Libertarianism is often thought to rest on strong assumptions about individual rights. By contrast, the first part of this book argues that libertarianism emerges from everyday moral beliefs we have about when we may shift our burdens onto others (say, by redistributing their assets to ourselves or those we care about). The inspiration here is thus the self-reliance of Thoreau and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, not Ayn Rand.
The second part of the book resists the trend in political philosophy toward narrowness and insularity, disconnected from economics, history, and politics. It reexamines such topics as reparations for slavery, political correctness, and the “Great Divergence” between low- and high-growth societies through a libertarian lens.
Now in paperback!
“This is a splendid accomplishment. I judge it to merit a place among the handful of finest political philosophy books of the previous decade.” –Loren Lomasky, University of Virginia
“From the stunningly lucid first line to the homey examples (restaurants, sand castles), this is the best book on libertarian philosophy in years. Moller manages to walk the thin line of favoring self-reliance (and neighborliness) without going Ayn Rand on us.” –Stephen Carter, Yale Law School, in Bloomberg
“One of the most sensible expositions and defenses of libertarianism you will find” –Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution
“Read this great book!” “Governing Least is so packed with insight that I could easily have made this post three times longer.” –Bryan Caplan, author of Open Borders