Daily Articles

The Right to Hire and Fire

by Laurence M. Vance July 1, 2016

Do businesses have the right to hire whomever they want for a particular job? Most Americans would agree that they certainly do. But when you ask the same people whether businesses have the right to not hire whomever they don’t want for a particular job, most of them will say that it depends on the reason someone is not ...

The Legal Tender Cases

by David S. D'Amato July 1, 2016

In the December term of 1870, the Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of a statute authorizing the issuance of U.S. notes (or “greenbacks”) and making those notes “legal tender in payment of all debts, public and private.” That statute, the Legal Tender Act of 1862, was signed into law less than a year after the introduction of the nation’s ...

Immigration Controls Are Socialist

by Jake Desyllas July 1, 2016

In the classical-liberal age of 19th-century Europe, there were no immigration controls. Here is how Gustav Stolper — a German economist, classical liberal, and an immigrant — described the world he had known: This economic and social system of Europe was predicated on a few axiomatic principles. These principles were considered safe and unshakable…. They were freedom of ...

Dallas, Texas: Nut Country, 1963

by Michael Swanson July 1, 2016

Dallas 1963, by Bill Minuteaglio and Steven Davis (Twelve, 2013), 384 pages. Nut Country: Right-Wing Dallas and the Birth of the Southern Strategy, by Edward H. Miller (University of Chicago Press, 2015), 256 pages. History doesn’t repeat, but sometimes it seems to rhyme and with the sudden and surprising rise of Donald Trump in the Republican primaries this year that may ...

‘We the Prisoners’: The Demise of the Fourth Amendment

by John W. Whitehead June 29, 2016

“Our carceral state banishes American citizens to a gray wasteland far beyond the promises and protections the government grants its other citizens… When the doors finally close and one finds oneself facing banishment to the carceral state—the years, the walls, the rules, the guards, the inmates—reactions vary. Some experience an intense sickening feeling. Others, a strong desire ...

The Libertarian Angle: The Brexit Vote

by Future of Freedom Foundation June 28, 2016

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and Richard Ebeling talk about Britain's vote to exit from the European Union.

The British Say “No” to EU Power and Plunder

by Richard M. Ebeling June 27, 2016

The political and financial establishments of Europe and the United States were taken by almost total surprise and sent into apparent shock when 52 percent of the voters in the United Kingdom chose for their country to leave the European Union (EU). But it is not the end of the world as we know it, and can be a ...

Violence Begets Violence: The Orlando Shootings and the War on Terror

by John W. Whitehead June 24, 2016

“Americans have been told that their government is keeping them safe by preventing and prosecuting terrorism inside the US... But take a closer look and you realize that many of these people would never have committed a crime if not for law enforcement encouraging, pressuring, and sometimes paying them to commit terrorist acts.”—Human Rights Watch We can rail ...

Getting It Backwards on Welfare and Tax Deductions

by Laurence M. Vance June 23, 2016

Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) is “sick and tired, and sick and tired of being sick and tired, of the criminalization of poverty.” She explains in a recent press release, As a strong advocate for social programs aimed at combating poverty, it deeply offends me that there is such a deep stigma surrounding those who depend on government ...

Donald Trump the Corrupt Creation of America’s Bankrupt Politics

by Richard M. Ebeling June 22, 2016

Commentators from the political “left” as well as the “right” have attempted to analyze and dissect the rise and appeal of Donald Trump. The reality is, I would suggest, is that he represents the essence of the modern interventionist state, with its regulated economy and redistributive politics. Those on the “left” see Trump as the epitome of an undercurrent of ...

Freedom of Art Is a Prerequisite of Morality

by Wendy McElroy June 22, 2016

To many, freedom of art is a synonym for freedom of speech, but the former is best understood as a distinct subset. Unlike normal speech or rational discourse, the purpose of art is not primarily to convince or to instruct. It is to make people experience a visceral reaction. Art, and particularly literature, allow people to sense the emotions, ...

The Libertarian Angle: The Fed and the 2008 Housing Crash

by Future of Freedom Foundation June 21, 2016

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and Richard Ebeling talk about the disastrous policies of the Federal Reserve. Go to the podcast.