All Posts Tagged With: "limited government"
The Individual and the Community
Last May sociologist Amitai Etzioni participated in a debate hosted by the Cato Institute in which he argued against the classical-liberal theory as being too atomistic, excessively concerned with selfish individualism, and neglectful of the importance of community. He’s been making this point for 20 years, which is strange for two reasons: First, it isn’t [...]
26Oct2011 | Aeon J. Skoble | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Road from Mont Pelerin: The Making of the Neoliberal Thought Collective
This collection of essays tries to trace the influence, define the ideology, and question the validity or propriety of the philosophy known as “neoliberalism.” The book is structured around the notion that this term can be fruitfully defined as the ideas promoted by the Mont Pelerin Society (MPS). The MPS was an organization of academics [...]
21Sep2011 | Brian Doherty | 2 comments | ContinuedThe Preamble They Should’ve Written
Did the Founding Fathers get it right? Is the Constitution they drafted a secure basis for limited government? Many conservatives suppose so and believe the drift to big government has simply been a case of not reading the directions on the package. Last January these conservatives ordered that the Constitution be read aloud at the [...]
22Jun2011 | James L. Payne | 21 comments | ContinuedWilfrid Laurier: A Canadian Statesman
Owing to where most Americans trace their ancestry from, we tend to know more European history than the history of our immediate neighbors to the north and south, Canada and Mexico. We can name famous entrepreneurs and political leaders from across the sea but rarely one from right next door. Last May in a casual [...]
22Oct2010 | Lawrence W. Reed | 4 comments | ContinuedDid Locke Really Justify Limited Government?
John Locke (1632–1704) was a physician, statesman, and political philosopher, filling that last office in a dry, “empirical,” and militantly antipoetic English mode. Locke’s stock has risen and fallen over the years. Contemporaries called him a Socinian (a precursor of Unitarianism), a deist, a Muslim, and an opportunist. Later critics have seen Locke as the [...]
24Feb2010 | Joseph R. Stromberg | 15 comments | ContinuedThe American Spirit of Enterprise
America has been the land of opportunity and free enterprise, an example and a hope for tens of millions of people around the world. In America both the industrious worker and the creative entrepreneur have been hailed as the complementary producers of prosperity and rising standards of living. Class and caste were meant to play [...]
1Oct2007 | Richard M. Ebeling | 0 comments | ContinuedFreedom and Benevolence Go Together
I interviewed Michael Moore recently for a “20/20” special on health care. It’s refreshing to interview a leftist who proudly admits he’s a leftist. He told me that government should provide “food care” as well as health care and that big government would work if only the right people were in charge. Moore added, “I [...]
1Oct2007 | John Stossel | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Astronaut Libertarian?
The Astronaut Farmer ranks as an unmistakably libertarian family film. The plot might have a few holes, but the movie raises some fascinating points and questions about individuals pursuing their dreams, limits on personal actions, and the role of government. The movie hit theaters in February and was scheduled for DVD release in July. It [...]
1Jul2007 | Raymond J. Keating | 1 comment | ContinuedHans F. Sennholz: Champion of Freedom and Austrian Economics
Richard M. Ebeling is the president of FEE. For more than half a century Austrian-school economist Hans F. Sennholz demonstrated that learning about the free market was not an exercise in the “dismal science.” An extremely popular public speaker and immensely prolific writer, Hans educated and persuaded thousands of people about the virtues of the [...]
1Jun2007 | Richard M. Ebeling | 1 comment | ContinuedTwo Presidents, Two Philosophies, and Two Different Outcomes
In the White House, Wilson intended to be a strong president working with a “living Constitution.” He promoted the expanding of “beneficent” government into new areas. In his second year as president he concluded that shipping rates were too high, and he blessed his secretary of treasury’s plan to regulate overseas shipping rates and the companies doing the shipping.
1Jun2007 | Burton W. Folsom Jr. | 0 comments | ContinuedFreedom and the Role of Government
Richard Ebeling is the president of FEE. What is the role of government? This has been and remains the most fundamental question in all political discussions and debates. Its answer will determine the nature of the social order and how people will be expected and allowed to interact with one another—on the basis of either [...]
1May2007 | Richard M. Ebeling | 0 comments | ContinuedTolls on the Road to Serfdom
D.W. MacKenzie is an assistant professor of economics and finance at SUNY Plattsburgh. Many people think their taxes are too high and that the tax system is unfair. While those who favor individual liberty might find this encouraging, the specific reasons for discontent are not entirely positive. Many Americans think the current system is unfair [...]
1Apr2007 | D.W. MacKenzie | 0 comments | ContinuedModern Liberty and the Limits of Government
By Charles Fried Reviewed by Richard M. Ebeling
1Apr2007 | FEE Admin | 1 comment | ContinuedNot Losing Sight of the Best in the Pursuit of Liberty
The eighteenth-century French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire warned that “the best is the enemy of the good.” He meant that in trying to pursue unattainable perfection, we may miss the opportunity to create something better than what we have. There is much wisdom in these words. But there is danger in its opposite: If we allow [...]
1Aug2006 | Richard M. Ebeling | 0 comments | ContinuedA Patriot’s History of the United States: From Columbus’s Great Discovery to the War on Terror
U.S. history textbooks are important because they are a benchmark of what we as a nation value in our past and what we envision for our future. After thumbing through a recent batch of texts, David McCullough, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, concluded that “most of them, it appears to me, have been published in [...]
14Jan2006 | Burton W. Folsom Jr. | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Freeman: Ideas on Liberty
Henry Hazlitt (18941993), on the hundredth anniversary of his birth, most deservedly was designated journalist of the century. He also was the last survivor of the founding trustees of the Foundation for Economic Education.
1Jan2006 | Paul L. Poirot | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Supreme Court and the End of Limited Government
The Supreme Court ruling permitting governments
forcibly to transfer property through eminent
domain from one private party to another
for the sake of economic development did not come out
of the blue. Although the Takings Clause in the Fifth
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution specifies “nor shall
private property be taken for public use without just
compensation,” the “Court long ago rejected any literal
requirement that condemned property be put into use
for the general public” (Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff,
1984, cited in the current case, Kelo v. City of New
London).
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