Daily Articles

Individualism, the Collectivists’ Nemesis

by Tibor R. Machan February 22, 2008

It is individualism that the American Founders elevated into political prominence and it is individualism that most politicians and governments, including Americas, find most annoying because it is the bulwark against arbitrary power. If, as the Declaration of Independence states, individual human beings have unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, no one may violate these rights. ...

InfraGard: An Unhealthy Government Alliance

by Gary D. Barnett February 22, 2008

There is an organization that is quietly and secretly becoming very large and powerful. The FBI started this partnership or alliance between the federal government and the private sector in 1996 in Cleveland with a few select people. After September 11, 2001, when the general population replaced their rationality with fear, this organization, called InfraGard, continued growing, and with ...

A Sure-Fire Argument on the Second Amendment

by Rick Lynch February 18, 2008

With the Supreme Court’s decision to examine the constitutionality of D.C.’s gun ban, the nation once again turns to an intense examination of the wording of the Second Amendment. One way to understand an amendment whose words have confused generations is to study its somewhat confusing text. But another way ...

Naiveté at Business Week

by Tibor R. Machan February 15, 2008

Why do some reporters never manage to become educated in the areas they cover? Consider, for example, a recent piece in Business Week, “A Food Fight over Calorie Counts” (2/11/08). The fight is supposed to be between public health officials and the restaurant industry. As to the latter, the report, ...

Going the Way of Zimbabwe and Venezuela?

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 11, 2008

The next time some conservative or neo-conservative tells you that inflation is a good thing for Americans because it makes “our” exports less expensive for foreigners, ask him why the citizens of Zimbabwe are having a difficult time making ends meet. In that country, inflation is estimated at more than 26,000 percent. If a little ...

Have a Heart

by Glenn Jacobs February 6, 2008

Since Barney Clark received the first Jarvik-7 artificial heart in 1982, more than 350 people have used the device, mostly as a temporary measure until they could receive a heart transplant. In addition to his totally artificial heart, Robert Jarvik, the inventor of the Jarvik-7, has developed a ventricular assist device (VAD), the Jarvik 2000, ...

The New Crime of Thinking

by Gary D. Barnett February 1, 2008

It looks like the term “thought police” just might take on a whole new and real meaning. This depends on what happens in the U.S. Senate after receiving House bill H.R. 1955: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. This act (now S-1959 — Senate version) is now being considered by Senate committees and, if passed by ...

The Enemy-Combatant Attack on Freedom, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2008

Part 1 | Part 2 Another revolutionary aspect of the enemy-combatant doctrine was how the discretionary power to treat suspected terrorists, including Americans, as enemy combatants was acquired by the president and the Pentagon. Despite the assumption of this monumental power by the executive branch, there never was a constitutional amendment authorizing it. Initially, there wasn’t even a law ...

Why They Hate Us

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 2008

What’s more obnoxious than a person who constantly whines about the real and imagined injustices committed against him while ignoring his own injustices against others? A country that does the same thing. One of the great myths accepted by the American people is that historically, the United States — more precisely, the ...

Warring as Lying Throughout American History

by James Bovard February 1, 2008

Americans are taught to expect their elected leaders to be relatively honest. But it wasn’t always like that. In the mid 1800s, people joked about political candidates who claimed to have been born in a log cabin that they built with their own hands. This jibe was spurred by William Henry Harrison’s false claim of a log-cabin birth in ...

Education: Free and Noncompulsory

by Scott McPherson February 1, 2008

“The transfer, by the parents, of so much of their own authority and responsibility to the schools is in most ways a cowardly and contemptible business.” — John Holt, What Do I Do Monday? Several times in the last few years, after I’ve written some criticism of the public-school system and called for a complete separation of school and state, ...

I Suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Part 5

by James Glaser February 1, 2008

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 Last month I wrote about the assertiveness training in the Tomah Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) program and how I thought it helped me. This month, it’s dreams and relaxation therapy. I am purposely saving the trauma group ...