Freedom Daily Archive

Big Government at Home and Abroad, Part 1

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 Practically everywhere we look there is a crisis. Public schooling: crisis. The drug war: crisis. Social Security: crisis. Medicare and Medicaid: crisis. Immigration: crisis. Iraq: crisis. Terrorism: crisis. Federal spending: crisis. The dollar: crisis. So many crises! Yet there is a common denominator to all these crises. Focusing on that common denominator provides the key ...

Bush’s Tyranny Thwarted — For Now

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 2007

The news media seemed too preoccupied with Paris Hilton’s detention to notice, but a U.S. appeals court in June struck a major blow for liberty. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Bush administration may not declare a U.S. resident — whether a citizen or not — an ...

Bushs AmeriCorps Fraud

by James Bovard September 1, 2007

Politicians have long used moral doggerel to make citizens docile. Though President Bush is often verbally inept, he has hit the same chords his predecessors played to sway Americans to glorify government workers as moral icons worthy of gratitude and respect. Two months after the 9/11 attacks, Bush announced that he was expanding AmeriCorps and that all of us can ...

The Hidden Consequences of Government Programs

by Bart Frazier September 1, 2007

One of the more insidious effects of government production of goods and services is that the products that would have been produced in a free market — and the innovations that would have arisen — are never seen and therefore are never appreciated. That phenomenon helps to perpetuate the idea that without government intervention, certain ...

Benjamin Ricketson Tucker, Part 2

by Wendy McElroy September 1, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 Liberty first appeared on August 6, 1881, from Boston, where Tucker worked as a journalist with the Boston Globe; later, in 1892, Liberty moved to New York City, where it was published until its demise in 1907. Fittingly, Liberty’s superscript was a quotation from Proudhon — “Liberty: not the daughter, but the mother ...

“Mr. Speaker, Peace Is Always Superior to War”

by Anthony Gregory September 1, 2007

A Foreign Policy of Freedom: Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship by Ron Paul (Lake Jackson, Texas: Foundation for Rational Economics and Education, 2007); 372 pages; $19.95. “Mr. Speaker, peace is always superior to war,” said Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) ...

Losing and Restoring the Republic

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2007

It is impossible to overstate the fundamental differences between the foreign-policy philosophy of our American ancestors and the foreign-policy mindset that guides our country today. The philosophy of our ancestors was nicely summed up in the Fourth of July address to Congress in 1821 by John Quincy Adams. In essence Adams said, There are lots of bad things all over ...

War Is a Government Program

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 2007

It is always amusing to hear conservatives complain — as they are complaining now and used to complain during the Vietnam War — that if it weren’t for the politicians, the generals could win America’s wars. Those with this mindset believe the politicians are always getting in the way by subordinating military considerations to — ugh! — political considerations. ...

Drunken-Driver Checkpoints: Every Driver Guilty

by James Bovard August 1, 2007

Tens of thousands of innocent Americans are stopped each month at police checkpoints that treat every driver as a criminal. These checkpoints, supposedly started to target drunk drivers, have expanded to give police more intrusive power over citizens in many areas. The demonization of alcohol is leading to a growing nullification of the constitutional rights of anyone suspected of drinking ...

Following a Couple Wannabes

by Bill Thompson August 1, 2007

In case you missed it, America has been at war in Iraq for four years, as of tomorrow . And despite more than 25,000 American casualties and a dwindling list of good reasons to stay, some modern-day Audie Murphys think those who make the common-sense suggestion to get our brave soldiers out of ...

Benjamin Ricketson Tucker, Part 1

by Wendy McElroy August 1, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 The first issue of the radical individualist periodical Liberty (1881–1908) opened with the words, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, these three: but the greatest of these is Liberty. Formerly the price of Liberty was eternal vigilance, but now it can be had for fifty cents a year. The publisher and author of those words, ...

How Grandma Got Legal

by Mae M. Ngai August 1, 2007

“Made in America — by immigrants” and “We too have a dream” read signs at the May 1 marches across the country. By invoking an American ideal, today’s newcomers are staking their claim as the latest generation of nation-builders. But their critics object to this appeal to history; they ...