Daily Articles

U.S. War or Terrorism

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2000

"How does the U.S. government distinguish between war and terrorism? Our government continues to bomb Iraq on a regular basis, without a constitutionally required congressional declaration of war, and calls it "war." Our government also continues its embargo against the people of Iraq, which has caused untold suffering and death, especially ...

War, Peace, and Bill Clinton

by Sheldon Richman October 1, 2000

SURVEYING THE HISTORY of England in The Rights of Man, Thomas Paine noted that “a bystander, not blinded by prejudice nor warped by interest, would declare that taxes were not raised to carry on wars, but that wars were raised to carry on taxes.” The United States government ...

How the State Became Immaculate, Part 3

by James Bovard October 1, 2000

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 During the 1920sand early 1930s, the U.S. government provided huge loans to foreign nations whose exports were subsequently blocked by high U.S. tariffs, artificially held down interest rates and flooded the nation with cheap credit, and championed cartel operations by private businesses. Economic historian Robert Skidelsky recently attributed the start of ...

Strategies from the Past: Boycott, Part 2

by Wendy McElroy October 1, 2000

Part 1 | Part 2 Why, then, does boycott in the form of strikes and blacklists elicit such public condemnation? The 19th-century libertarian Steven Byington offered an explanation: The State is afraid of it. The boycott offers a means for making another do as you wish without calling in the States aid. Byington believed that the state recognized the ...

Morals and the Welfare State, Part 2

by F.A. Harper October 1, 2000

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 THE DECALOGUE serves as a guide to moral conduct which, if violated, brings upon the violator a commensurate penalty. There may be other guides to moral conduct which one might wish to add to the Golden Rule and ...

Rising above the Surplus

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2000

One of the biggest issues in the presidential race has been what should be done with the surplus. How much of the extra tax revenue should be used to shore up Social Security? To protect Medicare and Medicaid? To pay down the national debt How much should be returned to the ...

Book Review: The Tyranny of Good Intentions

by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 2000

The Tyranny of Good Intentions: How Prosecutors and Bureaucrats Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name of Justice by Paul Craig Roberts and Lawrence M. Stratton (Roseville, Calif.: Prima Publishing, 2000); 240 pages; $24.95. IT OFTEN SEEMS that liberty is only really appreciated when it is either directly threatened or has been lost. In the 1930s, when liberty was challenged by ...

What Al Gore Really Said

by Sheldon Richman September 2, 2000

My fellow Americans-well not all of you. Especially not the powerful interests out there. You know who you are. I'm talking just to working families. My party used to call you folks "workingmen." But then feminism came along, so we don't do that anymore. Then we said "workingmen and working women." But the polls ...

Who’s Negative?

by Sheldon Richman September 2, 2000

Why is it considered negative campaigning to say, “My opponent has a credibility problem,” but it is not negative to say, “We’re for the people; they’re for the powerful”? According to virtually all mainstream observers, the first is a vicious accusation, while the second is a constructive discussion of the ...

The Constitution: Liberties of the People and Powers of Government, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 2000

Part 1 | Part 2 In 1787, the Constitution of the United States called into existence the federal government. What was significant, however, was that it was a government whose powers were expressly limited by the people. Throughout history, government officials had exercised omnipotent power over their citizenry. Of course, there had been some exceptions, such as Magna Carta in ...

CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Antitrust Laws Empower the State”

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 2000

"On the heels of the Justice Department's antitrust case against that big, bad monopoly Microsoft comes antitrust action by German authorities against Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart? But everyone knows that Wal-Mart doesn't charge high, monopolistic prices! That's right. Which is exactly why it's getting charged with antitrust violations. The Wall Street Journal ...

CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Chinese Farmers Protest”

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 2000

"There has been some interesting news coming out of China. Tens of thousands of farmers have been attacking government buildings and looting communist officials' homes. The reason? The farmers are protesting the Chinese government's increase in fees and taxes. Since there is strict gun control in China, the farmers resorted to ...