Natural Rights Libertarian https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/ Mark D. Friedman Sat, 21 Feb 2026 16:47:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 20272863 Free Speech: Again, Misunderstood and Underappreciated https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2026/02/free-speech-again-misunderstood-and-underappreciated/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=free-speech-again-misunderstood-and-underappreciated https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2026/02/free-speech-again-misunderstood-and-underappreciated/#respond Tue, 17 Feb 2026 03:49:50 +0000 https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/?p=3929 As some of you know by now, I have taken time away from my libertarian-minded commentary to focus on my Jewish theology blog. Nevertheless, when I encounter an influential public figure such as Josh Hammer writing something that impugns the … Continue reading →

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]]> https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2026/02/free-speech-again-misunderstood-and-underappreciated/feed/ 0 3929 The Iran Protests and Humanitarian Interventions https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2026/01/the-iran-protests-and-humanitarian-interventions/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-iran-protests-and-humanitarian-interventions https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2026/01/the-iran-protests-and-humanitarian-interventions/#respond Sun, 11 Jan 2026 18:44:28 +0000 https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/?p=3868 Many years ago I posted an essay on this site that challenged the sharp distinction many libertarians make between military interventions based solely on a state’s obligation to defend its citizens against aggression and “humanitarian” interventions, i.e. those  intended to … Continue reading →

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]]> https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2026/01/the-iran-protests-and-humanitarian-interventions/feed/ 0 3868 Calling Ayn Rand! https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2025/12/calling-ayn-rand/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=calling-ayn-rand https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2025/12/calling-ayn-rand/#respond Wed, 03 Dec 2025 22:43:10 +0000 https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/?p=3803 As evidenced by the recent election of  avowed socialists as mayors of NYC and Seattle, the cumulative failures of our education system and the mass media’s and academia’s intense hatred of free markets seem to have reignited an infatuation with … Continue reading →

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]]> https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2025/12/calling-ayn-rand/feed/ 0 3803 Turning from Political Philosophy to Jewish Theology https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2025/11/turning-from-political-philosophy-to-jewish-theology/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=turning-from-political-philosophy-to-jewish-theology https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2025/11/turning-from-political-philosophy-to-jewish-theology/#respond Fri, 14 Nov 2025 19:18:42 +0000 https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/?p=3770 As some of you may know, I have let this site go dormant as I completed writing and now seek to promote my book, Come Now, Let Us Reason Together: Uncovering the Torah’s Liberal Values (Wipf and Stock, 2025). The … Continue reading →

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]]> https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2025/11/turning-from-political-philosophy-to-jewish-theology/feed/ 0 3770 The Wages of Mediocrity https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2024/11/the-wages-of-mediocrity/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-wages-of-mediocrity https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2024/11/the-wages-of-mediocrity/#respond Wed, 27 Nov 2024 19:44:35 +0000 https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/?p=3234 From this perspective, President Biden’s rise and fall is so thick with irony, that you can cut it with a knife. Biden’s long public life prior to his election to the presidency is nothing if not mediocre....The upshot of Biden’s second-rate presidency is that Trump takes office with Republican majorities in both Congressional chambers, while an Originalist majority sits on the Supreme Court, putting him in position to trash the various ideological sacred cows so dear to progressives.    Continue reading →

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]]> https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2024/11/the-wages-of-mediocrity/feed/ 0 3234 The Shameful “Open Air Prison” Lie https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2023/10/libertarians-and-israel-here-we-go-again/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=libertarians-and-israel-here-we-go-again https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2023/10/libertarians-and-israel-here-we-go-again/#comments Sun, 22 Oct 2023 23:17:16 +0000 https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/?p=2757 We have just seen in this country and globally an appalling indifference to Hamas’ mass slaughter or even a rush to blame the victim. This is the product of influential people, who should know better, describing Israel’s action as “cruel,” accusing it of jailing an entire population, letting in just the minimum level of goods, acting illegally, and so on. The article, while purporting to be objective and neutral, represents a shameful example Continue reading →

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]]> https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2023/10/libertarians-and-israel-here-we-go-again/feed/ 2 2757 Market Discipline vs. Government Regulation in Banking https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2023/03/market-discipline-vs-government-regulation-in-banking/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=market-discipline-vs-government-regulation-in-banking https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2023/03/market-discipline-vs-government-regulation-in-banking/#respond Wed, 29 Mar 2023 02:52:50 +0000 https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/?p=2686 As explained here, when a community or nation enforces some rough approximation of the rule of law, capitalism inevitably follows. When left alone, entrepreneurs will invest and/or produce in order to improve their own lives, and in so doing will … Continue reading →

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]]> https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2023/03/market-discipline-vs-government-regulation-in-banking/feed/ 0 2686 The Fed, Natural Rights, and the Calculation Problem https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2022/11/the-fed-natural-rights-and-the-calculation-problem/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-fed-natural-rights-and-the-calculation-problem https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2022/11/the-fed-natural-rights-and-the-calculation-problem/#respond Tue, 29 Nov 2022 15:40:03 +0000 https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/?p=2652 We are now, I believe, on the brink of a prolonged, major recession brought on by decades of massive government over-spending and a Federal Reserve Bank that has been all too eager to accommodate the related debt with near zero … Continue reading →

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]]> https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2022/11/the-fed-natural-rights-and-the-calculation-problem/feed/ 0 2652 Like Mother, Like Son: Barbara Fried and Samuel Bankman-Fried https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2022/11/like-mother-like-son-barbara-and-samuel-bankman-fried/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=like-mother-like-son-barbara-and-samuel-bankman-fried https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2022/11/like-mother-like-son-barbara-and-samuel-bankman-fried/#respond Fri, 18 Nov 2022 15:52:04 +0000 https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/?p=2644 I have decided to repost this earlier essay in light of the apparently massive fraud committed by Samuel Bankman-Fried, the son of Professor Barbara Fried, whose egregious intellectual dishonesty I called out in my essay. Does the flagrant intellectual dishonesty … Continue reading →

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]]> https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2022/11/like-mother-like-son-barbara-and-samuel-bankman-fried/feed/ 0 2644 Rittenhouse, Perverse Incentives, and Prosecutorial Misconduct https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2021/12/rittenhouse-perverse-incentives-and-prosecutorial-misconduct/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rittenhouse-perverse-incentives-and-prosecutorial-misconduct https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2021/12/rittenhouse-perverse-incentives-and-prosecutorial-misconduct/#respond Fri, 10 Dec 2021 18:44:45 +0000 https://naturalrightslibertarian.com/?p=2514 Free market economists are acutely sensitive to the power of incentives to shape the behavior of market participants.  For example, it seems certain that if the price of some commodity falls, consumers will ceteris paribus purchase more; if the government … Continue reading →

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