Freeman back issues from May 2007:
Freedom and the Role of Government
May 01, 2007; ... What is the role of government? This has been and remains the most fundamental question in all political discussions and debates. Its answer will determine the nature of the social order and how people will be expected and allowed to interact with one another-on the basis of either force or ...
Inequality Matters
May 01, 2007; ... In the controversy raging over whether income inequality in America is growing a lot or a little, some pro-market people say it doesn't much matter. This attitude is unjustified, not to mention harmful to the cause of individual freedom because it misses the bigger picture. How could ...
Putting Security Back on Track
May 01, 2007; ... You might think the threats confronting American aviation are unique and unprecedented, given the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) unique and unprecedented regulations. Passengers must shed their shoes and they may carry aboard only three-ounce containers of liquids and gels, but ...
A Carbon Tax Will Fix Global Warming? It Just Ain't So!
May 01, 2007; ... It amazes me how so many newspaper columnists have no qualms about voicing opinions on topics they clearly know nothing about. This is the case with Anne Applebaum, politics and foreign-policy writer for the Washington Post. In her February 6 column, "Global Warming's Simple Remedy," she ...
The Love of Power vs. the Power of Love
May 01, 2007; ... "We look forward to the time when the power of love mil replace the love of power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace. " So declared British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone more than a century ago. His audience surely responded then the same way audiences would ...
Intrusions Great and Small
May 01, 2007; ... Individuals must always choose between alternatives. Indeed, man cannot avoid this ineluctable natural rule: a refusal to choose constitutes a choice. Whether a blessing or a curse, this fundamental law of human action helps differentiate mankind from all other species. Believers in a ...
The Shortcomings of Government Charity
May 01, 2007; ... In their book, Myths of Rich and Poor, W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm observe, "Some part of human nature connects with the apocalyptic. Time and again, the pessimists among us have envisioned the world going straight to hell." To be sure, "pessimists" apparently run most national newspapers ....
Adam Smith in China
May 01, 2007; ... China's transition from plan to market since 1978 has not only increased prosperity but also has led to a new way of thinking. In a 2005 poll covering 20 countries, GlobeScan found that China had the highest proportion of respondents (74 percent) who agree that the "free market economy is the ...
The Americanization of Japan
May 01, 2007; ... Although it was an up-and-down 2006 for the Japanese economy, there have been signs of an emergence from its long recession. Unlike previous recoveries that proved short-lived, this one shows every indication of being permanent. There are obvious markers of renewed success and some more subtle ...
Trade and Diversity
May 01, 2007; ... Trade is one of the oldest of human institutions, and trading relationships are among the most fundamental of all human relationships. Indeed, we may say that networks of peaceful exchange form the skeleton of all complex human societies. One of the most striking features of trade throughout ...
Therapeutic Censorship
May 01, 2007; ... Freedom of speech is one of the most distinctly American political values. In many European democracies people take for granted that their freedom requires criminal sanctions against the expression of certain odious ideas, exemplified by the denial of the Holocaust. In the United States, that ...
"Deliberative Democracy" Dementia
May 01, 2007; ... A specter is haunting America's politicians and professors-the specter of illegitimacy. The political-intellectual elite fear that millions of Americans will conclude that the current democracy is a fraud-that they are being given bogus choices at the ballot box-and that the phrase "will of the ...
Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them
May 01, 2007; ... Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them by Philippe Legmin Little, Brown * 2006 * 374 pages * $28.00 (Canadian) Reviewed by Richard M. Ebeling Between 1840 and 1920, over 60 million people emigrated to North and South America, mostly from Europe. More than 40 million of them came to ...
Towards a Liberal Utopia?
May 01, 2007; ... Towards a Liberal Utopia? Edited by Philip Booth Continuum International Publishing * 2006 * 312 pages * $29.95 Reviewed by George C. Leef Towards a liberal Utopia? You mean, like Sweden? No, decidedly not. This wonderful volume comes to us from the venerable British ...
Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy
May 01, 2007; ... Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy by Bruce Bartlett Doubleday * 2006 * 320 pages * $26.00 Reviewed by William B. Conerly Economies professors often present public-policy issues as though well-intentioned leaders pull the levers of ...
Energy Policy: Wisdom or Waste?
May 01, 2007; ... We can't help ourselves. Americans crave the black gold that pulses through the concrete arteries of our nation's transportation system. In the opinion of many, we have hocked our future for a cheap fix with a drug that abandons our nation to unscrupulous foreign dealers and causes convulsions ...
Milton Friedman: A Personal Tribute
May 01, 2007; ... So much has been written about Milton Friedman's many contributions to economic research and analysis and to the struggle for economic freedom. My appreciation for him is more personal: He helped change my life. Like many young people who read and loved Ayn Rand's works, I adopted not ...
Downsizing the Federal Government
May 01, 2007; ... Downsizing the Federal Government fey Chris Edwards Cato Institute * 2005 * 250 pages * $20.00 hardcover; $12.00 paperback Reviewed by J. H. Huebert Leonard Read once said that if there were a button that would instantly eliminate all government intervention, he would push it ....