Since raising taxes oftentimes isn't very popular, public officials are always on the lookout for less direct ways to plunder and loot people. Among the most favorite ways in recent times has been what are called asset-forfeiture laws as part of the "war on drugs," which empower cops to stop highway travelers and steal large amounts of cash they find inside the cars.
Of course, the longtime favorite way to increase the amount of money taken out of the pockets of the citizenry and ... (more)
In the wake of President Obama's apology for the killing of two Western hostages in a drone assassination in Pakistan, people might be wondering if it will be possible for surviving family members to recover in a legal action against the assassins for the wrongful death of their loved ones.
The answer is unequivocally no. The reason is that long ago, the judicial branch of the federal government, acquiescing to the overwhelming power of the national-security branch of the governme... (more)
One of the strangest videos I've seen in years consists of Barack Obama (yes, that guy) interviewing David Simon, the creator of the epic television series The Wire.
The Wire, which aspires to a realistic presentation of Baltimore street life, is a devastating expose of the failure of the drug war, public schools, the welfare state, and punitive policing as a means of social uplift. The series pictures a level of ineffectiveness and corruption that overwhelms the viewer with a r... (more)
Like so many other "official" social and governmental institutions that were birthed during the Progressive Era a century ago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation -- better known as the FBI -- has been held up as a model of governmental professionalism. The G-Men, as they were called, were to be the cream of the crop of professional and "scientific" lawmen, incorruptible, diligent, and generally correct about everything.
Progressives believed that all of American life needed to fa... (more)
It is difficult to conceive of a greater violation of the principles of freedom than drug laws -- that is, laws by which the government punishes people who possess, distribute, or ingest drugs. A free society necessarily entails the right to engage in any peaceful activity, even if it is considered self-destructive, harmful, or irresponsible.
Thus, it's not surprising that drug laws are an inherent part of totalitarian regimes. A good example is China, where the country's communis... (more)
As a kid growing up, did you ever think you'd live under a government that had the omnipotent power to assassinate you and every other American citizen? If you heard about some communist regime or other totalitarian government wielding the omnipotent power to assassinate its own citizens, you wouldn't be surprised. But I'll bet that the vast majority of Americans never thought they would end up living under a governmental structure that had that sort of power over the citizenry.
US Representative Ed Royce (R, CA) is busy at work destroying the possibility of truth being spoken in the US. On April 15 at a hearing before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs of which Royce is chairman, Royce made use of two minor presstitutes to help him redefine all who take exception to Washington's lies as "threats" who belong to a deranged pro-Russian propaganda cult.
Washington's problem is that whereas Washington controls the print and TV media in the US and its ... (more)
The New York Times recently carried an interesting article about Cuban citizens who are wearing clothes depicting the American flag. The fashion statement reflects the excitem... (more)
In his book Bourbon for Breakfast: Living Outside the Statist Quo, libertarian writer Jeffrey Tucker sagaciously noted that we Americans “really don’t get all the government we pay for, and thank goodness. Lord protect us on the day that we do.”
You can say that again. And again. And again. The federal government spends trillions of dollars a year, and for what? Health care for seniors, some parks, an inefficient postal service, and a military that seems to exist everywhere... (more)
A couple of days ago, the New York Times profiled Margrethe Verstager, a former "minister of the economy" in Denmark who is now serving as the European Union's "commissioner of competition." In her current position, she is going after Google in the hopes... (more)
Not surprisingly, the New York Times has an op-ed today entitled "Shaming Those Who Skip Out on Taxes," which calls on the federal government to publicly shame tax delinquents as part of its efforts to increase tax collections.
I've got a better idea: How about people in the private sector publicly shaming everyone who favors the continuation of the federal income tax?
Except for a brief period during the Civil War, the federal income tax was not a part of America's... (more)
Did you know that Washington keeps 450 nuclear ICBMs on “hair-trigger alert”? Washington thinks that this makes us “safe.” The reasoning, if it can be called reason, is that by being able to launch in a few minutes, no one will try to attack the US with nuclear weapons. US missiles are able to get on their way before the enemy’s missiles can reach the US to destroy ours.
If this makes you feel safe, you need to read Eric Schlosser’s book, Command and Control.
Who knew that the market for blenders is so complicated? I feel like I just waded into an incredible thicket of expertise, vociferous opinion, infinite choice, and high-fashion kitchen confusion.
It began inauspiciously enough. I needed a blender because everyone seems to be making smoothies. Surely this is no big deal, I thought. I need a machine that grinds stuff up and turns it into a drinkable liquid. I'll head to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and grab one.
“What the government is good at is collecting taxes, taking away your freedoms and killing people. It’s not good at much else.”—Author Tom Clancy
The American people remain eager to be persuaded that a new president in the White House can solve the problems that plague us. Yet no matter who wins this next presidential election, you can rest assured that the new boss will be the same as the old boss, and we—the permanent underclass in America—will continue to be forced to march in... (more)
The case of Mohanad Mahmoud Al Farekh is a perfect example of how the national-security state apparatus that was grafted onto our federal governmental structure as part of the Cold War has revolutionized America's governmental system.
Farekh is an American citizen. Two years ago, the Pentagon and the CIA -- the two principal components of the national-security state branch of the federal government -- were urging President Obama to authorize an assassination of Farekh. Apparently ... (more)
The Clinton campaign for president is going to shake out the same way that the Obama candidacy did. In the end, its primary appeal will be to identity politics. Voters will be asked to make possible a historic advance for women. Only this way, we will be told, can we as a nation (people, humanity, whatever) put to rest a long history of subjugation and exclusion.
The history is correct but the solution is not. There is nothing necessarily wrong with cheering the election of a wom... (more)
"The author does not understand socialism," read the letter from MacMillan in reply to the submission of Ayn Rand's novella Anthem. They turned it down. Actually, the publisher didn't understand socialism. Hardly anyone did in 1937, when this book was written. Rand, however, did understand socialism. She understood it so well that she knew it would result in the opposite of what it promised and that its proponents would eventually come to embrace its grim reality, rather than repudiate the syste... (more)
Understanding history as best we can is important for obvious reasons. It’s particularly important for libertarians who want to persuade people to the freedom philosophy. In making their case for individual freedom, mutual aid, social cooperation, foreign nonintervention, and peace, libertarians commonly place great weight on historical examples most often drawn from the early United States. So if they misstate history or draw obviously wrong conclusions, they will discredit their case. Much dep... (more)
It's really so sad. The longtime conservative obsession with Cuba continues. Conservatives, like U.S. national-security state officials, just can't leave Cuba alone.
The latest manifestation of this psychological phenomenon is reflected in a piece by longtime conservative Wall Street Journal columnist Mary Anastasia O'Grady. In the article, entitled "Obama Rehabilitates the Castro Brothers," O'Grady goes through all sorts of lamentations and machinations over President Obama's... (more)
What is the difference between murder and normal police work? Many people who have seen the video from North Charleston, South Carolina, are just sure it constitutes murder. In a moral sense, and this is probably the sense we should draw upon, it does seem like outright murder.
One man in public park is slowly running away and another man draws a gun and shoots him in the back eight times. Cold blooded. ... (more)
To get a sense of how badly the regime in Iran wants sanctions relief for the Iranian people, you have to do more than contemplate the major concessions it has made in negotiations with the United States and the rest of the P5+1. Not only is Iran willing to dismantle a major part of its peaceful civilian nuclear program, to submit to the most intrusive in... (more)
Everything this nation once stood for is being turned on its head.
Free speech, religious expression, privacy, due process, bodily integrity, the sanctity of human life, the sovereignty of the family, individuality, the right to self-defense, protection against police abuses, representative government, ... (more)
Dating is perhaps the freest “market” in the United States today, and its lack of regulation can teach us powerful lessons about the flaws inherent in government regulation.
Most people recognize the absurdity of trying to regulate romantic relationships. What many don’t realize is that this absurdity stems not form the nature of these relationships, but from the nature of state intervention. For the same reasons that regulating dating would be counter-productive, regulating many ... (more)
"Do you think supporting Rand Paul for President is good for liberty?"
Here is my incredibly unsatisfying answer: I don't know.
Truly, I don't. Neither do you. Why can't we just admit this?
There is something about politics that elicits in everyone a faux sense of certainty. No matter how many times that political results contradict political promise, we still mostly pretend as if we know for certain what will happen when so and so wins. We know th... (more)
