Daily Articles

A Treacherous Undertow

by David S. D'Amato May 1, 2014

American Coup: How a Terrified Government Is Destroying the Constitution by William M. Arkin (Little, Brown and Company 2013), 368 pages. Among the philosophy of liberty’s core ideas is the well-known precept that a free society must be one of laws and not of men, that the rule of law should stand above the arbitrary caprice of some empowered ...

Broken

by Matthew Harwood May 1, 2014

They Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return from America's Wars — The Untold Story by Ann Jones. (Haymarket Books/Dispatch Books 2013), 191 pages. Members of the American armed forces are props. They wave from convertibles as Independence Day parades make their way down Main Street U.S.A. They are trotted out at football games to bless the proceedings as some ...

The Nationals Should Not Celebrate the Military

by Bart Frazier April 30, 2014

I really wish that the Washington Nationals would stop glorifying the American military. I love baseball and nothing beats going to Nationals Park to see a ballgame. But to integrate the nation’s military into the game detracts from the experience and degrades our culture. A baseball game is one of my favorite places to be. As a libertarian, ...

The Conservative Phony War

by Laurence M. Vance April 29, 2014

“There is something phony about this war,” said U.S. Sen. William Borah (R-Idaho) about the relative lack of military action by the Allies during the early months of World War II after Germany invaded Poland. “You would think that Britain and France would do what they are going to do now while Germany and Russia are still busy in ...

The Libertarian Angle: Cliven Bundy and Gun Control

by Future of Freedom Foundation April 28, 2014

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and FFF vice president Sheldon Richman discuss the gun control and events at the Cliven Bundy ranch. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast https://libertarianangle.libsyn.com/.

TGIF: What Should Libertarians Do?

by Sheldon Richman April 25, 2014

If the libertarian movement is to be the vehicle — actually, collection of vehicles — for the advancement of liberty, then libertarians need to master the art of persuasion. That’s hardly news, but it’s easily forgotten. I start from the assumption that we don’t want merely to feel good by making hard-core libertarian declarations about abolishing this or that government ...

Obama Plays with Fire in Ukraine

by Sheldon Richman April 23, 2014

“The U.S. is sending about 600 ground troops to Eastern Europe ... to ‘reassure’ allies there as Washington resumes its campaign of pressure on Russia over the Ukraine standoff.” — POLITICO How many American parents would proudly send their sons and daughters off to kill or be killed in Slovyansk or Donetsk?  How many young men and women ...

The Libertarian Angle: Ukraine

by Future of Freedom Foundation April 21, 2014

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and FFF vice president Sheldon Richman discuss the recent events in Ukraine. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast https://libertarianangle.libsyn.com/.

TGIF: What Social Animals Owe to Each Other

by Sheldon Richman April 18, 2014

If I were compelled to summarize the libertarian philosophy’s distinguishing feature while standing on one foot, I’d say the following: Every person owes it to all other persons not to aggress against them. This is known as the nonaggression principle, or NAP. What is the nature of this obligation? The first thing to notice is that it is unchosen. I never ...

FFF Webinar: Don’t Rock the Vote (video)

by Sheldon Richman April 17, 2014

On April 16, 2014, FFF vice president and editor Sheldon Richman hosted a free, interactive online webinar entitled “Don't Rock the Vote.” This was an interactive experience with Sheldon and was limited to 24 participants.  

The Ayatollahs’ Overlooked Anti-WMD Fatwas

by Sheldon Richman April 16, 2014

When the Obama administration refused to grant a visa to Iran’s designated ambassador to the United Nations, Hamid Aboutalebi, it was continuing a long-running hostile U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic. After the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, a group of Iranians held 52 Americans hostage in the former U.S. embassy for more than a year. Aboutalebi served as ...

Does Intellectual Property Defy Human Nature?

by Joseph S. Diedrich April 15, 2014

A music-composition professor of mine once lamented that without copyright protection, Western civilization would cease to exist. Most of us take intellectual property (IP) for granted, assuming it is ethically and economically necessary. We’ve become so blasé about IP that heavy-handed FBI warnings and billion-dollar lawsuits don’t faze us in the slightest. Yet despite the unquestioned consensus, intellectual property ...