Daily Articles

Big Brother and the Rise of the Security Industrial Complex

by John W. Whitehead February 14, 2024

“Big Brother is Watching You.”―George Orwell, 1984 2024 is the new 1984. Forty years past the time that George Orwell envisioned the stomping boot of Big Brother, the police state is about to pass off the baton to the surveillance state. Fueled by a melding of government and corporate power—the rise of the security industrial complex—this watershed moment sounds a death knell ...

Medicare & You

by Laurence M. Vance February 13, 2024

Although I am not quite old enough to qualify for Medicare, I recently received in the mail a 131-page large-size book titled Medicare & You 2024: The Official U.S. Government Medicare Handbook, published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Turns out that the book was intended for a previous owner ...

The 80th Anniversary of F. A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom

by Richard M. Ebeling February 9, 2024

Eighty years ago, in March 1944, the British edition of Friedrich A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom was published. An American edition appeared six months later, in September 1944. During these eight decades, Hayek’s book has become a classic work in defense of the liberal free-market society and against socialist central planning. Often, when a book has received the status ...

Unheralded Resisters in Nazi Germany: The Edelweiss Pirates, Part 2

by Wendy McElroy February 6, 2024

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In the Hitler Youth, as in classrooms, the goal was to produce obedient, race-conscious Germans who were willing to die for Führer and Fatherland. Hitler explained, “After four years of the Young Folk, they go on to the Hitler Youth, where we have them for another four years.... And even ...

It’s Not Just Liberals Who Are Clamoring for Tax Increases

by Laurence M. Vance February 2, 2024

President Biden’s proposed fiscal year 2024 budget called for an increase in the top marginal tax rate from 37 to 39.6 percent and a 25 percent minimum tax on Americans with wealth exceeding $100 million. But it’s not just liberals who are clamoring for tax increases. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is a right-leaning think tank in Washington, ...

Terror by Night

by John W. Whitehead January 31, 2024

“We’re all potential victims.”—Peter Christ, retired police officer Sometimes ten seconds is all the warning you get. Sometimes you don’t get a warning before all hell breaks loose. Imagine it, if you will: It’s the middle of the night. Your neighborhood is in darkness. Your household is asleep. Suddenly, you’re awakened by a loud noise. Barely ten seconds later, someone ...

Why Drug Prohibition?

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 30, 2024

During the entire lives of everyone living today, the U.S. government has been waging the so-called war on drugs. Since 1914, beginning with the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act, the federal government has enacted laws that make it a criminal offense to possess or distribute certain drugs or to simply conspire (that is, agree) to do so. The objective has ...

You’re Probably Already on a Government Extremism List

by John W. Whitehead January 26, 2024

“In a closed society where everybody’s guilty, the only crime is getting caught.”—Hunter S. Thompson According to the FBI, you may be an anti-government extremist if you’ve: a) purchased a Bible or other religious materials, b) used terms like “MAGA” and “Trump,” c) shopped at Dick’s Sporting Goods, Cabela’s, or Bass Pro Shops, d) purchased tickets to travel by bus, cars, ...

America Has a Uniparty System

by Laurence M. Vance January 24, 2024

The United States has been saddled with a two-party political system almost from the very beginning of its existence. First it was the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party, then it was the Democrats and the Whigs, and now it is the Democrats and the Republicans. George Wallace’s adage that “there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the Democrat ...

Will TSA Steal Your Mug?

by James Bovard January 22, 2024

Dorothy Parker’s signature line, “What fresh hell is this?” is the new mantra for travelers at American airports. TSA is rapidly expanding a program in which travelers stand in photo kiosks that compare their faces with a federal database of photos from passport applications, drivers’ licenses, and other sources to see if people receive official permission to fly. What could ...

How Tyrannical Governments Stifle Political Dissent

by John W. Whitehead January 18, 2024

“No president from either party should have the sole power to shut down or take control of the internet or any other of our communication channels during an emergency.”—Senator Rand Paul What’s to stop the U.S. government from throwing the kill switch and shutting down phone and internet communications in a time of so-called crisis? After all,

Raw Milk, Marijuana, Tobacco, and Alcohol

by Laurence M. Vance January 17, 2024

The year 2023 was a good year for proponents of legalized raw milk and legalized marijuana. Forty-six states now allow the sale of raw milk, that is, unpasteurized milk, for human consumption, for pet consumption (there is no law against consuming pet food), or the distribution of raw milk through herd-share agreements. Only the states of Hawaii, Louisiana, Nevada, ...