Breaking Through to Freedom by Jacob G. Hornberger December 20, 2023 The Postal Service is selling a new stamp with the word “FREEDOM” prominently displayed on it. As I purchased a roll of the stamps, it reminded me of my favorite quotation: “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free” by Johann Goethe. That quotation presents one of the big challenges we face in ...
Conservative Deference to Federal Authority by Jacob G. Hornberger December 19, 2023 I’ve long believed that conservatives have a strange way of thinking when it comes to the federal government. Their positions on three issues — immigration, the drug war, and sanctions — buttress my point. Let’s start with immigration. Conservatives rail against the large number of immigrants illegally entering the United States. That’s why they ardently support America’s immigration ...
No-Tax Government by Jacob G. Hornberger December 18, 2023 The ideal free society is one in which people are living in a limited-government republic, one whose powers are limited to the three legitimate functions of government and one that is funded voluntarily — that is, funded without the coercive apparatus of taxation. That concept sometimes befuddles people. They think that government and taxation are one and the ...
Immigration Socialism and Immigration Police State by Jacob G. Hornberger December 15, 2023 There are two important principles to keep in mind with respect to America’s decades-old, ongoing, never-ending immigration crisis: 1. The crisis is caused by the immigration system itself. That is, if there was no immigration-control system, there would be no immigration crisis. 2. The immigration-control system comes with an immigration police state. That’s because people will inevitably ...
Blowback and Russia’s Arrest of Evan Gershkovich by Jacob G. Hornberger December 14, 2023 In a press conference yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia desires to “reach an agreement” with respect to the return to the United States of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. The reporter has been incarcerated for 250 days since his arrest for espionage against Russia. Ever since his arrest, both the Journal and the ...
Another U.S. Spy for Cuba by Jacob G. Hornberger December 13, 2023 U.S. spies for Cuba are in the news. Last week, U.S. officials announced the arrest of Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, a former U.S. ambassador, on charges of having spied for Cuba since the 1970s. Meanwhile, Ana Montes, a former analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency, was recently released from federal prison after serving a 20-year sentence for spying ...
Giving Up on Freedom: School Vouchers by Jacob G. Hornberger December 12, 2023 One of the questions about libertarianism that has long fascinated me is: Why have so many libertarians given up on freedom? Everyone is given just one life to live. It seems to me that if there is anyone who would want to experience that one life as a free person, it is libertarians. And yet, so many ...
Let’s Not Forget FDR’s Anti-Semitism by Jacob G. Hornberger December 11, 2023 In a time in which U.S. officials, especially those in Congress, are tripping over themselves with accusations of anti-Semitism against people who fail to unconditionally support the policies and practices of the Israeli government, this might be a good time to remind ourselves of the anti-Semitism of one of America’s great historical icons, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as ...
Free Speech on Campus on the Israel-Palestinian War by Jacob G. Hornberger December 8, 2023 The issue of free speech on U.S. college campuses has reappeared big time with the Israel-Palestinian war. Ross Stevens, a big donor to the University of Pennsylvania, is asking for the return of his $100 million donation unless the university fires its president Liz Magill. Stevens got angry when Magill answered a question before a congressional committee ...
We Were Soldiers … Who Supposedly Died for Our Country by Jacob G. Hornberger December 6, 2023 I was watching the 2002 war movie We Were Soldiers a couple of nights ago. I’ve seen it before but it’s such a great movie that I periodically re-watch it. It stars Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott, Keri Russell, and others. The movie is based on a true story. It dramatizes the Battle ...
Abolish the FTC, Antitrust Laws, and Monopolies by Jacob G. Hornberger December 5, 2023 The FTC’s current lawsuit against Amazon is a perfect example of the statist mentality that undergirds antitrust laws. Amazon is an enormously big and hugely successful business enterprise. Therefore, according to statists, it must be an anti-competitive “monopoly.” The Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department, the argument goes, need to take judicial action against Amazon to “weaken ...
Henry Kissinger and the Assassination of Gen. René Schneider by Jacob G. Hornberger December 4, 2023 The recent death of former National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger provides an opportunity to revisit one of Kissinger's most infamous acts -- the role he played in the 1970 kidnapping and murder of Gen. René Schneider, the overall commander of the Chilean Armed Forces. Let me emphasize one thing right off the bat: Schneider was an entirely ...
