Daily Articles

An Elective Despotism

by Sheldon Richman February 21, 2005

Before American politicians lecture others on the virtues of representative government, perhaps some self-examination would be in order. The United States unquestionably has the trappings of representative government. Americans vote for officeholders on a regular basis, and these officeholders, in theory, vote on issues with their constituents’ interests in mind. From the outside it ...

The War on Pain Sufferers

by Sheldon Richman February 14, 2005

A good deal of air is exhaled over the state of medical care in America. Open state worshipers want a complete government takeover, while a more subtle band of state worshipers, those who call themselves advocates of limited government, propose instead to use “market incentives” to accomplish their aims. What ...

An Anti-Democracy Foreign Policy: Guatemala

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 11, 2005

Unfortunately, the CIA “success” in Iran, which produced the CIA’s ouster of Iran’s democratically elected prime minister, bred a CIA “success” in another part of the world, Latin America. One year after the 1953 coup in Iran, the CIA did it again, this time in Guatemala, where U.S. officials feared the communist threat even more than they ...

A More Powerful President Is the Last Thing We Need

by Anthony Gregory February 9, 2005

Vice President Richard Cheney recently credited George W. Bush with restoring the presidency to its proper station of authority and power. According to Cheney, the American presidency declined in its prestige and status in recent years, especially during the Nixon, Ford, ...

The “Oil-for-Food” Smokescreen

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 4, 2005

Are you familiar with the big “shock” that neoconservatives have experienced over the financial scandal arising out of the infamous “oil-for-food” government program, which was the subject of an investigative report issued Thursday by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker? The oil-for-food program was the socialist program established ...

Of Course, It All Began with Ayn Rand

by Bart Frazier February 2, 2005

Like so many others, Ayn Rand has heavily influenced the paths that I have chosen in my life. And like most everyone else, it began with Atlas Shrugged. I was nineteen when someone gave me a worn, pocket-sized edition of Atlas Shrugged. Unlike so ...

On the Centenary of America’s Radical for Capitalism

by Sheldon Richman February 2, 2005

February 2 is the centenary of the birth of Ayn Rand, the novelist who inspired tens of millions of readers with her philosophical action stories celebrating reason, individualism, and freedom under capitalism. Her death in 1982 did not stanch interest in her work either as an artist or as ...

Ayn Rand Introduced Me to Libertarianism

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 2, 2005

My very first exposure to libertarianism was provided by Ayn Rand, whose 100th birthday is being celebrated today. One afternoon in the fall of 1974, I was sitting around watching television. At the time, I was temporarily working as a waiter in Dallas, having just completed three months of ...

The Bill of Rights: The Rights of the Accused

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2005

Among the legitimate purposes of government is the punishment of those who violate the rights of others through the commission of violent or forceful acts, such as murder, rape, robbery, theft, burglary, or trespass. As the Framers understood, however, the matter does not end there because an important inquiry immediately arises: How do we ensure that people are not ...

Bureaucracy: A Mises Classic, Part 2

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 2005

Part 1 | Part 2 Last month I discussed Ludwig von Mises’s presentation of profit management in his great little book Bureaucracy. He explains in detail how consumers “use” the price and profit-and-loss systems to direct entrepreneurs toward producing the things they want most urgently. (Of course, they don’t self-consciously use these systems; they simply buy and abstain ...

Bush Profiteering from Housing Defaults

by James Bovard February 1, 2005

President Bush is determined to end the prejudice against people who want to buy a home but don’t have any money. Since he became president the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has spent more than $120 billion. HUD public-housing projects continue to devastate poor neighborhoods. HUD largesse to local governments continues to finance the confiscation and demolition ...

The Greatest Safeguard Against Tyranny

by Scott McPherson February 1, 2005

One is misled not by what he does not know but by what he believes he knows. — Jean Jacques Rousseau, On Education The purpose of government is the protection of individual rights. Government officials are elected and appointed to ensure that the citizenry are safe from military invasion, as well as from the ...