Hershey, Cuba by Jacob G. Hornberger May 6, 2015 Yesterday the Washington Post carried a fascinating article about a small town in Cuba named Hershey. The history of the town provides valuable lessons about America’s heritage of economic liberty as well the socialist economic system established by Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Hershey, Cuba, was founded by Milton Hershey, the American chocolate tycoon who founded Hershey, Pennsylvania. Hershey invested ...
The Cold War against Cuba Changed Us by Jacob G. Hornberger May 5, 2015 During the 1950s and 1960s, the CIA made multiple attempts to assassinate Cuba’s ruler, Fidel Castro. Let’s assume that the CIA had succeeded and that Castro had been shot dead on the streets of Havana. It’s not difficult to imagine what U.S. national-security state officials would be saying today: “If we hadn’t assassinated Castro, the United States would have fallen ...
Gun Control Killed Ana Charle by Jacob G. Hornberger May 4, 2015 Don’t count on the gun controllers to express any guilt over the death of Ana Charle, the director of a homeless shelter in the Bronx. But the fact is that gun control is partly responsible for the death of the 42-year old woman. Last month, a former resident of the shelter stalked and kidnapped Charle. After the man forced her ...
Workers of the World, Unite! by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2015 Today, May 1, is International Workers’ Day. According to Wikipedia, it is “a celebration of laborers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labor movement, anarchists, socialists, and communists and occurs every year on May Day, 1 May.” If only workers all over the world were to come to the realization that socialism and communism are their ...
Vietnam Was No Business of the U.S. Government by Jacob G. Hornberger April 30, 2015 This week marks the 40th anniversary of the communist defeat of the U.S. national-security state in Vietnam. Despite the deaths of some 58,000 American soldiers and millions of Vietnamese, the country was united under the rule of the communist regime in North Vietnam. With the possible exception of World War I, it would be difficult to find a better ...
The Welfare State versus Baltimore Blacks by Jacob G. Hornberger April 29, 2015 It’s the welfare state and its attacks on African-Americans that are the root cause of what is happening in Baltimore. Consider the federal government’s mandatory minimum-wage law, the much-vaunted welfare-state measure that purports to help people at the bottom of the economic ladder by supposedly preventing them from being exploited by employers. In actuality, the minimum wage is a ruthless and ...
Equalizing Wealth with Traffic Fines by Jacob G. Hornberger April 28, 2015 Since raising taxes oftentimes isn’t very popular, public officials are always on the lookout for less direct ways to plunder and loot people. Among the most favorite ways in recent times has been what are called asset-forfeiture laws as part of the “war on drugs,” which empower cops to stop highway travelers and steal large amounts of cash they ...
Judicial Immunity for the Assassins by Jacob G. Hornberger April 27, 2015 In the wake of President Obama’s apology for the killing of two Western hostages in a drone assassination in Pakistan, people might be wondering if it will be possible for surviving family members to recover in a legal action against the assassins for the wrongful death of their loved ones. The answer is unequivocally no. The reason is that long ...
The Tyranny of Drug Laws by Jacob G. Hornberger April 24, 2015 It is difficult to conceive of a greater violation of the principles of freedom than drug laws — that is, laws by which the government punishes people who possess, distribute, or ingest drugs. A free society necessarily entails the right to engage in any peaceful activity, even if it is considered self-destructive, harmful, or irresponsible. Thus, it’s not surprising that ...
Freedom and the Omnipotent Power to Assassinate by Jacob G. Hornberger April 23, 2015 As a kid growing up, did you ever think you’d live under a government that had the omnipotent power to assassinate you and every other American citizen? If you heard about some communist regime or other totalitarian government wielding the omnipotent power to assassinate its own citizens, you wouldn’t be surprised. But I’ll bet that the vast majority of ...
Cubans Love America but Hate the U.S. Government by Jacob G. Hornberger April 22, 2015 The New York Times recently carried an interesting article about Cuban citizens who are wearing clothes depicting the American flag. The fashion statement reflects the excitement among the Cuban people for renewed relations between the United States and Cuba and a hope that the decades-old U.S. economic embargo against Cuba will finally be lifted. The downside to this phenomenon ...
Oklahoma City and 9/11 by Jacob G. Hornberger April 21, 2015 This month marks the 20th anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people. The aftermath of the OKC bombing in 1995 was very similar to what occurred after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. Immediately after the OKC bombing, libertarians raised the issue of motivation. Let’s examine what motivated Timothy McVeigh ...
