Freedom Daily Archive

Contra Gradualism

by Wendy McElroy November 1, 1997

It is 1858 and you are living in a Northern town. A man has arrived at your door with papers documenting his ownership of a runaway slave whom you are sheltering. The slave throws himself at your feet, begging to stay while the slaveowner reasons with you. Being philosophically inclined, he ...

Book Review: Power Kills

by Richard M. Ebeling November 1, 1997

Power Kills: Democracy as a Method of Nonviolence by R.J. Rummel (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books, 1997); 246 pages; $32.95. In 1994, political scientist R.J. Rummel summarized the consequences of tyrannical government in the 20th century in his book Death by Government. (See the review in Freedom Daily, October 1994.) His research showed that governments around the world had killed ...

Compromise and Concealment-The Road to Defeat, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 1997

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 The libertarian philosophy holds that people should be free to do whatever they want, so long as their conduct is peaceful. Therefore, government's role in life should be limited to: (1) punishing people who initiate force against others ...

Monetary Central Planning and the State, Part 10: Austrian Business Cycle Theory and the Causes of the Great Depression

by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 1997

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | ...

Property as the Key to Self-Determination

by Sheldon Richman October 1, 1997

In political philosophy, no concept is as controversial as property. It excites libertarians, repulses socialists, and leaves inconsistent statists ("liberals" and conservatives) confused. What is it about property that packs such power? To answer that question, it is important to realize that flawed political philosophy will lead to flawed notions of property. Good-faith socialists (those not motivated simply by envy) ...

The Energizer Leviathan: Still Growing and Growing

by James Bovard October 1, 1997

President Bill Clinton has repeatedly announced that "the era of big government is over." Many Republican congressmen have responded by laying down their ideological swords and pretending their work is done. But if freedom is to be revived in this country, Americans must begin paying less attention to the platitudes in politicians' speeches and more attention to the nasty ...

Service to Whom? Part 2

by Doug Bandow October 1, 1997

Part 1 | Part 2 A more subtle problem is the long-term effect of federal funding on the volunteer groups and those who normally support volunteer groups. To some it might seem hard to criticize grants to organizations such as Habitat for Humanity (which until recently refused to accept government funding), Big Brothers-Big Sisters, and the Red Cross. These ...

Book Review: Determinants of Economic Growth

by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 1997

Determinants of Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Empirical Study by Robert J. Barro (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1997); 145 pages; $22.50. The London School of Economics regularly hosts a Lionel Robbins lecture series. Lord Robbins, who in the 1930s was a vigorous and articulate proponent of Austrian economics, was a master in the history of economic ideas. In 1952, he published ...

Compromise and Concealment-The Road to Defeat, Part 1

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 1997

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 Twenty years ago, I was rummaging through the public library in my hometown of Laredo, Texas, and I came across four books entitled Essays on Liberty that had been published many years before by The Foundation for Economic ...

Monetary Central Planning and the State, Part 9: The Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle

by Richard M. Ebeling September 1, 1997

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | ...

Mandatory Volunteerism: Were Orwell Alive, He’d Die of Laughter

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 1997

President Clinton has hitched his wagon to one of the most abominable ideas to come down the pike in some time: community service as part of the school curriculum. Is there a single proposal packed with more fallacies? I doubt it. Where to begin? In getting ready for ...

Sovietizing American Virtue

by James Bovard September 1, 1997

"The higher interest involved in the life of the whole must set the limits and lay down the duties of the individual," according to Adolf Hitler. Hitler's views are generally unpopular in the United States. However, some of his moral dogmas may be staging a comeback. At the Volunteer Summit in ...