Throughout most of intellectual history, society has been considered to be the result of someone's design, whether that someone was God, a specific human being (e.g., a monarch) or a group of people (e.g., a government). In his multivolumed Law, Legislation and Liberty, the social theorist Friedrich A. Hayek referred ...read more

The best part of the chaotic debate in Washington about the payroll tax is that this wicked institution is finally getting the public attention it deserves. In most debates about taxation, the payroll tax has hardly ever been mentioned, even though it accounts for more than one-third of federal revenue, ...read more

Two important regulatory rulings have been issued in the last day that will have a profound effect on your life, both immediately and over the long run. One forces a continued degradation of AT&T's cell phone coverage by forbidding a merger with the embattled company T-Mobile. The other targets a ...read more

There is no peace treaty, no humbled enemy, no national glory and certainly no newfound freedom. The "liberation" of Iraq leaves a widely hated puppet dictator in charge with a mandate "to see that process of strengthened central authority continue," in the words of a U.S. cable revealed by WikiLeaks. Still, ...read more

Encryption is the process of coding and decoding information to ensure its privacy. Encryption means that law enforcement and national security are losing surveillance capabilities, like wiretapping, upon which they have depended for decades. Government can still access well-encrypted communication, but they cannot decipher it into useful information; secure emails ...read more

Do you suppose cows have any idea what's coming as they're marched down the chute? Or do they stare with bovine indifference at the tail and hind quarters in front of them, until they're suddenly -- and very briefly -- startled by the man with the nail gun? Perhaps Americans will ...read more

The secretary of state -- our roving ambassador from the land of the free -- travels the world to denounce governments that would interfere with digital freedom. "They aim to impose a system, cemented in a global code, that expands control over Internet resources, institutions and content," said Hillary Clinton ...read more

One of the coolest aspects of modern life is about to come to an end. I'm speaking of the great innovation in the last 10 years in which vending machines accept credit and debit cards. No more fishing in our pockets for quarters, dimes and nickels. No more having to ...read more

Travel day, good patrons! We're in transit from our family stronghold in Central Florida to join our colleagues in Baltimore for a little Christmas cheer. We haven't much time before we have to shut down our laptop in accordance with FAA regulations. But we still aim to be useful. We're continuing ...read more

Just in time for the 70th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attacks, the U.S. seems to be goading yet another Asian empire into hostile action.... We note the passage of the anniversary in our typical Whiskey way: pissing off everyone in the room. Depending on your take on the Japanese "sneak ...read more