Explore Freedom

The Oklahoma Tragedy and the Mass Media

by Richard M. Ebeling June 1, 1995

The hundreds of pictures and thousands of words that have appeared in the popular press since the Oklahoma City bombing tell us much about America and its people. The images and descriptions of the killed and wounded have aroused the sympathy and concern of millions of Americans. Countless prayers have been offered for the dead and those they left ... [click for more]

American Foreign Policy — The Turning Point, 1898–1919 Part 5

by Ralph Raico June 1, 1995

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 When the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany in February 1917, war did not immediately follow. President Wilson hesitated to take that final, fateful step, first asking Congress for authority to arm U.S. merchant ships. Since ... [click for more]

The Power to Declare War — Who Speaks for the Constitution? Part 1

by Doug Bandow June 1, 1995

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 When presidents lose domestic support, they invariably look overseas for crises to solve. President Clinton is no different. After the Republicans swept Congress, he immediately flew off to the Pacific for a series of meetings with foreign leaders. Aides predict that he will continue to pay greater attention to foreign policy, where ... [click for more]

American Foreign Policy — The Turning Point, 1898–1919 Part 4

by Ralph Raico May 1, 1995

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 Once war broke out in 1914, each of the European powers felt that its very existence was at stake, and rules of international law were rapidly abandoned. The Germans violated Belgian neutrality because their war plan called for the ... [click for more]

American Foreign Policy — The Turning Point, 1898 –1919 Part 3

by Ralph Raico April 1, 1995

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 By 1899, the United States was involved in its first war in Asia. Three others were to follow in the course of the next century: against Japan, North Korea and China, and, finally, Viet Nam. But our first ... [click for more]

American Foreign Policy — The Turning Point, 1898–1919 Part 2

by Ralph Raico March 1, 1995

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 The year 1898 was a landmark in American history. It was the year America went to war with Spain — our first engagement with a foreign enemy in the dawning age of modern warfare. Aside from a few ... [click for more]

American Foreign Policy — The Turning Point, 1898–1919, Part 1

by Ralph Raico February 1, 1995

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 With the end of the twentieth century rapidly approaching, this is a time to look back and gain some perspective on where we stand as a nation. Were the Founding Fathers somehow to return, they would find it impossible to recognize our political ... [click for more]

Compounding the Somali Tragedy

by Doug Bandow August 1, 1993

The post-Cold War is proving to be a disorderly place. Conflicts restrained by the superpowers are now breaking out all over — in Africa, the Balkans, and the former Soviet Union. More wars could eventually explode in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. Tragic those these conflicts are, they need not ... [click for more]

The Most Dreaded Enemy of Liberty

by James Madison August 1, 1993

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, ... [click for more]

Players and Pawns: The Persian Gulf War

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 1991

For the greater part of this century, the United States government has plundered, looted, and terrorized the American people through the Internal Revenue Service. It has surreptitiously stolen people's income and savings through the Federal Reserve System. It has brutally enforced — through fines and imprisonment — rules and regulations governing people's peaceful economic activities. In a very real ... [click for more]

Some Other Costs of War

by Robert Higgs July 1, 1991

War always increases State power over the economy, and the Gulf war is no exception. Thus one of President Bush's first actions was, by executive fiat, to give himself total control over any corporation or industry, if he deems it necessary for the war effort. He can now requisition what he wants, without regard ... [click for more]

We’d Rather Fight

by Lannon Stafford July 1, 1991

We're a peace-loving people — everybody says so. Well, maybe not everybody, but we sure say so. Hardly a week goes by without one of our national leaders referring to Americans as a peace-loving people. What can they be thinking of? In the past fifty years, we have fought four major wars; that is, wars that ... [click for more]