Political Science: American Politics 
Essential
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 Declaration of Independence
As one of America's founding documents, the Declaration is one of the most influential pieces of libertarian thought ever written
Strangulation by Regulation
By Peter Van Doren: "Why are America's markets so heavily regulated? Regulation usually rides in the Trojan horse of "market failure"-the perception that a particular market does not (or will not) operate efficiently without government intervention. Yet regulation persists in spite of evidence that it does not enhance efficiency. Why?"
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."
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."
A New Approach to US Foreign Policy
By Christopher Preble: "The expansion of state power has occurred in almost every crisis, and at the expense of individual liberty. In short, war is a kind of petri dish for the germ of expanding state power."
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 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."
Recommended
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.'"
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."
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."
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."
Ohio Needs More Foreign Trade
By Daniel T. Griswold: "But tinkering with a 14-year-old trade agreement [NAFTA] will not bring an industrial renaissance to Youngstown and other Rust Belt cites. The relative decline of those regions dates back to the 1960s and 1970s, when the American economy began a transition from heavy industry toward an information-based service economy."
Bill Buckley Is Dead. Has Conservatism Died with Him?
By David Boaz: "William F. Buckley Jr., the father of the modern conservative movement, has died at 82. The bigger question is, has conservatism died, too?"
Gun Buybacks a Noble Idea That Always Misfires
By Alex Tabarrok: "Did no one running the program think to look at the price of a new gun? In fact, the first two people in line at one of the three buyback locations were gun dealers with 60 firearms packed in the trunk of their car. One wonders why the police even bothered to buy the guns from Oakland residents. Why not buy directly from gun manufacturers?"
Atlas Hugged
Brian Doherty: "As executive vice president of the Cato Institute, Boaz is one of the media's primary go-to guys on libertarian thought and policy. And in his new book, "The Politics of Freedom," a collection of his short-form journalism from the past 25 years, Boaz pushes an interesting and counterintuitive belief about American politics. The political spectrum, he argues, contains a lot more libertarians than the two major party's stances would lead you to believe."
Limits on Eavesdropping Need to Stay
By Timothy B. Lee and Gene Healy: "Modern computer technology makes the potential for the abuse of unfettered executive power much greater today. Judicial oversight is at least as important in the 21st century as it was in the 20th, and Congress should resist Bush's demand for unchecked spying powers."
NATO's West Bank Nightmare
By Ted Galen Carpenter: "Washington is sending up a trial balloon about stationing NATO troops as peacekeepers on the West Bank. The Jerusalem Post reports that former NATO supreme commander General James Jones, now the Bush administration's special envoy to the Middle East, is floating the idea to various European countries.
"It is a spectacularly bad idea."
It's an Election, Not a Revolution
By Tyler Cowen: "And if you’re still worrying about how to vote, I have two pieces of advice. First, spend your time studying foreign policy, where the president has more direct power, and the choice of a candidate makes a much bigger difference. Second, stop worrying and get back to work."
No, a President Can't Do as He Pleases
By Edward H. Crane and Robert A. Levy: "For many years, we were at risk of losing important civil liberties through unchecked transgressions by the executive branch. Maybe we are still at risk. But thanks to the media, the courts and — belatedly — an energized opposition in Congress, the administration has finally resigned itself to a semblance of congressional oversight, even if judicial scrutiny remains inadequate."
Sanctimony's Turn at Bat
By Colman McCarthy: "I see steroids, and all drugs, as an issue of personal freedom. Is there a difference between fans at big-league baseball games stoned on alcohol while cheering athletes on the base paths juiced with steroids? What's the difference between scoring with Viagra and scoring with steroids? What's the difference between people freely abusing their bodies with one drug but not another, as long as no one else is harmed and the consequences are self-sustained?"
Are You Now or Have You Ever Been a Libertarian?
By David Boaz: "It’s not only avowed critics of libertarianism who mischaracterize our ideas, but even some friends who offer a subtler critique. They are people who give an overly radical definition of libertarianism so that they can present themselves as the reasonable advocates of limited government, not the crazy libertarians."
The Fear Factory
By Guy Lawson: "The FBI now has more than 100 task forces devoted exclusively to fighting terrorism. But is the government manufacturing ghosts?"
The AtomicTerrorist: Assessing the Likelyhood
By John Mueller: "A terrorist atomic bomb is commonly held to be the single most serious threat to the national security of the United States. Assessed in appropriate context, that could actually be seen to be a rather cheering conclusion because the likelihood that a terrorist group will come up with an atomic bomb seems to be vanishingly small. Moreover, the degree to which al-Qaeda--the chief demon group and one of the few terrorist groups to see value in striking the United States--has sought, or is capable of, obtaining such a weapon seems to have been substantially exaggerated."
The Surveillance Scam
By Timothy B. Lee: "In his State of the Union address, President Bush pressed Congress to quickly pass legislation to make permanent the sweeping spying powers that Congress granted last August. Those powers, which include the ability to eavesdrop on foreign-to-domestic communications without meaningful judicial oversight, were due to expire last week. Congress has passed a two-week extension of the law, but that barely gives Congress time to catch its breath before the White House resumes its campaign to make it permanent."
Super Tuesday Winners and Losers
Michael D. Tanner: "A few thoughts in the wake of last nights elections:"
The Whys of Spies
By Jacob Sullum: "Last August, panicked at the prospect of an imminent terrorist attack that could be averted only by granting the executive branch new surveillance powers, Congress passed the Protect America Act. With the law scheduled to expire this month, the Bush administration is trying to scare Congress into making the powers permanent."
Matt Welch on BHTV
Cato's own Will Wilkinson speaks with Reason Magazine chief Matt Welch to discuss his "rollicking, revealing book," McCain: The Myth of a Maverick, and the real man behind the myth.
Letter to Our European Friends
By P.J. O'Rourke: "America is in the midst of an all-important electoral campaign. But, talking to Europeans, I've discovered that there is puzzlement and misinformation on your continent about what's happening on ours. Europeans feel an understandable confusion when faced with a political system consisting of two houses of Congress and a White House, and nobody is home in any of them."
Is The Domestic Terror Threat ‘Overblown’?
By Benjamin H. Friedman: "Time and again, federal officials held press conferences to announce the break-up of a terrorist plot and vaguely described the disaster prevented. The evening news and the headlines repeated their lurid claims. Months later, the inside pages of the papers would report that the plot was not what we were told — and TV doesn’t even bother. The plans have turned out to be unfeasible or preliminary. "
Flex-Fuel Nonsense
By Jerry Taylor: "Congress can no more guarantee that fuel prices will go down from now until the end of time than it can guarantee a robust sex life for fat, balding, middle-aged men. Fuel prices are subject to supply and demand curves that do not answer to Congress — particularly in global energy markets."
Bush's Catalogue of Failure
By Steve Chapman: "Even the worst presidents prefer to focus on their successes and ignore their failures. The striking thing about President Bush's final State of the Union address is that even the successes he claims are largely fictional. Judged by his own criteria, the speech was a catalogue of failure in almost every realm."
U.S.-Imposed Border Bedlam Will Hurt Michigan
By Jim Harper: "Nobody imagined when Congress created the Department of Homeland Security that the department itself would mount the next attack on American transportation, travel and trade. But the department begins an assault this week that will do billions of dollars in damage if it is not stopped."
John McCain: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
By Michael D. Tanner: "With his victory in Florida, Sen. John McCain has become the clear front runner for the Republican nomination. It’s worthwhile, therefore, to take a closer look at what kind of president he might be."
Global Warming: Risks and Consequences
"Last fall, at the Reason in DC conference, one of the most strongly attended and memorable panels was titled "Climate Change: Risks and Consequences" and featured Lynne Kiesling, a senior lecturer in economics at Northwestern University, proprietor of the blog Knowledge Problem, and an expert in retail electricity markets; Ronald Bailey, reason's longtime science correspondent and author of, among other books, Liberation Biology: The Moral and Scientific Case for the Biotech Revolution and ECOSCAM: The False Prophets of Environmental Apocalypse; and Fred L. Smith, Jr., the founder and president of Competitive Enterprise Institute."
The False Promise of Real ID
By Jon Healey: "Thanks to the efforts of the federal government, it may soon be quite a bit harder to forge a driver's license. But that doesn't necessarily mean we'll be any less vulnerable to terrorist attacks, particularly not the kind carried out on Sept. 11, 2001."
An Unsuitable Job
By David Boaz: "With John McCain's narrow wins in New Hampshire and South Carolina making him a shaky Republican frontrunner, people have engaged in some absurdly early speculation as to whom he might choose as a running mate. One early favourite is former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, the darling of the evangelicals. But if McCain is the man he and his supporters say he is, he won't do that to the country."
Unintended Consequences
By Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt: "But with a government that is regularly begged for relief — these days, from mortgage woes, health-care costs and tax burdens — and with every presidential hopeful making daily promises to address these woes, it might be worth encouraging the winning candidate to think twice (or even 8 or 10 times) before rushing off to do good. Because if there is any law more powerful than the ones constructed in a place like Washington, it is the law of unintended consequences."
The Foolishness of Economic 'Stimulus'
By Donald J. Boudreaux: "The best way for policymakers to foster such growth is to avoid panicking over any current economic downswing. Instead, they should focus on getting the economic fundamentals right. Such emphasis might not make things better – or even make things appear to be better – today, but it will make our tomorrows as bright as possible."
Congress Strong-Arming Baseball? That's Foul.
By Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch: "First, Major League Baseball, along with other sports leagues and private-sector ventures, simply should not be required to submit their business plans -- much less blood and urine samples -- to Congress or any other government body."
How to 'Fix' Politics? Reduce the Power of the President
By Radley Balko: "Our goal ought to be to keep as much of America as possible within the realm of civil society, and allow as little as possible to be tainted by political society. This makes elections less important. It makes politics less important. Less is at stake when we go to the polls. And less of our lives are then subject to whoever is ambitious, underhanded, or corrupt enough to emerge from the absurdities of a political campaign least scathed by the process."
Redefining Success in Iraq
By Christopher Preble: "The surge was certainly successful in one sense: it took sufficient steam out of the "get out now" movement to effectively halt congressional efforts to force a troop withdrawal. It also allowed Sen. McCain to resurrect his moribund campaign. "Thank God [Iraq]'s off the front pages," the leading proponent for the war told reporters on board the Straight Talk Express."
Ron Paul’s Ugly Newsletters
By David Boaz: "We had never seen the newsletters that have recently come to light, and I for one was surprised at just how vile they turned out to be. But we knew the company Ron Paul had been keeping, and we feared that they would have tied him to some reprehensible ideas far from the principles we hold."
The Failure of U.S. Organ Procurement Policy
By T. Randolph Beard, John D. Jackson, and David L. Kaserman: "In this article, we calculate how many lives will be lost if the United States continues in its current policy course. We do this to motivate policymakers to stop implementing one ineffectual policy action after another and attack the organ shortage with more effective weaponry in the form of financial incentives."
The Terrible 'Ifs'
By Benjamin H. Friedman: "We spend vast amounts on defenses against threats unlikely to affect Americans. Experts, defense officials, and politicians justify the expenditures by saying they are necessary to protect the public from worst case dangers. Those claims ignore what is probable and what defenses cost. They exaggerate the danger our enemies pose and strip resources from more probable dangers, making us less safe."
5 Myths About Our Ballot-Box Behavior
By Bryan Caplan: "We haven't even made it to the New Hampshire primary, but millions of Americans are already sick of hearing about the 2008 race. Bad as the torrent of news is, I find the repetition of myths about voters and voting even more galling. Whether you're arguing with friends or watching the news, you hear many claims about how American democracy works that just aren't true."
Iowa Winners and Losers
By Michael D. Tanner: "The voters of Iowa have had their say and the 2008 presidential election campaign is now officially underway. While the Iowa dust (or snow) is just beginning to settle, it’s already possible to pick out winners and losers."
McCain: The Myth of a Maverick
John McCain is one of the most familiar figures in American politics, a figure with great appeal to many. However, his concrete governing philosophy and actual track record have been left unexamined. Matt Welch’s new book McCain: The Myth of a Maverick gives a flesh-and-bones political portrait of a man onto whom people project their own ideological fantasies.
Drug Use and the Candidates
By Stanton Peele: "There has been massive drug and underage alcohol use by Americans over the years -- more than 110 million Americans, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, have used illicit drugs. Yet the overwhelming majority of them -- like Messrs. Bush, Clinton and Obama -- have grown up to be productive citizens. Some believe there's no need to know about their youthful misconduct."
Raw Deal
By Sallie James: "Hollywood had better hope that a services liberalization deal reached Dec. 17 between the United States and the European Union holds. Without a successful resolution to the long-running Internet gambling dispute, American movies, music and software could be vulnerable to copyright infringement."
Not So Hot
By Patrick J. Michaels: "If a scientific paper appeared in a major journal saying that the planet has warmed twice as much as previously thought, that would be front-page news in every major paper around the planet. But what would happen if a paper was published demonstrating that the planet may have warmed up only half as much as previously thought?"
Regulatory Competition: A Primer
By Jennifer Smith-Bozek: "A given government jurisdiction—local, state, or federal—can provide regulatory alternatives to compete with those of another government. Regulatory competition can attract more businesses and jobs, yield regulations that are more efficient and less expensive, and thereby provide more options to consumers."
Laws Against Reason
By Jennifer Rosen: "Ever since the repeal of Prohibition, alcohol laws in this country have been a bit nutty. Take the business of bars. Some states mandate sitting, while others require standing at the bar to drink. Texans may take up to but not more than three sips of beer while standing. Some jurisdictions require the interior of public drinking establishments to be visible from the street; others specifically prohibit that."
Flunking Free Speech: The persistent threat to liberty on college campuses
By Michael C. Moynihan: "According to a dossier compiled by FIRE, incoming freshman were required to undergo "treatment" (the university's word) by residence hall apparatchiks, and forced "to adopt highly specific university-approved views on issues ranging from politics to race, sexuality, sociology, moral philosophy, and environmentalism." These young scholar-scamps in Wilmington are told solemnly that they are, according to the precepts of the university, carriers of racist original sin: '[A] racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality.'"
New Handshake, Same Grip
By David Nather: "For the past seven years, George W. Bush has expanded presidential power in ways that no one could have predicted when he took office. He and Vice President Dick Cheney have worn their independence — from oversight by either lawmakers or judges — as a badge of honor, necessary to keep the nation safe from another terrorist attack and restore what they have regarded as a weakened presidency. But the cost has been a poisonous friction with Congress and a growing public perception that they simply weren’t interested in checks and balances."
Guests in the Machine
By Kerry Howley: "Guest worker programs may be the best hope many of the world's poorest people have for improving their lives."
Iraqi Allies Deserve Better than Red Tape
By Malou Innocent: "Many Iraqis, desperate to earn decent wages and bring stability to their country, support American forces by working as Arabic interpreters. "Terps" are paid a modest sum, and they enable soldiers to communicate with Iraqi civilians and track down insurgents. But working with the Americans can come at a high cost."
Government Power Grabs: 'Predicting' 2008
By Radley Balko: "As the end of the year approaches, it's time for another column of government overreach predictions for the New Year. What outrageous, beyond-parody grabs at power and erosions of civil liberties will transpire in 2008?"
Restoring Habeas
By Julian Sanchez: "No American would accept the proposition that one of our citizens, having been cleared of wrongdoing by American courts, could be abducted by a foreign power and imprisoned for years, only to have his fate determined by a kangaroo court that flouted the most elementary procedural rights. The Supreme Court should not accept it from our government either."
Bill of Rights Day
By Tim Lynch: "Since today is Bill of Rights Day, it seems like an appropriate time to pause and consider the condition of the safeguards set forth in our fundamental legal charter."
Inventing Alexander Hamilton: The troubling embrace of the founder of American finance
By William Hogeland: "Now, a Hamilton revival is not only under way but an accomplished fact. Wrestling anew with Hamilton’s contributions to national politics and economics could be both fascinating and worthwhile. But Neo-Hamiltonians, like the latter-day Jeffersonians of the ’30s and ’40s, have been eagerly chopping up the past to make it conform to their political aims."
Milton Friedman with Charlie Rose
"An hour with Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman. Friedman discusses his life, his contributions to economics, the Republican Party and his view on the direction of the United States and the world in coming years."
Enabling The Kremlin
By Andrei Illarionov: "For the past few months, the official Russian media have shown little warmth for the Bush administration. Taking their cue from the Kremlin, the Russian press has been happy to denounce Washington when it criticized, even very cautiously, authoritarian actions. But Washington's own cold shoulder turned into a warm embrace this week when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice openly endorsed President Vladimir Putin's anointed successor, Dmitry Medvedev, and effectively undercut her past statements urging Russia to adopt a more democratic course and to hold truly competitive elections."
Clinton and Giuliani Would Grab Even More Power Than Bush Did
By David Boaz: "Clinton calls herself a 'government junkie.' She says, 'There is no such thing as other people's children' and promises to work on 'redefining who we are as human beings in the post-modern age.'"
Ron Paul Unplugged
"2020's" John Stossel interviews Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex., exclusively for ABCNEWS.com. Not your typical Republican, Paul says laws about drugs and prostitution should be left to the states. (ABC)
Ron Paul: He Won't Win the Presidency, But...
By Michael D. Tanner: "Thus, when Ron Paul talks about returning to limited constitutional government, a great many Republican primary voters sit up and take notice. For voters hungering for a return to the party of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan rather than the party of George W. Bush, Paul's rhetoric is a breath of fresh air."
Free to Booze
With Brandon Arnold: "Cheers! Today is the 74th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. On December 5, 1933, Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment, thereby repealing the 18th Amendment and ending our 13 years as a dry nation."
Pigs Don't Fly: The Economic Way of Thinking about Politics
By Russell Roberts: "Politicians are just like the rest of us. They find it hard to do the right thing. They claim to have principles, but when their principles clash with what is expedient, they often find a way to justify their self-interest."
Carefully Plotted Course Propels Gun Case to Top
By Adam Liptak: "Robert A. Levy, a rich libertarian lawyer who has never owned a gun, helped create and single-handedly financed the case that may finally resolve the meaning of the Second Amendment."
Neoconservative Radicalism Has Reshaped Our Political Spectrum
By Glenn Greenwald: "Brooks admits what has been crystal clear for some time -- namely, that so-called "conservatives" (meaning the contemporary political "Right") no longer believe (if they ever did) that government power should be restrained in order to maximize freedom."
Kurt Loder on Technology and Freedom
"A legend for his work in Rolling Stone and at MTV, Loder is an outspoken libertarian--and a harsh critic of the nanny state in all its manifestations. In this wide-ranging conversation, Loder discusses technology, freedom, the coming collapse of traditional news media (and why that's a good thing), the misguided (and ultimately ineffective) attempt to shut down free expression, and much more."
Robert Frank's Strange Case for Taxing "The Rich"
By David R. Henderson: "At one time, critics of economic freedom justified high taxes on high-income people on the grounds of ability to pay. They at least admitted that those taxes hurt those people. But the growing availability to even the poor of goods that were only recently thought of as luxury goods has weakened that argument. Now, Robert Frank argues for higher taxes on high-income people on the grounds that it is good for them."
lib•er•tar•ian
n. 1. a person who believes in the doctrine of the freedom of the will 2. a person who believes in full individual freedom of thought, expression and action 3. a freewheeling rebel who hates wiretaps, loves Ron Paul and is redirecting politics By Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch
What if Economic Conservatives Stay Home on Election Day?
By Michael D. Tanner: "There is no doubt that religious conservatives are an important part of the Republican coalition. Yet the media, and more importantly, the candidates, seem curiously unconcerned with another discontented part of that coalition: economic, small-government conservatives."
Supremes to Hear Second Amendment Case
With Robert A. Levy: "For the first time in nearly 70 years, the Supreme Court has agreed to examine the meaning of the Second Amendment. That's good news for all Americans who would like to be able to defend themselves where they live and sleep. And it's especially good news for residents of Washington, D.C., which has been the murder capital of the nation despite an outright ban on all functional firearms since 1976."
Do More Cops Equal Less Crime?
By Steve Chapman: "If more cops really translate into safer streets, you would think local taxpayers would be more than willing to bear the expense. But if they don't think their safety is worth what it costs, why should the rest of us foot the bill?"
Why We Trade
By Russell Roberts: "We’re used to shrugging off all sorts of rhetorical gobbledygook from our politicians. But when you hear U.S. presidential candidates start to mouth off about free trade, watch your wallet: A discredited 14th-century theory of economics is enjoying a dangerous renaissance in the 2008 campaign. "
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