Constitution

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 ...

The People’s Pottage

by Garet Garrett June 1, 1993

In 1932 a bund of intellectual revolutionaries, hiding behind the conservative planks of the Democratic party, seized control of government. After that it was the voice of government saying to the people there had been too much freedom. That was their trouble. Freedom was for the strong. ...

The Constitution and the Rule of Law

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 1992

In 1944, Friedrich A. Hayek wrote one of the most thought-provoking books of our time — The Road to Serfdom. Hayek warned that Great Britain and the United States were abandoning their heritage of liberty and adopting the economic principles of the Nazis, fascists, and socialists. It was not a ...

Hepburn v. Griswold

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 1, 1992

In 1860, Susan P. Hepburn executed a promissory note in which she expressly promised to repay a loan of one thousand dollars. When the note came due in 1862, Hepburn tendered to Henry A. Griswold, the owner of the note, United States governmental notes totaling the amount of the debt. Griswold refused the tender and sued Hepburn for his ...

Book Review – Constitutional Economics

by Richard M. Ebeling April 27, 1992

Constitutional Economics by James M. Buchanan (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Basil Blackwell, 1991); 137 pages; $29.95 What are the reasons behind the growth of government in the 20th century? And why has it been so difficult to diminish the size of government even when many in society may have come to the conclusion ...

Bringing the Revolution Home

by David F. Nolan March 1, 1992

On December 15, 1991, the United States celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Bill of Rights. The importance of this document is hard to overstate; by any measure, it is one of the great landmarks in the advancement of human rights and liberty. Our forefathers created this staunch bulwark to Secure ...

Limited Government—A Moral Issue

by C.W. Anderson February 1, 1992

The 1980s, economist Milton Friedman writes, witnessed "a sea change in the direction of public thinking about government's ability to solve economic and social problems." In fact, the idea of getting government off our backs became a live issue, worldwide. Although there was little change in the size or power of government "The prospect is bright," Friedman observed, "but ...

Fair versus Free

by Milton Friedman February 1, 1992

The Federal Communications Commission seeks to enforce a "fairness doctrine" on radio and TV stations. We suffered numerous "fair trade" laws, until they were declared unenforceable. One businessman vies with another in proclaiming his faith in competition provided that it is "fair." Yet, scrutinize word for word the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, and you ...

The Road Ahead

by John T. Flynn August 1, 1991

We must now go back to fundamentals. Our fathers gave to the world the sublime example of statesmen who had found the means of casting off the tyrant State and building up the sovereign people — unleashing the energies of free men. It was this historic experiment which set off that astonishing surge of human energy which created here ...

The Preservation of the Bureaucracy

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 1991

Two hundred years ago, our American ancestors instituted the most unusual political system in history. The Constitution called into existence a government whose powers, for the first time ever, were extremely limited. Thus, unlike other people throughout history, Americans lived without such things as income taxation, welfare, licensure, immigration ...

The Roots of Limited Government

by Alan Barth February 1, 1991

The government of the United States, for all its majesty, is a limited government of limited powers. It operates under the terms of a fundamental charter — a written Constitution — which specifies what it may do, and also what it may not do, and which fixes certain procedures for its dealings with its citizens. If a Constitution is ...

The Forgotten Importance of Civil Liberties

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 1990

One of the real tragedies in the struggle for freedom in the United States in the latter part of the 20th century has been the forgotten importance of civil liberties. While economic liberty provides the focal point of most of the efforts of freedom devotees, and rightfully so, it is vitally important that we never forget that all aspects ...