Politics

With Friends Like These

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 2, 2002

Without any shame whatsoever, President Bush has returned John Poindexter, Elliott Abrams, and Henry Kissinger to the federal government. Poindexter is in charge of “Total Information Awareness,” a government information-gathering operation straight out of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Abrams has been appointed as top National Security Council envoy to the Middle East. And ...

Political Plundering of Property Owners

by James Bovard November 1, 2002

For the first 175 years of the American republic, it was clearly recognized that government should not casually seize people’s property and give it to other people for their private use. The Supreme Court ruled in 1937 that “one person’s property may not be taken for the benefit of another private person ...

Anthrax Antics from Uncle Sam

by James Bovard April 1, 2002

SINCE THE TERRORIST ATTACKS last September 11, public opinion polls show a sharp decrease in cynicism about government and politicians. Yet, if one has been paying attention since then, it is difficult not to conclude that there is still, occasionally at least, a sliver of evidence that could foment cynical tendencies. In his state of the Union address on January ...

Real Campaign-Finance Reform

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 2, 2002

Congress has recently engaged in another flurry of activity over ampaign-finance reform. Yet, congressmen never ask a fundamental question: Why shouldn’t people be free to do whatever they want with their own money, including donating whatever amounts they want to political candidates? The usual answer that congressmen give is: “That type of system would make us crooked and corrupt ...

Enron and the Cheney List

by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2002

The controversy over Vice President Dick Cheney’s secret energy-policy consultation list is amusing. Government should certainly err on the side of disclosing such things, but that’s not the point here. Those most vocal in demanding the list seem to be saying they can’t judge the Bush administration’s energy policy ...

Recovering Our Bearings

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 2001

CHRISTMASTIME ALWAYS PROVIDES a good time both for reflection and for looking forward. While we usually do this as individuals and families, this year is an especially good time to do so as a nation. How did America start, how has it changed over the years, and where are we heading? Our country began as the ...

The Sham of Political Compromise

by Sheldon Richman August 2, 2001

Writing on the New York Times op-ed page recently, new Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle called for “a spirit of principled compromise.” The top Democrat presumably means compromise with the Republicans. He’s in luck. Compromise with the Senate Republicans is entirely possible — because they hold the same reactionary principles ...

What O’Reilly Doesnt Know

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 2001

Bill OReilly, populist star of the Fox News Channels OReilly Factor may be the hottest television property around, but he doesnt know beans about how markets work. The other night he charged the oil companies with conspiring to keep gasoline prices high. He quoted a 1995 Chevron memo stating that refining ...

Wrong Way to Go

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 2001

We’ve been had. By a Bush. Again. The tax cut is a joke. After all the blather about how the surplus belongs to us, not the government, the resulting tax-cut bill is minuscule, ultra-gradual, and now scheduled to expire in 10 years! Republican and Democrat members of Congress, ...

The Free-Soil Movement, Part 2

by Wendy McElroy June 1, 2001

Part 1 |Part 2 The key issue around which the free-soil debate revolved was slavery. Specifically, the question was whether slavery would be extended into the territories that were expected to seek statehood. Both anti-slavery farmers and slave-owners had been migrating into the territories for years. Each group was eager to acquire the political clout that came from having a ...

The Oklahoma City Bombing

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2001

The Oklahoma City Bombing With the upcoming execution of convicted mass murderer Timothy McVeigh, much has been made of McVeigh's indifference to the fact that included among the 168 deaths in the Oklahoma City bombing were 19 children. McVeigh has referred to the children's deaths as "collateral damage." But it's important that we not forget that McVeigh is not ...

The “Good-Government” Attack on Free Speech

by Sheldon Richman May 1, 2001

I keep waiting for a swell of sanity to wash Senators John McCain and Russell Feingold’s campaign finance “reform” bill away once and for all. But I am beginning to despair that there isn’t that much sanity around anymore. The polls show that most people don’t care about campaign finance issues. ...