Ethan A. Huff: Total Obedience Required By Police State

Man charged with assault for pointing finger at police. Apparently it is now illegal, at least in the eyes of the corrupt police state, to even engage a police officer in any way other than complete subservience and groveling. PrisonPlanet.com, recounting the story as it was told by ABC 7 in Fredericksburg, Virginia, explains that David Loveless, a father with no ... MORE

John Stossel: Let's Give The Fed Some Competition

Pssst. Want to buy some Stossels? They're my own currency with my face on them. Why should you trust them? Because I promise to redeem them for gold. And I'm reliable. I have money in the bank and a job that brings in more than I spend. By contrast, the politicians who back American currency run an unsustainable deficit. The Federal Reserve prints so much   ... MORE

VIDEO: Milton Friedman - The Nature Of Inflation

John W. Whitehead: Strip-Searching America

Strip-searches now allowed for minor traffic offenses.    In a devastating 5-4 ruling that not only condones an overreach of state power but legitimizes what is essentially state-sponsored humiliation and visual rape, the U.S. Supreme Court recently declared that any person who is arrested and processed at a jail house, regardless of the severity of his or her ... MORE

Charles L. Hooper: They Really Don't Know Clouds At All

A dark cloud is forming over climate warming models.    “I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now, From up and down, and still somehow, It’s cloud illusions I recall,  I really don’t know clouds at all.” —Singer Joni Mitchell.  Science has an air of authority. Many people, including many scientists, have the view that all the important things are  ... MORE

VIDEO: 5 Keys to Restoring America's Prosperity

Adam J. White: Flunking Constitutional Law

Constitutional ignorance of presidential proportions. Last week, President Obama clumsily announced that it would be "unprecedented" for the Supreme Court to strike down "a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress." This week, his words are already having an effect in the courts—but not the effect he hoped for.     ... MORE

Alicia M. Cohn: Ron Paul Demonstrates True Transparency

The rare politician who honors the public's trust.    Ron Paul's presidential campaign regularly reports expenses well below the $200 minimum to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), and in at least 160 reports so far in the campaign has reported purchases costing a dollar or less. Paul's diligence goes beyond the letter of the law and is    ... MORE

Steve Chapman: Religion & Politics: An Unholy Alliance

The GOP may be shrinking its appeal. One day, in a sardonic jibe at some conservative who was piously claiming the mantle of heaven, I told my wife, "Don't forget, God's a Republican." Without missing a beat, she replied, "But his son's a Democrat." Between the Old Testament Jehovah and the New Testament Jesus, a Christian can find support for almost any      ... MORE

Eliza Krigman: U.N. Seeks Power For Internet Regulation

What will be America's response to Russia and China? Faced with the prospect of United Nations regulation of the Internet, the United States has yet to appoint a leader for an upcoming battle with other countries over Web management. Less than a year from a historic treaty negotiation that will redefine international agreements on Internet management, the   ... MORE

VIDEO: Obama Campaign Makes Fraudulent Donations Easy


Accepts credit cards without requiring pesky validating information.

Barry Farber: The Meddler In A Nursing Home

None of this is literally true; only in the important sense. A non-violent sadist loved to mess up people’s heads in nursing homes. He learned of one where he could score double-demolition with one visit. His two favorite targets resided on neighboring floors. First, he visited the retired World War II veterans, tired old men in their late 80s and mid-90s   ... MORE

Alan Reynolds: Minimum Wage, Maximum Damage

Kicking unemployment up another notch. President George W. Bush signed a bill in May 2007 that would eventually increase the federal minimum wage substantially but gradually, with the last hike in the summer of 2009 after he left office. National unemployment then was only 4.4 percent, and 22 states already had a higher minimum. So, the damage was not felt ... MORE

VIDEO: Will Whole Foods Destroy Brooklyn?

David Harsanyi: Obama And The Mother Of All Tyrannies

Who should be petrified of democracy? Anyone who's had a casual conversation with his neighbors or is cognizant of reality TV should already be petrified of democracy. But if the Supreme Court—or, as Barack Obama likes to refer to them, an "unelected group of people"—overturns Obamacare's individual mandate, the president says that the court would be   ... MORE

Mario Loyola: The EPA Abuses First, Apologizes Later

The state's biggest bully beats up another victim. Last summer, I wrote about the Environmental Protection Agency’s shameful persecution of a Texas natural-gas company, Range Resources Corp. The year before, EPA had slapped the company with an “emergency order” under the Safe Drinking Water Act, alleging that it “caused or contributed to” ... MORE

Nat Hentoff: Obama's NSA Close To Knowing All About Us

Do politicians know what country they are in? Not long before Dick Armey – a conservative Republican constitutionalist – retired as House majority leader, he gave a speech expressing his worry about the government’s increasing blanket surveillance over We the People. He practically begged President George W. Bush to “use these tools we ... MORE

Daniel Allott: The Hate Crimes Farce

The threshold for a hate crime continues to decline. Have you ever used a racial slur? You may have two answers to that question. There's your initial visceral response: No! Of course not! Never! But then there's the response you'd give if you were being a little more honest: maybe... once or twice. So, if you have, does it make you a racist? In the court of     ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Camera Shy Or A Power High?


Some public servants don't want their service to be public.

Thomas Sowell: The Invincible Dogma


How the government demonstrates discrimination.     A long-standing legal charade was played out again recently, when Federal Express paid $3 million to settle an employment discrimination case brought by the U.S. Department of Labor. Federal Express was accused of both racial discrimination and sex discrimination. FedEx denied it. Why then did ... MORE

Robin Zubrin: Carbon Emissions Are Good

Always check your premises.     Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its intention to enforce regulations that would effectively ban new coal-fired power plants in the United States. As coal is by far America’s cheapest and most plentiful fossil fuel, and coal-fired power stations account for 45 percent of all electricity generated ... MORE

VIDEO: What If the National Debt Were Your Debt?

Katie Pavlich: Unions Plan To Train 100,000 Protestors

Welcome to Occupy Spring. When The 99% Spring was announced in February, organizers vowed to train 100,000 people. It looks like they’ll easily make that goal when their training programs kick off next week. There are already 918 planned around the country. All the group needs is about 10 people at each session to meet its goal, and  ... MORE

Michael Barone: The Constitution's Comeback

Americans are worrying about the founding document again. I don’t worry about the Constitution,” said Representative Phil Hare, Democrat of Illinois, at a town-hall meeting where voters questioned his support of the legislation that became Obamacare. You can find the clip on YouTube, where it has 462,084 hits. That was before the 2010 election ... MORE

Walter E Williams: Dupes For The State

The tragedy: an increased willingness to use government force. Public misunderstanding, ignorance and possibly contempt for liberty play into the hands of people who want to control our lives. Responses to my recent column "Compliant Americans" brought this home to me. In it, I argued that the anti-tobacco movement became the template and     ... MORE

Americans Want MORE Control Of Their Own Health Care

by Shikha Dalmia. With the three-day ObamaCare circus at the Supreme Court behind us, let’s fast-forward to June. Suppose that five justices find their constitutional bearings and do what a majority of Americans want them to do: Scrap the individual mandate, the key provision without which the law will collapse. What then? Will that mean that our current system ... MORE

VIDEO: Smart Meters To Monitor A Nation Of Sheep


We are now electromagnetic radiation guinea pigs.

Rekha Basu: The Bigger Problem: Drugs Or Drug War?

Vincente Fox says the solution is legalization.    When a former Mexican president comes to town, you might expect drugs to be discussed. You might not expect a pitch for legalizing them. But there on Wednesday was Vicente Fox, who led Mexico from 2000 to 2006, sharing a cocktail with a group at the Des Moines condo of Connie Wimer and Frank Fogarty ... MORE

Adam Liptak: Justices Approve Strip-Searches For Anything

No good reason required. The Supreme Court on Monday ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that officials may strip-search people arrested for any offense, however minor, before admitting them to jails even if the officials have no reason to suspect the presence of contraband. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, joined by the court’s conservative wing, wrote that courts are in no ... MORE

VIDEO: What If Government Ordered Your Lunch?

Sean Murphy: Lawmakers Look To Expand Gun Rights

You only get one chance at self-defense. The high-profile shooting death of an unarmed Florida teenager by a neighborhood watch captain has prompted rallies and protests across the country, including in Oklahoma, but state leaders say it won’t affect the push for greater gun rights in Oklahoma. While officials in some states, like Florida, are taking a   ... MORE

Emily Miller: America's High Tax Leadership

Highest corporate tax in the developed world. The United States is now, officially, the worst place to do business in the developed world. On Sunday, Japan lowered its corporate tax rate in the hopes of luring business to its shores, handing the title of highest tax rate to the Land of the Free. The market reaction on Monday will tell whether money will begin flowing ... MORE

Andrew C. McCarthy: Statism Goes To Court

Health care should not be a federal concern at all. Well, I can’t imagine that that — that the Commerce Clause would — would forbid Congress from taking into account this deeply embedded social norm.” This was Solicitor General Donald Verrilli on Day Two of the great Obamacare case. At issue was Affordable Care Act’s most controversial aspect:  ... MORE

Sheldon Richman: How To Think LIke The Ruling Class

Understanding the origins of state power.   In the beginning ruling classes had a problem. It will be familiar to those acquainted with the Austrian critique of central economic planning: Rulers could not know what they needed to know to do the job they wanted to do. Societies, even seemingly primitive ones, are complex networks held together by ... MORE

VIDEO: Harry Browne - Maximizing Personal Freedom

Andrew Napolitano: The Real Question About ObamaCare

Can the government force you to eat broccoli?   This week, the Supreme Court measured Obamacare to see whether it fits within the confines of the Constitution. The big picture is whether the Constitution limits the behavior of the federal government to the plain meaning and historical context of the Constitution, or whether clever lawyers and politicians ... MORE

Matt Patterson: Obama Kills Coal - As Promised

Higher electricity prices will affect the poor most. “If someone wants to build a new coal-fired power plant they can, but it will bankrupt them because they will be charged a huge sum for all the greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”- Candidate Barack Obama, 2008. Well, we can’t say we weren’t warned. This week, the unelected, unaccountable     ... MORE

VIDEO: Remy: Health Care Mandates vs Pizza Toppings

Dr. Mark Siegel: Individual Mandate Isn't The Worst Part

Doctors, patients, and the future of ObamaCare.   Imagine if the government mandated that you buy an expensive certificate to eat at a certain restaurant chain, but you quickly discovered that this chain only provided you with limited food options and didn’t hire additional chefs or waiters to cover the new volume of customers. Moreover, what if   ... MORE

Alex Dobuzinskis: Branson Calls To End The Drug War

The billionaire adventurist advocates liberty. Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, involved in such ventures as selling space travel to the affluent, is now pushing for people to have the freedom to get high here on Earth without risking going to jail. The British billionaire argues criminal punishment fails to stem drug abuse, and is calling on countries     ... MORE