Libya and Mainstream Pundits, Part 2 by Jacob G. Hornberger September 6, 2011 Last Friday, I commented about how mainstream journalists seem to live in a universe in which they view the U.S. government as a glorious, saintly entity that roams the world helping the poor and oppressed, as exemplified most recently by the U.S. intervention in Libya. I pointed to a column last week byNew York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof that praised ...
Libya and Mainstream Pundits by Jacob G. Hornberger September 2, 2011 A fascinating example of the mindset of American mainstream journalists is provided by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who wrote a glowing piece this week praising the U.S. government’s humanitarian intervention in Libya. It’s entitled “Thank You, America!” Kristof’s article comes across as a glorious paean to the U.S. government — how good and wonderful the government is — ...
Liberals Hate the Poor by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 2011 Liberals love to portray themselves as lovers of the poor. Their “proof,” they say, is their ardent support of the welfare state. In fact, liberals oftentimes go on the attack against us libertarians for our call to dismantle welfare-state programs and the 60-year-old failed “war on poverty.” Actually, however, the love that liberals profess to have for the poor is ...
Hornberger’s Blog, September 2011 by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 2011 Tuesday, September 27, 2011 A Nonsense Debate at the New York Times The New York Times is hosting a online debate entitled “Should the School Day Be Longer?” Wow, how exciting is that? Not! Well, at least not for libertarians. It’s the same old statist nonsense over how to fix and reform a socialist program, one that has been a mess for ...
Perry Is Right about Social Security by Jacob G. Hornberger August 31, 2011 Not surprisingly, Governor Rick Perry is catching flack from mainstream statists over his calling Social Security “a Ponzi scheme.” For statists, Social Security, as the crown jewel of the welfare state, is sacrosanct. Any challenge to the program or even an accurate description of how it works is, well, close to treason. Every red-blooded, patriotic American is expected to ...
Stop Obama from Managing the Economy by Jacob G. Hornberger August 30, 2011 As the presidential campaign season gets into full swing, be prepared to hear the standard arguments as to which candidate and which party is better at managing the economy. The debate surfaces every four years. Republicans will cry, “President Obama and the Democrats have made a mess of the economy. Elect us because we’re able to do a better job ...
Leave the Hurricane Price-Gougers Alone by Jacob G. Hornberger August 29, 2011 Well, if it’s hurricane season, it must be anti-price-gouging season. It’s bad enough for people to be hit by a hurricane. You’d think that statists would show some mercy and spare people some economic idiocy during difficult times. Alas, it is not to be. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper announced that he would prosecute anybody engaging in price-gouging during ...
Doubling Down in the Drug War by Jacob G. Hornberger August 26, 2011 Why can’t the U.S. government ever learn lessons from any of its failed programs? The biggest lesson it fails to learn is the importance of ending programs that are obvious failures, especially ones that are inherently incapable of succeeding. Instead, in its usually bullheaded, headstrong fashion, the government maintains the program and, even worse, actually expands it. There is no ...
Shades of FDR! Socialist Chavez Nationalizes Gold by Jacob G. Hornberger August 25, 2011 Venezuelan President Hugh Chavez has announced that he’s nationalizing the country’s gold industry. He also announced that he’s bringing Venezuelan gold reserves held in the American and European banks to Venezuela. There’s no doubt as to why Chavez is bringing the gold reserves to Venezuela: He fears that the U.S. government will do to Venezuela what it’s been doing to ...
Military Welfare for Libya by Jacob G. Hornberger August 24, 2011 Needless to say, U.S. officials will claim that but for the U.S. intervention in Libya, the revolution would never have succeeded. It’s just part of a long tradition of demeaning treatment that comes with welfare. And make no mistake about it — such interventions are welfare. Although military welfare comes in the form of cash, bombs, bullets, invasions, occupations, and ...
Which Dictatorships Are We Supposed to Like? by Jacob G. Hornberger August 23, 2011 Don’t you sometimes wish that someone in authority in the U.S. government would explain how they determine which dictators we’re supposed to like and which ones we’re supposed to dislike? Consider, for example, Syria. Right now, Syria is our enemy because it’s a brutal dictatorship, one that is oppressing its own people. President Obama is demanding that Syrian dictator Bashar ...
Libertarians and Austrians in the Washington Post by Jacob G. Hornberger August 22, 2011 Amazingly, two separate articles in Sunday’s Washington Post mentioned such libertarian luminaries as Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Ayn Rand, Walter Williams, and John T. Flynn. For names such as these to be mentioned in the mainstream press — and some twice in one day — reflects the tremendous strides that libertarianism has made in the past 20 years. The first article, ...
