Hornberger's Blog

Murder, Inc.

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 23, 2013

For all his faults and failures, President Lyndon Johnson put it correctly: With its assassination program, the CIA was operating a “damned Murder Inc.” Not only does Johnson’s pointed observation observe the true nature of the federal government’s assassination program, it also serves to show that assassination has been an integral part of the U.S. national-security state apparatus since ...

JFK Assassination Controversy Erupts at Huffington Post

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 22, 2013

An interesting controversy over the JFK assassination has erupted at the Huffington Post. A man named Peter Mandel has authored an essay entitled, “Conspiracy Theorists Keep My Late Father in Their Sights,” which the Huffington Post published this past Monday. Judging from the article’s tagline, Peter Mandel is a prominent author of picture books for kids. On December 6, ...

Will Latin America Lead Us Out of the Drug War Morass?

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 21, 2013

Interestingly enough, it is Latin America that just might end up leading the world, including the United States, out of the drug-war morass in which most countries have plunged during the past 40 years. After four decades of death, economic destruction, political corruption, ruination of lives, torture, gang wars, drug cartels, drug lords, bribery, asset forfeiture, mandatory-minimum sentences, militarization ...

Why Shouldn’t the Federal Government Be Blamed for Boston?

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 20, 2013

Every time someone suggests that the federal government is to blame for the Boston bombing, American statists have an apoplectic fit over what they view as heresy. But the question is: Why shouldn’t the federal government be held accountable for the natural and foreseeable consequences of its policies? Consider, for example, 21-year-old Melissa Kennedy, who was killed last November when ...

Who Are the Impractical Ones—Conservatives or Libertarians?

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 17, 2013

As I indicated in yesterday’s blog post, “Sharing Ideas on Liberty in Charleston,” I led an informal pre-discussion session prior to the main program at the Charleston Meeting. The 15 or so participants in the pre-event discussion session were primarily conservative in philosophy but there were a few libertarians. It was quite a lively session, with lots of ...

Sharing Ideas on Liberty in Charleston

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 16, 2013

I just returned from Charleston, South Carolina, which has got to be one of the nicest and most unique cities in the world. If you are ever close to Charleston, don’t pass it up. You’ll feel like you just got transported back to both revolutionary times and the Civil War era. I was in Charleston to deliver a speech (

Libertarianism Doesn’t Pretend to Solve Socialist Woes

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 13, 2013

Last week, the New York Times reported: The level of the most important heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, has passed a long-feared milestone, scientists reported Friday, reaching a concentration not seen on the earth for millions of years…. The best available evidence suggest the amount of gas in the air has not been this high for ...

Repeal the Federal Income Tax

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 10, 2013

The New York Times reports that 37-year-old Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Lauryn Hill just drew a 3-month jail sentence for income-tax evasion. She pled guilty to failing to file tax returns for three years. She told the judge that she was unable to pay the taxes after dropping out of the music business to take care of her children ...

Guantanamo and the Bill of Rights

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 9, 2013

When one considers the Bill of Rights, an obvious question arises: Why did our American ancestors demand the enactment of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments? The answer is simple: Our ancestors believed that in the absence of those amendments, U.S. officials would end up subjecting people to the types of things that those amendments restricted. That is, if ...

Unlimited Government Abroad Means No Freedom at Home

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 8, 2013

I find it amusing when I see people who profess to favor a free society and a free-market economic system here in the United States while, at the same time, favoring unlimited government overseas. Why is that amusing? Because it can’t be done. Freedom and unlimited government are opposites. You can’t have both. Unlimited government overseas necessarily means no ...

Christians’ Rebuke of God

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 7, 2013

One of the primary justifications for the welfare state comes from Christian statists. They say that the welfare state demonstrates the willingness of the American people to fulfill God’s commandments with respect to human relationships. The Ten Commandments includes, “Thou shalt honor thy mother and father.”  In the New Testament, Christ tells us that the second-greatest commandment is, “Thou shalt ...

Our Southwest Speaking Tour

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 6, 2013

Wow! What a great tour in the American Southwest spreading ideas on liberty. That’s where I was all last week. The trip began with a reception on Monday evening sponsored by the Freedom Library, a fantastic organization that for many years has been teaching students and adults the principles of freedom and free markets. In fact, the head of ...