GOP Statists by Sheldon Richman April 1, 2008 Any remaining pretense that the Republican Party is the party of free markets has been blown to smithereens in the election season. Even the lip service to free enterprise has become scarce, as the major candidates threw their arms around flagrantly statist economic proposals. This is vividly illustrated by the Bush-Pelosi “stimulus package,” which was ...
The Capsizing of American Democracy by James Bovard April 1, 2008 American democracy is capsizing as a result of the vast increase in the number of government dependents and government employees. This has created a voting bloc that overwhelms every other potential force. H.L. Mencken quipped in the 1930s that the New Deal divided America into “those who work for a living and those who ...
The Legacy of Milton Friedman, Part 2 by Doug Bandow April 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 Milton Friedman also was adept at proposing practical solutions to practical problems. He believed strongly in liberty, but he recognized that he needed to promote it practically. Nowhere was his ability in this area more evident than in his work on the All-Volunteer Force (AVF). He served on the official ...
Open Borders Work, Part 2 by Philippe LeGrain April 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 Opponents of immigration marshal a battery of objections to opening up borders. They claim that it would cost jobs, pose a huge welfare burden, and threaten Americans’ way of life — even their security. Yet these fears are mostly nonsense. Critics argue that low-skilled immigration is harmful because the newcomers are poorer and ...
The Root of All Evil, Part 1 by Gregory Bresiger April 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their Substance. — The Declaration of Independence You may think you’re safe from ...
A History of Libertarianism by George Leef April 1, 2008 Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement by Brian Doherty (Public Affairs, 2007); 741 pages; $35. With Radicals for Capitalism, veteran libertarian journalist Brian Doherty (whose work is most often found in Reason) gives the world what he calls a “freewheeling history of the modern American libertarian ...
The Demise of Conscience, Part 1 by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 As libertarians have long pointed out, both the welfare state and the warfare state have brought immeasurable damage to our country. With its various programs of confiscatory taxation of income and capital to accomplish its coercive redistribution of wealth, the welfare state has brought standards of living lower than otherwise would ...
Independent Migrants, Welfare, and the Law by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2008 It’s a sad sign of the times that political candidates — even those who profess to be proponents of limited government — feel they have to one-up their rivals in showing how hard they would crack down on people who have the gall to come to the United States without the government’s permission. “Border security” is the odious buzzword ...
The Democratic-Peace Fraud by James Bovard March 1, 2008 The doctrine of “democratic peace” now provides vital camouflage for the American war machine. Michael Novak, a theologian with the pro-war American Enterprise Institute, observed, “Democracy is the new name for peace.” The idea that democracies never fight wars against each other has become axiomatic for many scholars. Prof. Jack Levy commented in 1989 that the democratic-peace doctrine is ...
Open Borders Work, Part 1 by Philippe LeGrain March 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 Imagine you were born in a part of the country where farming was no longer productive, or in a rust-belt town where the local factories had closed. You hear of good jobs in California and Colorado, so you decide to move. How would you feel if, when you arrived at the state ...
I Suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Part 6 by James Glaser March 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 Now we come to the very reason that veterans get PTSD. More than likely, there was a traumatic experience or experiences that, you might say, overwhelmed them. Now that I have been through it, I believe that the whole ...
The Legacy of Milton Friedman, Part 1 by Doug Bandow March 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 It has been more than a year since Milton Friedman passed from our lives. What a world he departed. The desire for liberty burns ever brightly. The forces of statism resist ever strongly. How we miss his presence. Although he has left us, his ideas live ...