Election Year Farm Candy by Jacob G. Hornberger October 13, 2020 American farmers, many of whom have been bankrupted by President Trump's trade war against China, are undoubtedly ecstatic that this is an election year. That’s because Trump is flooding them with federal monies in the months preceding the election. According to an article in yesterday’s New York Times, “Federal payments to farmers are projected to ...
Needed: Libertarian Faith in Freedom by Jacob G. Hornberger October 12, 2020 It goes without saying that if we are to achieve a genuinely free society, people need to have a deep and abiding faith in freedom. If people are convinced that freedom won’t work or if they have serious doubts as to whether freedom will really work, then the chances of achieving the free society are slim.
A Big Liberal Blind Spot by Jacob G. Hornberger October 9, 2020 Two sentences in a New York Times op-ed today summarize perfectly a big blind spot that afflicts liberals (i.e., progressives). The op-ed, entitled “Don't Give Up on America” is written by a liberal novelist named Marilynne Robinson, who writes: As a liberal, I am loyal to this country in ways that make me a pragmatist. ...
Where are Open Borders in the Presidential Race? by Jacob G. Hornberger October 8, 2020 Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, immigration is not a big burning issue in the presidential race. There is a simple reason for that: Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden believe in America’s system of immigration controls. Their only difference between them is over the enforcement measures that come with that system. Alas, needless to say, that ...
The Cuban Embargo Has Destroyed the Liberty of Americans by Jacob G. Hornberger October 7, 2020 There is no doubt that the 60-year-old U.S. embargo against Cuba inflicts horrific economic suffering on the Cuban people. That is its purpose — to squeeze the Cuban people through suffering and even starvation into ousting their communist regime and replacing it with a regime that will be subservient to the U.S. State Department, the Pentagon, and ...
Who Should Run the Country? by Jacob G. Hornberger October 6, 2020 In one line in an editorial today, the Los Angeles Times has summed up everything that is wrong with America today. The editorial is about Trump’s early return to the White House after his hospital stay for treatment for Covid-19. That’s not the issue I wish to address. I wish to focus on this line that ...
Reform versus Abolition by Jacob G. Hornberger October 5, 2020 Whenever I read an analysis that calls for reforming or fixing something the federal government is doing, I yawn. I find that sort of thing incredibly boring. In fact, when I first discovered libertarianism in the 1970s, if all that I had heard or read was libertarians calling for some reform program — school vouchers, Social Security ...
They Are All Socialists Now by Jacob G. Hornberger October 2, 2020 In his reelection campaign, President Trump declares, “America will never be a socialist country” … well … except for: Social Security Medicare Medicaid Public (i.e., government) schooling The federal income tax Welfare Public housing Education grants Farm subsidies Food stamps Corporate bailouts Stimulus payments Immigration controls The ...
How We Achieve Freedom by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2020 An important question naturally arises: How do we achieve freedom given the current circumstances under which we are living in America? I think most every libertarian would acknowledge that when it comes to liberty, America is a seriously bad shape. Moreover, both conservatives and liberals, as reflected by presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden, are ...
Incrementalism Versus the Libertarian Non-Aggression Principle by Jacob G. Hornberger September 30, 2020 The modern-day libertarian movement is besieged by statist proposals to reform the welfare-warfare state way of life in which Americans live. Included among such reform proposals are things like Social Security “privatization,” school vouchers, health-savings accounts, immigration “reform,” and many more. As I have indicated in previous articles, reform-oriented libertarians have long maintained that these ...
So Much for Income Tax Privacy by Jacob G. Hornberger September 29, 2020 How many times have we been told that the information we send to the Internal Revenue Service in our federal income tax returns is guaranteed to be kept confidential? So much for that myth, as President Trump can now attest. The New York Times somehow secured a copy of Trump’s income tax returns and is ...
Trump Continues the Never-Ending War on Cuba by Jacob G. Hornberger September 28, 2020 If it’s presidential election time, then, like clockwork, it’s time for Republicans to continue the U.S. national-security establishment’s 60-year-long attack on Cuba. That’s because Republican presidential candidates feel the need to pander to Cuban-American voters in Florida as a way to show how “tough” they are on communism. Well, not all communism. The U.S. government, ...
