Politics & Rights
Economics, Politics & Rights
FEE Video with Scott Beaulier on Economic Freedom in Africa
Joshua Lipana April 20, 2012
An informative video from the Foundation for Economic Education features Scott Beaulier discussing economic freedom in Africa. Beaulier focuses on two countries, Botswana and Zimbabwe. “Botswana since 1965 has been one of the most rapidly growing countries in the world averaging more than 7 percent growth per year,” and the…
Politics & Rights, Science & Technology
ObamaCare and the Statists’ False Alternative
Michael A. LaFerrara April 19, 2012
In 1984, then-Colorado Governor Dick Lamm infamously said, “We've got a duty to die and get out of the way with all of our machines and artificial hearts and everything else like that and let the other society, our kids, build a reasonable life.” Though Lamm has long claimed that he…
Politics & Rights, Science & Technology
Stop the Fracking Controls
Ari Armstrong April 18, 2012
How many executive agencies does it take to “regulate” hydraulic fracturing, the revolutionary process of harvesting natural gas (as well as oil) largely responsible for saving America’s economy? According to Barack Obama’s new executive order, it takes fourteen—plus a potentially unlimited number of “such other agencies or offices as the…
Politics & Rights
Hey, Dick Durbin, Limit This
Joshua Lipana April 17, 2012
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is calling for the FDA to impose new regulations that would limit caffeine levels of energy drinks, on the grounds that consuming large quantities of caffeine has “health consequences.” What food or beverage consumed in excess would not cause “health consequences”? Tuna contains mercury, eating…
Politics & Rights
Pull Peddling Intensifies in Washington
Ari Armstrong April 16, 2012
I will never forget a lesson I learned years ago interning in Washington, DC as a young, naive student. One of my jobs was to evaluate the transportation budget. I was shocked to discover that the Senators on the committee managed to add a variety of spending projects for their…
Politics & Rights
Henderson Shows “How Property Rights Solve Problems”
Ari Armstrong April 14, 2012
In a delightful essay for the Library of Economics and Liberty, economist David Henderson explains why property rights enable people to live together peacefully rather than fight over preferences and resources through the political system. Henderson opens with the questions, "Should restaurants allow smoking or not? Should schools teach evolution…
Politics & Rights
Kibbe: Tea Party Aims for “Hostile Takeover”
Ari Armstrong April 13, 2012
The Tea Party is ready for a “hostile takeover” of Washington, or so argues Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks. Recently I interviewed Kibbe about his forthcoming book, Hostile Takeover: Resisting Centralized Government's Stranglehold on America. Kibbe said his book “works on the analogy of what a hostile takeover is in…
Politics & Rights
States Join Extortion Racket Against Book Publishers
Ari Armstrong April 12, 2012
Why have fifteen states joined the Department of Justice in persecuting several book publishers and Apple? Why do many in the media refer to the leaders of these businesses as “conspirators,” as though they were criminals? The producers are guilty of the heinous “crime” of selling digital books through willing…
Politics & Rights
Freedom Rises in Guatemala
Ari Armstrong April 11, 2012
Last week at the annual conference of the Association of Private Enterprise Education, I had the opportunity to interview Warren Orbaugh, director of the Henry Hazlitt Center at the Francisco Marroquín University. Orbaugh discussed the work of Manuel “Muso” Ayau, who founded the university to support the ideas of free…
Politics & Rights
The Evolution of the Tea Party
Ari Armstrong April 10, 2012
Last week, at the annual conference of the Association of Private Enterprise Education, I interviewed Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, about the development of the Tea Party. Kibbe said, among other things, that the Tea Party is becoming more directly political, focusing on get-out-the-vote efforts and the like, and, more…