The Mandate Was Never the Issue by Jacob G. Hornberger June 29, 2012 It really doesn’t matter which way the Supreme Court ruled on President Obama’s healthcare mandate. As long as the government is involved in healthcare, there is going to be an endless series of interventions, leading ultimately to a total government takeover of the entire healthcare arena. For months, we have seen conservatives obsessing over the mandate, suggesting that the defeat ...
Obama vs. the Rule of Law by Jacob G. Hornberger June 28, 2012 Some people believe that the term “the rule of law” means that people are expected to obey the law. You hear this often from public officials, who say such things as, “People might not agree with the drug laws or immigration laws, but the rule of law dictates that people obey the law so long as it’s the law.” Actually, ...
Continuing to Support Egypt’s Dictatorship by Jacob G. Hornberger June 27, 2012 Month after month, the U.S. government continues to disburse $1.3 billion in annual U.S. taxpayer money to Egypt’s military dictatorship. The justification for this is twofold: “national security” and to help Egypt’s “transition to democracy.” The first rationale — national security — is ridiculous. “National security” is nothing more than the old bromide that is trotted out to justify whatever ...
Assassination, Conformity, and Conscience by Jacob G. Hornberger June 26, 2012 As most every American knows, we now live in a country in which the ruler possesses the unfettered power to assassinate his citizens. What an extraordinary situation. Who would have ever thought that America would end up with a governmental system in which the ruler possessed such omnipotent power? Equally extraordinary, our ruler just happens to possess a powerful military ...
U.S. Support of Dictatorship Leads to Anti-American Anger in Bahrain by Jacob G. Hornberger June 25, 2012 The people of Bahrain are figuring out what libertarians have long been saying about U.S. foreign policy — that the U.S. government is sometimes partly responsible for the tyranny under which people are suffering and have suffered for a very long time, which then produces anger and hatred toward the United States, which then sometimes manifests itself in acts ...
Needed: A National Debate on U.S. Support of Dictatorships by Jacob G. Hornberger June 22, 2012 While the U.S. government continues to squawk about the Assad dictatorship’s oppression of the Syrian people, Americans need to constantly keep in mind that the squawking has nothing to do with any principled objection to dictatorship or tyranny. Instead, it has everything to do with the fact that the Assad dictatorship is not a loyal member of the U.S. ...
Statist Economic Thinking, False and Fallacious by Jacob G. Hornberger June 21, 2012 To understand why the United States and much of the rest of the world are in a world of hurt economically, all you have to do is take a look at the economic reasoning in this New York Times article by Shaila Dewan and Motoko Rich: “Public Workers Face New Rash of Layoffs, Hurting Recovery.” The title ...
Foreign Aid Abomination in Egypt by Jacob G. Hornberger June 20, 2012 The crisis in Egypt is providing another real-world example of how differently statists think as compared to how we libertarians think, especially when it comes to moral principles and foreign policy. Demonstrations of the statist mindset have been provided by editorials about Egypt that have appeared this week in both the New York Times and the
The Moral Abomination of Sanctions by Jacob G. Hornberger June 19, 2012 A recent New York Times op-ed entitled Pinched and Griping in Iran by Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof shows how differently statists think in comparison to us libertarians, especially when it comes to foreign policy and moral principles. Kristof is traveling in Iran and reporting on his experiences in the country. In his article, he focuses on the ...
Egypt’s Military Dictatorship Rears Its Ugly Head by Jacob G. Hornberger June 18, 2012 The Egyptian people are learning firsthand why America’s Founding Fathers were so opposed to standing armies. Our ancestors understood that standing armies are a grave threat to the freedom and well-being of the citizenry. Thus, it’s no surprise that the U.S. Constitution failed to grant to the federal government the power to establish a standing army. Over the weekend, the ...
America’s Partnership with Egypt’s Dictatorship by Jacob G. Hornberger June 15, 2012 This week, the Egyptian people got a taste of the reality of military dictatorship, while the American people got a taste of the reality of U.S. foreign policy. The Egyptian Supreme Court dissolved the Egyptian Parliament, and Egypt’s military dictatorship declared martial law in the country. These dictatorial events occurred just a few days before Egypt’s presidential run-off election. Even though ...
Double Hypocrisy by Jacob G. Hornberger June 14, 2012 After Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Russia of shipping attack helicopters to the Assad regime in Syria, Russian foreign minister Sergey V. Lavrov reminded Clinton of something she might have forgotten: that the U.S. government supplies weaponry to oppressive regimes throughout the Middle East. Lavrov didn’t specify which countries he was referring to but he might have had ...
