TGIF: I Can’t Help That I’m a Libertarian by Sheldon Richman August 1, 2014 It’s not easy being a libertarian. I am not looking for sympathy when I say that. I just mean to point out that rejecting the conventional wisdom on virtually (do I really need this adverb?) every political question, current and historical, can be wearying. Life could be so much simpler if it were otherwise. No doubt about that. I ...
The Presidential Authority to Torture and Assassinate, Part 1 by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2014 Part 1 | Part 2 If our American ancestors in 1787 had been told that the Constitution was going to bring into existence a national government that would have the powers to torture and assassinate people, including American citizens, there is no reasonable possibility that Americans would have approved the document. They would undoubtedly have instead chosen ...
On Work by Sheldon Richman August 1, 2014 I hear therefore with joy whatever is beginning to be said of the dignity and necessity of labor to every citizen. There is virtue yet in the hoe and the spade, for learned as well as for unlearned hands. And labor is everywhere welcome; always we are invited to work. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar,” 1837 Work! (Exclaimed in ...
America’s Cluster- Bomb Congress by James Bovard August 1, 2014 Tens of thousands of Americans have been bushwhacked by a single arcane sentence in a 673-page law Congress enacted six years ago. The IRS is seizing both federal and state tax refunds for individuals whom the Social Security Administration accuses of having received excessive benefits years ago. But the government often has zero evidence of the overpayments, and the ...
Due Process versus Secret Courts by Wendy McElroy August 1, 2014 Due process is a set of legal requirements that protect the individual against abuse by the state. Examples are a person’s right to be notified of court proceedings in which he is involved and the right against self-incrimination. Due process is woven into the fabric of American society through both the Constitution and legal precedent. Few practices are as damaging ...
The Poverty of Top- Down Anti-Poverty Efforts by David S. D'Amato August 1, 2014 The Idealist: Jeffrey Sachs and the Quest to End Poverty by Nina Munk (Doubleday 2012), 272 pages. In the idealist, the system-building visionary, there is a certain natural attractiveness, a gravitational pull centered on the strength of his convictions. We desire to be a part of his crusade, or at least to root it on, because we admire the ...
A Conservative Dissents from the Corporate Status Quo by Anthony Gregory August 1, 2014 The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America by David A. Stockman, (Public Affairs 2013), 768 pages. Most leftist critiques of libertarianism focus on an alleged blind defense of corporate power. Indeed, left-libertarian Kevin Carson has helpfully criticized the very real problem of “vulgar libertarianism,” the working assumption that current economic realities are a product of free-market dynamics ...
Borderlands: What’s Happening to America? by Sheldon Richman July 30, 2014 A man, an American citizen, sits in his car as a U.S. Border Patrol agent insists that he roll down his window. He refuses. Agents use battering rams to smash the windows. Still, the driver refuses to leave his car, so he is hit with a Taser from two sides. He screams. It would be bad enough if this scene, ...
Tax Inversion Freedom vs. Fiscal Berlin Wall by Richard M. Ebeling July 29, 2014 The Obama Administration has proposed its latest form of collectivist control over the American people. In a letter to Congress U.S. Treasury Secretary, Jack Lew, has called for punishment and prohibition of any company that tries to move its headquarters overseas to avoid higher taxes in the United States. Plus, Mr. Lew has the audacity to call his proposed ...
The Libertarian Angle: The Drug War by Future of Freedom Foundation July 28, 2014 FFF president Jacob Hornberger and FFF vice president Sheldon Richman discuss the hot topics of the day. This week: the move to end the drug war. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast.
TGIF: Jane Cobden: Carrying on Her Father’s Good Work by Sheldon Richman July 25, 2014 Among libertarians and classical liberals, the name Richard Cobden (1804–1865) evokes admiration and applause. His activities -- and successes -- on behalf of freedom, free markets, and government retrenchment are legendary. Most famously, he cofounded — with John Bright — the Anti–Corn Law League, which successfully campaigned for repeal of the import tariffs on grain. ...
In Foreign Affairs, Not Doing Anything Is the Thing to Do by Sheldon Richman July 24, 2014 The heartbreaking violence in the Middle East, Ukraine, and elsewhere carries many messages, but here’s one Americans shouldn’t miss: The United States — no matter who the president is — cannot manage world conflict. The corollary is that when a president tries to manage it, things will usually get worse. Foresight is always defective, and tragic unintended consequences will ...