Daily Articles

The Fabric of Civilization

by Neera K. Badhwar January 1, 2022

The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World  by Virginia Postrel, Basic Books, 2021, 320 pages. Virginia Postrel’s Fabric of Civilization is a fascinating, deeply researched tale of the development of fabric. Starting with fiber to make string, it takes us through the development of thread, to natural fabric, and finally to synthetics. It tells of ...

Leave Scrooge (and the Rest of Us) Alone!

by Scott McPherson December 24, 2021

The Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol is a beloved piece of literature, a mainstay of the holiday season. First published in 1843 and retold countless times in film and on the stage, it tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserable old corn merchant and landlord who delights in his own misery and the misfortune of others. For almost ...

Help FFF Advance Liberty in the Year Ahead

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 23, 2021

Today, we have one of the best opportunities in our lifetime to advance liberty. It might not seem like that, especially given the massive assaults on our liberty and well-being brought on by COVID-19 regulations, but the fact is that we are living in a time in which many people are thinking, pondering, and reflecting on the situation in ...

The Christmas Baby Born in a Police State

by John W. Whitehead December 20, 2021

“When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace ...

A Republic, Not a Democracy

by Scott McPherson December 17, 2021

Late-night political hack and former comedian Stephen Colbert doesn't usually warrant any notice, but he stumbled onto an important truth recently. Lamenting the possibility that the Supreme Court may overturn Roe v. Wade, he whined that if only 27 percent of Americans (according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll) support such a move, and the court doesn't vote the ...

Carl Menger’s Free Market Advice to an Austrian Crown Prince

by Richard M. Ebeling December 15, 2021

Imagine that you could be the tutor to a future king. What lessons and advice would you offer for the economic policies he should follow when he assumed the throne? That is what Carl Menger, founder of the Austrian School of Economics, was able to do in a series of private lectures that he delivered to Crown Prince Rudolf, ...

Marijuana Legalization vs. Marijuana Freedom

by Laurence M. Vance December 14, 2021

There is a difference between marijuana legalization and marijuana freedom. Since 1996, 36 states have legalized the medical use of marijuana. Since 2012, 18 states have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. In addition, 27 states have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana. The District of Columbia has done all three. The medical use of marijuana is legal in ...

American Cities Are Socialist Nightmares

by Scott McPherson December 10, 2021

America's cities are petri dishes of “progressive” governance. Anyone who cares to see the consequences of radical left-wing policies need look no further than our country's urban centers. From the monstrous modernist architecture to decaying infrastructure, they look more like Soviet hell than the once-thriving metropolises that were the envy of the modern world. The English historian James Bryce called ...

The Surveillance State Has a Naughty List, and You’re On It

by John W. Whitehead December 8, 2021

Santa’s got a new helper. No longer does the all-knowing, all-seeing, jolly Old St. Nick need to rely on antiquated elves on shelves and other seasonal snitches in order to know when you’re sleeping or awake, and if you’ve been naughty or nice. Thanks to the government’s almost limitless powers made possible by a domestic army of techno-tyrants, fusion centers and ...

Trust Funds: Real and Imaginary

by Laurence M. Vance December 3, 2021

It is interesting that the basic framework of the U.S. unemployment compensation program was first established in the Social Security Act of 1935. Although both programs have trust funds, one is real, and one is imaginary. Due to the COVID-19 “pandemic,” state unemployment programs were stretched to the limit in 2020 and into 2021. Let me briefly explain how these ...

Kyle Rittenhouse and the Citizen Militia

by Scott McPherson December 1, 2021

Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges related to his actions on August 25, 2020, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Three men ambushed the teen as he provided security, fire-fighting services, clean-up, and first aid during the riots that ravaged the city for over a week. One of the attackers was armed with a handgun, another attempted to bash Rittenhouse’s skull ...

A Great Opportunity to Restore the Republic

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 2021

With the debacle in Afghanistan, the American people have been presented with one of the greatest opportunities in our lifetime — an opportunity to dismantle the national-security establishment and restore our founding system of a limited-government republic. Opportunities like this do not often present themselves. Now is time to seize the day, before the national-security establishment is able to ...