Daily Articles

Book Review: Reflections on a Ravaged Century

by Richard M. Ebeling April 1, 2000

Reflections on a Ravaged Century by Robert Conquest (New York: W.W. Norton, 2000); 317 pages; $26.95. When the 19th century was ending, there was a great sense of optimism and confidence. The December 31, 1899, issue of the New York Times had devoted practically its entire editorial page to a summary of the magnificent achievements of the 19th century: the steam ...

The Hero’s Hero

by Sheldon Richman March 2, 2000

We can judge a person by his heroes. John McCain would no doubt agree. Revealingly, the hero McCain most often invokes is Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt, a Progressive Republican, was a key figure in America's passage from a Jeffersonian republic to a Hamiltonian despotism. He embodied the late-19th- and early-20th-century vision in which the citizen is ...

Tell All, or Else

by Sheldon Richman March 2, 2000

The Census Bureau wants you to tell it all sorts of things about yourself, but there's one thing it doesn't want to tell you: You may be punished if you disobey. You will search in vain through the census materials you receive in the mail for notice or details of that threat. The notification letter makes ...

Count Me Out

by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2000

I got a letter from my friendly federal government the other day. It notified me that in about a week I will be mailed my U.S. Census 2000 form. Why they didn't just send the form instead of the notice, I can't fathom. But that's the least of it. The letter tells me ...

CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “State Sterilizations”

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2000

"The reason that the State of Virginia has insurmountable ballot-access barriers that keep Libertarians from appearing on the ballot for statewide races became a little clearer last weekend. (Due to the high barriers, the Libertarian Party has historically been unable to field candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general.) In its ...

CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “IRS Seizes Church”

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2000

"The Internal Revenue Service has planned its annual pre-April 15 advertising campaign. A church in Indianapolis is refusing to pay federal withholding taxes totaling $5.9 million on religious grounds -- that the monies paid to church employees were not income but rather "love gifts." Well, apparently the IRS doesn't believe in love ...

CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Gun Control in Kosovo”

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2000

"The Clinton administration's program to confiscate weapons in Kosovo provides powerful evidence of why Americans should be opposing gun-control efforts in the United States. There is one and only one reason that weapons are being confiscated in Kosovo: obedience. A disarmed populace is an obedient populace. Moreover, notice how U.S. ...

CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Bush’s Compassionate Coercion”

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2000

"Last week, George W. Bush provided a clear-cut example of 'compassionate conservatism.' He claimed that John McCain is against breast-cancer research because McCain purportedly voted against government funding of such research -- sort of like how a person hates the poor when he opposes a public-housing project. When reporters asked ...

Monopoly, Competition, and Educational Freedom

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2000

Unfortunately, while many scholars understand the nature and benefits of the free market in general, they seem to lack a firm appreciation of pure free-market principles in the area of education. An example was a recent speech entitled "Competition" that was delivered to the conservative Heritage Foundation by Gary S. ...

Monetary Central Planning and the State, Part 39: Free Banking and the Benefits of Market Competition

by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 2000

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 ...

Public Master

by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2000

First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton apparently wants to represent New York state in the U.S. Senate. She says she wishes to serve the people of New York. Read that carefully. She wants to be their servant. Does anyone believe that? What I'm about to say does not apply just to Mrs. Clinton. ...

Government Equals Force

by James Bovard March 1, 2000

Occasionally throughout the 20th century, commentators have clearly recognized the coercive nature of government. British political scientist Harold Laski wrote in 1935: "At any critical moment in the history of a State the fact that its authority depends upon the power to coerce the opponents of the government, to break their wills, to compel them to submission, emerges as the ...