Daily Articles

Why We Don’t Compromise, Part 4

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2015

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 The crown jewel of the U.S. welfare state is Social Security. This federal program was adopted during the 1930s as part of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, which consisted of an array of government programs that revolutionized America’s economic ...

Obama’s “Cynicism” Racketeering

by James Bovard August 1, 2015

Barack Obama captured the presidency in part because of his appeals to “hope and change.” But after more than six years in power, he is now spending far more time denouncing cynicism. As usual, the worst example of cynicism is citizens who fail to trust the government and the Supreme Leader. A presidency built on restoring faith in the ...

Does Empire Provide Global Public Goods?

by Joseph R. Stromberg August 1, 2015

Many of us have brushed up against public-goods theory once or twice, in an economics class or in various policy arguments. In the 1970s the concept took off in international-relations studies and we hear much these days about global public goods. This broadening of public-goods theory serves to license a broad array of state activities abroad, modeled on those ...

The Crisis of the Welfare State

by Clarence Carson August 1, 2015

The welfare state is more like a vast overlay of interventions on the market and economy than the displacement of it. They burden the economy, distort it, disrupt it, but they do not replace it. The interventions produce episodic disorders as well as crises. Some of these have been called by such varied names as recessions, inflation, economic stagnation, ...

Business Is No Business of the State

by George Leef August 1, 2015

Uncle Sam Can’t Count: A History of Failed Government Investments from Beaver Pelts to Green Energy by Burton W. Folsom Jr. and Anita Folsom (Broadside Books, 2014), 239 pages. The day after the 2010 mid-term elections, the federal government quietly announced the bankruptcy of Solyndra, a “green energy” company that had been touted by Barack Obama as a ...

The War That Justified Other Wars

by Laurence M. Vance August 1, 2015

The Good War That Wasn’t — And Why It Matters: World War II’s Moral Legacy by Ted Grimsrud (Cascade Books, 2014), 286 pages. Even among some libertarians, World War II is viewed as the great exception. Although it was the most destructive thing to life, liberty, and property that the world has ever seen, World War II is ...

Drivers, Beware: The Costly, Deadly Dangers of Traffic Stops in the American Police State

by John W. Whitehead July 30, 2015

“The Fourth Amendment was designed to stand between us and arbitrary governmental authority. For all practical purposes, that shield has been shattered, leaving our liberty and personal integrity subject to the whim of every cop on the beat, trooper on the highway and jail official. The framers would be appalled.”—Herman Schwartz, The Nation Trying to predict the outcome ...

JFK, McGeorge Bundy, and the Continuity of Government

by Michael Swanson July 30, 2015

The assassination of President Kennedy was an unnerving event for the people of the United States and the world. Contradictory news stories that followed, as well as the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby, caused many people to wonder what was really going on. Many people suspected a conspiracy, and rumors spread that perhaps the president was ...

The Libertarian Angle – Eminent Domain and Shenandoah National Park

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 29, 2015

Each week, FFF president Jacob Hornberger discusses the hot topics of the day. This week, Jacob and guest co-host Bart Frazier discuss the use of eminent domain in the establishment of Shenandoah National Park. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast.

Freedom to Move: Personal Freedom or Government Control, Part II

by Richard M. Ebeling July 28, 2015

There are many economic fallacies that surround the issue of freer or open immigration into the United States, and few of them can stand up to serious critical examination. The Fallacy that Immigrants “Steal” Jobs from Americans. Opponents of more open immigration sometimes argue that the arrival of more immigrants means the threatened loss of jobs for those already living in ...

Happy Birthday Medicare and Medicaid?

by Laurence M. Vance July 27, 2015

On July 30, 1965 — fifty years ago —Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Social Security Amendments of 1965 that created two new government programs. Added to the Social Security Act of 1935 was Title XVIII, Medicare, and Title XIX, Medicaid. They were the nation’s first public health-insurance programs. Medicare is government-funded health care for Americans 65 years old and ...

Help Support FFF’s Ebook Project

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 24, 2015

The triumph of libertarianism ultimately lies in spreading ideas on liberty. Our aim is to build a solid base of libertarians who are firmly committed to libertarian principles. Once that number reaches a critical mass, I am convinced that society will make a dramatic shift toward freedom. With that in mind, we have discovered another way to find new audiences ...