Freedom Daily Archive

End the Other War, Too

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 2007

The war in Iraq goes on, but we shouldn’t let it overshadow the war at home — one that frequently takes the lives of people who don’t deserve to die. It’s known as the war on drugs, but it’s really a war on people who themselves are not making war against anyone. Too often individuals ...

The Second Anniversary of Bush’s Worst Bosh

by James Bovard February 1, 2007

Two years ago last month, Bush gave his second inaugural address. As I watched the speech on television, I and perhaps millions of other Americans struggled to answer the obvious question about the speech: Is it puerile or is it merely tripe? Bush was hailed throughout the greater Washington metropolitan area for ...

Executive Orders and the Decline of Law, Part 2

by William L. Anderson February 1, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 The longest-lasting legacy of Lincoln is not the War Between the States or even the violent way in which slavery ended in the United States. Lincoln was able to use brute force to “settle” the various arguments regarding the centralization of political power in this country. As the late Shelby Foote said during an ...

Taxicab Absurdity

by Scott McPherson February 1, 2007

When one hears words such as “crackdown” and “sting” and “bust” the image that comes to mind is that of daring police officers engaged in some colossal operation that nets really bad people doing really bad things. At least, that’s the image that ought to come to mind. In the charming little city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, there are taxicab companies ...

We Are Your Bad Conscience

by Lawrence M. Ludlow February 1, 2007

The members of the White Rose still speak to us today, and during a recent trip to Munich, I was able to explore the place where this heroic group of German dissidents crafted their powerful message. Some readers already may be familiar with the White Rose as a result of articles posted at The Future of Freedom Foundation or ...

Why Did They Torture Jose Padilla?

by John Grant February 1, 2007

There’s a rancid odor escaping from the cracks in the Jose Padilla case. Padilla is the American citizen arrested in Chicago and declared by President Bush to be an “enemy combatant.” He was then kept for nearly two years in a South Carolina brig without access to a lawyer, family, or friends. The courts finally forced the Bush administration to ...

Ripping Off the Taxpayers

by Thomas E. Woods Jr. February 1, 2007

The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money by Timothy P. Carney (Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2006); 285 pages; $24.95. Frédéric Bastiat called it legal plunder when the state expropriated one set of property owners for the benefit of another. Whether it loots the workers to benefit the farmers, the farmers to benefit the workers, ...

Empire or Republic

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2007

We now live in a country in which the president wields the power to send the entire nation into war on his own initiative, without the congressional declaration of war required by the Constitution. We live in a country in which the president and the military wield the power to arrest an American citizen and incarcerate him in a military ...

Democracy and Government Schools

by Sheldon Richman January 1, 2007

Let’s be frank. We advocates of a completely free market in education are making little progress. I think I know why. Before I get to that, let’s look at where we are. Roughly 90 percent of American children attend government schools. That share has not changed substantially in the last 20 ...

Hungary’s New Lesson for America

by James Bovard January 1, 2007

This past October was the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian uprising against the Soviet military. Hungarians bravely expelled Soviet tanks from Budapest and trumpeted their intention to create a democracy. But the Soviets returned with almost 5,000 tanks, killing thousands of Hungarians and re-fettering 10 million people into servitude to Moscow. But at least Hungarians had the gumption to stand ...

Soft-Hearted Economists Need Clear Heads

by Bart Frazier January 1, 2007

One of the issues at stake in the 2006 midterm elections was a raise in the minimum wage. Voters in six states had minimum-wage increases on the ballot, and unfortunately all of the initiatives passed. This is not surprising, however. On the surface, it appears that requiring employers to pay at least a subsistence living ...

Executive Orders and the Decline of Law, Part 1

by William L. Anderson January 1, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 During his presidency, Bill Clinton would conclude his trips abroad by telling his advisors that he was determined to use the powers of his office. Those “powers,” of course, included what are called “executive orders,” which are orders that come from the office of the president of the United States and have the ...