Freedom Archives - Voice For Liberty

Jul

Stephen Ware: Debate on masks, freedom

Can libertarians accept a mask mandate? This op-ed by Kansas University Law Professor and noted libertarian Stephen Ware shows how libertarians can tolerate, if not embrace, a government mandate to wear masks to help slow the spread of COVID-19. It is free to read in the Topeka Capital-Journal here. Here is an excerpt that I believe presents the heart of the reasoning: In that sense, a mask requirement is less like a seatbelt law designed to protect the wearer and more like a law against driving under the influence of alcohol. Many deaths have been caused by drunken drivers who…

WichitaLiberty.TV: Russ McCullough, Ottawa University and Gwartney Institute

Apr

By Bob Weeks

WichitaLiberty.TV: Russ McCullough, Ottawa University and Gwartney Institute

In this episode of WichitaLiberty.TV: Dr. Russ McCullough of Ottawa University introduces us to the Gwartney Institute and explains the importance of economic freedom. View below, or click here to view at YouTube. Episode 194, broadcast April 28, 2018. Shownotes Website: Gwartney Institute Economic Freedom Basics Dr. Russ McCullough is the Wayne Angell Chair of Economics at Ottawa University in Kansas. He is also the Founder/Director of the Gwartney Institute for Freedom, Justice and Human Flourishing -- A think tank that explores the evidence of social institutions around the world including faith and economics. He joined OU in 2011 coming…

Dec

By Bob Weeks

Year in Review: 2016

Here are highlights from Voice for Liberty for 2016. Was it a good year for the principles of individual liberty, limited government, economic freedom, and free markets in Wichita and Kansas? Also be sure to view the programs on WichitaLiberty.TV for guests like journalist, novelist, and blogger Bud Norman; Radio talk show host Joseph Ashby; David Bobb, President of Bill of Rights Institute; Heritage Foundation trade expert Bryan Riley; Radio talk show host Andy Hooser; Keen Umbehr; John Chisholm on entrepreneurship; James Rosebush, author of "True Reagan," Jonathan Williams of American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC); Gidget Southway, or Danedri Herbert;…

Apr

By Bob Weeks

WichitaLiberty.TV: Keen Umbehr

In this episode of WichitaLiberty.TV: Keen Umbehr is an attorney from Alma. Besides setting a precedent protecting free speech in the United States Supreme Court, he's an advocate for criminal justice reform and a former candidate for governor. View below, or click here to view at YouTube. Episode 118, broadcast May 1, 2016. Shownotes Keen Umbehr on Facebook The U.S. Supreme Court case: Board of County Commissioners, Wabaunsee County, Kansas v. Umbehr. Small Town Showdown, the true story of Keen A. Umbehr, a trashman who dared to challenge the powers that be in his hometown of Alma, Kansas, population 850.…

AFP Foundation wins a battle for free speech for everyone

Apr

By Bob Weeks

AFP Foundation wins a battle for free speech for everyone

Americans for Prosperity Foundation achieves a victory for free speech and free association. Must donors to non-profit organizations live in “fear of exercising their First Amendment right to support” any organization, which effect is to “diminish the amount of expressive and associational activity?” Should these people be denied the right to their speech? The constitution says, no. Non-profit organizations file a form known as IRS Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. [1. Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. (2016). Irs.gov. Available at www.irs.gov/uac/About-Form-990.] The first part of this form is public information and may…

In Wichita, revealing discussion of property rights

Apr

By Bob Weeks

In Wichita, revealing discussion of property rights

Reaction to the veto of a bill in Kansas reveals the instincts of many government officials, which is to grab more power whenever possible. When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that justifies it. -- Frederic Bastiat Kansas Governor Sam Brownback's veto of a bill that gives cities additional means to take blighted property has produced reaction from local officials in Wichita. The bill is Senate Bill 338. As has been noted…

WichitaLiberty.TV: Jeffrey Tucker and ‘Bit by Bit: How P2P Is Freeing the World’

Oct

By Bob Weeks

WichitaLiberty.TV: Jeffrey Tucker and ‘Bit by Bit: How P2P Is Freeing the World’

In this episode of WichitaLiberty.TV: Jeffrey Tucker talks about his most recent book “Bit by Bit: How P2P Is Freeing the World” and how Bitcoin and other distributed technologies are affecting the world. View below, or click here to watch in high definition at YouTube. Episode 97, broadcast October 4, 2015. Tucker's website is www.jeffreytucker.me. The book's page at Amazon is Bit by Bit: How P2P Is Freeing the World. Liberty.me is here.

Jul

By Bob Weeks

Friedman: Laws that do harm

As we approach another birthday of Milton Friedman, here's his column from Newsweek in 1982 that explains that despite good intentions, the result of government intervention often harms those it is intended to help. There is a sure-fire way to predict the consequences of a government social program adopted to achieve worthy ends. Find out what the well-meaning, public-interested persons who advocated its adoption expected it to accomplish. Then reverse those expectations. You will have an accurate prediction of actual results. To illustrate on the broadest level, idealists from Marx to Lenin and the subsequent fellow travelers claimed that communism…

Friedman: The fallacy of the welfare state

Jul

By Bob Weeks

Friedman: The fallacy of the welfare state

As we approach another birthday of Milton Friedman, here's an insightful passage from the book he wrote with his wife Rose: Free to Choose: A Personal Statement. It explains why government spending is wasteful, how it leads to corruption, how it often does not benefit the people it was intended, and how the pressure for more spending is always present. A simple classification of spending shows why that process leads to undesirable results. When you spend, you may spend your own money or someone else's; and you may spend for the benefit of yourself or someone else. Combining these two…

‘Love Gov’ humorous and revealing of government’s nature

Jul

By Bob Weeks

‘Love Gov’ humorous and revealing of government’s nature

A series of short videos from the Independent Institute entertains and teaches lessons at the same time. The Independent Institute has produced a series of humorous and satirical videos to present lessons about the nature of government. The Institute describes the series here: Love Gov depicts an overbearing boyfriend -- Scott “Gov” Govinsky -- who foists his good intentions on a hapless, idealistic college student, Alexis. Each episode follows Alexis's relationship with Gov as his intrusions wreak (comic) havoc on her life, professionally, financially, and socially. Alexis's loyal friend Libby tries to help her see Gov for what he really…