http://www.fff.org/ Commentary and A/V feeds from the Future of Freedom Foundation en-us 2006 Tue, 23 May 2006 12:17:00 EST 91 40 http://www.fff.org http://www.fff.org/images/logo.gif fff@fff.org 1 http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0804a.asp Jacob Hornberger The demise of conscience among the American people is even more pronounced in the context of the warfare state than it is in that of the welfare state. The best example of this phenomenon can be seen in the invasion and occupation of Iraq. By examining Iraq, we can see how embracing the warfare state has stultified the conscience of the American people.... Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0805d.asp Gregory Bresiger Sen. William Roth, a fiscal conservative who was one of the authors of the Kemp-Roth tax-cut bill of the early 1980s, correctly linked the IRS's imperious, lawless actions to Congress's spending addictions. More than occasional IRS scandals demonstrated how dangerous this agency was. But lawmakers generally had little interest in what was going on. The IRS, which Roth's 1990s congressional investigation found set quotas for bringing in money, was essential.... Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0804f.asp Gregory Bresiger You may think you're safe from the taxing authorities, but you're not safe. Whether you're one of the high and mighty or just a person of modest means, you're not safe.... Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0804b.asp Sheldon Richman Any remaining pretense that the Republican Party is the party of free markets has been blown to smithereens in the election season. Even the lip service to free enterprise has become scarce, as the major candidates threw their arms around flagrantly statist economic proposals.... Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0807c.asp Sheldon Richman Poor Max Sanders. The 19-year-old University of Minnesota student faces five years in jail and a $10,000 fine; he is accused of putting his vote in the presidential election up for auction on eBay. He started the bidding at $10. The charge is bribery, treating, and soliciting.... Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0804g.asp George C. Leef With Radicals for Capitalism, veteran libertarian journalist Brian Doherty (whose work is most often found in Reason) gives the world what he calls a "freewheeling history of the modern American libertarian movement." That is the book's subtitle and it fully lives up to it. Doherty paints a picture of the libertarian movement and, often in great detail, the people who have driven it forward. In doing so, he fills a great need. Although there are many books by libertarians about their vision for a society in which coercion has become a barbarous relic of the past, until now there has been no book providing a survey of the entire movement. Radicals for Capitalism is not just a "who did and said what" kind of history, but an inspiring tribute to the extraordinary men and women who refused to abandon the ideals of liberty. With verve, wit, and devotion, this book tells their story.... Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0807b.asp Jacob Hornberger Contrary to popular myth, the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were not great Americans. Instead, they were great Englishmen. In fact, they were as much English citizens as Americans today are American citizens. It's easy to forget that the revolutionaries in 1776 were people who took up arms against their own government.... Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0807a.asp Sheldon Richman Advocates of freedom dodged a bullet last week when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the right to keep and bear arms, the subject of the Second Amendment, is an individual, not a collective, right. Opponents of gun ownership have long maintained that the Amendment's reference to the militia indicates that the right does not apply to private persons.... Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0804c.asp James Bovard American democracy is capsizing as a result of the vast increase in the number of government dependents and government employees. This has created a voting bloc that overwhelms every other potential force. H.L. Mencken quipped in the 1930s that the New Deal divided America into "those who work for a living and those who vote for a living" -- a division truer now than ever before.... Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0803a.asp Jacob Hornberger As libertarians have long pointed out, both the welfare state and the warfare state have brought immeasurable damage to our country.... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0806h.asp Sheldon Richman Why would anyone think that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is the peace candidate?... Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0804e.asp Doug Bandow Milton Friedman also was adept at proposing practical solutions to practical problems. He believed strongly in liberty, but he recognized that he needed to promote it practically. Nowhere was his ability in this area more evident than in his work on the All-Volunteer Force (AVF). He served on the official Gates Commission, which was charged with studying the feasibility of a volunteer military. He also worked well with like-minded advocates, such as Martin Anderson in the White House.... Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0803f.asp Doug Bandow It has been more than a year since Milton Friedman passed from our lives. What a world he departed. The desire for liberty burns ever brightly. The forces of statism resist ever strongly. How we miss his presence.... Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0806e.asp Sheldon Richman Once in a while the fading embers of freedom flare with defiant vigor. That happened the other day when the U.S. Supreme Court sternly informed the Bush administration that it may not hold people suspected of being terrorists indefinitely without charge and without judicial review at its prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.... Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0803g.asp Wendy McElroy "Good Night, and Good Luck" was the television sign-off of Edward R. Murrow (1908–1965) -- the journalistic pioneer often considered to be the finest broadcast news commentator produced by America.... Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0806d.asp U.S. Supreme Court The following is an excerpt from the majority opinion in yesterday's Supreme Court decision in Boumediene v. Bush. Citations to books and articles have been removed to facilitate reading.... Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0806c.asp Anthony Gregory The following is based on a talk delivered on Saturday, June 7, 2008, at the Future of Freedom Foundation's conference, Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties, in Reston, Virgina.... Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0806b.asp FFF Photos from "Restoring the Republic" on June 6, 2008... Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0803b.asp Sheldon Richman It’s a sad sign of the times that political candidates — even those who profess to be proponents of limited government — feel they have to one-up their rivals in showing how hard they would crack down on people who have the gall to come to the United States without the government’s permission. “Border security” is the odious buzzword of the day, and one of the worst things you can be called in the presidential race is “soft on immigration.” It’s a half-step from “soft on terrorism.”... Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0804d.asp Philippe Legrain Opponents of immigration marshal a battery of objections to opening up borders. They claim that it would cost jobs, pose a huge welfare burden, and threaten Americans’ way of life — even their security. Yet these fears are mostly nonsense.... Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0803d.asp Philippe Legrain Imagine you were born in a part of the country where farming was no longer productive, or in a rust-belt town where the local factories had closed. You hear of good jobs in California and Colorado, so you decide to move. How would you feel if, when you arrived at the state line, you were denied the opportunity of a better life because you happened to have been born in a different state? Welcome to what it is like to be Mexican.... Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0802a.asp Jacob Hornberger Another revolutionary aspect of the enemy-combatant doctrine was how the discretionary power to treat suspected terrorists, including Americans, as enemy combatants was acquired by the president and the Pentagon. Despite the assumption of this monumental power by the executive branch, there never was a constitutional amendment authorizing it. Initially, there wasn't even a law enacted by Congress granting such power to the president. Instead, the president simply announced that as a result of 9/11 and his "war on terrorism," he and the military now possessed the power to treat anybody suspected of terrorism -- American or foreigner -- as an enemy combatant.... Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0806a.asp Sheldon Richman Barack Obama's call for talks with "our enemies" is shaping up as a major bone of contention between him and John McCain in the presidential campaign. As usual, both the Democrat and the Republican get it wrong.... Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805l.asp Jacob Hornberger Our exciting June 6-8 conference "Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties" begins next week! There's still time to register. We have now opened up the conference to daily registration -- $195 for one day and $360 for two days, including 3 meals per day at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia, and all the daily speeches.... Fri, 30 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805k.asp Sheldon Richman Why do people get upset with Barack Obama for not wearing a flag pin on his lapel or with Michelle Obama for suggesting she's not been proud of her country until now? Why is failing to "support the troops" regarded as a sin?... Fri, 30 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0803e.asp James Glaser Now we come to the very reason that veterans get PTSD. More than likely, there was a traumatic experience or experiences that, you might say, overwhelmed them.... Wed, 28 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805j.asp Ron Paul Sheldon Richman's Tethered Citizens: Time to Repeal the Welfare State is precisely the type of scholarly work needed to wake up the American people to the dangers posed by the welfare state. Richman demolishes the popular myth that the welfare state was a natural outgrowth of the Founding Fathers' conception of individual liberty. In fact, the ideology behind the welfare state is a 180-degree turn from the individualism embraced by the Founders. The men who led the American Revolution and drafted the Constitution understood that people flourish best under conditions of freedom -- and that a centralized state has neither the legitimate authority nor the competence to care for the needy. Instead, the Founders realized that a state which attempts to provide security will end up destroying both liberty and the economic prosperity necessary to enhance individual security.... Mon, 26 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805i.asp Jacob Horberger If I were asked to rank libertarians for integrity, courage, and devotion to principle, I would place James Bovard and Sheldon Richman in a tie for first place. One of my personal highlights of being president of The Future of Freedom Foundation is having had the honor of working closely with both Jim and Sheldon for some 15 years in the advancement of liberty. Both of them have long been regular monthly contributors to our journal Freedom Daily, and both of them are returning as speakers for our exciting upcoming June 6-8 conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties."... Fri, 16 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0803c.asp James Bovard The doctrine of "democratic peace" now provides vital camouflage for the American war machine. Michael Novak, a theologian with the pro-war American Enterprise Institute, observed, "Democracy is the new name for peace." The idea that democracies never fight wars against each other has become axiomatic for many scholars. Prof. Jack Levy commented in 1989 that the democratic-peace doctrine is "as close as anything we have to an empirical law in international relations."... Fri, 23 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805h.asp Mark Richards Over the years many people -- family members, co-workers, and others -- with whom I have come in contact have asked me why I think and believe what I do with regard to politics, economics, history, philosophy, and related topics. To put it another way, these people are curious as to what influences and experiences in my life have led me to be an advocate of the libertarian philosophy of individual freedom with regard to the issues of the day.... Wed, 21 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805g.asp Sheldon Richman Many Americans are spellbound by the historic contest for the Democratic presidential nomination between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Forgetting the political context, it is indeed something spectacular, even inspiring. A woman and a black man have reached a pinnacle that just a few years ago seemed impossibly far off.... Wed, 21 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0802e.asp James Glaser Last month I wrote about the assertiveness training in the Tomah Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) program and how I thought it helped me. This month, it's dreams and relaxation therapy. I am purposely saving the trauma group for last, both because it was the most important part of the program and because I don't really want to talk about it, and putting it off seems like a good idea.... Mon, 19 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805f.asp Jacob Horberger As most everyone knows, Congressman Ron Paul is revolutionizing American politics arena with his run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. Although he lags John McCain in delegate count, Paul has succeeded in bringing libertarian ideas into the forefront of political debate and discussion all across America. From the drug war to the welfare state to interventionism abroad, Americans are discussing libertarian principles as a key to the future of our nation. And the Ron Paul Revolution is just beginning, as evidenced by the fact that his new book The Revolution: A Manifesto is in the top 10 best-selling books on both Amazon.com and the New York Times.... Fri, 16 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805f.asp Jacob Horberger As most everyone knows, Congressman Ron Paul is revolutionizing American politics arena with his run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. Although he lags John McCain in delegate count, Paul has succeeded in bringing libertarian ideas into the forefront of political debate and discussion all across America. From the drug war to the welfare state to interventionism abroad, Americans are discussing libertarian principles as a key to the future of our nation. And the Ron Paul Revolution is just beginning, as evidenced by the fact that his new book The Revolution: A Manifesto is in the top 10 best-selling books on both Amazon.com and the New York Times.... Fri, 16 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0802g.asp George Leef Many years ago, I agreed to be a guest on a talk-radio program originating in California. The host wanted a speaker who would defend immigration. After I explained my position, the host opened the call-in lines, and for the next hour, I was subjected to a relentless barrage of attacks by irate callers. I was called a moron for not understanding that the "invading army" of immigrants was devastating the state. I was told, for instance, that there were places in California where good English-speakers would have trouble communicating because Spanish had become the dominant language. A real disaster.... Fri, 16 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0802f.asp William Anderson Watch any talking head, and when the subject comes to energy, one can expect to hear the mantra, Americans are "addicted" to oil, and especially "foreign oil." This is repeated as though the repetition is proof that the premise is true... Wed, 14 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805e.asp Anthony Gregory I am honored to be returning as a speaker to the second annual Future of Freedom Foundation conference on foreign policy and civil liberties, which takes place June 6 through June 8 at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia, and, as last year, features a fantastic array of speakers.... Mon, 12 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805d.asp Sheldon Richman How many times will people be fooled by a presidential contender's claim that he is a "new kind of politician"?... Mon, 12 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805c.asp Jacob Hornberger Laurence Vance is one of the most courageous libertarians I have ever known. A devout Christian, he has been relentless and uncompromising in emphasizing two important points about U.S. foreign policy: (1) Since the U.S. has waged a war of aggression, rather than a defensive war, against Iraq, the killing of the Iraqi people has violated both moral principles and the laws of God; and (2) Obedience to orders does not excuse a soldier's violations of the laws of God.... Fri, 09 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0802b.asp Sheldon Richman What's more obnoxious than a person who constantly whines about the real and imagined injustices committed against him while ignoring his own injustices against others?... Fri, 09 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0802d.asp Scott McPherson "The transfer, by the parents, of so much of their own authority and responsibility to the schools is in most ways a cowardly and contemptible business." -- John Holt, What Do I Do Monday?... Wed, 07 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0802c.asp James Bovard Americans are taught to expect their elected leaders to be relatively honest. But it wasn't always like that. In the mid 1800s, people joked about political candidates who claimed to have been born in a log cabin that they built with their own hands. This jibe was spurred by William Henry Harrison's false claim of a log-cabin birth in the 1840 presidential campaign.... Mon, 05 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805b.asp Jacob Hornberger Ever since I discovered libertarianism, two of my foremost heroes have been -- and continue to be -- Lew Rockwell and Bob Higgs, who will both be speaking at our exciting upcoming June 6-8 conference "Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties."... Fri, 02 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805a.asp Sheldon Richman I can predict the winner of the presidential election even now: the government. In a one-party system, that's how things work. One-party system? Yes. The American political scene makes much more sense if you think of the two parties as two divisions of the same party.... Fri, 02 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801a.asp Jacob Hornberger Since an attack on Iran could result in heightened "war-on-terrorism" emergencies here in the United States, this would be a good time to review the issue of "enemy combatants," especially as the concept applies to American citizens. To analyze the critical importance of the "enemy-combatant" doctrine, we will examine the cases of two people who were incarcerated as "enemy combatants" -- Jose Padilla, an American citizen, and Ali al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar. Both were taken into custody on American soil, labeled "enemy combatants," and incarcerated by the U.S. military.... Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801f.asp Edward Elmer Governments are inveterate despoilers of the freedom, wealth, and lives of their citizens. As consolation, the citizens usually receive little more than lofty words and pretentious sentiments from the political leaders in charge of the looting, murder, and enslavement. Less commonly, governments produce something concrete, such as a marble palace for the ruler or an alabaster temple for the commemoration of some supposedly noble public goal... Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0804f.asp Jacob Hornberger Joseph Margulies is one of the nation's leading attorneys in the defense of civil liberties, especially since 9/11. Future generations of Americans will forever be indebted to him for his courageous and principled stand against kidnapping, torture, rendition, military tribunals, and other "war on terrorism" infringements on liberty and for his ardent defense of such fundamental procedural rights as due process of law, right to counsel, right to confront witnesses, trial by jury, and habeas corpus.... Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0804e.asp Sheldon Richman As we now know, thanks to the New York Times, the military-industrial complex is well represented in the daily television news coverage of the Iraq and Afghan occupations. Those former generals who seemed generously to have come out of retirement to provide disinterested analysis of the Bush administration's military adventures are neither generous nor disinterested.... Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801d.asp Gregory Bresiger As a public policy, world-saving on the part of the U.S. government may be vulnerable to substantial criticism on the 2008 election trail. Given the debacle in Iraq, world-saving may even have reached its zenith.... Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801h.asp Michael Boldin An article in Newsweek, "Why We Need a Draft: A Marine's Lament," stirred up a bit of a hornets' nest online recently. It was written by a Marine who fought in Fallujah, Iraq, and gave a fairly compelling overview of the practical need for the draft.... Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0804d.asp The Future of Freedom Foundation The Future of Freedom Foundation is now accepting applications for student internships for our June 6-8 conference, "Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties," at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia.... Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801e.asp James Glaser So far I have gone from thinking about needing help with post-traumatic stress, to going to the Minneapolis VA and getting a year of one-on-one sessions with a shrink, and on to an intensive eight-week in-hospital PTSD program at the Tomah, Wisconsin, VA Medical Center.... Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801g.asp Glenn Jacobs During a roundtable debate on a major cable-news outlet about how the Federal Reserve should handle the current credit crunch, one of the economic "experts" made a startling statement. He said, "The Fed has two jobs: to control inflation and to run the economy." That such a statement is considered conventional wisdom is a stark indication of how firmly the ideas of socialism and central planning have taken root in America, and an unfortunate mile marker on Hayek's road to serfdom.... Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801b.asp Sheldon Richman Senator and Republican presidential candidate John McCain scored a standing ovation at one of the presidential debates when he attacked Sen. Hillary Clinton for proposing -- unsuccessfully -- to spend a million taxpayer dollars on a museum commemorating the 1969 Woodstock festival. In an obviously well-planned moment, McCain told the audience,... Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0804b.asp Sheldon Richman President Bush acts like a teenager with a credit card and rich parents. He never sees the bill, so he just buys what he wants and charges it. The problem is that instead of rich parents, this president has debt-ridden taxpayers and a gutted military.... Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801c.asp James Bovard Martial law is perhaps the ultimate stomping of freedom. And yet, on September 30, 2006, Congress passed a provision in a 591-page bill that will make it easy for President Bush to impose martial law in response to a terrorist "incident." It also empowers him to effectively declare martial law in response to what he or other federal officials label a shortfall of "public order" -- whatever that means.... Wed, 09 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0712a.asp Jacob Hornberger Since it is presidential campaign season, we will inevitably be treated to the usual discourse about tax cuts. Some candidates will call for tax cuts, undoubtedly as a way to bribe voters into voting for them. Others will resist the call, undoubtedly in fear that their favorite government program might not receive desired funding. In actuality, all the tax-cut talk will be rather meaningless, especially for advocates of liberty.... Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0804a.asp Sheldon Richman John McCain, the Republican candidate for president who dubiously claims the status of war hero because he was imprisoned and beaten after bombing civilian targets in North Vietnam 40 years ago, apparently wants other young men to have the chance to become war heroes.... Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801i.asp George Leef Who were the good guys? They were people who fought against the collectivization favored by Roosevelt and his "brain trust."... Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0712h.asp George Leef If you ask a random sample of Americans who know (or think they know) something about U.S. history to discuss the twin subjects of the Great Depression and the New Deal, most will say something like this: "The Depression hit the country because capitalism has a tendency to sometimes collapse, but luckily Roosevelt was elected and his brilliant New Deal policies got the economy moving again."... Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803i.asp The Future of Freedom Foundation is pleased to announce that Congressman Ron Paul, who has just been added to the roster of speakers at the Foundation's upcoming June 6-8 conference "Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties," will be awarded The Future of Freedom Foundation's first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award for Advancing Liberty. The award will be presented on Friday night (June 6) of the conference.... Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0712f.asp Scott McPherson In criminal-justice circles there is often discussion of "recidivism," the habitual return to crime. Many in that field believe that by increasing prison sentences, for example, and scaring prisoners into adopting a different career upon their release they can reduce recidivism.... Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803h.asp Sheldon Richman A few years ago, FrontPageMag.com columnist Paul Marek wrote an article titled "Why the Peaceful Majority Is Irrelevant". His thesis was that even if the majority of Muslims abhor violence, it doesn't matter because "the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.... The hard quantifiable fact is, that the 'peaceful majority' is the 'silent majority' and it is cowed and extraneous."... Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0712c.asp James Bovard Many citizens react to their rulers like little kids who recognize that a stranger is acting suspiciously and may be up to no good -- but then decide whether to trust the man depending on the type of candy he pulls from his pockets. It is as if a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup trumps the beady eyes, sweaty forehead, and out-of-season trench coat. Likewise, adults may be wary about a politician -- but if the guy promises free prescription drugs or protection and safety, many take the bait.... Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803g.asp Jacob Hornberger We are extremely honored to have David Henderson speaking at our upcoming June 6-8 conference "Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties." Not only is David one of the most brilliant economic thinkers in the country, he is also among those who is devoting his intellectual energy to moving our country in a better, more freer direction with respect to foreign policy and civil liberties.... Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0712b.asp Sheldon Richman The Right went apoplectic at the skepticism that greeted Gen. David Petraeus's recent testimony about the success of the military escalation in Iraq. It was as though a member of the military was incapable of engaging in spin to support his commander in chief's war policy. How could anyone even for a moment entertain the idea that a high-ranking officer in the U.S. military could say something untrue? President Bush summed up this attitude revealingly when he said it was one thing to attack him, but quite another to question General Petraeus. Are generals above reproach? Why?... Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0712e.asp James Glaser When I started this series I gave the following definition for what Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is, but there are hundreds if not thousands of definitions to choose from if you search them out. I learned from other veterans that each person with PTSD has symptoms that appear to be the same, but when you get to know vets well, you find that their symptoms and their methods of coping with them vary just as much as the traumatic events that caused their stress in the first place.... Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803f.asp Jacob Hornberger A fascinating aspect of government intervention is how it induces people (1) to get embroiled in the crisis environment that the intervention produces, and (2) to feel a vested interest in coming up with a solution to the crisis.... Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803e.asp Jacob Hornberger Glenn Greenwald, who is speaking at our upcoming June 6-8 conference "Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties," writes one of the finest political blogs on the Internet. Every day, with sharpness and clarity he brings people's attention to the politics and consequences of the federal government's attacks on civil liberties. He spares no one, either Democrat or Republican. Moreover, I have never seen anyone more effective in provoking responses from the powerful and influential people he exposes who are instrumental in destroying liberty in America.... Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803d.asp Sheldon Richman When a private company screws up, there is no shortage of people demanding more government intrusion in the marketplace. But when the government screws up, they don't call for less government. They call for more.... Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0711a.asp Jacob Hornberger No matter how much we address the socialism and interventionism that pervade our nation on a domestic level, it will all be for naught if we fail to address the great big elephant in the room -- U.S. foreign policy, including the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. For unless we dismantle the U.S. government's pro-empire, pro-interventionist foreign policy, Americans will continue to suffer a loss of liberty that arguably is greater than that lost as a result of socialism and interventionism under which we suffer at home.... Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803c.asp Tibor Machan Often when some unexpected challenge faces a person, someone asks, "What are you going to do about this?" The answer, frequently delivered with casual confidence, tends to be: "I'll think of something."... Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803b.asp Sheldon Richman In her CNN debate with Sen. Barack Obama in Texas, Sen. Hillary Clinton scoffed at the idea that buying medical insurance should be voluntary. "It would be as though Social Security were voluntary [or] Medicare, one of the great accomplishments of President Johnson, was voluntary.... We would not have a social compact with Social Security and Medicare if everyone did not have to participate. I want a universal health-care plan," she said.... Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803a.asp Jacob Hornberger While I have never personally met Bruce Fein, he is an attorney who has become one of my modern-day heroes. In the post-9/11 environment in which so many lawyers have rolled over and succumbed to the Bush administration's "war on terrorism," Fein has been at the forefront of the battle to defend the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the rule of law, habeas corpus, and civil liberties.... Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0712g.asp Paul Armentano A growing number of political pundits are questioning America's military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and some are beginning to draw parallels to lawmakers' much longer domestic war effort: the so-called war on drugs. The comparison is apropos.... Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0712d.asp Rahul Mahajan Perhaps the most notable thing about the sanctions is the long delay before allowing Iraq to sell oil, its only significant source of external income: four years until passage of UNSCR 986, five until Iraq accepted it, five and a half until oil sales started. Since the United States was seemingly willing to allow some oil sales from as early as August 15, 1991, with passage of UNSCR 706, it seems as if the blame for the delay rests entirely on Saddam Hussein, who was content to watch his people starve for years while he asserted his prerogatives.... Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0711d.asp Rahul Mahajan The mainstream U.S. discourse about sanctions on Iraq has generally oscillated between the two poles marked out by the above statements of Madeleine Albright -- a hard-nosed assessment that U.S. policy objectives are more important than the deaths of children (rarely so honestly stated), and sanctimony about the great U.S. government concern for the Iraqi people combined with crocodile tears about Saddam Hussein's cruelty (which few people contest). Just as the big question with regard to inspections was "Why doesn't he just cooperate and get sanctions lifted?" the big questions regarding sanctions include "Why did he wait so long before agreeing to the Oil for Food program?" and "Why did he spend the money on palaces and weapons instead of feeding his people?"... Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802j.asp Jacob Hornberger We have just gone live with the schedule for our upcoming June 6-8 conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties." See it here: Conference Schedule.... Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0711g.asp Paul Armentano Written by a pair of Appalachian State associate professors -- Matthew Robinson and Renee Scherlen -- Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics seeks to provide an objective, "fair assessment of America's drug war" since the passage of the 1988 federal Anti-Drug Abuse Act. (The law, passed by Congress at the height of the 1980s drug-war Zeitgeist, created the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy -- known colloquially as the "drug czar's" office -- and pronounced, "It is the declared policy of the United States Government to create a Drug-Free America by 1995.")... Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0711f.asp Bendict LaRosa Last year, Virginia Tech University successfully lobbied the state legislature to prohibit concealed-permit holders from carrying a sidearm on campus. At the time, university spokesman Larry Hincker commented,... Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802i.asp Hank Sames The headlines are disturbing and are never-ending. The "war on drugs" has gone on since the Nixon administration in the 1970s and continues today. The "war on terror" is an infant compared with the war on drugs. The drug war is the longest war the United States has ever fought and for sure the most expensive.... Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802h.asp Tibor Machan It is individualism that the American Founders elevated into political prominence and it is individualism that most politicians and governments, including America's, find most annoying because it is the bulwark against arbitrary power.... Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802g.asp Gary Barnett There is an organization that is quietly and secretly becoming very large and powerful. The FBI started this partnership or alliance between the federal government and the private sector in 1996 in Cleveland with a few select people. After September 11, 2001, when the general population replaced their rationality with fear, this organization, called InfraGard, continued growing, and with little notice. By 2005 more than 11,000 members were involved, but as of today, according to the InfraGard website, there are 23,682 members, including FBI personnel. At first glance, many would think this alliance healthy and useful in the fight against "terrorism," but upon further examination, one has to wonder.... Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0711c.asp James Bovard Elections are sometimes portrayed as practically giving people automatic "remote control" on the government. Elections kindly provide a chance for people to pre-program the government for the following years. The government will be based on the popular will, regardless of the ignorance of the populace or the duplicity of the government.... Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802f.asp Rick Lynch With the Supreme Court's decision to examine the constitutionality of D.C.'s gun ban, the nation once again turns to an intense examination of the wording of the Second Amendment. One way to understand an amendment whose words have confused generations is to study its somewhat confusing text. But another way is to examine at whose request the amendment was written.... Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802e.asp Tibor Machan Why do some reporters never manage to become educated in the areas they cover? Consider, for example, a recent piece in Business Week, "A Food Fight over Calorie Counts" (2/11/08).... Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0711b.asp Sheldon Richman How amazing it is to hear how some people still talk about the U.S. occupation of Iraq at this late date. You'd think even the most naive nationalist would have long ago realized that something is terribly wrong -- intrinsically so -- with the U.S. "mission" and that calls for "hanging in there" are preposterous. When will the war boosters learn that no one -- not even the U.S. government -- can manage or reform a society (using that word rather loosely in the case of the ersatz country called Iraq)?... Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0711e.asp James Glaser The Tomah VA Medical Center sits on 173 acres in west central Wisconsin. The PTSD unit there was about 300 miles from my home, and it was a long trip driving down there thinking hard all the way about whether this was the right thing for me. After having spent a year talking to Dr. Russell at the Minneapolis PTSD Clinic, I was ready to get whatever help the VA had to offer. But I kept remembering that everyone was talking about how hard these VA programs were and that getting everything I had hidden from myself out in the open would make things worse for a while.... Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802d.asp Sheldon Richman I don't usually come to the defense of conservatives, but I am perplexed that they are being attacked because they don't support John McCain's presidential bid. Self-anointed Voices of Responsibility are chiding conservative spokesmen and spokeswomen for criticizing McCain on several counts and for going as far as promising to vote for Hillary Clinton if she's the alternative to the Arizona senator.... Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0710a.asp Jacob Hornberger In an op-ed in the July 17, 2007, issue of the Wall Street Journal, Georgetown law professor Randy Barnett stated that President Bush's war on Iraq could be defended on libertarian principles. He argued that the president's attack on Iraq fell under the libertarian principle of self-defense. He also suggested that the reason that the occupation of Iraq has turned out so badly is poor postinvasion planning by U.S. officials.... Fri, 08 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802c.asp Glenn Jacobs Since Barney Clark received the first Jarvik-7 artificial heart in 1982, more than 350 people have used the device, mostly as a temporary measure until they could receive a heart transplant. In addition to his totally artificial heart, Robert Jarvik, the inventor of the Jarvik-7, has developed a ventricular assist device (VAD), the Jarvik 2000, which augments the diseased heart's ability to regulate blood flow. Jarvik's company, Jarvik Heart, develops and manufactures medical devices for the treatment of congestive heart failure.... Wed, 06 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802b.asp Jacob Hornberger One of the positions of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul that mainstream pundits find "wacky" is his call to abolish the Federal Reserve System. Never mind that two Nobel Prize-winning economists -- both libertarians -- called for the same thing. And never mind that the Fed is the entity directly responsible for the debasement of the dollar over the many decades since the Fed was established.... Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802a.asp Gary Barnett It looks like the term "thought police" just might take on a whole new and real meaning. This depends on what happens in the U.S. Senate after receiving House bill H.R. 1555: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. This act (now S-1959 -- Senate version) is now being considered by Senate committees and, if passed by the Senate and signed by the president, will become law. Common sense would indicate that something this vague and dangerous would not make it out of committee, but considering that the House passed it on October 23 with 404 ayes, 6 nays, and 22 present/not voting, I'm not holding my breath. Of course, Ron Paul was one of the 6 nay votes, but that is to be expected.... Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801j.asp Sheldon Richman Not understanding basic economics is dangerous because you're vulnerable to political con games foisted by unscrupulous politicians.... Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801i.asp Jacob Hornberger Make no mistake about it: the central economic problem facing the United States is out-of-control federal spending and the massive federal debt that continues to pile up. As welfare-state spending and warfare-state spending have continued to soar for the past seven years, U.S. officials have gone on a massive borrowing spree to finance their massive spending spree. Since 2000, the national debt has almost doubled -- from $5.67 trillion to $9 trillion.... Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801h.asp Sheldon Richman Republican presidential contender Ron Paul certainly deserves credit for putting the foreign policy of noninterventionism into the public debate. It's about time. For decades U.S. presidents have sought to manage the world in behalf of what they call "American interests," and all it has brought is death, mayhem, anti-Americanism, and a price tag that would blow the average citizen's mind if he fully grasped it.... Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0710b.asp Sheldon Richman Many conservatives dubiously insist that a robustly interventionist foreign policy can coexist with a free-market domestic policy. That's why they have no compunction about supporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while claiming to support limited and unintrusive government at home. On the face of it, these seem highly incompatible. War requires the accumulation and exercise of awesome powers. How can laissez faire be combined with militarism?... Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0710h.asp George Leef For many years, the standard account of the tendency for democratic governments to adopt perverse policies (restrictions on free trade, for example) has centered on the presumed rationality of voters. Most voters are, this explanation goes, rationally ignorant about the content of legislation and the nuts and bolts of politics because their tiny bit of influence -- a single vote and maybe a few letters or emails fired off -- just isn't worth the cost of becoming well informed. On this view, special-interest groups and politicians act like cockroaches, scurrying around in the dark to do their skullduggery. If the lights were to be turned on, they'd be squashed, but for the most part the lights stay off. The rational ignorance of the voters ensures that.... Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801g.asp Jacob Hornberger On June 4, 2007, Jacob Hornberger gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801f.asp Sheldon Richman Consistent advocates of individual liberty often point out that government restrictions on free immigration violate the rights of people not born in the United States. Not only are they denied their freedom to move and improve their lot in life, but if they make it into the United States, they are subjected to police-state raids and exploitation because their illegal status denies them access to justice.... Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0710d.asp Frank Nicosia Democrats and Republicans, pundits, retired military, the media, and other critics of the Iraq war are having the wrong conversation about how to leave Iraq. They and others, including most of the Democratic candidates for president, focus on the Bush administration's lack of "success." We should withdraw or "redeploy" our troops, they assert, because Bush's policy is not working because there has been no "victory." This is similar to the discourse before and after the American withdrawal from Vietnam some three decades ago.... Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0710g.asp Glenn Jacobs Last summer it was announced that federal agents would soon join local authorities in policing New Orleans. In addition, National Guard troops will be staying in New Orleans until November, and Mayor Ray Nagin wants the Louisiana Air National Guard to conduct nightly patrols over the city. The thought of national police, military troops, and helicopters patrolling an American city is eerily reminiscent of a postmodern sci-fi thriller.... Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801e.asp Bart Frazier On June 4, 2007, Bart Frazier gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801d.asp Sheldon Richman One of the great unnoticed curiosities of the presidential campaign is that the party which claims devotion to free enterprise is full-out socialist -- or, more precisely, fascist -- when it comes to energy. Listening to the presidential forum the other night, I was struck by how anti-free market all but one of the candidates are on this matter. (The exception is Ron Paul.)... Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0710c.asp James Bovard Thailand's billionaire prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, was deposed in a coup last year by the country's military. Somchai Hom-la-or, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, recently declared that "Thaksin and his government committed crimes against humanity." Thai lawyers and human-rights activists are suggesting that he be indicted and tried by the International Criminal Code for the thousands of killings committed by Thai police and other agents during his war on drugs.... Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801c.asp Jacob Hornberger Last week television commentators Greta van Susteran and Shepard Smith, treading cautiously and with a bit of trepidation, wondered aloud why their employer, Fox News, was banning Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul from its New Hampshire presidential debate.... Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801b.asp Laurence Vance On June 3, 2007, Laurence Vance gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801a.asp Sheldon Richman "The assassination of Benazir Bhutto was not an attack on this brave woman alone; it was an attack upon democracy, freedom and the United States." This statement by Asa Hutchinson, former undersecretary of homeland security, was typical of the reaction of the American political and media establishments.... Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0710f.asp Lois Kaneshiki In case you haven't heard, many states are passing laws that make it illegal to sell American flags that were not made in the United States. I can hear the sound of labor unions cheering the deed as I write this. However, if America wishes to remain the great nation she is, she should celebrate American flags made in China and, for that matter, anything else foreigners make available to Americans at dirt-cheap prices.... Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0710e.asp James Glaser No veteran wants Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In fact most will fight it for years, and when things really get out of hand, they have to go through the embarrassment of asking the Veterans Administration for help.... Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0709a.asp Jacob Hornberger Practically everywhere we look there is a crisis. Public schooling: crisis. The drug war: crisis. Social Security: crisis. Medicare and Medicaid: crisis. Immigration: crisis. Iraq: crisis. Terrorism: crisis. Federal spending: crisis. The dollar: crisis.... Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0709b.asp Sheldon Richman The news media seemed too preoccupied with Paris Hilton's detention to notice, but a U.S. appeals court in June struck a major blow for liberty. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Bush administration may not declare a U.S. resident -- whether a citizen or not -- an "enemy combatant," throw him in a military prison, and hold him without charge indefinitely -- all without judicial review. Try him in the civilian courts or let him go, the judges said.... Wed, 26 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0709d.asp Bart Frazier One of the more insidious effects of government production of goods and services is that the products that would have been produced in a free market -- and the innovations that would have arisen -- are never seen and therefore are never appreciated. That phenomenon helps to perpetuate the idea that without government intervention, certain projects would never get done or are even downright impossible. But when government extends itself beyond its proper role of protecting individual rights, it cannot be doubted that whatever projects it undertakes, it will always be inefficient and the results frequently disastrous.... Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0709d.asp Bart Frazier One of the more insidious effects of government production of goods and services is that the products that would have been produced in a free market -- and the innovations that would have arisen -- are never seen and therefore are never appreciated. That phenomenon helps to perpetuate the idea that without government intervention, certain projects would never get done or are even downright impossible. But when government extends itself beyond its proper role of protecting individual rights, it cannot be doubted that whatever projects it undertakes, it will always be inefficient and the results frequently disastrous.... Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0712f.asp Jacob Hornberger Conservatives are strange and fascinating creatures. Their minds operate in a strange, Bizarro-like universe in which delusion and deception seem to be considered normal.... Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0712e.asp Sheldon Richman Is waterboarding, known during the Spanish Inquisition as tortura del agua, really torture or not? The question seems to answer itself, but the Bush administration says No. Its critics disagree, noting that the "interrogation technique," which makes a subject physically and mentally react as though he is drowning, has long been regarded as torture by international agreements and outlawed in the United States.... Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0712d.asp Ron Paul On June 3, 2007, Ron Paul gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0712c.asp Joseph Stromberg On June 3, 2007, Joseph Stromberg gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0709c.asp James Bovard Politicians have long used moral doggerel to make citizens docile. Though President Bush is often verbally inept, he has hit the same chords his predecessors played to sway Americans to glorify government workers as moral icons worthy of gratitude and respect.... Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0709f.asp Anthony Gregory "Mr. Speaker, peace is always superior to war," said Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) on the House floor on September 18, 2002, six months before President Bush took America to war with Iraq. This viewpoint comes through consistently in his foreign-policy speeches to Congress, spanning the years 1976 to 2006, now collected together in his book "A Foreign Policy of Freedom: Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship."... Wed, 12 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0712b.asp Sheldon Richman We can all sleep easier today. Any plans President George W. Bush may have had to attack Iran were dealt a major blow by the news that U.S. intelligence now believes Iran stopped trying to develop nuclear weapons in 2003. That, by the way, was two years before Mahmoud "The New Hitler" Ahmadinejad became president of Iran (a post that does not include in its job description commander of the armed forces).... Mon, 10 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0712a.asp Bob Barr On June 4, 2007, Bob Barr gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 07 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0709e.asp Wendy McElroy Liberty first appeared on August 6, 1881, from Boston, where Tucker worked as a journalist with the Boston Globe; later, in 1892, Liberty moved to New York City, where it was published until its demise in 1907.... Fri, 07 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0708e.asp Wendy McElroy The first issue of the radical individualist periodical Liberty (1881-1908) opened with the words,... Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0708a.asp Jacob Hornberger It is impossible to overstate the fundamental differences between the foreign-policy philosophy of our American ancestors and the foreign-policy mindset that guides our country today. The philosophy of our ancestors was nicely summed up in the Fourth of July address to Congress in 1821 by John Quincy Adams.... Mon, 03 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711o.asp Ted Galen Carpenter On June 4, 2007, Ted Galen Carpenter gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0708f.asp Mae M. Ngai "Made in America -- by immigrants" and "We too have a dream" read signs at the May 1 [2006] marches across the country. By invoking an American ideal, today's newcomers are staking their claim as the latest generation of nation-builders. But their critics object to this appeal to history; they resent comparisons to previous generations of immigrants, who were legal.... Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711n.asp Tibor Machan Skiers sometimes die, as do mountain climbers and motorcyclists and bicyclists, because what they do routinely is dangerous, risky. Indeed, there is very little in human life that does not entail some measure of risk, even fatal risk.... Wed, 28 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711m.asp Sheldon Richman One gets the feeling that even the White House realizes the mess it's made of Iraq. The other day the newspapers reported that the Bush administration has scaled back its objectives rather substantially. We might call it Iraq 3.0. First the plan was to create a democratic paradise which, domino-like, would spread freedom throughout the Middle East. When that didn't work, the administration shifted to simply bringing some kind of order to Iraq, reconciling the three largest groups -- Shi'a, Sunni, and Kurd.... Wed, 28 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711l.asp Jacob Hornberger The Future of Freedom Foundation is seeking your end-of-year financial support. We are fighting harder than ever to move our country in a better, freer, and more peaceful, prosperous, and harmonious direction. We need your generous support to continue spreading ideas on liberty far and wide.... Mon, 26 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711k.asp Sheldon Richman Democratic presidential candidates are tripping over the driver's-licenses-for-illegal-aliens issue like a bunch of old slapstick vaudevillians.... Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711j.asp Jacob Hornberger It would be difficult to find a better example of federal heavy-handedness than the recent six-hour federal raid on NORFED, the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve and Internal Revenue Code. In fact, it would be virtually impossible to distinguish the NORFED raid from similar raids conducted by Soviet and Chinese communist officials against private businesses operating in those countries.... Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0708b.asp Sheldon Richman It is always amusing to hear conservatives complain -- as they are complaining now and used to complain during the Vietnam War -- that if it weren't for the politicians, the generals could win America's wars. Those with this mindset believe the politicians are always getting in the way by subordinating military considerations to -- ugh! -- political considerations. Politicians, leave those generals alone!... Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711i.asp Joanne Mariner On June 3, 2007, Joanne Mariner gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711h.asp Tibor Machan When both life and property are threatened, there is much talk about how property is only stuff, easy to replace, so one should be concerned only or primarily with life. There are even those who disparage the right to private property, claiming it is not really a human right at all. Some prominent academics have been calling ownership itself a myth, claiming that no one really owns anything and all wealth belongs to government that's supposed to manage it for the collective or public good. (See Murphy and Nagel, The Myth of Ownership [2002].)... Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711g.asp Scott McPherson I sent a pro-gun commentary from a British newspaper to a liberal friend of mine, and he replied that if we just banned the manufacture of firearms on a worldwide level there wouldn't be any crime or genocides like the one going on in Darfur. He then suggested that I had joined a militia group. I replied,... Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711f.asp Bart Frazier Every year the United States becomes less free; the state controls more of our lives, takes more of our money, and takes from us more choices of how we are to live our lives. This is not the result of some government plot to establish a dictatorship but simply the natural progression of the state. Unless freedom is defended diligently, it disappears and is replaced by the police state.... Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711e.asp Sheldon Richman The voters of Utah said no to school vouchers on Tuesday. More than 60 percent of voters refused to ratify a bill passed earlier by the state legislature. It would have provided taxpayer-funded vouchers for each government-school student, ranging from $500 to $3,000, depending on family income. Students currently in private schools, unless they came from low-income families, would have been ineligible.... Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711d.asp Joseph Margulies On June 2, 2007, Joseph Margulies gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 09 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711c.asp Gary D. Barnett Today I received my fourth-quarter 2007 Anti-Money Laundering Training Program notice. After my "mandatory" compliance, I must agree with everything stated in the "training" through the Compliance Attestation System. Although the manner and frequency of this forced training has changed somewhat, it is still required or else, this since the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act. Every quarter, "new and improved" subject matter is presented, and many times "case studies" are a major part of the indoctrination. This quarter was no different.... Fri, 09 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711b.asp Sheldon Richman John McCain scored a standing ovation at the last Republican presidential debate when he attacked Sen. Hillary Clinton for proposing -- unsuccessfully -- to spend a million taxpayer dollars on a museum commemorating the 1969 Woodstock festival, saying,... Wed, 07 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0708g.asp George C. Leef My first experience in politics was as a teenager during the 1964 campaign pitting Lyndon Johnson and his band of tax-and-spend-crazy Democrats against Barry Goldwater and his Republican compatriots. I was as sure as I could be about anything that the election really mattered. A Democratic victory would mean a vast expansion of government spending to pay for an array of unconstitutional, socialistic special-interest programs that would hamstring capitalism with ruinous taxes and regulations. On the other hand, I was equally certain that if Goldwater and the GOP won, the result would be exactly what the Democrats said we should fear -- "turning back the clock." Oh yes! Let's go back to the days before the New Deal! Under Republican leadership, taxes would go down, the welfare state would shrivel, and government would be pared back to its proper constitutional dimensions.... Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711a.asp Scott McPherson Honest debate on issues such as national health care, free trade, energy policy, and environmental controls is nearly impossible today. Something wicked this way comes, claims the Left, and it trumps any quaint old arguments about freedom and individual initiative. You see, man-made global warming is wreaking havoc on our delicate planet. Doomsday is near.... Fri, 02 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710m.asp Jacob G. Hornberger A perfect example of the integrated threat that U.S. foreign policy and federal domestic regulations pose to the freedom, privacy, and well-being of the American people is the current telecommunications controversy.... Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710l.asp Sheldon Richman President Bush has been a busy man. Even though the quagmire in Iraq threatens to worsen as Turkey prepares to invade the Kurdish north, Bush has time to undertake the arduous task of preventing World War III and begin the transition to democracy in Cuba. How does he do it?!... Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710k.asp Anthony Gregory On June 3, 2007, Anthony Gregory gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710j.asp James Bovard A federal appeals court has concluded that an FBI agent must go to trial on charges he coerced a false confession out of a prime suspect in the 9/11 attacks. But the FBI still insists that its agent did nothing wrong. And the feds swayed the court to suppress that portion of a recent decision detailing how the FBI agent used the threat of torture to break an innocent man.... Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0708d.asp Bill Thompson In case you missed it, America has been at war in Iraq for four years, as of tomorrow [March 19, 2007]. And despite more than 25,000 American casualties and a dwindling list of good reasons to stay, some modern-day Audie Murphys think those who make the common-sense suggestion to get our brave soldiers out of the meat grinder are simply wimps.... Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0708c.asp James Bovard Tens of thousands of innocent Americans are stopped each month at police checkpoints that treat every driver as a criminal. These checkpoints, supposedly started to target drunk drivers, have expanded to give police more intrusive power over citizens in many areas.... Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710i.asp Sheldon Richman On June 3, 2007, Sheldon Richman gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0707a.asp Jacob G. Hornberger While most Americans have turned against the Iraq War, many of them still think that the war on Afghanistan was morally and legally justified. Their rationale is that the United States was simply defending itself by attacking Afghanistan and retaliating against those who had conspired to commit the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Of course, the last thing on people's mind was that the 9/11 perpetrators themselves were retaliating for the bad things that the U.S. government had long been doing to people in the Middle East.... Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0707e.asp Bart Frazier Protecting the country from invasion and securing individual rights are two of the vital functions of the federal government. At the same time the government is the greatest threat to our freedom. This was the subject of FFF's June conference, "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties." An underlying theme, touched on by every one of the speakers, was the relationship between the state and the individual, for it is the individual who ultimately feels the effects of the government policies. For Americans, the rulebook for this relationship is the Constitution.... Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710h.asp Sheldon Richman If Iraq is really a sovereign country, which is the fiction maintained by the Bush administration, then why aren't the Blackwater USA personnel who are accused of murdering 17 innocent Iraqis accountable to the criminal justice system in that country?... Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710g.asp Daniel Ellsberg On June 2, 2007, Daniel Ellsberg gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 12 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710f.asp Sheldon Richman The right wing went apoplectic at the skepticism that greeted Gen. David Petraeus's recent testimony about the alleged success of the military escalation in Iraq. It was as though a member of the military was incapable of engaging in spin to support his commander in chief's war policy. President Bush summed up this attitude revealingly when he said it was one thing to attack him, but quite another to question General Petraeus. War, Clausewitz noted, is politics by other means. That makes high-ranking generals a species of politician. Not a few have harbored presidential thoughts, and some have made it. It is said that Petraeus would like to be another. These are the people the pro-war conservatives are willing to trust implicitly? (Anti-war members of the armed forces, on the other hand, are, in Rush Limbaugh's words, "phony soldiers.")... Fri, 12 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710e.asp Scott McPherson The Framers of the U.S. Constitution wisely advised a path of nonintervention in the affairs of other nations. As students of history, America's first statesmen established peace and free trade as a wiser foreign policy course over militarism, alliance-making, and empire. John Quincy Adams, the sixth president, best summed up America's original philosophy on foreign-policy: "America ... goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy."... Wed, 10 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710d.asp Jacob G. Hornberger Last week, the New Hampshire Union Leader went on the attack against Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul's foreign-policy views, making the standard pro-empire, pro-intervention arguments that unfortunately have come to characterize the modern-day conservative movement. (Paul's response to the editorial is here.) Nastily referring to Paul as a "libertarian darling," the paper implied that the United States should continue serving as the world's international policeman, intervening and meddling in countries all over the world. Ridiculing the notion that the United States should go to war only in self-defense, the Union Leader suggested that that the United States should even be willing to go to war to "contain ambitions" of China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.... Wed, 10 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0707b.asp Sheldon Richman There's good and bad news about the two American-initiated wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.... Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710c.asp Thomas J. DiLorenzo On June 2, 2007, Thomas J. DiLorenzo gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710b.asp James Bovard What is the common term for ordering soldiers to kill vast numbers of innocent people?... Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710a.asp Sheldon Richman President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran is no one to admire, but when was the last time President Bush stood before a critical college audience and fielded tough questions? Bush appears only before handpicked friendly crowds. Even news conferences are barely adversarial because the media has the curious rule that the president -- any president -- deserves to be treated like royalty.... Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0707c.asp James Bovard Is a president entitled to frighten voters into submission to perpetuate his power over them? While many people are catching on to Bush's deceits on Iraq, most Americans have forgotten the scams of his reelection campaign.... Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709j.asp Ivan Eland On June 2, 2007, Ivan Eland gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709i.asp Tibor R. Machan It is interesting that both the Right and the Left complain about the American (Lockean) political tradition because it emphasizes individual rights and not responsibilities or duties. The complaint is ill founded, however.... Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0706a.asp Jacob G. Hornberger On April 1, 2007, the New York Times published a review of Brian Doherty's new book, Radicals for Capitalism, an extensive history of the libertarian movement that focuses on such libertarian luminaries as Leonard Read, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Ayn Rand, and Milton Friedman.... Wed, 26 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0706f.asp Bart Frazier When most people think of southern Florida, they conjure up images of Disney World and spring break. Yet further south than Mickey and Daytona International Speedway are the Florida Everglades, one of the most unusual ecosystems in the world and a true mecca for wildlife enthusiasts. Over the past half century, the Everglades have been suffering from pollution, water problems, loss of habitat, and a tremendous loss of wildlife. What most people don't realize is that the federal government bears a large portion of the blame.... Mon, 24 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709h.asp Richard M. Ebeling On June 2, 2007, Richard M. Ebeling gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709g.asp Don Chapman The taking of one human life... Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0707f.asp Anthony Gregory The full extent of the American Empire is shown in great clarity throughout Nemesis. In terms of the imperial, hyperpowerful executive branch, perhaps nothing better exemplifies the problem than the CIA, or "the president's private army," as Johnson puts it. Not a blind Democratic partisan by any means, the author lays down a sketch of the history of presidential covert operations as a dismal bipartisan legacy, from the Bay of Pigs disaster to the overthrow of Chile's democratically elected Allende and the installation of military dictator Pinochet in his stead.... Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0706g.asp Anthony Gregory About 10 years ago, we libertarians were accustomed to hearing constitutionalist conservatives voicing our shared concern about the American Republics dissolution into a social democracy. The Constitution, the more engaging and informed conservatives would say, had been enervated by a string of unconstitutional federal programs, especially concerning social welfare, which "liberal" politicians had superimposed onto the economy. Franklin Roosevelts Social Security, Lyndon Johnsons Medicare, Jimmy Carters Department of Education, and Bill Clintons loyalty to a steadily growing domestic leviathan were seen as the grand threat to Americas constitutional order. None of these programs so beloved on the center-left was authorized by Article 1, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution, as the more daring and radical right-wing critics of Clinton would correctly say. Surely, if America were to preserve any semblance of republican governance, the long-neglected limits on federal power crafted by the Framers would have to be dusted off and brought back into force. Along with such restored limits, we could expect more economic prosperity and even a renewed morality in civil life. Above all, we could renew the promise of America as a free country.... Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709f.asp Sheldon Richman Why does the idea of "national service" never cease to attract American intellectuals? Every few years some prominent "thinker" proposes that young Americans "serve their country" in either a civilian or military capacity. Such service is always promised to have a profound effect on both the nation and the people doing the serving.... Mon, 17 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709e.asp Robert Scheer On June 1, 2007, Robert Scheer gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709d.asp Michael Nolan If the war in Iraq is worth fighting, then why doesnt George Bush, commander-in-chief of an army stretched so thin by the Iraq catastrophe that Colin Powell has labeled it "broken," just look the people in the eye and say "Uncle Sam Wants You?" Think about it: Those who support global, perpetual war -- from Dick Cheney to Joe Lieberman to Rush Limbaugh -- never ask the ersatz patriots who support them to join up or shut up. Despite recruitment shortfalls, deployment extensions that push troops beyond human limit, and a re-set of the wars projected length, from cakewalk to forever, the American Empire's politicians and pundits never ask for volunteers. In the modern U.S. Empire, the war's planners, supporters, and profiteers (and progeny thereof) are not expected to serve.... Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709c.asp Jacob G. Hornberger During the recent Republican presidential debate, former Governor Mike Huckabee took Congressman Ron Paul to task for calling for a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Huckabee suggested that it was irrelevant whether the United States should have invaded Iraq. The point, he stated, was that because the invasion had "broken" Iraq, the United States had the obligation to remain and fix it. As Huckabee put it, "We bought it because we broke it." Huckabee said that his analysis was based on what his mother had taught him when he was a little boy: "If I picked something off the shelf and I broke it, I bought it."... Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0706b.asp Sheldon Richman Is libertarianism of the Left or of the Right? We often avoid this question with a resounding "Neither!" Given how these terms are used today, this response is understandable. But it is unsatisfying when viewed historically.... Wed, 12 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/whatsNew/donatefall2007.asp Jacob G. Hornberger In June The Future of Freedom Foundation hosted one of the most important and exciting conferences in libertarian history, "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties." The conference produced what is arguably the greatest and most captivating collection of speeches on the libertarian principles of foreign policy and civil liberties ever presented.... Fri, 07 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0706e.asp Scott McPherson A free market is one in which the "means of production" -- real estate, industrial units, and other physical structures -- machines, capital, and all types of property -- are in private hands, to be used by individual owners at their own discretion and for their own ends.... Mon, 10 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709b.asp Karen Kwiatkowski On June 1, 2007, Karen Kwiatkowski gave the following Speech at FFF's conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties."... Fri, 07 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709a.asp Sheldon Richman President Bush opposes efforts in Congress and the states to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to include more children from middle-class families who don't qualify for Medicaid. He says he's against those efforts because "when you expand eligibility ... you're really beginning to open up an avenue for people to switch from private insurance to the government." This, he says, would undermine personal responsibility.... Fri, 07 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0707d.asp Gregory Bresiger Republicans and Democrats have, at times, criticized the imperial presidency. Both are, to a certain extent, correct. Both are also hypocritical. It isn't only politics that has driven these royal presidents. It is a lust for American power in the world -- the desire to be "great" or to lead a crusade for democracy -- that inevitably results in tragic wars. These presidential powers, we saw in part one, go back at least a century. Theodore Roosevelt, who was president from 1901 to 1909, is the typical imperial president. One of his friends, William Howard Taft, would write that Roosevelt was "obsessed with the love of war and the glory of it." Mark Twain complained that Roosevelt was "insane" for war.... Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0706d.asp Gregory Bresiger Who is to blame for an imperial presidency? How did so many Americans, especially members of Congress, come to view as normal giving one public official seemingly limitless powers to plunge the nation into war? And how did Americans come to accept a foreign policy of permanent war or warlike conditions, the trademarks of an imperial president?... Mon, 03 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708i.asp Justin Raimondo On June 1, 2007, Justin Raimondo gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708h.asp Sheldon Richman President Bush, one of the two most famous pro-Vietnam War members of his generation to avoid fighting in that war, has finally accepted what he previously rejected: that there are parallels between the war he ducked out of and his violent occupation of Iraq. (The other best-known famous pro-war war avoider is Vice President Dick "I had other priorities in the '60s than military service" Cheney.)... Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0706c.asp James Bovard For almost six years, the Bush administration has acted as if every terrorism accusation it makes should be received as the word of God on Mt. Sinai. Assistant Attorney General Steven Bradbury declared at a Senate hearing last July, "Under the law of war, the president is always right." Thus, the issue is settled after the president's men formally accuse someone.... Wed, 29 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708g.asp Ralph Reiland Readers of the New York Times got a front-page example recently of what F.A. Hayek called "the fatal conceit" -- the idea that some great mind or committee can do a better job than the private market in organizing and directing an economy.... Wed, 29 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0705a.asp Jacob G. Hornberger The 9/11 attacks brought to the surface a dilemma that everyone, especially libertarians, must now confront: whether to choose a pro-empire, pro-intervention foreign policy or a free society.... Mon, 27 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708f.asp Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. On June 1, 2007, Lew Rockwell gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708e.asp Sheldon Richman We appear to live in a republic. But look closely; it's clearer every day that we live in a de facto autocracy. President Bush has managed to amass an astounding amount of power simply by scaring the American people and Congress into thinking that our continued existence as a society depends on giving him carte blanche.... Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0705d.asp George C. Leef Karl Marx's biggest selling point has always been his argument that workers are systematically underpaid under capitalism. They produce value and greedy capitalist owners cheat them out of it. Good economists have understood for centuries that in a free (and therefore competitive) labor market, it isn't possible to underpay anyone for long. That fact, however, has never kept demagogues who need issues that will help them gain political power from telling people, "You're not getting as much as you should. Vote for me and I'll make sure you get your fair share!"... Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0705b.asp Sheldon Richman It's commonly held that Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal was a radical break with America's past. Both fans and foes of Roosevelt embrace this position. Many libertarians join conservatives in believing that things were going satisfactorily in the United States until Roosevelt got his hands on power.... Mon, 20 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708d.asp Jacob G. Hornberger On June 22, 2007, Jacob Hornberger was invited to speak before the Houston Property Rights Assocation. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0705g.asp Wendy McElroy The 2005 German film Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (Die letzten Tage) depicts the anti-Nazi heroine Sophie Magdalena Scholl (May 9, 1921-February 22, 1943). Sophie and her brother, Hans, were leading members of a nonviolent resistance group called the White Rose. Five students in their early twenties formed the group in 1942 at the University of Munich. The White Rose soon became infamous for a leaflet campaign that called for the removal of Hitler from power and an end to the insanity of World War II. The group subsequently became famous as martyrs to freedom and as proof that tyranny cannot destroy man's passion for justice.... Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0705f.asp Jeffrey A. Singer A reader wrote me about my article "The Slippery Slope of Nanny-State Politics," which appeared in the last issue of Freedom Daily. The article derided the rise of the "nanny state" and its threat to our way of life as a free people. I had written that New York City's new ban on transfatty foods amounts to yet another usurpation of the right of adults to make their own choices regarding the risks they are willing to take when engaging in any particular behavior.... Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708c.asp Sheldon Richman The opponents of the Bush wars and the accompanying expansion of government power have been disappointed countless times before. Just the other day the Democrats in Congress acquiesced in the Bush administration's heavy-handed bid for the power to conduct warrantless eavesdropping on American citizens and residents in the name of fighting terrorism.... Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708b.asp Robert Higgs Video of Robert Higgs speech at FFF's June conference "Restoring the Republic."... Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708a.asp Sheldon Richman It's amazing what passes for news these days. Two Brookings Institution "liberals" who favored the invasion of Iraq before it occurred and have since led the war-cheerleading section are now getting attention for writing on the New York Times op-ed page that if the Bush administration stays the course, this is "A War We Might Just Win."... Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/whatsNew/2007-08-08.htm Thomas E Woods Jr. Estimates of the cost of the Iraq war continue to escalate to levels well beyond what its optimistic architects once promised. Most notable, perhaps, has been the estimate of Columbia University's Joseph Stiglitz, who, in a January 2006 paper with Harvard's Linda Bilmes, put the full cost at around $2 trillion. By the end of the year, the two had grown even more pessimistic:... Wed, 08 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0705c.asp James Bovard When politicians are not promising new benefits to citizens, they continually remind citizens what they owe the government. From their first years in government schools, children are indoctrinated with the notion that government provides them some grandiose benefit. This seed often produces a harvest of servility in later life.... Mon, 06 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0704g.asp George C. Leef Most Americans have settled somnolently into the view that whatever laws are passed are all right because they're the product of democracy. To be sure, there are small factions that are heard to argue, "The government has no business doing that!" with respect to issues that adversely affect them, but few people express opposition in principle to the vast array of authoritarian nanny-state enactments we get from federal, state, and local politicians.... Fri, 03 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0704b.asp Sheldon Richman If the government isn't taking 100 percent of your income, you should be grateful for Congress's generosity. Because in the eyes of the Bush administration, that's exactly what it is, generosity. You have no right to what you earn or any other money you might get hold of. In principle it all belongs to the state, although it may be merciful enough to let you keep some to live.... Wed, 01 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0704f.asp Jeffrey A. Singer On December 5, 2006, the City of New York banned the use of transfats in restaurants and food preparation. Ironically, many of the experts proclaiming the dangers of transfats were the ones who urged us to embrace them as "heart-healthy" in the 1980s. William Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at Harvard University, who was one of the early advocates of transfats, admitted this in a 2005 New York Times report.... Mon, 30 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/fd0707g.asp Sheldon Richman Some people think that government can fight wars such as the ones going on in Iraq and Afghanistan while remaining limited and unintrusive at home. Conservatives dubiously insist that a robustly interventionist foreign policy can coexist with a free-market domestic policy. But what's really surprising is that a prominent libertarian legal theorist takes the same position.... Fri, 27 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0704e.asp Scott McPherson Paternalistic agitators must be in a real quandary. A Massachusetts man is suing his former employer for firing him for smoking. The man lost his job as a lawn-care specialist after testing positive for nicotine.... Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0704c.asp James Bovard Shortly after he was reelected, President Bush declared that American voters had had their "moment of accountability" regarding the Iraq war. Since he had gotten slightly more than 50 percent of the votes in the November 2004 election, that meant that they had ratified his policies and that Bush was free to do as he chose in the coming years.... Mon, 23 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0707f.asp Jacob G. Hornberger A popular argument among advocates of immigration controls is that a nation has a "right" to control its borders. The argument is based on the supposed "right" of the U.S. government to station gendarmes along its international borders, including on privately owned land, to prevent people from coming into the country illegally.... Fri, 20 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0707e.asp Sheldon Richman If, as President Bush claims, Iraq is a sovereign country and its government represents the people, then why are American officials ordering the parliament to cancel its August vacation and insisting that the al-Maliki government meet certain "benchmarks"? Is it sovereign or not? By what authority does the U.S. government dictate to it?... Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0704a.asp Jacob G. Hornberger The most remarkable part of the movie Sophie Scholl: The Final Days is the courtroom scene, which is based on recently discovered German archives. Sophie and her brother Hans, along with their friend Christoph Probst, stand before the infamous Roland Freisler, presiding judge of the People's Court, whom Hitler had immediately sent to Munich after the Gestapo's arrest of the Scholls and Probst.... Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0703a.asp Jacob G. Hornberger It has long intrigued me why the German people supported Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime. After all, every schoolchild in America is taught that Hitler and his Nazi cohorts were the very epitome of evil. How could ordinary German citizens support people who were so obviously monstrous in nature?... Mon, 16 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0707d.asp Anthony Gregory According to a CBS/New York Times poll from May, 72 percent of Americans disapprove of Bush's handling of Iraq. This includes 40 percent of Republicans. Sixty-one percent of Americans say the United States should have never started the war. Despite the compromise in Washington, 63 percent of Americans think the United States should get out by sometime next year. Have the tides changed? Is this conference a waste of time, given that most Americans are now with us on the war? Well, not exactly. Unfortunately, the need to educate people on the follies of empire is as pressing as ever.... Fri, 13 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0704d.asp Laurence M. Vance When the Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, broached the idea of a consumption tax to replace all or part of the income tax in his testimony before the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, he was not alone. There are three other voices that have of late been promoting a consumption tax in the form of a national retail sales tax (NRST) called the FairTax: Congressman John Linder (R-Ga.), syndicated radio talk-show host Neal Boortz, and an organization called Americans for Fair Taxation.... Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0703e.asp Laurence M. Vance The federal leviathan is fed by taxes. According to the Congressional Budget Office, during the federal government's most recent fiscal year (FY 2006), which ended on September 30, 2006, total revenues were approximately $2.403 trillion. Most of this revenue was, of course, raised as a result of taxes confiscated from the American people. These taxes are, broadly and in descending order of their magnitude: individual income taxes, social insurance taxes, corporate income taxes, excise taxes, and estate and gift taxes. Customs duties and miscellaneous receipts account for only a small percentage of the federal government's total revenue.... Mon, 09 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0703d.asp Bart Frazier To every high-school student in this country between the ages of 15 and 18, this letter is to you. If there is ever something that you should take the time to learn about, it is government.... Fri, 06 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0707b.asp Jacob G. Hornberger The Fourth of July celebrations will undoubtedly bring forth pronouncements that U.S. troops in Iraq are defending the freedoms expressed in the Declaration of Independence. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, most of the "freedoms" that Americans will be celebrating today are antithetical to the genuine principles of freedom enunciated in the Declaration.... Wed, 04 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0707c.asp Sheldon Richman The July 4th ho