Explore Freedom

Individualism and the Free Society, Part 1

by Nathaniel Branden November 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 A political system is the expression of a code of ethics. Just as some form of statism or collectivism is the expression of the ethics of altruism, so individualism — as represented by laissez-faire capitalism — is the expression of the ethics of rational self-interest. In this chapter I propose to show why this is ... [click for more]

Freedom, Virtue, and Responsibility, Part 3

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Despite their good intentions, the proponents of the welfare-state, managed-economy way of life have ended up with results that are opposite from what they intended. The war on poverty was supposed to end poverty. It did not, and the situation is worse than when the war started some thirty years ... [click for more]

Freedom, Virtue, and Responsibility, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The welfare state and the managed economy do more than destroy individual self-esteem. They also destroy hopes of improving one's life. Now, we know that money cannot buy happiness, but certainly the hopes of improving one's own economic well-being provide a stimulus to happiness. That is to say, if a ... [click for more]

National Conflicts, Market Liberalism and Social Peace

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 1994

For three years, civil war has caused massive death and destruction in the former Yugoslavia. Almost every day, the television evening news has broadcast pictures of devastating artillery bombardments, ruined towns and villages, and multitudes of killed and wounded men, women and children. Tens of thousands of people have been turned into refugees forced to leave their homes and belongings ... [click for more]

Freedom, Virtue, and Responsibility, Part 1

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 When the surgeon general of the United States, Joycelyn Elders, announced that drug legalization was an idea worth studying, the reaction among politicians, bureaucrats, conservatives, and even those on the political left was immediate. "Immoral!" "You favor drug abuse?" "Have you ever held a crack baby?" "You should resign!" Why do ... [click for more]

A Warning from the Past

by Charles Adams March 1, 1994

In A.D. 476 Odovacar, a German commander in the Roman army, sacked Rome and took over the imperial throne. That date is usually cited as the end of the Roman Empire. As a political force, Rome did end about that time, but the spirit of Roman civilization had ... [click for more]

The Standard of Liberty

by Rodney D. Lewis March 1, 1994

The concept of a standard is as old as man himself. It has been expressed in man's earliest writings. Moses understood its principles; so did the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the ancient dynasties of China and Japan — in every society, there have been those who have understood its principles. Standards are so powerful that adherence to their principles ... [click for more]

The War on Cash and Privacy

by Donald S. McAlvany March 1, 1994

In the former Soviet Union, if the government wanted to apprehend and imprison someone who had committed no crime, they charged him with the catchall crime of "hooliganism." In America, the catchall crime used against organized crime figures or other Americans has for years been RICO statutes or ... [click for more]

How Police Confiscation Is Destroying America, Part 2

by Jarret B. Wollstein November 1, 1993

Part 1 | Part 2 Under the Comprehensive Forfeiture Act of 1984 and other federal crime laws, any monies a defense attorney receives from a client can be confiscated — either before or after trial — if the government alleges they were the proceeds of an illegal transaction. In March 1992, the Securities and Exchange Commission froze all of the ... [click for more]

Toward an American Police State

by Donald S. McAlvany November 1, 1993

George Orwell's 1984 has arrived in the U.S.S.A. Just as in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and in Russia from 1917 to 1990, any government agent or agency in America today can confiscate or seize almost any property from any American and there is very ... [click for more]

How Police Confiscation Is Destroying America, Part 1

by Jarret B. Wollstein October 1, 1993

Part 1 | Part 2 Throughout America, police are now seizing cars, houses and bank accounts — without trial . . . and killing innocent Americans. The police now have the legal power to confiscate anything and everything that you own. Without trial, conviction, or even indictment, police are seizing cars, bank accounts, homes, and businesses from at least 5,000 ... [click for more]

Laws That Are Criminal

by Otto Scott October 1, 1993

Until recently, forfeiture laws were a part of the English and colonial past. They were revived during the Civil War, when — in 1862 — an Abolitionist Congress permitted the president to seize the homes and estates of Confederate soldiers. This power was used especially during the postwar Reconstruction period ... [click for more]