Jeffrey Tucker

Jeffrey Albert Tucker was born in Fresno, California, in 1963, the son of Texas historian Albert Briggs Tucker and Roberta Janeice (Robertson) Tucker.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

He studied economics as an undergraduate at Texas Tech University and Howard Payne University,{{cite news

|url=http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth103116/m1/3/

|title=Academic awards given

|newspaper=The Howard Payne University Yellow Jacket

|date=April 26, 1985

|access-date=May 24, 2016

|place=Brownwood, TX

}} where he first encountered the literature of the Austrian School.

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While studying at George Mason, Tucker attended a journalism program in Washington, D.C., where he became a volunteer at the Washington office of the Mises Institute.{{cite web

|url=http://www.thedailybell.com/exclusive-interviews/anthony-wile-jeffrey-tucker-on-laissez-faire-books-intellectual-property-rights-and-beautiful-anarchy/

|title=Jeffrey Tucker on Laissez Faire Books, Intellectual Property Rights and 'Beautiful Anarchy' (interview)

|publisher=The Daily Bell (website)

|author=Anthony Wile

|date=August 12, 2012

|access-date=May 24, 2016

}}

In the late 1980s, he worked for Ron Paul as an assistant to editor LewRockwell.com. During Paul's 2008 Presidential campaign, the newsletters written on behalf of Paul became controversial because some contained statements against black people and gay people.{{cite news |author=The Economist |date=January 11, 2008 |title=Democracy in America (blog): The Rockwell Files |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2008/01/the_rockwell_files |newspaper=The Economist}} Tucker was said to have helped Rockwell write the newsletters.

From 1997 to 2011, Tucker worked for the Mises Institute, of which Rockwell was a co-founder, as editorial vice president and editor for the institute's website, Mises.org. From 1999 to 2011 he contributed to LewRockwell.com.{{SPS|date=November 2021}}

According to a 2000 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Tucker wrote for publications of the League of the South, a group the SPLC considers neo-Confederate and white supremacist. The SPLC report stated that Tucker was listed as a founding member on the league's website, but that Tucker denied being a member.{{Cite web |date=September 15, 2000 |title=The Neo-Confederates |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2000/neo-confederates |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |language=en}}

In late 2011, Tucker was hired by Addison Wiggin as publisher and executive editor of Laissez Faire Books,Addison Wiggin press release at Agora Financial website, owner of Laissez-Faire books, November 22, 2011.{{cite web

|url=https://vimeo.com/31862215

|date=November 8, 2011

|title=An Introduction to the NEW Laissez Faire Books (video: see information in the description)

|publisher=Agora Financial

}} and worked in that capacity until 2016. As of 2017, he remained a contributor to LFB.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

Tucker was appointed a Distinguished Fellow of the Foundation for Economic Education in 2013,{{cite journal

|journal=The Freeman

|url=http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/the-man-in-the-bow-tie

|date=May 2, 2013

|title=The Man in the Bow Tie

|publisher=Foundation for Economic Education

}} speaking at FEE's seminars and writing for its publication.The Freeman From 2015 to 2017, he was FEE's Director of Content.{{cite web |date=August 7, 2015 |title=Jeffrey A. Tucker |url=https://fee.org/people/jeffrey-a-tucker |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220728060809/https://fee.org/people/jeffrey-a-tucker/ |archive-date=July 28, 2022 |access-date=December 20, 2017 |website=Foundation for Economic Education |publisher=}}{{cite web

|url=http://lfb.org/what-do-you-mean-liberal/

|title=What Do You Mean, Liberal?

|author=Chris Campbell

|publisher=Laissez Faire Books

|date=April 5, 2016

|access-date=May 27, 2016

|archive-date=November 5, 2019

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105154053/https://lfb.org/what-do-you-mean-liberal/

|url-status=dead

}}

Tucker became Editorial Director of the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) in late 2017.{{cite web|url=https://www.aier.org/jeffrey-tucker-aier-editorial-director|access-date=23 Dec 2017|title=Jeffrey Tucker, AIER Editorial Director|date=December 22, 2017 |publisher=American Institute for Economic Research}} As of 2021, he is listed as an independent editorial consultant at AIER.{{cite web |date=May 2, 2021 |title=Jeffrey A. Tucker |url=https://www.aier.org/staffs/jeffrey-tucker/ |accessdate=May 30, 2021 |website=American Institute for Economic Research |publisher=}}

In 2013, Tucker wrote "Bitcoin for Beginners," a primer about the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, in which he described it as solving the problems of double spending and single point of failure.{{cite web |date=April 1, 2013 |title=Bitcoin for Beginners |url=https://fee.org/articles/bitcoin-for-beginners/ |access-date=May 27, 2016 |website=Foundation for Economic Education}} He has been interviewed on the subject by Reason at the 2013 Freedom Fest{{cite news | url=http://reason.com/reasontv/2013/08/17/jeffrey-tucker-freedom-fest | title=How Bitcoin is Reinventing The Monetary System: Q&A with Laissez Faire Books' Jeffrey Tucker | date=August 17, 2013 |first1=Matt | last1=Welch | authorlink1=Matt Welch | first2=Anthony L. | last2=Fisher | access-date=May 27, 2016}} and Fox Business Channel.{{cite news |date=May 11, 2015 |title=Nasdaq embracing Bitcoin technology |url=http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/4230282206001/nasdaq-embracing-bitcoin-technology/?#sp=show-clips |access-date=May 27, 2016 |work=Fox Business}} Tucker's 2015 book Bit by Bit is devoted to Bitcoin and other products of the "information economy".{{cite web | url=https://www.wichitaliberty.org/wichitalibertytv/jeffrey-tucker-bit-by-bit-how-p2p-is-freeing-the-world/ | last=Weeks | first=Bob | title= Jeffrey Tucker and Bit by Bit: How P2P Is Freeing the World | date=October 5, 2015}} In 2018 he became a research affiliate of the Blockchain Innovation Hub, a study center at RMIT University.

In 2018, Tucker endorsed Liberland, a micronation claimed on a disputed sandbank between Croatia and Serbia that accepts the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum.{{cite news |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/101590393/welcome-to-liberland-the-nation-that-bitcoin-built |title=Welcome to Liberland, the nation that bitcoin built |work=Stuff |date=2018-02-20 |accessdate=2021-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121092929/https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/101590393/welcome-to-liberland-the-nation-that-bitcoin-built |archive-date=2018-11-21 |url-status=dead}}{{cite news |last=Murphy |first=Margi |title=Welcome to Liberland, the nation that bitcoin built |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/02/18/welcome-liberland-nation-bitcoin-built/ |date=2018-02-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230809050255/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/02/18/welcome-liberland-nation-bitcoin-built/ |archive-date=2023-08-09 |newspaper=Telegraph |access-date=2024-02-25}}

Tucker has appeared as a speaker at conferences on Austrian school economics and libertarianism{{cite magazine |author=David Weigel |date=February 17, 2015 |title=Bow Ties and Slam Poetry: This Is Libertarianism in 2015 |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/features/2015-02-17/bow-ties-and-slam-poetry-this-is-libertarianism-in-2015 |access-date=May 27, 2016 |magazine=Bloomberg Businessweek}} including FreedomFest conferences,{{cite web |author=Colin |first=Chris |date=January 31, 2019 |title=Freedom is... |url=https://story.californiasunday.com/freedom |website=The California Sunday Magazine |publisher=}} events of the Free State Project, and the 2016 and 2018 Libertarian Party national convention.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

In 2013, Tucker founded Liberty.me, a "social network and online publishing platform for the liberty minded", and became its CEO (under the title "Chief Liberty Officer"). It launched a successful Indiegogo fundraising campaign in 2013 and began operation in 2014.{{cite web|last1=Gillespie|first1=Nick|last2=Swain|first2=Joshua |title=Jeffrey Tucker on Liberty.me and How the Internet Undermines the Nation-State|url=http://reason.com/reasontv/2014/08/22/jeffrey-tucker|website=Reason TV|date=August 22, 2014|access-date=August 23, 2014}}

Tucker blogged in opposition to social distancing measures and face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, framing them as subservience to "arbitrary and ignorant authority".{{Cite web|last=Kristian|first=Bonnie|date=2020-05-06|title=Why even mask skeptics should want to wear them|url=https://theweek.com/articles/912774/why-even-mask-skeptics-should-want-wear|access-date=2020-08-23|website=theweek.com|language=en|quote=The plaints against masking are several. Perhaps the most common (and distinctly American) is the idea that wearing a mask signals sheepish subservience to an overreaching state. "Adding to my post-lockdown predictions," libertarian author Jeffrey Tucker tweeted Saturday, "the face mask will be rightly regarded as a symbol of obsequious obedience and grotesque compliance with arbitrary and ignorant authority."}}

In 2020, Tucker helped organize the Great Barrington Declaration, signed at AIER, which advocated the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.

In 2021, Tucker founded the nonprofit Brownstone Institute for Social and Economic Research, a think tank that opposes various measures against COVID-19, including masking and vaccine mandates. Senior roles were given to Martin Kulldorff and Jay Bhattacharya, two of the co-authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, which Tucker also helped to organize. The institute has described itself as "the spiritual child" of the Great Barrington Declaration. Writers of Brownstone articles have included Sunetra Gupta, the third co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, Paul E. Alexander, a former Trump administration health official, and George Gilder, a senior resident fellow at AIER.{{Cite web|date=2021-11-11|title=New Institute Has Ties to the Great Barrington Declaration|url=https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/95601|access-date=2021-11-27|website=www.medpagetoday.com|language=en}}{{cite web|title=About Brownstone Institute|url=https://brownstone.org/about/|publisher=Brownstone Institute}} Science-Based Medicine has described the Brownstone Institute as spreading misinformation against vaccines and in favor of disproven treatments.{{Cite web|date=2022-01-24|website=Science-Based Medicine|author=David Gorski|url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-spiritual-child-of-the-great-barrington-declaration-promotes-antivaccine-misinformation/|title=The "spiritual child of the Great Barrington Declaration" promotes antivaccine misinformation}}

Tucker has referred to war as an "alluring illusion" and has been critical of American interventionist foreign policy.{{Cite web|url=https://fee.org/articles/why-is-war-such-an-alluring-illusion/|title = Why is War Such an Alluring Illusion? | Jeffrey A. Tucker|date = April 6, 2017}}

In an interview for California Sunday, Tucker described his "vision of freedom" by recalling a view over São Paulo by night: "As far as my eyes could see, there were lights and buildings and civilization burgeoning — an awesome amount of human knowledge, energy, innovation, creative capacity right in front of me. I began to turn, and it was true over here, and over there, and in every single direction, and I thought, 'That’s it! This world will never be governed. It cannot be governed.' It was beautiful."

Formerly a Southern Baptist, Tucker is a convert to traditionalist Catholicism.Tucker, Jeffrey. [http://www.beliefnet.com/story/198/story_19843_1.html "I Hate Converts (And I Am One)."] Beliefnet.com.Tucker, Jeffrey A. [http://www.reformed.org/webfiles/antithesis/index.html?mainframe=/webfiles/antithesis/v1n5/ant_v1n5_why.html "Why I Left Protestantism for Catholicism."] Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics. July 18, 1996. He was managing editor of the Church Music Association of America journal Sacred Music from 2006 to 2014.[http://www.catholic.com/profiles/jeffrey-tucker "Profile: Jeffrey Tucker." Catholic Answers] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130118224250/http://www.catholic.com/profiles/jeffrey-tucker |date=January 18, 2013 }}Beattie, Trent. [https://archive.today/20120906230737/http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/singing-the-mass/ "Singing the Mass."] National Catholic Register. December 30, 2010.

• Henry Hazlitt: Giant For Liberty (with Llewellyn H. Rockwell and Murray N. Rothbard, 1994, Ludwig von Mises Institute, {{ISBN|978-0-945466-16-1}}): an annotated bibliography of the works of Henry Hazlitt. A Foundation for Economic Education review described the book, which "includes citations of a novel, works on literary criticism, treatises on economics and moral philosophy, several edited volumes, some 16 other books and many chapters in books, plus articles, commentaries, and reviews," as "an apt eulogy of Henry Hazlitt."{{cite journal

|author=Peterson, William

|title=Book Review: Henry Hazlitt: A Giant of Liberty by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., Jeffrey A. Tucker, and Murray N. Rothbard.

|journal=The Freeman

|publisher=Foundation for Economic Education

|date=November 1995

|url=https://fee.org/media/3408/1995-11.pdf

|access-date=May 24, 2016

|archive-date=July 12, 2022

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712104925/https://fee.org/media/3408/1995-11.pdf

|url-status=dead

}}

• Sing Like a Catholic (2009, Church Music Association of America, {{ISBN|978-1-60743-722-2}}): essays on church music
• Bourbon for Breakfast: Living Outside the Statist Quo (2010, Ludwig von Mises Institute, {{ISBN|978-1-933550-89-3}})
• It's a Jetsons World: Private Miracles and Public Crimes (2011, Ludwig von Mises Institute, {{ISBN|978-1-61016-194-7}})
• Hack Your Shower Head: and 10 Other Ways to Get Big Government out of Your Home (2012, Laissez Faire Books, {{ISBN|978-1-62129-063-6}})
• A Beautiful Anarchy: How to Create Your Own Civilization in the Digital Age (2012, Laissez Faire Books, {{ISBN|978-1-62129-041-4}}): on the effects of small business regulation
• Liberty.me: Freedom Is a Do-It-Yourself Project (2014, Liberty.me, {{ISBN|978-1-63069-032-8}})
• Bit by Bit: How P2P is Freeing the World (2015, e-book)
• Advice for Young, Unemployed Workers (2015, pamphlet, Foundation for Economic Education, {{ISBN|978-1-57246-039-3}})
• Right-Wing Collectivism: The Other Threat to Liberty (2017): Addresses the threat of collectivism from the right as well as the far left
• Liberty or Lockdown (2020): Discusses the choice between liberty and COVID-19 lockdowns

He has written for, among others, Journal of Libertarian Studies, The Wall Street Journal, The Journal of Commerce, National Review, The Freeman, Catholic World Report, Crisis, Sacred Music, Newsweek, and Chronicles.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}

• {{Portal-inline|Libertarianism}}

{{reflist}}

{{wikiquote}}

• [https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3Atucker%2C+jeffrey+albert&dblist=638&fq=ap%3A%22tucker%2C+jeffrey+a%22&qt=facet_ap%3A Jeffrey Tucker] at WorldCat
• [http://www.newsweek.com/user/16740 Columns at Newsweek]
• [https://fee.org/people/jeffrey-a-tucker/ Books by Jeffrey Tucker (in e-book format)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220728060809/https://fee.org/people/jeffrey-a-tucker/ |date=July 28, 2022 }}
• [https://www.lewrockwell.com/author/jeffrey-tucker/ Essays at LewRockwell.com]
• [http://www.crisismagazine.com/author/tucker Columns in Crisis magazine]
• [https://www.c-span.org/person/?67396/JeffreyATucker Appearances] on C-SPAN
• [https://brownstone.org Brownstone Institute] home page

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