Political Science 
Essential
Justice and Its Surroundings
By Anthony de Jasay: "As far as we can tell from history, there was little or no “constructed” legal order to support the “market system” when the pace of its development was at its most vigorous. It is as plausible to say that states hindered, undermined, and retarded markets, as that they helped them."
The Law
By Frédéric Bastiat: An English translation of one of Bastiat’s most famous pamphlets, written as part of his opposition to the growth of socialism in France in the 1840s and where he states that “the state is the great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else”.
The Constitution of the United States of America
As the supreme law of the land, the American Constitution acts to limit the role of government to the defense of our rights against foreign and domestic threat.
The Libertarian Vote
By David Boaz and David Kirby: "The libertarian vote is in play. At some 13 percent of the electorate, it is sizable enough to swing elections. Pollsters, political strategists, candidates, and the media should take note of it."
On Liberty
By John Stuart Mill. "The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection."
What Sort of Despotism Democratic Nations Have To Fear
By Alexis de Tocqueville. "It would seem that if despotism were to be established among the democratic nations of our days, it might assume a different character; it would be more extensive and more mild; it would degrade men without tormenting them."
The Calculus of Consent
"The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy, by James M. Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, is one of the classic works that founded the subdiscipline of public choice in economics and political science. To this day the Calculus is widely read and cited, and there is still much to be gained from reading and rereading this book."-Robert D. Tollison
Public Choice Theory
By Jane S. Shaw: "Public choice takes the same principles that economists use to analyze people's actions in the marketplace and applies them to people's actions in collective decision making."
The Freedom Philosophy
This anthology includes 14 essays on the political, economic, and moral foundations of a free society. These classic writings by Leonard E. Read, Frank Chodorov, Benjamin Rogge, F. A. Harper, among others, demonstrate the superiority of individual choice and capitalism over any forms of collectivism.
Intellectuals and Socialism
"In 1949, Hayek attributed the dominant position of planning in the West to the role of intellectuals, by which he meant 'professional second-hand dealers in ideas' such as journalists and commentators."
The Purpose and Limits of Government
"With the aid of experience, this essay will examine the theory behind the Declaration’s universal insights. Its focus will be on the moral order the Declaration sketches and the place of government within that order."
The Liberty of Ancients Compared with that of Moderns
By Benjamin Constant: "The danger of modern liberty is that, absorbed in the enjoyment of our private independence, and in the pursuit of our particular interests, we should surrender our right to share in political power too easily."
Frederic Bastiat - What is Seen and What is Not Seen
There is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: the bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen. Yet this difference is tremendous; for it almost always happens that when the immediate consequence is favorable, the later consequences are disastrous, and vice versa. Whence it follows that the bad economist pursues a small present good that will be followed by a great evil to come, while the good economist pursues a great good to come, at the risk of a small present evil.
Independent Study Guide: Political Science
Liberty Guide offers a comprehensive resource for the independent study of political science. The study guide provides access to articles and reviews, online publications, blogs, associations, book recommendations and more. This guide is an indispensable tool for aspiring students of liberty.
The Man versus the State, with Six Essays on Government, Society and Freedom
By Herbert Spencer: "This volume contains the four essays that Spencer published as The Man Versus the State in 1884 as well as five essays added by later publishers. In addition, it provides “The Proper Sphere of Government,” an important early essay by Spencer."
The Natural and Artificial Right of Property Contrasted
By Thomas Hodgskin: "In this series of letters to Lord Braugham Hodgskin distinguishes between the natural right of property (based upon Lockean principles of natural law) and the artificial right of property (which is decreed by parliament). He associated the doctrine of the artificial right of property with Benthamite reformers who were attempting to reform the English state."
On Liberty and The Subjection of Women
By John Stuart Mill: "An interesting edition from 1879 which combines On Liberty and The Subjection of Women, something which was not done again until the 1970s when the significance of Mill’s writings on women were again appreciated."
Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis
By Ludwig von Mises: "This book must rank as the most devastating analysis of socialism yet penned… . An economic classic in our time." - Henry Hazlitt
The Sphere and Duties of Government
By Wilhelm von Humboldt: "Humboldt explores the role that liberty plays in individual development, discusses criteria for permitting the state to limit individual actions, and suggests ways of confining the state to its proper bounds."
The Two Treatises of Civil Government
By John Locke: "Locke’s most famous work of political philosophy began as a reply to Filmer’s defense of the idea of the divine right of kings and ended up becoming an defense of natural rights, especially property rights, and of government limited to protecting those rights."
Saving Rights Theory From Its Friends
By Tom G. Palmer, from Individual Rights Reconsidered, edited by Tibor Machan (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 2001)
Myths of Individualism
By Tom G. Palmer, Cato Policy Report, Vol. XVIII, No. 5 (September/October 1996)
The Writings of James Madison
"This volume contains his public papers and his private correspondence, including speeches in the First Congress and Address to the General Assembly to the People of the Commonwealth of Virginia."
The Writings of Thomas Paine
"The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all lovers of mankind are affected, and in the event of which their affections are interested."
On Moral Duties
By Marcus Tullius Cicero: "This treatise, then, may be regarded as an exposition of the ethical system of the Stoics of Cicero’s time, yet with a special limitation, purpose, and adaptation."
Vices Are Not Crimes
By Lysander Spooner: "Vices are simply the errors which a man makes in his search after his own happiness. Unlike crimes, they imply no malice toward others, and no interference with their persons or property."
Recommended
Five Tips to Win Any Debate
By Justin Hartfield & M. Harrison: Don't Debate the Player, Debate the Claim. Five tips to verbally own your opponent with respect, grace and heavily veiled contempt.
To Rebuild the GOP
William Niskanen, chairman emeritus and a distinguished senior economist at the Cato Institute, provides a list of principles that the GOP should adopt to regain its political influence after losing sight of its core values over the past 40 years.
Ask the Expert: Malou Innocent
Malou Innocent, Foreign Policy Analyst at the Cato Institute argues that the U.S. should not assume that India will bow to U.S. power and that sanctions provide little to no benefit when imposed.
Unsolicited Advice for Obama
By Radley Balko: "I don't agree with Obama on much (I don't agree with the current administration on much, either), so I won't make an appeal with him to compromise with the Republicans on the issues where I agree with them. Instead, here are a few recommendations - some substantive, some symbolic - of moves Obama could make that are consistent with the principles he articulated during the campaign:"
Free Political Speech in 2009?
In this video John Samples, director of Cato's Center for Representative Government, discuses the likely prospects that free political speech will encounter in the coming year.
Say No to the Auto Bailout
By Daniel J. Mitchell: "A taxpayer bailout would be a terrible mistake. It would subsidize the shoddy management practices of the corporate bureaucrats at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, and it would reward the intransigent union bosses who have made the UAW synonymous with inflexible and anti-competitive work rules."
Understanding the Financial Crisis
This video, created by AfricanLiberty.org, clarifies the basic causes and consequences of the current financial crisis.
Obama on Drugs
Although President-elect Barack Obama portrays his pot smoking and cocaine snorting as behavior he regrets, writes Senior Editor Jacob Sullum, it would be hard for him to justify harsh treatment of drug users when he himself escaped punishment for the same actions and clearly is better off than he would have been had he been arrested. But will that experience translate into more sensible drug policies?
A Repudiation, But of What?
By Michael D. Tanner: "To suggest that in electing Barack Obama and a Democratic congressional majority, voters were choosing big government and liberalism over small government and conservatism would imply that either the Bush administration, the current Republican congressional leadership, or, for that matter, John McCain, actually supported smaller government."
Worse than Bush?
By Ted Galen Carpenter: "If President Obama adopts a security strategy confined to defending vital American interests, he will win—and deserve—the gratitude of the American people. If, on the other hand, he embraces a nebulous crusade to secure "human dignity" all over the world through the instruments of U.S. foreign aid and military power, he will undermine his own administration and ignite yet another round of public frustration about the unwillingness of political leaders to focus on America's best interests and well-being."
A Sweeping Rejection of President Bush
By David Boaz: "Left-liberal groups are quick to declare Barack Obama’s win a broad endorsement of the “progressive” agenda, their highly inaccurate name for more taxes, more spending, more entitlements, and more regulation. After a trillion-dollar increase in federal spending during the Bush administration and the biggest expansion of entitlements since Lyndon Johnson, it hardly seems likely that what’s troubling the American economy or the American people is an insufficiency of government."
Voting Schmoting
"In this irreverent look at voting, economist Gordon Tullock explains why he believes you're better off avoiding the polls altogether on Election Day."
Ask the Expert: David Boaz
Executive Vice President of the Cato Institute, David Boaz, explains how far we have come in the advancement of liberty, the threats to liberty we face today, and what we may do to preserve liberty for tomorrow.
Dismantling Al Qaeda
"Because we use the shorthand phrase 'war on terrorism' to describe the U.S. response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it is easy to believe that this war-like all previous wars-can be won simply by killing the enemy, wearing them down until they are broken and capitulate. Given that suicide terrorists are, by definition, undeterrable, it seems that we have no choice but to kill them before they kill us. But this is a different kind of war that requires a different paradigm."
A Critique of the National Popular Vote
"The National Popular Vote plan (NPV), introduced in more than 40 states, and adopted by 4, proposes an interstate compact to bring about direct election of the president of the United States. The proposal eliminates states as electoral districts in presidential elections by creating a national electoral district for the presidential election, thereby advancing a national political identity for the United States." Cato's Director of the Center for Representative Government, John Samples, explains why states should reject this compact.
Does Barack Obama Support Socialized Medicine?
Cato scholar Michael F. Cannon argues that "reasonable people can disagree over whether Obama's health plan would be good or bad. But to suggest that it is not a step toward socialized medicine is absurd."
Two Kinds of Change: Comparing the Candidates on Foreign Policy
By Justin Logan: "In the end, both candidates have significant flaws in their foreign policy ideas. Yet McCain's approach seems likely to amplify and repeat the errors of the Bush administration. A President McCain would promise more provocation, more intervention, and more strain on the military, the budget, and the country."
Why Opting Out Is No "Third Way"
By Will Wilkinson: "At first blush, 'libertarian paternalism' seems a linguistic miscarriage, a self-crippling idea condemned to limp aimlessly in eternal darkness on the island of misfit creeds alongside 'humanitarian sadism' and 'color-blind racism.' But that hasn't stopped Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, law and economics superstars at the University of Chicago, from pushing the catchphrase and concept as a solution to the nation's problems for a half-decade now."
Doing Something?
By John Berlau: "But what if the bailout, as originally proposed and in its latest incarnation, would spend $700 billion of taxpayers' money and actually make the economy worse? Believe it or not, there is good evidence this may happen."
Parody Flunks Out
By Harvey Silverglate: "Political humor is no longer welcome in Academia as administrators choke the life out of parody."
A Profile in Cowardice
By Gene Healy: "In Friday's presidential debate on foreign policy (assuming the show still goes on), we can be sure that Barack Obama will hit John McCain hard for supporting what Obama has called a "dumb war" in Iraq. But in doing so, Obama has at least one major handicap to overcome: his running mate."
Bailout Raises Libertarians' Market Value
By David Montgomery: "Instead, in their handsome building on Massachusetts Avenue, faced with a proposed $700 billion government bailout of Wall Street, this town's most gung-ho libertarians and free-marketeers are reaching for their coffee and their keyboards. They are invigorated. The prospect of doom and ruination for everything they hold dear only makes them stronger."
Gene Healy on the Presidency
In this video Cato VP Gene Healy discusses the growth of the imperial presidency.
Washington Brewed the Poison
By Jonah Goldberg: "Even if the bad mortgages weren't in the system, we'd still have the hangover from the end of the housing boom. But the biggest dose of poison entered the financial bloodstream through Washington."
Organic Market
By Russ Roberts: "Both presidential candidates will promise a risk-free world with high returns. But peddling that fantasy is the cause of the current crisis. We treat our children this way--we do our best to insulate them from harm and still allow them to grow. I'd like politicians to treat me as an adult, paying the price for my recklessness and reaping a reward when I am prudent."
Why Government Grows
By Richard Ebeling: "As we enter the final weeks of the election campaign, it's time for both candidates to explain their views on the proper size and role of government."
Bottoms Up!
By Will Wilkinson: "A hundred and thirty college presidents and chancellors have signed a controversial statement calling for a new debate about the legal drinking age; their notion is to lower it from 21 to 18. Alas, college presidents are politicians of a sort, so none will take the reopened debate where it needs to go. There should be no drinking age at all."
Ticking Time Bomb Explodes, Public is Shocked
By Robert Higgs: "The failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, setting in motion the biggest government bailout/takeover in U.S. history, brings a grim sense of fulfillment to competent economists. After all, what did people expect, that water would flow uphill forever?"
Tax Havens Are Very Beneficial for Global Economy
"Statist politicians and international bureaucracies such as the OECD and UN routinely attack tax havens, claiming that they lead to “harmful tax competition.” "Yet at no point do critics bother to provide any evidence for this claim. This mini-documentary that I narrated for the Center for Freedom and Prosperity looks at the empirical data and scholarly research and reports that tax havens actually have a very positive impact on the global economy." - Dr. Dan Mitchell
With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?: Aiding the World’s Worst Dictators
Christopher J. Coyne and Matt E. Ryan: "Despite rhetoric supporting liberal values and institutions, the governments of developed countries provide continued development and military assistance to the world’s worst dictators. This aid sustains the status quo and imposes significant costs on ordinary citizens."
Bailout Nation
By David Boaz: "But the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is another giant step toward government control of the economy. NPR reported this morning that the government takeover “could turn out to be a smart one.” Yes, if you think nationalization of the means of production just might work."
Responsible Drug Use
"Those who support drug prohibition often do so with the premise, implicit or explicit, that life without prohibition would be marked by vastly more irresponsibility, addiction, accidents, health problems, and death. Those who favor ending drug prohibition are forced to argue, not only for an unfamiliar policy, but also against this parade of horribles. Yet are we not able to think about and manage these substances rationally and responsibly?"
The Limits of Deterrence
By Ted Galen Carpenter: "Hawkish pundits and politicians insist that if Georgia had been a member of NATO, Russia would never have dared to use military force against it. Those confident assertions are wrong on two levels, and they underscore a dangerous flaw in U.S. foreign policy."
A President, Not a Savior
By Gene Healy: "As the conventions celebrate the anointed, it's worth exploring how our long slide away from the Founding Fathers' modest notion of presidential responsibility has left us with a dysfunctional politics and a bloated imperial presidency."
Amethyst Initiative's Debate on Drinking a Welcome Alternative to Fanaticism
By Radley Balko: "It's been nearly 25 years since Congress blackmailed the states to raise the minimum drinking age to 21 or lose federal highway funding. Supporters of the law have hailed it as an unqualified success, and until recently, they've met little resistance."
Creating Prosperity
By Donald J. Boudreaux: "No politician creates prosperity. It is created by countless entrepreneurs, businesses and workers competing and cooperating within markets. For government to avoid obstructing these markets is indeed desirable -- but it does not create the resulting prosperity. To insist otherwise would be no different from my insisting that I, as a driver who did not run over Ms. Jones as she walked back from the supermarket, am responsible for the tasty dinner she cooked that evening for her family."
Drinking Age Revisited
By Brandon Arnold: "Yesterday, over a hundred college presidents called for a reexamination of the current minimum drinking age and suggested it should be lowered. This is great news and could serve as an opportunity to begin an intelligent national dialogue on improving alcohol policies."
Preliminary Conclusions From The War In Georgia
By Andrei Illarionov: "It is already possible to outline some theses related to the conflict between Russia and Georgia."
What Next for D.C.'s Gun Laws
By Robert A. Levy and David Kopel: "The Supreme Court ruled in June that provisions of Washington, D.C.'s gun laws are unconstitutional. Unfortunately, the city has responded with new regulations that are a flagrant attempt to circumvent the court's decision."
Keeping Our Cool: What to do About Global Warming
By Jim Manzi: "The loss of economic and technological development that would be required to eliminate literally all theorized climate change risk would cripple our ability to deal with virtually every other foreseeable and unforeseeable risk, not to mention our ability to lead productive and interesting lives in the meantime."
Seeing China Whole
By Steve Chapman: "Anyone contemplating the thuggish repression still prevalent under the Beijing government may find that hard to imagine. But if the last 30 years have taught us anything, it is not to underestimate China's capacity for positive change."
Bryan Caplan on Voter Irrationality
Bryan explains the Miracle of Aggregation, shows that its key assumption doesn't hold up empirically, then focuses on systematically biased beliefs about economics.
Greasing the World Economy Without Doha
By Daniel J. Ikenson: "The Doha trade round died a thousand deaths long before this week. But outside the bureaucracies in Geneva, Brussels and Washington, few are grieving because the world economy has moved on."
A Few Questions for Barack Obama
By Radley Balko: " In my last column, I posed questions to GOP presidential hopeful John McCain. This week, it's Democrat Barack Obama's turn."
Why Muslims Still Hate Us
By Patrick Basham: "An analysis of Muslim public opinion since 9/11 finds that, on balance, the "foreign policy trumps culture" argument is correct. This finding has important implications for the debate over U.S. Middle East policy and the broader war on terrorism."
The Grand Exaggerator
By Patrick Michaels: "OK, it's pretty much standard rhetoric in Washington to say that if you don't do as I say, there will be massive consequences. But to say, as Gore recently did: 'The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk;' and: 'The future of human civilization is at stake' — that's a bit much, even for the most faded and jaded political junkie."
Criminal Justice Unfairly Ignored on Trail
By Radley Balko: Given that enforcing federal law is one of the few presidential powers explicitly prescribed the Constitution, here are some criminal justice policy questions for John McCain and Barack Obama:
District of Columbia V. Heller: What's Next?
By Robert A. Levy: "Following a victory that some thought impossible, the advocates of the right to bear arms are asking themselves where to go next. None are more qualified to answer that question than Robert A. Levy, co-counsel in District of Columbia v. Heller, the landmark case that has permanently changed the shape of gun rights jurisprudence." - Dr. Jason Kuznicki
Crying Wolf: Are we all fascists now?
By Michael C. Moynihan: "To anyone that has attended a political demonstration, trawled a blog, or attended a Western university in the past half century, the scattershot use of 'fascist' will ring familiar. And almost as clichéd as accusing an ideological opponent of fascist sympathies is the accurate observation that such charges often demonstrate an utter lack of understanding of just what qualifies as fascist, other than 'someone I vehemently disagree with.'"
Don't Shed a Tear Over Bid for Beer
By John D. Burger: "An unsolicited bid by the Belgian-Brazilian conglomerate InBev to take over Anheuser Busch has set off a backlash among the American public. Protesters of the proposed deal are relying on patriotic slogans such as "Keep Budweiser American" in an attempt to rally the masses against the originally friendly but increasingly hostile takeover bid. I find this reaction terribly embarrassing."
Banned! Drew Carey Takes a Tour of Nanny State Nation
"Whether you love it, hate it, or have never thought about it, chances are some politician wants to ban it. 'Welcome to the Nanny State Nation,' says reason.tv host Drew Carey. 'Where the government minds your own business.'"
A Matter of Life and Death
By Karol Boudreaux: "By some estimates South Africa has taken in over three million illegal immigrants in the past year - not just people in search of better jobs, but also Zimbabweans fleeing Robert Mugabe's reign. The unfortunate byproduct of this influx of immigrants is a longstanding and mostly dormant xenophobia that has reared its head. "
D.C. Gun Ban Struck Down
"On Thursday, the Court rediscovered the Second Amendment. More than five years after six Washington, D.C. residents challenged the city’s 32-year-old ban on all functional firearms in the home, the Court held in District of Columbia v. Heller that the law is unconstitutional. Heller is merely the opening salvo in a series of litigations that will ultimately resolve what weapons and persons can be regulated and what restrictions are permissible. But because of Thursday’s decision, the prospects for reviving the original meaning of the Second Amendment are now substantially brighter." - Robert A. Levy, Co-counsel to Mr. Heller
Democrats Capitulate on FISA
By Julian Sanchez: "Democrats are trying to rationalize capitulating on surveillance and telecom immunity in the new FISA bill by calling it a compromise. It isn't."
Mexicans and Machines: Why It's Time To Lay Off NAFTA
"Like technology, trade gives us more good stuff than bad—yet Americans are likely to cheer technology and fear trade. No doubt TV talkers and White House wannabes will keep stoking our fears of foreigners until voters and viewers stop buying it—or until robots snag their jobs, too."
From Breadbasket to Basket Case
By Mary Anastasia O'Grady: "As the presidential campaign drones on, Barack Obama and the Democrats are fleshing out the promise of "change" with some specific, big-government policy proposals. Many are familiar, perhaps because they already have been tried – in Argentina."
Narcissists With Nukes
By Shawn Macomber: "Should Cato Institute Senior Editor Gene Healy's wonderfully informative, perception shifting examination of the wayward American executive, The Cult of the Presidency, receive the attention it so richly deserves, however, it may serve as a perfect literary tonic for our historical and cultural amnesia. Perhaps Healy, armed with a persuasive, good-natured outrage, will even inspire some among us toward a more narrow definition of presidential virtuousness and, by extension, broaden the conception of our own."
Government, War, and Libertarianism
By Justin Logan: "Why has the war—and post-9/11 foreign policy generally—been so controversial for libertarians? And now, more than six years after 9/11 and more than five years into the war in Iraq, what can libertarian insights tell us about how we got here and what to do next?"
McCain Talking Too Tough on Russia, China
By Malou Innocent: "There is no question that China and Russia have objectionable policies. China's deplorable human-rights record and Russia's authoritarian structure leave much to be desired. But McCain's policy prescriptions will prevent the U.S. from working with them in areas of common interest, and preclude cooperation in meeting shared threats."
Presidential Power-Tripping
By Radley Balko: " The most important issue in this November's presidential election isn't Iraq or terrorism or the economy, though it plays into all three. The most important issue is presidential power."
Drew Carey Reports on the Tragically High Cost of Building a Border Wall
"At a time when pundits and politicians of all stripes endorse securing the border between the United States and Mexico, reason.tv travels south to see what's really going on—and what the human and monetary costs are of amping up border patrols."
Our Collectivist Candidates
By David Boaz: "The real issue is that Messrs. Obama and McCain are telling us Americans that our normal lives are not good enough, that pursuing our own happiness is "self-indulgence," that building a business is "chasing after our money culture," that working to provide a better life for our families is a 'narrow concern.'"
Caesaropapism Rampant
By George F. Will: "[R]hetorical—and related—excesses are inherent in the modern presidency. This is so for reasons brilliantly explored in the year's most pertinent and sobering public affairs book, 'The Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power,' by Gene Healy of Washington's libertarian Cato Institute."
Libertarian Voters and the Libertarian Party
By David Boaz: "Perhaps most strikingly, 44 percent of voters said yes to Zogby’s question, “Would you describe yourself as fiscally conservative and socially liberal, also known as libertarian?” So there would seem to be a huge potential audience for a Libertarian candidate who could raise money, get media attention, create online buzz, and present a compelling and articulate case for peace, freedom, and limited government."
The Global Food Crisis : Political Factors
AfricanLiberty.org produced this short video about the political factors behind the Global food crisis.
Bush's Bizarro World
By Ted Galen Carpenter: "President Bush's speech to the Israeli Knesset, in which he charged that people who advocate negotiating with "terrorists and radicals" are the equivalent of craven Western leaders who sought to appease Adolf Hitler in the late 1930s, has created a political firestorm."
The Cult of the Presidency
By Gene Healy: "Our system, with its unhealthy, unconstitutional concentration of power, feeds on the atavistic tendency to see the chief magistrate as our national father or mother, responsible for our economic well-being, our physical safety, and even our sense of belonging. Relimiting the presidency depends on freeing ourselves from a mind-set one century in the making."
Kidneys for Sale: Iranian Organ Donation
By Kerry Howley: "'What can Iran teach us about good governance?' is not a question often posed in Washington. But according to Benjamin Hippen, a transplant nephrologist in North Carolina, the Iranians have managed to do something American policy makers have long thought impossible: They’ve found kidneys for every single citizen in need."
Is Real ID Really Going to Happen?
By Matthew Blake: "Little about Real ID has gone as planned. All 50 states, and the District of Columbia, were given extensions by the Dept. of Homeland Security to comply with Real ID. This extension was given despite the fact that 17 states passed resolutions saying they have no intention of ever implementing the program."
Fairness, Idealism and Other Atrocities
By P.J. O'Rourke: "Well, here you are at your college graduation. And I know what you're thinking: 'Gimme the sheepskin and get me outta here!' But not so fast. First you have to listen to a commencement speech."
Battle Over Eminent Domain Is Another Civil Rights Issue
By David T. Beito and Ilya Somin: "Few policies have done more to destroy community and opportunity for minorities than eminent domain. Some 3 to 4 million Americans, most of them ethnic minorities, have been forcibly displaced from their homes as a result of urban renewal takings since World War II."
An Elephant Never Forgets?
By Tim Lee: "Transparency is an important tool for limited government. Senior administration officials are more likely to behave themselves if they know their correspondence is subject to subpoena and will be available for the scrutiny of future historians. It’s therefore troubling that for most of the last 8 years, the Bush administration has failed to have an automated system in place for complying with the law as his predecessor did."
The Libertarian Voter
By David Boaz: "Libertarian voters played a big role in swinging control of Congress to the Democrats in 2006. Could Mr. Obama hold them against Arizona Sen. John McCain? While base voters still voted along party lines in 2006, Republicans lost big among independents. According to an analysis that David Kirby and I did, libertarians may be the largest bloc of such independent-minded swing voters."
Employers Must Pull the Trigger
By Robert A. Levy: "The owner of the property should be able to determine — for good reasons, bad reasons, or no reason at all — whether to admit gun owners, non-gun owners, neither or both. Customers, employees and guests who object may go elsewhere. That's the controlling principle."
Fuel vs. Food
By Indur M. Goklany: "In recent years, we've heard that climate change could be catastrophic for nature and humanity. But it's becoming increasingly evident that over the next few decades, climate-change policies could prove even more catastrophic."
Free Trade, Free Markets: Rating Congress
This interactive web site allows users to examine how Congress and its individual members have voted over the years on bills and amendments affecting the freedom of Americans to trade and invest in the global economy.
Politics & 'Involvement'
By Donald J. Boudreaux: "It's a mistake to applaud greater involvement in politics as if such involvement is by its very nature the best use of people's time and effort. A more serious delusion is that politics is the only -- or, at least, the most noble -- venue for each of us to get "involved" with our fellow humans."
Inequality and Excess
By Arnold Kling: "What the American people really should feel awkward and defensive about is the level of inequality and excess of political power. Instead of asking ourselves what we can do about Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, we should be asking ourselves about what we can do about the Clintons and the Spitzers. Those who want more and more power should be our biggest concern."
Real ID Act Has Been a Real Fiasco
"The big trouble is that there’s no evidence that this Draconian act, even if fully implemented, would be more than a minor inconvenience for a determined terrorist. But having all that information – including copies of birth certificates and Social Security cards – available in one database would make an irresistible target for identity thieves. And it would be a major inconvenience for millions of innocent Americans and a major expense for state governments – meaning taxpayers."
Don't 'Pull an Iraq' in Afghanistan
By Benjamin H. Friedman: "This week at a NATO summit in Bucharest, Romainia, American officials asked Europeans to send more troops to the war in Afghanistan. Leaders in both the Democratic and Republican Parties agree that higher troop levels and a deeper commitment to state-building are the path to victory in Afghanistan. But both sides are wrong, and Iraq shows why."
Immigration: The Beckham Factor
"As soccer superstar David Beckham kicks off the Los Angeles Galaxy's 2008 season, Drew Carey asks what this says about immigration in the U.S. in a new reason.tv video."
FISA Funny Business
By Julian Sanchez: " The terrorist attack had been as devastating as it was unexpected. Convinced that better intelligence was the key to preventing fresh attacks, the president resolved to seek legislation granting the executive branch broad new wiretapping powers. But he had a problem: The opposition party, which controlled Congress, was equally determined to block provisions that they saw as an affront to privacy."
Bridges Over Troubled Water
By Christopher Preble and Jeremy Lott: "War costs money too. Round the bill for the bridges to nowhere that so incensed McCain up to $500 million. Our occupation of Iraq, which often seems to be getting nowhere, is costing north of $10 billion a month. That sum could finance the construction of 40 superfluous bridges this month and 480 bridges in a year."
Is Health Care a Right?
In this podcast economics Professor Russell Roberts of George Mason University debates a physician who thinks health care is a right and the government should provide it.
Tuned Out
By Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch: "Cultural libertarians are a growing force in America. But just how do you reach them?"
Armed for Liberty
By Alan Gura and Robert A. Levy: "Imagine a right — intended, in part, as a deterrent to oppressive government — that can be exercised only when, where, and in the manner that government directs. "
Wiretapping's True Danger
By Julian Sanchez: "Without meaningful oversight, presidents and intelligence agencies can -- and repeatedly have -- abused their surveillance authority to spy on political enemies and dissenters."
Who Says the Surge Is Working?
By Terry Michael: "When it comes Iraq, neoconservative true believers have been allowed to set the bar of "success" below ground level. In this, they're aided by media siding with power instead of challenging it, all while congressional Democrats cower in their cloak rooms."
Peace Won't Come to Zimbabwe
By Marian L. Tupy and David Coltart: "The case against Mr. Mugabe and the ZANU-PF for crimes against humanity would be compelling. They have turned one of Africa's most prosperous and relatively free nations into an Orwellian nightmare. Since 1994, the average life expectancy in Zimbabwe has fallen to 34 from 57 for women and to 37 from 54 for men. Some 3,500 Zimbabweans die every week from the combined effects of HIV/AIDS, poverty and malnutrition."
Feel Safer Now?
From The Economist print edition: "After September 11th 2001, most countries beefed up security at airports and other vulnerable places. Tough-looking immigration officials no doubt made passengers feel safer, offsetting the irritation of longer queues. Yet doing something because it makes people feel good is not adequate justification. Is money devoted to counter-terrorism well spent?"
Spitzer's Hypocrisy: Worse Than You Think
By Paul Karl Lukacs: "Libertarians are understandably of two minds about L’Affaire Spitzer. On the one hand, a dedicated public servant will probably lose his job, and may be indicted, due to consensual liaisons and payments that should be a private matter completely outside the ambit of Justice Department wiretaps. On the other hand, Spitzer’s been hoisted by the moralistic petard that he can regulate any and all sexual behavior with which he disagrees, wherever it occurs. As Barabash said Monday, 'It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.'"
McCain's Consistent Folly on Iraq
By Steve Chapman: "If so, that may not be a plus for McCain. McCain has been consistent about Iraq, in the sense of being consistently wrong. If the American people get a long look at what he's said and a clear picture of our fortunes in Iraq, he may yearn for the days when he was being pilloried for offering "amnesty" to illegal immigrants."
Health, Africa’s struggle
By Thompson Ayodele: "Foreign aid in the form of hard currency is flowing in unprecedented quantities into the ministries of health of many African countries.
"But despite this generosity things are not improving: medical staff are demoralised, access to essential medicines remains low and corruption remains a serious problem."
Learning the Right Lessons From Iraq
By Benjamin H. Friedman and Christopher Preble: "By insisting that there was a right way to remake Iraq, we ignore the limits on our power that the enterprise has exposed and risk repeating our mistake. Deposing Saddam Hussein was relatively simple, but creating a new state to rule Iraq was beyond our grasp. Maybe the United States can improve its ability to manage occupations, but the principal lesson Iraq teaches is to avoid them."
(D) All of the Above
By Daniel Ikenson: "As an advocate of free trade, I feel slightly vindicated by reports that the Obama campaign quietly assured the Canadian government that the Senator’s strident words about NAFTA in last week’s debate were merely political rhetoric. We’ve long been saying that opposition to trade is mostly an artifice of politics. But the story begs the question: Is Obama (a) economically illiterate; (b) dishonest, or; (c) naïve. The answer is (d), all of the above."