Speaker Promotes Individual Freedom
by Amada Stirpe

A Libertarian party president candidate told students in John J. Koldus last night that Libertarian philosophy is believing individuals should be free to live their lives any way they choose as long as the society is peaceful.

Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation, said Americans should exercise their basic rights.

"We all have certain fundamental rights," Hornberger said. "We have to utilize our talents, sustaining life without any governmental restrictions. That is the natural human right of humans."

Hornberger said Libertarians believe in the right to accumulate unlimited amounts of wealth and to individually decide what to do, whether it be to horde the money, share it, donate it or spend it.

He also said the function of government under Libertarian beliefs is limited and would protect, rather than regulate, society.

This belief, Hornberger said, is different than the Republican and Democrat beliefs, which say that society matters more than individual sovereignty.

He said he believes the income of each individual is owned by the government, and that the state decides Americans' allowances in the form of income tax.

Hornberger's main argument concerned the Social Security tax. He said American ancestors protested such taxes, so modern Americans should also.

"Social Security was one of the mainstays of the Hitler regime," Hornberger said. "[Social Security] is the will to tax two generations down."

Hornberger said more people per capita are imprisoned in America than in Cuba, China and Korea because of the free-enterprise system.

He also argued that illegal immigrants should be allowed to cross the borders if they are willing to work.

Hornberger likened the American society to the socialist society of Cuba.

"Who is freer, those who know the truth or those who do not?" Hornberger asked.

He argued that Cubans recognize that they are under the control of socialism.

He said American society is under the same kind of control, but Americans do not realize it.

He said public schooling is an example of this control because the public school system is a form of socialistic planning in that a central board plans the curriculum for millions of children who are forced to go to school and learn the material presented to them.

Mark Roberts, an audience member and a freshman chemical engineering major, said he agrees with some but not all of the aspects of Libertarianism.

"If absolute freedom detracts from total quality of life, then I don't agree," Roberts said.

Ted Ryan, an audience member and a freshman meteorology major, said he does not think Libertarianism will ever be adopted.

"It's way too radical," Ryan said. "You can't change government over night."

Hornberger closed his argument by saying that Libertarians believe in markets and people.

"It is time to recapture the self reliance and self esteem that this country was built on," he said.

Hornberger's speech was sponsored by the Reagan Leadership Society and Students for Individual Liberty.