The story of European colonization of the Americas is popularly understood as the conquest of American Indians—the end of natives’ control of the land and the beginning of their subjugation. The contingencies of indigenous agency and geopolitics mean that the reality is much messier, as historians have been steadily revealing for decades, but this interpretation still circulates.
One of the worst consequences of converting the federal government to a national security state has been the stultification or warping of the consciences of the American people. With unwavering allegiance to the Pentagon, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency, all too many Americans have sacrificed their sense of right and wrong at the altar of “national security,” the two-word term that has become the most important term in the political lexicon of the American people.
The 1980s were a kind decade for the United States when it came to its ability to project military power.
After completing a controversial withdrawal from Afghanistan in late August, the United States is facing valid questions about the legitimacy of its foreign escapades launched in the last twenty years under the banner of fighting terrorism.
For as long as I can remember, my family and I have greeted men and women in military uniform with a “Thank you for your service.” Like many other average Americans, when we see people in fatigues at a local restaurant we sometimes pick up their tab when we pay our own.
In a thoughtful and thorough article at the Australian publication Quadrant, economist Wolfgang Kasper writes on the Austrian contribution to the role knowledge plays in global economic growth.
Specifically, Kasper provides some helpful observations on the decentralized and specialized nature of knowledge. Unfortunately, though, Kasper veers off course in assigning an excessively exalted role for knowledge in creating economic growth.
There is only one way to describe the fiscal mindset of those in the White House and in Congress who are proposing new federal budgetary expenditure and taxing increases in the trillions of dollars: a fantasy land of financial irrationality.
[Column written by Murray Rothbard for the New Libertarian 4, no. 7 (April-June 1980): 13–15.]
As in many previous years, this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is chock-full of terrible legislation slyly inserted for the purposes of concealing matters from the public. Both parties have been long guilty of this, with both groups using the NDAA to pass police state legislation increasing federal spying and law enforcement powers.
Imagine living in a country where the annual price increase of food is 30% a year. Many in the west are not very familiar with hyperinflation or a currency collapse. But when looking at a historical or present-day worldview, it’s actually not that rare.
On the other side of the globe, the Hurriyet Daily News of Turkey, reported that President Erdogan ordered Agricultural Credit Cooperatives to open:
