Daily Articles

The Value of Athletes

by Bart Frazier January 1, 2002

Some people complain that professional athletes make too much money -- that the salaries they receive are ridiculously high, perhaps even immoral. But is this actually the case? Aren't athletes' salaries, like everyone else's in the private sector, ultimately determined by the desires or demand of consumers? Isn't that how the value ...

A Libertarian Visits Guatemala

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2002

LAST SUMMER, I had one of the most uplifting experiences I have had in the many years that I have been advancing libertarianism. My week at Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala will always rank near the top in terms of events that have charged up my batteries big-time. I had heard of FMU as far back as 1987, when I ...

State Department Confusion over Liberty

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2002

THE GREAT GERMAN THINKER Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once observed, “No one is as hopelessly enslaved as the person who thinks he’s free.” Goethe’s words might sum up the plight of the American people, a plight that was recently reflected in a secret report that emerged from the U.S. embassy in Guatemala, which is headed by U.S. Ambassador Prudence ...

Republic or Empire: Which Path for America in the 21st Century?

by Richard M. Ebeling January 1, 2002

IN THE FIRST ISSUE of Modern Age, a conservative journal of opinion, published in 1957, there appeared an article by the classical-liberal journalist and author Felix Morley on the question of whether America was still a republic or becoming an empire. He later developed this theme in his 1959 volume, Freedom and Federalism. Morley’s point was that ...

Does Endorsement of Military Tribunals Insult Bush?

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2002

As FFF friends and supporters know, we have taken a firm stand against President Bush's military tribunals. See, for example, "Military Tribunals: Another Step Away from Our Principles" by Jacob G. Hornberger and "Emergencies, Military Tribunals, and the Constitution" by Jacob G. Hornberger. In a recent conversation I had with Sheldon Richman, he ...

The Drug War and Terrorism

by Sheldon Richman January 1, 2002

AMERICANS NO DOUBTwould be distressed to learn that the U.S. government helped finance the terrorist attacks that killed so many people in New York and Washington. It’s not such a far-fetched thought. According to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, terrorist organizations are financed in part by profits from trading in drugs. “The illegal drug trade is ...

Gun-Ban Shenanigans at the UN

by James Bovard January 1, 2002

LAST JULY 9, the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects convened in New York. To celebrate the event, the UN and several member governments held public bonfires of guns. The mere sight of gun bonfires was supposed to somehow convince people that the United Nations would protect them. ...

Declare War before Waging War, Part 1

by Doug Bandow January 1, 2002

Part 1 | Part 2 LIKE MOST CRISES, the shocking attack on the World Trade Center caused a rush to government for protection. People seemed willing to accept almost any new restriction on liberty or new spending program in the name of fighting terrorism. Few seem willing to criticize the president should he decide to expand the war to Indonesia, ...

What Good Are Regulations?

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2002

Have you ever noticed how advocates of the regulated society never admit that their regulations have failed? Consider the Enron case, in which one of the biggest companies in the United States has gone belly up as a result of questionable financial practices. I thought the purpose of government regulation was ...

Book Review: Fool’s Errands

by Richard M. Ebeling January 1, 2002

Fool’s Errands: America’s Recent Encounters with Nation Building by Gary T. Dempsey with Roger W. Fontaine (Washington, D. C.: Cato Institute, 2001); 224 pages; $19.95 THE CONCEPT OF “nation building” became widely used in the 1960s as a growing number of former European colonies around the world were given independence. The concept was most frequently applied in the context of Africa. ...

Military Tribunals: Another Step Away from Our Principles

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 29, 2001

President Bush's plan to form military tribunals to punish suspected terrorists is one more step away from the civilized principles of constitutional government and the rule of law that have long distinguished the United States from other nations in history. The president's tribunals would apply to two classes of accused terrorists: those captured as part of ...

A Victory for Freedom

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 22, 2001

Kudos to President Bush and Attorney General Ashcroft for ultimately deciding to comply with the Constitution in the U.S. government's prosecution of suspected terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, who is accused of having participated in the September 11 attacks. Bush and Ashcroft had threatened to try Moussaoui before a secret military tribunal whose Star Chamber and ...