Daily Articles

The War on Drugs and Police Funding

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 7, 2001

The following was published as a Capsule Commentary in the November 7, 2001 edition of the FFF Email Update. The October 14 issue of the Washington Post reported that Washington area police and sheriffs' departments garnered a bonanza of nearly $2.2 million last year from the war on drug's asset-forfeiture ...

Remembering the Constitution

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2001

CONSTITUTION DAY — September 17 — came and passed without fanfare. That is the day that commemorates the signing of one of the two most important documents in our nation's history. (The other one, of course, is the Declaration of Independence, which we celebrate on the Fourth of July.) In the midst of a crisis in which Congress has vested ...

We Aren’t Children

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 2001

Theoretically this is the Land of the Free, but don't you believe it. In the Land of the Really Free, adults wouldn't be treated like children. Yet all levels of government treat us like the youngest, dumbest children you can imagine. Here are some examples, all from one state (my adopted state of Arkansas) and involving only one thing: alcohol. Just ...

A Republic, If You Can Keep It

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2001

AT THE CLOSE OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin what type of government the Constitution was bringing into existence. Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Regardless of one’s judgment concerning the type of government that the Constitution brought into existence in 1787, no one can deny that it was truly the most unusual and ...

Terrorism and the Drug War

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 2001

Americans no doubt would 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 ...

Classical Liberalism in the 21st Century: Freedom to Move

by Richard M. Ebeling November 1, 2001

FORTY YEARS AGO — August 10, 1961 — Nikita S. Khrushchev, the premier of the Soviet Union, attended a birthday party in Moscow for Sergei S. Verentsov, the Soviet marshal in charge of the missile program of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Khrushchev informed the celebrating assembly of leading Soviet ...

What’s Wrong with Conservatives

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 2001

You want to know what’s wrong with conservatives? Here’s what’s wrong. Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas is widely regarded as the most conservative member of the United States Senate. He’s someone the national Democrats badly want to defeat next year in their bid to take firm control of that body. So what ...

The Constitution Is Forgotten in the Stem-Cell Research Question

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 2001

Throughout the debate over embryonic stem-cell research, one thing was apparently never mentioned: the Constitution. Keep in mind that President Bush was not deciding whether the research should be banned. He was deciding whether the federal government should compel the taxpayers to finance it. Thus the question is whether the government has ...

Winning the Battle and the War

by Richard M. Ebeling November 1, 2001

THE TRAGIC EVENTS OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, have aroused a degree of sympathy for the victims and a demand for justice against the perpetrators that have not been seen in America in relation to any other event for many decades. But in this understandably emotional moment it is necessary for every American to step back and weigh carefully what should ...

Libertarian Splits in the War on Terrorism

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2001

Responses to the September 11 attacks have split the libertarian movement like no other issue I have seen since I discovered libertarianism almost 25 years ago. Limited-government libertarians have always maintained that one of the essential functions of government is to protect the nation from invasion or attack. The corollary to that duty is the government's ...

Nature as Miser

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 2001

A POPULIST IS SOMEONE WHO who believes scarcity is a capitalist plot. If only social arrangements were otherwise, he believes, mankind would enjoy a boundless cornucopia of goods and never want again. The populist thus assumes that our current economic institutions, such as the price system, are merely devices controlled by producers to withhold needed goods and to gouge ...

The Era of Big Government Being Over Is Over

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 2001

It is hard not to notice a certain amount of glee in the aftermath of the catastrophe of September 11. Some pundits and commentators have taken this line: "So, where are all you government bashers now? Let's see one of you step forward and criticize big government now that we need it to save us from the terrorists." I'm paraphrasing, ...