For Your Own Good by John Ahrens April 1, 2014 Against Autonomy: Justifying Coercive Paternalism by Sarah Conly (Cambridge University Press, 2013), 256 pages (ebook edition reviewed). Bowdoin philosophy professor Sarah Conly has given us a remarkably timely book. Against Autonomy makes an important contribution to the trending discussion of what some call the “nanny state” and others might call simply “petty fascism” (or maybe just “fascism”). It is ...
The Libertarian Angle: Income Taxation by Future of Freedom Foundation March 31, 2014 FFF president Jacob Hornberger and FFF vice president Sheldon Richman discuss the history of the income tax and its impact on the liberty of the U.S. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast.
Freedom vs. the State: The Libertarian Angle Live by Future of Freedom Foundation March 31, 2014 After the successful tour of the Libertarian Angle in the southeast this past fall, FFF president Jacob Hornberger and FFF vice president Sheldon Richman are taking the show on the road again! Using the same interactive format as the Libertarian Angle, Jacob and Sheldon will integrate college audiences into the discussion. In conjunction with our friends at the
TGIF: Obama’s Iraqi Fairy Tale by Sheldon Richman March 28, 2014 I promised myself that I would no longer comment on what Barack Obama has to say, because it’s just not worth the time and effort. Obama’s public remarks are comprehensible only if you keep one thing in mind: he, like other politicians, thinks most people are morons. I am so appalled by what Obama said in Europe the other ...
The Calling: Some Thoughts on Inequality by Steven Horwitz March 27, 2014 Perhaps no other issue is so much in the forefront of political debate these days as inequality. Many commentators argue that one of the most damaging things happening in the United States is increasing inequality. Often this argument is tied to criticisms of markets, as if somehow free markets, or capitalism, are the cause of this supposed increase. It’s that ...
Sheldon Richman on Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock by Sheldon Richman March 27, 2014 2014-03-21 Hour 2 Sheldon Richman from Ernest Hancock on Vimeo.
The Iranian Threat That Never Was by Sheldon Richman March 26, 2014 If you take politicians and the mainstream media seriously, you believe that Iran wants a nuclear weapon and has relentlessly engaged in covert efforts to build one. Even if you are aware that Iran signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and is subject to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections, you may believe that those who run the Islamic ...
Why Should Republicans Object to Obama’s New Budget? by Laurence M. Vance March 26, 2014 Barack Obama earlier this month unveiled his $3.9 trillion budget plan for fiscal year 2015. “It is a road map for creating jobs with good wages and expanding opportunity for Americans,” said the president. Although the Constitution doesn’t mention a federal budget, and it is ultimately up to Congress — not the president — to decide how much ...
The Libertarian Angle: Sanctions by Future of Freedom Foundation March 24, 2014 FFF president Jacob Hornberger and FFF vice president Sheldon Richman discuss the horrible effects of governmental sanctions. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast.
Welfare Without the State by Nelson Hultberg March 24, 2014 Libertarians and free-market conservatives take an unequivocal stand on the provision of state welfare. It should be phased out and returned to the private sector. Charity is not a proper function of government. This, of course, attracts the usual horrified denunciations of, "My God, what kind of human being are you? Don't you have any compassion? How can you wish ...
TGIF: The American Disease by Sheldon Richman March 21, 2014 If the purpose of U.S. intervention in the affairs of other countries is really to help suffering people, the program has a fatal flaw. (This should surprise no one familiar with other government programs.) The flaw is that the U.S. government does opposition movements no favors when it gives credibility to the charge that those movements are tools of ...
Did Team Obama Blunder or Conspire in Ukraine? by Sheldon Richman March 20, 2014 While no one ever lost money overestimating the capacity of the U.S. government to blunder, we cannot rule out that American officials knew exactly what they were doing when they helped provoke the crisis in Ukraine. It is hard to believe that all these officials are so ignorant of Russian history that they could not anticipate how President Vladimir Putin ...