Daily Articles

Book Review: The Collected Works of F.A. Hayek

by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 1992

The Collected Works of F.A. Hayek, Volume 3: The Trend of Economic Thinking by W.W. Bartley and Stephen Kresge (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1991); 338 pages; $45.95. I remember when I first read Friedrich A. Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty in the late 1960s. In Part 1, "On The Value of Liberty," I found one of the ...

Tyranny at the State and Local Level

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 1992

Tyranny at the state and local level is out of control. In order to benefit the politically privileged, state and local governments — like their national counterpart — are using their tax and regulatory powers to plunder and loot the citizenry. There are few better examples of this tyranny than the ...

Fighting Statism in a Post-Communist World

by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 1992

After the seventy-five year experiment with socialist central-planning in the Soviet Union, it has now been demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no alternative to a market economy. And this is reflected in the stated objectives of every one of the former communist countries: to privatize ...

Limited Government—A Moral Issue

by C.W. Anderson February 1, 1992

The 1980s, economist Milton Friedman writes, witnessed "a sea change in the direction of public thinking about government's ability to solve economic and social problems." In fact, the idea of getting government off our backs became a live issue, worldwide. Although there was little change in the size or power of government "The prospect is bright," Friedman observed, "but ...

Fair versus Free

by Milton Friedman February 1, 1992

The Federal Communications Commission seeks to enforce a "fairness doctrine" on radio and TV stations. We suffered numerous "fair trade" laws, until they were declared unenforceable. One businessman vies with another in proclaiming his faith in competition provided that it is "fair." Yet, scrutinize word for word the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, and you ...

Book Review: Monetarist Economics

by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 1992

Monetarist Economics by Milton Friedman (Cambridge: Basil Blackwell, 1991); 188 pages; $29.95 In the 1950s, for all practical purposes, there was only one type of economics — Keynesian economics. In the ten years after John Maynard Keynes published his 1936 volume The General Theory of Money, Interest and Money, the vast majority of American and British economists were won over ...

Crime in America

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 1992

As the English philosopher John Locke observed in his Two Treatises on Government, man's life, liberty, and property are not privileges bestowed by government. They are inherent and basic rights that preexist government. Thus, individuals have the natural or God-given right to live their lives in any way they choose, as long as they do so peacefully. Why was ...

The Causes and Consequences of World War II, Part 3

by Richard M. Ebeling January 1, 1992

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In 1945, Nazi totalitarianism was destroyed by the military might of the wartime allies. But within a few months of victory, our comrade-in-arms, "Uncle Joe" Stalin (as he was affectionately referred to by President Franklin Roosevelt), was making it clear that the postwar period would not be an era of ...

The Drug War Hits Home

by David Boaz January 1, 1992

Grady McClendon, 53, his wife, two of their adult children, and two grand- children were driving a rented car through Georgia to their Florida home when McClendon made a wrong turn on a one-way street. Local police stopped him, checked his identification, and asked to search the car. He agreed. Opening suitcases and purses, the ...

Book Review: Economic Freedom

by Richard M. Ebeling January 1, 1992

Economic Freedom by F.A. Hayek (Cambridge: Basil Blackwell, 1991); 415 pages; $29.95. The two scourges of the 20th century have been socialism and Keynesian economics. Socialism produced the worst forms of tyranny ever known in the history of man. Keynesian economics served as the intellectual rationale for the growth of governmental ...

December 7, 1941: The Infamy of FDR

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 1991

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii — December 7, 1941 — killed or injured over 4,500 Americans. It destroyed most of America's Pacific fleet. Almost 200 American aircraft were lost. Although America's defenders at Pearl Harbor fought bravely and courageously, the attack resulted in a massacre. There is no better example of the political indoctrination which the American people ...

The Causes and Consequences of World War II, Part 2

by Richard M. Ebeling December 1, 1991

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 World War II was not a war between freedom and tyranny. Rather it was a conflict between alternative systems of collectivism. By the 1930s, there was not one major country devoted to and practicing the principles of classical liberalism — the political philosophy of individual liberty, free-market capitalism and free ...