Daily Articles

John McCain’s Disastrous Militaristic Legacy

by James Bovard December 1, 2018

When Sen. John McCain passed away in August, he was lauded far and wide for his long career of public service. Rep. John Lewis, the famous civil-rights activist, hailed McCain as a “warrior for peace.” In reality, McCain embodied a toxic mix of moralism and militarism that worked out disastrously for America and the world. In his funeral eulogies, McCain ...

Businesses That Should Not Exist

by Laurence M. Vance December 1, 2018

Among other things, libertarians — and even most conservatives — are known for extolling the virtues of capitalism, the free market, commerce, trade, free enterprise, and entrepreneurship. They are generally defenders of business as long as there is an absence of protectionism, crony capitalism, and corporate welfare. Even so, from a libertarian perspective, there are still some businesses that ...

Liberal Internationalism: True and False, Part 1

by Richard M. Ebeling December 1, 2018

Part 1 | Part 2 For more than the seventy years of the post–World War II era, the prevailing global order in the West was and has been called “liberal internationalism.” It has had two components, a political one and an economic one: “democracy” and “capitalism.” Both are being challenged at the present time in various parts of the world, ...

The Roots of Voluntary Exchange Lie in the Middle East

by Nima Sanandaji December 1, 2018

It is today commonly believed that free markets and free-market ideology are new Western inventions. In my book The Birthplace of Capitalism: The Middle East, I challenge that notion by pointing out that enterprises, financial institutions, market-based economies, and the intellectual support for economic freedom evolved millennia ago in the Middle East. The book (which is awaiting its international ...

Deadly Policing in New York City

by Matthew Harwood December 1, 2018

I Can’t Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street by Matt Taibbi (New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2017); 336 pages. On the first day of law school, Yale Professor Stephen L. Carter walks into his contracts class with a message: “Every law is violent.” He then proceeds to tell his students that they should be willing to ...

Libertarian Lessons: Gun Control

by Scott McPherson November 30, 2018

A free society respects each individual's right to pursue happiness. If our rights have been transgressed through some act of violence or fraud, it is the role of government to hold offenders accountable in a court of law, its rulings enforced by police officers and prison guards. But an officer of the law will not be available in a moment ...

The JFK Assassination, Episode 22

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 30, 2018

In this series of short videos, FFF president Jacob Hornberger summarizes and details the circumstantial evidence pointing toward the U.S. national-security state as the orchestrator of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Watch the entire series. Go to the podcast.

The Imperial Presidency Embodies Political and Economic Hubris

by Richard M. Ebeling November 30, 2018

Historian Arthur M. Schlesinger coined the term “imperial presidency” in the 1960s. It was meant to indicate that the role of the president of the United States had dramatically grown in the 20th century from being an important but fairly limited position of implementing the laws of the land as specified in the Constitution and congressional legislation to being ...

Free Speech Is Your Right, But It Could Get You Killed

by John W. Whitehead November 29, 2018

“The freedom of individuals verbally to oppose or challenge police action without thereby risking arrest is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation from a police state.”— Justice William J. Brennan, City of Houston v. Hill What the architects of the police state want are submissive, compliant, cooperative, obedient, meek citizens who don’t talk ...

The Libertarian Angle: Ebeling’s Favorite Authors: Henry Hazlitt

by Future of Freedom Foundation November 28, 2018

Richard Ebeling is the BB&T Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Free Enterprise Leadership at The Citadel. He became a libertarian while still in high school and has been involved in the libertarian movement for many decades. Who did he look up to? What books have influenced him the most? Richard and FFF president Jacob Hornberger ...

Marijuana Wins Again

by Laurence M. Vance November 28, 2018

In the recent election, some Democrats won and some lost. Likewise, some Republicans won and some lost. There is one “candidate,” however, who won on most of the ballots “he” appeared on: marijuana. According to Ballotpedia, “Voters in 37 states decided 155 statewide ballot measures in November 2018.” A total of 167 statewide ballot measures were certified ...

Freedom Frauds: The ‘Truth Will Out’ Fairy Tale

by James Bovard November 27, 2018

Truth will out? Really? Truth will out is the biggest fairy tale in Washington. From the Warren Commission, to the Gulf of Tonkin, to WMD in Iraq, the truth has not accomplished much. Go to the audio podcast. View other episodes of Freedom Frauds.