Daily Articles

The Deep State’s Demolition of Democracy

by James Bovard February 1, 2020

“Thank God for the Deep State,” declared former acting CIA chief John McLaughlin while appearing on a panel at the National Press Club last October. In 2018, the New York Times asserted that Trump’s use of the term “Deep State” and similar rhetoric “fanned fears that he is eroding public trust in institutions, undermining the idea of objective truth ...

Are Uber Drivers Underpaid?

by Laurence M. Vance February 1, 2020

After its initial public offering (IPO) in May 2019, Uber’s shares closed their first day of trading at $41.57 — 7.6 percent below the company’s offering price of $45. On November 6 — the day of the highly anticipated six-month “lockup” period following its IPO ended — early investors and employees looking to sell their stock for a big ...

Tigers Are Less Dangerous Than Tax Collectors and Political Paternalists

by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 2020

We are told in The Analects of the famous ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius (551–479 BC), Once Confucius was walking in the mountains and he came across a woman weeping by a grave. He asked the woman what her sorrow was, and she replied, “We are a family of hunters. My husband was bitten by a tiger and died. And now ...

Unleashing the Dogs of War

by Matthew Harwood February 1, 2020

Presidents of War by Michael Beschloss (New York: Crown, 2018); 752 pages. Even with power in the hands of a political philosopher and statesman who understood the rabid nature of war, President James Madison couldn’t help but embroil the young nation in a conflict it wasn’t ready for. Unlike Thomas Jefferson, his ...

U-Haul’s New Hiring Policy Should Be the Norm

by Laurence M. Vance January 30, 2020

They’re everywhere, and have been for as long as I can remember: U-Haul trucks, trailers, towing devices, moving boxes, and self-storage units are ubiquitous. U-Haul International, the creator of the do-it-yourself moving industry, has “a network of 22,000 locations across all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces.” The company’s fleet has grown “to approximately 167,000 trucks, ...

FDR and Stalin Planned the Future of the World

by Richard M. Ebeling January 28, 2020

Seventy-five years ago, during the week of February 4-11, 1945, the most important Allied conference during the Second World War was held at Yalta on the Crimean Peninsula in the Soviet Union, between U.S. president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, British prime minister, Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin. Their decisions determined the fate of tens of millions of people ...

Deadly Distractions

by John W. Whitehead January 23, 2020

And so it continues. This impeachment fiasco is merely the latest in a never-ending series of distractions, distortions, and political theater aimed at diverting the public’s attention from the sinister advances of the American Police State. Don’t allow yourselves to be distracted, diverted or mesmerized by the cheap theater tricks. This impeachment spectacle is Shakespearean in its scope: full of sound and ...

John Stuart Mill on Slavery and the American Civil War

by Richard M. Ebeling January 21, 2020

One of the most heated and controversial issues today concerns the place of slavery in the history of the United States, and attitudes toward the institution of human bondage in the Western world in general. Another theme in modern political debate is the nature and role of classical liberalism as a force for human freedom and dignity or as a ...

Anti-Gun Laws, Sanctuary Cities and the Second Amendment

by John W. Whitehead January 16, 2020

“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” – The Second Amendment to the US Constitution We never learn. In the right (or wrong) hands, benevolent plans can easily be put to malevolent purposes. Even the most well-intentioned government law or program can ...

Joseph A. Schumpeter, Outsider Looking In

by Richard M. Ebeling January 14, 2020

Read this article in Chinese Seventy years ago, on January 8, 1950, one of the most famous economists of the 20th century passed away at the age of 66, Joseph A. Schumpeter. During and after his lifetime, he has been identified with two related ideas, the notion of the innovative entrepreneur and the imagery ...

Why Don’t Conservatives Tell the Truth about Food Stamps?

by Laurence M. Vance January 13, 2020

About two years ago, the Trump administration, through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, announced new guidelines that allowed states to impose work requirements for able-bodied persons to receive Medicaid. Now it has strengthened work requirements for the food-stamp program. Predictably, just as two years ago, Democrats and liberals are outraged. The federal food-stamp program (officially called SNAP, the Supplemental ...

Not Losing Sight of the Classical Liberal Ideal

by Richard M. Ebeling January 8, 2020

In the midst of the Second World War, the famous Austrian-born economist Joseph A. Schumpeter (1883-1950), published his famous book, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (1942). He asked the question, “Can Capitalism Survive?” He answered, “No.” He expected some form of socialism, dictatorial or “democratic,” to supersede the private market economy in postwar America. He was proven wrong. Postwar American ...