Hornberger's Blog

Socialism, the Great Equalizer

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 4, 2010

If you’d like a good picture of where American socialists are leading our country, consider the situation in North Korea, which is the world’s best model of a socialist society. In North Korea, everyone is equal because everyone is equally poor. The government is the sole owner of the means and results of production, ...

China’s “Muscular” Failure to Submit to the U.S. Empire

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 3, 2010

Consider this opening paragraph from a New York Times article regarding the U.S. government’s arms sales to Taiwan: “For the past year, China has adopted an increasingly muscular position toward the United States, berating American officials for the global economic crisis, stage-managing President Obama’s visit to China in November, refusing to back ...

Why Didn’t the Nanny State Protect Us from Toyota?

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 2, 2010

Would someone please explain to me how it’s possible that millions of Toyota vehicles have that accelerator problem? I thought the federal government was supposed to keep us safe from these sorts of things. Consider, for example, this page, which contains the “Federal Motor Vehicle Standards and Regulations” issued by the Office of ...

Hornberger’s Blog, February 2010

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2010

Friday, February 26, 2010 Ron Paul vs. Big Government Conservatives by Jacob G. Hornberger An op-ed entitled “Conservatives’ Isolationist Dalliance” in the Washington Times today by Jeffrey T. Kuhner, president of the conservative Edmund Burke Institute, is an excellent example of the difficult task that Ron Paul has in convincing conservatives to abandon their devotion to Big Government in foreign ...

Will Obama Try to Pack the Court Too?

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2010

President Obama’s tiff with the Supreme Court over the Court’s ruling in the corporate-spending case brings to mind what President Franklin Roosevelt, one of Obama’s icons, did when the Supreme Court began declaring some of his socialist and fascist schemes unconstitutional. Roosevelt came up with a plan that would enable him to pack the Court with additional justices, legal ...

The Constitution Doesn’t Give Rights to Anyone, including Americans

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 29, 2010

An interesting and revealing exchange regarding rights and the Constitution took place recently between defense attorney Bruce Fein, who spoke at FFF’s 2008 conference “Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties ,” and Guantanamo military prosecutor Edward White. Fein is representing a Yemeni citizen named Ali al-Bahul in a Gitmo military-tribunal proceeding in which the ...

Trust Freedom, Not Statism

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 28, 2010

One of the things about statists that fascinate me is how they look to the federal government to solve problems facing society, especially when it’s the federal government that is the cause of the problems. Such a mindset might make sense if they were asking federal officials to eliminate what they’re doing that’s causing ...

The Value of Government Surveillance of Citizens

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 27, 2010

It’s amusing to watch U.S. officials protest the Chinese government’s surveillance of its own citizens. After all, isn’t it the U.S. government that secretly and illegally conspired with private telecom companies to record telephone conversations of private American citizens? And isn’t it the U.S. government that secured both civil and criminal immunity for the ...

The Conservative Love for Unlimited Government

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 26, 2010

A good example of one of the things that is wrong with conservatives is provided by a conservative named Rich Lowry, who has an article today about the Detroit bomber case on nationalreviewonline.com, one of the premier websites in the conservative movement. Lowry is upset that the suspect in the Detroit bomb base, ...

Another “Success” Story from U.S. Sanctions

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 25, 2010

U.S. officials can claim another “success” with their sanctions against Iran. A Russian-made Tupolev airplane crash-landed in Iran, injuring 42 passengers. Those passengers were much luckier than those traveling on an Iranian flight to Armenia last summer. All 168 passengers were killed. That plane was Russian-built too. Also last summer, another Iranian Russian-built plane skidded off a runway and caught fire, ...

Libertarianism vs. Socialism and Interventionism

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 24, 2010

One of the amusing parts of all the crises facing our nation — immigration, the dollar, Social Security, healthcare, Iraq, drug war, terrorism, foreclosures, and the rest — is when a supporter of the socialism and interventionism exclaims in frustration and exasperation, “Well, what is the libertarian solution to these crises?” They just don’t get it. ...

Brown’s Election Is No Victory for Liberty

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 22, 2010

Reaction to Scott Brown’s Senate win in Massachusetts has been glee for conservatives and depression for liberals. Conservatives have reason to be happy because Brown’s victory might spell the death knell for Obama’s socialist national health-care plan. Libertarians are celebrating Brown’s victory for the same reason. But that’s about where the celebration ends for ...