Freedom Daily Archive

America’s Forever Immigration Morass

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 2023

All my life I have witnessed America’s ongoing, never-ending, perpetual immigration morass, along with the endless laments, anguish, anxiety, and depression among American statists that have accompanied it. All of this mental anguish has caused immigration-control advocates for the last several decades to ceaselessly cry out for Congress to enact “comprehensive immigration reform” designed to finally — finally! — ...

Is Free Speech a Relic in America?

by James Bovard December 1, 2023

Is the First Amendment becoming a historic relic? On July 4, 2023, federal judge Terry Doughty condemned the Biden administration for potentially “the most massive attack against free speech in United States history.” That verdict was ratified by a federal appeals court decision in September 2023 that concluded that Biden administration “officials have engaged in a broad pressure campaign ...

Conservatives, Hate Crimes, and Victimless Crimes

by Laurence M. Vance December 1, 2023

Libertarianism and conservatism have been described as “uneasy cousins.” There are some issues where they can unite in opposition to the terrible policies of progressives: the green new deal, universal health care, free college tuition, gun-control laws, taxpayer-funded abortions, defunding the police, etc. But even when they seem to agree on something — like hate-crimes laws — the inconsistency ...

The Beginnings of a Reborn Austrian School of Economics

by Richard M. Ebeling December 1, 2023

Fifty years ago, on October 10, 1973, one of the leading members of the Austrian School of Economics, Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973), passed away at the age of 92. There was little notice of Mises’s death in the mainstream of the economics profession, even though he had been one of the most widely recognized economists in Europe during the ...

America’s National-Security State

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2023

The following is a nonverbatim transcript of a talk that I delivered on September 1, 2023, at the young scholar’s segment of the annual conference on foreign policy sponsored by the Ron Paul Institute and held at the Dulles Hilton in Virginia. The biggest mistake America has ever made was the conversion of the federal government to a national-security state. ...

Our Potemkin Presidency

by James Bovard November 1, 2023

The Founding Fathers sought to create a government that would be under the law and under the Constitution. Since World War One, presidents have amassed far more arbitrary power to rule by decree. Every recent American commander-in-chief has expanded and exploited the dictatorial potential of the presidency. Yet, because elections continue to be regularly held, most Americans do not ...

Reform, Replace, or Repeal?

by Laurence M. Vance November 1, 2023

The U.S. government is a monstrosity. With its four million employees and annual budget approaching $7 trillion, there is no other way to describe it. The federal government contains a myriad of agencies, bureaus, corporations, offices, commissions, administrations, authorities, and boards, most of which are organized under 15 cabinet-level, executive-branch departments headed by a secretary: for example, Health and Human ...

The Austrian Economists and Classical Liberalism

by Richard M. Ebeling November 1, 2023

The Austrian School of Economics has been widely identified with classical-liberal and free-market ideas. This is especially the case in the writings of Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973) and Friedrich A. Hayek (1899–1992). But the free-market, liberal orientation of many members of the Austrian School goes back to its founding in 1871 with the publication of Carl Menger’s (1840–1921) Principles ...

The Story of Sam Bird

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2023

In December 1966, Army Captain Sam Bird’s one-year tour of duty in Vietnam was coming to an end. He was set to be transferred from a combat zone in which he had been operating to a safe zone in the rear and then sent home. However, according to a written account entitled “The Courage of Sam Bird” by B. ...

Congress’s Unconstitutional Pay Raise Scandal

by James Bovard October 1, 2023

“A good politician is almost as rare as an honest burglar,” once quipped H. L. Mencken. After the shenanigans around the latest congressional pay increase, America’s burglars should file a posthumous libel suit against Mencken for that disparaging comparison. There is a pity party in Washington: You weren’t invited, but you’ll pay the bill. The Constitution’s 27th Amendment, ratified in 1992, ...

Why I Will Never Change My Mind about Marijuana

by Laurence M. Vance October 1, 2023

Charles Fain Lehman has changed his mind about marijuana. I haven’t, and never will, change my mind about marijuana. Lehman, a self-described “conservative,” is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor of City Journal whose work has “appeared in outlets including the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, National Review, the New York Post, and elsewhere.” He is “a ...

Albert Jay Nock on “Doing the Right Thing” versus Government

by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 2023

It is almost 100 years since the libertarian essayist and social critic Albert Jay Nock (1870–1945) published his essay “On Doing the Right Thing” in the pages of the American Mercury (November 1924). Nowadays, the very title of the essay may seem strange to many modern American readers. The “right thing?” Surely, the right thing is just “doing your ...