America: a Military Nation by Jacob G. Hornberger February 5, 2018 Americans like to think of their country as different from those run by military regimes. They are only fooling themselves. Ever since the federal government was converted into a national-security state after World War II (without a constitutional amendment authorizing the conversion), it has been the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA that have run the government, just like ...
Why Not Dismantle the New Deal? by Jacob G. Hornberger February 2, 2018 Every so often, progressives and the mainstream press exclaim with horror that Republicans are intent on dismantling the New Deal, the socialist-interventionist economic system that the Franklin Roosevelt administration brought into existence in the 1930s and that has been with us ever since. The concerns are groundless. Republicans and conservatives are as wedded to FDR’s New Deal, especially Social Security ...
The Biggest Threat to Our Country by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2018 The New York Times recently profiled three military veterans who are running for Congress. All three are women and all three graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. The Times highlighted the military experience of the women, which they plan to rely on to establish their credentials for running for Congress. Of course, hardly anyone asks the obvious ...
The Power of Ideas on Liberty by Jacob G. Hornberger January 31, 2018 I received the following email regarding my recent article “The First Amendment Does Not Give Us Freedom of Speech”: I wanted to share with you an assignment my 11-year-old son just completed for his fifth-grade class in school. He had to find an example of persuasive writing and comment on the topic. It just so happened when he told ...
The U.S. Destruction of Afghanistan by Jacob G. Hornberger January 30, 2018 Imagine a suicide bomber blowing himself up in New York City and killing 95 people. It would be big news on television and on the front pages of the nation’s newspapers. Everyone in the United States would be talking about it, especially if the Taliban claimed credit for it. It’s somewhat different when it happens in Afghanistan, where a suicide ...
The First Amendment Does Not Give Us Freedom of Speech by Jacob G. Hornberger January 29, 2018 A special insert in Sunday’s New York Times reflects that it’s not just people in countries run by totalitarian regimes that are indoctrinated by the state. It also happens in representative democracies like the United States, especially owing to the government’s educational system. The insert, which consisted of a variety of articles on different subjects, was oriented toward children. One ...
How U.S. Sanctions Work Their Evil by Jacob G. Hornberger January 26, 2018 The killing of Oscar Perez by Venezuelan goons serving the socialist dictatorship of President Nicolas Maduro demonstrates perfectly the evil nature of U.S. sanctions against foreign countries. Perez was a rebel police officer who recently took up arms in the hopes of leading a revolution against the Maduro regime, whose socialist economic policies have plunged the nation into economic chaos, ...
Trump’s Dictatorial and Destructive Tariffs by Jacob G. Hornberger January 25, 2018 It’s amazing that it is still necessary to instruct U.S. presidents on the damage that tariffs do to people. You would think that by the time a person becomes a president of a country, he would be wise enough to know this. Why, even many progressives and conservatives have finally joined up with us libertarians in opposition to tariffs. The ...
Bettina Bien Greaves (1917-2018) by Jacob G. Hornberger January 24, 2018 In 1988, the flagship publication of The Foundation for Economic Education, The Freeman, published an essay of mine entitled, “Leonard Read Changed My Life.” It was the first article I had ever had published. By that time, I was working at FEE as program director. My office was just down the hall from the office of Bettina Bien Greaves, ...
Immigration Hypocrisy, Left and Right by Jacob G. Hornberger January 23, 2018 I don’t think there is any government program that reflects chronic hypocrisy more than immigration controls. Hypocrisy is the name of the game when it comes to immigration. Consider progressives, specifically their crocodile tears for the so-called Dreamers, the children of illegal immigrant parents who were brought here as youngsters and have lived here ever since. President Trump and his fellow ...
Keep It Shut Down! by Jacob G. Hornberger January 22, 2018 Last Friday, I predicted that Washington politicians would strike a last-minute deal to prevent a “shutdown” of the federal government. They failed to reach a deal and the federal government is now “shut down.” Okay, my prediction failed to materialize. But that’s not going to stop me from doing more predicting! Here’s my new prediction: They are going to strike a ...
Go Ahead and Shut Down the Government by Jacob G. Hornberger January 19, 2018 Despite all the tension, handwringing, and sleepless nights within official Washington and the mainstream press over the looming possibility that the federal government might be shut down, everyone can rest easy. The Democrats and the Republicans, including President Trump, are going to reach a deal that prevents the government from shutting down. How do I know this? Because every one ...
