The Librarian of Congress has issued a ruling informing American citizens that they do not have the right to modify their own property.
What is the Librarian of Congress protecting the American citizen from? A scary gun? Possibly an environment-destroying vehicle? Surely it is something insidious, inherently dangerous or at least annoying, right? Continue reading
By Murray Polner
John M. Barry, the eloquent independent scholar who wrote “The Great Influenza” about the deadly 1918-1919 pandemic, coined the felicitous phrase “fashions of interpretation” in his latest book “Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul.” It’s perfectly appropriate for how we consider past presidents. Continue reading
A question frequently asked, and one which has often troubled me, goes like this: the state is corrupt, rights are ignored or denied; justice cannot be found. But what can I do about it? Continue reading
By EMMA BELFORT
The Libertarian Staff
Health issues prevented Venezuelan re-elected President Hugo Chavez, from attending an inauguration ceremony on January 10th, but throngs of supporters and militants from his party, Venezuelan United Socialist Party (PSUV) swore an oath of loyalty in his absence. Continue reading
FDR was a very crafty politician. When he proposed the Social Security Act as a safety net for Americans, he set the pay out for benefits to be at age at 65, when the average lifespan for a male was 59 in 1935. Since then, the goal post was moved a few feet, but life expectancy has grown.
Significantly. Continue reading
A couple of weekends ago I went along with my wife to see Les Miserables, a three-hour cinema version of the musical – based on the epic 19th Century novel by the French novelist, Victor Hugo. I am not going to even bother to hint at the plot here – since that is poor reviewer manners – but rather reflect on something that seems to have been caused by the phenomenon of this film. Continue reading
The Internet is perhaps the greatest tool developed in the past two generations. Its uses for communication and research are obvious. Yet despite being a spinoff of what was originally a government project (the US military’s ARPANET in the 1960s), ironically it has shown itself to be a major weapon against statism and tyranny. Witness the ‘social-media revolutions’ in the Middle East and Egypt, for example. When ideas can flow unhindered, real change has a chance to take place. Continue reading
Karen Seddon is a PhD candidate at the University of Manchester School of Law. Her research focuses on finding a purely rational, and not value-ridden, basis for law-making.
First, let me be clear what this blog is not about. It is not about cyber-bullying; cyber-stalking; the posing of serious threats; the incitement of violence or hacking offences. There is a disorientating abundance of laws protecting individuals from these offences, including the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; The Public Order Act 1986; the Crime and Disorder Act 1998; the Criminal Law Act 1977 and the Malicious Communications Act 1988. Case law has even extended Actual Bodily Harm to include psychological harm (R v Ireland), so I am not asking you to have in mind the misery-inducing teenagers that victimise classmates online. Continue reading