightest
temptation to indulge in taking heroin as I repeatedly saw the adverts warning us all
against it.
Read Online
keod.pdf
Why Libertarians Should Be Concerned with the History of Political Thought
By David McDonagh:-
By Gene Callahan:-
"If prominent proponents of libertarianism appear to be ignorant of the great
themes of Western political theory, then its opponents can plausibly dismiss
libertarianism as another naïve attempt to deal with the complexity of political life
with a set of simplistic slogans."
Read Online
hopt.pdf
Smoking & Libertarianism:
Amartya Sen's article and J C Lester's reply
Read Online
Jan Lester replies to critics of his book "ESCAPE FROM LEVIATHAN"
"As a critical rationalist, I welcome criticism. A serious response
can help to elucidate matters even when that criticism mainly comprises superficial
misreadings, misquotations, unsubstantiated assertions, ill-tempered ad hominems and
elementary linguistic confusion that together amount to a professional disgrace. Thus I am
happy to reply to Professor Machan's review of Escape from Leviathan."
Richard Garner & Reply
Reply to Julius Blumfeld
Reply to Gordon-Modugno
Reply to Machan
Reply to Otteson
Reply to Barry
Reply to Meckled-Garcia
Reply to Cohen
Reply to Brooks
1. Reply 2. Escape from Lester - Thom Brooks replies 3. Brooks's
Escape from Philosophy: A rejoinder to “Escape from Lester: A Reply from a so-called
‘Philistine'”
Reply to Ellin
Reply to Hayes
Replies to Swan
War Games
By Stephen Berry:-
The opening ceremony of the Berlin Olympics
But many people can still be heard to proclaim with a bull-headed obstinacy
that international sport should be encouraged as a source of goodwill between nations, a
means by which individuals from different countries can come to know and like each other.
Unfortunately, there are simply too many examples of international sport producing
ill-will and all but sparking international incidents.
Read Online
wargames.pdf
Old Hickory's Diary Updated 20/1/06:-
"This time Old Hickory looks at: 1. The latest renewal of the oil scare
2. Gordon Brown
3. The elite EU superstate
4. David Cameron."
Read Online
oldhick-10.pdf
Book Review: The Politically Incorrect Guide to American Historyreviewed by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel:-
Thomas E. Woods, Jr.'s, Politically Incorrect Guide to American History not
only became a New York Times bestseller but also raised an amazing amount of furor, to a
certain extent among the left leaning, who are the book's bête noire and would be
expected to take offense, but especially in conservative and libertarian circles, among
the book's presumed friends
Read Online
Goodbye to All That:
by Stephen Berry:-
" Dutch voter in traditional costume
votes 'No'."
The week beginning 29th May, 2005 proved to be the most momentous in European
history since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. On that Sunday, the French, always seen
as one of the staunchest supporters of the European Union (EU), voted
‘Non’ in a referendum to reject the new EU constitution. Barely had
the bemused Eurocrats in Brussels prepared their explanations for this Gallic aberration
when, on the following Wednesday, the Dutch too rejected the constitution with an even
more decisive ‘Nee’
Read Online
gtat.pdf
Old Hickory's Diary Updated 2/1/03:-
This time Old Hickory looks at: 'The Firemen's
Strike and the Law', 'The Lords, the Home
Secretary and Gaol Sentences' and 'The Great Britons Series'.
Read Online
oldhick8-pdf
Regarding Henry
A Book Review by Stephen Berry:-
Would Henry Kissinger be convicted of war crimes on the basis of
this book? The history of war crimes trials shows us that if his enemies were judge and
jury – and in war crimes trials this usually is the case – the answer would be a
resounding yes! But I will be a little more discriminating ...
Read Online
henry.pdf
The Anatomy of the state
by Professor Murray N  Rothbard:-
It is not by chance that the bloodiest century in world history has
coincided with a revival of the belief in state power. The Libertarian Alliance believes
that a general appreciation of the predatory nature of state power is the surest method of
countering this trend and continuing the work begun by the great anti-statists of the
17th-19th centuries. It is to this end that we republish Murray Rothbard's classic
analysis of the state.
Read
Online
Rothbard.pdf
Libertarian controls
by J C Lester:-
It is often argued by libertarian types that there should be No Controls
on this or that. The argument usually combines two factors: the supposed evidence that the
controls are disastrous; and the supposed axiomatic fact that the repeal of state
legislation must be more libertarian (though the latter point seems to oblige
more-libertarian-than-thou types to ‘stick to their guns' whatever the consequences).
My chief contentions here are that many No Controllers are conceptually confused and that
this confusion often causes them to argue for alarming and unlibertarian policies:
policies that defend not liberty but licence, that is, having the power to infringe the
liberty of others.
Read Online
LA-17.pdf
Film Reviews
We have  decided to publish a column of Film Reviews. Some films reviewed will have an
avowedly Libertarian content. Some films will be selected merely because they are
interesting. The reviews will be of films both old and new. We hope you will find
them all entertaining ...
Read Online
Download
The Pure Joy of Heroin by J C Lester:-
The media's latest spate of heroin-bashing started, as far as I can tell,
with a piece in Time Out (March 1984). What is remarkable about this report is that
the evidence for the supposed harmful effects of the drug is almost entirely absent -
there were no deaths or even' accidents on the South London estates investigated ...
Read
Online
pdf file
No Representation Without Taxation!
by J C Lester:-
The other day I saw some old film footage of Suffragettes
marching with a banner that read, "Taxation Without Representation Is Tyranny".
I seem to remember that some American colonials also once expressed similar views
(whatever happened to them?). Most people would now regard that point as a fair one. I am
no great fan of democracy, preferring liberty, but even I can agree that people who are
taxed but not allowed to vote are likely to be more than averagely oppressed by those who
can vote.
Read
Online
PDF file
A Plague on Both Your Statist Houses
by J C Lester
Why Libertarian Restitution Beats State-Retribution and State-Leniency
.
Read Online
An Attack on the Realm:
by J C Lester
A Review of In Defence of the Realm: The Place of Nations in Classical Liberalism, David
Conway (Ashgate, 2004)
Read Online
The Great Educational Expansion: A Response to Grant M. Nülle:
 by Stephen Berry:-
It's no good allowing governments to set absurd targets and then getting worked up
about the extent to which the targets should be privately or publicly financed. The idea
that the government should set targets for citizens and the citizens should then jump to
attention should be something which is deeply inimical to all believers in liberty...
Read Online
tgee.pdf
Churchill:The End of Glory
by Stephen Berry:-
 It is a platitude in the UK today that World War Two was the greatest and
most noble triumph in British History. This review of John Charmely's controversial
biography of Winston Churchill critically questions this view of WW2 and much else about
Churchill's career. From being the world's greatest military power in 1900, Britain by
1950 had sunk to the status of a debtor nation on the verge of losing dominion over palm
and pine. Were these 50 years really the glorious epoch which the Churchillians would have
us believe ...
Read Online
PDF file
Nozick's Flawless Libertarianism?: Review of On Nozick: by Edward Feser:-
By J C Lester:
This is an excellent though largely uncritical introduction to, and defence of, Robert
Nozick's Anarchy, State and Utopia (New York: Basic Books, 1974). It is also quite a good
introduction to libertarianism ...
Read Online
 My Orwell Right or Wrong:
A book review by David Ramsay Steele:-
"Why Orwell Matters is an advocate's defense of Orwell as a good and great
man. The evidence adduced is that Orwell held the same opinions as Hitchens. Hitchens does
allow that Orwell sometimes got things wrong, but in these cases Hitchens always enters
pleas in mitigation. Hitchens's efforts to minimize the importance of Orwell's
objectionable views, or in some cases his inability to see them, paint a misleading
picture of Orwell's thinking."
Read Online
orwell.pdf
More Articles ... |
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"John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) was not really sympathetic to the idea of revolution but he certainly wanted a new beginning in economics, if not in society. Economics, as he found it, exasperated him exceedingly. So did businessmen. Many classical liberals are exasperated by businessmen too, for the statists are right to say that “the market is a good servant but a poor master”. But a free people do not want a master!"
Where did it all go wrong?
It is not my duty to make this country the knight-errant of the human race
©
Libertarian Alliance 2009