Once again the federal government has reached its "debt ceiling," and once again Congress is poised to authorize an increase in government borrowing. Between its ever-growing bureaucracies, expanding entitlements, and overseas military entanglements, the...
The Worst Way to Fight Terror
The 9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act (H.R. 10) is yet another attempt to address the tH.R.eat of terrorism by giving more money and power to the federal bureaucracy. Most of the reforms contained in this bill will not make America safer, though they definitely...
Reject Draft Slavery
I oppose HR 163 in the strongest possible terms. The draft, whether for military purposes or some form of "national service," violates the basic moral principles of individual liberty upon which this country was founded. Furthermore, the military neither...
National ID Threatens Liberty
Washington politicians are once again seriously considering imposing a national identification card – and it may well become law before the end of the 108th Congress. The much-hailed 9/11 Commission report [pdf] released in July recommends a federal...
The Government Says We Need More Government
The 9-11 Commission report, released late last month, has disrupted the normally quiet Washington August. Various congressional committees are holding hearings on the report this week, even though Congress is not in session, in an attempt to show the government is...
Police State USA
Last week's announcement that the terrorist threat warning level has been raised in parts of New York, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C., has led to dramatic and unprecedented restrictions on the movements of citizens. Americans wishing to visit the U.S. Capitol must,...
US Must Stay Out of Sudan
I rise in strong opposition to this incredibly dangerous legislation. I hope my colleagues are not fooled by the title of this bill, "Declaring genocide in Darfur, Sudan." This resolution is no statement of humanitarian concern for what may be happening in a country...
‘Saving the World’ With Your Money
The Millennium Challenge Act, a new foreign aid scheme I wrote about back in May, received its hoped-for $2.5 billion from Congress last week. Only 41 members of Congress supported an effort to strip the funding, demonstrating once again that the two parties are not...
Torture, War, and Presidential Powers
A Wall Street Journal article last week detailed a Department of Defense memo that discusses the legality of interrogation and torture methods in the wake of events at Abu Ghraib. The document reportedly advises that the president has authority to order almost any...
Superpower or Superdebtor?
Since the passage of the "Iraq Liberation Act" in 1998, the U.S. government has spent more than 40 million taxpayer dollars on the Iraqi National Congress and its leader Ahmed Chalabi. As we now know, Chalabi in turn fed the U.S. government lies about Iraq’s...