Coming Assaults on America by Sheldon Richman October 1, 2002 What do the coming war against Iraq and the pending threat to medical privacy have in common? Both give the lie to the belief that we Americans live under a system of limited, representative government. The civics textbooks are hooey, but they serve a purpose as a sedative for the next ...
Capitalism, Scandal, and the Government by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 2002 Every few years voices are heard heralding and warning of a “crisis of capitalism.” The 20th century saw an unending series of such voices of doom that the free market had shown its injustice towards and exploitation of the ordinary working man or that free enterprise fostered ’merchants of death” who dragged ...
Packing Heat, Part 2 by Sheldon Richman October 1, 2002 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 As I described last month, Jeffrey Snyder’s path-breaking article, “A Nation of Cowards” (The Public Interest, Fall 1993), transformed guns and gun control from abstract philosophical and policy issues into a personal moral issue. We cannot — morally or existentially — truly delegate our right and responsibility to ...
Bush, Rumsfeld, and Orwell by Sheldon Richman October 1, 2002 It has long been clear that little of what government leaders say and do makes no sense unless you understand that they think we are idiots, uninformed, or both. Could there be better evidence than recent remarks by President Bush and Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld? Let’s start with the much-admired Secretary ...
The Folly of Protecting Teens from Work by James Bovard October 1, 2002 Protecting teenagers from work is one of the worst things you can do to kids. Some child-labor groups are campaigning to impose new restrictions on freedom of contract. While some prohibitionists might have good intentions, pervasive restrictions on youth labor would be a menace both to kids and to society. The Associated Press reported that 73 teens were killed on ...
Can Gun Control Reduce Crime? Part 1 by Benedict D. LaRosa October 1, 2002 Part 1 | Part 2 In the wake of the shootings at Columbine High School in April 1999 and other schools across the country, there has been a chorus calling for more gun-control measures to prevent similar incidents and to control crime in general. Setting aside the obvious emotional response that such tragedies always engender, is it realistic to ...
Some Reflections on the Second Amendment, Part 1 by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 2002 Part 1 | Part 2 For millions of Americans the Second Amendment and its guarantee of the right of the individual to bear arms appears irrelevant and practically anachronistic. It seems a throwback to those earlier days of the Wild West, when many men, far from the law and order provided by the town sheriff and circuit judge, had ...
Book Review: Should We Have Faith in Central Banks? by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 2002 Should We Have Faith in Central Banks? by Otmar Issing (London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 2002); 53 pages; $12. One of the momentous events of the new century has been the establishment of a single, common currency for many of the member nations of the European Union. The German mark, the French franc, the Austrian schilling, the Italian lira, the Irish ...
Whither Congress? by Scott McPherson September 23, 2002 As President Bush rushes the nation headlong into another foreign war, an important question should be finally and unambiguously answered: What exactly were those old gentlemen talking about in 1787 when they wrote that Congress, not the president, held the power to declare war? Are we to believe that they actually ...
Make Him an Offer He Can’t Accept by Sheldon Richman September 16, 2002 President Bush is no Don Corleone. When the Godfather wanted something, he would make an uncooperative person an offer he couldn’t refuse. Mr. Bush, following his predecessor, makes his adversary an offer he can’t accept. Former President Clinton did this with President Milosevic of Yugoslavia before launching a war over Kosovo. Clinton made demands — including ...
What Dionne Warwick Reveals about the Drug War by Sheldon Richman September 13, 2002 The American Inquisition got another one last month. Singer Dionne Warwick, who was found with nearly a dozen marijuana cigarettes at the Miami airport recently, had her charges dropped in return for promising to undergo “drug treatment” and to make anti-drug public-service announcements. Let’s not dwell on the fact that a ...
Repeal the Corporate Tax by Sheldon Richman September 13, 2002 Why not repeal the corporate income tax? Everyone’s worried about falling stock values, so let’s remove one of the big burdens on corporate profits: the corporate income tax. We shouldn’t do this as a short-term quick fix. The repeal should be permanent. What? you’re saying. Let those dirty corporations get ...