Something Must Be Done! by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 1991 During hard times there are few phrases as frequently heard as, "Something must be done!" And what is usually meant by the phrase is that governmental action is needed to cure the economic woes of society. In other words, government spending should be increased to raise the demand for goods and ...
Are Compulsory School Attendance Laws Necessary? Part 3 by Samuel L. Blumenfeld May 1, 1991 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Today the law is not being used to force delinquents and truants into the schools, but to harass and regulate home schoolers and fundamentalist Christian schools. In the 1800s it was assumed that if you attended a public school you learned to read and write. Today, no such assumption can ...
Book Review: The Hemisphere of Liberty by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 1991 This Hemisphere of Liberty: A Philosophy of the Americas by Michael Novak (Washington, D.C.: The American Enterprise Institute Press, 1990) 152 pages; $18.95. Michael Novak is one of the most eloquent Christian advocates of capitalism in the United States. His 1982 volume The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism demonstrated that rather than suffering ...
Are Compulsory School Attendance Laws Necessary? Part 2 by Samuel L. Blumenfeld April 1, 1991 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Both the Unitarians and the liberal Protestants began to view the public schools and compulsory attendance as the most effective means of maintaining the Protestant character of American culture in the face of massive Catholic immigration. The fact that the Irish were poor and unschooled did not endear them to the ...
Politically Correct Thinking and State Education by Richard M. Ebeling April 1, 1991 You may recall seeing the December 24, 1990, issue of Newsweek on the newsstands. The cover had a granite wall with raised lettering, spelling out the words, "Thought Police." If you read the article, you learned about something called "politically correct thinking." A growing number of institutions of higher learning ...
Reflections on National Service by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 1991 National service looms as one of the most dangerous threats to the American people in our 200-year history. Previously advocated only by liberals, national service is now also embraced by many on the conservative side of the political spectrum, as evidenced by the recent book, Gratitude, by America's foremost conservative, ...
Book Reviews: Economics on Trial by Richard M. Ebeling April 1, 1991 Economics on Trial: Lies, Myths, and Realities by Mark Skousen (Homewood, Illinois: Business One Irwin, 1990) 314 pp.; $21.95 (h). For 150 years after Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations in 1776, most economists started from a ...
Why Americans Won’t Choose Freedom by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 1991 All across the land there is an unusual stirring among the American populace. The American people are sensing that something is severely wrong in our nation. They see the ever-increasing taxation, regulation, bureaucracies, and police intrusions. And they are gradually discovering that, despite their right to vote, they have ...
Producer Interest vs. The Public Interest: The Origin of Democratized Privilege by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 1991 In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith constructed some of the most devastating arguments against the then-prevailing system of economic policy — mercantilism. In practically every country in Europe, governments regulated, controlled and planned the economic activities of their subjects. In France, the regulations were so detailed that they specified how many stitches should be used in ...
Are Compulsory School Attendance Laws Necessary? Part 1 by Samuel L. Blumenfeld March 1, 1991 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 It is assumed by the vast majority of Americans that the issue of compulsory school attendance is a settled matter, part and parcel of every civilized nation-state, and a prerequisite of a democratic society. We all acknowledge that a representative form of government requires an educated electorate for its survival. But ...
Book Review: Unfinished Business by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 1991 Unfinished Business: A Civil Rights Strategy for America's Third Century by Clint Bolick (San Francisco: Pacific Research Institute, 1990) 159 PP; $19.95. At a time in world history when the demand for human rights has become almost universal, little or no attention has been paid to the importance of economic liberty. If a man is to have a right ...
The Preservation of the Bureaucracy by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 1991 Two hundred years ago, our American ancestors instituted the most unusual political system in history. The Constitution called into existence a government whose powers, for the first time ever, were extremely limited. Thus, unlike other people throughout history, Americans lived without such things as income taxation, welfare, licensure, immigration ...