Freedom Daily Archive

If Liberty Mattered … A Presidential Candidate’s Press Conference

by Richard M. Ebeling April 1, 1992

Election years are meant to be momentous events in the life of a nation. The electorate are given the opportunity to determine the political course of the country. And every four years, the electoral process includes the election of the president has come to symbolize the mood of the country — a statement by the people on the political ...

Free … But the Patient Doesn’t Get Well

by Lawrence W. Reed April 1, 1992

If government ever does to health care what it has done to the Postal Service, we will be well down the road to contracting the national illness known as "socialized medicine." With so many regulations already, it's arguable that we're halfway there now. We'll know we've reached the end of the road when doctors become federal employees and medical ...

Push the Button

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 1992

Should the welfare state be eliminated all at once or phased out over time? Some of the most committed freedom-devotees waffle when it comes to that question. They maintain that the immediate elimination of the welfare system would be unfair or harmful to those who benefit from the welfare apparatus. We must never lose sight of the fact that the ...

Book Review: Constitutional Economics

by Richard M. Ebeling April 1, 1992

Constitutional Economics by James M. Buchanan (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Basil Blackwell, 1991); 137 pages; $29.95 What are the reasons behind the growth of government in the 20th century? And why has it been so difficult to diminish the size of government even when many in society may have come to the conclusion that government is too big and is interfering too much? Trying ...

Race, Power, and Repatriation

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 1992

Every single domestic war waged by the United States government against the American people in this century has been a failure. The war on alcohol — a failure. The war on poverty — a failure. The war on drugs — a failure. The War on illiteracy — a failure. But perhaps the biggest ...

Nationalism and Classical Liberalism

by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 1992

For forty-five years, Europe enjoyed peace. But it was in the form of an "armed truce" called the Cold War. On the one side of the Iron Curtain, the Soviet Union maintained its through the threat — and occasional use — of force, as in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. On the other side of the lron ...

Bringing the Revolution Home

by David F. Nolan March 1, 1992

On December 15, 1991, the United States celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Bill of Rights. The importance of this document is hard to overstate; by any measure, it is one of the great landmarks in the advancement of human rights and liberty. Our forefathers created this staunch bulwark to Secure ...

Book Review: The Collected Works of F.A. Hayek

by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 1992

The Collected Works of F.A. Hayek, Volume 3: The Trend of Economic Thinking by W.W. Bartley and Stephen Kresge (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1991); 338 pages; $45.95. I remember when I first read Friedrich A. Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty in the late 1960s. In Part 1, "On The Value of Liberty," I found one of the ...

Tyranny at the State and Local Level

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 1992

Tyranny at the state and local level is out of control. In order to benefit the politically privileged, state and local governments — like their national counterpart — are using their tax and regulatory powers to plunder and loot the citizenry. There are few better examples of this tyranny than the ...

Fighting Statism in a Post-Communist World

by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 1992

After the seventy-five year experiment with socialist central-planning in the Soviet Union, it has now been demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no alternative to a market economy. And this is reflected in the stated objectives of every one of the former communist countries: to privatize ...

Limited Government—A Moral Issue

by C.W. Anderson February 1, 1992

The 1980s, economist Milton Friedman writes, witnessed "a sea change in the direction of public thinking about government's ability to solve economic and social problems." In fact, the idea of getting government off our backs became a live issue, worldwide. Although there was little change in the size or power of government "The prospect is bright," Friedman observed, "but ...

Fair versus Free

by Milton Friedman February 1, 1992

The Federal Communications Commission seeks to enforce a "fairness doctrine" on radio and TV stations. We suffered numerous "fair trade" laws, until they were declared unenforceable. One businessman vies with another in proclaiming his faith in competition provided that it is "fair." Yet, scrutinize word for word the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, and you ...