Daily Articles

Libertarian Plan to Simplify Taxpaying Misses the Mark

by Laurence M. Vance May 15, 2023

Another April 15 has come and gone. The inaugural and dreaded Tax Day initially fell on March 1, 1914. There was no withholding tax, so the full amount of federal taxes owed by individuals was payable on Tax Day. In 1919, the date was moved to March 15, and in 1955, the date was moved again to April 15. This year, ...

Ukraine and the Cold War

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 13, 2023

On October 25, 1970, a team of well-armed Chilean thugs attacked an automobile in which Chilean General Rene Schneider was traveling in downtown Santiago. Their aim was to kidnap and kill Schneider. Given that he was the overall commander of the Chilean armed forces, Schneider pulled out his pistol and fought back, but he was no match ...

Danger Within: The Government Is Turning America Into a Constitution-Free Zone

by John W. Whitehead May 11, 2023

“There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”—James Madison How far would you really go to secure the nation’s borders in the so-called name of national security? Would you give the government limitless amounts of money? Surround the entire country with ...

The Smoke and Mirrors of the Debt Ceiling Crisis

by Richard M. Ebeling May 8, 2023

The Washington political establishment, the social-media pundits, and the editorial pages of many newspapers have all been warning of a fiscal Armageddon if the national debt limit is not raised in the very near future. The danger, it is said, is that the U.S. government might default on its interest payments, sending the domestic economy and the international financial ...

The War on Free Speech Is Really a War on the Right to Criticize the Government

by John W. Whitehead May 5, 2023

“Since when have we Americans been expected to bow submissively to authority and speak with awe and reverence to those who represent us? The constitutional theory is that we the people are the sovereigns, the state and federal officials only our agents. We who have the final word can speak softly or angrily. We can seek ...

The Terrible Truth about U.S. Foreign Policy

by Laurence M. Vance May 1, 2023

Many conservatives just don’t get it when it comes to U.S. foreign policy. After Lu Shaye, China’s outspoken ambassador to France, stated during a televised interview last month that the former Soviet republics “have no effective status in international law because there is no international agreement to recognize their status as sovereign countries,” American Enterprise Institute (

Snowden and the Fight for American Privacy

by James Bovard May 1, 2023

Edward Snowden did heroic service in awakening Americans to Washington ravishing their privacy. Snowden’s “reward” is to be banished in Russia without a snowball’s chance in hell of a fair trial if he returns to America. But as he courageously declared, “I would rather be without a state than without a voice.” He explained why he leaked ...

How Not to Abolish the Income Tax

by Laurence M. Vance May 1, 2023

Throughout this country’s history, Americans have always paid taxes of various kinds. But no matter what kind, all taxation is theft. Everyone but a criminal obtains his income voluntarily. He either sells some good or service or he receives some kind of  stipend or gift But as explained by the Austrian economist Murray Rothbard (1926–1995): Only the State ...

Only a Renewed Belief in Liberty Can End America’s Fiscal Follies

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 2023

The Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) February 2023 report, Budget and Economic Outlook, 2023-2033, documents just how serious the fiscal dilemma is facing the United States. In a nutshell, the federal government’s debt is on a dangerous trajectory, future annual budget deficits are huge as far as the eye can see, and the “entitlement programs” — Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid ...

How Evil Are Politicians? Part 1

by George Leef May 1, 2023

Part 1 | Part 2 How Evil Are Politicians?: Essays on Demagoguery by Bryan Caplan (Bet On It Books, 2022) If you are a libertarian, or just someone with a streak of skepticism about government, you will enjoy and profit from reading How Evil are Politicians? The author, Bryan Caplan, is a professor of economics at George Mason ...

Don’t Let the Government Criminalize Free Speech

by John W. Whitehead April 26, 2023

“If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”—George Washington What the police state wants is a silent, compliant, oblivious citizenry. What the First Amendment affirms is an engaged citizenry that speaks truth to power using whatever peaceful means are available to us. Speaking one’s truth doesn’t have to be the ...

Government Spin Doctors Control the News Cycle

by John W. Whitehead April 19, 2023

“We Americans are the ultimate innocents. We are forever desperate to believe that this time the government is telling us the truth.”—Former New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg Let’s talk about fake news stories, shall we? There’s the garden variety fake news that is not really “news” so much as it is titillating, tabloid-worthy material peddled by anyone ...