Foreign Policy & War

A Liberal World Order

by Richard M. Ebeling September 1, 1991

The 20th century opened with great hopes for the future. For almost a hundred years, a major war had not disturbed the peace of Europe. And when military conflicts had broken out among the European nations, they had been localized and limited in both their duration and destruction. Most of the governments of Europe were either democracies or constitutional monarchies. ...

Players and Pawns: The Persian Gulf War

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 1991

For the greater part of this century, the United States government has plundered, looted, and terrorized the American people through the Internal Revenue Service. It has surreptitiously stolen people's income and savings through the Federal Reserve System. It has brutally enforced — through fines and imprisonment — rules and regulations governing people's peaceful economic activities. In a very real ...

Some Other Costs of War

by Robert Higgs July 1, 1991

War always increases State power over the economy, and the Gulf war is no exception. Thus one of President Bush's first actions was, by executive fiat, to give himself total control over any corporation or industry, if he deems it necessary for the war effort. He can now requisition what he wants, without regard ...

The Vietnam War

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 1990

Being on the debate team at Virginia Military Institute during the 1970-71 school year was not easy. It was during this period of time that the collegiate protests against the Vietnam War were at their height. I will never forget the angry stares and outbursts when we participated, in our VMI uniforms, in debate ...

Foreign Policy and Foreign Wars

by Richard M. Ebeling November 1, 1990

When the Founding Fathers wrote and then defended the case for passage of the Constitution in 1787-1788, they did so with a strong belief in the natural rights of man, rights that Thomas Jefferson had so eloquently expressed in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. But their idealism was tempered with stark realism, based on ...

Conscription

by Daniel Webster November 1, 1990

This bill indeed is less undisguised in its object, and less direct in its means, than some of the measures proposed. It is an attempt to exercise the power of forcing the free men of this country into the ranks of an army, for the general purposes of war, under color of a military service. It is ...

Dying for Freedom in Panama

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 1990

Many brave people died as a result of the recent invasion of Panama. The United States government claimed that these lives were lost in the defense of freedom. Unfortunately, this is untrue. It is important first to observe that just as there have been two types of economic systems in the United States (free enterprise of the ...

Panama and the Canal: Children of American Imperialism and Socialism

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 1990

In December and January, the television screens across America flickered with pictures of United States' soldiers patrolling the streets of Panama City. Throngs of cheering Panamanians were shown waving the Stars and Stripes and singing the "Star-Spangled Banner." The "Maximum Leader," Manuel Noriega, appeared on the cover of Newsweek holding his prisoner mug-shot number. At the White ...

Patriotism

by Herbert Spencer May 1, 1990

Were any one to call me dishonest or untruthful he would touch me to the quick. Were he to say that I am unpatriotic, he would leave me unmoved. "What, then, have you no love of country?" That is a question not to be answered in a breath. The early abolition of serfdom in England, the early ...

From the President’s Desk

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 26, 1990

For years, many of us have been arguing that omnipotent government in foreign affairs is just as evil and dangerous, if not more so, than omnipotent government in domestic affairs. But our arguments met with indifference from some devotees of freedom and limited government, because while they could see the evils and dangers of the welfare state, the absence ...

War for Peace in the Middle East

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 1990

American politicians and bureaucrats have provided four reasons for the road the war on which they have embarked in the Middle East. Let us closely examine each of these reasons. We are first told that military intervention in the Middle East is necessary to ensure that the Emir of Kuwait (and his family) is restored to power and that the ...

Fighting Plunder with Plunder in Poland

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 1990

After more than forty years of suffering under socialism, the Polish people finally have an opportunity to pursue economic freedom. Yet, every indication is that the new Polish government intends to pursue the same old hackneyed ideas of plunder which caused so much misery and despair. Rather than immediately eliminate the immoral impediments to economic progress which have plagued ...