Daily Articles

Casual Talk of War

by Sheldon Richman August 13, 2007

The opponents of the Bush wars and the accompanying expansion of government power have been disappointed countless times before. Just the other day the Democrats in Congress acquiesced in the Bush administration’s heavy-handed bid for the power to conduct warrantless eavesdropping on American citizens and residents in the name of ...

Winning Is Losing

by Sheldon Richman August 10, 2007

It’s amazing what passes for news these days. Two Brookings Institution “liberals” who favored the invasion of Iraq before it occurred and have since led the war-cheerleading section are now getting attention for writing on the New York Times op-ed page that if the Bush administration stays the course, ...

War and Leviathan: The Trick that Works Every Time (video)

by Robert Higgs August 10, 2007

Robert Higgs on "War and Leviathan: The Trick That Works Every Time" at the Future of Freedom Foundation's Restoring the Republic, 2007.

Losing and Restoring the Republic

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2007

It is impossible to overstate the fundamental differences between the foreign-policy philosophy of our American ancestors and the foreign-policy mindset that guides our country today. The philosophy of our ancestors was nicely summed up in the Fourth of July address to Congress in 1821 by John Quincy Adams. In essence Adams said, There are lots of bad things all over ...

War Is a Government Program

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 2007

It is always amusing to hear conservatives complain — as they are complaining now and used to complain during the Vietnam War — that if it weren’t for the politicians, the generals could win America’s wars. Those with this mindset believe the politicians are always getting in the way by subordinating military considerations to — ugh! — political considerations. ...

Drunken-Driver Checkpoints: Every Driver Guilty

by James Bovard August 1, 2007

Tens of thousands of innocent Americans are stopped each month at police checkpoints that treat every driver as a criminal. These checkpoints, supposedly started to target drunk drivers, have expanded to give police more intrusive power over citizens in many areas. The demonization of alcohol is leading to a growing nullification of the constitutional rights of anyone suspected of drinking ...

Following a Couple Wannabes

by Bill Thompson August 1, 2007

In case you missed it, America has been at war in Iraq for four years, as of tomorrow . And despite more than 25,000 American casualties and a dwindling list of good reasons to stay, some modern-day Audie Murphys think those who make the common-sense suggestion to get our brave soldiers out of ...

Benjamin Ricketson Tucker, Part 1

by Wendy McElroy August 1, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 The first issue of the radical individualist periodical Liberty (1881–1908) opened with the words, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, these three: but the greatest of these is Liberty. Formerly the price of Liberty was eternal vigilance, but now it can be had for fifty cents a year. The publisher and author of those words, ...

How Grandma Got Legal

by Mae M. Ngai August 1, 2007

“Made in America — by immigrants” and “We too have a dream” read signs at the May 1 marches across the country. By invoking an American ideal, today’s newcomers are staking their claim as the latest generation of nation-builders. But their critics object to this appeal to history; they ...

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 ...