Revisiting Governmental Powers by Jacob G. Hornberger March 27, 2020 During this time of extraordinary powers being exercised by federal, state, and local officials, it’s good to refresh ourselves on founding principles. We sometimes hear about a concept called “the inherent powers of government.” These refer to what are commonly called “police powers.” Such inherent police powers refer to the power of a government to enact ...
Why Foreign Interventionism, Especially Now? by Jacob G. Hornberger March 26, 2020 This would be a good time for some introspection. Questions that deserve pondering are: Why must the U.S. government be engaged in foreign meddling? What good does it do? Are there harmful consequences? Are they worth it? Notice, first of all, an important phenomenon: No nation-state is invading and trying to conquer the United States. There ...
Trading Liberty for Security by Jacob G. Hornberger March 25, 2020 There was a good reason why our American ancestors failed to include an emergency exception in the Bill of Rights. It was because they knew that throughout history emergencies have been the time-honored way by which people lose their liberty. Thus, the First Amendment does not say:
Liberty Is Killed During Emergencies: Just Ask Germans by Jacob G. Hornberger March 24, 2020 On January 30, 1933, German President von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor of Germany. On March 30, 1933, Franklin Roosevelt took the oath of office as the 32nd president of the United States. Both men were taking office with the aim of leading their respective nations out of the grave worldwide economic crisis known as the Great ...
The 1929 Emergency Revolutionized America by Jacob G. Hornberger March 23, 2020 The stock market crash in 1929 provides an excellent example of how an emergency or crisis can be used to revolutionize a society permanently and destroy liberty and well-being in the process. Contrary to popular myth, especially among public (i.e., government) schoolteachers and professors in state-supported colleges and universities, the 1929 stock market crash did ...
Libertarianism Is the Only Solution for Healthcare and the Coronavirus by Jacob G. Hornberger March 20, 2020 For 30 years here at FFF, we have been saying that there is one — and only one — solution to America’s decades-long, ongoing, never-ending healthcare crisis. That solution is: a total separation of healthcare and the state. No more Medicare or Medicaid. No more medical licensure. No more government regulation and management of healthcare. A total ...
New York Times Obtuseness on China by Jacob G. Hornberger March 19, 2020 In an editorial entitled “China’s Ill-Timed Attack on the Free Press,” the New York Times berates the Chinese government for expelling journalists who work for the Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post and for also demanding detailed information from the Voice of America and Time magazine about their operations in China. China’s action ...
Finding Humor within the Coronavirus Crisis by Jacob G. Hornberger March 18, 2020 Even within the midst of the coronavirus crisis, it is possible to find humor, thanks to statists. A good example is an article entitled “The Era of Small Government is Over” by Jamelle Bouie, which appears in today’s New York Times. I am not kidding. That is really the title of Bouie's article. Well, ...
Libertarianism Can’t Make Socialism Work by Jacob G. Hornberger March 17, 2020 One of the fascinating phenomena of advancing libertarianism here at The Future of Freedom Foundation for the past 30 years has been seeing how frustrated statists become with the failure of libertarians to come up with solutions on how to make socialism work. Statists, of course, are people who look to government — and the ...
Liberty versus “Security” from the Coronavirus by Jacob G. Hornberger March 16, 2020 Crises and emergencies are the time-honored way that people end up losing their liberty at the hands of their own governments. That’s because people become so afraid that they are willing, even eager, to fall victim to the siren song that is always sung by government officials: “Just surrender your liberty to us and we will keep ...
More Dying for Nothing in Iraq by Jacob G. Hornberger March 13, 2020 Two more U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq. Yes, that Iraq — the Iraq that never attacked the United States or even threatened to do so — the Iraq that the U.S. government invaded and has occupied for umpteen years under the rubric of “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” What did those two soldiers die for? ...
FDR’s Tyrannical Gold Confiscation by Jacob G. Hornberger March 12, 2020 Sometimes people say, “I guess we’ll just have to have a major economic or monetary crisis to wake people up and cause them to want a sound monetary system.” There is one big problem with that refrain, however: A crisis or emergency oftentimes induces people to move in the opposite direction —in the direction of tyranny ...
