This video, based on Christopher Ingraham, “Victory! Illinois Village Agrees to Let Laura’s Garden Grow After IJ Letter,” Institute for Justice Press Release (, covers a recent “right to garden” case in Illinois involving a homeowner, Laura Schaefer, and the Village of Millstadt, Illinois (apparently a local government, as it has a mayor).
Schaefer, a gardener and botany instructor with decades of experience, and her husband bought a village block that included a house and several vacant lots. Over five years, she transformed the half-acre property into a well-maintained oasis of native plants, pollinator plants, heirloom vegetables, and edible plants, with mowed paths and detailed documentation. In May, the village issued her a citation for violating a local ordinance against “high grass and weeds” (specifically prohibiting vegetation over one foot tall). A village official threatened that if she didn’t tear out the garden within 7 days, village workers would destroy it and bill her $40 per hour. [continue reading…]
This is my interview by Matthew Geiger of the Carl Menger Institute for Menger Institute Podcast #6 (recorded June 11, 2026). Shownotes and transcript below. [continue reading…]
I’ve known PaulCwik, Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of Mount Olive and fellow of the Mises Institute since I started attending the Austrian Scholars Conference in 1995. He is an Austrian and libertarian of sorts but had some qualms with my anti-IP writing so presented a paper “Is There Room for Intellectual Property Rights in Austrian Economics?” at the Austrian Scholars Conference in 2008, which I attended and commented on. After 18 years we finally decided to get around to talking about this. I had planned on an hour but we ended up talking for 3. It turns out we were old friends but not that close; we didn’t know much about each other. So the first 30-50 minutes or so is more preliminary discussion. [continue reading…]
I attended LNC2026 a couple weeks ago; what a sh*tshow. I ran for re-election for the Judicial Committee, on which I served the last 4 years; I was not re-elected. Good riddance. I’ll write up my experience with the LP over the last 4 years presently, but for now, a couple of commentaries, by PFS member Adam Haman, with Bob Murphy, and on the Tom Woods show.
Interesting commentary by Tank. I have not yet heard the whole thing but wanted to chime in a few things Tank mentioned. I append the transcript below. So for now, a few initial and quick comments: [continue reading…]
I’m never quite sure how to describe what it is that I do (my avocation, not my (former) vocation(s)). 1
Is it political theory? Political philosophy? Libertarian theory? Libertarian legal theory? Legal theory/jurisprudence? Moral theory? Ethics? Metaethics? 2 Philosophy? Isn’t all libertarian theory really libertarian legal theory, in the end, since our focus is on what institutional uses of force are just, that is, what laws are just? What property rights there are?
Am I an intellectual? A scholar? An academic?
A few Grok searches helped sort some of this out. Bottom line: [continue reading…]
As I mentioned in my recent post, Machan, A Brief on Left Libertarianism—Is it an Oxymoron? (unpublished, 2009), an odd gmail glitch recently placed an Aug. 12, 2009 email from Tibor Machan at the top of my gmail inbox, with this note: “Hi, Stephan: Perhaps you would like to use the attached discussion note, ‘A Brief on Left-Libertarianism,'” and containing this short article. This was sent to me around the time I started Libertarian Papers and was obviously meant as a submission to that journal.
I see now that he sent me another email Nov. 24, 2012: “Here is a fairly long collection of quotations I have assembled and thought would send you as a gift! If not interested, please simply delete.” Possibly he also intended it for Libertarian Papers. I ignored it at the time but it appears not to be published online so here it is, with no edits (since I cannot ask Tibor to approve). [continue reading…]
An odd gmail glitch just placed an Aug. 12, 2009 email from Tibor Machan at the top of my gmail inbox, with this note: “Hi, Stephan: Perhaps you would like to use the attached discussion note, ‘A Brief on Left-Libertarianism,'” and containing his short article. This was sent to me around the time I started Libertarian Papers and was obviously meant as a submission to that journal. I vaguely recall seeing it and dismissing it as too light or poorly written for the journal. In any case, it appears not to be published online so here it is, with no edits (since I cannot ask Tibor to approve).
I see two mistakes in your reasoning. First, you are accepting the relevance of the state’s arbitrary classifcation scheme–calling someone an “owner” or not, an employee or not. [continue reading…]
I am writing to you from Iran, where I closely follow your work on libertarian legal theory. I would deeply appreciate your insights on a unique digital dilemma here that highlights the messy collision between property rights, state coercion, and a captive market.
Amidst a total international internet blackout in Iran, a privately owned book-review platform has flourished. While it is 100% private property, it is the unintended beneficiary of a state-enforced captive market; because the regime has blocked all global competitors (like Goodreads), this platform enjoys a monopoly privilege it never sought. [continue reading…]
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