Libertarian Classics

by Paul Geddes
February 1984

I am frequently asked, "What do you mean by libertarianism and where can I find out more about it?" Sometimes this begins a long discussion about applying the principles of voluntary cooperation between free and consenting citizens. But often the inquirer is looking for some source to sift through and think about on his own. At times like those, an extra copy to lend out of one of the following classics is most valuable. Each of the following works are worth reading. Although you may enjoy some authors more than others, they all succeed in making a strong case for a free society.

1. The Law

Frederic Bastiat (1850). An application of consistent logic to the premise that each person is endowed with a natural right to defend his person, liberty and property. Bastiat pursues his argument with a brilliant analysis of how the law has been perverted from an instrument for the defense of liberty and property to an instrument of legal plunder. The book is as timely today as it was when first published.

2. The Road to Serfdom

Freidrich von Hayek (1944). Hayek, the 1974 Nobel Laureate in economics, took time from his economic studies during World War II to reason through the origin and evolution of the totalitarian movements in Europe. This is the most scholarly and carefully argued of the five volumes I have selected.

Hayek warns that the unforeseen but inevitable consequences of trying to replace a complex market system with simplistic controls creates a climate friendly to totalitarian forces. The book is dedicated to Socialists of all parties and urges such wishful thinkers to reexamine their premises.

3. Atlas Shrugged

Ayn Rand (1957). A rousing novel in which the heroes eventually do succeed in freeing themselves from the parasitical government. Rand's insightful characterizations of those who seek to better themselves with government aid is matched by her observation that the power of the parasites often comes from the refusal of victims to stand up for themselves.

4. For a New Liberty

Murray Rothbard (1973). This work is subtitled "The Libertarian Manifesto". The basis for Rothbard's argument is the "non-aggression axiom" -- that no man or group of man may aggress against the person or property of anyone else. This volume applies this principle to may modern political controversies and traces through the libertarian approach to each issue.

5. Restoring the American Dream

Robert Ringer (1979). There is nothing particularly American about Ringer's dream -- it's everybody's dream. Ringer asks us to practice individualism and self-responsibility and refrain from envy. According to Ringer, the reason America has allowed government to grow so large is that its citizens keep asking for things they can't be provided without government doing things we don't want it to do.