Social Security Demeans Workers by Sheldon Richman May 13, 2005 We can thank President Bush for reminding us that Social Security is not a pension or insurance plan but a welfare program. He did that recently when he proposed changing the benefit structure to favor (even more) low-income retirees at the expense of the “better off.” Whether this ...
The Bill of Rights: Reserved Powers by Jacob G. Hornberger May 11, 2005 The Constitution brought into existence the most unusual government in history. It was a government whose powers were limited to those enumerated in the document itself. If the power wasn’t enumerated, the government could not exercise it. Fearful that the newly formed government might try to break free of that ...
Minuteman Project Is a Fraud by Sheldon Richman May 4, 2005 If people who make up the Minuteman Project really want to do something for their country, they should devote their energies to getting rid of the stifling welfare state. Aside from all the good that would do for citizens, it would also ensure that anyone coming here from a ...
Oklahoma City and 9/11 by Jacob G. Hornberger May 2, 2005 The Oklahoma City bombing 10 years ago holds an important lesson regarding the 9/11 attacks. It is a lesson about terrorist motivation and the consequences of U.S. government policy. After the Oklahoma City bombing, U.S. officials immediately discouraged discussion about Timothy McVeigh’s motivation for committing his terrorist attack. Whenever someone pointed out that McVeigh bombed ...
Democracy, But Not Necessarily Freedom by Sheldon Richman May 1, 2005 Democracy is breaking out all over. Or thats the impression we get from the daily news. Maybe its true. Elections have been held in Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the Palestinian territories. Theres talk (just talk) of a real presidential election in autocratic Egypt. Whos next? One need not sanction the imperial Bush Doctrine to take inspiration from two salient ...
The Biggest Medicare Fraud Ever by James Bovard May 1, 2005 The Bush administration admitted in February that its new Medicare drug prescription benefit would cost $1.2 trillion over the next decade — not the $400 billion that Bush had promised when he was pressuring Congress to enact the bill. His vast expansion of the welfare state is wrecking any effort to rein in government spending. In order to better understand ...
A Federated Republic or One Nation? by Benedict D. LaRosa May 1, 2005 The controversy over the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance overshadows an old, long-forgotten issue regarding the Pledge. When it was first published in 1892, the Pledge did not contain the words “under God.” Congress added these words in 1954 as a Cold War response to atheistic communism. Nevertheless, ...
Economics for the Citizen, Part 3 by Walter E. Williams May 1, 2005 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 There are four classes of behavior that can be called economic behavior. They are: production, consumption, exchange, and specialization. The discussion of ...
Henry David Thoreau and “Civil Disobedience,” Part 3 by Wendy McElroy May 1, 2005 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Thoreau’s criticism is aimed at the form of obedience that springs from a genuine respect for the authority of the state. This obedience says, “The law is the law and should be respected regardless of content.” Through such attitudes, otherwise good men become agents of injustice. Thoreau dissects the notion that ...
Book Review — Against Leviathan by Doug Bandow May 1, 2005 Against Leviathan: Government Power and a Free Society by Robert Higgs (Independent Institute, 2004); 405 pages; $18.95. The era of big government is over, famously proclaimed President Bill Clinton. Alas, a decade later Leviathan is still with us, an ever-present threat to our liberties. In his new book, Against Leviathan: Government Power ...
Book Review: Against Leviathan by George Leef May 1, 2005 Against Leviathan: Government Power and a Free Society by Robert Higgs (Independent Institute, 2004); 405 pages; $18.95. Readers familiar with the writings of the 16th-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes will immediately understand the thrust of this exceptional book. Hobbes attempted to justify an ...
A Cancer Patient Faces the Chaos of the American Health-Care System by Rosalind Lacy MacLennan April 27, 2005 In mid December 2004, I stood up in the middle of my primary-care physician’s waiting room, and said, “I am carrying a weapon of mass destruction in my breast. I have breast cancer. I came here for treatment, not for cemetery care.” At last. The receptionist looked up. After two phone ...