Free Society

The Healthcare Road to Serfdom

by Scott McPherson January 26, 2022

COVID-19 hysteria has done more to embolden the power-mad than a massive terrorist attack. Once content to whisper among themselves about the danger of “too much freedom” (any amount, in the final analysis, being too much for them), they slither out of the shadows now to champion every new idea or policy that treats people like bees in a ...

The Pilgrims Tried Socialism and It Failed

by Richard M. Ebeling January 11, 2022

With the Thanksgiving holiday in the rear view mirror, we can get past the carving of a turkey; the stuffing and sweet potatoes; and many slices of pumpkin pie that almost all of us happily consumed. But how many of us know or appreciate that Thanksgiving really celebrates the failure of socialism and the birth of private enterprise and ...

Despotism Is the New Normal

by John W. Whitehead January 10, 2022

Looking at the present, I see a more probable future: a new despotism creeping slowly across America. Faceless oligarchs sit at command posts of a corporate-government complex that has been slowly evolving over many decades. In efforts to enlarge their own powers and privileges, they are willing to have others suffer the intended or unintended consequences ...

Winning Freedom Requires Some Radical Solutions

by Richard M. Ebeling January 7, 2022

Suppose that there was a button in front of you that if you pushed, it would, in one instant, abolish all the governmental controls and regulations on the US economy. Would you push that button, and in so doing transform the United States into a society of free people? People who would associate with each other based on voluntary ...

Madness, Mayhem and Tyranny

by John W. Whitehead January 4, 2022

“Tyranny does not flourish because perpetuators are helpless and ignorant of their actions. It flourishes because they actively identify with those who promote vicious acts as virtuous.”—An academic study into pathocracy Disgruntled mobs. Martial law. A populace under house arrest. A techno-corporate state wielding its power to immobilize huge swaths of the country. A Constitution in tatters. Between ...

Will Politicians Revive American Slavery?

by James Bovard January 1, 2022

In the wake of America’s disastrous Civil War, the Thirteenth Amendment was enacted to prohibit involuntary servitude. Unfortunately, top newspapers, pundits, and think tanks are now campaigning to nullify that prohibition. Apparently, slavery was evil not because of the unjust subjugation but because plantation owners, not politicians, were the profiteers. Politicians have long been hustling to establish their prerogative to ...

The Fabric of Civilization

by Neera K. Badhwar January 1, 2022

The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World  by Virginia Postrel, Basic Books, 2021, 320 pages. Virginia Postrel’s Fabric of Civilization is a fascinating, deeply researched tale of the development of fabric. Starting with fiber to make string, it takes us through the development of thread, to natural fabric, and finally to synthetics. It tells of ...

Leave Scrooge (and the Rest of Us) Alone!

by Scott McPherson December 24, 2021

The Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol is a beloved piece of literature, a mainstay of the holiday season. First published in 1843 and retold countless times in film and on the stage, it tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserable old corn merchant and landlord who delights in his own misery and the misfortune of others. For almost ...

The Christmas Baby Born in a Police State

by John W. Whitehead December 20, 2021

“When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace ...

A Republic, Not a Democracy

by Scott McPherson December 17, 2021

Late-night political hack and former comedian Stephen Colbert doesn't usually warrant any notice, but he stumbled onto an important truth recently. Lamenting the possibility that the Supreme Court may overturn Roe v. Wade, he whined that if only 27 percent of Americans (according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll) support such a move, and the court doesn't vote the ...

A Great Opportunity to Restore the Republic

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 2021

With the debacle in Afghanistan, the American people have been presented with one of the greatest opportunities in our lifetime — an opportunity to dismantle the national-security establishment and restore our founding system of a limited-government republic. Opportunities like this do not often present themselves. Now is time to seize the day, before the national-security establishment is able to ...

Freedom Is Not Free

by Leonard Read December 1, 2021

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. —Abraham Lincoln Only a few — the pure, the apt and the true — never deny freedom to anyone. All others, while they may hope for freedom for themselves, deny this blessing to others in countless ways, sometimes knowingly but often in ignorance. Whoever diminishes your freedom deserves it not ...