Big Government

The jury verdicts looting tobacco companies and exonerating the federal government at Waco are both contrary to the rule of law. 

How did the State come into being? Martin van Creveld's new book provides a new perspective, writes Joseph Stromberg. 

In addition to sobering tales of government malfeasance, a new work by Roberts and Stratton offers us a theory explaining why these abuses occur: review by Robert Murphy 

Strange how closely the outlines of Gore's plan track Carter's during the 1970s energy crisis, eschewing market prices for central dictate. 

Watching Joel Klein of the Antitrust Division on television, speaking about the dangers that Microsoft poses to the public, calls to mind a passage from Martin van Creveld's The Rise and Decline of the State: "Born in sin, the bastard offspring of declining autocracy and bureaucracy run amok, the state is a giant wielded by pygmies.

The sequencing of the human genome is yet another victory for private enterprise over central planning, writes Lew Rockwell.

Billions are dolled out to scholars every year, but only to those who are willing to accept--or least not contradict--the government's ideological assumptions.

Hate crimes on campus that turn out to be trumped up excuses for political crackdowns. 

When one thinks of "death by government," either those killed by armed members of the state or the millions who have perished in the vast gulags and prisons run by governmental agents usually come to mind. However, government has demonstrated far more creativity in eliminating people than just by shooting or starving them to death. It also has successfully drowned them while destroying property to the tune of billions of dollars. Here are a couple of horror stories.