Perhaps you've noticed that we live in intolerant times. Many people claim to be endangered by the mere spoken or written expression of views on a range of issues. This has led to direct action to disrupt speakers on college campuses and elsewhere and to indirect...
Politics
TGIF: Why Is Government Stuff Called “Public”?
by Sheldon Richman | Oct 13, 2023 | Criminal Justice, Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Government facilities and services -- which are actually disservices overall -- are called "public" while services that are efficiently responsive to the public are dubbed "private." Why is that? That way of framing the distinction could be intended to subtly...
TGIF: A Market for Law?
by Sheldon Richman | Oct 6, 2023 | Criminal Justice, Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Great part of that order which reigns among mankind is not the effect of government. It has its origin in the principles of society and the natural constitution of man. It existed prior to government, and would exist if the formality of government was abolished....
Showdown in the U.S. House: What Really Happened?
by Connor O'Keeffe | Oct 5, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles, Politics
On Tuesday, Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted as Speaker of the House. This came days after the former Speaker struck a forty-five-day spending deal with House Democrats to keep the government funded. The last-minute deal and successful motion to vacate...
A Short ‘Continuing Resolution’ Will Not Fix Big Problems
by Ron Paul | Oct 4, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles, Politics
Federal spending is so out of control that it only took three months for the federal debt to increase by one trillion dollars to over 33 trillion dollars. In contrast, it took almost 200 years for the federal debt to reach one trillion dollars. So the federal...
Congress Passes Stop-Gap Spending Bill, Ukraine Aid Relegated to Separate Vote
by Connor Freeman | Oct 2, 2023 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Politics
Editor's Note: Before midnight, President Joe Biden signed the temporary funding bill. A partial “shutdown” of the federal government, which seemed inevitable amid battles over spending in both chambers of Congress, was averted after the House and Senate passed a...
TGIF: Hurrah for Real Globalization!
by Sheldon Richman | Sep 22, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, History, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Globalization, like the free market and classical liberalism generally, isn't wildly popular these days, is it? People blame globalization for all sorts of bad things, and the raps are usually bum. In truth, to the extent that governments keep out so-called foreign...
TGIF: Who Rules? That Is Not the Question
by Sheldon Richman | Sep 8, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Today's two major contenders for political power seem to be elitists and populists. Funnily enough, both types are present in each of the big tribes known as progressive/liberal and conservatism, left and right, or Democratic and Republican. (Here's the lowdown on...