The following post was written by Kelly Barber,  University of Florida Junior and SFL Executive Board member.

While many people believe that protesting government regulations like occupational licensing requirements is merely a pastime for privileged, white middle-to-upper class businessmen with too much time and money on their hands, the Institute for Justice does great work fighting for the low-income, less-educated racial minorities that occupational licensing hurdles disproportionately hurt.

On average, licensing requirements force workers to spend almost nine months in training and to spend over $200 in fees. One-third of the required licenses take over a year to earn. The jobs most effected by licensure- interior designers, cosmetologists, florists, funeral attendants, home entertainment installers, and barbers- do not pose high health or safety risks. Many such workers are budding entrepreneurs and licensing requirements prevent the creation of new jobs in addition to increasing consumer costs.

While the percentage of the American workforce impacted by licensing requirements has greatly increased from 5% in 1950 to 33% today regulations aimed at racial discrimination, have a long tradition in American history.

Before the Civil War, 5.6% of African Americans worked in artisan careers as blacksmiths, carpenters, barbers, shoemakers, and vendors. After slavery was abolished, African Americans had many more opportunities for economic advancement. They were able to navigate the economy far more freely, had greater access to education, and increased consumption levels heightened demand for artisans’ services. Yet, by 1870, the black artisan population had actually decreased to 3.5% of the black population. In many areas in the South, the number was even lower. (more…)

An abridged version of this article was originally published at Thoughts on Liberty.

Libertarians love to theorize about how a true free market economy would regulate business sans government. Cynics often write off such conjecture as unrealistic and naïve by claiming libertarian theory has no historical precedent. Detractors assume that in the early history of the United States, there was little government interference in the economy. They point to the many financial panics of the nineteenth century and blame the chronic economic instability on the government’s laissez faire approach towards the issuance of the more than ten thousand types of private banknotes circulating throughout the country. In fact, the financially irresponsible bank behavior that contributed to these panics was indirectly promoted by the policies of President Andrew Jackson. Detractors of libertarian monetary theory paint an incorrect picture of the early years of the United States and deem our cause hopeless, stopping the debate in its tracks. Here, I hope to show that some historical evidence does suggest that participants in a free market economy could regulate business and that such efforts have been rendered ineffective in the past by government interference in the economy.

(more…)

In the wake of the 2013 International Students For Liberty Conference, it’s probably safe to say most young libertarians were riding a wave of optimism about the future of the liberty movement. I returned home feeling inspired and noticed that one article from Reason.com stuck out amidst a flurry of media content praising the roughly 1,400 students at the ISFLC for their enthusiastic dedication in tackling the difficult challenges of our day. The pessimistic article, written by Nick Gillespie, was published the Monday after the conference and was titled, “Hey Kids: Tonight You’re Young, Tomorrow You’re Unemployed.” It compares the millennial generation to “a whipped puppy whose spirit has been decisively house-broken.” In analyzing the lyrics of the song “We Are Young” by fun, Gillespie bemoans the loss of the “ire, the anger, and most important of all, the symbolic middle finger to mom and dad that has long powered pop music and youth culture.” If one assesses the condition of today’s youth solely by analyzing the Grammies and Obama’s State of the Union address as Gillespie did, the evidence will indeed suggest that Generation Y is “depraved and irredeemable.” However, the young libertarian movement that he failed to address suggests there is hope for the future. Admittedly, the majority of young people are much more likely to pay attention to the Grammies than the ISFLC, but that doesn’t mean the student movement for liberty should be discounted. As my colleague James Padilioni Jr. eloquently pointed out last week, young people are driving the current wave of libertarianism in a myriad of creative and innovative ways. In doing so, we are not only countering unjust government policies, but also the collective mentality Gillespie described.

(more…)

In my view, the questions moral philosophers grapple with are as interesting and important to libertarianism as those posed by political philosophers. As an advocate for a free society in which people themselves are the moral arbiters rather than government, I believe it is my responsibility to think long and hard about the moral rules I adopt to guide my behavior. The underlying assumption of libertarianism is that people have the ability to act civilly without having a gun pointed at their heads but we must back up this assumption if we want our political philosophy to be taken seriously. Each of us has to set an example by being able to articulate, defend, and advocate for our own moral principles of social interaction, not so that we can force everyone to follow one conception of morality, but to ensure that we are all thinking critically about the principles that we live by and to prove that the libertarian ideal is possible. Libertarians are generally pretty good at explaining how strangers would interact in a free society, but we rarely consider how our relationships with the people we love influence our choices, economic and otherwise, which affect the rest of society in a myriad of ways, good and bad. As individuals with only so much time, attention, and money to devote to others, we must balance competing motivations when coordinating with other people. Love is a powerful motivation and just as important as the standard self-interest that guides our interactions with strangers.

(more…)

When I was in seventh grade, I took the SAT and scored well. Well enough to receive an invitation from a private college in Virginia that had a program for students interested in skipping four years of traditional high school for an accelerated collegiate program at the end of which I would have both my high school diploma and a bachelor’s degree. I was fairly unhappy in seventh grade, but my circumstances were not exceptional. I suffered from the same mediocre learning environment that plagues many public school students across the country. However, it was enough for my parents to seriously reconsider moving out of Florida. After overhearing many conversations about job fairs and house hunting, I decided I wanted a full high school experience so I would have more time to learn and develop my interests. My parents offered to pay for private schooling at our church, an opportunity I was well aware most kids would never have, but I wanted a secular education free of uniforms and chapel. Homeschooling wasn’t an option because both of my parents made a living as public school teachers themselves. So I went to the high school I was zoned for, and overall, I enjoyed my time there and look back with fond memories, though I was rarely intellectually challenged. Yet, I still wonder sometimes how different my life would be if I had chosen to move away.

(more…)