Daily Articles

The Peaceful Transfer of Violent Power

by Sheldon Richman January 19, 2009

At the risk of raining on the parade, I suggest that the inaugural festivities are not what they appear. Barack Obama says the pomp and circumstance are not about him but are a celebration of democracy. “For the forty-third time, we will execute the peaceful transfer of power from one president to the next,” ...

Stimulating Consumption Won’t Help Economy

by Sheldon Richman January 16, 2009

Many politicians, economists, and pundits — under the influence of Keynesian “economics” — worry that Barack Obama’s stimulus package won’t be stimulative enough because too much of the money might go to people who won’t spend it. Typical is this recent editorial paragraph from the New York Times about the tax-cut component ...

No End in Sight for the “Enemy Combatants” of Guantánamo

by Andy Worthington January 12, 2009

On the seventh anniversary of the opening of the “war on terror” prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba (on January 11, 2002), this is perhaps a rather bleak title, given that Barack Obama has pledged to close the prison, but recent events in a U.S. District Court — largely overlooked in the mainstream media — have demonstrated how difficult ...

Government Can’t Really Stimulate the Economy

by Sheldon Richman January 9, 2009

The money sluices are about to open wide on Capitol Hill. With a new Congress convened and a new president about to take office, we are likely to see record-shattering government expenditures. All inhibitions about deficit spending, as weak as they have been in recent years, are now dissolved. The ...

Christianity and War (video)

by Laurence M. Vance January 9, 2009

On June 8, 2008, Laurence Vance gave the following Speech at FFF’s conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.

Gun-Proof Kids

by Scott McPherson January 7, 2009

Several years ago I read Gun-Proof Your Children by Massad Ayoob, an excellent short primer on introducing children to firearms and how best to maintain a safe household that has both children and guns in it. Ayoob’s premise is simple: the best way to protect your child from ...

A New Year Message to Barack Obama: Free the Guantánamo Uighurs

by Andy Worthington January 5, 2009

The omens have never been good for the 17 Uighurs in Guantánamo, even though they have justice on their side. Refugees from Chinese oppression who had sought shelter in Afghanistan, only to be captured and sold to U.S. forces as “terror suspects”, the 17 men were the first Guantánamo prisoners to be cleared of being “enemy combatants,” after an ...

The Economics of War (video)

by David R. Henderson January 2, 2009

On June 8, 2008, David Henderson gave the following Speech at FFF’s conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety. David R. Henderson is an associate professor of economics at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California and a Research Fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. From 1982 ...

The Socialist Bailout of Wall Street, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2009

Part 1 | Part 2 During the recent presidential race, Republican John McCain accused Democrat Barack Obama of being a socialist, owing to Obama’s belief in using the federal government to “spread the wealth.” Obama, for his part, expressed surprise at being accused of being a socialist. Apparently, he’s always believed that he’s a strong supporter of America’s “free-enterprise” ...

What Greenspan Missed

by Sheldon Richman January 1, 2009

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan made headlines around the world with this admission: “hose of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders’ equity (myself especially) are in a state of shocked disbelief. Such counterparty surveillance is a central pillar of our financial ...

The Campaign-Reform Crime, Part 1

by James Bovard January 1, 2009

Part 1 | Part 2 In 2002, Congress passed and George Bush signed the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). The McCain-Feingold Act was supposed to create an era of clean politics — uncorrupt, untainted, and far loftier than what Americans had experienced in prior decades. If the 2008 election proved anything, it revealed that politicians cannot be trusted ...

Regime Change: Promise and Peril, Part 2

by Stephen Kinzer January 1, 2009

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 This article is a transcript of Stephen Kinzer’s speech given on June 6, 2008, at The Future of Freedom Foundation’s conference “Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties.” Let’s look at the case of Cuba. It’s another case of American intervention gone terribly wrong. When the United States ...