Bastiat Gets It

"Never shall we succeed in preventing the production of something that, since it is in demand, has value." Economic Harmonies

Interview with Guillermo Jimenez

Guillermo Jimenez interviewed me recently for Demanufacturing Consent. Here's the audio.

TGIF: James Madison: Father of the Implied-Powers Doctrine

Don't be fooled by Madison's promise that the Constitution would create a government of "few and defined" powers. Read about the real Madison.

From Articles of Confederation to Constitution

My July FFF webinar was titled "From Articles of Confederation to Constitution." Here's the audio.

The Libertarian Angle

In the latest FFF Libertarian Angle, Jacob Hornberger and I discuss some of the differences between libertarians and conservative/"liberals." Enjoy!

TGIF: What an Honest Conversation about Race Would Look Like

Posted at The Future of Freedom Foundation:

Ever since George Zimmerman’s fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin hit the national headlines last year, calls for an “honest conversation about race” have been heard throughout America. (Up until then, apparently, we’ve had only conversations about having a conversation about race.) However, one need not believe that the Zimmerman shooting and verdict were about race — I watched the trial and I don’t — to think that an honest conversation about race is indeed long overdue.

First on the agenda should be the many ways that government policies — either by intent or by palpable effect — embody racism. Let’s call them vehicles for official racism. I have in mind things like the war on certain drug manufacturers, merchants, and consumers; the crusade against “illegal” guns; the minimum wage and related laws; and the government’s schools. All of these by far take their greatest toll on people of color.

Private racism, whether violent or nonviolent, is evil and abhorrent; it is also unlibertarian — yes, even nonviolent racism is unlibertarian, as I point out in “Libertarianism = Anti-Racism.” There I wrote,

The Irony of the Zimmerman-Martin Case

Funny, if anyone can be said to have stood his ground rather than retreat, it was Trayvon Martin.

Rand Paul, Jack Hunter, and All That

I cringe every time libertarianism is associated with the Confederate States of America. Read Jeff Hummel's Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men to see why you should too.

Scott Horton Show

Scott Horton and I talked about immigration on his show the other day. Here's the audio.

When Is a Military Coup Not a Military Coup?

When calling it such would harm Israel and anger the American Israel (Jewish) Lobby. The ouster of Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi has all the characteristics of a military coup, but the Obama administration refuses to label it such. Why? Because under U.S. rules, military aid may not go to a country in which the military coup removed a democratically elected president. Egypt's gets over a billion dollars a year in a deal struck among the Egyptian, Israeli, and U.S. governments under the 1978 Camp David Accord, which constituted a peace treaty between the two Mideast nations that had gone to four war times. Under the deal Israel gets about three billion dollars a year in U.S. military assistance. The Obama administration won't cut the aid to the Egyptian military for one simple reason: Israel and its American lobby don't want the aid ended. Since 1978 the Egyptian military has been a key to Israel's continuing subjugation of the Palestinians, particularly those held in the Gaza Strip. Israeli leaders care about only one thing with respect to Egypt: Will its government continue to honor the Camp David Accord? The Egyptian military can be counted on to do so as long as it is dependent on U.S. aid. (Morsi did nothing to undercut Camp David.)

In other words, the billion dollars that go to the Egyptian military is really indirect aid to the Israeli regime and thus a means of enabling the occupation of Palestine.

Word games are a big part of what goes on Washington, D.C.

Op-ed: What the Immigration Bill Overlooks

My latest op-ed points out that the Senate's "comprehensive" immigration "reform" bill missed a few things.

TGIF: Airbrushing Barbarity

In "Airbrushing Barbarity" I explore the insidious practice of discussing public policy in value-free terms.

This Week's Scribblings

Op-ed: "Big Brother, Not Snowden and Greenwald, Is the Story"

Snowden and Greenwald have not “aided the enemy” — unless the American people are the government’s enemy. What they have done is embarrass the Obama administration by exposing criminal activity.

 For the media’s defenders of power against truth, that’s inexcusable.

TGIF: "Is Edward Snowden a Lawbreaker?"

Lex injusta non est lex — an unjust law is not a law.

Media Priorities

If the television talking heads spent half the time discussing NSA spying that they spend sneering at Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald, the people might actually get mad at Big Brother.

TGIF: National Servitude

The idea of "national service" never goes away. It just stands in the wings waiting to reappear. Well, it's back, and here is my take.

What do [the advocates of  “national service”] really want: improvement in the lives of people or service to “the nation,” which always translates into service to the state? If it’s the latter, they should remind themselves that earlier attempts to institutionalize that notion of duty weren’t pretty.

Just Wondering

Has the NSA spying ceased pending the debate?

TGIF: It’s Not Edward Snowden Who Betrayed Us

TGIF this week cuts through the NSA fog to show that how one comes down on the controversy depends on whether or not one trusts power.

Op-ed: Obama Speaks with Forked Tongue on Surveillance

My take on the revelations about the NSA's spying.  Bottom line:

Obama says, “If people can’t trust not only the executive branch but also don’t trust Congress and don’t trust federal judges to make sure that we’re abiding by the Constitution, due process and rule of law, then we’re going to have some problems here.”

That’s wrong. If the politicians’ only response to revelations that they’re violating our privacy is to ask for trust, then we already have problems.

Hero

Edward Snowden, Unmasker of Big Brother

Does He Listen to Himself?

If Barack Obama really "welcome[s] the debate" on the surveillance state, why is his administration pulling out all the stops to find the leaker who's making that debate possible?