Letters of Marque, of course.
Article I, Section 8 (Powers of Congress): “To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water”
Congressman Paul explained the use of Letters of Marque and Reprisal on the floor of Congress after September 11, 2001:
Authority to grant letters of marque and reprisal [...]

Continue reading " The Constitutional Response to Pirates "

With the results of the election in, there has been much soul searching in the Republican party.  Not surprisingly, much of the attention has been paid to George Bush’s horrendous record on fiscal policy, where he has overseen the largest increase in domestic spending since at least LBJ (if not FDR), and has brought on the nationalization [...]

Continue reading " Battle for the GOP "

I don’t often suggest where people donate their hard earned money, but since I gave a modest amount to Antiwar.com’s quarterly fundraising drive, I’d like to give two reasons why now is a particularly good time for you to consider doing the same: 
The time is right to re-establish the non-interventionist Right
With McCain’s loss and the thorough rejection [...]

Continue reading " AntiWar.com "

To Obama’s credit he was on the record in the run up to Iraq as opposed to the war. But one wonders if he would have actually voted against it in the Senate had been there in 2002. Given his proclivity to duck hard votes in the Illinois Senate, I doubt he would [...]

Continue reading " Biden, Obama and Iraq "

A good friend of mine recently told me how much he had recently been enjoying David Friedman’s writings. After coming across a link to Friedman’s blog recently I was reminded just how good a writer (and commentator) he is.
My friend told me how Friedman’s book The Machinery of Freedom (originally written in 1971), was shifting his [...]

Continue reading " Read David Friedman "

Via Richard Spencer, some clear thinking from Thomas Sowell in the midst of much saber-rattling over at the National Review:
Extending NATO right up to the borders of Russia has been one of those feel-good actions, much like our feel-good moralizing to other countries.
Are we really prepared to go to war with Russia if they send [...]

Continue reading " Thomas Sowell on Georgia, NATO "

In a column for The National Interest, Doug Bandow sums up my thoughts on the conflict, and America’s proper role in it (or rather out of it):
Russia had plausible justification for responding to Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia, though Moscow applied disproportionate force to achieve other ends. Nevertheless, the Caucasus never has been viewed as [...]

Continue reading " Georgia, Russia and the US "

Just a thought: Russia and Georgia… more similar than different?
For more on the conflict, I highly recommend this interview of Pat Buchanan (who is about as far from pro-Russian as anyone) by Scott Horton of Anti-War.com

Continue reading " Georgian “Democracy” "