Freedom Home Page of the Week Archive Spring 1997

There are many great libertarian sites outside of the United States, but Der Markt (The Market) wins firstprize. This site has a host of features. It has Freiheit und Markt(Freedom and Market) -- featuring an incredible variety of libertarianwritings on everything from psychology to money and banking. It evenhas a section on privatizing security and judicial services -- includingan eloquent German translation of the first anarcho-capitalist tract inhistory, Gustave de Molinari's "On the Production of Security." Freiheit und Markt also features announcements of libertarian events,commentary on current issues, and on and on. Der Markt also features anice Internet chatroom, and will eventually offer an online book service as well. DerMarkt is mostly in German, but don't let that scare you -- liberty is auniversal language, and the formatting is so good that you barelynotice! When radical libertarian ideas have such quality promoters inthe homeland of Hegel, Fichte, and Marx, you can't help but realize howmuch progress the idea of freedom has made since 1945. And while you'rechecking out the beautiful sites of free Germany, don't miss Kapitalistische ParteiDeutschlands/Manchester-Liberale and Freie Zeiten -- bothworthy successors to the tradition of Humbolt, Richter, Mises, and Hayek.

The Mining Company is a new big-budget Web service that provides the technical and graphic infrastructure for a network of volunteer-created niche sites. In other words, they'll make it easy for you to create a slick-looking home page, if you'll provide some interesting content to draw in the readers.

That brings us to our Freedom Home Page of the Week: J.D. Tuccille's Civil Liberties page. (You may know Jerry as the author of free-market.com's Media Spotlight column, and as a frequent participant in our Spotlight Discussion Forum.) Jerry's a terrifically witty writer, and his Mining Company site features some of his best material, from features on "enforced voluntarism" to "taxmen as hitmen."

May 11-17, 1997
Freedom's NestLooking for that killer quote for your term paper, treatise, orexhaustively long Usenet post? You'll find it at Freedom's Nest, anoutstanding collection of quotes supporting "ideas in defense ofliberty." The quote selection is arranged by subject and author, soyou're covered no matter which way you turn; there's even an obliquequote referring to the uselessness of breasts, no doubt an (admittedlyamusing) attempt to increase the hit count. Anyhow, bookmark this pagenow because you'll be sorry if you don't -- sooner or later you're goingto need it.

It's hard not to gush at the sight of Bryan Caplan's home page -- it's chock-full of fascinating content and demonstrates some of the best use of the Web for a personal home page. Bryan is an old friend of free-market.com's: He developed our international directory of libertarian, classical liberal and free-market Web sites, and his Anarchist Theory FAQ was named site of the week way back in May, 1996. But there's so much more to this site than just a FAQ. Bryan is most excited about the recently added Museum of Communism, a frames exhibit detailing the horrors of Marxist ideology and its Czarist roots in Russia. A special treat is the Libertarian Purity test, where you answer 64 questions to determine how "radical" a libertarian you are. Last, but most certainly not least, is a collection of Bryan's essays and writings including his doctoral dissertation in economics. Bryan will be joining the faculty of George Mason University's economics department in the fall; one can only hope that his home page will follow him wherever he goes.

Last week, a court ruled that the FDA may regulate tobacco as a drug, giving that agency vast power to oversee how tobacco is marketed, advertised, and sold. Now some state governments are having success suing tobacco companies to pay for the costs incurred for smokers on Medicaid. And if that's not bad enough, more and more municipalities are banning smoking in all public places, regardless of whether or not they are actually owned by the public. And aside from all the competing scientific claims regarding the dangers of smoking, there is one important issue that's really at stake: personal freedom. Fortunately, the National Smokers Alliance, a non-profit group claiming to represent over three million members, knows this full well. Right below their Web site's banner is a tag line reading, "Dedicated to Protecting Individual Freedoms." At this graphics-lite site you can find the NSA's latest press releases and official stands on smoking issues and a number of informational articles about the junk "political" science used to support higher cigarette taxes and more onerous regulations on tobacco. What really makes this site worthwhile is the collection of outrageous quotes from the lifestyle police. For example, this gem from one rabid anti-smoker: "We have to treat [smokers] like human beings, I suppose."

The price of liberty is eternal vigilance, of course, but the information age has made vigilance a heck of a lot cheaper. Now it's just a click away, courtesy of the folks at C-SPAN Online. In addition to a programming schedule for C-SPAN and C-SPAN2, C-SPAN Online features RealAudio coverage of events not broadcast on the cable stations, the first chapters of books recently featured on the popular "Booknotes" program, an excellent collection of government and media links, and an online Congressional e-mail directory. Last but not least is the online counterpart to C-SPAN's year-long focus on Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America," including the hypertext version of the most famous book ever written about the promise of America.

His campaign for the Republican nomination has long since ended, but Steve Forbes' political activism is still alive through his ever-increasing appearance on pundit programs and the new organization Americans for Hope, Growth and Opportunity. One of the ideas that keeps him and the organization alive, of course, is the flat tax. At this page, you can calculate your income under the Forbes flat tax plan. Find out how much time and money you could have saved, if only Washington had sense.

The Heartland Institute has been doing "cutting edge public policy research since 1984." Headquartered just outside Chicago, Illinois, Heartland is a state-based think tank specializing in free-market approaches to school reform and environmental policy, though they do cover other issues. Under Hot Documents you'll find some of their latest work, like "Taking Aim at Gun Control," "Field of Fantasies: The Economic Case against Publicly Funded Stadiums," and "This Environmentalist Opposes More Strict Air Quality Standards," by Joseph L. Bast, Heartland's president. But a real find is Heartland's bimonthly magazine, Intellectual Ammunition, which summarizes the research of more than one hundred free-market think tanks and advocacy groups around the country. Heartland sends IA to every governor, state legislator, and state constitutional officer in the United States. So now politicians know when they're making bad laws!

Great news: The federal government is now running a $140 billion surplus! Can you say, "Time for tax cuts!" ... April Fool's!

Indulging the everyman's king-for-a-day fantasy, the leftist UC-Berkeley Center for Community Economic Research's National Budget Simulation Web site is designed to "give you a better feel of the trade-offs which citizens and policy makers will need to make to balance the budget." Uh-huh. The simulation takes you category by category (hyperlinking each to a short description of that department's pointless function), allowing you to raise spending, hold it even, decrease it, or eliminate it all together. At the end you submit your budget and in a few seconds the new numbers are up, including a graphical display of how you chose to play with people's money. Aside from outmoded economic planner's ideology which underlies Berkeley's game, a major down side to the site is that it does not allow you to cut taxes while balancing the budget. Apparently the money we send to Washington doesn't count as part of the trade-offs involved in budgetmaking! By the way, I recommend playing the short version so you don't have to choose "eliminate" as often. It gets montonous after a while.

From special taxes to alarmist news stories to attacks on free-speech and privacy rights, Netizens are everywhere under attack. But The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been in the fight from the beginning. Chaired by Esther Dyson, of EDventure Holdings fame, andfounded by libertarian and Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow, the EFF was one of many organizations that filed pro-freedom briefs before theSupreme Court in February. Along with a storehouse of old press releases,the EFF Web (purported to be one of the four most-linked-to sites on theInternet) includes the full transcript of last week's hearing before theSupreme Court, full text of the Philadelphia court decision and of theinfamous CDA itself.

Though free-market thought may have won the war against socialism inintellectual circles, many other forms of irrational thinking which impedefreedom still flourish in America and around the world. That's why thereare groups like The Skeptics Society, based at Caltech. It dedicates itselfto "promoting science and critical thinking" and debunking claims of theparanormal, superstition, pseudoscience, and pseudohistory. Though theThe Skeptics Society Web site is visually unimpressive, it is loaded with articles from back issues of Skeptic magazine. According to self-declared libertarian and world-renowned magician Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller), Skeptic "kicks ass." We agree.

In case you forgot, March is Women's History Month. We here at free-market.com decided to take a look at the quickly growing individualist feminist movement. Among other interesting items, Stephanie Herman's The Uncategorized Individual includes discussions of gender issues in a balanced way -- that is, from the individualist point of view. Of particular interest are her short essays attacking such "feminist fallacies" as "The Personal is Political" and "The Woman's Point of View."

The mission of the Liberty Round Table is to eradicate institutionalized aggression. Looks like they've got their hands full! This is a seriously rewarding site. Don't miss the Individual Declaration of Independence or the Knight's Oath. A number of essays and links make the page a natural for your bookmark file. The high point, though, is an irresistible protest idea -- look under the link on ongoing projects.

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