Daily Articles

Don’t Look for Grown-Ups in Government

by Sheldon Richman October 16, 2013

With the government partially closed for over two weeks now and the debt-ceiling deadline upon us, the pundits are demanding that the “grown-ups in the room” finally put a stop to the childish goings-on in Washington. That would be nice — except there are no grown-ups in the room. If you seek evidence, just look around. Politicians, from President Barack ...

From Articles of Confederation to Constitution (video)

by Sheldon Richman October 15, 2013

On September 17, 2013, FFF vice president and editor Sheldon Richman spoke at an event co-hosted by the University of Oklahoma Young Americans for Liberty and the Oklahoma University Students for a Stateless Society. Sheldon's talk was entitled "From Articles of Confederation to Constitution: Retreat for Liberty?"

The Libertarian Angle: Immigration and Open Borders

by Future of Freedom Foundation October 14, 2013

Jacob Hornberger and Sheldon Richman discuss the always contentious topic of immigration. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly.

TGIF: The Housing-Financial Meltdown Revisited

by Sheldon Richman October 11, 2013

Five years after the housing and financial meltdown, self-styled progressives are still peddling their pseudoexplanation: that it was largely the fault of the 1999 repeal of a provision of the New Deal–era Glass-Steagall Act, which mandated the separation of commercial and investment banking. This tale is favored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and others of her ilk, who hold the ...

Stop Demonizing Iran

by Sheldon Richman October 9, 2013

Not everyone wants the United States to improve relations with Iran. Some prefer war instead. Not because Iran is a threat to the American people, or the Israelis, but because a friendly Iran would no longer furnish the convenient enemy the hawks in the United States and Israel need. So, despite overtures from the new Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, ...

Sheldon Richman on Voice of the Cape (audio)

by Sheldon Richman October 8, 2013

On September 25, 2013, Sheldon Richman was a guest on Voice of the Cape Radio from Cape Town, South Africa to discuss the Kenyan massacre and Somalia. Audio of the interview is provided below in two parts. Listen to Part 1, then listen to Part 2.

The Libertarian Angle: What Shutdown?

by Future of Freedom Foundation October 7, 2013

Jacob Hornberger and Sheldon Richman discuss the government shutdown that is anything but. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly.

TGIF: Treating People Like Garbage

by Sheldon Richman October 4, 2013

The government “closed” this week. The quotation marks are meant to indicate that the worst parts of the government remain open at some level. It would be preferable to keep the monuments and national parks, like the Grand Canyon, going while closing the Pentagon, the State Department, the CIA, the NSA, ICE, FBI, ATF, and all related so-called national-security ...

The War State

by Michael Swanson October 4, 2013

Of course the most famous warning about the power of the military came from Dwight D. Eisenhower, who commanded the Allied forces in Europe during World War II and went on to serve as president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. On his last day in office, he gave a televised farewell address to the nation in ...

Starbucks, Gun Control, and Property Rights

by Laurence M. Vance October 3, 2013

The recent shooting at the Washington, D.C., Navy Yard has once again thrust the issue of gun control into the news. But it is recent events at the Starbucks Coffee Company that are more relevant to the specific issue of gun control and property rights. This past summer, Illinois became the last of the 50 states to allow the carrying ...

Can Iran Trust the United States?

by Sheldon Richman October 2, 2013

People ask whether the United States can trust Iran. The better question is whether Iran can trust the United States. Since 1979 the U.S. government has prosecuted a covert and proxy war against Iran. The objective has been regime change and installation of a government that will loyally serve U.S. state objectives. This war began after the popular overthrow of ...

Syria Remains a Target of the U.S. Empire

by Tim Kelly October 1, 2013

A Russian diplomatic initiative has forestalled U.S. military strikes against Syria. The U.S.-Russian-Syrian agreement would have Bashar al-Assad’s regime turn over its chemical-weapons to the UN Security Council so that they can be destroyed under international control. The deal was proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made an apparently off-the-cuff remark suggesting that ...