Book Review: Drug War Crimes by Paul Armentano November 1, 2004 Drug War Crimes: The Consequences of Prohibition by Jeffrey A. Miron (Oakland: The Independent Institute, 2004); 109 pages; $15.95. For the past several decades economists, perhaps more so than any other group of professionals, have been largely united in their criticism of American drug policy. On numerous occasions, prominent economists such as Milton ...
Im Free Because I Voted, Right? by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2004 In the wake of his reelection, President Bush has announced that he remains committed to bringing democracy to the Middle East, which includes the indefinite military occupation of Iraq. In the presidents mind indeed, in the minds of most public officials in America democracy is freedom. So, given that I voted in the recent election, ...
Take the Constitution Seriously in the Second Term by Sheldon Richman November 1, 2004 Should President Bush declare a mandate and push ahead with his agenda or extend an olive branch of conciliation to his opponents? This is a typical false alternative that American politics often presents. He should do neither. Instead, he should do what on January 20 he will declare he is obligated to do. On Inauguration Day he will swear, as the ...
Spreading the Word by Bart Frazier November 1, 2004 Date: November 12, 2004 To: Friends and Supporters of The Future of Freedom Foundation From: Bart Frazier, program director Subject: FFF Op-Ed Program Most of you associate FFF with our Email Update. Every day you get the best news culled from the internet addressing issues ...
Blame Government for the Vaccine Shortage by Sheldon Richman October 27, 2004 We now know that when the government tries to suppress the production of a drug, say, heroin, supplies nevertheless remain plentiful. Yet when the government tries to guarantee production of a drug, say, flu vaccine, supplies can run short, endangering the people most vulnerable to disease. Thats government for you. The government, especially the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), interferes ...
The Iraq War Has Made Us neither Safer nor Freer by Jacob G. Hornberger October 25, 2004 In determining whether the invasion of Iraq has been in the interests of America, two questions naturally arise: One, has the invasion made Americans safer from terrorism? and Two, has the invasion made Americans freer with respect to their own government? When the 9/11 attacks occurred, Americans were horribly angry, despite the ...
Does John Ashcroft Understand the Constitution? by Jacob G. Hornberger October 22, 2004 Learning that the U.S. Supreme Court had upheld the rights of habeas corpus, right to counsel, and due process of law in the Yaser Hamdi, Jose Padilla, and Shafiq Rasul cases, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft commented, “The Supreme Court accorded to terrorists, in a variety of cases this ...
Men Without a Country by James Castagnera October 22, 2004 A 19th-century writer, Edward Everett Hale, once published a story called “The Man without a Country.” The protagonist is Philip Nolan, a young U.S. Army officer who unwisely deserted to join the ill-fated effort of Aaron Burr to establish an independent empire west of the Mississippi. In Hale’s ...
Field of (Bad) Dreams by Samuel Bostaph October 20, 2004 Washington, D.C., will soon begin construction of a new taxpayer-funded baseball stadium at an estimated cost of $400 million, give or take $50 million. Thirty-three years after the Washington Senators left town to become the Texas Rangers, a majority vote of the D.C. city council will fill the vacancy by ...
Honor the Country by Distrusting the Government by Sheldon Richman October 18, 2004 President Bush and his supporters base their case for his reelection ultimately on an appeal for trust. Bush asks us to trust that he acted in good faith when he invaded Iraq, even though the intelligence now looks bad. He asks us to trust his strategy for domestic security, even ...
The Welfare State Rewards Liars by Sheldon Richman October 18, 2004 Many bad things can be said about the welfare state the political arrangement, as the 19th-century French liberal Frdric Bastiat wrote, by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else. But one largely unnoticed feature is that it rewards people for suspending their moral sense. Frankly, it makes winners out of liars. How so? If it is ...
How Conservative Is George W. Bush? by Anthony Gregory October 13, 2004 Given that so many conservatives have come out in favor of George W. Bush, who supposedly isnt as bad as John Kerry, an important question arises: Exactly how conservative is George W. Bush? Bush has expanded the welfare state and increased discretionary spending at a faster rate than any president since ...