Conservatives, Guns, and Drugs by Sheldon Richman September 1, 2002 Conservatives are generally good at arguing against gun control. Besides the constitutional case — that the Second Amendment protects an individual right keep and bear arms — they are also well versed in the “pragmatic” arguments. For example, they say that gun laws will not be respected by people intent on committing crimes of violence because ...
Book Review: Liberating the Land by Richard M. Ebeling September 1, 2002 Liberating the Land: The Case for Private Land-Use Planning by Mark Pennington (London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 2002); 114 pages; $15. Over the last 20 years there have been a variety of strong reactions against the idea of government planning. But one of the areas in which most people still take for granted the necessity of government planning and regulation is ...
The Problem Is the Schools by Sheldon Richman August 20, 2002 I’ll bet Michael Newdow doesn’t care if private schools have kids say “under God.” Newdow is the father who sued the government school district near Sacramento, California, because his daughter’s school begins the day with the Pledge of Allegiance, which contains those words. An atheist, Newdow objects to the school’s ...
Why Is the Self a Lesser Cause? by Sheldon Richman August 20, 2002 War increases the burdens of government. If you seek evidence, look around. Government does not grow only in obvious ways, for example by gaining the power to hold individuals without charge or to monitor their lawful activities. It also grows through the promotion of a culture of sacrifice. In war, more ...
The Real Solution to Business Misconduct by Sheldon Richman August 20, 2002 The way people talk about the need for new regulation of business, you’d think it was 1930. Have we not already lived through the New Deal with its pervasive regulation of corporations? Have we not lived through the regulatory explosions of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s? Are not the transgressions ...
Liberty Again at Risk by Sheldon Richman August 13, 2002 At the root of the concept “America” is the idea that you can go about your daily business without being monitored by the government. Indeed, every piece of literature about the horrors of totalitarianism includes secret police whose job it is to keep tabs on the people because everyone is under suspicion. This more than ...
Let Spontaneity Rule by Bart Frazier August 13, 2002 As a conservationist and a libertarian, I always find it interesting to think how similar ecology and political economy are. Both are products of nature — self-sustaining phenomena resulting from the aggregate of millions of unrelated events. The Nobel-laureate economist Friedrich Hayek coined a term for ...
Leave Sam and Martha Alone by Sheldon Richman August 12, 2002 One of the latest “business scandals” involves alleged insider trading by people close to Samuel Waksal, the founder of the drug company ImClone Systems and its recently resigned CEO. The government says Waksal told family members and friend Martha Stewart that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was about to ...
Feeling a Draft? by Sheldon Richman August 12, 2002 Most people may have long forgotten it, but American males who turn 18 are still compelled to register with the Selective Service System. Failure to do so carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. What’s more, states have enacted laws barring nonregistrants from getting ...
Economic Liberty and the Constitution, Part 3 by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2002 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Table of Contents Throughout the ages, governments have regulated the economic affairs ...
Anything for War? George W. Bush and the Shadow of FDR by Richard M. Ebeling August 1, 2002 In 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt declared, “I am perfectly willing to mislead and tell lies if it will help win the war.” Now in wartime it certainly may be necessary for a general or a commander in chief to try to misinform or deceive the enemy about a planned attack or about the defense positions and strength of one’s ...
The Solution to Poverty by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2002 I have great news for you! According to today’s Washington Post (March 22), world leaders meeting at a U.N. conference in Monterrey, Mexico, have come up with a new plan for ridding the world of poverty. The plan involves the U.S. government’s sending of foreign aid to the governments of Third ...