Black Liberty Matters ― Jacob T. Levy

“How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?”

This was Samuel Johnson’s bitter rhetorical question about the American revolution, and the conflict it identifies has never been far from the surface of American political and intellectual life. Compared with the societies of 18th and 19th century Europe, the United States was unusually obsessed with the idea of liberty and unusually economically dependent on slave labor. Sometimes Americans like to tell ourselves that the revolutionary idea of liberty is what finally made abolition possible two generations later, but that sidesteps the paradox that the U.S. was one of the last countries to abolish slavery, and did so only after a decades-long expansion.

https://niskanencenter.org/blog/black-liberty-matters/

BackWordz/Being Libertarian Pre-Order Campaign for Veracity

Being Libertarian, Stay Sick Recordings, and the band are teaming up to launch a campaign surrounding the pre-orders for the record. Pushing for 2,000 pre-orders, the band has a chance to debut at a respective spot on the charts.

The record has 18 tracks on it, and is as libertarian-themed as it gets. Check out this video for more details, and let's help the crew infiltrate the industry with the message of liberty.

Links for pre orders:
Physical copies & bundles- BackWordz.merchnow.com
Itunes- http://apple.co/2lT77Ok
Amazon- http://amzn.to/2kRM0aM
Google- http://bit.ly/2mQH9YK

Akil Alleyne ― No, Removing Confederate Monuments Does Not "Erase History"

I take aim at perhaps the silliest and shallowest argument against taking down tributes to the Confederate States of America.

Kareim Oliphant ― White Supremacist Ideas Must Be Challenged, Not Ignored

To argue that incredibly bad ideas simply die on their own, especially if they go unopposed, and that these ideas have no potential to rise from relative obscurity to national (or even international) preeminence, is to argue in contravention of the historical record.

Ku Klux Klan members march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. in 1928.

Outset Magazine - Some hold the view that the best way to deal with white supremacists is to
ignore them. For if we shed light on the contemptibility of white supremacist ideas, the logic goes, we are merely giving them undue attention—attention that presumably produces a worse outcome for society than allowing their racist views to go unchallenged. Proponents of this view are also quick to dismiss white supremacists as “basement dwellers” who are simply “fringe elements” of the society. But there are a few critical problems with this assessment.

Read more: http://outsetmagazine.com/2016/12/20/challenge-white-supremacist-ideas/

Anthony "Rek" LeCounte ― Occupational Licensing at a Funeral

As Communications Project Manager for the Institute for Justice, Anthony “Rek” LeCounte works hard to make the public case for economic liberty, free speech, private property rights, and school choice for all Americans.

The Institute for Justice - Funeral services necessarily involve a difficult time for the consumers who need them, and the pain of loss can often be compounded by the logistical expenses involved. Unfortunately, the cost of funeral expenses is significantly higher when occupational licensing is involved.

In a new study published in the June 2017 edition of the International Review of Law and Economics, Brandon Pizzola and Alexander Tabarrok use a “natural experiment” to show that occupational licensing requirements on funeral service providers increase the cost of workers and services. Conversely, the lack of such requirements decreases costs.

Colorado delicensed its funeral services industry in 1983, providing researchers an opportunity to compare the effects of the regulatory change in the state to national developments. Unsurprisingly, Pizzola and Tabarrok found that funeral costs fell in Colorado, compared with the rest of the United States, because licensing causes a “wage premium” of 11 to 12 percent due to lack of competition. This finding echoes other research that has shown licensing requirements in other industries lead to similar spikes in cost. Insiders, in funeral services and other industries, often support licensing requirements precisely for this reason: Licensing creates artificial “job protection” by making it harder for competition to drive down costs.

Read more: http://ij.org/occupational-licensing-funeral/

Akil Alleyne ― Way to Go, Theresa May!

How One Inventor Became A Household Name