Daily Articles

The Libertarian Angle: History of Economic Thought, Part 8

by Future of Freedom Foundation March 8, 2016

In this segment, Richard Ebeling and Jacob Hornberger discuss the rise of the Austrian school of economic thought and its contributions. Go to the podcast.

Is Drug Freedom a Tenet of Liberalism?

by Laurence M. Vance March 7, 2016

Is someone a liberal because he supports medical-marijuana initiatives? Is someone a liberal if he favors the decriminalization of marijuana? Is someone a liberal for backing proposals to release nonviolent drug offenders from the nation’s prisons? Is someone a liberal if he defends the right of states to legalize marijuana for recreational use? Is someone a liberal because he ...

Reality Check: No Matter Who Wins the White House, the New Boss Will Be the Same as the Old Boss

by John W. Whitehead March 3, 2016

“The main problem in any democracy is that crowd-pleasers are generally brainless swine who can go out on a stage & whup their supporters into an orgiastic frenzy—then go back to the office & sell every one of the poor bastards down the tube for a nickel apiece.” ― Hunter S. Thompson Politics today is not about Republicans and Democrats. Nor ...

Wilhelm Röpke: The Economist Who Stood Up to Hitler

by Richard M. Ebeling March 2, 2016

Sometimes there are men of principle who live their values and not merely speak or write about them. People who stand up to political evil at their own risk, and then go on to say and do things that help to remake their country in the aftermath of war and destruction. One such individual was the German, free-market economist, ...

The Libertarian Angle: History of Economic Thought, Part 7

by Future of Freedom Foundation March 1, 2016

In this segment, Richard Ebeling and Jacob Hornberger discuss the rise of the Austrian school of economic thought and its contributions. Go to the podcast.

Why I Favor Limited Government, Part 1

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2016

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5| Part 6 Ever since I became a libertarian in the late 1970s, there has been an ongoing debate within the libertarian movement between libertarians who advocate limited government and those who advocate anarchy, meaning a society based on the absence ...

Presidential Fear-Mongering versus Freedom

by James Bovard March 1, 2016

After the San Bernardino massacre late last year, Barrack Obama made a rare speech from the Oval Office. His most memorable line was his declaration that “freedom is more powerful than fear.” That epigram might have made John F. Kennedy’s speechwriters beam. But it is ludicrous to hear such a comment from a president who has spent almost seven ...

The Libertarian Sticking Point

by Laurence M. Vance March 1, 2016

Why aren’t more Americans libertarians? Why aren’t more liberals becoming libertarians? They generally share the libertarian commitment to freedom of speech, civil liberties, personal freedom, privacy, and the Fourth Amendment, or at least they claim to do so. Why aren’t more conservatives becoming libertarians? They generally share the libertarian commitment to the free market, limited government, free trade, property ...

The Landmark Case That Destroyed Economic Liberty

by David S. D'Amato March 1, 2016

If the Supreme Court’s 1905 holding in Lochner v. New York is the widely reviled embodiment of the constitutional right to freedom of contract, then West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish is its celebrated antithesis. The New Deal era case has been identified with the beginning of a “Constitutional Revolution” that freed progressive social policy to march triumphantly onward. ...

Abolish the Department of Education

by Wendy McElroy March 1, 2016

The Department of Education (DOE) is one of the most destructive federal agencies because it attempts to control the flow of ideas and information by controlling public schools, including higher education. If a school does not comply, then it gets no federal money. Educators who rebel outright, such as home-schooling parents, are reined in by an ever-tightening net of ...

The Economist Who Saw the Future

by James Cook March 1, 2016

Hans Sennholz (1922–2007) was a professor of economics and a student of Ludwig von Mises while at NYU. He was an intrepid critic of government deficits: If we cannot return to fiscal integrity because the public prefers prodigality over balanced budgets, we cannot escape paying the price, which is ever lower incomes and standards of living for all. The pains ...

Allen Dulles: Architect of America’s Secret Government

by Michael Swanson March 1, 2016

David Talbot has written an important book that is destined to become a classic, because it helps us confront the darker aspects of our nation’s history. As American citizens we vote in elections and our television news keeps us up to speed with what is happening in politics. But much of what is decided for us is done so ...