Conservative, Liberal, and Libertarian Calls for Open Borders by Jacob G. Hornberger October 2, 2008 ’m on my way to Chicago to debate Peter Brimelow at the Heartland Institute’s annual dinner. Heartland is one of the nation’s finest free-market think tanks that address state public-policy issues. Peter is the author of Alien Nation. The theme of the debate is “Immigration Policy for a Free Society.” Or “Open Borders vs. ...
Hornberger’s Blog, October 2008 by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2008 Friday, October 31, 2008 Drug-War Violence Is Spreading to Texas by Jacob G. Hornberger According to the Associated Press, South Texans might soon be experiencing the same type of drug-war violence that people on the Mexican side of the border have been experiencing. As most everyone knows, the drug war has produced unbelievable violence in Mexico, especially along the border. Murder, kidnapping, ...
Never Trade Liberty for Safety by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2008 Generally speaking, people can be divided into 3 groups: (1) Those who thirst for power; (2) Those who thirst for freedom; and (3) Those who are fairly indifferent to both power and liberty. The real battle that is taking place with respect to the future of direction of our nation is between Groups 1 and ...
Restore a Free Market to America by Jacob G. Hornberger September 30, 2008 The congressional rejection of President Bush’s bailout bill came as a shocker to me. As I was writing my blog yesterday about how one can always count on conservatives to cave in and abandon any semblance of a commitment to free-market principles, they went and surprised me by voting against Bush’s financial socialism. Sure, ...
Libertarians vs. Statists by Jacob G. Hornberger September 29, 2008 It’s not surprising that many conservative House Republicans, after railing against socialism and interventionism, are caving in and embracing the $700,000 billion (probably more like $1.5 trillion after all is said and done) bailout of their Wall Street friends and cronies who fund their campaigns and political party. Isn’t this what conservatives have done ever since the New Deal? ...
The Market Has Its Own Regulators by Jacob G. Hornberger September 26, 2008 Ever since the dawn of the New Deal in the 1930s, statists have told us that government regulators are needed to “stabilize free enterprise” and protect depositors and investors. Thus, for the last 80 years or so, we’ve lived under a regime in which there is an army of government bureaucrats for the banking industry and the financial industry. ...
Crony Socialism by Jacob G. Hornberger September 25, 2008 You’ve got to hand it to Bush and Cheney. They are loyal to their friends. They commuted Scooter Libby’s prison sentence after a jury convicted him of perjury and obstruction of justice. They secured criminal immunity for federal agents who tortured or sexually abused people. They secured civil immunity for the telecoms who served as illegal snitches ...
The Statist Impulse to Avoid Responsibility by Jacob G. Hornberger September 24, 2008 One of the characteristics of the modern-day welfare state is the refusal of statists to take responsibility for the damage and destruction their philosophy has wrought on the people of the world. Consider Iraq. How many of the statists take responsibility for the million or so people who are now dead and for the chaos ...
The Looming Threat of National Bankruptcy by Jacob G. Hornberger September 23, 2008 During the recent crisis in Georgia, conservatives reveled in comparing Russia’s actions to those of the former Soviet Union. But did you notice that not once did they remind people of how Ronald Reagan supposedly brought down the Soviet Union? Reagan, they used to unceasingly remind us, caused the Soviet government to spend the ...
An Interventionist Crisis by Jacob G. Hornberger September 22, 2008 It’s amusing to see liberals exclaiming against the bailout of the Wall Street big wigs. After decades of using government to take from the rich and middle class to give to the poor, did they honestly believe that politicians and bureaucrats would not use their welfare-state powers to take from the poor and middle ...
The Liberal and Conservative Box by Jacob G. Hornberger September 19, 2008 Liberals who have operated under the quaint notion that the welfare state is only for the benefit of the poor, needy, and disadvantaged have had a rude awakening during the past week. With the bailouts of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, and undoubtedly more to come, liberals have learned that the welfare state exists ...
Just Blame the Crises on Freedom by Jacob G. Hornberger September 18, 2008 The amusing part of the current financial crisis is how liberals are blaming it all on “the free market” or on “unfettered capitalism.” Not surprisingly, their solutions call for socialist and interventionist measures, in order to “save freedom and free enterprise.” The liberal attitude toward the financial crisis is really no different from the conservative attitude toward the terrorist crisis. ...
