Freedom Daily Archive

Attorney General Barr: Defender of FBI Snipers

by James Bovard June 1, 2019

Donald Trump’s second attorney general, William Barr, was widely praised during his confirmation process earlier this year. Trump hailed Barr as “one of the most highly respected lawyers and legal minds in the country.” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Barr has “an impeccable reputation” and is “a man of the ...

What Would a Free Society Actually Look Like?

by Laurence M. Vance June 1, 2019

It is a common occurrence at sporting events. Someone is singing the U.S. national anthem — “The Star-Spangled Banner” — and when he gets to the last line of the first verse (although the song has four verses, the first verse is the only one that is ever sung), the crowd starts cheering and shouting after the singer utters ...

Adam Gurowski: Polish Champion of American Liberty

by Richard M. Ebeling June 1, 2019

America! What a wonderful word. America! A word that has carried with it hopes and dreams, promises and possibilities; a new start and second chances. It has meant freedom, opportunity, and prosperity. Only in America! For many in faraway lands the word “America” still carries with it connotations of a better life, liberty, and enterprise. But what do these ideas ...

America’s Legacy of Regime Change

by Stephen Kinzer June 1, 2019

Covert Regime Change: America’s Secret Cold War by Lindsey A. O’Rourke (Cornell University Press, 2018); 330 pages. For most of history, seizing another country or territory was a straightforward proposition. You assembled an army and ordered it to invade. Combat determined the victor. The toll in death and suffering was usually horrific, but it was all ...

Trump’s “No Coercion” Sham

by James Bovard May 1, 2019

In his State of the Union address on February 5, Donald Trump received rapturous applause from Republicans for his declaration, “America was founded on liberty and independence — not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, and we will stay free.” But this uplifting sentiment cannot survive even a brief glance at the federal statute ...

Asking the Wrong Questions

by Laurence M. Vance May 1, 2019

In the 1968 presidential election that pitted Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey against Republican Richard M. Nixon, American Independent Party candidate George C. Wallace famously quipped that there was not a dime’s worth of difference between the two major political parties. Since Wallace made that observation, we have had every conceivable combination of Democrats and Republicans in the ...

F.A. Hayek on Individual Liberty

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 2019

The rebirth of a belief in and an enthusiasm for socialism and government planning among a noticeable number of academics, intellectuals, young people, and elected officials raises many of the fundamental issues surrounding freedom and command, market competition and political control. Once more, a call is heard for doing away with free enterprise, this time in the name of a ...

Afghanistan Exit: Swift, Responsible Disengagement, Part 2

by Danny Sjursen May 1, 2019

Part 1 | Part 2 Since the supposed end of the American combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014, the primary mission of U.S. military forces has been to train, support, and bolster the ANDSF (Afghan National Defense and Security Forces) in order to ensure their long-term success and ability to secure the country. This effort is at least sixteen ...

Obama’s Forgotten Frauds and Debacles

by James Bovard April 1, 2019

Former President Barack Obama is again busy lecturing Americans on politics. His speeches have contained many snappy lines that would deserve attention if they came from an untainted source. But Obama as president was guilty of many of the things against which he now warns his fellow citizens. Last September, Obama received the Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics in ...

Time to End the Postal Monopoly

by Laurence M. Vance April 1, 2019

After blaming the billions of dollars a year in losses by the United States Post Office (USPS) on its failure to charge Amazon enough to deliver its packages — “making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer” — Donald Trump, on April 12, 2018, signed Executive Order 13829, which established the Task Force on the United States ...

The America That Was — The Good and the Bad

by Richard M. Ebeling April 1, 2019

We live in a time when an understanding and an appreciation of what a free society can or should be like is being slowly lost. Or so it seems, often, to a friend of human liberty. Political interventionism and a revived interest in “democratic socialism” dominate public discourse in almost every corner of life. Calls are constantly being made for ...

Afghanistan Exit: Swift, Responsible Disengagement, Part 1

by Danny Sjursen April 1, 2019

Part 1 | Part 2 The United States has been at war in Afghanistan for more than seventeen years. Despite many years of effort and billions spent, the U.S. military is still suffering casualties in that remote land. In 2017, fourteen American soldiers died in Afghanistan — some, in fact, shot from behind by their supposed local allies. Already, ...