14 Hard Questions for Libertarians — Answered

by Thomas E. Woods Jr.

New York Times bestselling author and historian Thomas E. Woods and guests from his daily podcast respond to such common objections to libertarianism as "What would the poor do without government schools?", "How can you favor legalizing drugs?", "Wouldn’t banks be unstable in a free market?", and "Why don’t you want to ban sweatshops?"

ebook

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Thomas Ernest Woods Jr. is an American author, podcast host, and libertarian commentator who is currently a senior fellow at the Mises Institute. A proponent of the Austrian School of economics, Woods hosts a daily podcast, The Tom Woods Show, and formerly co-hosted the weekly podcast Contra Krugman.
Woods' The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History in 2004 interpreted U.S. history through a paleoconservative and, as described by some writers, pro-Confederate lens. This, and his 2009 book Meltdown on the financial crisis of 2007–2008, became New York Times bestsellers. His subsequent writing has focused on promoting libertarianism and libertarian leaning political figures such as former Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul. Woods also teaches homeschooling courses on Western civilization and government called The Liberty Homeschooler as part of the Ron Paul Curriculum.
In 1994, Woods was a founding member of the League of the South, but he no longer associates with it.

Reviews

[Mark Geise · Rating 4 out of 5]

"14 Hard Questions for Libertarians - Answered" is another one of Tom Woods's free ebooks. In this one, Woods posts transcripts from episodes of his podcast (the Tom Woods Show) that help to answer 14 different questions that are often posed to libertarians. The question topics range from drugs to sweatshops to guns. If you have listened to every episode of the show, this book probably won't have any value to you, but I bet most listeners have not listened to all 900+ episodes. It depends on one's perspective, but there isn't anything especially earth-shattering in here. Instead, you get a quick, easy-to-digest primer on some of the major objections thrown in the direction of libertarians.

[Al Lock · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of a number of questions regarding how libertarians might approach various issues commonly handled by government. The primary response to all these issues here is economic and I am not convinced that is always the appropriate approach, but a good read anyway.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid light reading that helps create easy points for a debate with any liberal or neo-con. Honestly though just listening to his show would help you answer these questions.

[Mark Smaling · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you think the government does things better, this book will debunk that!

[Hyzer Anhyzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to all of the podcasts - Tom is the best!