Freedom Daily Archive

Serfs on the Plantation, Part 3

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 1993

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 The welfare state was collapsing under its own weight in the later stages of the Roman Empire. Those who were on the dole were demanding more dole. Those who were paying the taxes were demanding lower taxes. The authorities were in a quandary. If they promised ...

Free Trade, Managed Trade and the State, Part 1

by Richard M. Ebeling August 1, 1993

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 "The principle of free trade is non-interference," wrote the English classical economist Nassau Senior in 1828. "It is to suffer every man to employ his industry in the manner which he thinks most advantageous, without a pretense on the part of the ...

Compounding the Somali Tragedy

by Doug Bandow August 1, 1993

The post-Cold War is proving to be a disorderly place. Conflicts restrained by the superpowers are now breaking out all over — in Africa, the Balkans, and the former Soviet Union. More wars could eventually explode in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. Tragic those these conflicts are, they need not ...

Immigration and Somalia

by Gregory F. Rehmke August 1, 1993

Calls are rising to send American troops into the cities, towns and villages of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia. Perhaps not far in the future, Russia and Ukraine will collapse, leading to calls for American troops to rush in and save the day. But is it possible that there is a better way to save the world? There is a better ...

The Most Dreaded Enemy of Liberty

by James Madison August 1, 1993

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, ...

Book Review: Second Thoughts

by Richard M. Ebeling August 1, 1993

Second Thoughts: Myths and Morals of U.S. Economic History edited by Donald N. McCloskey (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); 208 pages; $24.95. In his introduction to the 1954 book Capitalism and the Historians , Friedrich A. Hayek pointed out that "past experience is the foundation on which our beliefs about ...

Serfs on the Plantation, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 1993

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 In ancient Rome, the political authorities used three primary means to discourage or quell rebellions among the citizenry. First, they would give more welfare to the people, thereby making them more docile and content. Second, they would create foreign crises by which they could rally the ...

Living the Life of a Lie, Part 3

by Richard M. Ebeling July 1, 1993

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The greatest myth that has emerged out of the end of the Cold War is that a philosophy of freedom has triumphed over an ideology of totalitarianism. The post-World War II period was, in fact, merely a conflict between differing forms of the statist ideal. On both sides of the ...

The Population Problem That Isn’t

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 1993

It is an article of faith that the world suffers from overpopulation. This alleged problem surfaces in many contexts: poverty in the developing world, global warming, environmental degradation, and so on. It has been said over and over again: we won't ever get a handle on the myriad problems plaguing human society until we get control of population growth. ...

The Only Real Revolution

by Bryce Buchanan July 1, 1993

Happily for America, happily we trust for the whole human race, they pursued a new and more noble course. They accomplished a revolution that has no parallel in the annals of human society. . . . In Europe, charters of liberty have been granted by power. America has set the ...

The Power of an Idea

by Raymond Leslie Buell July 1, 1993

In spite of the popular belief that the world today is dominated by new and terrible problems, the fact is that the latter part of the eighteenth century bears certain similarities to the present time: The continent of Europe, as well as Britain, was then dominated by "mercantilism" — a form of "planned economy" arising out of feudalism. National ...

Conscience of the Majority

by Leonard Read July 1, 1993

The real American Revolution was not the armed conflict with King George III. That was a relatively unimportant incident. It was, instead, a concept which, when fully understood, is seen to be a fundamental principle. To fully appreciate the fundamental nature of this revolutionary principle, it is necessary to keep in mind that in other ...