Daily Articles

Book Review: Wilhelm Ropke

by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 2002

Wilhelm Röpke: Swiss Localist, Global Economist by John Zmirak (Wilmington, Del.: ISI Books, 2001); 229 pages; $24.95. WITHOUT A DOUBT, Wilhelm Röpke was one of the leading free-market economists of the 20th century and one of the most influential thinkers in Germany after the Second World War. Many years ago, an economist acquaintance of mine, who had studied with Röpke in ...

Enron and the Cheney List

by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2002

The controversy over Vice President Dick Cheney’s secret energy-policy consultation list is amusing. Government should certainly err on the side of disclosing such things, but that’s not the point here. Those most vocal in demanding the list seem to be saying they can’t judge the Bush administration’s energy policy ...

What Makes a Nation Evil?

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 10, 2002

With President Bush's characterization of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as an “axis of evil,” an obvious question arises: What makes a nation evil? Is it the evil nature of the ruler in a nation? Or is it the evil nature of the government itself? If it's the government, does that mean that everyone who ...

Raining on the Victory Parade

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2002

WOULD SOMEONE MIND telling me whether the war in Afghanistan is over or not? U.S. government officials seem to be proclaiming victory. But if the war has been won, then why is the U.S. government continuing to bomb Afghanistan, conduct that everyone agrees continues to kill innocent civilians, albeit as unfortunate “collateral damage”? If the replacement of the murderous and abusive ...

Ending Public School Violence

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2002

Washington, D.C., officials are shocked over a Washington Times report detailing an extraordinary increase in violence in D.C. public schools. The Times reported that “the number of assaults with deadly weapons in the District’s schools has doubled during the past four years, with as many as 423 students caught ...

Slave to the Olympics

by Bart Frazier February 1, 2002

Getting up to answer the knock at your door, you open it to find a police officer standing stiffly, fidgeting with his nightstick. “Mr. Jones, I am here for the soccer field”, he says tersely. “Soccer field?” you say. “I don’t get it.”

Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 2002

War has many bad consequences. One of the worst is the stigmatizing of dissent. Yet sometimes dissent is the only thing that stands between us and catastrophe. According to the U.S. government, the mission of the current war was to root out the terror network of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and their Taliban support in Afghanistan. So what did the ...

Keep the Borders Open

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2002

This article was originally published in the January 2002 edition of The World and I. In times of crisis, it is sometimes wise and constructive for people to return to first principles and to reexamine and reflect on where we started as a nation, the road we’ve traveled, where we are ...

Freedom and Security in America and around the World

by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 2002

THE SHOCKING AND tragic events of September 11, 2001, have affected not only the United States but the rest of the world as well. This impact, however, is not limited to an increased awareness of the dangers from networks of international terrorists. Nor is it limited to a heightened awareness of ...

Farmers: Get a Job!

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 2002

It kind of makes me wonder what country I'm living in when I pick up the newspaper and read this from the Associated Press: "With crop prices mired near record lows, the government says farm earnings will drop 20 percent this year unless Congress enacts a new farm program or approves ...

Wrong Rights

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 2002

BRACE YOURSELF. We are about to witness the launch of a global movement to establish economic and social rights on a par with human rights. In other words, say the organizers of this movement, the right to food and health care is as legitimate as the right not to be tortured by ones government. (See The Economist, August 16.) A ...

Drug Laws: Terrorists Best Friends

by James Bovard February 1, 2002

PRESIDENT BUSH, when signing the Drug-Free Communities Act on December14, announced: If you quit drugs, you join the fight against terror in America. Bush could also have added: If you quit drug laws, you join the fight against terror. How many more Americans should die in order to perpetuate the fiction that the U.S. government can completely control every farmer ...