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2020 | Fall Issue

Crisis

In an emergency—like a pandemic—how much control should we give up to the government?

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, governments and politicians at every level have (both properly and improperly) claimed unprecedented authority over our lives. And they’re not going to surrender all of those powers when the crisis has passed.

— Steve Davies, Institute of Economic Affairs

what’s inside

The Overton Window: How Crises Alter Our Perceptions of Appropriate Government Action

Joseph G. Lehman

In 1942, the Los Angeles Times took to its editorial page to argue for the imprisonment of American citizens who looked a certain way. A racist editor hadn’t suddenly taken over the paper, and it wasn’t a commentary on crime or law and order. The remains of Pearl Harbor were still smoldering and anyone who looked Japanese was a suspect.

The Power Grabs to Watch Out for in the Wake of COVID-19

Steve Davies

“It is not possible to experiment with a society and just drop the experiment whenever we choose. The experiment enters into the life of the society and never can be got out again.” —William Graham Sumner, Laissez-Faire

In a Crisis, Politicians See What They Want to See

Nathaniel Hamilton

When Anne Duke flipped her cards after calling Phil Hellmuth in the 2004 World Series of Poker, the world discovered what she already knew—she was about to win the $2 million championship.

The Meeting Before the End of the World

Kathy Hoekstra

Monday, January 27, 2020, was a public holiday in South Korea—a carry-over of Seollal, or the Lunar New Year.

Victory! Rafaeli Case Ends Home Equity Theft in Michigan

Christina M. Martin

The email came on Thanksgiving Day 2018, of all times.

Creative Destruction: The Inventions Born Out of Crisis

Christina M. Martin

When Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter coined the phrase “creative destruction,” he described it as “the essential fact about capitalism.”

The New Deal, Still a Bad Idea

Steven Horwitz

It must have pained Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. to utter those words when he testified before the House Ways and Means Committee in 1939.

America Always Rises

Scott Barton

It's hard to imagine what life was like back in January. I was planning a spring full of travel for work, and then a summer vacation in Italy. But that was a very different world than the one we live in now.
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Sword&Scales is a quarterly magazine with in-depth stories about liberty, equality, and justice. Published by Pacific Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm with a winning record at the Supreme Court, Sword&Scales features narratives from history, courtroom showdowns, and the real experiences of people fighting for their rights.

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