Free Society

Why Are Brothels Illegal?

by Laurence M. Vance November 21, 2012

In contrast to the boring and predictable presidential candidates, there are some unusually colorful candidates who somehow manage to get into office each time there is an election. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger was twice elected to the California governorship. Professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota. Singer Sony Bono was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives until his life was tragically cut ...

The Lingering Curse of “Bush Freedom”

by James Bovard November 1, 2012

It has been almost four years since George W. Bush’s presidency ended. Unfortunately, it increasingly appears that Bush did permanent damage to this nation’s political vocabulary and understanding. Rather than repeal his worst precedents, Barack Obama used them as launch pads for his own abuses. And the scant discussion of Obama’s power grabs in this fall’s presidential campaigns illustrate ...

Limits on the Right to Exit: The New Slavery

by Ridgway K. Foley Jr. November 1, 2012

The federal fascists respond with threats and vilification when a few knowledgeable citizens renounce their American citizenship and move — with capital and assets that they have accumulated by honest endeavor — to a more hospitable state, one that does not mulct them as rigorously by the theft benignly called taxation. The government bullies, who threaten to follow the ...

Don’t Trust the Feds’ Happiness Index

by James Bovard October 1, 2012

The Obama administration is financing research to devise a new gauge for Americans’ happiness. A National Academy of Sciences panel is currently analyzing proposals for surveying Americans’ “subjective well-being.” But there are grave perils in any “national happiness index” Uncle Sam might concoct. Critics increasingly complain that the Gross Domestic Product does not accurately measure citizens’ quality of life. The ...

Organ Donor Revolution — or Revolt?

by Wendy McElroy August 9, 2012

On June 25, the Institute for Justice (IJ) announced a life-saving development. It is now legal to compensate people for supplying bone marrow to those with cancer or blood diseases. The impressive victory took close to three years of legal maneuvering, and yet some commentators expressed the immediate hope that organ donations might open up in a ...

Who Should Feed the Children?

by Laurence M. Vance August 1, 2012

Eating is one of the most basic of human instincts. It is a daily necessity. It is essential to life. It doesn’t need to be learned. It is the first thing a newborn baby wants to do. It is a common occurrence. It is also a pleasant experience that often serves as the basis for entertainment, fellowship, dating, and ...

The Two Little Cities Who Can’t

by Wendy McElroy July 12, 2012

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is stomping its jackboot down on two little towns that straddle the Arizona-Utah border. The Civil Rights Division has brought an unprecedented and vague federal religious discrimination lawsuit against the cities and their utility companies (PDF). In its June 21 announcement, the DOJ stated, “This is the first lawsuit by the ...

An Unfamiliar Definition of “Voluntary”

by Wendy McElroy June 27, 2012

It is called a “voluntary safety plan.” Using the plan, Child Protective Services (CPS) can bypass the constitutional rights of parents and take children away from non-abusive homes. (Note: agencies function under different names from state to state, but they are often referred to merely as CPS.) The definition and implementation Texas guidelines offer a typical CPS definition of a safety ...

Are Americans Not Submissive Enough?

by Sheldon Richman June 26, 2012

If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought New York Times columnist David Brooks was having a laugh at our expense. Alas, Brooks means every word of his column titled “The Follower Problem,” as anyone who reads him regularly will realize. “I don’t know if America has a leadership problem; it certainly has a followership problem,” Brooks laments. “Vast ...

The Police State Is Here

by Tim Kelly May 21, 2012

“There are those who still think they are holding the pass against a revolution that may be coming up the road. But they are gazing in the wrong direction. The revolution is behind them. It went by in the Night of Depression, singing songs to freedom.” Those are the words of Garet Garrett, the 20th-century journalist and writer, who lamented ...

The Right to Refuse Service

by Laurence M. Vance April 25, 2012

Back in 1994, the restaurant chain Denny’s settled a class-action racial-discrimination lawsuit for $54.4 million. Although the restaurant is known for always being open and serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner at any time, day or night, black patrons alleged that they had been refused service, forced to wait longer than white customers, charged more than white customers, and asked ...

Olive Schreiner, Born Branded and Too Soon

by Wendy McElroy April 21, 2012

Olive Emilie Albertina Schreiner (March 24, 1855 – December 11, 1920) lived with rare courage in a world where women were born into acquiescence. As the daughter of British missionaries to South Africa, she was also born into Empire, the Victorian Era, and racism. At the age of 18, Schreiner spoke with a native black woman who made an ...