Freedom Daily Archive

The Real Lessons of the Afghanistan Disaster

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2021

I will never forget a formal dinner I attended shortly after the 9/11 attacks. It was sponsored by a conservative-oriented libertarian foundation. There were hundreds of people in attendance, mostly conservatives and conservative-oriented libertarians. There was no doubt about where most everyone at that dinner stood: They were fully in support of President Bush’s plan to launch the “global ...

Bitter Belated Afghan Vindication

by James Bovard November 1, 2021

The 20-year U.S. war in Afghanistan ended with a bang in August as a terrorist attack killed a dozen Marines at the Kabul airport. For almost 20 years, The Future of Freedom Foundation has been one of the few organizations that stalwartly criticized the Afghanistan war. FFF President Jacob Hornberger helped set the gold standard for uncompromising honesty about ...

Contactless Government

by Laurence M. Vance November 1, 2021

It seems that at almost every business website you go to, you will see a link to information on that business’s response to the coronavirus, the pandemic, or COVID-19. One of the original responses of businesses to the COVID-19 “pandemic” that is not only still with us, but apparently here to stay, is contactless service. Although this initially appealed ...

Resisting the Market Process Undermines Freedom and Prosperity

by Richard M. Ebeling November 1, 2021

The free market often seems a hard sell. The resistance and opposition to its seemingly straightforward case emerges and persists, over and over again. It is all very strange, since, after all, how many people do not want the personal liberty to make their own choices about what to buy, where to live, and the amount they are willing ...

Cuba and the Destruction of Conscience

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2021

Last summer, protests erupted in Cuba against the communist regime over poor economic and health conditions within the country. No doubt operating under pressure from the Pentagon and the CIA, President Biden used the Cuban government’s suppression of the protests as an excuse to strengthen the decades-old U.S. economic embargo against Cuba. Biden proclaimed that he was supporting the Cuban ...

The Biden Crackdown on Thought Crimes

by James Bovard October 1, 2021

The Biden administration is seeking to radically narrow the boundaries of respectable American political thought. The administration has repeatedly issued statements and reports that could automatically castigate citizens who distrust the federal government. We may eventually learn that the new Biden guidelines spurred a vast increase in federal surveillance and other abuses against Americans who were guilty of nothing ...

Predatory Pricing

by Laurence M. Vance October 1, 2021

Uncle Sam can’t seem to make up his mind about how to define predatory pricing. Charge too little for a good or a service and the federal government might term it predatory pricing. But charge too much for a good or a service and the federal government might term it predatory pricing. And here is a related ...

The Importance of Liberty and the Rhetorical Misuse of Freedom

by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 2021

The seemingly singular concern of modern political debate, dispute, and disagreement is the issue of how and in what forms government will command and control and restrict and regulate the actions and interactions of virtually everyone in society, as well as redistribute the income and wealth of some for the benefit of others. Open the opinion pages of practically any ...

Deserting the Drug War

by Matthew Harwood October 1, 2021

As you leaf through the first few pages of Dr. Carl L. Hart’s book Drug Use for Grownups, you come across a quote from the writer and social critic James Baldwin. It says: “If you want to get to the heart of the dope problem, legalize it.... a law, in operation, that can only be used against ...

The Conflicts of Visions That Shaped America

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 2021

There have been two conflicting visions in American history that have shaped our nation. As conditions in the United States continue to worsen, it is important that Americans engage in serious soul-searching to determine which vision should be embraced going forward. The original vision The first vision was that which characterized the American people from the founding of the United States ...

Why Government Cover-Ups Succeed

by James Bovard September 1, 2021

“It’s not necessary to censor the news, it’s sufficient to delay the news until it no longer matters,” Napoleon Bonaparte reportedly said. The same standard helps explain why Washington politicians and federal agencies usually get away with covering up their lies and abuses. Many people assume that unless the government actively censors, people will learn what the government has done. ...

Puritanism: Then and Now

by Laurence M. Vance September 1, 2021

Journalist, editor, and literary and social critic Henry Louis “H. L.” Mencken (1880–1956) adopted the moniker “libertarian” years before it became popular to do so. In a letter of 1920, he wrote: “I am an extreme libertarian, and believe in absolute free speech.” In a book-review column of 1922, he wrote, “I am, in brief, a libertarian of the ...