Explore Freedom

Zoning’s Attack on Liberty and Property

by Bart Frazier October 1, 2006

One of the most coercive tools that public officials have at their disposal is zoning. City councils and county boards throughout the country use zoning regulations to dictate which uses are permitted and which are not on every parcel of land within their jurisdiction. While sometimes well-intentioned, zoning regulations nevertheless ... [click for more]

The Eminent-Domain Origin of Shenandoah National Park

by Bart Frazier September 1, 2006

The establishment of Shenandoah National Park in 1926 is one of the greatest abuses of eminent domain in our country’s history. With the Commonwealth of Virginia condemning the entire area and removing more than 450 families, many by force, the park would eventually encompass 196,000 acres. After people were evicted, Virginia transferred the property to ... [click for more]

Housing Socialism, Part 2

by Gregory Bresiger July 1, 2006

Part 1 | Part 2 The desire for self-improvement is not the mentality behind price-control laws and rent-control laws. Behind them is the mentality of social engineering. It is a mentality subscribed to by those who want the government to micro-manage prices, wages, and even the level of ... [click for more]

Housing Socialism, Part 1

by Gregory Bresiger June 1, 2006

Part 1 | Part 2 In every country examined, the introduction and continuance of rent control/restriction has done much more harm than good in rental housing markets — let alone the economy at large — by perpetuating shortages, encouraging immobility, swamping consumer preferences, fostering dilapidation of housing ... [click for more]

Oil Feeding Frenzy

by Sheldon Richman May 3, 2006

The feeding frenzy in Washington over oil prices and profits may win pander-points for cynical politicians, but it takes the public’s eye off the ball. The regular outcry over rising prices, which, you’ll notice, requires a previous period of falling prices, highlights some fascinating puzzles. For example, there is a ... [click for more]

The Disastrous World of the New York Subway, Part 3

by Gregory Bresiger April 1, 2006

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Government enterprise validates a kind of cult of failure, a cult that has stood human nature on its head and made incompetence a god. It is human nature to want to do well in anything, no less in business. Most owners risk much of their life’s savings to ... [click for more]

RIM was Wronged

by Sheldon Richman March 6, 2006

For the last few years we’ve been reading that Research in Motion’s popular mobile-email service, BlackBerry, may be shut down because the company “infringed the patents” of a company called NTP. That’s all the newspapers said. Curious readers would want to know more. Did black-clad RIM operatives break into NTP’s office ... [click for more]

The Disastrous World of the New York Subway, Part 2

by Gregory Bresiger March 1, 2006

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Here is one thing government enterprise has undeniably delivered: There are no more serious debates about greed. How can there be greed when government enterprises such as the subways and Amtrak almost always lose boatloads of money? For example, in a recent Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) annual report, the ... [click for more]

The Conservative Reform Game

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 20, 2006

Here we go again. The reform game. In the wake of the federal government’s disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is unveiling “reforms” that will ensure that such federal disasters never happen again. Yawn! Just more standard conservative “reform” claptrap. This is par-for-the-course ... [click for more]

Bush Speaks Nonsense on Energy

by Sheldon Richman February 10, 2006

Despite the bravado in his State of the Union address, President Bush actually admitted that his efforts in the Middle East are destined to fail. Here’s what he said: “America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.” He then unveiled billions of dollars in new ... [click for more]

The Disastrous World of the New York Subway, Part 1

by Gregory Bresiger February 1, 2006

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 New York City just went through another egregious subway strike. Again. Yet this was a strike of public workers that was never supposed to occur. The workers are covered by the state’s Taylor law, which isn’t much of a law, since the workers repeatedly violate it. (There were ... [click for more]

Hurting Wal-Mart’s Employees

by Sheldon Richman January 20, 2006

Government is little more than a coercive transfer machine. If you can’t acquire something through consent and exchange, you ask politicians to compel others to provide it. This goes on every day. Never was it more blatant than when the Maryland legislature passed a law to compel Wal-Mart to spend at ... [click for more]