Why We Get The Police State We Deserve

by Nick Gillespie.   In the first flush of stories about how the National Security Agency is surveilling American citizens, one stomach-turning revelation hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves: we get the surveillance state we deserve because rank political partisanship trumps bedrock principle every goddamn time on just about every   ... MORE

Feds Claim Criminal Checks Discriminate Against Blacks

by Scott Thurm.     Federal regulators Tuesday accused two large employers of improperly using criminal-background checks in hiring, the latest salvo in a contentious debate over whether such screening amounts to discrimination against black applicants. In complaints filed in federal courts in Illinois and South Carolina, the Equal Employment      ... MORE

Sales of '1984' Spike Amid NSA Spying Scandal

by Michael Winter.   The revelations about government surveillance have introduced a new generation of readers to Nineteen Eighty-Four, as sales of George Orwell's dystopian classic soar. Sales of the "centennial edition" on Amazon.com had skyrocketed more than 5,800% as of Tuesday night. The novel that introduced the world to the all-seeing,  ... MORE

VIDEO: Edward Snowden & The Surveillance State

The Only Thing Children Really Need Is Freedom

by Chantal K. Saucier.       As parents, we are responsible for the "education" of our children. For me, that means simply this: if my daughter, now 7, grows up to be a responsible, self-reliant, self-motivated, honest, caring, freedom-loving good neighbor, and an overall happy person, then I’ve succeeded. I don’t have a career path   ... MORE

Gene Healy: The Very Real Threat Posed By NSA

"It can't happen here" just did. As a Senate candidate in 2003, Barack Obama called the PATRIOT Act "shoddy and dangerous." Once safely in power, Obama started demonstrating his remarkable capacity for "growing in office" -- expanding federal powers while piously moralizing about their potential abuse. As a senator, he voted to         ... MORE

VIDEO: Capitalism Is NOT Imperialism

4 Ways the Fourth Amendment's Already Being Pummeled

by Ed Krayewski.   Last week The Guardian and The Washington Post reported that the National Security Agency collects information on the phone and Internet habits of millions of Americans. Since then we've seen President Barack Obama argue against the strawman of combining “100 percent privacy and 100 percent security.” We've seen the      ... MORE

FBI Requests For Data On Citizens Up 1000% Since Obama

Welcome to the surveillance state.    Not surprising given recent revelations about the NSA, but as Michael Isikoff points out, the massive increase in requests for business records by the FBI under a provision in the Patriot Act, represents a sea change in the government's attitude toward privacy. The FBI has dramatically increased its use of a    ... MORE

Phyllis Schlafly: Big Brother Obama Is Watching

Public servants transmogrify to masters.   It has become evident that Barack Obama's definition of "fundamentally transforming the United States" includes Big Brother harassing selected conservatives while monitoring everybody's email and telephone traffic. These seem to be among the surprising duties of the Internal Revenue Service    ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: Economics Vs. 'Need'

A labor shortage should lead to higher wages.     One of the most common arguments for allowing more immigration is that there is a "need" for foreign workers to do "jobs that Americans won't do," especially in agriculture. One of my most vivid memories of the late Armen Alchian, an internationally renowned economist at UCLA, involved a lunch ...  MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Stop Punishing Success