Daily Articles

What Social Animals Owe Each Other

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 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 ...

How Early U.S. Trade Policy Spurred Wars and Injustice, Part 2

by James Bovard July 1, 2014

Part 1 | Part 2 In 1845 the Democrats took over the White House and began working for tariff reduction. Secretary of the Treasury Robert Walker issued a report in 1845 on the nature and effects of the tariff, observing, “At least two-thirds of the taxes imposed by the present tariff are paid, not into the treasury ...

Class Theory, Part 3: Libertarian Class Analysis Revisited

by Anthony Gregory July 1, 2014

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The Left has long dominated the basic idea of two classes in society — the common people and the power elite — each with its own, usually conflicting, interests. When the Left speaks that way, the Right tends to accuse it of “class warfare,” even though conservatives have ...

The Bundy Ranch Standoff: the Bad and the Ugly

by Kevin Carson July 1, 2014

The Bundy ranch saga has been the subject of heated good guy/bad guy framing by both mainstream liberals and mainstream conservatives, who differ only on which roles to assign to Bundy and the feds, respectively. But I can’t really see any good guys in this. The respective echo chambers for the two sides differ on whether the land in question ...

The Economics of Foreign Policy

by John Glaser July 1, 2014

Doing Bad by Doing Good: Why Humanitarian Action Fails by Christopher Coyne (Stanford Economics and Finance 2013), 272 pages. In the aftermath of the carnage wrought by World War II, Harry Truman committed America to humanitarian action. In his 1949 inaugural address, he pledged to “continue our programs for world economic recovery” and “embark on a bold new ...

The Libertarian Angle: World War I

by Future of Freedom Foundation June 30, 2014

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and FFF vice president Sheldon Richman discuss the hot topics of the day. This week: the centenary of World War I. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast.

TGIF: Smedley Butler and the Racket That Is War

by Sheldon Richman June 27, 2014

From 1898 to 1931, Smedley Darlington Butler was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps. By the time he retired he had achieved what was then the corps’s highest rank, major general, and by the time he died in 1940, at 58, he had more decorations, including two medals of honor, than any other Marine. During his years in ...

Distinctions without Differences

by Laurence M. Vance June 26, 2014

The stunning defeat of Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a Virginia primary election by political newcomer and professor at Randolph-Macon College, Dave Brat, has left political pundits scratching their heads. No primary challenger has ever ousted a sitting House Majority Leader since the position was created in 1899. Yet, the Sunday after his defeat, Cantor said ...

U.S.-Egyptian “Historic Partnership” Reeks with Hypocrisy

by Sheldon Richman June 25, 2014

Largely overshadowed by events in Iraq and Syria, the Obama administration is dropping its pretense at displeasure with the military junta in Egypt and restoring full support for the regime that so recently quashed the country’s faltering attempt at democracy. Secretary of State John Kerry, en route to troubled Baghdad, stopped in Cairo, where he announced that Washington would soon ...

The Libertarian Angle: The Roots of Middle East Chaos

by Future of Freedom Foundation June 23, 2014

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and FFF vice president Sheldon Richman discuss the hot topics of the day. This week: the downward spiral that is the Middle East. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast.

TGIF: The Middle East Harvests Bitter Imperialist Fruit

by Sheldon Richman June 20, 2014

The wall-to-wall coverage of the disintegration of Iraq ought to carry this credit: This bloodshed was made possible by the generosity of British and French imperialists. The stomach-wrenching violence in Iraq — not to mention the horrendous civil war in Syria, the chronic unrest in Palestine/Israel, and problems elsewhere in the Middle East — are direct consequences of the imperialist ...

The VA’s Unprecedented Attack on Whistleblowers

by Wendy McElroy June 19, 2014

The scandal over the wretched conditions and wait times at veteran’s hospitals as well as the falsification of records by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has the White House in full-scramble defense mode. President Obama risks losing the support of veterans, military personnel, and their families. A new report on the VA from early June this year depicts a ...