Right-to-Work Laws and the Modern Classical-Liberal Tradition by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2013 It’s not widely known, but an earlier generation of libertarians condemned so-called right-to-work laws as anti-market. For example, Milton Friedman, in Capitalism and Freedom, compared right-to-work to anti-discrimination laws. Ayn Rand also opposed right-to-work laws. The Spring 1966 issue of the libertarian student-run journal New Individualist Review carried Prof. Hirschel Kasper’s article “What’s Wrong with Right-to-Work Laws.” NIR was ...
Police Tyranny, Slightly Curbed by James Bovard March 1, 2013 On the night of March 3, 2010, University of Maryland students spilled out onto a main street in College Park, Maryland, to celebrate a victory by the school’s basketball team. Prince George’s County police had been primed for the event and waited nearby, dressed in riot gear and ready for action. John McKenna, a 21-year-old student, skipped up toward a ...
The Democratic Way of Killing: The President as Judge, Jury, and Executioner by Doug Bandow March 1, 2013 One wonders whether Americans felt pride when they discovered that, according to the New York Times, their president was “a student of writings on war by Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.” As a result, Barack Oba-ma believes that “he should take moral responsibility” for U.S. policy, including killing anyone and everyone seen as a terrorist threat to the United States. ...
Gun Control Is Violence by Anthony Gregory March 1, 2013 Mohandas Gandhi, the greatest pacifist of the 20th century, is widely quoted as having said, “Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look back upon the Act depriving the whole nation of arms as the blackest.” Some have struggled to reconcile his pacifism with an opposition to disarmament. But there really is nothing to reconcile ...
Foreign Aid: The Seen and the Unseen by Michael Tennant March 1, 2013 Practically everyone in American politics today claims to favor cutting the federal deficit in part by reducing “waste, fraud, and abuse.” At the same time, however, every item in the budget lines someone’s pockets, and that someone can always be counted on to argue — either directly or, more often, through a seemingly disinterested surrogate — that his plainly ...
Book Review: The Crisis Ahead by George Leef March 1, 2013 The Real Crash: America’s Coming Bankruptcy — How to Save Yourself and Your Country by Peter D. Schiff (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2012), 352 pages. As I write this review, the presidential campaign of 2012 has recently (and mercifully!) come to its end. Neither major-party candidate ever addressed the most salient issue facing the nation, namely, the fact ...
The Federal War on Hemp by Laurence M. Vance February 28, 2013 It is one of the earliest-known domesticated plants. It is resistant to saltwater. It doesn’t require pesticides or harsh fertilizers. For hundreds of years all the major European maritime powers needed it to maintain their fleets. Its fiber is suitable for making clothes, paper, building material, and insulation. It can be turned into biofuel and converted to biomass. Mechanical ...
Civil Liberties and the Free Society (Video) by Jacob G. Hornberger February 28, 2013 On February 17, 2013, Jacob Hornberger spoke on behalf of Young Americans for Liberty at the International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington, D.C.
The Minimum Wage Harms the Most Vulnerable by Sheldon Richman February 27, 2013 Crocodile tears are flowing again for low-income people. In his State of the Union address, President Obama proposed raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 an hour. A debate is shaping up between those who support the proposal and those who favor keeping the wage where it is today. But there are good grounds — for the sake ...
The Constitutional Psychology of the American Empire (video) by Bruce Fein February 27, 2013 On February 17, 2013, Bruce Fein spoke on behalf of Young Americans for Liberty at the International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington, D.C.
California: Remember the Taxes You Didn’t Owe? Surprise! by Wendy McElroy February 27, 2013 California cannot chase business away fast enough, it seems: high taxes, cap-and-trade, voracious unions, bankrupt cities, and now retroactive taxation. Shortly before the Christmas holidays and oh so quietly, the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) rescinded a tax break that dated back to 1993. The Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) exclusion allowed small businesses and investors who met certain conditions ...
The Libertarian Angle (video) by Future of Freedom Foundation February 26, 2013 The Libertarian Angle features FFF vice president Sheldon Richman and president Jacob Hornberger. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly.