Freedom Daily Archive

Crippling Competition, Part 1

by Scott McPherson December 1, 2005

Part 1 | Part 2 Independence is the only gauge of human virtue and value. What a man is and makes of himself; not what he has or hasn’t done for others. There is no substitute for personal dignity. There is no standard of personal dignity except independence. — Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead Just about anyone who ...

Minimum Wage, Maximum Intervention, Part 2

by Laurence M. Vance December 1, 2005

Part 1 | Part 2 All arguments for the minimum wage come down to this: since no family can survive on an income lower than the minimum wage, it is the job of government to mandate a minimum wage to keep people out of poverty. No matter how elaborate the argument, this is the bottom line. Even if ...

Economics for the Citizen, Part 10

by Walter E. Williams December 1, 2005

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 In 10 short articles, there’s no way to even scratch the surface of economic knowledge. I’ll simply end the series with a ...

Wartime Attacks on Civil Liberties

by George Leef December 1, 2005

Perilous Times — Free Speech in Wartime by Geoffrey R. Stone (Norton, 2004); 730 pages; $35. If it is true to say, as Randolph Bourne did, that war is the health of the state, it is equally true to say that war is the ...

Freedom and the Fourteenth Amendment

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2005

One of the long-standing debates within the libertarian movement involves the Fourteenth Amendment. Some argue that it is detrimental to the cause of freedom because it expands the power of the federal government. Others contend that the amendment expands the ambit of individual liberty. I fall among those who ...

The NRA Gets It Wrong

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 2005

The concept of individual rights really isn’t complicated, but even some of its defenders get it wrong. Take, for example, the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NRA, of course, concentrates exclusively on the individual’s right to keep and bear arms, but that is no excuse for failing to relate that right ...

How the Feds Took Over Farming

by James Bovard November 1, 2005

I appreciate all the feedback from readers from last month’s article, “Harebrained Pot and Wheat Decisions.” That piece showed how the Supreme Court this year justified banning medical marijuana on the basis of a 1942 Supreme Court decision involving wheat subsidies. This essay will seek to answer some of ...

Lysander Spooner, Part 2

by Wendy McElroy November 1, 2005

Part 1 | Part 2 The right of people to defend themselves against the usurpation of government was the central theme of Spooner’s next major work, An Essay on the Trial by Jury (1852), which some consider his masterpiece. Benjamin Tucker stated the gist of Trial by Jury: “No man should be punished for an offence unless ...

Minimum Wage, Maximum Intervention, Part 1

by Laurence M. Vance November 1, 2005

Part 1 | Part 2 Many workers in my state of Florida received a pay raise this past May. No, Floridians did not suddenly become more productive and demand a salary increase because they are now more valuable to their employers. And no, Florida businesses did not suddenly become more profitable and decide to share their good ...

The Failure of Amtrak Reform

by Gregory Bresiger November 1, 2005

End of the Line: The Failure of Amtrak Reform and the Future of America’s Passenger Trains by Joseph Vranich (American Enterprise Institute, 2004); 264 pages. With Amtrak officials’ recent threats to shut down unless Congress increases its subsidy and with the Acela fiasco, was there ever a more relevant book than End of the Line: The Failure of Amtrak Reform ...

The Federal Government Has Damaged Our Country

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2005

As the situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate, an increasing number of Americans are now questioning the wisdom of President Bush’s decision to invade. While the primary reason for people’s increased level of dissatisfaction is the number of U.S. troops killed and wounded, there are many other important reasons that Americans should be questioning not only the U.S. invasion ...

Africa Needs Freedom, Not “Aid”

by Sheldon Richman October 1, 2005

Politicians are never more dangerous than when they are thinking: “We’ve got to do something!” Take the last G8 meeting in Scotland. The rulers of the most advanced economic powers (and Russia, go figure) met with the intention of looking as though they were doing something to end poverty in Africa. They ...