Freedom Daily Archive

The Nightmare of the New Deal, Part 2

by George Leef January 1, 2008

Part 1 | Part 2 The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes (HarperCollins, 2007); 464 pages. Who were the good guys? They were people who fought against the collectivization favored by Roosevelt and his “brain trust.” Shlaes devotes a full chapter ...

The Ultimate Tax Cut

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 2007

Since it is presidential campaign season, we will inevitably be treated to the usual discourse about tax cuts. Some candidates will call for tax cuts, undoubtedly as a way to bribe voters into voting for them. Others will resist the call, undoubtedly in fear that their favorite government program might not receive desired funding. In actuality, all the tax-cut ...

America’s Anti-Militarist Tradition

by Sheldon Richman December 1, 2007

The right wing went apoplectic at the skepticism that greeted Gen. David Petraeus’s recent testimony about the alleged success of the military escalation in Iraq. It was as though a member of the military was incapable of engaging in spin to support his commander in chief’s war policy. President Bush summed up this attitude revealingly when he said it ...

The 9/11 Servility Reflex

by James Bovard December 1, 2007

Many citizens react to their rulers like little kids who recognize that a stranger is acting suspiciously and may be up to no good — but then decide whether to trust the man depending on the type of candy he pulls from his pockets. It is as if a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup trumps the ...

Iraq after the Gulf War: Sanctions, Part 2

by Rahul Mahajan December 1, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 Perhaps the most notable thing about the sanctions is the long delay before allowing Iraq to sell oil, its only significant source of external income: four years until passage of UNSCR 986, five until Iraq accepted it, five and a half until oil sales started. Since the United States was seemingly willing ...

I Suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Part 3

by James Glaser December 1, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 When I started this series I gave the following definition for what Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is, but there are hundreds if not thousands of definitions to choose from if you search them out. I learned from ...

Set the Prisoners Free

by Scott McPherson December 1, 2007

School is the cheapest police. — Horrace Mann, first secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education The immense edifice of teacher instruction and schooling in general rests on the shaky hypothesis that expert intervention in childhood produces better people than might otherwise occur. I’ve come to doubt that. — John Taylor Gatto, The Underground History of American Education In criminal-justice ...

Ending America’s Domestic Quagmire

by Paul Armentano December 1, 2007

A growing number of political pundits are questioning America’s military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and some are beginning to draw parallels to lawmakers’ much longer domestic war effort: the so-called war on drugs. The comparison is apropos. For nearly 100 years, starting with the passage of America’s first federal anti-drug law in 1914, lawmakers have relied on the mantra ...

The Nightmare of the New Deal, Part 1

by George Leef December 1, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes (HarperCollins, 2007); 464 pages. If you ask a random sample of Americans who know (or think they know) something about U.S. history to discuss the twin subjects of the Great Depression and the ...

Big Government at Home and Abroad, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 No matter how much we address the socialism and interventionism that pervade our nation on a domestic level, it will all be for naught if we fail to address the great big elephant in the room — U.S. foreign policy, including the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. For unless we dismantle the ...

“Patriotic Grace” in Support of War Is No Virtue

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 2007

How amazing it is to hear how some people still talk about the U.S. occupation of Iraq at this late date. You’d think even the most naive nationalist would have long ago realized that something is terribly wrong — intrinsically so — with the U.S. “mission” and that calls for “hanging in there” are preposterous. When will the war ...

Do Elections Guarantee Freedom?

by James Bovard November 1, 2007

Elections are sometimes portrayed as practically giving people automatic remote control on the government. Elections kindly provide a chance for people to pre-program the government for the following years. The government will be based on the popular will, regardless of the ignorance of the populace or the duplicity of the government. President Lyndon Johnson declared in 1965 that the vote ...