Eric Peters discusses with Jeff Deist the automobile as a symbol of libertarian autonomy, why statists love public transportation, how moronic government regulations make all cars look the same, and why you should go buy an old V8 or an old motorcycle while you still
The Free Market 14, no. 2 (February 1996) Want to hear what a scoff sounds like? The next time you’re talking to a political scientist, an economist, or a public employee, mention the possibility of a private road. Roads aren’t supposed to be private, right? They are supposed to be “public goods,” meaning that capitalists can’t or won’t build
The Free Market 14, no. 6 (June 1996) Normal people look right past the tiny cars beloved by environmental groups, self-appointed consumer advocates, and the federal government. These are joyless machines like the three-cylinder Geo Metro XFi and Honda Civic VX, ugsome little pods designed not for comfort, utility, or performance, but rather to
The Free Market 14, no. 9 (September 1996) If there’s anything a government bureaucrat hates more than the unhampered market, it’s the automobile. He’ll do anything to take it away from people, though of course he’ll couch his true intentions in euphemistic banalities about “cleaning up the air.” So-called “clunker” laws are a case in point.
The Free Market 15, no. 2 (February 1997) Among the many excuses for government planning is that it makes life safer for one and all. The automobile bears the brunt of this central planning. Like most all interventions in the free market, the effect of mandates to make the car safer is nearly the opposite. Witness the recent air bag fiasco. Joan
The Free Market 15, no. 8 (August 1997) Our domestic automakers produce fine cars and trucks that people freely choose to buy. They make lots of money doing this. So why is the federal government shoveling hundred of millions of dollars annually in corporate welfare their way? Uncle Sam says it’s all in a good cause, funding research to build an
The Free Market 13, no. 7 (July 1995) A gasoline-powered truck just towed an electric Ecostar out of my driveway. Built by Ford Motor Co. under pressure from the federal government, the “state-of-the-art” vehicle was loaned to me for the day. It was supposed to recharge overnight, but the lights on the panel display, flashing wildly, said it
A great many people — especially conservatives — reverence the Constitution, consider that it has been abused and that if only the doctrines expressed within were revived and respected, all would be well with America again. This, of course, is a kind of children’s bedtime story — and approximates reality to about the same degree as the story of
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.