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Liberty and Power

  • Mar 2, 2007

    Kristol More Delusional Than Usual

    by Liberty and Power

    Perhaps next time when William Kristol stops by at the White House he can take the opportunity to speak to the portraits on the wall and get some additional encouragement from Teddy, Woodrow, and Harry:
    I have lots of conservative friends and often speak to Republican-leaning groups. I have something surprising to report: they're pretty cheerful. They're well aware that President Bush's numbers are
  • Feb 28, 2007

    Endangering the Free Speech of Those Most Concerned

    by Liberty and Power

    Those who support and benefit from drug prohibition seek to stifle debate whenever possible because they know that the only way they win the argument over drug policy is by not having the argument in the first place. Historically this tactic has been very successful.

    Their latest opportunity comes in the form of Morse v Frederick a dispute to be heard before the U.S. Supreme Court. It involves high school student Joseph Frederick who showed up at a school sanctioned, off campus, eve

  • Feb 27, 2007

    The Growth of Welfare As We Don't Know it

    by Liberty and Power

    More than a decade ago, Bill Clinton pledged to end"welfare as we know it." Perhaps he did. But like Iraqi insurgency the welfare state has proven resilient, adaptable, and has continued to grow.

    The Cincinnati Enquirer reports the following:

    The number of families receiving cash benefits from welfare has plummeted since the government imposed time limits on th
  • Feb 27, 2007

    Stop Them!

    by Liberty and Power

    Do President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have no idea of what made the founding of this country unique? It was the people’s deeply held belief that arbitrary rule by the state is an evil to be resisted at all costs. Even early America’s conservative elements, who hoped to remain in the British Empire, finally went over to the revolutionists’ side when King George III accelerated his arbitrary decrees governing the American people. Nothing indicts Bush-Cheney as profoundly as
  • Feb 24, 2007

    Imperial Hopefuls

    by Liberty and Power

    [N]one of the"hopefuls" is actually running for president. The job they seek isn’t merely the head of the executive branch of the U.S. government. Given the realities of the world, they are running for emperor. No one is qualified for that job.
    Read the rest of this week's op-ed, "Imperial Hopefuls," at The Future of Freedom website.

    Cross-posted at
  • Feb 23, 2007

    Christianity and Freedom

    by Liberty and Power

    As part of my ongoing research into the roots of classical liberal thought on race, I came across William Wilberforce. Correction: David Theroux, the well-read head of the Independent Institute, taught me about Wilberforce and I've since learned more on my own. If you aren't awake, the media is writing quite a bit about Wilbeforce and the film "Amazing Grace."

    Here is an op-ed that I wrote on the topic:

    http://tinyurl.com/2ql
  • Feb 23, 2007

    Made Everywhere

    by Liberty and Power

    In reality there are no imports and exports. There is only what I make and what everyone else makes. Few people would want to live just on what they themselves could make.... The case for free trade is conceded the moment someone eschews self-sufficiency. After that, we're just haggling over the size of the trade area. But if free trade (read: division of labor) is good, then the bigger the free-trade area the better. Globalization should be the worldwide removal of all barrie
  • Feb 23, 2007

    The FCC Turns Eighty and the Road Not Taken

    by Liberty and Power

    Eighty-years ago, Calvin Coolidge, in the one of the most unfortunate acts of his presidency, signed into the law creating the Federal Radio Commission (the original name of the current Federal Communications Commission). Though Coolidge signed it, the FRC was the brainchild of Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover.

    It was a typical Hoover reform. During the 1920s

  • Feb 22, 2007

    Comic geeking intersects politics

    by Liberty and Power

    This blogpost on Iron Man will be good reading for those L&P readers who are also comics readers. The author makes a good point about retroactively making PC changes to classics. I didn't even realize that the PC retconning had taken place; that's a real shame. (Hat tip: Comics Reporter)
  • Feb 21, 2007

    A Village That Time Forgot

    by Liberty and Power

    Go here to read a fascinating account of a Romanian village where European Union membership is set to transform a way of life unaltered in generations, even under the heavy hand of communist rule. As you would expect, membership brings regulations, taxes and subsidies, but it also brings investment and opportunities to participate in a wider market. Nothing, it seems, will ever be the same again.
  • Feb 20, 2007

    Emmett Till Conspiracy Theory Debunked

    by Liberty and Power

    For more than four years, the news media has publicized a sensational conspiracy theory that fourteen or more people took part in the murder of Emmett Till, and that five are still alive. I have criticized these claims on more than one occasion. The claim that fourteen or more people were involved was first popularized by filmmaker Keith Beauchamp. The late Ed Bradley gave it an uncritical stamp of approval in a hagiographic report for"60 Minute
  • Feb 20, 2007

    Know When to Fold 'Em

    by Liberty and Power

    Hawks such as Sen. John McCain who oppose Senate resolutions against the so-called troop surge in Iraq make a pernicious argument. Such a resolution “is basically a vote of no confidence in the men and women we are sending over there,” McCain said."We’re saying, ‘We’re sending you — we’re not going to stop you from going there, but we don’t believe you can succeed.'"

    McCain is right in one respect: The senators who oppose the escalation should be doing more than pushing
  • Feb 19, 2007

    Global Warming the New Eugenics?

    by Liberty and Power

    An excellent article in Monday's Washington Times by John Linder a Georgia Republican who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee sees some parallels between today's widely scientifically accepted global warming theory and the widely scientifically accepted eugenics theory of the early 20th century.

    He also observes that “A recent study completed at UC Davis concluded that the amount of CO2 in the atmosphe

  • Feb 19, 2007

    SSDP Event

    by Liberty and Power

    An opportunity to hear from one of the true pioneers of the drug law reform movement will occur on Thursday, February 22nd, at 1:30PM. Dr. Arnold Trebach, American University professor emeritus and founder of the Drug Policy Foundation will be discussing his new book Fatal Distraction: The War on Drugs in the Age of Islamic Terror. The talk will take place at the American University, Sch