Daily Articles

Listen to the Administration

by Sheldon Richman October 7, 2002

The United States will go to war against Iraq. But anyone who thinks the war will be motivated by evidence of Saddam Hussein’s attempt to procure and wish to use evil weapons will be mistaken. Despite the general claims that President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have as-yet ...

Economic Liberty and the Constitution, Part 5

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 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 In the Slaughterhouse Cases (1872), the U.S. Supreme Court, ...

Coming Assaults on America

by Sheldon Richman October 1, 2002

What do the coming war against Iraq and the pending threat to medical privacy have in common? Both give the lie to the belief that we Americans live under a system of limited, representative government. The civics textbooks are hooey, but they serve a purpose as a sedative for the next ...

Capitalism, Scandal, and the Government

by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 2002

Every few years voices are heard heralding and warning of a “crisis of capitalism.” The 20th century saw an unending series of such voices of doom that the free market had shown its injustice towards and exploitation of the ordinary working man or that free enterprise fostered ’merchants of death” who dragged ...

Packing Heat, Part 2

by Sheldon Richman October 1, 2002

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 As I described last month, Jeffrey Snyder’s path-breaking article, “A Nation of Cowards” (The Public Interest, Fall 1993), transformed guns and gun control from abstract philosophical and policy issues into a personal moral issue. We cannot — morally or existentially — truly delegate our right and responsibility to ...

Bush, Rumsfeld, and Orwell

by Sheldon Richman October 1, 2002

It has long been clear that little of what government leaders say and do makes no sense unless you understand that they think we are idiots, uninformed, or both. Could there be better evidence than recent remarks by President Bush and Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld? Let’s start with the much-admired Secretary ...

The Folly of Protecting Teens from Work

by James Bovard October 1, 2002

Protecting teenagers from work is one of the worst things you can do to kids. Some child-labor groups are campaigning to impose new restrictions on freedom of contract. While some prohibitionists might have good intentions, pervasive restrictions on youth labor would be a menace both to kids and to society. The Associated Press reported that 73 teens were killed on ...

Can Gun Control Reduce Crime? Part 1

by Benedict D. LaRosa October 1, 2002

Part 1 | Part 2 In the wake of the shootings at Columbine High School in April 1999 and other schools across the country, there has been a chorus calling for more gun-control measures to prevent similar incidents and to control crime in general. Setting aside the obvious emotional response that such tragedies always engender, is it realistic to ...

Some Reflections on the Second Amendment, Part 1

by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 2002

Part 1 | Part 2 For millions of Americans the Second Amendment and its guarantee of the right of the individual to bear arms appears irrelevant and practically anachronistic. It seems a throwback to those earlier days of the Wild West, when many men, far from the law and order provided by the town sheriff and circuit judge, had ...

Book Review: Should We Have Faith in Central Banks?

by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 2002

Should We Have Faith in Central Banks? by Otmar Issing (London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 2002); 53 pages; $12. One of the momentous events of the new century has been the establishment of a single, common currency for many of the member nations of the European Union. The German mark, the French franc, the Austrian schilling, the Italian lira, the Irish ...

Whither Congress?

by Scott McPherson September 23, 2002

As President Bush rushes the nation headlong into another foreign war, an important question should be finally and unambiguously answered: What exactly were those old gentlemen talking about in 1787 when they wrote that Congress, not the president, held the power to declare war? Are we to believe that they actually ...

Make Him an Offer He Can’t Accept

by Sheldon Richman September 16, 2002

President Bush is no Don Corleone. When the Godfather wanted something, he would make an uncooperative person an offer he couldn’t refuse. Mr. Bush, following his predecessor, makes his adversary an offer he can’t accept. Former President Clinton did this with President Milosevic of Yugoslavia before launching a war over Kosovo. Clinton made demands — including ...