The Constitution: Liberties of the People and Powers of Government, Part 1 by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2000 Part 1 | Part 2 The most radical experiment in history is the Constitution of the United States of America. Throughout history, people had accepted the commonly held notion that government’s powers over the citizenry were supreme. In 1787, however, for the first time ever, the American people announced to the world that the liberties of the people were ...
Imagining Freedom for the 21st Century: A Presidential Candidate’s Press Conference, Part 3 by Richard M. Ebeling August 1, 2000 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 The New York Times: In a recent public opinion poll, 71 percent of the respondents said that the protection of the existing Social Security system was important in evaluating a presidential candidate. Yet you seem to be calling for the abolition of ...
The Bankrupt Anti-Gun Movement by Sheldon Richman August 1, 2000 IF THE CHARACTER of the anti-gun-rights forces was in doubt before the Million Mom March last spring, there is no longer any doubt. The statements of the leading participants vividly revealed them as demagogues who seek only to play on blind emotion in order to push an agenda that would violate a basic individual right: the right to defend ...
An Echo, Not a Choice by Sheldon Richman August 1, 2000 Must the Republicans' abandon every semblance of principle in order to save us from a Gore presidency? In the minds of the GOP leaders, the answer seems to be yes. Apparently, a decision has been made that victory is so essential that the party will say anything to avoid offending anyone. ...
CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Cuban and American Statists Think Alike” by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2000 "Libertarians are often challenged by statists on two points: first, whether it would be morally proper to terminate such government programs as public schooling, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and public housing for the poor, as libertarians argue should be done. And second, that an immediate termination of such programs would ...
CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Illiteracy Emergency” by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2000 "Both George W. Bush and Al Gore have declared illiteracy a 'national emergency.' What better indictment of the results of public schooling? After all, throughout the 20th century, Americans were required, under pain of fine and imprisonment, to send their children to a government-approved school. To comply with the law, ...
CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “INS Officials Take Bribes” by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2000 "Two INS officials were recently convicted of alien smuggling and conspiracy for permitting people to smuggle illegal aliens into the United States. Witnesses said that they paid the two officials between $1,500 and $2,000 to look the other way at the international bridge in San Isidro, California. Heck, my opinion ...
CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Market Punishes Boy Scouts” by Andy Falkof August 1, 2000 "Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America have a constitutional right to exclude homosexuals, corporate support for the organization has been diminishing and its public image has been eroding. Despite concerns that this ruling might make discrimination against homosexuals socially acceptable, the free ...
CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Republicans Sell Principles” by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2000 "Republicans have once again showed their hypocritical, compromising stripes. Republican House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert has written a letter to President Clinton offering his full support for a one-dollar increase in the minimum wage, a government program that every reputable economist recognizes renders an economic attack against those at the ...
Electing Our Daddy by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2000 With the presidential campaign season upon us, one cannot help but ask whether we are electing a president ... or a daddy. After all, both George W. Bush and Al Gore are promising to take care of us in most aspects of our lives and even to make us more caring and compassionate ...
No One Is Qualified to be President by Sheldon Richman August 1, 2000 The Democrats' chief argument against George W. Bush is that he's not qualified to be president. They're right He's not qualified. But neither is Al Gore. Or Dick Cheney. Or Joseph Lieberman. No one is qualified to be president. No one. This is not a statement born of cynicism. It's cold fact. How ...
How the State Became Immaculate, Part 1 by James Bovard August 1, 2000 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The founding fathers took a dim view of claims of the unlimited beneficence of government. George Washington declared, “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence — it is force.” John Adams wrote in 1772: “There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free ...