VMI on the Dole by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2001 VMI is back in the news. Two cadets, with the assistance of the ACLU, are asking the school to terminate religious prayers before supper in the VMI mess hall. VMI superintendent Josiah Bunting III has responded by saying that he is ready for a court fight, proclaiming that "the Constitution does ...
Campaign Donations are Not the Problem by Jacob G. Hornberger March 2, 2001 Yesterday, the U.S. Senate voted to raise the amount that individuals can donate to federal candidates from $1,000 to $2,000. (The old limit was imposed in the post-Watergate period and has never been increased.) As is usually the case with the members of Congress, they're not really addressing the root of the problem. First ...
No Compromise on Campaign Finance Reform by Sheldon Richman March 2, 2001 President Bush’s tone of bipartisan cooperation has its perils. It could lead him to compromise on the uncompromisable. That danger is looming already on so-called campaign finance reform. Sen. John McCain, Bush’s rival in the primaries, is intent on pushing his bill to interfere further with the right of ...
So Much for Compassionate Conservatism by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2001 DURING THE CONTROVERSY over Linda Chavezs appointment as secretary of labor, President Bush squandered an excellent opportunity to show some compassionate conservatism toward the tens of thousands of undocumented workers who have risked their lives to live and work in the United States. In the 1960s, I grew up on a farm on the Rio Grande outside of Laredo, Texas, ...
Free Market Education Stops School Violence by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2001 In case you were wondering where they stood on the issue, the U.S. House of Representatives has issued a formal condemnation of the shooting at Santana High School near San Diego. The vote was unanimous. (Whew!) The House proclamation also "encourages the people of the United States to engage in a ...
The Drug War’s Assault on Liberty by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2001 ROBERT DOWNEY JR. is a perfect example of the war on drug’s tremendous assault on liberty. Downey is the famous Hollywood actor who has a drug problem. To punish him for being a drug addict, the state has arrested him, prosecuted him, incarcerated him, released him, and arrested him anew. The state won’t leave ...
Fox Should Lead Way on Drug Legalization by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2001 Another Latin American president is talking about ending the war on drugs. First, there is Uruguay's president, Jorge Batlle, who openly calls for drug legalization. And now there is Vicente Fox, Mexico's newly elected president. Last Monday, (March 19) in an article entitled "Fox Talks Drug Legalization," the Associated Press reported, "In an interview ...
A Libertarian’s Platform by James Bovard March 1, 2001 THE PLATFORM of the libertarian candidate is simple. It has only one plank in it: No special privilege for anyone. He conceives himself with only two methods of achieving this worthy objective: 1. The free market. 2. Government limited to the defense of life and property. There is no way known to man to determine prices of goods or rates of wages or where ...
Tax Cuts Need No Justification by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2001 Tax cuts do not have to justified. It’s government spending that that has to be justified. I realize that is contrary to virtually every news report and analysis of President Bush’s plan to cut income tax rates. To listen to the news media, you’d think the government creates the wealth in ...
Kill the Death Tax by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2001 Are we supposed to be impressed that some of the country’s richest men want the government to continue taxing estates? I don’t see why their opinion on this matter is worth more than that of anyone else. After all, just because someone is good at making money, that doesn’t make ...
The Disunited States of Europe: The Politics of Power and Privilege, Part 1 by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 2001 Part 1 | Part 2 The corrosive effects that may occur from a spirit of political and economic nationalism were understood long before the disastrous consequences experienced as a result of them in the 20th century. In 1759, in his first book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith warned against the danger residing within any strongly held nationalist ...
What Happened to the Conservatives? by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2001 Are conservatives so desperate to have a Republican in the White House that they are ready to toss their principles overboard and become boosters for whatever President George W. Bush hands them? It seems so. Mr. Bush’s two earliest initiatives — education and aid to faith-based organizations — should have ...