Freedom Daily Archive

Where Are the Patriots?

by Christine Smith November 1, 2008

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness — That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of ...

Taking the Prince of Peace Seriously

by Thomas E. Woods Jr. November 1, 2008

Christianity and War, and Other Essays Against the Warfare State by Laurence M. Vance (Vance Publications, 2008); 432 pages. Several years ago, Congressman Sam Johnson (R-Texas) told parishioners at Suncreek United Methodist Church in Allen, Texas, something he had said to President George W. Bush: “Syria is the problem. Syria is where those weapons of mass destruction are, in ...

Two Checks on Tyranny

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2008

The purpose of the Bill of Rights was twofold: first, to ensure that certain fundamental rights were protected from federal infringement and, second, to ensure that the American people were expressly guaranteed certain procedural rights in federal criminal prosecutions. While all of the rights and guarantees enumerated in the ...

More Bush Freedom Hokum

by James Bovard October 1, 2008

Perhaps no American president has praised freedom as often as George W. Bush. From his declarations that the United States was attacked because of freedom, to the names “Operation Enduring Freedom” and “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” to his proclamations of a “calling” from history to defend freedom, freedom quickly became the cloak ...

The Court Almost Gets It Right on Guns

by Sheldon Richman October 1, 2008

Advocates of freedom barely dodged a bullet when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the right to keep and bear arms, the subject of the Second Amendment, is an individual not a collective right. Opponents of gun ownership have long maintained that the Amendment’s reference to the militia indicates that the right does not apply to private individuals. Thankfully, ...

The Nanny State

by Laurence M. Vance October 1, 2008

Whenever some new perceived crisis comes along, Americans typically look to the state as a problem solver. Are we running out of oil? The government should increase CAFE standards so that cars are more fuel-efficient. Is gas too expensive? The government should limit the profits of oil companies. Is the planet getting warmer? The government should mandate reductions in ...

Who Are You Calling Selfish?

by Michael Tennant October 1, 2008

In an early episode of the television series Bewitched, Harold Harold (Paul Lynde), a highly nervous driving instructor, tries to teach Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery) how to drive a car. At one point in the lesson he instructs her to go the wrong way in a traffic circle. Samantha, however, ...

The Authoritarianism of American Labor Law

by George Leef October 1, 2008

American labor law is a dank miasma of special-interest legislation that tramples on the rights of some citizens in order to advance the interests of others. The main beneficiaries are labor-union officials who lobbied for and received extraordinary and unique powers from compliant politicians. The victims are business owners and workers who prefer to have ...

A Revolutionary Manifesto

by Anthony Gregory October 1, 2008

The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2008); 173 pages. Ron Paul’s grassroots campaign — a decentralized undertaking that always had much more to do with the principles of the American Revolution, liberty, free enterprise, and peace than with narrowly defined electoral success — has ...

Seven Years of Darkness, Tyranny, and Oppression

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 2008

The year 1989 was a year of a great celebration. For that was the year that that hated and reviled symbol of tyranny, empire, and oppression, the Berlin Wall, came crashing down. Not only were the people of East Germany and Eastern Europe celebrating the demise of the Wall, so were ...

Habeas Corpus Barely Saved

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 2008

Once in a while the fading embers of freedom flare with defiant vigor. That happened in June when the U.S. Supreme Court sternly informed the Bush administration that it may not hold people suspected of being terrorists indefinitely without charge and without judicial review at its prison at Guantanámo Bay, Cuba. In a too-close-for-comfort 5-4 ruling, ...

Are Democrats Better on Privacy and Surveillance?

by James Bovard September 1, 2008

The Bush administration has probably illegally violated Americans’ privacy more than any presidency in at least a generation. Many Americans are understandably ready to throw out Republicans who trampled the Bill of Rights. But is the solution to elect a Democrat? Many liberals were shocked in July when putative Democratic Party presidential nominee Barack Obama ...