Daily Articles

Book Review: The Nazi Connection

by Richard M. Ebeling August 1, 1994

The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism by Stefan Kühl (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994) 166 pages; $22.00. In his 1910 textbook, Elementary Principles of Economics, world-renowned Yale Professor Irving Fisher devoted part of a chapter to "Population in Relation to Wealth." Fisher warned of the problem of "race suicide" caused by the ...

Classical Liberalism in Argentina: A Lesson for the World

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 1994

Two centuries ago, Adam Smith asked a very fundamental question: what are the nature and causes of the wealth of nations? Note that Smith did not ask what most people today ask — that is, what are the causes of poverty? Smith understood that poverty had always been the natural state of mankind. He wanted to know something much ...

The Government’s Smoke Screen for Health Nazism

by Richard M. Ebeling July 1, 1994

Since in our era of health Nazism, it is an ideological requirement to state whether one is "politically correct" on various issues, let me be up-front. I am a smoker — both cigarettes and a pipe — and I enjoy them immensely. I used to run in 10-K races, and I used to run seven-minute ...

Will You Be Safer If Guns Are Banned? Part 1

by Jarret B. Wollstein July 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 Violence is out of control, and guns are a major cause. This is a belief many Americans now share. This belief is fueling a nationwide movement that could result in a total prohibition on private-gun ownership in the near future. Ownership of private guns is being banned one step at a time. The recently enacted ...

Gun Control: A Historical Perspective, Part 2

by Benedict D. LaRosa July 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 Let's look at a few recent examples in history of armed and disarmed populaces. A shining example of the former is Switzerland. Like America, Switzerland won its independence in a war fought by armed citizenry. Since independence in the 14th century, the Swiss have been required ...

Book Review: Double Lives

by Richard M. Ebeling July 1, 1994

Double Lives: Spies and Writers in the Secret Soviet War of Ideas against the West by Stephen Koch (New York: Free Press, 1994) 419 pages; $24.95. In the first half of the 20th century, one of the most respected and internationally famous economists was Arthur C. Pigou. A Cambridge University professor, Pigou ...

Nationalism: Its Nature and Consequences

by Richard M. Ebeling June 1, 1994

In the 19th century, many classical liberals believed that the ideas of "national identity" and "nationalism" were false scents that were likely to lead the world away from liberty and towards a continuation of political tyranny and international conflict. For example, William E. H. Lecky, in his study Democracy and Liberty (1896), argued that "the idea and ...

Freedom, Virtue, and Responsibility, Part 3

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Despite their good intentions, the proponents of the welfare-state, managed-economy way of life have ended up with results that are opposite from what they intended. The war on poverty was supposed to end poverty. It did not, and the situation is worse than when the war started some thirty years ...

The Right to Life Equals the Right to Possess Firearms

by Sheldon Richman June 1, 1994

In the opinion of the pundits, the tide has turned on the gun-control issue. After years of successful opposition to federal gun control by the National Rifle Association and others, the public is said to be ready for limits on gun ownership. The most recent evidence is passage of the federal Brady Bill, requiring a five-day waiting period for ...

Gun Control: A Historical Perspective, Part 1

by Benedict D. LaRosa June 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 Gun control is an issue which never stands on its own. By this I mean that the motives behind it are rarely those expressed by its advocates. There is almost always a hidden agenda. On rare occasion, those proposing the confiscation of weapons are candid about ...

Real Independence Day: The Meaning of the Second Amendment

by Richard J. Davis D.D.S. June 1, 1994

There is no national holiday on April 19 (or April 18), though the Boston Marathon is run around this time. When I was in college in the East, this meant not only mid-spring but mid-term, and when exams were finished, the anniversary of Paul Revere's ride seemed a perfect excuse for ...

Book Review: Post-Communist Societies in Transition

by Richard M. Ebeling June 1, 1994

Post-Communist Societies in Transition: A Social Market Perspective by John Gray (London: Social Market Foundation, 1994) 45 pages; £8.00. In 1984, Oxford University philosopher John Gray published a book entitled Hayek on Liberty . After it appeared in a revised edition in 1986, I wrote a review of the book for the February 1988 issue of The Freeman ...