Sabotaging Privacy for Political Profit by James Bovard June 1, 1999 Federal regulators announced last December 7, Pearl Harbor Day, a brazen scheme to convert banks into conspirators against their depositors. The "Know Your Customer" rules were a landmark in the history of the attempted subversion of American privacy and property rights. But enough Americans rallied — at least temporarily — to block this power grab. The proposed rules vastly expanded ...
Thank You, Mr. President by Sheldon Richman March 1, 1999 Maybe we should be grateful for and to President Clinton. Not since Richard Nixon has a tenure in the White House illustrated the evils of the political class with such clarity. Every day brings a new lesson. Libertarians get it. Let's hope the rest of America does too. The last few months have been most enlightening. Through much of 1998, ...
Don’t Blame the Termometer for the Fever by Sheldon Richman January 1, 1999 When communism collapsed a few years ago, people thought the last grand ideological debate over political economy had finally ended. Supposedly, we were all capitalists now. But this is clearly not the case. The world's political leaders show no signs of a commitment to capitalism, if by that term we ...
A Better State of the Union Address by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 1999 "My fellow Americans, I, William Jefferson Clinton, am pleased to report on the state of the union on the eve of the millennium and to propose a different direction for our country. "For most of the 20th century, the primary role of the federal government has been to take care of ...
Thought Crimes and Presidential Tantrums by Sheldon Richman December 1, 1998 In an era of "hate crime" legislation, which makes it an added offense to think certain bad things when committing a real crime, we have a new forbidden thought: that President Clinton launched a savage attack on Iraq to delay, if not scuttle, the impeachment effort in the House of ...
Why Does Government Meddle in the Arts? by Sheldon Richman October 2, 1998 When the Washington Post recently honored Sidney Yates, 89, on the occasion of his retirement, it emphasized that he had "made his mark on the arts." Is Sidney Yates a composer? Musician? Painter? Poet? Writer? None of the above. He's a congressman. Don't laugh. In Washington, you can make your mark on the arts just by chairing the ...
Politics Won’t Produce Moral Heroes by Sheldon Richman September 2, 1998 Much of the reaction about President Clinton's difficulties can be summed up thus: Our leader let us down. The premise is that the president is not just a chief executive officer, but much more: a moral and spiritual leader of the nation. I submit this is an unfortunate attitude for free people. Americans have long had ...
Clinton’s Job Performance Puzzle by Sheldon Richman August 1, 1998 The pundits are bewildered over the public's apparently contradictory response to President Clinton during his recent troubles. Most people have a low opinion of his character. Yet at least 60 percent of those polled think he's doing a terrific job and should not resign. How can this be? Assuming the polling ...
Treating Us Like Children by Sheldon Richman July 2, 1998 It's getting harder and harder to imagine a Republican keeping a straight face while proclaiming the GOP to be the party of limited government and personal liberty. The latest reason? The Republican-controlled Senate recently voted 90-10 to outlaw gambling over the Internet. The prohibition, tagged onto an appropriations bill, would impose a penalty of three ...
The Politics of Scandal by Sheldon Richman July 1, 1998 The hand-wringing over President Clinton's extracurricular activities is misplaced. Whatever else can be said about what Mr. Clinton did or didn't do, we can say this: it would be no tragedy if, as a result of the scandals, the presidency, indeed government itself, were diminished. Quite the contrary. Pundits and others have been heard to say that it is too ...
Service without a Smile by Sheldon Richman June 2, 1998 Stop the presses! Here's a news headline that will send shock waves through the nation: Compulsory community service doesn't work. Imagine that: When students are forced to be compassionate volunteers, they rebel and find ways to game the system. Who'd have believed it? In a recent article, James Youniss and Miranda Yates are crestfallen that ...
Loving the Children by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 1998 Love for the children is one of the favorite justifications that Democrats and Republicans use to maintain and expand government control over people's lives. Whenever libertarians propose ending the war on drugs, along with all of its terribly destructive consequences, a standard Democratic-Republican response is, "We have to maintain the war on drugs for the sake of the children." ...