Daily Articles

Insane and Ill-Advised: Trump’s Future War with Iran, Part 2

by Danny Sjursen September 20, 2019

Part 1 | Part 2 Iran is an enigma to most American policymakers. Iranian foreign and defense policies, according to Kenneth Katzman, are “products of overlapping, and sometimes contradictory, motivations.” The key question is whether Iran is an expansionist, theocratic, Shia-chauvinist state, or a rational, defensive bulwark with only limited regional aspirations. While it is a bit of both, ...

The Police State’s Language of Force

by John W. Whitehead September 19, 2019

Since when have we Americans been expected to bow submissively to authority and speak with awe and reverence to those who represent us? The constitutional theory is that we the people are the sovereigns, the state and federal officials only our agents. We who have the final word can speak softly or angrily. We can seek to challenge and ...

Price Controls Attack the Freedom of Speech

by Richard M. Ebeling September 18, 2019

We increasingly live in a new “dark age” of economic ignorance, and even stupidity. Few things exemplify this trend as much as the call for price controls over the interactions of multitudes of people in the marketplace of supply and demand. There are few government interventionist policies as likely to disrupt, distort, and imbalance the actions of tens of millions, indeed, ...

Adhering to Principle to Achieve Liberty, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 17, 2019

Part 1 | Part 2 In 1990, the first year of The Future of Freedom Foundation’s existence, I wrote an article entitled “Letting Go of Socialism” (www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/letting-socialism) in which I criticized the idea of school vouchers. I pointed out that vouchers were simply another socialist program in which government forcibly takes money from one group of people and gives ...

Conservatives and the Looting of Americans

by Laurence M. Vance September 16, 2019

The ideas of Thomas Robert Malthus (1766–1834) are alive and well. Malthus was the popularizer of the bogus idea that the population was increasing beyond the means of subsistence. He wrote in his 1798 book, An Essay on the Principle of Population, “The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man” ...

Insane and Ill-Advised: Trump’s Future War with Iran, Part 1

by Danny Sjursen September 12, 2019

Part 1 | Part 2 It’s an inconvenient truth: the president of the United States has no coherent foreign policy. Period. At times Donald Trump talks sensibly about pulling out of quagmires in Syria and Afghanistan, while simultaneously ratcheting up threats against America’s favorite (at least since 1979) punching bag — Iran.  He’s also loaded up his administration with ...

The Bill of Rights Turns 230, and What Do We Have to Show for It? Nothing Good

by John W. Whitehead September 11, 2019

“That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn't even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn't even an enemy you could put your finger on.”—Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale It’s been 230 years since James Madison drafted the Bill of Rights—the first ...

The Secret History of the Monopolization of Welfare by the State

by Richard M. Ebeling September 10, 2019

The fundamental political issue always confronting society is whether human relationships shall be based on free association and voluntary choice, or on governmental compulsion and command. Of course, in most societies there are elements of both, often called the interventionist state or the “mixed economy.” But, nonetheless, the basic institutional alternatives are liberty or coercion. This often seems difficult for ...

Why Republicans Are Powerless against Socialism

by Laurence M. Vance September 9, 2019

If we are to believe the Republicans, they are all that is holding back the forces of socialism from taking over the United States and replacing a free and capitalist society with an authoritarian and socialist society. Nothing could be further from the truth. After suffering the humiliating loss of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm election, and having ...

Americans Certainly Do Need a Payroll Tax Cut

by Laurence M. Vance September 6, 2019

For most employees in the United States there are three different federal taxes taken out of their paychecks by their employers: income tax withholding, Social Security tax, and Medicare tax. Social Security and Medicare taxes are known together as payroll taxes. Unlike the amount withheld for income tax, over which employees have some control, depending on how many allowances ...

Friends of Freedom, Do Not Despair

by Richard M. Ebeling September 5, 2019

Friends of freedom can easily become despondent when they look at what appear to be the ideological and political trends that fill the media day in and day out. Government spending keeps growing, national debts pile up, and regulations and redistributions seem to be narrowing the arenas of market and personal freedoms of choice. Anti-liberal demagogues abound, seemingly everywhere. ...

America’s Lost Liberties, Post-9/11

by John W. Whitehead September 4, 2019

“These are the times that try men’s souls.” ― Thomas Paine, The American Crisis Take heed, America. Our losses are mounting with every passing day. What began with the post-9/11 passage of the USA Patriot Act  has snowballed into the eradication of every vital safeguard against government overreach, corruption and abuse. The citizenry’s unquestioning acquiescence to anything the government wants ...