Freedom Daily Archive

The Rule of Terror

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 1, 2000

THE HORRIFYING SEIZURE of Elián Gonzalez is one more reflection of the depths of depravity to which the U.S. government has plunged in our lifetime. The episode also reflects the extent to which all too many Americans continue to deny the reality that beneath the velvet glove of the benign welfare state lies the iron fist of a brutal, ...

Imagining Freedom for the 21st Century: A Presidential Candidate’s Press Conference, Part 1

by Richard M. Ebeling June 1, 2000

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 The threshold of the 21st century, the American people are once again faced with having to choose a president of the United States. A hundred years ago, when the 20th century began, the issue of who was ...

Education and the Presidential Race

by Sheldon Richman June 1, 2000

THE REPUBLICANS, as the old saying goes, never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Gov. George W. Bush demonstrated that truism when he clinched the presidential nomination and told the nation that education would be at the center of his campaign. Over and over he has said that a Bush presidency would “reform education” and make sure every ...

Census Bureau: A Threat to Freedom

by James Bovard June 1, 2000

THERE ARE three certainties in life — death, taxes and the continuation of the Census Bureau’s proud tradition of keeping information it collects about individuals strictly private.” So announces the Census Bureau’s web page, seeking to assure Americans that they have nothing to fear by opening their lives to the prying of this year’s census. Regrettably, after seven years of ...

Count Me Out!

by Carl Watner June 1, 2000

HISTORY DETECTIVES UNITE! What is the common element in the following episodes in American history? • On his march through Georgia, near the end of the Civil War, Gen. William T. Sherman used a map annotated with county-by-county livestock and crop information “to help his troops ’live off the land.’”

It Didn’t Start with Elián

by Michael A. Ledeen June 1, 2000

MOST AMERICANS probably believe that it is wrong for the U.S. to return a refugee to an evil tyranny from which he has escaped even if they question whether this principle applies to a small child like Elián Gonzalez. Most Americans probably also believe that our government has generally acted in accordance with this principle. Not so. Our history of ...

God and the Economy: Is Capitalism Moral? Part 2

by Doug Bandow June 1, 2000

Part 1 | Part 2 Economic Freedom is important because it helps disperse power, allowing the development of private institutions — for instance, associations, corporations, think tanks, labor unions, and universities — that can counterbalance state power. Moreover, private property is necessary for the exercise of many political rights. If you can’t buy a printing ...

Book Review: 15 Great Austrian Economists

by Richard M. Ebeling June 1, 2000

15 Great Austrian Economists edited by Randall G. Holcombe (Auburn, Ala.: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1999); 258 pages; $15.95. TWENTY-SIX YEARS AGO, in June 1974, I was fortunate enough to be invited by the Institute for Humane Studies to be one of 40 people who attended a week-long conference on Austrian economics in South Royalton, Vermont. After a decades long hiatus, ...

The “Voluntary” Nature of the Income Tax

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2000

To the Op-Ed Editor 728 words Contact: Andy Falkof Please send tear sheet. The "Voluntary" Nature of the Income Tax by Jacob G. Hornberger April, of course, is income-tax month, the month in which millions of Americans file their income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service and pay whatever income taxes they still owe the U.S. government for last ...

Winston Churchill’s “Finest Hour” and the Fate of the European Jews

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 2000

Sixty years ago, on May 10, 1940, Hitler's armies began the process of overrunning Holland, Belgium, and France. By the third week of May, the French army was in retreat, and the British Expeditionary Force was withdrawing to Dunkirk. Western Europe was rapidly falling under the occupation and control of Nazi Germany. The French were already thinking of possible ...

Limit Government, Not Contributions

by Sheldon Richman May 1, 2000

"Money is property; it is not speech." Thus did U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens pithily sum up his opinion concurring in a ruling that states may impose limits on campaign contributions without violating the First Amendment to the Constitution. While Justice Stevens conceded that money can accomplish the same goals as speech, he added, "It does not follow, however, ...

The EEOC’s War on Fairness

by James Bovard May 1, 2000

Upon signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared that the purpose of the act was "to promote a more abiding commitment to freedom, a more constant pursuit of justice, and a deeper respect for human dignity." In the subsequent decades, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that was created by the Civil Rights Act has ...