Daily Articles

Congressional Complicity in WMD Duplicity

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 22, 2003

Why has Congress been relatively quiet on the executive branch’s deception about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction? The answer is easy: By abrogating its constitutional responsibility regarding its constitutional power to declare war, Congress made itself a silent partner in the president’s wrongdoing. Keep in mind that our system of government is different from others ...

Central Planning of Electricity Must Fail

by Sheldon Richman August 20, 2003

Central economic planning was discredited in the old Soviet Union and every other country that attempted it. What the great economist Ludwig von Mises showed in theory in the 1920s was then demonstrated in practice in subsequent decades: central economic planning is impossible. Most people will agree when the ...

Defending Immigration Socialism

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 15, 2003

Given that conservatives threw in the towel on opposing socialism and central planning decades ago, it’s not surprising that they rarely raise moral arguments any more in their “free-market” articles. It’s even more disappointing, however, when libertarians fail to mention moral arguments, even while defending socialist positions. A ...

Speaking of Lies

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 13, 2003

Speaking of lies, we might want to remind ourselves of the one that was issued after the September 11 attacks — that those attacks were motivated by hatred for America’s “freedom and values” rather than by hatred for U.S. foreign policy. The lie is likely to become of renewed importance now that al-Qaeda is promising ...

What If Gore Had Won?

by Scott McPherson August 13, 2003

Whenever anyone complains about George W. Bush and his love for big government, someone else can be counted on to apologize, “Sure, but it would be worse under Gore.” I beg to differ. If Gore had won in 2000, there wouldn’t be a Department of Homeland Security, that mammoth government ...

A President Lies about War? Shocking!

by Sheldon Richman August 13, 2003

It is regarded as beyond the pale to suggest that a president of the United States would lie or otherwise play politics to win support for a war. Even President Bushs biggest critics in the Democratic Party shrink from using the L-word when they talk about the famous 16 words or the presidents other unequivocal pre-war claims about Saddam ...

Jail John Ashcroft

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 11, 2003

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema is expected to issue a critical sanction any day in the federal criminal case prosecution of Zacharias Moussaoui, who is charged with having conspired to participate in the September 11 terrorist attacks. The order arises out of the government’s refusal to comply with the judge’s order that the government produce ...

Are Military Tribunals Worth Dying For?

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 6, 2003

Despite the fact that the U.S. government so far is not applying military tribunals to U.S. citizens, the stakes have now gone up for the American people. What began as a life-and-death issue for the federal government’s detainees at Guantanamo Bay has now been converted into a life-and-death issue for the American people. For al-Qaeda ...

Private Roads and the Economics of the Environment

by Scott McPherson August 6, 2003

In the interest of battling automobile-created air pollution, environmentalists call for more public transportation — more buses and commuter trains and the higher taxes needed to fund them — to get people out of their cars. Granting, for the sake of discussion, that air quality is as poor as ...

The Gun-Control Tide Is Turning

by Scott McPherson August 4, 2003

Advocates of the right to keep and bear arms have modest reason to celebrate these days. The state of Alaska recently became the second state, after Vermont, to allow citizens to carry concealed firearms without a permit or any of the restrictive measures, such as fingerprinting or background checks, ...

Classical Liberalism and World Peace

by Richard M. Ebeling August 1, 2003

Since the end of the First World War in 1918, the world has been in search of international order and global peace through the political method of international organization. The League of Nations was seen as the great hope for world peace and security. Its failure in the years between the two world wars was taken ...

There is No Freedom in Iraq, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2003

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Most Americans are familiar with the political and civil aspects of liberty. They include such rights as freedom of speech and expression, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, the right to vote, and the right to petition public officials for redress of grievances. They also include important procedural protections in ...