Past Activities

David D. Friedman: "Encryption and Freedom on the Internet"

David Friedman is professor of economic analysis of law at Santa Clara University, the author of The Machinery of Freedom and son of world renowned economist Milton Friedman.

In this talk, David will demonstrate how both the internet in general, and encryption technology in particular contribute to freedom. These technologies bolster liberty by providing communication, trade and anonymity that is extremely difficult for the government to regulate.

David Friedman has a web page at http://www.best.com/~ddfr/. For more information on anonymity on the internet, you might want to check out Zero Knowledge. For one approach to facilitating trade on the internet, you might want to visit ERights.org. For information on internet censorship, Free-Market.net's Spotlight on Internet Censorship would be a good place to start. For one very controversial possibility that that encryption might bring about, see Jim Bell's Assassination Politics.

Samuel E. Konkin III

April 13, 2000 For most people, there seems to be a huge gap in the libertarian movement from about 1900, when Lysander Spooner and contemporaries were writing up until the founding of the Libertarian Party. Mr. Konkin filled in a lot of the gaps, and also gave a brief idea of why he doesn't think the Libertarian Party is the best way to accomplish anything.

Primary Election

March 6th & 7th, 2000 Passed out our Positions on the March 2000 ballot initiatives to hundreds of people on Sproul. Available online. Also, see the results of the election, and Anthony's flyers on Prop 21, Prop 22, and prop 28.

The Henry George School

April 8th, 1998 Dr. Fred Foldvary gave a talk entitled "Justice, Private Communities, and Public Finance", advocating an application of Henry George's single tax that would result in a decentralized, market driven economy. Dr. Foldvary is the author of Public Goods and Private Communities, on his idea of decentralizing government, and The Soul of Liberty, on natural rights. There is some debate whether this is compatible with libertarianism.

Henry George was a 19th century American economist, who traced nearly all economic problems to the inefficiency of allowing ownership of natural resources. He recommended heavy taxes to prevent speculation in natural resources (notably land), and a free market for all other aspects of the economy. Progress and Poverty is considered his most important work.

David Friedman: "In Defense of Anarchy"

March 18th, 1998 Libertarian author, economist and professor of law David Friedman made the case for privatizing all functions of government, including the police, courts, and legislature. So many people came that they couldn't all fit in the room. Some of them had to sit on the floor and in the hall!

David Friedman calls his libertarian form of anarchism anacho-capitalism or a propertarian anarchism. He is the author of The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism and Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life.

Visit David Friedman's Web Page or jump directly to Police, Courts, and Laws--on the Market from The Machinery of Freedom.

Why We Should Abolish the Income Tax

March 4th, 1998 Cal Libertarians member Mark Goodman gave a presentation. The text from the flyer for the event is available online.

Protest against U.S. Intervention in Iraq

February 27th, 1998The Cal Libertarians protested U.N. sanctions against Iraq, U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf and interventionist foreign policy in general. We briefly joined the Muslim Student Union and International Socialist Organization on the Sproul Hall steps and distributed 300 copies of a position statement titled "End U.S. Intervention in Iraq." A copy of this available online.

Why We Should Say No to the IMF

February 25th, 1998 We played a RealAudio File from the Cato Institute which questioned the need for the International Monetary Fund. The following is the text from the official site:

Featuring Senator Lauch Faircloth (R-N.C.); Allan Meltzer, Carnegie Mellon University; and Ian Vásquez, Cato Institute. The International Monetary Fund is asking the United States for $18 billion, even after the IMF failed to warn about Asia's financial crisis. But members of Congress, academia, and the public increasingly question the fund's ability to deal with economic emergencies--and the necessity of its doing so. Senator Faircloth will challenge the wisdom and fairness of bailing out governments and investors in Asia. Professor Meltzer will discuss how the IMF helped cause and intensify a crisis whose roots lie in misguided Asian policies. He and Mr. Vásquez explain why market solutions are superior to and less costly than IMF solutions.

The Libertarian Solution to our Environmental Problems

Late Fall 1997 Semester Cal Libertarians President Daniel Burton gave a speech on why property rights and the free market are a better protection for the environment than government bureaucracies. Notes are available online.

Any questions, comments or problems with the website, please email callib@ocf.berkeley.edu.

Last modified: Saturday, 26-Aug-2000 11:29:22 PDT