“The issue comes down to whether the individual is viewed as a private person or as public property: the former has no obligation to the community to be or stay healthy; the latter does.” “Virtually everything the Founding Fathers sought to achieve by separating...
Sheldon Richman
TGIF: The FDA’s Assault on Tobacco Consumers, Part 3
by Sheldon Richman | Feb 8, 2019 | Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Updated Feb. 11, 2019 Early one morning last December, Jeff Gracik was heading to his southern California home garage-workshop where he makes his living when he heard a loud, hurried knock on his front door. Thinking it might be a rushed UPS driver, he quickly opened...
TGIF: The FDA’s Assault on Tobacco Consumers, Part 2
by Sheldon Richman | Feb 1, 2019 | Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
A bill introduced in the U.S. House last month would ban the flavoring of any “tobacco product.” The targets are vaping devices (vapes, e-cigarettes), but also cigars and pipe tobacco. (Flavored conventional cigarettes, other than menthol, have already been banned.)...
TGIF: The FDA’s Assault on Tobacco Consumers
by Sheldon Richman | Jan 25, 2019 | Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
We’ve all heard horror stories about the run-amok regulatory state. Enabled by open-ended statutes passed by Congress and signed by presidents, regulatory agencies have acquired virtual carte blanche to write rules governing peaceful behavior. Even when a seemingly...
TGIF: America’s War Culture
by Sheldon Richman | Jan 18, 2019 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
For most of the opinion-making class in America today, war is the default position. Representatives of establishment newspapers and TV news operations are not likely to grill someone who favors U.S. military intervention somewhere -- anywhere. He or she will have no...
TGIF: Tucker Carlson Needs Love from His Leaders
by Sheldon Richman | Jan 11, 2019 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Fox News host and Trump cheerleader Tucker Carlson is a culturally conservative, big-government, nationalist populist. As such, he’s upset that establishment politicians and their sponsoring elite don’t care enough to promote his and his fellow Americans’ happiness....
TGIF: War Over Ukraine?
by Sheldon Richman | Dec 7, 2018 | Foreign Policy, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Today, the United States and Allies conducted an extraordinary flight under the Open Skies Treaty. The timing of this flight is intended to reaffirm U.S. commitment to Ukraine and other partner nations. The United States is resolute in our support for the security of...
TGIF: Gassing Migrants
by Sheldon Richman | Nov 30, 2018 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
The Trump administration and its apologists are quick to point out that Barack Obama was as willing as Donald Trump himself to tear-gas desperate people trying to protect themselves by crossing America’s southern border. So he was, though many will refuse to believe...