Daily Articles

Misplaced Nostalgia

by Sheldon Richman November 17, 2006

Before we get too nostalgic about the foreign-policy prowess of the George H.W. Bush administration, we should remind ourselves of what happened from 1989 through 1992. I understand that, compared to the bunch running things now, nearly anyone would look good. But I sense almost a giddiness about the supposed ...

The Education Debate We’re Not Having

by Scott McPherson November 15, 2006

My adopted state of New Hampshire may be at a crossroads. The state supreme court has commanded the legislature to find a new way of funding public schools by next summer, or else the justices will impose a solution of their own. Many people here fear that a directive from ...

The Repudiation of Bush

by Sheldon Richman November 10, 2006

Power tends to corrupt, Lord Acton famously said. And absolute power corrupts absolutely. The voters apparently agreed. Its reasonable to conclude from the election results that most voters felt the Republicans had been in power too long. The hopeless war in Iraq, the culture of corruption and incompetence, the spending binge (which includes the war), the grating social conservatism, and ...

They Deserved to Lose

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 8, 2006

Having lost control over the U.S. House of Representatives and possibly also the U.S. Senate, Republicans have no one to blame but themselves. They deserved to lose. For years, Republicans have used libertarian rhetoric in their political campaigns. We favor freedom, free enterprise, limited government, and responsibility, Republican candidates have so often proclaimed. Were opposed to big government, they loved ...

The “Value” of Public Schooling

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2006

There are two major values of public schooling, from the perspective of government officials. One, this institution provides the means by which government officials can slowly but surely, over a period of 12 years, mold the mindsets of children into one of conformity and obedience to authority. Second, public ...

A Real Free Market Benefits Workers

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 2006

Hands are wringing over bleak reports that despite increased productivity, workers generally are losing ground: real median income — adjusted for government-caused inflation — is said to be falling. Meanwhile, corporate profits are skyrocketing, and the wealthiest are doing fine. In other words, the benefits of economic growth are said ...

The Bush Torture Memos

by James Bovard November 1, 2006

President Bush is proposing to medievalize the American legal code by permitting the use of coerced confessions in judicial proceedings. This is one of the most stunning proposals in U.S. political life since Franklin Roosevelt banned private ownership of gold in 1933. It is vital for Americans to understand the ...

Emergencies: The Breeding Ground of Tyranny

by William L. Anderson November 1, 2006

When the New York Times recently reported that the Bush administration was routinely tracking international and domestic financial transactions, the president said he was doing these things under emergency powers granted to him by Congress. While many commentators have openly questioned the legality of Bush’s actions, there are deeper questions to be asked than simply “Is this legal?” Indeed, as ...

U.S. Immigration Debate Is a Road Well Traveled

by Michael Powell November 1, 2006

They were portrayed as a disreputable lot, the immigrant hordes of this great city. The Germans refused for decades to give up their native tongue and raucous beer gardens. The Irish of Hell’s Kitchen brawled and clung to political sinecures. The Jews crowded into the Lower East Side, speaking Yiddish, fomenting socialism, and resisting forced assimilation. And by their sheer ...

The Federal Ripoff

by George Leef November 1, 2006

The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money by Timothy P. Carney (Wiley, 2006); 285 pages; $24.95. Frédéric Bastiat called it legal plunder — the process by which people and organizations use their political connections to obtain wealth that doesn’t belong to them. When a government ...

Eminent-Domain Chutzpah

by Sheldon Richman October 30, 2006

Talk about chutzpah! A development company is thinking about suing Florida and the city of Riviera Beach for refusing to use eminent domain to provide land for upscale condominiums and a marina. Viking Inlet Harbor Properties was assured the city would condemn a number ...

“Every Day is 1956”: The Hungarian Revolution Today

by James Bovard October 27, 2006

Friends of freedom should doff their hats to the Hungarians this week. Fifty years ago, the Hungarian people bravely expelled Soviet tanks from Budapest and proclaimed their intention to create a democracy. Shortly thereafter, the Soviets returned with almost 5,000 tanks, killing thousands of Hungarians and chaining that nation back into serfdom to Moscow. But ...