Daily Articles

They Don’t Mean Well

by Sheldon Richman January 15, 2014

Americans have a strange need to believe that their “leaders” mean well. Nowhere is this more true than in foreign policy. Even when the horror of some government operation is revealed (usually after being kept from the American people), solemn pundits and elder statesmen will drone on about unintended consequences and the fog of war, while admonishing against “pointless” ...

The Libertarian Angle: The Failure of the War on Poverty

by Future of Freedom Foundation January 13, 2014

Jacob Hornberger and Sheldon Richman discuss the government's 50-year war on poverty. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly.

TGIF: Intellectual Property Fosters Corporate Concentration

by Sheldon Richman January 10, 2014

The modern libertarian case against so-called intellectual property (IP) has been building steadily since the late 1980s, when I first encountered it. Since then, an impressive volume of work has been produced from many perspectives: economics, political economy, sociology, moral and political philosophy, history, and no doubt more. It is indeed a case to be reckoned with. ...

El Mal del Estado de la Seguridad Nacional, Parte 1

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 9, 2014

The following is a Spanish translation of “The Evil of the National Security State” by Jacob G. Hornberger. The translation was done for FFF on a complimentary basis by a FFF supporter in Spain. Please share it with your Spanish-speaking friends.   Parte 1 | Parte 2 | Parte 3 | Parte 4 | 

The Future of Food Stamps

by Laurence M. Vance January 8, 2014

“We Accept EBT” says the new large sign outside of a small, local food market near my house. Electronic Benefit Transfer or EBT is the system used by states to issue welfare benefits on a card that looks like a regular credit card. Aside from being convenient and efficient, an EBT card allows users to spend their welfare benefits ...

Deliver Us from Evil in Egypt

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 7, 2014

Every Sunday millions of American Christians go to church, where they recite the Lord’s Prayer, which includes the following plea to God: “Deliver us from evil.” I wonder how many of them think about their own government’s support of evil in Egypt when they say that prayer. Evil is really the only way to describe Egypt’s military dictatorship. It’s not ...

U.S. Foreign Policy Is a Shambles

by Sheldon Richman January 7, 2014

With al-Qaeda affiliates wreaking havoc in Iraq, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham seem to lament that no U.S. troops are on the scene to get in on the action. “The Administration must recognize the failure of its policies in the Middle East and change course,” McCain and Graham said. Change course? Do they want to send troops back ...

The Libertarian Angle: The Failure of Foreign Interventionism

by Future of Freedom Foundation January 6, 2014

Jacob Hornberger and Sheldon Richman discuss U.S. foreign policy. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly.

TGIF: Dump the Contraception Mandate and All the Rest

by Sheldon Richman January 3, 2014

“Nowadays to be intelligible is to be found out.” —Oscar Wilde In the wacky world of American politics, if you as an employer have a religious objection to paying for your employees’ contraceptives, you are the one contemptuous of religious freedom. As the New York Times editorial board lectured a judge who thinks otherwise, “the threat to religious liberty comes ...

Biting the Cultural Imperialism that Feeds You

by Wendy McElroy January 3, 2014

On November 21, the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA) was introduced in Congress for the fourth time since 2007. I-VAWA seeks to embed the prevention of gender violence and the empowerment of women and girls into American foreign policy. In 2010, while serving as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton declared such global empowerment to be a “central ...

Let’s Make 2014 the Year of Freedom for Low-Wage Workers

by Sheldon Richman January 2, 2014

The federal budget deficit was big in 2013, but not as big as the freedom deficit. We should all resolve to make 2014 the year that we secure our freedom from government, the biggest threat we face. We can start with freedom for low-wage workers. Hundreds of occupations are closed shut unless one has a license. To get the license, one ...

Two Brothers in Search of Monsters to Destroy

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2014

In celebration of the Fourth of July, 1821, John Quincy Adams delivered a speech before Congress that is famously titled, “In Search of Monsters to Destroy.” Adams used the occasion to describe the foreign policy of the United States: Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her ...