If We’re Going to Trust Governments to Enforce Law, then Governments Should Obey Law (and Limit Law)

by Dan Mitchell | Oct 1, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Privacy

One of the big challenges for libertarians is that we understand “public choice theory.” In other words, we know that people attracted to government will have both the incentive and the power to do bad things, so our quandary is how to give government the authority to...

Congressman Nadler Wins Prize for Historical and Constitutional Illiteracy

by Dan Mitchell | Jun 23, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs

It sounds arcane and pedantic, but the United States has a democratic system of government but is not (or at least was not) designed to be a democracy. A democracy implies that 51 percent of the people have the power to elect agovernment with unlimited powers to...

On Campaign Finance, Bernie and Hillary Put the Cart Before the Horse

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 4, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs

Once again, I threw myself on a proverbial grenade. Yes, that means I watched politicians last night as part of the Cato Institute’s live-tweeting about issues that were raised (or not raised) in the CNN Townhall featuring Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Although...

Good News and Good Laughs for Supporters of the Second Amendment

by Dan Mitchell | Dec 14, 2015 | Blogs, Crime, Society

I almost feel sorry for the gun-control crowd. They keep trying to convince themselves that people are on their side, but schemes to restrict the 2nd Amendment keep getting defeated on Capitol Hill. And when a handful of state governments go against the trend and try...

Now There Are Three: Another Honest Liberal Pours Cold Water on Gun Control

by Dan Mitchell | Dec 8, 2015 | Blogs, Crime, Society

In 2012, I shared some important observations from Jeffrey Goldberg, a left-leaning writer for The Atlantic. In his column, he basically admitted his side was wrong about gun control. Then, in 2013, I wrote about a column by Justin Cronin in the New York Times. He...