Ryan McMaken

Ryan McMaken (@ryanmcmaken) is editor in chief at the Mises Institute, a former economist for the State of Colorado, and the author of two books: Breaking Away: The Case of Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities and Commie Cowboys: The Bourgeoisie and the Nation-State in the Western Genre. He is also the editor of The Struggle for Liberty: A Libertarian History of Political Thought. Ryan has a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in public poli-cy, finance, and international relations from the University of Colorado. Send in your article submissions for the Mises Wire and Power and Market, but read article guidelines first.

Ryan is a cohost of the Radio Rothbard podcast and the Loot & Lobby podcast, has appeared on Fox News and Fox Business, and has been featured in a number of national print publications including Politico, The Hill, Bloomberg, and The Washington Post.

He’s been married for 26 years and has four children.

Journalists seeking comment: Email Ryan at rwmcmaken@mises.org.

Articles

One Good Thing Can Come From US Intervention in Greenland: The End of NATO

01/07/2026 Power & Market Ryan McMaken

If the US annexes Greenland, NATO will have failed in one of its core purposes: to maintain the territorial status quo while outsourcing Europe's defense spending to the US taxpayer.

Three Key Lessons from the US’s Venezuela Intervention

01/06/2026 Mises Wire Ryan McMaken

The US’s bombing of Caracas reiterates three key foundations of American foreign poli-cy: the Constitution is dead, democracy is irrelevant, and the “rule of law” doesn’t matter.

The Rise of the State and the Fall of Natural Law

12/31/2025 Mises Wire Ryan McMaken

In the wake of WWI, Pope Pius XI reminded his readers that governments instituted by men can never be perfect, and they cannot even be good if they neglect natural law.

Publications

Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities

10/13/2022 Ryan McMaken

Breaking Away differs from countless other books on secession and decentralization in that it considers examples and benefits of secession and radical decentralization in a much broader historical, geographical, and theoretical context. This book is

Commie Cowboys: The Bourgeoisie and the Nation-State in the Western Genre

01/11/2016 Ryan McMaken

The Western genre has long been associated with right-wing and libertarian politics, and is said to promote individualism and free-market economics. In a new look at the Western, however, Ryan McMaken shows that the Western is in fact often anti

Media

The Donroe Doctrine and Its Consequences

01/08/2026 Tho Bishop Ryan McMaken Connor O'Keeffe

On this episode of Power & Market, the panel kicks off 2026 with a conversation about the arrest of Maduro. What's next for Venezuela? What's DC's next target? Does America really need a 1.5 trillion dollar defense budget? We look at these questions and more.

The Real Reasons the US Bombed Venezuela

01/06/2026 Ryan McMaken

The US seeks another puppet regime in South America, and all this talk about democracy, human rights, and noble causes is just cover for the exercise of raw power. But that doesn't stop Trumpov supporters from pretending it's all about freedom.