Statism

Idolizing Absolute Power: The Pro-Assassination Crowd

by James Bovard June 27, 2011

The Christian Science Monitor published a piece I wrote last month in opposition to allowing the U.S. government to kill Americans without a warrant, trial, or any judicial niceties. The article, “Assassination Nation: Are There Any Limits on President Obama's License to Kill?,” spurred a torrent of feedback on Yahoo.com that vividly illustrates how some Americans now ...

The Tyranny of the Tiny

by Rich Schwartzman June 22, 2011

Libertarian minds reel when considering the loss of liberty here in the United States. There is the ever-growing intrusion of the federal government into the daily lives of men and women, revealing a gross disregard for constitutional guarantees. We’ve been inundated with examples recently. The effect of Supreme Court decisions and FBI directives can lead us to anger or bring ...

Greek Rioters Epitomize Statist Mentality

by Fergus Hodgson June 22, 2011

Greece is on the verge of default, even after receiving $157 billion from the EU and IMF and after reducing government salaries and pensions. While an even larger bailout is in the works, it would come with strings that approximately 80 percent of Greeks oppose. Not only do they oppose spending within their means, many Greeks have engaged ...

Admiration for Monarchs

by Fergus Hodgson June 1, 2011

President Obama has just returned from a how-do-you-do with the British royals and other European officials, engagements of such apparent importance he chose to sign off on federal lawlessness at home with an extension of the Patriot Act by remote control. During the same week Canadians celebrated Victoria Day, their historic ruler’s birthday, and throughout the ...

Blasphemy and the State

by Wendy McElroy April 28, 2011

On April 16 in Richmond, Virginia, Jesus of Nazareth was spared the death penalty but sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for the crime of blasphemy. Or, rather, a mock courtroom reenacted the sentencing phase of his original blasphemy case, which had resulted in a sentence of crucifixion. Since the mock Jesus had already been ...

Deference to Authority, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 30, 2011

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Many years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Cuba, a country that holds valuable lessons in freedom for the American people, albeit not in ways that one might imagine. As a prerequisite to traveling to Cuba, the U.S. government requires Americans to secure a license from the U.S. Treasury Department. ...

Deference to Authority, Part 1

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 27, 2011

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Addressing the WikiLeaks controversy, noted New York Times columnist David Brooks opened up his November 29, 2010, column with the following observation: mother didn’t enroll him in the local schools because, as Raffi Khatchadourian wrote in a New Yorker profile, she feared “that formal education would inculcate an unhealthy ...

Defining Coercion Down

by James Bovard December 1, 2010

Coercion is the essence of government in the same way that profit is the essence of private businesses. The state can impose new prohibitions and restrictions, create new penalties, or impose taxes in order to finance benefits. It is misleading to conceive of politicians as offering both carrots and sticks: Government must first use a stick to commandeer the ...