Homegrown Tyranny Takes Root Slowly by Don Hull December 1, 1996 Twentieth-century Americans have been conditioned to think of "tyranny" as something that happens to other people. And when it does happen, it happens all at once — like Hitler's attack on Poland, Soviet tanks crushing Hungary and Czechoslovakia, Iraq's invasion and plunder of Kuwait. ...
The Clinton Administration’s War on Privacy by Sheldon Richman November 1, 1996 The Clinton administration, self-proclaimed champion of civil liberties and small government, is a big fraud. President Clinton's Department of Justice, it was recently revealed, is wiretapping more and more American citizens each year. It is increasing the number of federal wiretaps by more than 30 percent annually. What's more, the administration is bulking up the budgets of the FBI and ...
The State Threat to Computer Privacy by Sheldon Richman October 1, 1996 The Clinton administration is proceeding apace with a plan to force each of us to give the government a spare key to our houses and offices. Well, that's not literally what they want. They want a spare key to our filing cabinets. That may be cryptic, but in time the reader ...
Freedom, Not Growth by Sheldon Richman August 1, 1996 All politicians favor economic growth. They all promise to create jobs and "grow the economy." That is a vintage Republican issue, but the Democrats aren't dummies. Many of them have learned that the old appeal to class warfare and other quasi-Marxist themes are passé. They too have thrown themselves onto the growth bandwagon. Bill Clinton's so-called New Democrats can ...
Freedom Is the Best Insurance against Terrorism by Sheldon Richman August 1, 1996 In the wake of the possible bombing of TWA flight 800 and the bombing at the Olympics, President Clinton is doing what politicians always do at times like these: he's grabbing for power. If that has a feeling of deja vu to it, it should. Shortly after the blast at the federal ...
Zoning: The New Tyranny [long] by James Bovard August 1, 1996 Modern zoning laws presume that no citizen has a right to control his own land and that every citizen has a right to control his neighbor's land. Zoning laws have become far more invasive and restrictive in recent years. If you want to use your own land, increasingly you have to ...
Zoning: The New Tyranny by James Bovard August 1, 1996 Modern zoning laws presume that no citizen has a right to control his own land and that every citizen has a right to control his neighbor's land. Zoning laws have become far more invasive and restrictive in recent years. If you want to use your own land, increasingly you have to beg, bribe, and grovel to the nearest government ...
Kill a Boy, Get a Medal by James Bovard June 1, 1996 On March 1, 1996, the U.S. Marshals Service gave its highest award for valor to five U.S. marshals involved in the 1992 Ruby Ridge, Idaho, shoot-out, including the marshal who shot a 14-year-old boy in the back and killed him, and another marshal who started a firefight by shooting the boy's dog without provocation. The valor award announcement symbolizes ...
Source of Rights by Frank Chodorov June 1, 1996 The axiom of what is often called "individualism" is that every person has certain inalienable rights. For example, "individualism" holds that property as such obviously has no rights; there is only the inherent right of a person to his honestly acquired property. . . . The axiom of socialism ...
Escape from Responsibility by Sheldon Richman May 1, 1996 The welfare state teaches the implicit lesson that you are not responsible for yourself. You will be taken care of. The "safety net" will catch you if you fall. And because of that, you may be required to do certain things and prohibited from doing other things — all in the name of taking care of you and others. We ...
Subverting Freedom through Benevolence by James Bovard May 1, 1996 President Bill Clinton declared on July 26, 1994: "The Americans with Disabilities Act is a national monument to freedom. Contained within its broad pillars of independence, inclusion, and empowerment is the core ideal of equality that has defined this country since its beginnings." In reality, the ADA has become a symbol of the confused, paternalistic, interventionist concept of modern freedom ...
Did the Supreme Court Flush the Fourth? by James Bovard February 1, 1996 Two hundred and six years after the adoption of the Bill of Rights, the big issue for the U.S. Supreme Court is toilets. Specifically, has the invention of flush toilets nullified American's traditional right of privacy in their homes and enabled police to smash down their doors on the slightest pretext? Truly, these are glorious times in which we live. ...