Free Society

Post-Covid Policy Advice from Ludwig von Mises for Developing Countries

by Richard M. Ebeling March 2, 2021

The coronavirus and the government responses with shutdowns and lockdowns, along with restrictions on international travel and disruptions of the global supply chains that crisscross countries and continents, have made a fuller and more rapid recovery difficult in the Western industrialized countries, but even more so in many places in what used to be called during the Cold War, ...

The Conflict of the Ages

by Laurence M. Vance March 1, 2021

The year 2020 was a dreadful year as it relates to individual liberty, free association, commercial freedom, and private property, and 2021 isn’t looking much better. The main reason, of course, is not the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), but the government response to it. Volumes could be written about the government-mandated restrictions on peaceful activity  that have been instituted during this ...

The Slippery Slope from Censoring ‘Disinformation’ to Silencing Truth

by John W. Whitehead February 23, 2021

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”― George Orwell This is the slippery slope that leads to the end of free speech as we once knew it. In a world increasingly automated and filtered through the lens of artificial intelligence, we are finding ourselves at the mercy of ...

The Deep State’s Stealthy, Subversive, Silent Coup to Ensure Nothing Changes

by John W. Whitehead February 1, 2021

You have such a fervent, passionate, evangelical faith in this country…why in the name of God don’t you have any faith in the system of government you’re so hell-bent to protect? You want to defend the United States of America, then defend it with the tools it supplies you with—its Constitution. You ask for a mandate, General, from a ...

Witnessing Lithuania’s 1991 Fight for Freedom from Soviet Power

by Richard M. Ebeling January 13, 2021

Individual liberty and representative democracy as complementary forms of personal and political self-government are precious aspects of shared social life. Given the political and economic events surrounding the recent presidential election and the restrictions on personal freedom due to the government-imposed lockdowns in the face of the coronavirus, it seems appropriate to recall a real fight for a free ...

The Deadly Precedent of the Waco Whitewash

by James Bovard January 1, 2021

The easiest way to achieve sainthood in Washington is to cover up a federal atrocity. Thus, it is no surprise that former senator John Danforth continues to be treated by the Washington Post as a visionary statesman. The Post showcased Danforth’s attack on Donald Trump in October after Trump derided the Commission on Presidential Debates. Danforth, a permanent member ...

The Case for Freedom in Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, and Ayn Rand

by Richard M. Ebeling January 1, 2021

Three names are widely associated with the cause of human freedom and economic liberty in the twentieth century: Friedrich A. Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Ayn Rand. Indeed, it can be argued that Hayek’s Road to Serfdom (1944) and Constitution of Liberty (1960), Mises’s Socialism (1936) and Human Action (1949), and Rand’s novels The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged ...

Private Charity versus the Political Grinches

by Richard M. Ebeling December 28, 2020

Christmas is a time of good cheer, gift-giving, and hopes for the New Year. This year, 2020, has been a hard and disturbing one for virtually all of us due to the coronavirus and, especially, the government’s heavy-handed shutdown and lockdown responses. What Christmas time also represents is a time of benevolence and generosity to family, friends, and others ...

What If the Christ Child Had Been Born in the American Police State?

by John W. Whitehead December 23, 2020

“When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace ...

Opponents of Liberty Remain Misguided Sore Winners

by Richard M. Ebeling December 18, 2020

The 2020 presidential election has been the most divisive in many people’s living memory. Not only has there been the anger and fury over whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden should occupy the White House come January 20, 2021, there have been concerns and controversy about whether democracy itself is under attack in America. One indication of people’s concerns about ...

Mandatory Vaccination and Liberty

by Christine Smith December 14, 2020

Compulsory vaccination has no place in a free society. On December 4, 2020, a bill ( ) was introduced to the New York State Legislature which would, if passed and enacted, result in mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations. The pertinent text from the bill, "If public health officials determine that sufficient immunity has not been developed, this legislation will allow the Department ...

Black Lives Matter, But Not to Everyone, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 2020

Part 1 | Part 2 Some people argue that the solution to the problem of police abuse of blacks is to defund or dismantle the police. But that is no solution at all. That only opens the door to those who violate the rights of others through the commission of violent crimes. As we have seen in Portland and ...