Daily Articles

America’s Fiscal History: From Liberty to Paternalism

by Richard M. Ebeling September 28, 2021

If passed in its proposed forms, the $3.5 trillion of new “entitlement” programs and spending over the next ten years, and the accompanying call for increases in a wide variety of taxes, will represent the largest expansion of the American welfare state since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society agenda in the second half of the 1960s. It will further envelop ...

Stop Playing the Government’s Mind Games

by John W. Whitehead September 27, 2021

“No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.”—Edward R. Murrow, broadcast journalist America is in the midst of an epidemic of historic proportions. The contagion being spread like wildfire is turning communities into battlegrounds and setting Americans one against the other. Normally mild-mannered individuals caught up in the throes of this disease have been ...

The Tragedy of 9/11 and the Afghan Debacle

by Richard M. Ebeling September 20, 2021

The American people have been sorrowfully marking the 20th anniversary of the disastrous events of September 11, 2001, when a band of hijackers gained control of several commercial airlines and crashed them into the Twin Towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., with a fourth plane brought down in Pennsylvania by passengers resisting the terrorists ...

Online Conference: Restoring Our Civil Liberties

by Future of Freedom Foundation September 20, 2021

REGISTER TODAY Civil liberties are an essential prerequisite to a free society. Our American ancestors understood this important principle, which is why they demanded the enactment of the Bill of Rights as a condition for approving the Constitution. Our civil liberties have never been more endangered than they ...

There’s No Such Thing as “Market Fundamentalism,” Part 2

by George Leef September 17, 2021

Part 1 | Part 2 If “market fundamentalism” were a serious phenomenon, you would think the authors could give some clear examples of it — as they do for fundamentalist opponents of economic freedom. (There are a great many people who automatically dismiss arguments in favor of economic liberty, calling them “right-wing” propaganda motivated by sheer greed; ...

No One Should Need Government Permission to Work

by Laurence M. Vance September 16, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the workplace in many ways—not all of them good. Last year, most states issued states of emergency and ordered all “non-essential” businesses to close their doors. Bars, restaurants, gyms, nightclubs, barber shops, golf courses, nail salons, and movie theatres were shuttered. Sporting events and concerts were banned. Schools were closed. In ...

Constitution Day 2021: It’s Time to Make America Free Again

by John W. Whitehead September 15, 2021

“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 The Constitution of the United States represents the classic solution to ...

Raising a Standard to Achieve Liberty

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 14, 2021

One of the things that distinguish libertarians from non-libertarians is that we libertarians know that we are not free. Non-libertarians are still convinced that they are free. That’s one reason why non-libertarians are befuddled by libertarians. When they ask us what we are all about, we sometimes respond that we are about bringing liberty to America. That ...

Political Rhetoric Hides the Reality of Peaceful Production vs. Plunder

by Richard M. Ebeling September 13, 2021

The very nature of modern democratic politics is that it is seen as a means and a mechanism to transfer income to some in society at others’ expense. Virtually every politician runs for office on a campaign platform that promises to extend concrete and specific benefits to various selected groups through the taxing or regulating powers of government. This means ...

The Rise of the Security-Industrial Complex from 9/11 to COVID-19

by John W. Whitehead September 10, 2021

“I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed. The U.S. government will lead the American people in — and the West in general — into an unbearable hell and a choking life.”—Osama bin Laden (October 2001), as reported by CNN What a strange and harrowing road we’ve walked since September 11, 2001, littered with ...

Red Light Robberies Across America

by James Bovard September 9, 2021

Crime is surging in American cities, but the official data leave out the most frequent source of highway robberies. More than 400 cities have set up red light cameras that are institutionalized racketeering that subverts public safety. Tens of thousands of American drivers have been injured and many people killed as a result of reckless revenue pursuit ...

Jerome Powell’s Quest for Economic Stability Is Destabilizing

by Richard M. Ebeling September 8, 2021

When the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank speaks the financial markets listen, and this was no different with Jerome Powell’s virtual address to the annual meeting of central bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. What they got is what Harry Truman complained about when hearing from his economic advisors: “On the one hand, ‘this,’ but on the other hand, ...