Freedom Daily Archive

The Conservative Mantra

by Laurence M. Vance April 1, 2017

Conservative godfather Russell Kirk (1918–1994) wrote lengthy philosophical treatises on “the six canons of conservative thought” and “ten conservative principles.” Throughout his writings on conservatism he praised natural law, order, virtue, restraint, custom, convention, continuity, tradition, prudence, permanent things, an enduring moral order, property, and voluntary community, while he disdained hasty innovation, collectivism, uniformity, egalitarianism, utilitarianism, and those who ...

Donald Trump as Carnival Hawker and His Leftist Enemies

by Richard M. Ebeling April 1, 2017

Politics has a strange influence on people. People who in their daily lives seem to act quite normal are driven into various forms of madness by politics. For instance, I have friends and acquaintances on both the political Right and Left, with whom totally normal conversations and interactions may be had — unless it turns to politics. Donald Trump is ...

The Assassination of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt, Part 3

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2017

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In July 1976 the U.S. ambassador to Paraguay, George Landau, received a request from a high Paraguayan official to expedite visa applications from two Chilean officials who wished to travel to the United States. The passports that were submitted as part of the application contained the names and ...

Obama’s AWOL Anti-War Protest

by James Bovard March 1, 2017

Barack Obama campaigned for the presidency in 2008 as a peace candidate. He signaled that he would fundamentally change America’s course after the reckless carnage unleashed by the George W. Bush administration. However, by the end of Obama’s presidency, the United States was bombing seven different foreign nations. But Obama’s warring rarely evoked the protests or opposition that the Bush ...

Free the Airports!

by Laurence M. Vance March 1, 2017

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), U.S. airlines and foreign airlines serving the United States carry about 900 million passengers per year systemwide on more than 9 million flights (domestic and international). The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) projects that the total number of enplanements will grow to 1.2 billion by 2036. More than ...

In an Ideal America

by Leonard Read March 1, 2017

Every person should be free … to pursue his ambition to the full extent of his abilities, regardless of race or creed or family background. … to associate with whom he pleases for any reason he pleases, even if someone else thinks it’s a stupid reason. … to worship God in his own way, even if it isn’t “orthodox.” … to choose his ...

American Progressivism in Its Epoch

by Joseph R. Stromberg March 1, 2017

After 1865, rapid industrial consolidation and concentration of wealth, aggravated by the Panics of 1873 and 1893, provoked the Populist farmers’ movement, the labor strife characteristic of the mid-to-late 19th century, and the anti-trust movement. As historian Nancy Cohen has shown, the Liberal Republican reformers of the 1870s, disgusted by corruption under President Ulysses Grant, wanted to address the ...

Prohibition and the Socialist Ideal

by Ludwig von Mises March 1, 2017

Under the capitalistic system, the ultimate bosses are the consumers. The sovereign is not the state, it is the people. And the proof that they are the sovereign is borne out by the fact that they have the right to be foolish. This is the privilege of the sovereign. He has the right to make mistakes, no one can ...

The Assassination of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2017

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Immediately after the bombing that killed Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt, Michael Moffitt began screaming, “DINA!” “Assassins!” The Washington, D.C., police who had arrived on the scene were mystified. Who the heck is Dina? they wondered. Moffitt was referring to the National Intelligence Directorate, an internal military-intelligence force within ...

How Food Stamps Subverted Democracy, Part 3

by James Bovard February 1, 2017

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Barack Obama took office in 2009 amidst the worst recession since the early 1980s. He had more faith in government spending than any White House occupant since Franklin Roosevelt. He speedily pushed through a stimulus bill through Congress that helped increase the number of food-stamp recipients from ...

The Marijuana Juggernaut Rolls On

by Laurence M. Vance February 1, 2017

Although most media coverage last November was on national elections — and especially the presidential election — most elections are actually for state and local offices. On the national level, voters choose two senators every six years, a president every four years, and a member of the House of Representative every two years. That is it. No one gets ...

The Gold Clause Cases

by David S. D'Amato February 1, 2017

The Supreme Court’s decision in the Legal Tender Cases in the late 1800s compelled the acceptance of otherwise worthless Treasury notes for all debts, removing from the individual’s rightful sphere of control a matter of serious financial import. The Gold Clause Cases, decided in 1935, continued to erode the liberal tradition of economic freedom, the further decline of which ...