Freedom Daily Archive

A Warning from the Past

by Charles Adams March 1, 1994

In A.D. 476 Odovacar, a German commander in the Roman army, sacked Rome and took over the imperial throne. That date is usually cited as the end of the Roman Empire. As a political force, Rome did end about that time, but the spirit of Roman civilization had ...

The Standard of Liberty

by Rodney D. Lewis March 1, 1994

The concept of a standard is as old as man himself. It has been expressed in man's earliest writings. Moses understood its principles; so did the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the ancient dynasties of China and Japan — in every society, there have been those who have understood its principles. Standards are so powerful that adherence to their principles ...

The War on Cash and Privacy

by Donald S. McAlvany March 1, 1994

In the former Soviet Union, if the government wanted to apprehend and imprison someone who had committed no crime, they charged him with the catchall crime of "hooliganism." In America, the catchall crime used against organized crime figures or other Americans has for years been RICO statutes or ...

Book Review: For Good and Evil

by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 1994

For Good and Evil: The Impact of Taxes on the Course of Civilization by Charles Adams (New York: Madison Books, 1993); 530 pages; $29.95. In 1918, Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter observed, "The fiscal history of a people is above all an essential part of its general history. An enormous influence on the fate of nations emanates from the economic bleeding ...

The Real Free-Market Approach to Health Care, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 For over one hundred years, the American people said no to governmental intervention into health care. Americans did not permit their respective states to license physicians and other health-care providers. They did not permit government to provide health care to the poor and needy. No one was required to purchase ...

National Health Insurance and the Welfare State, Part 2

by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The modern welfare state arose in Imperial Germany in the late 19th century. Under pressure of growing support for the Social Democratic Party in the 1870s and 1880s, Kaiser Wilhem II and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck attempted to preempt the appeal of radical socialism by establishing a series of socialized ...

Clinton’s Health-Care Plan for You: Cradle-to-Grave Slavery, Part 2

by Jarret B. Wollstein February 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 Under President Clinton's health-care plan, every person in America will be registered by the federal government and issued a red, white and blue "Health Security Card." This includes independent contractors, the self-employed, the homeless, and illegal immigrants who have regular jobs. Babies will be registered at birth. As The Clinton Blueprint: The President's Health Security ...

Free Medicine

by William Dale February 1, 1994

Nearly every reform proposal offered to fix "the health-care crisis" calls for increased governmental control of medicine. These proposals are the logical result of the belief that there is a "right" to medical care. But there is no such right. Rights, properly understood, do not include an entitlement to the services of others. Recall the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson referred ...

The Confusion over Rights

by Dominick T. Armentano February 1, 1994

The fastest-growing federal programs are entitlements and transfer programs. These programs include Medicare, food stamps, housing assistance, and Social Security, among others. Transfer programs have risen from 15% of federal spending in 1953 to 20% in 1965, to almost 45% in 1992. Any serious attempt to control federal spending must begin with these programs.

Health Care Reform vs. the Founders

by David B. Rivkind Jr. February 1, 1994

The president has announced his health-care plan, and congressional Republicans have announced theirs. Although the details are still murky, the plans seem to share one fundamental assumption — that every man, woman and child in the U.S. must participate in the system. The healthy must subsidize the sick; the young must subsidize the old; the ...

A Freedom Daily Classic Reprint: The Right to Health

by Thomas Szasz February 1, 1994

The State can protect and promote the interests of its sick, or potentially sick, citizens in one of two ways only: either by coercing physicians, and other medical and paramedical personnel, to serve patients — as State-owned slaves in the last analysis, or be creating economic, moral, and political circumstances favorable to a plentiful supply of competent physicians and ...

Book Review: Failure and Progress

by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 1994

Failure and Progress: The Bright Side of the Dismal Science by Dwight R. Lee and Richard B. McKenzie (Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 1993); 163 pages; $10.95. In An Economist's Protest (1927), English economist Edwin Cannan remarked, "Modern civilization, nearly all civilization, is based on the principle of making things pleasant for those who please the market and unpleasant for ...