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Richard Epstein's "Libertarian Manifesto"

This week, Forbes.com launched a new weekly column called "The Libertarian," authored by our own Richard Epstein, James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Director of the John M. Olin Law and Economics Program. Below is an excerpt from his first column, "The Libertarian Manifesto," and you may read the whole column on Forbes.com.

Online columnists, it is said, should not suffer from an abundance of caution or subtlety. Our job is to shake things up in a short compass. As the choice of title for my new weekly column indicates, I intend to do just that--push hard for a consistent small-government view that is, regrettably, as unfashionable on the Republican side of the aisle as it is on the Democratic. So here are some clues as to my game plan.

In principle, just what does my restless agenda entail? A bit of a contradiction, I fear. Elsewhere, I would describe myself in measured tones as a classical liberal who prizes balance and moderation on all matters governmental. In so doing, I would place myself squarely in the tradition that runs from John Locke, by way of David Hume and Adam Smith, to the Founding Fathers of our Constitution.

Full post as published by The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog on September 17, 2008 (boomark / email).