Daily Articles

Washington’s Budget Con Game

by Sheldon Richman December 10, 2012

If the “fiscal cliff” controversy isn’t enough to convince you this government is one big fraud, what will it take? The budget mess was delivered to us by the same people who every step of the way claimed to be acting in our best interest. Let that sink in. Every president and every member of Congress assured us that ...

Tax-Raising Insanity

by Scott McPherson December 10, 2012

It’s an overused expression, but the fact remains that doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results truly is insanity. The amount of trust people put in “public servants” is one such example. Even worse is the public’s continued willingness to grant politicians and bureaucrats the means by which our own impoverishment is furthered. I’m speaking ...

The Goal Is Freedom: Individualist Collectivism

by Sheldon Richman December 7, 2012

Is the free market an individualist or collectivist social arrangement? Don’t answer too quickly. It’s a trick question. Most people — free-market friend and free-market foe alike — will answer “individualist.” And that makes perfect sense. The free market describes a political/legal environment in which individuals are at liberty to engage in any peaceful activity, with only force and fraud ...

Will Guantánamo Ever Be Closed?

by Andy Worthington December 7, 2012

Nearly eleven years after the Bush administration’s “war on terror” prison opened on the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, its much-mooted closure seems as remote as ever. Last week, there were encouraging noises, when Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, presented a report prepared by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) looking ...

The Gun Made Him Do It

by Benedict D. LaRosa December 7, 2012

During the 1970s, comedian Flip Wilson would excuse the bad behavior of a character he portrayed with the retort, “The devil made me do it!” We laughed at his attempt to shift responsibility for his actions because it was ridiculous. Yet, according to NBC sports announcer Bob Costas, guns cause crime! Costas, in halftime remarks during the December 2, 2012, ...

The Calling: The Private and the Public

by Steven Horwitz December 6, 2012

I am thrilled that I am able to bring “The Calling” to a new home here at The Future of Freedom Foundation, and equally happy to have my friend Sheldon Richman once again as its editor. For this first column in its new home, I want to look at another example of one of my favorite concerns for modern ...

The Conservative Blind Spot

by Laurence M. Vance December 5, 2012

It was just a few months ago that conservatives came to the defense of the Christian-owned Chick-fil-A restaurant chain after its president, Dan Cathy, said the company was “guilty as charged” in its opposition to same-sex marriage. Now it is the Christian-owned Hobby Lobby Stores and its fight against Obamacare. Oklahoma-based Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., from its humble beginnings in ...

Was the “Good War” Really Good?

by Tim Kelly December 5, 2012

The Second World War is often called “the good war.” But was it? After all, this “good war” brought mass destruction; death to tens of millions of men, women, and children; and enormous suffering to many more. How can such a horrible event be called “good?” Well, that description comes from the war’s popular portrayal as a necessary Manichean struggle between ...

God versus Government

by Wendy McElroy December 4, 2012

Freedom of religion is the most powerful constitutional protection left in America. It is on a collision course with the contraception mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The mandate requires employers with more than 50 workers to provide health plans that include contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs. Many employers object to paying for practices prohibited by their ...

The Jacob Hornberger Show: December 2, 2012 (video)

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 4, 2012

Don’t Trust Your Safety to Fascists

by Scott McPherson December 3, 2012

The car fascists are at it again. Several technologies have been invented over the last decade that can help prevent vehicle collisions. A story in the Boston Globe reports that among these are “lane-departure warning, forward-collision warning, adaptive cruise control, automatic breaking, and electronic stability control.” Great news, right? The wonders of the market never cease. And, according to ...

Clinton’s Legacy, Part 1: The Financial and Housing Meltdown

by Sheldon Richman December 1, 2012

Part 1 | Part 2 Bill Clinton leads a charmed life. The former president is treated like a respected elder statesman whose tenure in office was so good that even some Republicans look back fondly on the years 1993–2001. On the surface the record indeed looks good. The 1990s were a period of economic growth, and the central ...