Cato on Campus - Foundations of Liberty

District of Columbia V. Heller: What's Next?

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:02:00 EDT

By Robert A. Levy: "Following a victory that some thought impossible, the advocates of the right to bear arms are asking themselves where to go next. None are more qualified to answer that question than Robert A. Levy, co-counsel in District of Columbia v. Heller, the landmark case that has permanently changed the shape of gun rights jurisprudence." - Dr. Jason Kuznicki

New on Free Will: Bruce Caldwell on Hayek

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:44:00 EDT

"This week, I talk with Bruce Caldwell, author of Hayek�s Challenge, a wonderfully lucid, comprehensive, and penetrating account of the development of Hayek�s economic and methodological ideas. Hayek is one of my enthusiasms, so I had a great time talking to Bruce, who knows as much about Hayek as anyone." - Will Wilkinson

Crying Wolf: Are we all fascists now?

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:46:00 EDT

By Michael C. Moynihan: "To anyone that has attended a political demonstration, trawled a blog, or attended a Western university in the past half century, the scattershot use of 'fascist' will ring familiar. And almost as clich�d as accusing an ideological opponent of fascist sympathies is the accurate observation that such charges often demonstrate an utter lack of understanding of just what qualifies as fascist, other than 'someone I vehemently disagree with.'"

Don't Shed a Tear Over Bid for Beer

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:54:00 EDT

By John D. Burger: "An unsolicited bid by the Belgian-Brazilian conglomerate InBev to take over Anheuser Busch has set off a backlash among the American public. Protesters of the proposed deal are relying on patriotic slogans such as "Keep Budweiser American" in an attempt to rally the masses against the originally friendly but increasingly hostile takeover bid. I find this reaction terribly embarrassing."

Banned! Drew Carey Takes a Tour of Nanny State Nation

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:45:00 EDT

"Whether you love it, hate it, or have never thought about it, chances are some politician wants to ban it. 'Welcome to the Nanny State Nation,' says reason.tv host Drew Carey. 'Where the government minds your own business.'"

Munger on the Political Economy of Public Transportation

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:39:00 EDT

"Mike Munger and Russ Roberts deliver one of the best podcasts ever. Munger describes the way in which moving from a private bus system to a public system in Santiago Chile made essentially everyone in the city worse off. The puzzle that Roberts keeps pushing Munger to resolve is why the political incentives do not work to abolish the public system and revert to a private system." - Bryan Caplan

A Matter of Life and Death

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:22:00 EDT

By Karol Boudreaux: "By some estimates South Africa has taken in over three million illegal immigrants in the past year - not just people in search of better jobs, but also Zimbabweans fleeing Robert Mugabe's reign. The unfortunate byproduct of this influx of immigrants is a longstanding and mostly dormant xenophobia that has reared its head. "

The Second Amendment Goes to Court

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:00 EDT

Alan Gura, Glenn Reynolds, Randy Barnett, Brian Doherty, Sanford Levinson, Jacob Sullum, and Dave Kopel respond to D.C. v. Heller

D.C. Gun Ban Struck Down

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:04:00 EDT

"On Thursday, the Court rediscovered the Second Amendment. More than five years after six Washington, D.C. residents challenged the city�s 32-year-old ban on all functional firearms in the home, the Court held in District of Columbia v. Heller that the law is unconstitutional. Heller is merely the opening salvo in a series of litigations that will ultimately resolve what weapons and persons can be regulated and what restrictions are permissible. But because of Thursday�s decision, the prospects for reviving the original meaning of the Second Amendment are now substantially brighter." - Robert A. Levy, Co-counsel to Mr. Heller

Democrats Capitulate on FISA

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:45:00 EDT

By Julian Sanchez: "Democrats are trying to rationalize capitulating on surveillance and telecom immunity in the new FISA bill by calling it a compromise. It isn't."

Mexicans and Machines: Why It's Time To Lay Off NAFTA

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:13:00 EDT

"Like technology, trade gives us more good stuff than bad�yet Americans are likely to cheer technology and fear trade. No doubt TV talkers and White House wannabes will keep stoking our fears of foreigners until voters and viewers stop buying it�or until robots snag their jobs, too."

From Breadbasket to Basket Case

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:38:00 EDT

By Mary Anastasia O'Grady: "As the presidential campaign drones on, Barack Obama and the Democrats are fleshing out the promise of "change" with some specific, big-government policy proposals. Many are familiar, perhaps because they already have been tried � in Argentina."

In a Class Of Your Own

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:05:00 EDT

By Roger Pilon: "When the Supreme Court affirms a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, that's news, especially when nearly every other circuit has gone the other way. That's what happened last week in Engquist v. Oregon Department of Agriculture. Unfortunately, the news would be better had the 9th Circuit gotten it right."

Commie Ball: A Journey to the End of a Revolution

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:14:00 EDT

By Michael Lewis: "Some of the greatest baseball players the world has never seen are in Cuba, where their talent is government property, and their only chance of turning pro is the risky boat ride to Florida. Gus Dominguez, an L.A. sports agent, has done more than anyone to help escaped players join major-league U.S. teams, but now he sits in a California jail, convicted of smuggling athletes."

Raiding California�Drew Carey on Medical Marijuana and Minors

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:15:00 EDT

"Should medical marijuana be kept from minors at all costs? Why is it that pharmacists can dispense amphetamines without getting busted, but legal operators who dispense medical marijuana face prison time? Why do armed federal agents persist in raiding California?"

Narcissists With Nukes

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:46:00 EDT

By Shawn Macomber: "Should Cato Institute Senior Editor Gene Healy's wonderfully informative, perception shifting examination of the wayward American executive, The Cult of the Presidency, receive the attention it so richly deserves, however, it may serve as a perfect literary tonic for our historical and cultural amnesia. Perhaps Healy, armed with a persuasive, good-natured outrage, will even inspire some among us toward a more narrow definition of presidential virtuousness and, by extension, broaden the conception of our own."

Government, War, and Libertarianism

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:23:00 EDT

By Justin Logan: "Why has the war�and post-9/11 foreign policy generally�been so controversial for libertarians? And now, more than six years after 9/11 and more than five years into the war in Iraq, what can libertarian insights tell us about how we got here and what to do next?"

In Defense of "Sweatshops"

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:20:00 EDT

Benjamin Powell: "Because sweatshops are better than the available alternatives, any reforms aimed at improving the lives of workers in sweatshops must not jeopardize the jobs that they already have."

McCain Talking Too Tough on Russia, China

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:17:00 EDT

By Malou Innocent: "There is no question that China and Russia have objectionable policies. China's deplorable human-rights record and Russia's authoritarian structure leave much to be desired. But McCain's policy prescriptions will prevent the U.S. from working with them in areas of common interest, and preclude cooperation in meeting shared threats."

Texas Supreme Court: Return the Children

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:15:00 EDT

By Tim Lynch: "[T]he Supreme Court of Texas ruled that Child Protective Services (CPS) abused its discretion by seizing 468 children from the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints ranch in Eldorado."

Presidential Power-Tripping

Thu, 29 May 2008 12:43:00 EDT

By Radley Balko: " The most important issue in this November's presidential election isn't Iraq or terrorism or the economy, though it plays into all three. The most important issue is presidential power."

Drew Carey Reports on the Tragically High Cost of Building a Border Wall

Wed, 28 May 2008 09:51:00 EDT

"At a time when pundits and politicians of all stripes endorse securing the border between the United States and Mexico, reason.tv travels south to see what's really going on�and what the human and monetary costs are of amping up border patrols."

Our Collectivist Candidates

Wed, 28 May 2008 09:41:00 EDT

By David Boaz: "The real issue is that Messrs. Obama and McCain are telling us Americans that our normal lives are not good enough, that pursuing our own happiness is "self-indulgence," that building a business is "chasing after our money culture," that working to provide a better life for our families is a 'narrow concern.'"

Caesaropapism Rampant

Tue, 27 May 2008 14:20:00 EDT

By George F. Will: "[R]hetorical�and related�excesses are inherent in the modern presidency. This is so for reasons brilliantly explored in the year's most pertinent and sobering public affairs book, 'The Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power,' by Gene Healy of Washington's libertarian Cato Institute."

Where Does Law Come From?

Wed, 21 May 2008 15:00:00 EDT

By Bruce L. Benson: "The lesson here is that law and governance are natural institutions that arise out of people�s interest in prospering through production, the division of labor, and trade. They do not depend on a central coercive authority for their genesis. States can arise when a powerful group, bent on institutionalized extortion, co-opt and alter existing customary law to serve its own particular interests."