ARLINGTON, Va. — Darrell Stafford inspected a freshly dug grave at Arlington National Cemetery recently and nodded. The burial plot, 5 feet by 10 feet, was ready for the coming ceremony. It was just one of 28 funerals that he would help oversee that day. During his 32 years at the cemetery, Mr. Stafford has…
America
America, Foreign Affairs, War
McCain on the CIA Torture Report
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Goodness knows libertarians have had countless differences with Sen. John McCain, on domestic and foreign policy. We could have no disagreement, however, with his condemnation of the CIA’s use of torture for interrogation of America’s enemies. Our politics – including the acknowledgment of our own ethical failures -should be of the highest standards. To use…
America, History, Law, Liberty
Understanding America Backwards
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There’s a longstanding maxim of liberty that Americans inherited from England: ‘those things not prohibited by law are permitted.’ The burden is on the state: if there’s no express ban under law, then a person is free to act. Since government has to enumerate restrictions if it wants to enforce them, a free society places…
America, City, Law, Local Government
The No-Prior-Discussions, Wheelchair-Access Lawsuit Against Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Weighty claims require that claimants present their grievances deliberately. A serious presentation ordinarily includes (1) signaling that one has a grievance, (2) offering a chance for a negotiated resolution, and only later (3) letting others know that one might seek recourse to the courts if negotiations should prove unproductive. (This last point only applies if…
America, Law, Liberty, Local Government, School District, Wisconsin
How Many Rights for Whitewater?
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
How many rights do Whitewater’s residents possess? It’s a simple question, and there’s a simple answer: They possess all the rights of residency or citizenship, respectively, of Americans and Wisconsinites elsewhere. One may express this plainly: All of America, and all of Wisconsin, for all of Whitewater. There is no local practice, no old custom,…
America, Law, Liberty, Press Release
Sunday, June 30th: Mock Funeral for the 4th Amendment
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
I’ve received the following message about a political rally at Madison’s Capitol Square in support of Fourth Amendment rights. Those rights are succinctly and clearly expressed in the Constitution: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against un- reasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and…
America
A View from Above One World Trade Center
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
America, Federal Government, History, Holiday, Law, Liberty, Politics
Happy Constitution Day
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
America, Liberty, Local Government
The Municipal War Against…Vegetable Gardens
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
In America, and places beyond, homeowners’ vegetable gardens have become a target of municipal officials. They’re beautiful, offer fresh food, conserve water, and are peaceful uses of homeowners’ private property: yet for it all, vegetable gardens still offend officials’ laughable sense of what’s appropriate. That appropriateness in this case is little more than a dull…
America, Holiday
Happy Independence Day
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which…
America, Technology
An American Milestone: SpaceX’s Private Dragon Capsule Docks with International Space Station
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Those who contend that America’s best days are behind her couldn’t be more wrong: Here’s video of the privately-created SpaceX Dragon supply capsule docking with the International Space Station. There are no crew inside the capsule, and the docking is automated. Many peoples cannot yet design and launch automated capsules like this, and America has…
America, Charity, Cycling
The Ride
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Phil Keoghan’s 2011 documentary, The Ride, is about a charity bike ride across America to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. I saw the film this weekend on Showtime, and it was interesting from first to last. It was more than interesting – it was inspiring. Along the way, Keoghan and his comrades meet thousands…
America, Business
Chrysler’s Clint Eastwood Commercial, It’s Halftime, America
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
I held this commercial from the preceding post of my other favorites, because it’s both longer and different: its political themes separate it from a conventional commercial, even a conventional Super Bowl commercial (if there should be such a thing). There’s an optimism in this commercial that is, I think, justified: despite the most difficult…
America
Underestimating America’s Influence: Why America’s Not in Decline
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There’s been much talk, from generation to generation about the rise of the next global power to supplant America. The Soviet Union (yes, for many, this once seemed certain), Japan, and now China: in each instance, an insistence that America is in decline. (For a post that addresses myths about China, see Overestimating China’s influence: ‘Five myths about China’s power’.) At the New Republic,…