Freedom Daily Archive

An American Empire! If You Want It instead of Freedom, Part 1

by Richard M. Ebeling April 1, 2003

Part 1 | Part 2 Fifty years ago, the classical liberal author and journalist Garet Garrett published a collection of essays called The People's Pottage (1953). In the midst of the Korean War, he tried to persuade the American people that the United States was on a new course that conflicted with the original conception of the nation. Its ...

What’s Missing From This Picture?

by Sheldon Richman April 1, 2003

Writing in the Los Angeles Times last year, Ellen Ruppel Shell, author of The Hungry Gene, said, Obesity is the consequence of environment acting on genetic inclination, and that genetic predisposition combined with an increasingly obesegenic environment underlies the current pandemic. Whats missing from this picture? Human volition, free will. Whats remarkable about Shells statement is how unremarkable it is these days. ...

Private Fisheries Work Best

by Bart Frazier April 1, 2003

Poor Viktor Tsimbal. He was recently arrested for the high crime of selling fish eggs and now faces a prison sentence up to 30 years and a fine up to $1 million. If only it were legal to own sturgeon, Tsimbal would be considered an entrepreneur instead of a criminal. The ...

Gun Control Misses the Target

by Scott McPherson April 1, 2003

In the aftermath of the Washington-area sniper killings, editorial pages and ambitious politicians alike are clamoring for more gun-control laws. This is hardly surprising, given that the professed connection between guns and crime is practically an article of faith. But what if guns really have nothing to do with violent crime? What if even the most restrictive gun-control measures dont ...

Étienne de La Boétie, Part 1

by Wendy McElroy April 1, 2003

Part 1 | Part 2 A 16th-century essay entitled Discourse of Voluntary Servitude by the French jurist Étienne de La Boétie (1530–1563) discusses a question that haunts those who love liberty: Why do people obey unjust laws? The Discourse offers insight. It examines the psychology of those who obey, those who command, and those who resist. La Boétie ...

Book Review: Economic Freedom and Development

by Richard M. Ebeling April 1, 2003

Economic Freedom and Development: An Essay about Property Rights, Competition, and Prosperity by Wolfgang Kasper (New Delhi, India: Centre for Civil Society, 2002); 132 pages; $12.95. The Centre for Civil Society, headquartered in New Delhi, India, was founded in 1997, with the purpose of advancing the cause of classical liberalism, economic freedom, and the rule of law under limited government. Its ...

Economic Liberty and the Constitution, Part 10

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2003

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 |  Table of Contents An analysis of the Gold Clause Cases, decided by ...

The Hubris of the Central Banker and the Ghosts of Deflation Past, Part 2

by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 2003

Part 1 | Part 2 In spite of the fact that the monetary policies of the Federal Reserve System in the United States and the European Central Bank (ECB) have been highly expansionary during the current economic downturn, central bankers at both institutions have taken the time to deliver addresses assuring their listeners that there is no need for ...

The Poisoning of “States’ Rights”

by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2003

Schadenfreude. That’s what I felt watching former Senate majority leader Trent Lott twist in the wind over his expressed wish that Strom Thurmond had won the presidency in 1948. “A malicious satisfaction in the misfortunes of others.” Lott is a typical Republican leader. He occasionally talks about limiting government power, but his actions are those of a conservative big-government wheeler-dealer ...

Government’s License to Inflict Injustice

by James Bovard March 1, 2003

Sovereign immunity is one of the most dangerous concepts to freedom. And the larger and more powerful governments become, the more sovereign immunity becomes a black hole where citizens’ rights can vanish. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes declared in 1907, “A sovereign is exempt from suit there can be no legal right as against ...

Ending the Anachronistic Korean Commitment, Part 2

by Doug Bandow March 1, 2003

Part 1 | Part 2 In the aftermath of the 2000 inter-Korean summit, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon explained, “We intend to remain a force for stability in that area as long as we are needed.” But U.S. forces weren’t needed even before the summit. South Korea (the Republic of Korea, or ROK) has upwards of 40 times the GDP and ...

Book Review: War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning

by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 2003

War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges (New York: Public Affairs, 2002); 211 pages; $23. During the Second World War, my mother worked for the Department of the Navy in Washington, D.C. When I was growing up, she would sometimes look back at those war years with a great degree of nostalgia. She would say that in ...