Hornberger's Blog

The Power of Indoctrination

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 9, 2012

Yesterday, I saw a political yard sign that said “Keep Us Free. Elect Romney.” It exemplifies perfectly one of the major problems we face in this country: the fact that so many Americans honestly believe they live in a free society. During our recent College Civil Liberties Tour, the issue of public schooling came up during the question ...

The Military and the Economy

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 8, 2012

I wish to follow up on my blog post of yesterday, where I wrote about how the vast U.S. military establishment is a major contributing cause of America’s economic problems. Let’s consider North Korea, a nation in which the military plays a dominant role in society and the economy, just as the military does here in the United States. Like ...

A Poor Economy and Foreign Policy Go Hand in Hand

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 7, 2012

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer made an interesting and revealing observation last night while discussing exit polls that CNN had conducted. Blitzer’s observation provides good insight into how mainstream political commentators and pundits think when it comes to such issues as the economy and foreign policy. Voters were given a list of issues and asked which one was most important to them. ...

Natural Disasters and the Election

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 6, 2012

Last night we were treated to a fascinating and timely talk by economics professor Daniel Smith at our Economic Liberty Lecture Series, which is cosponsored by the student-run Econ Society at George Mason University. We’ll be posting his talk online within the next week. Smith researched and compared the recovery efforts in two cities that were hit hard by tornadoes ...

Hurricanes and Socialism

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 5, 2012

Two articles in the New York Times last week exemplify perfectly why our nation is in such bad shape. Both articles concerned the devastation from Hurricane Sandy. The first was a Times editorial, entitled “A Big Storm Requires Big Government.” The other article was in the form of an op-ed entitled “Grover Cleveland’s Hurricane” by Matthew Algeo. The ...

Ignoring the Unseen Consequences of the Dole

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 2, 2012

Mocking Mitt Romney’s shifting positions on the auto bailout, the New York Times editorializes that the bailout turned out to be a huge success because “nearly 1.5 million people are working as a direct result of the bailout. G.M.’s American sales continue to increase, and Chrysler said this week that its third-quarter net income rose 80 percent.” We begin ...

The Pre-Lochner Era

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2012

I had a fun session with nine students from George Mason University’s economics department last night at the informal law and economics seminar I’m conducting once a month at GMU. The seminar is sponsored by the GMU Econ Society, a student group interested in libertarianism and Austrian economics. They also serve as the co-sponsors of our Economic Liberty Lecture ...

Revisiting the Iraq Debacle

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 31, 2012

Yesterday I wroteabout an op-ed in the New York Times entitled “Time to Get Tough on Iraq” by Nussaibah Younis, which was harshly critical of the Maliki regime in Iraq. In his op-ed, Younis criticized the Maliki regime’s cooperation with Iran, specifically permitting Iran to use Iraqi airspace to send armaments to the Assad regime in ...

Is It Time to Bomb Iraq Again?

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 30, 2012

Uh, oh! The time might be approaching when the U.S. government will need to invade and bomb Iraq again, with the intent of, once again, achieving regime change and installing a regime that is obedient, submissive, and loyal to the U.S. Empire. The grounds for this possibility are set forth in an op-ed in today’s New York Times entitled, “

The National Security State Is to Blame for the Cuban Missile Crisis

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 29, 2012

To understand the statist mindset when it comes to the U.S. national-security state, all one has to do is read an article published last week in the New York Times entitled “How Castro Held the World Hostage” by James G. Blight and Janet M. Lang. The article focuses on the Cuban Missile Crisis and blames Cuban President Fidel ...

What Foreign-Policy Debate?

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 23, 2012

Most everybody is commenting on how last night’s foreign policy “debate” wasn’t really a debate at all, given the extent to which Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have the same views on foreign policy. I don’t see how this could surprise anyone, not only because Democrats and Republicans have long shared the same overall philosophy on foreign policy but ...

An Awesome Tour!

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 22, 2012

It was exciting, eventful, and enjoyable! I’m referring, of course, to our second College Civil Liberties Tour, which took place out west last week. At each of the five events, the audiences, which ranged in size from around 140-200, were enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and passionate. They consisted predominantly of college students but there were also plenty of non-students at the ...