Conservatives versus Libertarians on Income Taxation by Jacob G. Hornberger January 18, 2012 The current debate over income-tax rates in the GOP presidential race highlights another major difference between conservatives and libertarians. It is a debate that involves moral, philosophical, economic, and practical issues. Most important, it is a debate over the meaning of freedom. In the recent South Carolina debate, the candidates were asked what they would like to see as the ...
Killing Dissent with War by Jacob G. Hornberger January 17, 2012 A point made by James Madison might well explain the U.S. government’s strangulation of Iran’s economy with ever-tightening sanctions: “Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended.” What better way to rally people to the government than a war? Wouldn’t we expect many American dissidents, especially those in the Tea Party ...
Socialism Violates Christian Principles by Jacob G. Hornberger January 16, 2012 Amidst all the discussion and debate over the theological differences between Mormons and Protestants and Catholics, most everyone fails to focus on a critical issue: Are welfare-state programs consistent with Christian principles? Suppose Peter’s elderly parents are ill and need medical attention. Suppose also that Peter has a friend who cannot afford to adequately feed, clothe, and educate his children. Peter ...
Conservatives Are Socialists Too by Jacob G. Hornberger January 13, 2012 Conservatives love to accuse President Obama of being a socialist. But as the old adage goes, when they point their finger at Obama, they’ve got three fingers pointing back at themselves. Consider, for example, three of the biggest socialist programs in America: Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. How many conservatives want to repeal those three programs? Hardly any. Almost all ...
Ron Paul, Foreign Policy, and the Republican Mainstream by Jacob G. Hornberger January 12, 2012 One of the most fascinating aspects of the Ron Paul campaign is the standard reaction of his opponents to Paul’s foreign-policy positions. They say that Paul's libertarian foreign-policy views are outside the Republican mainstream. What is the Republican mainstream view on foreign policy? Here are its essential components: 1. Undeclared wars. 2. Wars of aggression — that is, wars in which the ...
Liberals Love Their Daddy by Jacob G. Hornberger January 11, 2012 Twelve years ago, I wrote an article entitled “Electing Our Daddy,” which pointed out that every four years Americans go to the polls not just to elect a president bur also to elect a daddy, one who will take watch over them and take care of them, send them to their room when they put bad things ...
No Moral Standing to Complain about Iranian Conviction of American by Jacob G. Hornberger January 10, 2012 U.S. officials are objecting to Iran’s criminal conviction of an American for spying on behalf of the CIA. The Iranians have sentenced the American, 28-year-old Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, to death. Unfortunately, however, the U.S. government has no moral standing to object to the conviction, given its longtime policy of foreign interventionism in Iran as well its own judicial misconduct since ...
Liberal Minimum-Wage Nonsense Hurts the Poor by Jacob G. Hornberger January 9, 2012 The liberals are at it again. They’re calling for another increase in the minimum wage in their purported attempt to help the poor. Two new minimum-wage articles have recently been posted on the liberal websites Counterpunch and Common Dreams. One is entitled “The Bogus Case Against the Minimum Wage Hike” by Dean Baker and John Schmitt and ...
Time to End the War on Poverty by Jacob G. Hornberger January 6, 2012 Wouldn’t it be great if some mainstream pundit were to ask the following question of the Republican presidential candidates: “Do you believe that the time has come to end the war on poverty?” Alas, it’s not going to happen. The question would obviously be considered outside mainstream America and, therefore, not the subject of legitimate debate among the presidential candidates. ...
Life in Bizarro World by Jacob G. Hornberger January 5, 2012 Sometimes I feel like I’m living in an alternative universe, one that is similar toBizarro World, which was introduced in the early 1960s in Superman comics. It’s a world in which everything that is normal is considered abnormal, and everything that is abnormal is considered normal. Look at Iraq. Statists say, “Isn’t it wonderful how fantastic Iraq has ...
National-Security Assassination of Americans in 1973 by Jacob G. Hornberger January 4, 2012 A Chilean judge has indicted a retired U.S. Naval officer, Capt. Ray E. Davis, in the murder of two American citizens in Chile during the U.S.-supported Pinochet coup in 1973. The indictment indicates that the U.S. military and the CIA may have been responsible for the national-security assassination of two Americans several decades before the start of the war ...
The Statist Attacks on Ron Paul by Jacob G. Hornberger January 3, 2012 The most fascinating aspect of Ron Paul’s presidential campaign is how it is revealing the real nature of the battle facing our country. It is not a battle between left and right, as we have all been taught, but rather between libertarianism and statism. From the first grade on up, we’ve all been inculcated with the notion that there are ...
