Freedom Daily Archive

Discrimination and Liberty

by Christine Smith October 1, 2019

Wise individuals discriminate all the time. Think about it. In today’s society, “discrimination” has become a trigger word used to vilify anyone who chooses not to associate with another because of a difference he rejects. As such, liberty is being trampled as freedom of speech, association, and even thought become prohibited. But “discrimination” is not a bad word. It is a ...

The Case for Open Immigration

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 2019

Every American living today has lived his entire life under an immigration crisis. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. America’s system of immigration controls is based on the concept of central planning, which is a core feature of socialism, which, as anyone from North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela will attest, always produces crises. Government officials centrally plan the movements of millions ...

The Sham of Government Transparency

by James Bovard September 1, 2019

The Supreme Court in June ruled that the federal government can keep secret the food-stamp sales totals of grocery stores. By a 6 to 3 vote, the Court declared that such business records are exempt from disclosure under the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This case, started eight years ago by the Argus Leader, a South Dakotan newspaper, ...

The Specter of Communism Is Haunting Illinois

by Laurence M. Vance September 1, 2019

A specter is haunting Illinois — the specter of communism. Although the governor of Illinois, Jay “J.B.” Pritzker, said earlier this summer, upon signing the state’s $40 billion budget for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, that the budget was balanced “for the first time in decades,” according to the state’s own actuarial calculations, the budget is actually billions in the red. ...

Free-Market Liberalism vs. Corrupted “Capitalism” and La-La Land Socialism

by Richard M. Ebeling September 1, 2019

One of the issues that confronts the friends of freedom is how best to make the case for liberty as a political idea and ideal and as a policy proposal.  A central element in that is making sure that we know what it is that we are advocating and why, and what it is that we oppose and why. ...

Insane and Ill-Advised: Trump’s Future War with Iran, Part 2

by Danny Sjursen September 1, 2019

Part 1 | Part 2 Iran is an enigma to most American policymakers. Iranian foreign and defense policies, according to Kenneth Katzman, are “products of overlapping, and sometimes contradictory, motivations.” The key question is whether Iran is an expansionist, theocratic, Shia-chauvinist state, or a rational, defensive bulwark with only limited regional aspirations. While it is a bit of both, ...

Adhering to Principle to Achieve Liberty, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2019

Part 1 | Part 2 In 1990, the first year of The Future of Freedom Foundation’s existence, I wrote an article entitled “Letting Go of Socialism” (www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/letting-socialism) in which I criticized the idea of school vouchers. I pointed out that vouchers were simply another socialist program in which government forcibly takes money from one group of people and gives ...

2002 Landmarks on the Road to “1984” Orwellian Hell

by James Bovard August 1, 2019

Next month will be the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Politicians and bureaucrats wasted no time after that carnage to unleash the Surveillance State on average Americans, treating every person like a terrorist suspect. Since the government failed to protect the public, Americans somehow forfeited their constitutional right to privacy. Despite heroic efforts by former NSA staffer Edward Snowden and a host of activists ...

Why Republicans Are Powerless against Socialism

by Laurence M. Vance August 1, 2019

If we are to believe the Republicans, they are all that is holding back the forces of socialism from taking over the United States and replacing a free and capitalist society with an authoritarian and socialist society. Nothing could be further from the truth. After suffering the humiliating loss of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm election, and having ...

Ludwig von Mises’s Human Action: Marking 70 Years of Continuing Relevance

by Richard M. Ebeling August 1, 2019

German September 2019 marks 70 years since the appearance of Ludwig von Mises’s Human Action: A Treatise on Economics, one of the truly great “classics” of modern economics. Too often a “classic” means a famous book considered to have made important contributions to some field of study and that is reverentially referred to but is unfortunately ...

Insane and Ill-Advised: Trump’s Future War with Iran, Part 1

by Danny Sjursen August 1, 2019

Part 1 | Part 2 It’s an inconvenient truth: the president of the United States has no coherent foreign policy. Period. At times Donald Trump talks sensibly about pulling out of quagmires in Syria and Afghanistan, while simultaneously ratcheting up threats against America’s favorite (at least since 1979) punching bag — Iran.  He’s also loaded up his administration with ...

Adhering to Principle to Achieve Liberty, Part 1

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 2019

Part 1 | Part 2 I believe that when it comes to liberty, principles and ideals are everything. It has been principles and ideals that have given us such grand and glorious achievements as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, habeas corpus, due process of law, and trial by jury. I also believe that adherence to ...