Freedom Daily Archive

A Conflict of Paradigms

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2005

Understanding the true nature of a free society entails asking ourselves two basic questions: What does it actually mean to be free, and what is the legitimate role of government in a free society? Reflecting on those two fundamental questions might provide the way out of the ...

Coercion: It’s What’s for Dinner in Postconstitutional America

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 2005

Most recent free-speech controversies have been about government efforts to restrict someone’s right to express himself. So it is noteworthy that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a case involving not stifled speech, but rather coerced speech. Alas, it decided the case wrongly. Everyone has seen the generic TV ...

A New Federal War on Dissent?

by James Bovard August 1, 2005

On October 15, 2003, the FBI sent Intelligence Bulletin #89 to 17,000 local and state law-enforcement agencies around the country. The bulletin warned of pending marches in Washington and San Francisco against Bush’s Iraq policy and stated, While the FBI possesses no information indicating that violent or terrorist activities are ...

The Courts and the New Deal, Part 3

by William L. Anderson August 1, 2005

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 When Janice Rogers Brown was renominated to fill a vacancy on the D.C. Court of Appeals this year, the New York Times demanded that Democrats filibuster her nomination, one of the reasons being that, in a speech to a gathering of conservative lawyers, Brown had called ...

Public-School Outrages

by Anthony Gregory August 1, 2005

Americans across the political spectrum see the failure of the government school system in teaching the basics, such as reading, writing, math, science, and history. No matter how many tax dollars have been spent or reform proposals implemented, the dismal performance of public-school students continues unabated. A recent case involving a student’s arrest helps to ...

Economics for the Citizen, Part 6

by Walter E. Williams August 1, 2005

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 My last article introduced the law of demand, which states that, holding everything else constant, the lower the price of something, the ...

Unchaining Africa

by Doug Bandow August 1, 2005

Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa’s Future by George Ayittey, (Palgrave/Macmillan 2005); 483 pages; $35. So much promise, so little progress. Populated with creative people and filled with natural resources, Africa, one might think, should be a global powerhouse. Instead, the continent ...

Reform or Repeal?

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 2005

The great methodological debate within the libertarian movement involves reform versus repeal. Libertarians are virtually unanimous in their opposition to such socialist welfare-state programs as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and public schooling, but the split occurs in how to confront programs such as these. Should libertarians call for their reform or their repeal? As long-time readers of Freedom Daily and ...

Deregulate the Drugstores

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 2005

In Illinois the governor has decreed that pharmacists fill all prescriptions brought in by customers. In Arizona the legislature passed a bill to allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for birth-control pills on grounds of conscience, even if their employers require it. (The governor vetoed it.) Here we see the moral bankruptcy of both Left and Right. Faced with ...

Bush’s Foreign-Aid Fraud

by James Bovard July 1, 2005

President Bush has doled out more than $70 billion in foreign aid and loan guarantees to foreign governments, countries, and international organizations. He committed billions in new aid in large part to get the endorsement of a rock star and to garner applause at a United Nations summit. Because a minuscule percent of the aid will be paid out from ...

A Week in a (Sort of) Libertarian Country, Part 2

by Scott McPherson July 1, 2005

Part 1 | Part 2 The Republic of Costa Rica has no army. The country, roughly the size of West Virginia and with a population of around 4 million people (including 50,000 North American expatriates), is proudly neutral. Its constitution dates to 1949, following a brief civil war and adoption of many democratic reforms. By Latin American standards, ...

The Courts and the New Deal, Part 2

by William L. Anderson July 1, 2005

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 The system of laws and courts in the United States today hardly resembles that system that came about in the wake of the founding of this republic. This sea change in the law is not due — as some might claim — to the complexities of ...