Free Society

Agenda for a Freer and More Prosperous America

by Richard M. Ebeling August 17, 2015

There is little that happens in society in general and the market economy in particular that most on the political “left” do not think needs more government intervention, regulation, and redistribution to make “better.” One recent example of this is a lengthy “report” primarily prepared by Nobel Prize-winning economist, Joseph E. Stiglitz, for the Roosevelt Institute. Released in June 2015, ...

Don’t Be Fooled by the Political Game: The Illusion of Freedom in America

by John W. Whitehead August 13, 2015

The shaping of the will of Congress and the choosing of the American president has become a privilege reserved to the country’s equestrian classes, a.k.a. the 20% of the population that holds 93% of the wealth, the happy few who run the corporations and the banks, own and operate the news and entertainment media, compose the ...

They Live, We Sleep: A Dictatorship Disguised as a Democracy

by John W. Whitehead August 5, 2015

“You see them on the street. You watch them on TV. You might even vote for one this fall. You think they’re people just like you. You're wrong. Dead wrong.”—They Live We’re living in two worlds, you and I. There’s the world we see (or are made to see) and then there’s the one we sense (and occasionally ...

Practicing Freedom: Markets, Marriage, and Migration

by Richard M. Ebeling August 3, 2015

Liberty is a demanding ideal to believe in and live by. It requires consistency of principle and acceptance of much in the actions of others that we may disagree with or even find personally repulsive. Unfortunately, too many in our society do not sufficiently value the right of the individual to live his own life as he choses. They wish ...

Freedom or the Slaughterhouse? The American Police State from A to Z

by John W. Whitehead July 15, 2015

“Who needs direct repression when one can convince the chicken to walk freely into the slaughterhouse?”—Philosopher Slavoj Žižek Despite the best efforts of some to sound the alarm, the nation is being locked down into a militarized, mechanized, hypersensitive, legalistic, self-righteous, goose-stepping antithesis of every principle upon which this nation was founded. All the while, the nation’s citizens seem content ...

Overtime Pay and a Free Society

by Laurence M. Vance July 10, 2015

If there is only one thing that every American worker who gets paid by the hour knows about labor law aside from the minimum wage, it is that employers must pay time and a half for all hours worked over 40 hours. What many American hourly workers probably don’t realize, however, is that some salaried workers are eligible for ...

Libertarian Angle: Racism, Gun Control, and Craziness

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 23, 2015

Each week, FFF president Jacob Hornberger discusses the hot topics of the day. This week, the gun massacre in Charleston. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly.

The Tyranny of Trigger Words and College Safe Spaces

by Richard M. Ebeling June 8, 2015

The media has been full of stories recently about the new sensitivity on college and university campuses concerning the avoidance in courses or assignments of the use of “trigger words” or phrases that may have a “hurtful” affect on students when thoughtlessly used in the teaching environment. Student and other groups on campuses have insisted that professors provide advanced warning ...

Employment and a Free Society

by Laurence M. Vance May 5, 2015

The city of SeaTac, Washington, is the home of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. It is also home to the highest minimum wage in the country. SeaTac’s minimum wage of $15 an hour took effect on January 1, 2014, the result of a ballot initiative. The minimum wage in the cities of San Francisco and Seattle is scheduled to gradually ...

The Poison Called Nationalism

by Sheldon Richman May 1, 2015

  Forward, the Light Brigade! Was there a man dismay’d? Not tho’ the soldier knew Someone had blunder’d: Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die: Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. — Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Charge of the Light Brigade” The reason for the venom directed at those of us who question American sniper Chris Kyle’s status ...

The Wrongs and Rights of Free Exercise and Free Association

by Laurence M. Vance April 15, 2015

The state of California has effectively banned its 2,000 state court judges from participating in the Boy Scouts. The California Supreme Court recently voted unanimously to eliminate an exception for nonprofit youth groups to a rule that prohibits California judges from belonging to groups that practice discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The judges have until ...

Dress Codes, Employment, and Religion

by Laurence M. Vance March 27, 2015

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments last month in a case relating to dress codes, employment, and religion. The case, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores Inc., is a good point of departure for how these things relate to each other in a free society. The High Court is expected to decide the case in ...