Daily Articles

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 Shortly before the Christmas holidays and oh so quietly, the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) rescinded a tax break that dated back to 1993.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.

One War, Many Names

by Rich Schwartzman February 26, 2013

Maybe one of my libertarian fantasies will come true. Maybe. I can only hope. About 20 years ago, while having lunch with some friends, a casual acquaintance joined us at our table. My friends were members of the Delaware Libertarian Party, and the acquaintance was a self-described “Republican gun nut.” The restaurant was on a college campus and filled with mostly ...

The War on Terrorism, the Constitution, and Civil Liberties (Video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation February 25, 2013

TGIF: What Support for the Minimum Wage Reveals

by Sheldon Richman February 22, 2013

Economic law is not suppressed by legislated law. — Armen Alchian Few people really understand what the great economist Armen Alchian, who died the other day at age 98, put so plainly. Considering that in the recent past over a quarter of polled economists said they saw no harm in raising the minimum wage, ...

America’s Disappeared

by Andy Worthington February 22, 2013

Injustices do not become any less unjust the longer they are unaddressed; and when it comes to the “war on terror” launched by George W. Bush following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, those injustices continue to fester and to poison America's soul. One of those injustices is Guantánamo, where 166 men are still imprisoned, even though

An Oracle of Tyranny

by Bruce Fein February 22, 2013

Charles Krauthammer’s defense in the Washington Post (Feb. 15, 2013) of President Obama’s limitless power to kill any living thing on the planet in the name of opposing terrorism may carry some charms as a catechism. But — to paraphrase an aspersion cast on the Charge of the Light Brigade — it is not law. Krauthammer rhetorically asks, ...

The Calling: I Have Seen the Future of Freedom

by Steven Horwitz February 21, 2013

Even before I started writing regularly for The Future of Freedom Foundation, I had thought a lot about the future of freedom and how those of us who care deeply about liberty in all its dimensions are going to bring about the world we want to see. For the over 30 years I’ve been involved in the libertarian movement, ...