Thoughts, essays, and writings on Liberty. Written by the heirs of Patrick Henry.

Life, Liberty, Property

Life, Liberty, Property

May 13, 2008

Quote Of The Day: Imperial Presidency Edition

Gene Healy from his new book, The Cult Of The Presidency:
The chief executive of the United States is no longer a mere constitutional officer charged with faithful execution of the laws. He is a soul nourisher, a hope giver, a living American talisman against hurricanes, terrorism, economic downturns, and spiritual malaise. He—or she—is the one […]

Posted By: Doug Mataconis @ 5:36 am || Permalink || Comments (3) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Constitution, Quote of the Day, Separation Of Powers
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March 13, 2008

The Case For Legalizing Prostitution

Steve Chapman takes up the cause at Reason:
Outlawing this commerce serves mainly to make things worse, not better. It assures income to criminal organizations with long experience evading the law. It makes prostitutes vulnerable to abuse. It prevents measures to protect the health of providers and patrons.
It exempts an industry from the taxes and fees […]

Posted By: Doug Mataconis @ 12:29 pm || Permalink || Comments (5) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Constitution, Individual Rights, Legal, Privacy, Separation Of Powers
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March 6, 2008

When is Armed Rebellion Appropriate?

Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.
Ovid

One interesting question within political theory is the question of when armed rebellion against a government is justified. Most people that tackle this subject try to find some set of moral lines that a government must cross before […]

Posted By: tarran @ 8:46 am || Permalink || Comments (20) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Crime and Punishment, Democracy, Human Rights, Keep and Bear Arms, Separation Of Powers, The War on Drugs
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February 18, 2008

Superdelegates And The 17th Amendment

The Democratic Party is finding itself in a very strange position. They’re approaching a potential situation where neither of their candidates have enough elected delegates to secure the nomination, and the race will turn to the superdelegates to decide. Primary results can then be trumped by the say-so of the “party elites”. […]

Posted By: Brad Warbiany @ 5:15 am || Permalink || Comments (5) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Constitution, Election '08, Founding Fathers, Politics, Separation Of Powers, Theory and Ideas
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December 10, 2007

Two Victories on the Mandatory Minimums Front

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday said judges may impose shorter prison terms for crack cocaine crimes, enhancing judicial discretion to reduce the disparity between sentences for crack and cocaine powder.
By a 7-2 vote, the court said that a 15-year sentence given to Derrick Kimbrough, a veteran of the 1991 war with Iraq, was […]

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November 30, 2007

Federalism vs. Individual Freedom

The Constitutionalism of Ron Paul has ignited a debate that’s sorely needed in this country. The Founding Fathers envisioned a nation of individual States, each with its own quirks and ideas, and each with wide latitudes to set its own internal laws and policies as it saw fit. The central government was tasked […]

Posted By: Brad Warbiany @ 4:00 am || Permalink || Comments (18) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Blog Discussions, Constitution, Democracy, Equal Protection, Federalism, Government Regulation, Individual Rights, Separation Of Powers, Taxation, Theory and Ideas
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November 15, 2007

Reason interviews Andrew Napolitano

Fox News contributor Andrew Napolitano recently gave an interview to Reason magazine to promote his new book, A Nation of Sheep. I have to say that this is one of the best interviews I’ve read in a very long time.
On the USA PATRIOT Act:
The Patriot Act’s two most principle constitutional errors are an […]

Posted By: Jason Pye @ 6:13 pm || Permalink || Comments (7) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Separation Of Powers, The Bill Of Rights
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November 13, 2007

Is Dick Cheney Unconstitutional ?: The Case Against An Activist Vice-Presidency

In a provocatively titled law review article, Glenn Reynolds, who spends his time at the University of Tennessee College of Law when he isn’t blogging raises some very interesting questions about the Office of Vice-President and what it has become in modern times.
The article itself arises out of the controversy that erupted earlier this year […]

Posted By: Doug Mataconis @ 2:33 pm || Permalink || Comments (2) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Constitution, Founding Fathers, Separation Of Powers
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October 21, 2007

Why The Line-Item Veto Won’t Work

This morning George Will makes an interesting argument against what has been a traditional part of the Republican agenda — the line-item veto:
The line-item veto expresses liberalism’s faith in top-down government and the watery Caesarism that has produced today’s inflated presidency. Liberalism assumes that executive branch experts, free from parochial constituencies, know, as Congress does […]

Posted By: Doug Mataconis @ 9:26 am || Permalink || Comments (2) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Constitution, Separation Of Powers
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September 20, 2007

Mike Ditka, Former Players Ask the U.S. Senate to “Fix” the NFL

WASHINGTON — After testimony Tuesday by retired NFL players about red tape in qualifying for disability benefits related to on-the-field injuries, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said the league is “dropping the ball.”
[…]
“My hope is that the league will get its act together here,” Kerry said. “I am prepared, if the league doesn’t do that, […]

Posted By: Stephen Littau @ 1:50 pm || Permalink || Comments (14) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Constitution, General, Government Regulation, Government Waste, Healthcare, Media, Separation Of Powers, The Nanny State