Happy Secession Day!

By PFS member Martín C. Gamazo. For further resources, see Stephan Kinsella, “Argumentation Ethics and Liberty: A Concise Guide” (2011) and Supplemental Resources,” StephanKinsella.com (Jan. 1, 2015).

Martín C. Gamazo, “Natural Law Theory, Consequentialism, and Argumentation Ethics: A Response to Olav Dirkmaat,” Property and Freedom Journal (July 3, 2026)

Olav Dirkmaat recently published an article comparing natural law theory (iusnaturalismo) with consequentialism, arguing that the former is mistaken and the latter is the correct way to justify libertarianism.^[1] In this response, we will set aside several problems with the article, such as the fact that at no point does it present, even in summary form, a libertarian natural-law theory, such as the one developed by Murray Rothbard.^[2] We will focus on two aspects of his article: his justification of consequentialism and his critique of Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s Argumentation Ethics.

In his article, Dirkmaat states the following:

The only definitive answer to the question of whether a set of rules produces good or bad consequences is offered by the long-term survival of the collective […] Rule consequentialism must be a principle of civilizational preservation, where the continuity of society depends on the collective capacity to create wealth.^[3]

Read more>>

Laurence M. Vance, “Murray Rothbard and ‘Liberty Magazine,’” ASC 2012 (03/21/2012; recorded March 10, 2012) (mp3). I will post the longer article if I can get it from Vance.

The Liberty archives disappeared from both its website and Mises.org a while back (not a surprise in either case, given the way libertarians operate).¹ They are now hosted at my site at Liberty Magazine Archives.

Regarding Vance’s comments here:

Steele’s statement that Rothbard wasn’t an outstanding thinker and made no lasting contributions to any branch of thought, or Skousen’s claim that today Friedman’s influence is ten times Rothbard’s.

And from Liberty editor R.W. Bradford after Rothbard’s death in 1995:

his [Rothbard’s] influence on libertarians waned, partly because of his apparent retreat toward his old nemesis, the political right, partly because of his increasing relish for ideological infighting, and partly because a new generation of libertarian intellectuals found his brand of libertarianism too simplistic.²

I am also also reminded of similar dismissive comment by Pete Boettke at Austrian Scholars Conference 1995, that Rothbard was merely a “popularizer” of ideas or something like this,³ leading to the infamous incident at ACS 1995 when Hoppe blew a raspberry at Boettke when he said this during his presentation at the big auditorium at the Auburn Hotel and Conference Center. In any case, such dismissive comments look only sillier with the passage of time, especially in this centenary year of Rothbard’s birth, events like 100 Years with Rothbard and his recent Gedenkschrift, Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment, Stephan Kinsella and Hans-Hermann Hoppe, eds. (Papinian Press and The Saif House, 2026). The influence and importance of Rothbard’s ideas on the libertarian movement has only grown.

***

Murray Rothbard and Liberty Magazine

Laurence Vance

edited transcript from Murray Rothbard and ‘Liberty Magazine, ASC 2012, Mises Institute, recorded March 10, 2012 (headers added by Grok)

Murray Rothbard and Liberty Magazine: An Overview

Murray Rothbard was at the forefront of the libertarian movement for over 40 years. During this time, he made and broke many alliances and wrote for every conceivable libertarian publication, including some of his own. One publication he was associated with from the beginning of its print run was Liberty Magazine. This paper examines the relationship of Murray Rothbard to Liberty Magazine, where he began as an editor and writer, and later became an object of criticism and ridicule. [continue reading…]

1. Libertarians unfortunately somewhat becoming a pejorative. Re the dysfunctional Mises.org website, see Kinsella, “My Years with the Mises Institute,” Property and Freedom Journal (May 2, 2026), section “Pointless Name Changes, Website Changes, and Journal Confusion.”  [↩]
2. From “Rothbard Remembered,” Liberty (March, 1995): 20–26. [↩]
3. See also Peter J. Boettke, “Economists and Liberty: Murray N. Rothbard,” Nomos (Fall/Winter (1988; pdf2): 29–34, 49–50. [↩]

In addition to his ahistorical evidence for “Israel’s” claims to land in Israel/Judea, and appeals to collectivist, group ownership notions, also key to Walter Block’s defense of Israel’s actions against Palestinians in recent years is his argument its military actions are self-defense. That this is compatible with libertarian principles since libertarianism is not anti-war, it is only opposed to wars of aggression.

Block argues that just as individuals have a right to self-defense, so do nation-states. Even if they are criminal gangs. And even if they necessarily violate individual rights and the non-aggression principle when waging war: by taxation and conscription of their own citizens; by collateral damage against innocent civilians on the enemy side. I explained this in Ammous vs. Block on Israel. [continue reading…]

Several PFS members participated in 100 Years with Rothbard, held last weekend in Porto, Portugal, June 27, 2026. I will provide a more detailed report with photos presently. For now, see the links below and a few photos.

I want to here to mention a very special gift given to me and and Hans Hoppe by the event’s organizer, PFS member Manuel Ogando: an original engraving of Rothbard prepared by Manuel’s sister, the artist Madalena Ogando (Instagram @mmadalena.art; she signs Manalena, because “mana” in portuguese means “sis/sister,” her family’s petit nom for her), based on images from a Rothbard video (see below). Two unique prints were prepared: no. 1 of 2 presented to Professor Hoppe, and no. 2 of 2 given to me. I have already hung it in my office. See video of its creation below. N.b.: “Parabéns,” “Congratulations,” is used for Happy Birthday in Portugal.

Also below: A tribute video for Rothbard displayed at the event, with Hoppe’s voiceover commentary, and the 100th Birthday cake for Rothbard presented at the event, with everyone singing happy birthday (now public domain and liberated from the clutches of copyright after a pointless and expensive court battle).¹ [continue reading…]

1. Happy Birthday to You (Wikipedia); “Happy Birthday” copyright defense: Those “words” and “text” are ours; Jeff Tucker sings Happy Birthday to Me.  [↩]

That’s how libertarian author Jim Powell described the American President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt in his book Bully Boy.  Trump flew to North Dakota today to participate in the celebration of Teddy’s new presidential library.  Teddy was a New Yorker, so of course it makes complete sense that his presidential library is in North Dakota.  (You probably thought I was referring to Trump in the title of this blog entry, didn’t you?).  One thing we know for certain about this is that the library will tell you nothing about the real Teddy Roosevelt.  

Below is the text of the speech by PFS member Fernando Chiocca of Instituto Rothbard (Brazil/Brasil) at 100 Years with Rothbard (Porto, Portugal, June 27, 2026).¹ We will add a link to the video when it is eventually posted. See also Chiocca’s Prezi presentation. [continue reading…]

1. See also PFP327 | Fernando Fiori Chiocca, “The First Knight of Libertarianism” (Rothbard at 100); Fernando Chiocca, How to win the economic debate (PFS 2012). [↩]

Below is the text of the speech by Professor Adriano Paranaiba at 100 Years with Rothbard (Porto, Portugal, June 27, 2026). We will add a link to the video when it is eventually posted. PDF of presentation.

Related:

• 100 Years with Rothbard (Porto, Portugal, June 27, 2026)
  • Stephan Kinsella, KOL493 | Rothbard’s Greatest Hits: A Personal Mix Tape (Porto, Portugal)
  • Mises Portugal: 100 Years of Murray Rothbard
  • Rothbard 100, in Porto: A Misunderstood Genius in a Room of People Who Understood
• Kinsella, The Three Fusionisms: Old, New, and Cautious (Jan. 16, 2022)
• Adriano Paranaiba
  • https://adrianoparanaiba.com.br/
  • Youtube channel
  • X: @adrparanaiba

[continue reading…]

Re the recent US Supreme Court decision affirming birthright citizenship:

• Trump v. Barbara (2026)
• Trump v. Barbara, SCOTUSblog
• Breaking down the birthright-citizenship decision
• Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s order ending birthright citizenship

Excerpted from Murray N. Rothbard, “Nations by Consent: Decomposing the Nation-State,” J. Libertarian Stud. 11:1 (Fall 1994; pdf): 1-10, also in Rothbard, Secession, State, and Liberty.

Citizenship and Voting Rights

One vexing current problem centers on who becomes the citizen of a given country, since citizenship confers voting rights.

The Anglo-American model, in which every baby born in the country’s land area automatically becomes a citizen, clearly invites welfare immigration by expectant parents. In the U.S., for example, a current problem is illegal immigrants whose babies, if born on American soil, automatically become citizens and therefore entitle themselves and their parents to permanent welfare payments and free medical care. Clearly the French system, in which one has to be born to a citizen to become an automatic citizen, is far closer to the idea of a nation-by-consent. [continue reading…]

Americans are supposedly celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (aka Declaration of Secession from the British Empire) this week.  However, most of the merchandise being sold by American retailers regarding “The Fourth of July” celebrates the state’s flag, the military, and the empire (that replaced the British empire) and makes no mention of independence and certainly not of secession.  The 1776 Declaration of Independence is one of three famous American declarations regarding independence; two are in favor, and one against.

As an aside, you may recall that one of the slogans of the American Revolution was opposition to “taxation without representation.”  My friend the late Walter Williams once told me that a British friend, Eamon Butler, once asked him, “So how do you like taxation with representation?”  Walter said he had no response!

In this year of the United States Semiquincentennial—the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776, based on the Resolution for Independence approved by Second Continental Congress on July 2, 1776—and also the 100th year of Rothbard’s birth,¹ Rothbard’s comments on the American Revolution are worth considering. The following excerpt, “Was the American Revolution Radical?”, is excerpted from ch. 80 of Murray N. Rothbard, Conceived in Liberty, vol. 4, The Revolutionary War, 1775–1784 (2011 [1979]).

Some caveats to Rothbard’s views on the American founding. [continue reading…]

1. Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment, Stephan Kinsella and Hans-Hermann Hoppe, eds. (Papinian Press and The Saif House, 2026). [↩]

Doug French, “European Pols Demand People Suffer for the Planet,” DouglasinVegas.com, 2023/6/27

Europe’s heatwave has its collective masses suffering under the sweltering conditions. The Wall Street Journal editorialized, “But this makes it all the stranger that governments prefer that their citizens sweat it out rather than use the modern invention known as air conditioning.”

The French government believes AC is only appropriate for the sick and elderly. Everybody should, “Wet your body (at least your face and forearms) several times a day.” Wear a hat outside. Drink more water and try cold soups and other “water-rich foods to help you stay hydrated.” [continue reading…]

Justice Clarence Thomas has cited Murray Rothbard in a concurring opinion in Monsanto Co. v. Durnell (on June 25, 2026); Court rules for Roundup maker in dispute over cancer warnings on pesticide labels (SCOTUSblog). The decision addressed whether the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) expressly preempts state-law failure-to-warn claims about pesticide labeling (specifically, Roundup/glyphosate and cancer warnings). The Court (Kavanaugh opinion, joined by Thomas among others) held that it does in relevant respects and reversed the lower court. Jackson dissented (joined by Gorsuch).

Thomas joined the majority but wrote a concurrence flagging broader constitutional concerns with FIFRA itself (Commerce Clause limits on regulating intrastate manufacturing/use, nondelegation to the EPA, and administrative preemption issues under the Supremacy Clause). In a footnote discussing how broad regulatory delegations often benefit large incumbents (creating barriers to entry via onerous requirements that smaller competitors can’t meet), he cited:

Such delegations of broad regulatory authority often benefit large incumbent companies at the expense of smaller competitors and consumers. Incumbent companies “exercise considerable sway over agency rules,” which they use to lobby for more “favorable regulations” that “protect the existing regulated firms from threats arising from new firms.” Those regulations often enable a “profitable alliance” between corporations and government, as the corporations look “for government to cartelize their industry after private efforts for cartels and monopoly ha[ve] failed.” M. Rothbard, The Progressive Era 318 (2017). This scheme is a perfect example.

[continue reading…]

That would be John C. Calhoun, who Murray quoted frequently, especially regarding Calhoun’s version of libertarian class analysis.  He called Calhoun’s Disquisition on Government “one of the most brilliant essays on political philosophy ever written.”

The deluxe hardcover cloth print version of Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment, Stephan Kinsella and Hans-Hermann Hoppe, eds. (Papinian Press and The Saif House, 2026) was presented and released yesterday at delivered at “100 Years with Rothbard,” Porto, Portugal, June 27, 2026. The Brazilian Portuguese translation, 100 Anos de Rothbard: Uma Homenagem e Apreciação (Instituto Rothbard, 2026), is also now available.

Tradução: Fernando Fiori Chiocca

Revisão gramatical: João Theodoro

Diagramação: Fernando Fiori Chiocca

Capa: Fernando Fiori Chiocca

pdf and epub versions are available here.

Related

• 100 Years with Rothbard
• Rothbard 100, in Porto: A Misunderstood Genius in a Room of People Who Understood
• Rothbard at 100: First Hardcopies Printed

From KOL493 | Rothbard’s Greatest Hits: A Personal Mix Tape (Porto, Portugal):

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 493.

This is my talk “Rothbard’s Greatest Hits: A Personal Mix Tape,” delivered at “100 Years with Rothbard,” Porto, Portugal, June 27, 2026. (From my iPhone audio; professional video and audio will be uploaded at a later date.) [continue reading…]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:33 — 7.7MB)

Property and Freedom Podcast, Episode 332.

AI-assisted audio narration of the main chapters of Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment (Papinian Press and The Saif House, 2026) is available at this PFS Youtube Playlist; the mp3 files may also be downloaded in this zip file.

The first two chapters—my “Preface” and Hans’s “Introduction”—were published the week of Rothbard’s birthday here on the Property and Freedom Podcast (PFP315 and PFP314). The other main chapters will be released sequentially weekly on Mondays. The next in the queue:

17. David Howden, “Privatizing Entry, Dissolving State Borders: Immigration Policy as the Apex of Rothbardian Libertarianism”

Note: These audio versions were prepared by Jorge Besada. As noted in Rothbard at 100 Available to Pre-Order Now, Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment will be presented later this month at 100 Years with Rothbard, Porto, Portugal, June 27, 2026 and is available now for pre-order from The Saif House in hardcover and in professionally-produced audio formats.

“Rothbard 100, no Porto: um génio incompreendido numa sala de pessoas que perceberam,” BEEGARC (June 28, 2026): “Rothbard 100, in Porto: A Misunderstood Genius in a Room of People Who Understood”. English text below.

Related

• 100 Years with Rothbard
• Rothbard at 100: First Hardcopies Printed

100 Years with Rothbard was held yesterday in beautiful Porto, Portugal (June 27, 2026), featuring and attended by a number of PFS members, including Professor Hoppe and Gülçin Imre Hoppe, Stephan Kinsella, Saifedean Ammous, Thomas Jacob, Gregory and Joy Morin, and Alessandro and Domitia Fusillo. Hoppe, Kinsella, and Ammous spoke at the conference. It was a wonderful event, attended by hundreds from Portugal and many other countries. A full report will be published presently. In the meantime here is an outside commentary. [continue reading…]

In recent years, a highly conspicuous phenomenon has emerged at the summit of the power structures in Silicon Valley and Wall Street: the executive suites of American tech giants like Microsoft, Alphabet, and Adobe have been captured one after another by Indian elites. Conversely, the presence of Chinese individuals in the upper echelons of Corporate America remains disproportionately scarce. This begs a compelling question: why is it that while China vastly outpaces India in terms of comprehensive national strength and economic growth, Chinese individuals lag behind their Indian counterparts on a personal level within Corporate America circles?

The reason Indian elites have been able to sprint ahead within the American corporate system lies in their successful fusion of both Western and Asian advantages, effectively playing the role of near-perfect “cultural amphibians”. The essence of upper management is rarely a battle of hard technical skills; rather, it hinges on the mastery of “politics, storytelling, and trust.” [continue reading…]

Tweet from Saifedean Ammous:

In this interview with Mario Nawfal, I discuss my Misesian case against Israel, arguing the Palestinian/Israeli conflict can only be understood as the result of the denial of property rights for Palestinians based purely on their not belonging to the ruling ethnoreligious group.

Tweet:

In this interview with Mario Nawfal, I discuss my Misesian case against Israel, arguing the Palestinian/Israeli conflict can only be understood as the result of the denial of property rights for Palestinians based purely on their not belonging to the ruling ethnoreligious group. pic.twitter.com/r30ddnKn69

— Saifedean Ammous (@saifedean) June 23, 2026

Related

• PFS posts on Israel
• Ammous, Property Rights: The Root Cause of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
• Hoppe, Judeo-Christian tradition affirmed by new law: Death penalty for thee (Goy) but not for me (Jew)
• Kinsella, Block on Israel, Self-Defense, Pacifism
• Kinsella, Ammous vs. Block on Israel
• Van De Haar and Besada on Hayek, Mises, Rothbard on Zionism
• Hoppe, An Open Letter to Walter E. Block

Former federal reserve chair Alan Greenspan (March 6, 1926–June 22, 2026) has died at the age of 100.¹ He was born just 4 days after Murray Rothbard (March 2, 1926–Jan. 7, 1995), who died at age 68. Ah, would that Rothbard had lived to 100 instead.

Greenspan was, at least at one point, a libertarian, or at least Objectivist, and he and Rothbard knew each other as Greenspan was associated with Ayn Rand from the 1950s to her death in 1982—Rand nicknamed him “The Undertaker”² —overlapping with Rothbard’s interaction with Rand and her crowd in the late 1950s. Greenspan wrote two good essays, favoring the gold standard and opposing antitrust law, in Rand’s Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal.³

But he was no Austrian. As Doug French writes, [continue reading…]

1.  “Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan Dies at 100,” Breitbart News (Jun. 2026). [↩]
2. Douglas French, “Greenspan the Undertaker and His Countless Victims,” Fee.org (Jan. 25, 2017; republished at DouglasinVegas.com, Feb. 7, 2017). [↩]
3. Alan Greenspan, “Antitrust” and “Gold and Economic Freedom,” in Ayn Rand, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (New York: New American Library, 1966). His essay “The Assault on Integrity,” about regulation of business, was also included in this collection. [↩]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:21 — 10.8MB)

Property and Freedom Podcast, Episode 329.

AI-assisted audio narration of the main chapters of Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment (Papinian Press and The Saif House, 2026) is available at this PFS Youtube Playlist; the mp3 files may also be downloaded in this zip file.

The first two chapters—my “Preface” and Hans’s “Introduction”—were published the week of Rothbard’s birthday here on the Property and Freedom Podcast (PFP315 and PFP314). The other main chapters will be released sequentially weekly on Mondays. The next in the queue:

16. Sean Gabb, “Rothbard: An Appreciation from England”

Note: These audio versions were prepared by Jorge Besada. As noted in Rothbard at 100 Available to Pre-Order Now, Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment will be presented later this month at 100 Years with Rothbard, Porto, Portugal, June 27, 2026 and is available now for pre-order from The Saif House in hardcover and in professionally-produced audio formats.

Some libertarians smugly “correct” people who think Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in the US. Not so, they point out; this was a wartime order that did not free slaves in Union territory and only a applied to the CSA states where the order had no power. It took the Thirteenth Amendment, ratified after the Civil War, to really free the slaves, they say.

But Thirteenth Amendment did not end slavery. It states:

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

In other words you can still enslave people as long as you make up a crime with legislation. For example, the “crime” of tax evasion, selling drugs, or refusing to be conscripted can get you imprisoned and enslaved. Prison is slavery. Ever heard of prison labor?

This is because the state can use legislation—what Hoppe calls “democratic law making”—to create punishable offenses, statutes that are malum prohibitum (conduct that happens to be prohibited) instead of malum in se (things wrong in and of themselves—violations of natural rights, i.e. aggression).

(This is of course yet another problem with patent and copyright law: they are not based on natural rights, not evolved common law principles, but purely creatures of statute and legislation. Like fiat money, they are fiat law. The Problem with Intellectual Property, Part III.D.)

Related

• The Universal Principles of Liberty
• Legislation and the Discovery of Law in a Free Society
• Another Problem with Legislation: James Carter v. the Field Codes
• Rockwell on Hoppe on the Constitution as Expansion of Government Power
• Spooner on Knaves, Dupes, and the Constitution; and the Highwayman vs. The State
• A Tale of Two Legal Systems: Common Law and Statutory Law
• The Problem with Intellectual Property

From the vault. Originally published at Mises Wire.

Stakeholder Capitalism and the Corporate KPI Cult

Thomas J. DiLorenzo

Mises Wire, 12/12/2024

In private business “[t]here is no need to limit the discretion of subordinates by any rules or regulations other than that underlying all business activities, namely, to render their operations profitable.”—Ludwig von Mises, Bureaucracy, p. 46

In this quote from his classic 1944 book Bureaucracy, Mises explains why private, for-profit businesses need not, and should not, be bureaucratic and entangled in rules and regulations mandated from the top of an administrative hierarchy. Instead, they should, make the best use of decentralized “knowledge of time and place” to do their jobs. Mises’ admonition that the focus of capitalist enterprises is and should be to “make a profit” later became, in the hands of Chicago School economists, “maximize shareholder value.” This view is most widely associated with Milton Friedman and was accepted by American corporate management, for the most part, for many years.
[continue reading…]