Constitution

Count Me Out

by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2000

I got a letter from my friendly federal government the other day. It notified me that in about a week I will be mailed my U.S. Census 2000 form. Why they didn't just send the form instead of the notice, I can't fathom. But that's the least of it.

Let’s Stick with Traditional American Values!

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2000

Upon reading Hans-Herman Hoppe’s article “On Free Immigration and Forced Integration,” I couldn’t help but wonder whether he first reached the conclusion that he wanted to reach and then constructed a set of arguments to support that conclusion. Hoppe begins his article by correctly pointing out that from a ...

Should Old Glory Fly over the Capitol?

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2000

The flap over whether the Confederate flag should fly over the South Carolina state capitol raises an interesting question: Should Old Glory be permitted to fly over the nation's Capitol in Washington, D.C.? After all, while the Confederacy lasted only 4 years, the U.S. flag represents a nation that had an ...

More Power for Washington

by Sheldon Richman May 1, 1999

Federalism, the protection of liberty through the dispersion of power among different levels of government, has been close to dead for decades in the United States. But now it's a little closer, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a five-to-four decision, the Court ruled that since schools accept money under a ...

Let the Presidency Be Diminished

by Sheldon Richman January 1, 1998

The hand-wringing over President Clinton's extracurricular activities is misplaced. Whatever else can be said about what Mr. Clinton did or didn't do, we can say this: it would be no tragedy if, as a result of the scandal, the presidency, indeed government itself, were diminished. Pundits and others have ...

What’s So Great about Democracy?

by Sheldon Richman October 1, 1996

In this election season, the time might be right for a heretical question: what's so great about democracy? To be sure, voting is better than violence for picking officeholders. But the real issue is what power those officeholders will have. Who rules is less important than which rules. In ...

Did the Supreme Court Flush the Fourth?

by James Bovard February 1, 1996

Two hundred and six years after the adoption of the Bill of Rights, the big issue for the U.S. Supreme Court is toilets. Specifically, has the invention of flush toilets nullified American's traditional right of privacy in their homes and enabled police to smash down their doors on the slightest pretext? Truly, these are glorious times in which we live. ...

Returning to a Constitutional Cabinet

by Doug Bandow October 1, 1995

Republicans have been running Congress for almost a year without addressing the most important issue facing us: the size and scope of government. If they are serious about change, they have to make much more serious reductions in federal spending. But cutting expenditures is not enough. Government is too expansive ...

What the Second Amendment Means

by Sheldon Richman October 1, 1995

The decline of education in the United States may be reflected in the high correlation between the amount of formal schooling a person has and his inability to understand the following words: "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." The ...

The Commerce Clause: Route to Omnipotent Government

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 1995

In 1990, the U.S. Congress passed a law forbidding possession of a firearm within 1,000 feet of any school. The Gun-Free School Zones Act was touted as a blow on behalf of education and against violence among children. Two years later, Alfonso Lopez Jr., a 12th-grader at Edison High School in San Antonio, Texas, carried a concealed .38-caliber pistol ...

Takings: The Evils of Eminent Domain

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 1995

The "takings clause" of the U.S. Constitution is the portion of the Fifth Amendment that says "nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation." It is one of the few parts of the Bill of Rights that authorizes the government to violate individual liberty, since under ...

Have We Abandoned Our Principles?

by Robert Chamberlain July 1, 1995

America was founded upon commonly held principles of right and wrong. Our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution recognize these principles and enumerate several of them. Among these principles is the acknowledgment that we, as individuals, have certain unalienable rights — namely the rights to life, liberty, and the ...