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Sheldon Richman Articles

TGIF: My Most Excellent Election Day Experience

by Sheldon Richman | Nov 9, 2018

Last Tuesday, special day that it was, I awoke early and prepared to go out. By 7 a.m., I was where I always go on this special day, eager to do my duty and exercise my sacred right to choose. Entering the warm, brightly lit building, I was greeted by friendly folks...

TGIF: Birthright Citizenship – Just and Justified

by Sheldon Richman | Nov 2, 2018

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside." So says section 1 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. With the impeccable timing we’re...

TGIF: Let’s Stop the Merchants of Death

by Sheldon Richman | Oct 26, 2018

Imagine that back in the day, the U.S. government had contracted postal services out to a private company rather than setting up its own “public” agency. Today the U.S. Postal Corp. would have officers, directors, and employees who were not on the government payroll....

TGIF: The Insidious Wiles of Foreign Influence: Trump, Bin Salman, and Netanyahu

by Sheldon Richman | Oct 19, 2018

Even if the Saudi monarchy or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in particular did not murder journalist Jamal Khashoggi, that regime is an especially evil one in both its domestic and international conduct. To see that, one need only consider the horrendous Saudi war...

TGIF: Trump’s Middle East Delusions Persist

by Sheldon Richman | Oct 12, 2018

Jason Greenblatt, Donald Trump’s No. 2 special envoy to the Middle East behind son-in-law Jared Kushner, assures us that his boss’s plan to settle the Palestine-Israel “conflict” once and for all is still in the works and is going to be great. (It’s a conflict in the...

TGIF: Anarchism and Kavanaugh

by Sheldon Richman | Oct 5, 2018

Regarding Brett Kavanaugh, I’ve been wondering how I can blame the state for what we've endured these past weeks. I can safely say that without the state, we would have been spared the Kavanaugh episode. Natural-law, pro-market anarchists are not utopians. To...

TGIF: Spinoza – A Man for Our Troubled Times

by Sheldon Richman | Sep 28, 2018

In these interesting times, we all need someone to admire. I have found such a one in Benedict de Spinoza (1632-1677), the 17th-century rationalist liberal philosopher who advocated freedom of thought and expression, toleration, and simple kindness. Spinoza lived in...

TGIF: Are We Sure It Can’t Happen Here?

by Sheldon Richman | Sep 14, 2018

One runs a risk whenever one cites the 20th century’s great terror states while discussing current ominous developments in the western democracies. Apparent comparisons of the United States or western and central European countries to Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia...

TGIF: Trump, Spinoza, and the Palestinian Refugees

by Sheldon Richman | Sep 7, 2018

As though we had any ground for doubt heretofore, we can now clearly see -- in light of his end to $350 million in annual humanitarian assistance to five million Palestinian refugees -- Donald Trump’s cruel and spiteful nature. It was not enough to stack the so-called...

TGIF: Anti-Israelism and Anti-Semitism: The Invidious Conflation

by Sheldon Richman | Aug 31, 2018

I and others have warned that enactment of the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act now before Congress would threaten free speech and free inquiry on America’s college campuses and beyond. As I’ve explained, this bill incorporates a conception -- a "definition" plus potential...

TGIF: Defining Anti-Semitism, Threatening Free Speech

by Sheldon Richman | Aug 24, 2018

In May the benign-sounding Anti-Semitism Awareness Act appeared before the U.S Congress “to provide for consideration a definition of anti-Semitism for the enforcement of Federal antidiscrimination laws concerning education programs or activities.” No big deal? Let us...

TGIF: For the Love of Reason

by Sheldon Richman | Aug 17, 2018

Far be it from me to divide humankind in two, but were I so inclined, I’d divide it into those who love reason and those who are indifferent if not outright hostile to it. Members of the first group adore the reasoning process and their own reasoning faculties. The...

TGIF: A Glimmer of Hope in Bleak Palestine

by Sheldon Richman | Aug 3, 2018

The Palestinians' deteriorating conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip makes even long-term optimism difficult. Neither a one-liberal-state nor two-state resolution seems in the offing because (if for no other reason) either would seem to spell political suicide...

TGIF: Depopulating Palestine, Dehumanizing the Palestinians

by Sheldon Richman | Jul 27, 2018

One might have thought that, in the wake of the Nazi regime's systematic crimes against humanity last century, dehumanization would have become unthinkable once and for all. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. It has shamefully continued unabated, the assorted...

TGIF: Trump and Putin – How about Getting Rid of Your Nukes?

by Sheldon Richman | Jul 20, 2018

The United States and Russia remained at odds, continuing military exercises along the borders of NATO, undermining the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), upgrading their nuclear arsenals, and eschewing arms control negotiations. --"It's Two Minutes to...

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Sheldon Richman

Sheldon Richman is the executive editor of The Libertarian Institute and a contributing editor at Antiwar.com. He is the former senior editor at the Cato Institute and Institute for Humane Studies; former editor of The Freeman, published by the Foundation for Economic Education; and former vice president at the Future of Freedom Foundation. His latest books are Coming to Palestine and What Social Animals Owe to Each Other.

What Social Animal's Owe to Each Other

by Sheldon Richman

These essays, written over the past 20 years, have a single underlying theme: namely, that we human beings, as social animals, need individual freedom to fully flourish.

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Coming to Palestine