Freedom Daily Archive

The Battle for the Supreme Court

by George Leef April 1, 2016

Overruled: The Long War for Control of the U.S. Supreme Court by Damon Root (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), 274 pages. Every case that comes before the U.S. Supreme Court has its unique factual setting and contentious legal issues, but in a large percentage of them, the decision ultimately comes down to this: Should the Court defer to the legislative ...

Why I Favor Limited Government, Part 1

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2016

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5| Part 6 Ever since I became a libertarian in the late 1970s, there has been an ongoing debate within the libertarian movement between libertarians who advocate limited government and those who advocate anarchy, meaning a society based on the absence ...

Presidential Fear-Mongering versus Freedom

by James Bovard March 1, 2016

After the San Bernardino massacre late last year, Barrack Obama made a rare speech from the Oval Office. His most memorable line was his declaration that “freedom is more powerful than fear.” That epigram might have made John F. Kennedy’s speechwriters beam. But it is ludicrous to hear such a comment from a president who has spent almost seven ...

The Libertarian Sticking Point

by Laurence M. Vance March 1, 2016

Why aren’t more Americans libertarians? Why aren’t more liberals becoming libertarians? They generally share the libertarian commitment to freedom of speech, civil liberties, personal freedom, privacy, and the Fourth Amendment, or at least they claim to do so. Why aren’t more conservatives becoming libertarians? They generally share the libertarian commitment to the free market, limited government, free trade, property ...

The Landmark Case That Destroyed Economic Liberty

by David S. D'Amato March 1, 2016

If the Supreme Court’s 1905 holding in Lochner v. New York is the widely reviled embodiment of the constitutional right to freedom of contract, then West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish is its celebrated antithesis. The New Deal era case has been identified with the beginning of a “Constitutional Revolution” that freed progressive social policy to march triumphantly onward. ...

Abolish the Department of Education

by Wendy McElroy March 1, 2016

The Department of Education (DOE) is one of the most destructive federal agencies because it attempts to control the flow of ideas and information by controlling public schools, including higher education. If a school does not comply, then it gets no federal money. Educators who rebel outright, such as home-schooling parents, are reined in by an ever-tightening net of ...

The Economist Who Saw the Future

by James Cook March 1, 2016

Hans Sennholz (1922–2007) was a professor of economics and a student of Ludwig von Mises while at NYU. He was an intrepid critic of government deficits: If we cannot return to fiscal integrity because the public prefers prodigality over balanced budgets, we cannot escape paying the price, which is ever lower incomes and standards of living for all. The pains ...

Allen Dulles: Architect of America’s Secret Government

by Michael Swanson March 1, 2016

David Talbot has written an important book that is destined to become a classic, because it helps us confront the darker aspects of our nation’s history. As American citizens we vote in elections and our television news keeps us up to speed with what is happening in politics. But much of what is decided for us is done so ...

Dalton Trumbo and the Hollywood Blacklist

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2016

I wish every American would see the movie Trumbo, starring Bryan Cranston, which was released last November. The movie is based on a true story. It depicts how the U.S. anti-communist crusade during the Cold War damaged or ruined the lives of many innocent people, including Hollywood screen-writer Dalton Trumbo and nine others, who became known as the Hollywood ...

The Census Bureau’s Latest Peril to Freedom

by James Bovard February 1, 2016

The Census Bureau is sending its hefty American Community Survey to more than three million households a year. I recently received this 28-page tsunami of questions about everything from my plumbing to my profession to my ethnicity and income. But as a former Census taker who has written about Census controversies for more than 25 years, I distrust this ...

The Fatal Flaw

by Laurence M. Vance February 1, 2016

The presidential primary season is in full swing. Current and former Democratic and Republican candidates alike have put forward various tax-reform proposals. Some of their proposals were officially unveiled at a press conference; others were unofficially presented in campaign speeches or during one of the debates. Some rehash old proposals, others recommend something entirely new. But whether Democratic, Republican, ...

The Right to Keep and Bear Arms as a Check on Tyrants

by Scott McPherson February 1, 2016

Whatever makes kings can unmake them. — Isabel Paterson, The God of the Machine Service in the militia, for purposes of national defense, suppression of rebellion, and answering the “hue and cry,” was widely understood as an ancient right and duty of the free citizen. By securing to individual citizens “their private arms,” the Framers of the Constitution were also ...