Daily Articles

The Libertarian Angle Live at the 2014 ISFLC (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation March 3, 2014

"The Libertarian Angle Live" with Jacob Hornberger and Sheldon Richman was presented by The Future of Freedom Foundation February 15, 2014 at the 2014 International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington D.C. Robert Higgs was scheduled to be a special guest on this panel, but weather delayed his flight and he was unfortunately unable to participate.

Wage War on Poverty with Libertarianism

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2014

Almost 50 years ago Lyndon Johnson declared a “war on poverty.” Ever since then, the federal government, through a wide array of welfare-state programs and regulatory programs, has waged its war, aiming to end poverty or at least to greatly alleviate it. After a half-century of poverty warfare, has the war been won? Not according to Democrats. They say that ...

The Pope Dabbles in Economics

by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2014

Pope Francis wrote in his recent apostolic exhortation, “Just as the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say ‘thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality.” He’s right — but not in the way he intends. Before I elaborate, let’s look ...

Freedom versus Medals of Freedom

by James Bovard March 1, 2014

Though proximity to power is its own reward, rulers have long recognized the benefit of distributing trinkets to potential sycophants. From medieval times onwards, the English king was seen as the “fount of all honors.” The British government created endless ribbons, orders, and titles to attach individuals to the crown. Cash was sometimes necessary to clinch the allegiance. Samuel ...

The EU Threat to Liberty

by Philip Vander Elst March 1, 2014

“Each year the takes and spends more of our money without EU auditors being able to reliably confirm where much of this money has actually gone. The number of EU bureaucrats rises ever upwards. Ever more bureaucrats seem inevitably to lead to ever more rules and regulations, allowing the EU to expand its influence to almost every ...

Money and the Constitution

by George Leef March 1, 2014

Constitutional Money: A Review of the Supreme Court’s Monetary Decisions by Richard H. Timberlake (Cambridge University Press and Cato Institute 2013), 257 pages. Most Americans would be surprised to learn that the Federal Reserve Notes in their wallets and the balances in their various accounts are not constitutional money. Yes, what they have is money, but not the kind ...

Lincoln-Worship Overlays the Corporatist Agenda

by Kevin Carson March 1, 2014

Lincoln Unbound: How an Ambitious Young Railsplitter Saved the American Dream — and How We Can Do It Again by Rich Lowry (HarperCollins 2013), 390 pages. One of the central themes in James Scott’s Seeing Like a State is the ideology he calls “authoritarian high modernism”: It is best conceived as a strong (one might even say muscle-bound) version of ...

Crisis, Leviathan, and the National Security State (video)

by Robert Higgs February 28, 2014

"Crisis, Leviathan, and the National Security State" by Robert Higgs was a speech sponsored by The Future of Freedom Foundation February 15, 2014 at the 2014 International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington D.C.

TGIF: We Can Oppose Bigotry without the Politicians

by Sheldon Richman February 28, 2014

Portuguese Should the government coercively sanction business owners who, out of apparent religious conviction, refuse to serve particular customers? While such behavior is repugnant, the refusal to serve someone because of his or her race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation is nevertheless an exercise of self-ownership and freedom of nonassociation. It is both nonviolent and nonviolative of other ...

Is the National Security Agency Out of Control? (video)

by Jameel Jaffer February 27, 2014

"Is the National Security Agency Out of Control?" by Jameel Jaffer was a speech sponsored by The Future of Freedom Foundation February 15, 2014 at the 2014 International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington D.C.

The Dulles Brothers and America’s Century of Regime Change (video)

by Stephen Kinzer February 26, 2014

"The Dulles Brothers and America's Century of Regime Change" by Stephen Kinzer was a speech sponsored by The Future of Freedom Foundation February 15, 2014 at the 2014 International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington D.C.

Obama Should Steer Clear of Ukraine

by Sheldon Richman February 26, 2014

President Obama insists he does not regard the conflict in Ukraine “as some Cold War chessboard in which we are in competition with Russia.” He’d be more credible if he were not following his predecessors in acting as though the Cold War still exists. Although the Soviet empire, including its Warsaw Pact alliance, disbanded beginning in 1989, Republican and ...