Freedom Daily Archive

The Right to Discriminate

by Adam B. Summers August 1, 2010

The barring of women from a golf club may seem politically incorrect to some, but it is not illegal, according to the Irish supreme court. In a 3-2 decision, the court ruled that the Portmarnock Golf Club in Dublin may continue to deny membership to women. The case arose in 2002 when the Equality Authority of Ireland filed a complaint ...

Reagan, the Bushes, and Saddam Hussein

by Russ Baker August 1, 2010

Throughout the Reagan-Poppy Bush years, the White House had been an eager backer of Saddam. The two administrations had provided millions of dollars in aid and had permitted the export of U.S. technology that Iraq used to build a massive arsenal of chemical, biological, and possibly nuclear weapons. George W. Bush would repeatedly express outrage over Saddam’s 1988 gassing ...

The Moral Case for Drug Freedom, Part 1

by Laurence M. Vance August 1, 2010

Part 1 | Part 2 My title is a radical one, and deliberately so. There is a reason I did not say, “The Moral Case for Drug Legalization,” or, “The Moral Case for Drug Decriminalization,” or, “The Moral Case for Drug Regulation,” or, “The Moral Case for Medical Marijuana,” or, “The Moral Case for Relaxing Drug Laws,” or, “The Moral ...

Lies Are the Health of the State

by Anthony Gregory August 1, 2010

Lies the Government Told You: Myth, Power, and Deception in American History, by Andrew P. Napolitano (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010), 349 pages. Americans take for granted that politicians lie. You know one is lying when his lips are moving, so goes the joke. Even citizens snookered by one politician’s lies will quickly acknowledge that the other side lies. “Bush Lied, People ...

Desacralizing Democracy to Save Liberty

by James Bovard July 1, 2010

In the 1770s, the British colonists living in America won their freedom from British rule thanks to the “de-sacralizing” of the British monarch. The mists before the colonists’ eyes dissipated and they recognized that King George III was a mere mortal and often a dangerous buffoon. Rather than being awed by the titles of the king’s ministers and appointees, ...

Leading Humanity Out of the Darkness, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 2010

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 Ever since it was established, the income tax has constituted an ever-growing assault on income, savings, and capital, which are the keys to a prospering nation, one in which the real standard of living is growing generation after generation. Here is how this corrupt and sordid process ...

The Distortions Wrought by the Corporatist State

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 2010

“What kind of society gives that kind of money to people who create ... nothing?” That was Chris Matthews’s comment on his MSNBC program Hardball after reporting that “the top 25 hedge fund managers made $25 billion last year.” Most libertarians will have a natural reflex against a statement like that. Indeed, Matthews packs lots of fallacies into a few ...

Public Schools and Social Conflicts

by Jim Powell July 1, 2010

Government is widely perceived as a foundation of social order, yet it is the single greatest source of disorder. Political power constantly tempts those who control it to enforce conformity with their religion, education, lifestyle, or other preferences. Naturally, other people tend to have their own preferences. They don’t want anybody else telling them what to do. They evade ...

The Libertarian Legacy of R.C. Hoiles, Part 2

by Wendy McElroy July 1, 2010

Part 1 | Part 2 Hoiles began his newspaper career by working for the Alliance Review (Ohio), a daily owned by his brother Frank. In 1919, he and Frank bought the Lorain Times Herald, (Ohio), of which R.C. owned two-thirds. In 1921, they each purchased a one-third share in the Mansfield News (Ohio), ...

Leading Humanity out of the Darkness, Part 1

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 1, 2010

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 The ancient Chinese symbol for “crisis” perfectly depicts the situation currently facing the American people. That symbol was actually composed of two separate symbols. One was the symbol for “danger” and the other was the symbol for “opportunity.” The danger we face as Americans comes in the ...

Capitalism and the Free Market, Part 2

by Sheldon Richman June 1, 2010

Part 1 | Part 2 The taint of government intervention into economic activity carried over to the British North American colonies. The radical nature of the American Revolution has masked the class struggle within American colonial society between what historian Merrill Jensen called “radicals” and “conservatives” in his book The Articles of Confederation: An Interpretation of the Social-Constitutional History ...

Federal Make-Work Jobs Betray Teenagers

by James Bovard June 1, 2010

Politicians now pretend that government spending can solve any and all ills. Sloshing out federal funds for local summer job programs exemplifies this delusion. Uncle Sam first began bank-rolling summer jobs for urban teens in 1964. It was decided that government should hire any low-income teen who couldn’t find a job on his own. Soon, with the usual bureaucratic imperialism, ...