Freedom Daily Archive

Fending Off Government

by Sheldon Richman June 1, 1996

President Clinton's State of the Union address had two basic messages: 1) the era of big government is over, and 2) we can't go back to the time when "people fended for themselves." He doesn't really mean the era of big government is over. He's up for reelection. His wife (I assume this is not merely guilt by conjugal association) ...

Kill a Boy, Get a Medal

by James Bovard June 1, 1996

On March 1, 1996, the U.S. Marshals Service gave its highest award for valor to five U.S. marshals involved in the 1992 Ruby Ridge, Idaho, shoot-out, including the marshal who shot a 14-year-old boy in the back and killed him, and another marshal who started a firefight by shooting the boy's dog without provocation. The valor award announcement symbolizes ...

Source of Rights

by Frank Chodorov June 1, 1996

The axiom of what is often called "individualism" is that every person has certain inalienable rights. For example, "individualism" holds that property as such obviously has no rights; there is only the inherent right of a person to his honestly acquired property. . . . The axiom of socialism ...

Book Review: Classics in Austrian Economics

by Richard M. Ebeling June 1, 1996

Classics in Austrian Economics: A Sampling in the History of a Tradition edited by Israel M. Kirzner (London: William Pickering, 1994); three volumes; $300. The Austrian school of economics began in 1871 with the publication of Principles of Economics by Carl Menger. In the 1860s, while working in the Austrian ministry of prices, Menger came to realize that the actual way ...

The Failure of the Republican “Revolution,” Part 4

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 1996

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 It would be difficult to find a better example of socialist central planning than the Federal Reserve Board — the central bank of the United States. ...

If Liberty Mattered — Once More, a Presidential Candidate’s Press Conference, Part 4

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 1996

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 Mother Jones: Mr. Candidate, in your opening statement, you made what surely must be one of the most irresponsible proposals ever heard from a candidate in this or any other ...

Escape from Responsibility

by Sheldon Richman May 1, 1996

The welfare state teaches the implicit lesson that you are not responsible for yourself. You will be taken care of. The "safety net" will catch you if you fall. And because of that, you may be required to do certain things and prohibited from doing other things — all in the name of taking care of you and others. We ...

Subverting Freedom through Benevolence

by James Bovard May 1, 1996

President Bill Clinton declared on July 26, 1994: "The Americans with Disabilities Act is a national monument to freedom. Contained within its broad pillars of independence, inclusion, and empowerment is the core ideal of equality that has defined this country since its beginnings." In reality, the ADA has become a symbol of the confused, paternalistic, interventionist concept of modern freedom ...

The Ramp to Hell

by Karen Selick May 1, 1996

Perhaps the people who first dreamed up Ontario's Human Rights Code had good intentions, but as the old saying goes, that's what the road to hell is paved with. A recent decision of a Board of Inquiry shows just how far we've travelled down that road. The case involved a disabled woman who uses a ...

Book Review: The New Color Line

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 1996

The New Color Line: How Quotas and Privilege Destroy Democracy by Paul Craig Roberts & Lawrence M. Stratton (Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 1995) In 1944, Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal published a massive work entitled An American Dilemma . His thesis was that the United States was a fundamentally racist ...

The Failure of the Republican “Revolution,” Part 3

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 1996

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 The year 1913 was one of the most revolutionary years in American history. Two things dramatically changed the nature of American society and the philosophy of ...

If Liberty Mattered — Once More, a Presidential Candidate’s Press Conference, Part 3

by Richard M. Ebeling April 1, 1996

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 Business Week: Mr. Candidate, with such outlandish ideas as abolishing the Federal Reserve System, can you really expect any support from members of the business community? Every country in the ...