Politics

Republican Phonies

by Sheldon Richman November 12, 2010

For freedom’s sake, divided government beats monolithic government. Even a casual look at recent history confirms that truth. Therefore advocates of freedom will gladly accept bitter partisan rivalry if that’s what it takes to arrest the growth of Leviathan. Come January we will have divided government. But does that mean anything more than a holding action? Will we see any ...

NPR Flap Shows True Nature of Conservatives

by Laurence M. Vance November 3, 2010

Although it isn’t often that conservatives and Fox News come to the defense of a liberal journalist, I come not to congratulate them, but to condemn them. Award-winning liberal journalist Juan Williams was fired by NPR on October 20 for politically incorrect remarks he made about Muslims on The O’Reilly Factor. Fox News then granted him a $2 million, three-year ...

Today’s Election: Progressive Socialists vs. Conservative Con Men

by Scott McPherson November 2, 2010

Before nagging your neighbor about his yard, it’s not a bad idea to take a look at your own first. It’s like making sure you’re not in a glass house before throwing a rock. But these pearls of wisdom aren’t of much interest to a lot of people calling themselves “conservatives” these days. Whether it’s Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Newt ...

Obama Advisor Sunstein’s Peril to Freedom

by James Bovard November 1, 2010

Cass Sunstein is the chief of the Obama administration’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. As Salon’s Glenn Greenwald noted earlier this year, Sunstein “has long been one of Barack Obama’s closest confidants.” His values are probably guiding the Obama administration far more than most Americans realize. Sunstein, formerly a law professor at the University of Chicago, has long spearheaded ...

Have Republicans Finally Seen the Light?

by Laurence M. Vance October 29, 2010

How many Republicans does it take to screw up a light bulb? If you said ninety-five then you must be familiar with the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 that mandates the phase-out of incandescent light bulbs. Although it is true that Republicans never reverse the legislative damage done by Democrats, sometimes they do make a lame, half-hearted attempt ...

Hypocrisy’s Coming Election-Day Triumph

by Sheldon Richman October 22, 2010

By nearly all accounts, Republicans are poised for a big win, even by historical midterm standards, in the November 2 congressional elections. Many candidates backed by the Tea Party should have a big day. But what will these victories mean for people who are alarmed by the growth of the welfare-warfare state? Not much, I’m sorry to say. Who among the ...

Clinton’s Forgotten Dictatorial Tendencies

by James Bovard October 1, 2010

It seems like a century since Bill Clinton was president of this country. Unfortunately, the abuses of George W. Bush and the pratfalls of Barack Obama are causing many people to raise their estimate of Clinton’s presidency. But he earned his disdain fair and square, and a brief reminder of his abuses is in order. From concocting new prerogatives to ...

The Incessant Growth of Government Bureaucracy, Part 2

by Gregory Bresiger October 1, 2010

Part 1 | Part 2 A government bureaucracy may be difficult to establish, as supporters of expanded Obama health-care socialism discovered. But the friends of collectivism should take heart. No matter how many times people reject their calls to venture farther down the “road to serfdom,” no matter how many times American outrage is expressed at town halls across ...

The Pledge to America Is a Joke (Audio)

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 30, 2010

with Jim Bohannan on The Jim Bohannon Show // _uacct = "UA-2692464-1"; urchinTracker(); //

Immigration Restrictions: A Solution in Search of a Problem (video)

by Bryan Caplan September 17, 2010

On September 13, 2010, Bryan Caplan gave the following speech at The Future of Freedom Foundations Economic Liberty Lecture Series. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.

Obama: Neoconservative

by Sheldon Richman September 13, 2010

President Barack Obama was far from candid when he announced the end of combat operations in Iraq last month, but he did nothing to hide the fact that he is a neoconservative when it comes to the American empire. That was not lost on leading neoconservatives, who tend to prefer Republicans. William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, told a ...

Restricting Presidential Wartime Powers

by Andy Worthington September 7, 2010

Under President George W. Bush, a small group of advisors tied closely to Vice President Dick Cheney argued that neither Congress nor the judiciary should attempt to prevent the president from doing whatever he felt was appropriate as the commander-in-chief of a “war on terror” that was declared after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. As Sidney Blumenthal ...