Daily Articles

Private Roads Work

by Bart Frazier September 1, 2008

The issue of private roads stymies those who might otherwise be diehard libertarians. They can see how abolishing public education makes for better citizens and respects parental rights. They understand that Medicare, Social Security, and other government transfer programs are immoral abominations. They might even be so enlightened as to think that people should be ...

Habeas Corpus: The Bulwark of Our Liberties

by U.S. Supreme Court September 1, 2008

...We begin with a brief account of the history and origins of the writ. Our account proceeds from two propositions. First, protection for the privilege of habeas corpus was one of the few safeguards of liberty specified in a Constitution that, at the outset, had no Bill of Rights. In the system conceived by the Framers the writ had ...

Farewell to Privacy

by Ridgway K. Foley Jr. September 1, 2008

States act predictably. An obscure professional official mutters an apparently innocuous statement to a small and equally obscure audience during a holiday period. In this fashion, states pretend full disclosure while simultaneously cloaking a forthcoming policy from critical insight and thoughtful appraisal. Consider the chilling utterance of one Donald Kerr during the Veterans Day 2007 weekend. Kerr, the principal deputy ...

Sacrificing Liberty for Safety

by George Leef September 1, 2008

Neither Liberty Nor Safety by Robert Higgs (Independent Institute, 2007); 202 pages. Many readers will immediately recognize that the title of this book comes from one of Benjamin Franklin’s many political insights: “Those who would sacrifice essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Author ...

Well, That’s Politics

by Sheldon Richman August 29, 2008

So Barack Obama, the man who promises to reform Washington, has picked as his running mate someone who has been a fixture of the U.S. Senate nearly his entire adult life. Sen. Joseph Biden of course had no trouble accepting the honor. Insider, outsider hes whatever youre looking for. Well, thats politics. When Biden was running for president, he said of ...

What about the Ossetians?

by Sheldon Richman August 25, 2008

If Russia exited Georgia — as it should — and the Bush administration dropped its wish to expand NATO to Russia’s border — as it should — there would still be an issue to be dealt with: the secessionist ambitions of the majority in South Ossetia — the Georgian military response to ...

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 ...