Daily Articles

The One Good Thing That Happened During Obama’s First Term

by Laurence M. Vance January 23, 2013

It has been said that every president makes you nostalgic for his predecessor. This has been true since John Adams signed into law the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798. But since the election of Barack Obama in 2008, I think I have heard it said more often than usual. Although I am not the least bit nostalgic for any ...

Jail Time for Hurting Someone’s Feelings?

by Scott McPherson January 22, 2013

It may fairly be said that there is a special place in hell for anyone who makes fun of a disabled person. Should there also be a place for him in jail? Apparently so. On November 28 a municipal judge in Canton, Ohio, sentenced William Bailey to 30 days in jail after Bailey pleaded no contest to criminal charges of disorderly ...

Three Reasons Why the Charges against Bradley Manning Should be Dropped

by Tim Kelly January 22, 2013

A military judge has rejected a request to dismiss all charges against U.S. soldier Bradley Manning, who stands accused of passing secret material to the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks. Judge Denise Lind said there was no prosecutorial misconduct, ruling out the dropping of all 22 counts against Manning. The judge, however, did acknowledge Manning’s mistreatment at the hands of the U.S. ...

Did the Government Drive Aaron Swartz to Suicide?

by Sheldon Richman January 21, 2013

In Les Misérables, an obsessed French police officer, Javert, relentlessly pursues Jean Valjean, a man who represents no danger to society but whose minor infraction brought down the wrath of the brutal government, including 19 years of hard labor and lifetime parole. America, too, has its Javerts. Zealous and ruthless federal prosecutors have the power to torment people for trivial ...

The Tension within American Exceptionalism

by Wendy McElroy January 21, 2013

The concept of American exceptionalism is a key foundation of American freedom and militarism, individualism and imperialism. The meaning of the term seems to be elastic, changing through time and depending upon the purpose of each speaker. It has suffered a fate similar to the word “liberalism” in drifting far from its historical roots. What is American exceptionalism? One of the ...

TGIF: What’s Need Got to Do with It?

by Sheldon Richman January 18, 2013

Recent public-policy debates have taken an ominous turn. Proponents of new government impositions increasingly justify their proposals by asserting that the individuals who would be adversely affected should not complain because they do not need whatever the government action would deny them. We've heard this during debates over both higher taxes on upper-income people and gun control. Those favoring higher ...

The Calling: The Importance of Assuming Self-Interested Politicians

by Steven Horwitz January 17, 2013

With the death last week of Nobel laureate economist James Buchanan, the freedom movement has lost one of its most important thinkers. Unfortunately, Buchanan’s work often gets boiled down to the seemingly trivial observation that politicians are self-interested. Put that way, it’s too easy for people to respond, “Everyone knows that!” Although it’s true that the assumption of self-interested politicians ...

Pork-Barrel Spending: The History of Lipsticking Pigs

by Wendy McElroy January 17, 2013

A December 15, 2012, headline in the New York Post declared, “Obama Sandy Aid Bill Filled with Holiday Goodies Unrelated to Storm Damage.” The announced purpose of the $60.4 billion bill was to provide disaster aid to East Coast individuals and communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy. Instead, the bill was so laden with unrelated and politically inspired handouts ...

Republicans versus the Constitution

by Laurence M. Vance January 16, 2013

The new Congress, the nation’s 113th, was officially sworn in at 2:09 p.m. on January 4. The Republicans lost two seats in the Senate, giving the Democrats an even larger majority of 53 to 45 (plus the two Independents, who will caucus with the Democrats), and 7 in the House, where they hold a smaller majority than before of ...

The Hagel Brouhaha

by Sheldon Richman January 14, 2013

Washington is going through one of its regular melodramas with President Obama’s nomination of former senator Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense. (In light of America’s foreign policy, this is a title worthy of George Orwell; the position should be renamed the “secretary of war.”) To Hagel’s credit, he has the proper enemies on the right. Neoconservative advocates of perpetual ...

Let Them Make Cake

by Scott McPherson January 14, 2013

In times gone by the ability of individuals to improve their lives and the lives of those around them depended on largesse, often conferred by royalty. Patents and monopolies were the product of royal favor, and there were prohibitions against anyone aside from the chosen few entering into certain trades. Improving one’s standard of living was not a matter ...

The Jacob Hornberger Show: January 13, 2013 (video)

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 14, 2013