Showing posts with label statism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label statism. Show all posts

Radley Balko: The Police State Comes To Arkansas

Unfortunately, not an exaggeration:    "[Police are] going to be in SWAT gear and have AR-15s around their neck," Stovall said. "If you're out walking, we're going to stop you, ask why you're out walking, check for your ID." Stovall said while some people may be offended by the actions of his department, they should not be. "We're going to do it to       ... MORE

Jacob G Hornberger: Those Government Gun-Free Zones

It’s no big surprise.  A gun massacre brings out the gun-control crowd, which loudly demands that gun control be imposed on the American people, as if that would have prevented the massacre in Connecticut. It’s really a shame to have to trot out the same arguments exposing the fallacies of statist thinking, but, alas, it must be done.       ... MORE

John Whitehead: Breeding Grounds For Compliant Citizens

Where American schools excel.      “[P]ublic school reform is now justified in the dehumanizing language of national security, which increasingly legitimates the transformation of schools into adjuncts of the surveillance and police state… students are increasingly subjected to disciplinary apparatuses which limit their capacity for critical    ... MORE

Steve Gunn: Just Say No When The TSA Asks You To Chat

A bizarre and outlandish violation of the Fourth Amendment.   I came face-to-face with Big Brother the other day, and it was a frightening experience. He actually presented himself in the deceptive form of a young, attractive female officer, working for the Transportation Security Administration at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. At first she       ... MORE

Peter Ferrara: The New Face Of Health Care -- The IRS

The enforcer is in place and ready to roll. When President Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, aka "Obamacare") goes fully into effect in 2014, the American people will only then begin to see the implications of its thorough government takeover of health care, in all its glory. But what they are not expecting is the massively expanded ... MORE

Jacob Hornberger: Should There Be A Federal Tipping Law?

Voluntarily doing the right thing. Suppose the Franklin Roosevelt administration had enacted a law in the 1930s that required every restaurant customer in America to pay a 15 percent tip to waiters. The argument in favor of such a law would have been twofold: to help the poor and to stimulate the economy by getting more money  ... MORE

Joel Poindexter: Setting Things Straight On Nullification

The people's last stand against tyranny: just say no. Writing for Hot Air’s Green Room last week, Patrick Ishmael declared that nullification was unconstitutional and cited a number of columns from organizations such as The Heartlander and The Heritage Foundation as proof. Ishmael’s post was mostly a continuation of a discussion, as he calls it,   ... MORE

Joan Lowy: Drones Spark Privacy Fears

Thousands of drones patrolling U.S. skies?   Predictions that multitudes of unmanned aircraft could be flying here within a decade are raising the specter of a “surveillance society” in which no home or backyard would be off limits to prying eyes overhead. Law enforcement, oil companies, farmers, real estate agents and many others have  ... MORE

Why Free Enterprise Is About Morals, Not Materialism

by Arthur Brooks. It's not an easy time to be a free enterprise advocate in America. For years, we thought we had won. After all, almost no self-respecting public figures call themselves socialists anymore. With the advent of the New Democrats, even America's progressive party was on board with free markets and somewhat limited government. The Reagan  ... MORE

Washington Times: Speed-Cameras Rake In The Loot

Expansion of photo-ticketing raises revenue.    All around the nation’s capital, the use of robotic machines to dish out traffic tickets has surged. Starting next week, the District’s for-profit, Arizona-based vendor will begin mailing citations to unwary motorists from an additional two dozen hiding spots. The public thinks this is all about the money ... MORE

Jim Picht: Reflecting Badly On The U.S. Government

What Homeland Security does best.    It’s an economic truism that everything we want has a cost. Milk, gasoline, liberty and security all have price tags. We can’t have all the security we want without giving up something for it, anymore than most of us can have a Ferrari without giving up food and shelter. It isn’t just money you give up when you buy a ... MORE

Walter E Williams: Leftist Race-Baiters

Ever vigilant at fanning the flames of racism.    MSNBC's Chris Matthews, in a recent debate with former Republican National Chairman Michael Steele, called the Republican Party the "grand wizard crowd." Grand wizard is the title given to the leader of the Ku Klux Klan. It is truly misinformed to call Republicans the party of the Klan. Throughout   ... MORE

Obama & Democrats Garner Communist Party Donations

Toto pulls the political curtain on the Democrats' agenda.  The Communist Party USA isn’t always happy with the Democrats, but in the 2012 election, its chairman says, the best bet for advancing the Party’s goals is to back Barack Obama. In a report called “Defeating the Rightwing on the Road to Socialism” delivered to the CPUSA annual conference, Party ... MORE

Doug Bandow: A Two Pronged Attack On Liberty

The statist consensus of Democrats and Republicans. The race for the Republican Party presidential nomination is essentially over.  The GOP apparently has decided Mitt Romney is the answer. Unfortunately, that means the question must be pretty dumb. Not that Barack Obama is a better answer.  Both Romney and Obama are enthusiastic       ... 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

Jim Garrison: Martial Law By Executive Order

Government puts itself above the law.    President Obama's National Defense Resources Preparedness Executive Order of March 16 does to the country as a whole what the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act did to the Constitution in particular -- completely eviscerates any due process or judicial oversight for any action by the Government deemed in the    ... MORE