Author: John Stossel

In this year’s Republican presidential primaries, Sen. Rand Paul got little traction. In 2012, his father failed. That year, the Libertarian Party candidate, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, got just 1 percent of the vote. We libertarians must be doing something wrong. Maybe our anti-government message is too radical, says Jerry Taylor. Maybe we […]

Government pretends it’s the cause of progress. Then it strangles innovation. We know government understands that new technologies are important. The military invests in robots and traffic cops use radar guns. But when the rest of us use robots or fly drones, government gets eager to put rules in place before things get “out of […]

According to Betfair.com, Jennifer Lawrence probably won’t win best actress at the Oscars Sunday. I’m rooting for her, though — not because of her acting, but because the movie she stars in, “Joy,” celebrates the difficulty of entrepreneurship. Lawrence’s character is based on real-life entrepreneur Joy Mangano, who invented the self-wringing Miracle Mop and other […]

The Tesla S is the closest thing to a totally driverless car available now. I had to leave my state to test-drive it. New York’s archaic laws forbid taking both hands off the wheel. Once outside New York, the Tesla representative in the passenger seat had me turn on the autopilot. Suddenly, I was doing […]

Politicians tailor their messages to different audiences. Facing New Hampshire’s primary, Ted Cruz talked more about “free-market principles” and a “commitment to the Constitution” and said “no one personality can right the wrongs done by Washington.” Politico ran the headline “Ted Cruz, born-again libertarian.” I’m skeptical. Campaigning in Iowa, Cruz had emphasized religion and social […]

Cars run on fuel. Politicians run on votes, and they’ll do almost anything to get them. That includes supporting mandates that force us to use ethanol, a fuel made from corn that Iowa farmers grow. They support ethanol because Iowa is the first state to vote on presidential candidates. Candidates want to look strong at […]

Hillary Clinton: “Of course we want to raise the minimum wage!” Donald Trump: If we trade with China, “they suck us dry … take everything. We get nothing!” Bernie Sanders: “Ordinary Americans are working longer hours for lower wages.” But it’s not true! Politicians are so ignorant about economics. On his blog, Cafe Hayek, George […]

In the commercial that President Obama released prior to his final State of the Union address, Obama said he would tell Congress how “optimistic” he is about America’s future. Good. Politicians and the media are at their most dangerous when they try to scare us, telling us disaster is on the way unless we follow, […]

Want to know who the next president will be? Don’t trust polls or pundits. Betting odds at ElectionBettingOdds.com are the best predictor of who will win any election. Pundits have a terrible track record. Last election, Newt Gingrich and Dick Morris forecast a Romney “landslide.” Rush Limbaugh said, “All my thinking says Romney big. … […]

Terrorism! Crime! Deadly storms! Hillary Clinton! We reporters focus on bad news, but at year’s end, let’s remember what went right. 2015 was a better time to be alive than most any prior point in history. The rich got richer. Some people think that’s a problem, but why? Do rich people sit on their piles […]

When driving on treacherous roads, guardrails are useful. If you fall asleep or maybe you’re just a bad driver, guardrails may prevent you from going off a cliff. Recently, The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel used the phrase “no political guardrails” to point out how many of today’s politicians seem to lack any constraints, any safeguards against […]

I wish I were as confident as many politicians and news commentators. They know what America should do about ISIS and terrorism. Donald Trump, who says he can feel terrorism “like I feel a good location … I have an instinct for this kind of thing,” says he would “bomb the s—” out of ISIS strongholds, ban […]

What should we do about terrorism? After the attacks on Paris, the French government passed a law that allows anyone suspected of being a security threat to be placed under house arrest and searches to be conducted without warrants. Reason’s Anthony Fisher reports that this can lead to nasty experiences for anyone who associates with […]

This week my TV show is on gun control. I interviewed activist Leah Barrett, who wants stricter gun laws. I pointed out that after most states loosened gun laws to let people carry guns, 29 peer-reviewed studies examined the effect. Eighteen found less crime, 10 found no difference and only one found an increase. “Which studies?” […]

What might have happened if a few of the 1,500 concert attendees in Paris’ Bataclan theater had guns? The terrorists had time to kill, reload and kill again. The police unit didn’t come for more than a half hour. If a few people in the theater were armed, might they have killed the killers? We’ll […]

After a terrorist attack, it’s natural to ask: What can politicians do to keep us safe? One thing they could do is actually focus on keeping us safe rather than devoting so much time, energy and hot air to the many things government does instead of protecting lives and property. My state’s politicians are particularly bad. […]

Sometimes I like Donald Trump. He makes me laugh when he mocks reporters’ stupid questions. Sometimes he’s smart. When Maryland’s lefty governor said a tax on rich people would “raise revenue,” Trump told me why it wouldn’t. The taxpayers would just flee: “I know these people! They’re international people! Whether they live here or in […]

This Halloween, what do you fear? I fear fear itself because when we are afraid, we willingly give away our freedoms. Global warning? More power to the EPA! 9/11? Vote 100 to 0 to create a TSA! Kids don’t learn? Common Core! Crime up? Spend on police! (Or for leftists: increase welfare!) Immigrants? Seal the […]

In a democracy, citizens must be able to criticize their leaders. It’s a reason America’s founders put free speech in the Bill of Rights. I assumed that right is safe in the United States. So I was shocked to learn what happened in Wisconsin. Before dawn, Deborah Jordahl was awakened by the sound of cops […]

Support for the idea that it’s good to hear all opinions, even offensive ones, is thin. A plurality of Americans now support laws against “hate speech.” Conservatives once wanted to ban Playboy magazine, violent rap lyrics and offensive depictions of Jesus. Leftists then were right to fight such bans, but today leftists encourage censorship in […]

North Korea is called the “worst place on earth” for good reason. Thousands of people are tortured. Some North Koreans eat rodents to try to survive, and many starve anyway. In winter, they freeze. No one but the dictator has any true freedom, and no one is allowed to leave. One person who understands that […]

The world has enough real problems without declaring everyone a “victim.” Bill Clinton says Hillary is a victim of a right-wing conspiracy. Lindsay Lohan, when jailed for driving drunk and breaking parole, says she’s a victim of cruel and unusual punishment. Michael Sam says his NFL career would have gone better had he not come […]

Government wants you to think it helps you at every turn. Every time you make a decision, a purchase, government wants to be there, looking essential. But it’s a trick. Most government “help” creates new problems. Students once went to private banks to get college loans. Banks, since they had their own money on the […]

How many wars can we fight? Our presidential candidates demand “stronger action” against both illegal immigration and illegal drugs. But those goals conflict. The War on Drugs makes border enforcement much harder! America’s 44-year-long Drug War hasn’t made a dent in American drug use or the supply of illegal drugs. If it had some positive […]

I’m upset that the presidential candidates, all of them, rarely mention a huge problem: the quiet cancer that kills opportunity — regulation. The accumulated burden of it is the reason that America is stuck in the slowest economic recovery since the Depression. I understand why candidates don’t talk about it: Regulation is boring. But it’s […]

People have long lists of things they think the market can’t possibly do — from building subways to fighting wars. Sometimes, the market does them anyway. War, for example. Even conservatives, who often praise markets, assume that only government can fight terrorists. Tell that to Matthew VanDyke. VanDyke and his group, Sons of Liberty International, […]

My list of best to worst possible presidents: –Rand Paul (R) –Gary Johnson (Libertarian) –Carly Fiorina (R) –Jeb Bush (R) –Ted Cruz (R) –Scott Walker (R) –Rick Perry (R) –Marco Rubio (R) –John Kasich (R) –Ben Carson (R) –Bobby Jindal (R) –Jim Webb (D) –George Pataki (R) –Donald Trump (R) –Lawrence Lessig (D) –Chris Christie […]

Humans need rules. Rules make life more predictable. But when the rules multiply, the world needs some rule-breakers. The creator of the underground website Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, was sentenced to life in prison for creating an online space that allowed people to use bitcoins to buy and sell things. Some used Silk Road (named […]

Yikes, you really hate me! Many of you, anyway, based on Twitter and Facebook comments posted after I argued immigration with Ann Coulter on my TV show. “Move into an illegal-heavy neighborhood and get back to us!” “Another libertarian who believes illegal invaders are good for our country. Madness.” Madness? Clearly, lots of Americans are […]

My town, New York City, enforces rigid gun laws. Police refused to assign me a gun permit. The law doesn’t even let me hold a fake gun on TV to demonstrate something. But New York politicians are so eager to vilify gun ownership that they granted an exception to the anti-gun group States United to […]