For Liberty, which he started in 1987, he wrote under his own name as well as several pseudonyms: as "Chester Alan Arthur" he engaged in political reportage and commentary, and as "Ethan O.

Bradford was a consequentialist[2] who favored a pragmatic approach to libertarian philosophy, grounding his limited government beliefs in a view of individual rights as social constructs, rather than a result of natural law.

[4] Many libertarian writers found a home at Liberty magazine, and the monthly continues to be edited and published by his good friend, Stephen Cox, and Bradford's widow, Kathy.

In later years, Bradford became notable for his published criticisms of the Libertarian Party, whom he viewed as excessively didactic and electorally ineffective.

In 1999, Bradford was a founding coeditor of The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies along with Stephen D. Cox and Chris Matthew Sciabarra.