Freedom Daily Archive

Leviathan and Big-Government Conservatism

by George Leef August 1, 2007

Leviathan on the Right: How Big Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution by Michael D. Tanner (Cato Institute: 2007); 321 pages; $22.95. My first experience in politics was as a teenager during the 1964 campaign pitting Lyndon Johnson and his band of tax-and-spend-crazy Democrats against Barry Goldwater and his Republican compatriots. ...

The War on Afghanistan Was Wrong, Too

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 2007

While most Americans have turned against the Iraq War, many of them still think that the war on Afghanistan was morally and legally justified. Their rationale is that the United States was simply defending itself by attacking Afghanistan and retaliating against those who had conspired to commit the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Of course, the last thing on people’s mind ...

The Good and Bad News about the Bush Wars

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 2007

There’s good and bad news about the two American-initiated wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The good news is the American people are largely disengaged from them. The bad news is the American people are largely disengaged from them. How can the same piece of news be both good and bad? Let’s see. New York Times foreign-affairs columnist Thomas Friedman laments that most Americans ...

How Bogus Fears Bought Bush Four More Years

by James Bovard July 1, 2007

Is a president entitled to frighten voters into submission to perpetuate his power over them? While many people are catching on to Bush’s deceits on Iraq, most Americans have forgotten the scams of his reelection campaign. George W. Bush was reelected in large part because he boosted the number of Americans frightened of terrorism during 2004. In October 2001, 73 ...

An Imperial Presidency, Part 2

by Gregory Bresiger July 1, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 Republicans and Democrats have, at times, criticized the imperial presidency. Both are, to a certain extent, correct. Both are also hypocritical. It isn’t only politics that has driven these royal presidents. It is a lust for American power in the world — the desire to be “great” or to lead a crusade for democracy ...

The Constitution and Foreign Policy

by Bart Frazier July 1, 2007

Protecting the country from invasion and securing individual rights are two of the vital functions of the federal government. At the same time the government is the greatest threat to our freedom. This was the subject of FFF’s June conference, “Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties.” An underlying theme, touched on by every ...

The Diagnosis of a Dying Republic, Part 2

by Anthony Gregory July 1, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic by Chalmers Johnson (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2006), 368 pages; $26. The full extent of the American Empire is shown in great clarity throughout Nemesis. In terms of the imperial, hyperpowerful executive branch, perhaps nothing better exemplifies the problem than the CIA, or “the ...

Libertarian Paternalism

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 1, 2007

On April 1, 2007, the New York Times published a review of Brian Doherty’s new book, Radicals for Capitalism, an extensive history of the libertarian movement that focuses on such libertarian luminaries as Leonard Read, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Ayn Rand, and Milton Friedman. The book review, “Free for All,” ...

Libertarianism: Left or Right?

by Sheldon Richman June 1, 2007

My own notion of politics is that it follows a straight line rather than a circle. The straight line stretches from the far right where (historically) we find monarchy, absolute dictatorships, and other forms of absolutely authoritarian rule. On the far right, law and order means the law of ...

The “Terrorist” Batting Average

by James Bovard June 1, 2007

For almost six years, the Bush administration has acted as if every terrorism accusation it makes should be received as the word of God on Mt. Sinai. Assistant Attorney General Steven Bradbury declared at a Senate hearing last July, “Under the law of war, the president is always right.” Thus, the issue is settled after the president’s men formally ...

An Imperial Presidency, Part 1

by Gregory Bresiger June 1, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2   Congress has the power “To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water....”   — U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8 The doctrine of energy in government, as I said before, ...

Capitalism and Collectivism

by Scott McPherson June 1, 2007

A free market is one in which the means of production real estate, industrial units, and other physical structures machines, capital, and all types of property are in private hands, to be used by individual owners at their own discretion and for their own ends. Humans are unique animals that must produce in order to survive, and the free market ...