Freedom Daily Archive

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 ...

Harebrained Pot and Wheat Decisions

by James Bovard October 1, 2005

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court, acting again like a gang that smoked too much bad weed, ruled that the federal government has the right to prohibit people from growing marijuana for medicinal purposes. The Court relied on an interpretation of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause that basically gave the feds unlimited control over any activity that Congress or federal ...

Lysander Spooner, Part 1

by Wendy McElroy October 1, 2005

Part 1 | Part 2 The 19th-century individualist anarchist Benjamin Tucker called Lysander Spooner “our Nestor,” a Greek name denoting “wisdom.” The 20th-century libertarian Murray Rothbard referred to Spooner as “the last of the great natural rights theorists ... the last of the Old Guard believers in natural rights.” Natural-rights or natural-law theory, as espoused by Spooner, is ...

Wal-Mart’s Not Coming to Town

by Gregory Bresiger October 1, 2005

Wal-Mart is not coming to my neighborhood. That’s because the powers that be of New York City recently said that Wal-Mart wasn’t wanted here. In fact, given the comments of our political and labor leaders, one would think Wal-Mart was a kind of disease. What are Wal-Mart’s sins? It has ...

Economics for the Citizen, Part 8

by Walter E. Williams October 1, 2005

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 Economic theory is broadly applicable. However, a society’s property-rights structure influences how the theory will manifest itself. It’s the same with the ...