Socialism

Free Markets, Not Government, Improve Race Relations

by Richard M. Ebeling September 4, 2017

Politically we seem to be living in some trying times. The political polarization, as captured in the mainstream news media, appears to be intensifying with even acts of destructive violence on the streets and campuses of American cities. At the same time, pictures out of Houston during and following Hurricane Harvey show empathetic assistance and cooperation between people and ...

Free the Fire Stations!

by Laurence M. Vance August 1, 2017

Many boys, at one time or another when they are growing up, become enamored with firetrucks after taking a school field trip to their local fire station. Some of them will then insist that they want to be firemen when then grow up. They want such an occupation because of the excitement and the adventure they envision — and, ...

Why Planned Parenthood Should Be Defunded

by Laurence M. Vance July 21, 2017

For years now Republicans in Congress have expressed their intention to repeal Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood. Although they failed to accomplish either goal individually, they came up with the bright idea of introducing a bill that would jointly achieve their objectives. If it passes. Because the Republicans had nearly absolute control of the government once Donald Trump was sworn into ...

The Libertarian Angle: What Is Socialism?

by Future of Freedom Foundation July 13, 2017

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and Richard Ebeling discuss the nature of socialism. Go to the podcast.

Liquor Socialism

by Laurence M. Vance July 7, 2017

As long as America has been a nation, governments at all levels have sought to tax, regulate, control, and even prohibit the manufacture, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages. The most infamous example, of course, is the era of Prohibition. The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution took effect in January 1920. It didn’t ban outright the consumption or possession of alcohol, ...

Socialism: Marking a Century of Death and Destruction

by Richard M. Ebeling March 6, 2017

In August of 1993 I was in invited to participate in a conference in Vilnius, Lithuania on “Liberty and Private Business.” This was less than two years after the formal disappearance of the Soviet Union as a political entity on the map of the world. During our time there my wife and I were offered the opportunity to be given ...

Free the Airports!

by Laurence M. Vance March 1, 2017

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), U.S. airlines and foreign airlines serving the United States carry about 900 million passengers per year systemwide on more than 9 million flights (domestic and international). The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) projects that the total number of enplanements will grow to 1.2 billion by 2036. More than ...

American Progressivism in Its Epoch

by Joseph R. Stromberg March 1, 2017

After 1865, rapid industrial consolidation and concentration of wealth, aggravated by the Panics of 1873 and 1893, provoked the Populist farmers’ movement, the labor strife characteristic of the mid-to-late 19th century, and the anti-trust movement. As historian Nancy Cohen has shown, the Liberal Republican reformers of the 1870s, disgusted by corruption under President Ulysses Grant, wanted to address the ...

Prohibition and the Socialist Ideal

by Ludwig von Mises March 1, 2017

Under the capitalistic system, the ultimate bosses are the consumers. The sovereign is not the state, it is the people. And the proof that they are the sovereign is borne out by the fact that they have the right to be foolish. This is the privilege of the sovereign. He has the right to make mistakes, no one can ...

How Food Stamps Subverted Democracy, Part 3

by James Bovard February 1, 2017

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Barack Obama took office in 2009 amidst the worst recession since the early 1980s. He had more faith in government spending than any White House occupant since Franklin Roosevelt. He speedily pushed through a stimulus bill through Congress that helped increase the number of food-stamp recipients from ...

How Food Stamps Subverted Democracy, Part 2

by James Bovard January 1, 2017

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Last month we saw how political demagoguery helped make hunger a major issue in American politics beginning in the late 1960s. After Jimmy Carter was elected president in 1976, liberals and their media allies largely declared victory over hunger. Carter was a humane progressive and there was no ...

How Food Stamps Subverted Democracy, Part 1

by James Bovard December 1, 2016

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The federal government is now feeding more than 100 million Americans. The vast increase in dependency fundamentally changes the relationship of Washington to the citizenry. The more Americans rely on handouts, the more difficult it becomes to roll back politicians’ power over those who do not. There was no ...