Daily Articles

The Libertarian Angle: History of Economic Thought, Part 4

by Future of Freedom Foundation February 9, 2016

In this segment, Richard Ebeling and Jacob Hornberger discuss the rise of the Austrian school of economic thought and its contributions.

Joseph Schumpeter: the “Father” of Capitalist “Creative Destruction”

by Richard M. Ebeling February 8, 2016

Today is Austrian-born economist, Joseph A. Schumpeter’s, birthday. Born on February 8, 1883, he died on January 8, 1950. Schumpeter is famous as a leading 20th century formulator of the notion of the entrepreneur as dynamic innovator of change, and also as a master of the history of economic ideas. Trained as an economist at the University of Vienna in ...

The Clinton-Sanders-Republican Principles of Taxation

by Laurence M. Vance February 5, 2016

The number of votes they got at the recent Iowa caucuses is not the only way that former senator Hillary Clinton and current senator Bernie Sanders are very close. Both have proposed new government programs throughout their campaigns. And because their new government programs must be paid for, both Clinton and Sanders have put forward new tax plans to ...

Seema Sadanandan: The Drug War Against Black America (video)

by Seema Sadanandan February 5, 2016

The Future of Freedom Foundation and the Morgan State University Pre-Law Association presented a one-day conference on the campus of Morgan State University on Saturday, November 14, 2015, that addressed the war on drugs and its adverse consequences on American society, especially on African-Americans. “The Drug War Against Black America” featured an all-star lineup of ...

Television, Football and Politics: Gaming Spectacles Designed to Keep the Police State in Power

by John W. Whitehead February 3, 2016

Big Brother does not watch us, by his choice. We watch him, by ours. There is no need for wardens or gates or Ministries of Truth. When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become ...

The Libertarian Angle: History of Economic Thought, Part 3

by Future of Freedom Foundation February 2, 2016

Each week, FFF president Jacob Hornberger and Richard M. Ebeling discuss the hot topics of the day. In the third installment of this series, Hornberger and Ebeling discuss the perfect-competition model of economic thought that developed from the marginal-utility, subjective-value principles of William Stanley Jevons and Leon Walrus.

Individual Rights Must Be Preserved Without Interference from the Government

by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 2016

What is the role of government in society? This has been and remains the most fundamental question in all political discussions and debates. Its answer determines the nature of the social order and how people are expected and allowed to interact with one another – on the basis of either force or freedom. The alternatives are really rather simple. Government ...

Dalton Trumbo and the Hollywood Blacklist

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2016

I wish every American would see the movie Trumbo, starring Bryan Cranston, which was released last November. The movie is based on a true story. It depicts how the U.S. anti-communist crusade during the Cold War damaged or ruined the lives of many innocent people, including Hollywood screen-writer Dalton Trumbo and nine others, who became known as the Hollywood ...

The Census Bureau’s Latest Peril to Freedom

by James Bovard February 1, 2016

The Census Bureau is sending its hefty American Community Survey to more than three million households a year. I recently received this 28-page tsunami of questions about everything from my plumbing to my profession to my ethnicity and income. But as a former Census taker who has written about Census controversies for more than 25 years, I distrust this ...

The Fatal Flaw

by Laurence M. Vance February 1, 2016

The presidential primary season is in full swing. Current and former Democratic and Republican candidates alike have put forward various tax-reform proposals. Some of their proposals were officially unveiled at a press conference; others were unofficially presented in campaign speeches or during one of the debates. Some rehash old proposals, others recommend something entirely new. But whether Democratic, Republican, ...

The Right to Keep and Bear Arms as a Check on Tyrants

by Scott McPherson February 1, 2016

Whatever makes kings can unmake them. — Isabel Paterson, The God of the Machine Service in the militia, for purposes of national defense, suppression of rebellion, and answering the “hue and cry,” was widely understood as an ancient right and duty of the free citizen. By securing to individual citizens “their private arms,” the Framers of the Constitution were also ...

Securing the Blessings of Liberty

by David S. D'Amato February 1, 2016

The Conscience of the Constitution: The Declaration of Independence and the Right to Liberty by Timothy Sandefur (Cato Institute, 2014), 200 pages. In his book The Conscience of the Constitution: The Declaration of Independence and the Right to Liberty, Timothy Sandefur, an attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation and a Cato Institute adjunct scholar, argues that “the primacy ...