“Economic Freedom” by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2002 In a May 1 editorial, The Washington Post called on Cuban dictator Fidel Castro to honor a petition signed by 10,000 Cuban citizens demanding that a national referendum be called on freedom of expression, free elections, the right to private enterprise, and amnesty for political prisoners. The Post correctly praised those 10,000 ...
Classical Liberalism in the 21st Century: Freedom of Trade, Part 2 by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 2002 Part 1 | Part 2 A FUNDAMENTAL REVOLUTION IN IDEAS began to emerge in the 18th century against the premises and policies of mercantilism. These ideas undermined the rationales for government regulation and control of the economic affairs of the people of European society. In its place there arose a conception and vision of a free society based on ...
Do Americans Really Want Freedom? by Sheldon Richman May 1, 2002 Aye, free. Free as a tethered ass! W.S. Gilbert, Princess Ida AMERICANS CHERISH FREEDOM. So they say. They praise it every Fourth of July. They solemnly put hands to hearts and pledge allegiance to the United States of America ..., with freedom and justice for all. They open every ball game by singing, Oer the land of the free. Indeed, they ...
A Republic or an Empire by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2002 The “Week in Review” section of the March 31 issue of the New York Times published an article containing a startling observation—that “today, America is no mere superpower or hegemon but a full-blown empire in the Roman and British sense.” The article, “All Roads Lead to D.C.,” by Emily Eakin, which included a picture of ...
U.S. Justice in the War on Terrorism by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2002 Suspected pipe-bomb terrorist Luke J. Helder should be counting his lucky stars that he was captured by the American police before the U.S. military could intervene. Just ask Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who was recently the target of a missile fired by CIA forces in Afghanistan. Even though Hekmatyar was not part of the Taliban or al-Qaeda, he has nevertheless ...
Fiscal Force by Sheldon Richman May 1, 2002 “I know ev’rybody’s income and what ev’rybody earns; And I carefully compare it with the income-tax returns;” — W.S. Gilbert, Princess Ida April is the cruelest month, for reasons other than what T.S. Eliot had in mind. This is the month in which you must account for yourself to Caesar. The ...
America’s Hypocritical, Counterproductive Foreign Aid by James Bovard May 1, 2002 THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION has been triumphantly shutting down and seizing the assets of one Muslim charity after another. In some cases, such as that of the Holy Land Foundation, the evidence appears based largely on accusations from informants who overheard speeches seven or eight years ago. In other cases, the Treasury Department is releasing ...
World War I and the Suppression of Dissent, Part 2 by Wendy McElroy May 1, 2002 Part 1 | Part 2 IN THE SUMMER OF 1905, labor radicals assembled in Chicago to found a new group the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). It operated in competition with the more conservative American Federation of Labor (AFL), then the most powerful labor group in the United States. As well as embodying socialism, the IWW embraced less-restrictive ...
Jimmy Carter’s Freedom by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2002 Jimmy Carter’s remarks during his recent trip to Cuba are a perfect reflection of the muddled mindset that characterizes both Democrats and Republicans when it comes to the subject of freedom. Carter raised the importance of four aspects of liberty during his trip—political liberty, civil liberty, economic, and educational ...
Book Review: The Elusive Quest for Growth by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 2002 The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists’ Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics by William Easterly (Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2002); 342 pages; $29.95. POVERTY, UNFORTUNATELY, is the natural condition of man. And through most of his time on earth, as best as historians can determine, his standard of living has been meager and poor. But slowly over the centuries certain ...
A Devotion to Democracy? by Jacob G. Hornberger April 20, 2002 What’s with the love fest between U.S. officials and army generals? We have, of course, (retired) Army General Colin Powell serving as U.S. secretary of state. And we have (or will have) military tribunals manned by army officials, rather than jury trials by civilians, for foreigners accused of terrorism. There is Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani army ...
Military Tribunal Rules Violate the Rule of Law by Sheldon Richman April 15, 2002 The government giveth and the government taketh away. Sometimes it does so simultaneously. When the Bush administration announced it would hold military tribunals for captured Taliban and al-Qaeda members, concern about the un-America nature of the proceedings were so loud the Pentagon was forced to go back to the drawing board to fine-tune the plan. When ...