Explore Freedom

Reno’s Disgrace

by Sheldon Richman April 1, 2000

Everyone-regardless of his views on Juan Miguel Gonzalez's claim to his son-should be appalled at how Attorney General Janet Reno carried out the removal of Elián Gonzalez from the home of his great-uncle in Miami. The sight of agents of the U.S. government, clad in military-style assault gear, armed with automatic weapons, breaking into a private home in the early ... [click for more]

Off His Rocker?

by Sheldon Richman April 1, 2000

A baseball player who uttered some uncouth, even bigoted, remarks about various groups of people in New York City was ordered to undergo psychological testing - and possibly treatment - by his employer, Major League Baseball (MLB). John Rocker, an awesome relief pitcher with the Atlanta Braves, has apologized for his statements in a Sports Illustrated interview, but that ... [click for more]

The Contagious Disease Acts

by Wendy McElroy March 1, 2000

The Contagious Disease Acts (1860s) in Britain occasioned "the western world's first feminine revolt of any stature." So wrote historian Michael Pearson in his book The Age of Consent: Victorian Prostitution and Its Enemies. The revolt was for sexual equality and against a double standard in the law. The 20-year crusade against the C.D. Acts was led by a ... [click for more]

The Re-igniting of Waco

by James Bovard February 1, 2000

The return of Waco could herald the pending death of the final shreds of credibility of Janet Reno and federal law enforcement. Or it may turn out to be one more episode of Stepin Fetchit journalists racing to help cover up the worst misdeeds of the Clinton administration -- forever willing to accept whatever government's latest version of the ... [click for more]

Anarcho-Anti-Immigrationism?

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2000

For reasons not exactly clear, the immigration issue gives some libertarians trouble. In their efforts to grapple with the issue, it’s made needlessly complicated and some highly odd “solutions” are promulgated. We’ll look at one such solution in this article. Preliminarily, we would expect that when a libertarian examines any ... [click for more]

Book Review: The End of Privacy

by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 2000

The End of Privacy: Personal Rights in the Surveillance Society by Charles J. Sykes (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999); 282 pages; $24.95. At Menwith Hill in the North York moors of Great Britain, there is a spy center employing 1,400 U.S. National Security Agency personnel ... [click for more]

Liberty and Virtue: Invaluable and Inseparable: Part 2

by Doug Bandow January 1, 2000

Part 1 | Part 2 Attempting to forcibly make people virtuous would make society itself less virtuous in three important ways. First, individuals would lose the opportunity to exercise virtue. They would not face the same set of temptations and be forced to choose between good and evil. In some ... [click for more]

Custom-Made Abuses at Customs

by James Bovard December 1, 1999

You know it is going to be a bad day when your Customs inspector starts putting on latex gloves. A rising floodtide of scandal is engulfing the Customs Service. Press reports across the nation are trumpeting cases of Customs agents taking bribes and abusing their power. A Treasury Department investigation is looking at the agency's ... [click for more]

Liberty and Virtue: Invaluable and Inseparable, Part 1

by Doug Bandow December 1, 1999

Part 1 | Part 2 There is no quicker means of raising a skeptical eye among many conservatives and libertarians alike than to endorse both liberty and virtue. Many people who consider freedom the preeminent political objective perceive support for virtue to be an implicit call for restrictive new laws. ... [click for more]

Waco: Lies, Deaths, and Cover-Ups

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 1999

Afer the bombing of the Alfred J. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, President Clinton declared, "There's nothing patriotic about hating your government or pretending you can hate your government but love your country." I wonder whether the president still feels the same way in light of the ... [click for more]

The Art of Plunder

by Sheldon Richman October 1, 1999

Now that the controversy surrounding the art exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum has calmed down, it's a good time for some sober reflection. To recap, the museum, which is subsidized with taxpayer money, is hosting an exhibit that includes among other things, a painting purportedly of the Virgin Mary adorned ... [click for more]

Time to Curb SWAT Rampages

by James Bovard September 1, 1999

SWAT teams are finally getting some overdue bad press. Usually the SWATers are starring in some TV pseudo-docudrama where they go smashing into someone's home and discover him with a dumb look and a bong. However, people are now beginning to ask questions about the wisdom of the routine use of massive police force. Prof. ... [click for more]