John Lachs: Victims of Our Kindness and the Problems of the Welfare State

John Lachs, Centennial Professor of Philosophy and faculty adviser to Vanderbilt Young Americans for Liberty, addressed a general body meeting of our organization on March 13th.  The topic of his remarks was the intersection of human nature and systems of government care for those in need. With his characteristic wit and proclivity to illustrative anecdotes, Professor Lachs contrasted the human inclination to help others who are helpless with the less virtuous tendency to benefit oneself to the detriment of others.  A conflict arises in organized systems of aid as they create incentives for those who do not truly need help to demand it, victimizing both those in actual need and the greater population that financially supports the system.  Professor Lachs then opened the floor for a lively discussion of possible solutions, including the advantages and disadvantages inherent in private and government welfare systems.

Professor Lachs' research interests center on human nature with general work on American philosophy and German Idealism.  He received his Ph.D. from Yale University and has been on the Vanderbilt faculty since 1967.  Professor Lachs is well known on campus for his engaging lectures, particularly his introductory ethics course.  He is a past winner of the Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Freshmen Award and the Graduate Teaching Award.

Luke Froeb: The Debt Crisis and the Long-Term Consequences of Short-Term Economic Policy

Luke Froeb, Associate Professor in Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship at Vanderbilt's Owen School of Management, spoke to our group at our first meeting of the spring semester on January 30. His talk focused on the debt crisis and the long-term consequences of short-term economic policy. Topics discussed included the fiscal stimulus after the recent financial crisis, the relationship between unemployment and automatic stabilizers such as unemployment insurance, the growing fiscal burden of Medicare on future generations, the difficulty in changing course because of low youth voter participation and special interest groups, and tough to swallow solutions that may have to be considered in the future.

Professor Froeb is an expert on anti-trust, and his research is focused on the economics of competition policy. After receiving his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin, he taught at Tulane University, was a fellow at the University of Chicago Law School, and worked as an economist at the U.S. Department of Justice before moving to Vanderbilt's Owen School of Management. Professor Froeb has also previously served as the Director of the Bureau of Economics at the Federal Trade Commission where he managed over a hundred civil servants dedicated to tearing down barriers to competition (often erected by well-meaning bureaucrats), in addition to enforcing the antitrust and consumer protection laws of the United States.

Seasteading and The Seasteading Institute - A Q&A with Tony Dreher

In continuing our mission of hosting educational events on topics in libertarianism, we hosted this meeting on Sept. 26th to educate members on the concept of Seasteading and the work of The Seasteading Institute. We screened a TEDx presentation by Patri Friedman followed by a Q&A with Tony Dreher, an ambassador for The Seasteading Institute.

Patri's presentation can also be viewed on YouTube and is embedded below.

Patri Friedman is the founder and chairman of the Board of The Seasteading Institute and the CEO of Future Cities Development Inc. He earned a BS in math from Harvey Mudd College, an MS in computer science from Stanford University, and an MBA from Cardean University. While in school he experimented with technology startups, ran a small consulting business, and co-founded two intentional communities. In 2004 he joined Google to work as a software engineer.

In 2008 he left Google and co-founded The Seasteading Institute with seed funding from entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist Peter Thiel. He is also a prolific writer on political theory and philosophy, and has appeared in hundreds of media stories worldwide, including NPR, BBC, and The Economist. Patri comes from a line of great revolutionary thinkers, his grandfather Milton Friedman was the 1976 Nobel Laureate in economics, and his father David Friedman is a well-known political theorist and festival founder.

Learn more about The Seasteading Institute and its ambassador program:

http://www.seasteading.org/ambassadors/