Daily Articles

Leviathan and Big-Government Conservatism

by George Leef August 1, 2007

Leviathan on the Right: How Big Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution by Michael D. Tanner (Cato Institute: 2007); 321 pages; $22.95. My first experience in politics was as a teenager during the 1964 campaign pitting Lyndon Johnson and his band of tax-and-spend-crazy Democrats against Barry Goldwater and his Republican compatriots. ...

Immigration Tyranny

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 20, 2007

A popular argument among advocates of immigration controls is that a nation has a “right” to control its borders. The argument is based on the supposed “right” of the U.S. government to station gendarmes along its international borders, including on privately owned land, to prevent people from coming into ...

Yes to Recriminations against Iraq Policymakers

by Sheldon Richman July 18, 2007

If, as President Bush claims, Iraq is a sovereign country and its government represents the people, then why are American officials ordering the parliament to cancel its August vacation and insisting that the al-Maliki government meet certain “benchmarks”? Is it sovereign or not? By what authority does the U.S. government ...

No Taxation without Representation in Court!

by Sheldon Richman July 4, 2007

The July 4th holiday readily brings to mind the phrase “no taxation without representation.” A major reason for the Americans’ wish to be independent from the British empire was their belief that people should have a say in the tax policies imposed on them. Well, we got representation — and a ...

What Freedoms Are Americans Celebrating Today?

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 4, 2007

The Fourth of July celebrations will undoubtedly bring forth pronouncements that U.S. troops in Iraq are defending the freedoms expressed in the Declaration of Independence. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, most of the “freedoms” that Americans will be celebrating today are antithetical to the genuine ...

What Do We Celebrate on the Fourth of July?

by Tibor R. Machan July 4, 2007

One way to appreciate the meaning of the Fourth of July is to reflect on what nearly every one of the Republican and Democratic presidential hopefuls focuses on in his or her interviews and speeches. Apart from Texas Representative Ron Paul, who is openly libertarian while running as a Republican, all the rest are embarking upon the standard Santa ...

The War on Afghanistan Was Wrong, Too

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 2007

While most Americans have turned against the Iraq War, many of them still think that the war on Afghanistan was morally and legally justified. Their rationale is that the United States was simply defending itself by attacking Afghanistan and retaliating against those who had conspired to commit the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Of course, the last thing on people’s mind ...

The Good and Bad News about the Bush Wars

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 2007

There’s good and bad news about the two American-initiated wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The good news is the American people are largely disengaged from them. The bad news is the American people are largely disengaged from them. How can the same piece of news be both good and bad? Let’s see. New York Times foreign-affairs columnist Thomas Friedman laments that most Americans ...

How Bogus Fears Bought Bush Four More Years

by James Bovard July 1, 2007

Is a president entitled to frighten voters into submission to perpetuate his power over them? While many people are catching on to Bush’s deceits on Iraq, most Americans have forgotten the scams of his reelection campaign. George W. Bush was reelected in large part because he boosted the number of Americans frightened of terrorism during 2004. In October 2001, 73 ...

An Imperial Presidency, Part 2

by Gregory Bresiger July 1, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 Republicans and Democrats have, at times, criticized the imperial presidency. Both are, to a certain extent, correct. Both are also hypocritical. It isn’t only politics that has driven these royal presidents. It is a lust for American power in the world — the desire to be “great” or to lead a crusade for democracy ...

The Constitution and Foreign Policy

by Bart Frazier July 1, 2007

Protecting the country from invasion and securing individual rights are two of the vital functions of the federal government. At the same time the government is the greatest threat to our freedom. This was the subject of FFF’s June conference, “Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties.” An underlying theme, touched on by every ...

The Diagnosis of a Dying Republic, Part 2

by Anthony Gregory July 1, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic by Chalmers Johnson (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2006), 368 pages; $26. The full extent of the American Empire is shown in great clarity throughout Nemesis. In terms of the imperial, hyperpowerful executive branch, perhaps nothing better exemplifies the problem than the CIA, or “the ...