Daily Articles

The Libertarian Angle: Freedom and the Income Tax

by Future of Freedom Foundation May 3, 2017

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and Richard Ebeling discuss the morality of taxation. Go to the podcast.

What Is a Government Worker Worth Without a Free Market?

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 2017

Where are you more likely to earn a better salaried income, in the private sector or working for the government? Well, it turns out that those employed by the federal government and having only high school diplomas or college bachelors’ degrees, are likely to be financially far better off. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released in April 2017 a new ...

Separating Charity and Health Care from the State

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2017

One of the most remarkable achievements of our American ancestors was enshrined in the First Amendment — the separation of church and state. Reflecting the notion that religious liberty was one of the natural, God-given rights to which Thomas Jefferson had referred in the Declaration of Independence, the First Amendment expressly prohibited Congress (and implicitly the entire federal government) ...

Anti-War Awakening on a Bus Trip from Baltimore

by James Bovard May 1, 2017

In the summer of 1975, I took off hitchhiking from the mountains of southwest Virginia to visit a college girlfriend in New England. Less than 300 miles into the trip, my thumb lost whatever magic it once possessed. After striking out for six hours on an Interstate ramp in Hagerstown, Maryland, I hoofed to the nearest Trailways bus station ...

The Irrelevancy of Trump’s Cabinet Picks

by Laurence M. Vance May 1, 2017

President Trump has nominated the members of his cabinet and they have gone through the Senate confirmation process. Democrats, predictably, have been critical of many of his appointments. Conservatives, and some libertarians, have praised some of Trump’s appointments for things that they have done and statements they have made that seem to be at odds with the mission of ...

The Legal Origin of the State Secrets Doctrine

by David S. D'Amato May 1, 2017

In the United States, a citizen may sue the government. It is fortunate that it should be so, because, as libertarians like to point out, government is society’s single worst offender. The ability to hold it to account in the courts helps safeguard the rights of the individual, the consistent protection of which is the meaning of a free ...

Militarism or Isolationism?

by Stephen Wertheim May 1, 2017

Under Donald Trump, American foreign policy is returning, many commentators say, to the isolationism that preceded World War II. This line of interpretation (and often attack) emerged during the election: While Hillary Clinton warned that her opponent would “tear up our alliances,” an array of experts supplied such fears with a historical pedigree. As Council on Foreign Relations president ...

The Iron Jaws of the Police State

by John W. Whitehead April 27, 2017

“Policing is broken... It has evolved as a paramilitary, bureaucratic, organizational arrangement that distances police officers from the communities they’ve been sworn to protect and serve. When we have shooting after shooting after shooting that most people would define as at least questionable, it’s time to look, not just at a few bad apples, but the barrel. And ...

The Problem with Harris County’s Relaxing of Its Marijuana Laws

by Laurence M. Vance April 26, 2017

Although marijuana is still illegal on the federal level, twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical use and eight states have legalized marijuana for recreational use. Other states have decriminalized certain marijuana-possession offenses. There are numerous restrictions, of course. But some freedom is better than no freedom. Texas is not one of these states. Partial ...

The Libertarian Angle: Shut Down the Government

by Future of Freedom Foundation April 25, 2017

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and Richard Ebeling discuss the possibility of federal government shutdown. Go to the podcast.

Campus Collectivism and the Counter-Revolution Against Liberty

by Richard M. Ebeling April 24, 2017

Much has been rightly said about recent attacks on conservative, libertarian, and other non-leftist speakers on college and university campuses around the country. The elements of intellectual intolerance, the willingness to shout down any ideological critic or opponent, and the resort to incidents of on-campus violence to prevent invited speakers from addressing students have been pointed out to represent ...

Run for Your Life

by John W. Whitehead April 19, 2017

We’ve reached the point where state actors can penetrate rectums and vaginas, where judges can order forced catheterizations, and where police and medical personnel can perform scans, enemas and colonoscopies without the suspect’s consent. And these procedures aren’t to nab kingpins or cartels, but people who at worst are hiding an amount of drugs that can fit into a ...