Congress Is Still Unfit to Govern by James Bovard March 1, 2021 “In politics, stupidity is not a handicap,” Napoleon is reputed to have said more than two centuries ago. Boundless ignorance is also not a handicap, as Congress demonstrated last December by approving a 5593-page bill without reading it. Plenty of activists and editorial pages howled over the sloppy procedures propelling $2.3 trillion in new federal spending. James Madison warned in ...
The Conflict of the Ages by Laurence M. Vance March 1, 2021 The year 2020 was a dreadful year as it relates to individual liberty, free association, commercial freedom, and private property, and 2021 isn’t looking much better. The main reason, of course, is not the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), but the government response to it. Volumes could be written about the government-mandated restrictions on peaceful activity that have been instituted during this ...
Frank Knight and the Place of Principles in Economics and Politics by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 2021 It is sometimes necessary to recall the old adage that the more things change, the more they stay the same. That never seems truer than when turning to the character and content of economic and social policy issues in modern America. Every time it seems that one of the collectivist confusions and fallacies has been once more shown to ...
Liberty in Peril by George Leef March 1, 2021 Liberty in Peril: Democracy and Power in American History by Randall G. Holcombe, Independent Institute, 2019, 245 pages. I finished reading Prof. Randall Holcombe’s book Liberty in Peril during the 2020 election. I have yet to hear any candidate say the word “liberty” and would be shocked if I did. We are bombarded with messages for candidates and messages ...
Letter to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform by Lawrence P. Schnapf February 25, 2021 Note: This letter was written by Larry Schnapf, a New York City attorney, to Carolyn Maloney, Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in reference to release of records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which have been kept sealed for more than 50 years. February 24, 2021 Hon. Carolyn B. Maloney Chair- House Committee ...
Socialism-in-Practice Was a Nightmare, Not Utopia by Richard M. Ebeling February 24, 2021 It is amazing sometimes how really short humanity’s historical memory can be. Listening to some in American academia and on social media, you would think that socialism was a bright, new, and shiny idea never tried before that promises a beautiful future of peace, love, and bountifulness for all. It is as if a hundred years of socialism-in-practice in ...
The Slippery Slope from Censoring ‘Disinformation’ to Silencing Truth by John W. Whitehead February 23, 2021 “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”― George Orwell This is the slippery slope that leads to the end of free speech as we once knew it. In a world increasingly automated and filtered through the lens of artificial intelligence, we are finding ourselves at the mercy of ...
Three Libertarian Principles for Education by Laurence M. Vance February 22, 2021 Although the presidency and both Houses of Congress are now controlled by Democrats, some conservatives still think that they can have some influence on the federal government’s education polices. A case in point is a new report by Michael Q. McShane of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), “Where Conservatives Should Lead on Federal Education Policy in 2021.” ...
The Bankruptcy of Conservative Political Paternalism by Richard M. Ebeling February 16, 2021 Political paternalism – the belief that those in government possess more knowledge, wisdom, and ability to plan, guide, and direct various aspects of people’s lives better than those people themselves – comes in many forms. The American “progressive” movement is euphoric with being, once again, close to power with the new Biden Administration in the hope of intensifying and ...
Impeach the Deep State for Its Conspiracy to Kill the Constitution by John W. Whitehead February 15, 2021 All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working hours or shorter rations. And even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because, being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances. The larger ...
The Uyghurs as Victims of Chinese National Socialism by Richard M. Ebeling February 10, 2021 News outlets in the United States and in Europe have again been drawing attention to the oppression and persecution being suffered by the Uyghurs in the western region of China known as Xinjiang. Somewhere between one and two million of them have been rounded up and placed in “reeducation” camps by the Chinese government, with smuggled out stories telling ...
The Hazards of Government Wage Mandates by Michael Tennant February 9, 2021 President Joe Biden is trying to get Congress to pass an increase in the federal minimum wage as part of a COVID-19 “stimulus” package. However, a recent experiment in mandating higher wages at the local level ought to make him think twice about doing so on a national basis. In January, the city of Long Beach, California, ...