Daily Articles

Time to Retire the NIH

by Laurence M. Vance December 4, 2015

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), along with more well-known agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is one of the eleven agencies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Located on a 300-acre campus in Bethesda, Maryland, the NIH is ...

Life in the Electronic Concentration Camp: The Surveillance State Is Alive and Well

by John W. Whitehead December 3, 2015

“Big Brother in the form of an increasingly powerful government and in an increasingly powerful private sector will pile the records high with reasons why privacy should give way to national security, to law and order and the like.” ― William O. Douglas, Supreme Court Justice Bottle up the champagne, pack away the noisemakers, and toss out the party ...

The Libertarian Angle: Do Libertarians Really Hate the Poor? (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation December 1, 2015

Each week, FFF president Jacob Hornberger and Richard M. Ebeling discuss the hot topics of the day. This week, Jacob and Richard discuss the libertarian view towards poverty. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast.

The Inanity of the Cold War

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 2015

There were many inanities that came with the Cold War, the 45-year period of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. In fact, one might easily argue that the entire Cold War was an exercise in inanity. U.S. officials, of course, have always maintained that the Cold War was necessary to prevent the Soviet Union from imposing communism ...

The Cover-Up of the Damning 9/11 Report Continues

by James Bovard December 1, 2015

Do Americans have the right to learn whether a foreign government helped finance the 9/11 attacks? A growing number of congressmen and senators are demanding that a 28-page portion of a 2002 congressional report finally be declassified. The Obama administration appears to be resisting, and the stakes are huge. What is contained in those pages could radically change Americans’ ...

Unions and Strikes in a Free Society

by Laurence M. Vance December 1, 2015

The labor-union membership rate of American workers has been declining for years. Labor-union strikes have concomitantly decreased as well. Unions have historically been associated with violence, corruption, anti-capitalistic propaganda, Democratic politics — and strikes. Unions According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2014, union membership fell to 11.1 percent, down 0.2 percent from 2013, although the number of workers belonging ...

War of Pure Defense: A First Sketch

by Joseph R. Stromberg December 1, 2015

Few thinkers have ever set forth (much less developed) the rather straightforward idea of purely defensive war, i.e., war limited to repelling invaders — and otherwise doing nothing at all. The term “defensivism” would suit the case, but since philosopher Eric Mack put it (in my view) to different and rather conventional use almost forty years ago (“Permissible Defense,” ...

The Forgotten Meaning of “Sound Money” (and Why It’s Coming Back)

by Guy Christopher December 1, 2015

We Americans no longer carry gold and silver money in our pockets and purses as our grandparents did during their lives. But we still carry the history, legacy, and spirit of those gold and silver coins in our language — with more meaning than you might imagine. “Sound money” has a clear message recognized for centuries around the world. It ...

Patrick Henry’s Choice

by Ben Moreel December 1, 2015

In 1775, an American patriot stood before his neighbors in a small church in Virginia and challenged the tyranny of government — his own government — in a ringing statement on liberty and death. While I subscribe wholeheartedly to Patrick Henry’s choice of death in lieu of slavery to government, I would like to call your attention to another thought ...

The Resurgence of Lochner

by David S. D'Amato December 1, 2015

Rehabilitating Lochner: Defending Individual Rights against Progressive Reform by David E. Bernstein (University of Chicago Press, 2012), 208 pages. David Bernstein begins his short book, Rehabilitating Lochner, by noting that “Lochner is likely the most disreputable case in modern constitutional discourse.” If you want to raise eyebrows in legal circles, he says, simply embark on ...

“Democratic Socialism” Means the Loss of Liberty

by Richard M. Ebeling November 30, 2015

Democratic Party hopeful, Bernie Sanders, recently outlined what it means for him to be a “democratic socialist.” The problem is that the same label might be applied to most of the other candidates running in both the Democratic and Republican parties running to be the nominee for presidency of the United States.

Thanksgiving: Celebrating the Birth of American Free Enterprise

by Richard M. Ebeling November 26, 2015

This time of the year, whether in good economic times or bad, is when Americans gather with their families and friends and enjoy a Thanksgiving meal together. It marks a remembrance of those early Pilgrim Fathers who crossed the uncharted ocean from Europe to make a new start in Plymouth, Massachusetts. What is less appreciated is that Thanksgiving also ...