War in Georgia Shows U.S. Foreign Policy Is a Bust by Sheldon Richman August 15, 2008 The tragic events in the nation of Georgia show that U.S. foreign policy is a bust. In particular, NATO must go. This may seem counterintuitive, but this relic of the Cold War has nothing to contribute to peace. On the contrary, it is a destabilizing tool of America’s provocative imperial ...
Restoring the Republic Is More Important than Ever by Jacob G. Hornberger August 13, 2008 In 2007 and 2008 The Future of Freedom Foundation hosted two important conferences, “Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy & Civil Liberties.” The final collection of 45 speeches — delivered by a unique combination libertarians, conservatives, and liberals — is possibly the greatest collection of talks giving the libertarian case on ...
Obama World Tour 2008 by Michael Tennant August 11, 2008 Ten-year-old girls at a Hannah Montana concert had nothing on our news media as they took in Barack Obama’s July trip to benighted foreign lands. Obama World Tour 2008 T-shirts were, figuratively speaking, on the backs of practically everyone in his press entourage. This tour proved, we are led to ...
Pickens Plan Is Based on Ignorance by Sheldon Richman August 8, 2008 Can a person be a good businessman but a lousy economist? Yes. Take T. Boone Pickens, for example. Hes all over television touting his plan for wind power as a substitute for foreign oil, a plan that calls for massive government subsidies. This should immediately make us suspicious. If wind is so good, why does it need subsidies? In trying ...
Do We Still Need the Bill of Rights? by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2008 There are two important points to remember about the Bill of Rights. First, the Bill of Rights does not give any rights to the American people and, second, the Bill of Rights was intended to protect us from our own federal government. Those two points often shock ordinary Americans. Throughout their schooling, ...
How Can You Love a Country? by Sheldon Richman August 1, 2008 Why do people get upset when Barack Obama refuses to wear an American-flag lapel pin or Michelle Obama suggests that she hadn’t been proud of her country until recently? The Right, led by its talk-radio spokesmen, makes the biggest fuss about these things, but other people appeared bothered as well, and it may account for ...
Slandering America by Michael Tennant August 1, 2008 Much virtual ink has been spilled in the blogosphere over President Bushs assertion that criticism of the U.S. governments treatment of prisoners in the war on terrorism is tantamount to slander America an assertion he made in a lengthy June 15 interview with Adam Boulton of Britains Sky News. While condemnation of Bushs remark is certainly deserved, most of ...
Do Presidents Have the Right to Kill? by James Bovard August 1, 2008 Should the president of the United States be exempt from both American and international law? Few people would instinctively say yes. But, in actual practice, presidents of the United States have been legally untouchable for most of the past century for the foreign killings they ordered. Even when their orders resulted in the killing of vast numbers of innocent people, ...
Reaching Out to the Left, Part 2: The Issues by Anthony Gregory August 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 Communicating libertarian ideals to the Left can be a challenge, but it can also help bolster our own understanding of our principles. Often, libertarians try to appeal to the Left by emphasizing our areas of agreement, which are conventionally seen as mostly including personal liberties and war. But even when ...
Socialism and Medicine, Part 4 by William L. Anderson August 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 Obviously, the first fundamental of a free-market system in medical and health care would be the absence of coercion. This precept extends far beyond the question of whether or not people should be forced to purchase government “health insurance.” Indeed, the idea of free markets should ...
On the Limits of Government, Part 2 by Scott McPherson August 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 In 1776 the Continental Congress submitted to a “candid World” the “self-evident” truths that “all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness....” Government, the Declaration of Independence proclaimed, is merely the means to a noble end. ...
Global Warming, Central Planning, and the Free Market by Bart Frazier August 1, 2008 Global warming is a topic that can turn any gathering of friends into a shouting match quickly, and with good reason. If the direst predictions are true, our civilization is in for a rough ride down the road. But unfortunately, the debate over global warming has been framed in such a way that one of ...