Blindness on Iraq War “Patriotism” by Jacob G. Hornberger July 10, 2020 An op-ed in yesterday’s New York Times by Democrat Tammy Ducksworth demonstrates that when it comes to “patriotism,” liberals are as morally blind as conservatives. Duckworth’s op-ed goes after conservative Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, who recently questioned Duckworth’s patriotism by suggesting that she didn’t love her country. Naturally, Duckworth, who lost her legs ...
The Shameful Mistreatment of Linda Ronstadt and the Dixie Chicks by Jacob G. Hornberger July 9, 2020 Former Nazi leader Herman Goering famously said: Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want ...
The LA Times’s Namby Pamby Proposal on Masks by Jacob G. Hornberger July 8, 2020 Extremely frustrated over the fact that many Americans still refuse to wear masks in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, in an editorial the Los Angeles Times has come out today in favor of a federal mandate on mask wearing. Pointing out that the “United States is a confusing mess of patchwork policies” ...
Weak Libertarian Solutions to America’s Healthcare Crisis by Jacob G. Hornberger July 7, 2020 Ever since the start of the coronavirus crisis, a number of libertarians have taken the position that President Trump and federal officials have mismanaged the crisis. They point out all the things that Trump and federal officials have done wrong, and they detail all the bad consequences of their efforts to resolve the crisis. Their points ...
Who Hates America? by Jacob G. Hornberger July 6, 2020 Over the weekend, noted conservative Rod Dreher issued a nasty diatribe against NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. In a short article in the American Conservative, Dreher accused Kaepernick of “hating America” and cited a recent tweet that Kaepernick sent out. Kaepernick is the black NFL quarterback who, a couple of years ago, incurred the ire of ...
Other Reasons to Remove Wilson’s Name at Princeton by Jacob G. Hornberger July 3, 2020 Princeton University’s board of trustees has voted to remove Woodrow Wilson’s name from its public policy school and one of its residential colleges. Wilson is not only a former U.S. president but also served as Princeton’s president from 1902-1910. The reason for the board’s action is Wilson’s racism. He didn’t want blacks applying to Princeton. He ...
Hong Kong Reminds Us of Ike’s Warning by Jacob G. Hornberger July 2, 2020 Just before he left office in 1961, President Eisenhower delivered what is quite possibly the most shocking Farewell Address in presidential history. In his speech, which newly elected President John Kennedy listened to, Eisenhower warned the American people about the grave threat that the U.S. “military-industrial complex” posed to the liberties and democratic processes of the American ...
Depoliticize the Statues by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 2020 The ongoing controversy over which statues to dismantle demonstrates the problem with government (or “public”) ownership of property: There is no way to come up with a solution that is going to satisfy everyone. Whatever decision is made on whether to keep this statue or that statue is inevitably going to leave some people unhappy. How ...
Whiplash and Reverse Déjà Vu by Jacob G. Hornberger June 30, 2020 I must confess that interventionists have given me a case of foreign-policy whiplash given the constantly changing array of official enemies of the United States on which Americans are supposed to focus their attention. One day it’s China. The next day it’s Russia. Then Iran. Venezuela. North Korea. Syria. The terrorists. The Muslims. Illegal immigrants. ISIS. Al ...
The Conservative (and Libertarian) Embrace of Socialism by Jacob G. Hornberger June 29, 2020 When President Franklin Roosevelt enacted his New Deal economic program in the 1930s, including Social Security, he revolutionized America’s economic system. For more than 100 years after the Constitution called the federal government into existence, the American people lived without an income tax and an IRS. During that period of time, they also lived without ...
Conservative Hypocrisy on the Looters by Jacob G. Hornberger June 26, 2020 I have found the outrage among conservatives over the looting of private businesses during the anti-police brutality protests to be amusing because it is so riddled with hypocrisy. Conservatives indignantly say that the looters were acting immorally because they trespassed onto privately owned businesses and stole merchandise that belonged to the owners. The essence of ...
The Nonsense of “National Security” by Jacob G. Hornberger June 25, 2020 President Trump’s attempt to suppress publication of a new book by his former national-security advisor John Bolton has, not surprisingly, raised First Amendment issues. But there is another issue that everyone ignores: the “national security” argument that Trump is using to justify his attempt to suppress the book.
