H.L. Mencken, America’s Wittiest Defender of Liberty

by Jim Powell DURING THE FIRST HALF of the twentieth century, H.L. Mencken (pictured) was the most outspoken defender of liberty in America. He spent thousands of dollars challenging restrictions on freedom of the press. He boldly denounced President Woodrow Wilson for whipping up patriotic fervor to enter World War I, which cost his job as a newspaper columnist. Mencken denounced Continue Reading →

Liberals Never Learn

by Albert Jay Nock from The American Mercury, vol. XLI, no. 164 (August 1937), pp. 485-90. THERE IS NO question that the Liberals and Progressives are in the political saddle at the moment, fitted out with bucking-straps and a Spanish bit, and are riding the nation under spur and quirt. Liberalism became the fashion in 1932, so for six years Continue Reading →

Anarchist’s Progress

by Albert Jay Nock This classic essay on freedom was published in The American Mercury in 1927. I. The Majesty of the Law When I was seven years old, playing in front of our house on the outskirts of Brooklyn one morning, a policeman stopped and chatted with me for a few moments. He was a kindly man, of a Continue Reading →

Poll: Ron Paul in Dead Heat With Obama

The “political class” trusts Obama — most Americans don’t. by Charles L. Carroll, Jr. “Election 2012: Barack Obama 42%, Ron Paul 41%.” Those are the results of the latest poll by Rasmussen Reports, which states: ‘Pit maverick Republican Congressman Ron Paul against President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 election match-up, and the race is — virtually dead even. ‘A new Continue Reading →

The Criminality of the State

from the American Mercury for March, 1939 by Albert Jay Nock AS WELL AS I can judge, the general attitude of Americans who are at all interested in foreign affairs is one of astonishment, coupled with distaste, displeasure, or horror, according to the individual observer’s capacity for emotional excitement. Perhaps I ought to shade this statement a little in order Continue Reading →