Sheldon Richman | The Libertarian Institute

The FDA’s Continuing Assault on the Principles of Justice

by Sheldon Richman | May 21, 2019 | Blog, Justice, Libertarianism

Eddie Gray, the owner of the online pipe-smokers’ boutique The Pipe Nook, reports in his latest YouTube video that the FDA has accused him of selling to a minor but refuses to provide the evidence. This is nothing less than a direct assault on a basic principle of Anglo-American justice: innocence until guilt is proved, which means that the government — exclusively — has the burden of proof and the accused has no burden whatever to provide evidence of his innocence. One obvious aspect of this principle is that the state has an obligation to present the evidence to the accused, who may then...

What Is Fascism? What Is State Socialism?

by Sheldon Richman | Apr 10, 2019 | Blog

I was interviewed recently on how fascism differs from state socialism. The interview is based on my article, "Fascism," in The Concise Encylopedia of Economics. Listen here.

FCC Commissioner Wants to Ban E-cigarette Commercials

by Sheldon Richman | Feb 15, 2019 | Blog, Economics, Justice, Libertarianism

If a member of the Federal Communications Commission gets her way, commercials for e-cigarettes (vaping products) would be banned from radio and television. A ban would not only violate freedom, specifically the freedom speech that is supposedly protected by the First Amendment, it would also harm cigarette smokers by reducing information about a substantially safer alternative to cigarettes. (E-cigs may contain nicotine but not tobacco. Rather than burning leaves for inhalation, e-cigs a vaporize a flavored liquid.) What grounds does Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel cite? Public health, of...

TGIF: Who Owns You?

by Sheldon Richman | Feb 15, 2019 | Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF, Will Grigg Radio

“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 church and state has been undone by the apostles of modern medicine, whose zeal for creating a therapeutic state has remained unopposed by politicians, priests, professionals, journalists, civil libertarians, and the public.” --Thomas Szasz Many people have legitimate complaints against the Food and Drug Administration. For example,...

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 the door. But it wasn’t UPS. Standing on his doorstep were three badge-flashing inspectors from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. They had come to inspect Jeff’s business. Just what is Jeff’s business? Does he produce food? No. Does he produce drugs? No again. So why the unannounced visit by FDA inspectors? Jeff makes...

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.) The Food and Drug Administration deems vaping devices “tobacco products” even though they contain no tobacco. Introduced without sponsors by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the bill would allow an exception for some vaping products, but it is one that would be all but impossible to qualify for. The rationalization for the prohibition...

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 narrow purpose has been set out, regulatory rule-making has engaged in mission-creep with alarming regularity. Here’s an example that gets little attention because it directly impinges on the freedom of only a small number of Americans. For the last 10 years the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been writing draconian rules...

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 burden of proof to sustain. But those who oppose a new war or call for an end to an existing one are sure to be treated like oddballs if not traitors. They’d better have an extraordinarily strong defense of their position because the burden of proof will be squarely on them; even a strong defense, however, won’t get the heat...

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The FDA’s Continuing Assault on the Principles of Justice

What Is Fascism? What Is State Socialism?

FCC Commissioner Wants to Ban E-cigarette Commercials

TGIF: Who Owns You?

TGIF: The FDA’s Assault on Tobacco Consumers, Part 3

TGIF: The FDA’s Assault on Tobacco Consumers, Part 2

TGIF: The FDA’s Assault on Tobacco Consumers

TGIF: America’s War Culture

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