All Posts Tagged With: "human rights"
Poverty Is Easy to Explain
Academics, politicians, clerics, and others always seem perplexed by the question: Why is there poverty? Answers usually range from exploitation and greed to slavery, colonialism, and other forms of immoral behavior. Poverty is seen as something to be explained with complicated analysis, conspiracy doctrines, and incantations. This vision of poverty is part of the problem [...]
21Apr2011 | Walter E. Williams | 27 comments | ContinuedChina: Wealth but Not Freedom
When Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Washington earlier this year he received the gracious welcome and state dinner he did not get on his first visit in 2006. He also had some tough discussions on trade, foreign exchange, national security, and human rights. China can be proud of the rapid economic progress it has made [...]
21Apr2011 | James A. Dorn | 2 comments | ContinuedThe Power of Freedom: Uniting Human Rights and Development
Jean-Pierre Chauffour, an economic adviser at the World Bank, constructs a framework within which human rights and economic development are mutually consistent. His book is a response to policymakers and academics who view economic development as a “fundamental right” calling for government intervention; it demonstrates that the policy prescriptions derived from their ideas are counterproductive [...]
20Apr2010 | Rosemary Fike | 0 comments | ContinuedWhat The Drug Warriors Have Given Us
Does anyone still think the “war on drugs” is a good idea?
That may strike some people as an odd question under the circumstances, so let’s take it from another direction. Have you seen the news stories about the violence on the border being perpetrated by the Mexican whiskey and cigarette cartels?
No? That’s probably because there was no such violence and are no such cartels.
So why are there violent cartels in marijuana, cocaine, and heroin but not in whiskey and cigarettes?
All together now: prohibition.
17Jun2009 | Sheldon Richman | 8 comments | ContinuedRights Versus Wishes
Critics of the U.S. health-care system often suggest that we should adopt the single-payer universal systems of other countries. The serious problems encountered by those systems are increasingly documented and well known, such as the long waiting lists, restrictions on physician choice, and rationing in countries such as Canada, Italy, Greece, and the United Kingdom. [...]
1May2008 | Walter E. Williams | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Myth of Available Pain Care
America is in the midst of an ongoing epidemic of undertreated chronic pain. This fact is confirmed by surveys such as “Chronic Pain in America: Roadblocks to Relief,” which is posted on the American Pain Society website (www.ampainsoc.org/ whatsnew/toc_road.htm). The economic cost of this epidemic can be estimated, in terms of lost productivity, at about [...]
1Apr2005 | Frank B. Fisher | 30 comments | ContinuedA Carson Sampler
Editor’s Note: Long-time contributing editor Clarence Carson died in April. In memory of this friend of FEE, we reproduce below excerpts from three of his many articles for The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty. “The Property Basis of Rights,” September 1980 There has been an attempt to separate property rights from other rights in this century. [...]
1Jul2003 | FEE Admin | 0 comments | ContinuedOn Freedom of Association
Freedom of association is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The relevant portion states, “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging . . . the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” Seems simple enough. We may assemble ourselves into whatever peaceful associations we choose, and the government is forbidden [...]
1Jul2002 | Charles W. Baird | 11 comments | ContinuedThe Economics of Infantilism
While this year’s Winter Games were still going on, the website of the National Organization for Women was complaining that with all the Olympic coverage, the press had neglected to notice the 400-person rally, dubbed the “March for Our Lives,” held simultaneously in Salt Lake City. Led by organizations from the Poor People’s Economic Human [...]
1Jun2002 | Thomas E. Woods Jr. | 1 comment | ContinuedA War to End All Banditry
Even before the United States wound down its military operations in Afghanistan, it began looking for targets elsewhere. But policymakers must remember that Washington’s primary interest is thwarting transnational terrorists who target Americans, not combating local criminals and insurgents around the globe. After just three months, the Taliban was overthrown, the al Qaeda network was [...]
1May2002 | Doug Bandow | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Perils of Positive Rights
Tibor Machan is a professor at the Argyros School of Business and Economics, Chapman University. One of the most powerful ideas opposed to the free society is a notion political philosophers call “positive rights.” Sounds good, doesn’t it? What could be wrong with being positive? Sounds like something out of Anthony Robbins or Norman Vincent [...]
1Apr2001 | Tibor R. Machan | 5 comments | ContinuedTrade and Freedom in China: A Reality Check
China’s authoritarian government regularly and systematically ignores universally recognized rights. It is beyond dispute that the Communist Party detains individuals for expressing political opinions and for practicing religious beliefs that are viewed to be subversive to the control of the central authorities. Apologists for Beijing often try to raise an argument based on moral relativism [...]
1Sep2000 | Christopher Lingle | 0 comments | ContinuedSweatshops: Look for the INS Label
The nineteenth-century phenomenon of sweatshops is re-emerging as an important 21st-century issue for American labor and business. For example, the United Students Against Sweatshops has called on its 180 campus affiliates to organize and force universities to deal only with manufacturers who abide by fair labor practices. In February, students from the University of Pennsylvania [...]
1Jul2000 | Wendy McElroy | 0 comments | ContinuedSilly Talking
Let’s talk about absolutely ridiculous pronouncements people make that either ignore simple fact or border on insanity. How about this one: Violence is no way to settle anything! Evidence suggests that violence is a very effective way of settling things. Let’s look at a few examples.
1Jul2000 | Walter E. Williams | 1 comment | ContinuedThe ILO’s Strange Use of Words
Last June the International Labor Organization (ILO) put forth its “Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.” U.S. Labor Secretary Alexis Herman asserted that the declaration is “a big step forward for the ILO and its members as we enter the 21st century.” John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, called it “an historic breakthrough [...]
1Feb1999 | Charles W. Baird | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Human Rights Deception
Richard Stevens, a lawyer in Washington, D.C., specializes in legal research and writing. On December 10, 1998, world and national leaders commemorate the birthday of an impostor. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights turns 50 years old on that date. Because Americans know so little about their own Constitution and Bill of Rights, [...]
1Dec1998 | Richard W. Stevens | 4 comments | ContinuedSocial Justice
The pursuit of social justice probably accounts for most human misery. What’s more, throughout history, one form of injustice has usually been replaced by another that is far worse. Russia’s 1917 revolution expelling the Czars and their injustices ushered in Lenin, Stalin, and a succession of brutal dictators who murdered tens of millions in the name of the proletarian revolution.
1Jul1998 | Walter E. Williams | 0 comments | Continued-
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