Killing in the Name of Democracy by James Bovard June 1, 2006 President George W. Bush perpetually invokes the goal of spreading democracy to sanctify his foreign policy. Unfortunately, he is only the latest in a string of presidents who cloaked aggression in idealistic rhetoric. Killing in the name of democracy has a long and sordid history. The U.S. government’s first experience with forcibly spreading democracy came in the wake of the ...
Housing Socialism, Part 1 by Gregory Bresiger June 1, 2006 Part 1 | Part 2 In every country examined, the introduction and continuance of rent control/restriction has done much more harm than good in rental housing markets — let alone the economy at large — by perpetuating shortages, encouraging immobility, swamping consumer preferences, fostering dilapidation of housing ...
Public Schools Have Flunked Out by James Ervin Norwood June 1, 2006 Public schools are brain dead and on life support; so let’s pull the plug on them, give them a decent funeral, and let better alternatives take root and flourish. Education is what we must save and regenerate, not an obsolete proven flop that has been in a persistent counterproductive condition for decades. The time has come to slaughter a sacred ...
Monsters, Inc. by Samuel Bostaph June 1, 2006 In 2001, an animated film from Pixar Animation Studios was released and became extremely popular with both adults and children. Monsters, Inc. is set in the city of Monstropolis, where all monsters live. A corporation that gives the title to the movie employs scarers, monsters who venture out of the city every night to enter the human world through ...
For and Against Libertarianism: A Debate, Part 2 by George Leef June 1, 2006 Part 1 | Part 2 Libertarianism: For and Against by Craig Duncan and Tibor Machan (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005); 167 pages. In the second part of Libertarianism: For and Against, Duncan goes first, presenting his main case, which he calls “Democratic Liberalism: The Politics of Dignity.” Here, he fleshes out the “dignity” ...
A Democratic Dictatorship by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2006 Amidst all the discussion and debate about whether President Bush has violated the law by ordering the National Security Agency (NSA) to record telephone conversations, we must not overlook an important fact: the United States is now traveling in uncharted waters, ones in which the ruler of the nation is exercising omnipotent power over the American people. A more ...
Free Cory Maye by Sheldon Richman May 1, 2006 Where are all the celebrities and human-rights activists? Where are Mike Farrell and Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon? Bianca Jagger, call your office! I watch cable news a lot, but I have yet to see one word about death-row inmate Cory Maye. Why not? You haven’t heard of Cory Maye? Few people have, despite the best ...
Nonsense on the Inevitability of Democracy by James Bovard May 1, 2006 Many Americans are being lulled into assuming that democracy is inevitable. This is a favorite theme of President Bush’s beating on the same drumhead used by President Clinton, President Wilson, and other notable demagogues. But the fact that politicians agree does not make something true. Since Woodrow Wilson proclaimed that ...
Lessons in Living from Great-Grandma Ladd by Ridgway K. Foley Jr. May 1, 2006 From the first glance, she evoked the quiet self-reliance and rectitude that imbued the spirit of the American pioneer. She favored long homemade dresses of faded, flowered print. Tall for her generation, and thin and angular to the point of gauntness, she often looked sober but not severe, although at times a slight smile creased her face. She outlived ...
The American Heritage of “Isolationism” by Gregory Bresiger May 1, 2006 You’re against the war in Iraq. In fact, you’re skeptical about the concept of nation-building and wonder about all of the U.S. interventions in history, from Haiti to the Philippines, the latter resulting in a bitter insurgency at the beginning of the 20th century in which U.S. ...
Death and Taxes by Gary D. Barnett May 1, 2006 A friend of mine recently passed away at his home. This, in and of itself, is not surprising, as he was 80 years old and had cancer, but this story is about what happened before and up until his death. My friend worked very hard for many years, had a successful career, and then retired. ...
For and Against Libertarianism: A Debate, Part 1 by George Leef May 1, 2006 Part 1 | Part 2 Libertarianism: For and Against by Craig Duncan and Tibor Machan (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005); 167 pages. What is a debate? Most of the “debate” that contemporary Americans see consists of the pathetic events featuring political candidates on the same stage, frantically trading sound bites calculated to ...