CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Conservatives Should Repeal, Not Reform” by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2000 "George W. Bush and John McCain are fighting over which one of them is the true conservative and the real reformer. But what does conservatism have to do with reform of socialistic government programs? I thought conservatives were devoted to 'free enterprise, private property, and limited government.' For example, ...
CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Bush Misses Opportunities” by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2000 "Embroiled in the Bob Jones University controversy, Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush could have turned lemons into lemonade. Bush could have explained that the hallmark of a free society is the right to engage in conduct that others disapprove of, as long as the conduct is peaceful. People have ...
The Re-igniting of Waco by James Bovard February 1, 2000 The return of Waco could herald the pending death of the final shreds of credibility of Janet Reno and federal law enforcement. Or it may turn out to be one more episode of Stepin Fetchit journalists racing to help cover up the worst misdeeds of the Clinton administration -- forever willing to accept whatever government's latest version of the ...
A New Deal for World Poverty by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2000 UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is calling for a global New Deal to combat poverty in poorer nations. His plan raises important issues affecting the economic well-being of people all over the world. Why are some nations wealthy and others poor? Are impoverished nations doomed to remain mired in poverty forever? ...
It’s Time to Put Public Education Behind Us by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 2000 There is no better indication of the failure of and increasing disappointment with public education in the United States than the growth in the number of charter schools and homeschooled students. A new study released by the federal government reported that the number of charter schools in the 27 states in ...
Slavery Reexamined, Part 2 by Charles Adams February 1, 2000 Part 1 | Part 2 But the tax slavery vs. chattel slavery story is not over. The one place medieval serfdom did not take root was in Russia. Unlike the farmers in Europe, the small farmer in Russia during the Middle Ages was free, and he could travel about the ...
Hate-Crime Laws Threaten Our Liberty by Jeffrey A. Singer February 1, 2000 Recent front-page news stories about racist gunmen attacking innocent minorities in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas have led to calls for new federal hate-crime legislation, and for the expansion of hate-crime laws already on the books in many states. In short, these laws place additional penalties on those found guilty of committing a ...
Elian’s Fate: It’s Not America’s Decision by Sheldon Richman February 1, 2000 Imagine an American father-a widower-deciding that he wants to move himself and his 6-year-old son to Cuba. Should the U.S. government permit it? Many strong arguments could be raised against the father's decision. Cuba is a communist dictatorship where Fidel Castro's word is law. His Marxist philosophy squelches the most ...
Let’s Stick with Traditional American Values! by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2000 Upon reading Hans-Herman Hoppe’s article “On Free Immigration and Forced Integration,” I couldn’t help but wonder whether he first reached the conclusion that he wanted to reach and then constructed a set of arguments to support that conclusion. Hoppe begins his article by correctly pointing out that from a ...
The Taxman at Your Service by Sheldon Richman February 1, 2000 At a time when federal revenues are the highest percentage of gross domestic product since the peak of World War II-over 20 percent-we are asked to feel sorry for the IRS. According to the tax agency, recent legislation has turned it into a shell of its former self. It is unable ...
A Cigarette Police for America? by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 2000 Included in President Clinton's proposed new budget is a call for a 25-cents-a-pack increase in the federal tax on cigarettes. Having seen his 55-cents-a-pack increase in the cigarette tax defeated last year by Congress, Clinton is hoping that a more modest proposal will have a better chance of getting enacted. ...
Anarcho-Anti-Immigrationism? by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2000 For reasons not exactly clear, the immigration issue gives some libertarians trouble. In their efforts to grapple with the issue, it’s made needlessly complicated and some highly odd “solutions” are promulgated. We’ll look at one such solution in this article. Preliminarily, we would expect that when a libertarian examines any ...