Daily Articles

Wasserman’s Twisted Tale About the Austrian School of Economics

by Richard M. Ebeling December 12, 2019

The Austrian School of Economics has been one of the most original and insightful approaches to economic understanding over the last century and a half. The Austrian School is also widely identified with the classical liberal ideal of individual liberty and free markets. Indeed, several of the Austrian economists have been considered to be among the most consistent and ...

Betraying the Constitution

by John W. Whitehead December 10, 2019

“It is the responsibility of the patriot to protect his country from its government.”—Thomas Paine While Congress subjects the nation to its impeachment-flavored brand of bread-and-circus politics, our civil liberties continue to die a slow, painful death by a thousand cuts. Case in point: while Americans have been fixated on the carefully orchestrated impeachment drama that continues to monopolize headlines,

A Progressive Case for Free Trade and against Protectionism

by Laurence M. Vance December 9, 2019

Conservative free-traders who support Donald Trump don’t talk about trade much anymore. To do so would mean that they have to criticize the president — an economic nationalist with a mercantilist mindset whose ignorance and incoherence on trade knows no bounds — and risk being labeled “Never Trumpers.” Since Trump’s election and the imposition of his protectionist trade policies, other ...

Socialism and the Green New Deal are Economically Impossible

by Richard M. Ebeling December 6, 2019

The Spanish philosopher, George Santayana (1863-1952) is usually credited with the phrase, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Nowhere is this truer than with the renewed idea and demand for the establishment of a socialist economic system. A noticeable number of intellectuals inside and outside the ivy tower of academia, as well as a vocal ...

Should There Be a Federal Cap on Interest Rates?

by Laurence M. Vance December 5, 2019

Although every state has laws that limit the rate of interest that can be charged on loans, there exist broad exemptions, exceptions, and loopholes based on the type of lender or borrower, the loan amount, the nature of the loan contract, or the subject of the loan contract. Some lenders have found a way to get around those laws. According to ...

Freedom and Prosperity: The Importance of Sound Money

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 2019

Sound money is a key to a free and prosperous society. That principle was clearly reflected in the monetary system that the Constitution established when it called the federal government into existence. Our ancestors didn’t trust government officials with power. They believed that the greatest threat to their own freedom and well-being lay not with some foreign regime but rather ...

Gun Seizures Could Lead to Civil War

by James Bovard December 1, 2019

“Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15,” declared “Beto” O’Rourke at a Democratic party presidential candidate debate in September. Compelling Americans to surrender their so-called assault weapons is “the newest purity test” for Democratic presidential candidates, according to the Washington Post. O’Rourke and other Democratic presidential candidates, including Cory Booker, Kristin Gillibrand, and Bill de Blasio (now withdrawn ...

Unlibertarian Libertarianism

by Laurence M. Vance December 1, 2019

Just like liberals, conservatives, progressives, populists, and constitutionalists — but certainly not as bad — libertarians are not always consistent when it comes to libertarianism. In fact, what some libertarians propose is unlibertarian libertarianism. Libertarianism Libertarianism is the philosophy that says that people should be free from individual, societal, or government interference to live their lives any way they desire, pursue ...

Understanding the Freedom We Have Lost

by Richard M. Ebeling December 1, 2019

Few people can really understand what life is like in a totalitarian state unless they have lived there or have had the opportunity to visit such a society for an extended period of time. For most Americans it seems like an impenetrable world that is not easily comprehended. How can you imagine living in a society with virtually none ...

The Long Shadow of World War I and America’s War on Dissent, Part 1

by Danny Sjursen December 1, 2019

Part 2 “War is the health of the state.” So said the eerily prescient and uncompromising anti-war radical Randolph Bourne in the very midst of what Europeans called the Great War, a nihilistic conflict that eventually consumed the lives of at least 9 million soldiers, including some 50,000 Americans. He meant, ultimately, that wars — especially foreign wars — ...

Thanksgiving and the Birth of American Free Enterprise

by Richard M. Ebeling November 27, 2019

Once more it’s that time of the year when most Americans gather with family and friends to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. The turkey is carved, the stuffing and sweet potatoes are passed around, and many slices of pumpkin pie are happily consumed. But how many of us know or appreciate that Thanksgiving really celebrates the failure of socialism and ...

Drugs, Dogs, and Democrats

by Laurence M. Vance November 25, 2019

Although the word federalism does not appear in the Constitution, it is one of the most important and innovative concepts in it. The states of the United States of America created the national government in 1789. The states had been in existence as independent, sovereign colonies for many, many years. Only Georgia (1732) among the original thirteen colonies was not ...